Random fan girl thoughts

[cornerofmadness]

I managed to watch some tv this week. I'm still trying to figure out how I felt about this week's Smallville. It had some nice and creepy emotions and stuff floating through it. A moment of panic as I thought Gee Lana won't go (okay I know she won't in the end but I can keep hoping). Some nice stuff with Chloe and Pete and I liked how Lex reinterpreted the prophecy as only he could. Then there were huge plot holes like how would Chloe's unemployed dad afford to buy a place that makes no money and he doesn't really want.

Then I finally caught up to the 100th episode of Angel. Since I know there's a lot who still haven't seen it, we'll go ahead and make a cut here and if you want to read more, and I warn you I say exactly what I feel good and bad, then read on.

I am still terribly disappointed in this season of Angel. The 'are we doing the right thing is getting old?'  it's pretty obvious that they are monumentally naive if they think they are. Spike, who was always my favorite character until S6-7, has not regained much of his spark and chemistry. I could live with all these things but what I can't live with is the plot holes and total destruction of character development. Gunn's deus ex machina intelligent is as dull as watching grass grow. He's not Gunn any more and I really could care less about him now which is a shame since I always liked Gunn.
Wes has lost his fire. Fred, well I've always hated her so I just tune her and Lorne out instantly. Lorne at this point is serving almost no purpose. Eve, why is she still around? Lindsey, one of the worst abuses of a character to date. He suddenly wants to control WOlfram and Hart again and is mad because Angel got his prize? Um, what? He wanted out. He had enough. Do we not remember this? Don't get me wrong. I loved seeing him again (but could they have washed his hair?). I liked the idea of the tattoos (that will be in a story or two, that was cool) but to totally reverse his character didn't work for me.
Looking at the three episodes I watched yesterday (don't know the names), we had the one where Eve put that thing on Angel. This one I actually didn't mind much. (It reminded me of my own story Drop Dead Fred, where everyone dreams Fred dies). The dreams were interesting in a surreal way. The whole setting up of Spike was vaguely (and only just) interesting.
The Dana episode. Again, interesting premise totally ruined by the inclusion of Andrew and I'm not saying that because I find it totally loathsome of ME to set up a murdering would-be rapist as a cute little geek that we're supposed to love (but I do find it loathsome, with no apologies to Andrew fans of which I know there are some on my Flist. My journal, my feelings. I hold nothing against anyone who likes him). It was like they forgot Wes did call his father and talk some to him (maybe not much, so we're to assume the only thing anyone took for the conversation was that Angel is now working for evil. Don't you think if they felt that someone would have been dispatched to stop him?). What was the point of Andrew's history lesson that lasts 5 minutes? Waste of air time. And excuse me, the last time we had a rogue Slayer they sent Special Ops to handle it. Why in the world are we to believe they'd send a half-wit with no training. Maybe the Special Ops are gone but we see a dozen Slayers at the end. WHy weren't THEY in charge? And Sorry, don't buy for a minute that Buffy doesn't trust Angel. Not after what we saw in Chosen. It doesn't play and it's cheap of them to try it. It felt like Andrew was off on his own trying to impress the home team. Awful episode. One of the worst I've seen and that's a shame since it had such potential.
Cordy's return - Other than Lindsey's piss poor motivation, this one was good. Had to wonder why Cordy's hair was perfectly coifed the moment she woke up and why we bought her clothes that couldn't button up because seeing that much boob wasn't sexy. It was just cheap but maybe that's just me and those are piddling little things. I liked the episode. I had been spoiled for the end a little (though what I heard wasn't what happened which is just odd. How did some people so misinterpret that). Am I angry they had her pass away in her coma? Yeah, actually I am. That was the easy way out, especially if Joss gets his wish and takes this to the big screen. Then again dead isn't dead in Jossverse.

Comments

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I loved all three episodes. So, some very quick thoughts/comments.
damage:

I don't want to like Andrew either, but the actor is very funny, I'll give him that. I think it's important to note that Andrew is a highly unreliable narrator and should never be trusted. My guess is that Giles' has stated that he doesn't trust Angel (which I can easily believe) and Andrew just translates that into meaning Buffy. Don't forget, Andrew is in England with Giles while Buffy is in Rome. That fact that Giles sends Andrew who clearly is barely competent, is a deliberate slap in the face toward Angel. As far as the line up of slayers at the end, that bothered me until I realized these girls are likely barely trained. They're competant enough to bring home a slayer but not skilled enough to track one down. Plus the bloodhound nose of a vampir is an asset in this case.

I loved this episode because we finally see Spike making big strides in admitting and understanding what his violence did not only to his victims, but the broken people left behind. Until this point, while he feels badly for what he did, he has never personalized it, has always been of the opinion the past is the past, get over it.

You're welcome:
I don't see any other way it could have been ended. If Cordy was out of her coma she wouldn't have left the AI team. She still feels strongly about the mission, after all. It was such a breath of fresh air seeing the "real" Cordelia, she's been missing for close to teo seasons now. An oddly enough, the kiss between her and Angel was the only time I any saw any sexual heat between the two of them. If they had played the relationship that way from the beginning instead of ruining Cordy's character, I might have gone for it.

The nightmare episode:
There's ben a lot written about the significance of each dream, suffice to say that it was a fascinating look at Angel's fears. And a lot of the dreams were thinly veiled references to Connor. As far as Lindsey, it's unclear to me his complete motivations, but surely one of his problems is his unwavering hatred for Angel. In their earlier encounters, Angel assumes the morally superior position - he may be a vampire but he's working for the side of good as opposed to Lindsey. The thing is, I suspect that Lindsey sees a lot of what Angel says as mere posturing. Taing over W&H confirms Lindsey's suspicions that Angel is nothing but a hyporite and refuels his hatred. You might disagree as whther or not Lindsey secretly lusts after Angel, but I do think I lot of motivations and actions are directly tied to Angel.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

think it's important to note that Andrew is a highly unreliable narrator and should never be trusted.

True but I still can't see Giles bothering with the slap in the face. His past with Angel is long buried and it was ridiculously risky to send Andrew (who I don't find the least bit funny. I find Xander funny but not Andrew.)

I loved this episode because we finally see Spike making big strides in admitting and understanding what his violence did not only to his victims, but the broken people left behind. Until this point, while he feels badly for what he did, he has never personalized it, has always been of the opinion the past is the past, get over it.

Yes I will agree to this. That's what upset me so much about throwing in Andrew. The Dana episode had so much potential to explore both Angel and Spike and their past and instead we waste time with an idiot telling us Slayer history.

You're welcome:
I don't see any other way it could have been ended. If Cordy was out of her coma she wouldn't have left the AI team. She still feels strongly about the mission, after all. It was such a breath of fresh air seeing the "real" Cordelia, she's been missing for close to teo seasons now.

Oh I do agree with that. I'm still angry she's dead but you're probably right. I just don't see her leaving any other way.

An oddly enough, the kiss between her and Angel was the only time I any saw any sexual heat between the two of them. If they had played the relationship that way from the beginning instead of ruining Cordy's character, I might have gone for it.

I'll agree with you on this too. That was the only time I ever saw any chemistry at all between them. Usually they felt horribly forced.

The nightmare episode:
There's ben a lot written about the significance of each dream, suffice to say that it was a fascinating look at Angel's fears. And a lot of the dreams were thinly veiled references to Connor.

I haven't read anything on it but I did really like what they did with the dream imagry.

You might disagree as whther or not Lindsey secretly lusts after Angel, but I do think I lot of motivations and actions are directly tied to Angel.

Yeah definitely disagree with the former but not the latter. ANgel has defined Lindsey's life for beter or worse

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure about the Giles/Angel history being dead and buried. While I don't think Giles would stake Angel if he walked by him, I don't think Giles' trusts him all that much given the current evidence. Angel is in charge of evil, inc. after all. As far as Andrew giving the slayer history - it had to be done. Not everyone watches Buffy.

I also liked the ep for pointing out some fundamental differences in the way Spike and Angel work. Angel is very deliberate here, getting the facts, making sure he fully understands the situation. Spike runs off half-cocked and completely misinterprets everything. (Of course, if someone Angel cares about is in danger, then all bets are off. A mollusk has more brains at those times.)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure about the Giles/Angel history being dead and buried. While I don't think Giles would stake Angel if he walked by him, I don't think Giles' trusts him all that much given the current evidence. Angel is in charge of evil, inc. after all. As far as Andrew giving the slayer history - it had to be done. Not everyone watches Buffy.

I seriously doubt there's that many people watching Angel who didn't know Slayer history. It was a waste of time. And I still don't buy Giles sending Andrew. Yeah the Slayers are new but so is Andrew. They're being trained together. You don't send a normal human to do this job and trying to convince us otherwise is just insulting and pretty much flies in the face of everything ME has offered before. It was just bad. They could have just as easily had it focusing on SPike/Angel and brought the Slayers in at the end and who even called Giles in the first place. I'm not even sure Buffy knew W&H IS evil incorporated and even if she knew it didn't stop her from using that amulet. No, it just doesn't stand up to any kind of scrutiny at least not for me.

I also liked the ep for pointing out some fundamental differences in the way Spike and Angel work.

Now this I liked a lot. I think the compare and contrast of Angel and Spike was fantastic. That shoudl have been the focus of this story. It would have been so much stronger that way.