New eps
Andrew Cameron
lately, so here are my opinions on 5x03 and 5x04:
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5x03: Better than your average B-movie with a nice nasty twist at the end.
Yes, 'twas a filler but a good fun one, with more actual meaty content than,
in my opinion, a season one filler. Spike still "blah" and "meh" but I
never was a huge fan - although he doesn't exactly fit in well, he fits in
well enough. The move to W&H is looking to be of the good, and I'm liking
the new sharp 'n' shiny filming, albeit if it's a bit on the dark side
sometimes.
5x04: It's "Ghost" all over again! Did anyone else have flashbacks to
Patrick Swayze and bottlecaps? Jeezoh. The "reaper"'s casting needed to be
a bit better and he could have been utilised in a far creepier role so I'm
rating it worse than last week, but at least not a Client Of The Week
episode. So, who reckons Spike will actually stay as a ghost but the
writers will have him be able to touch stuff so easily that he might as well
not be, and eventually they'll forget about it entirely? Cynical? Moi?
--
Andrew Cameron
"Got my hand on my heart, I know no better location..."
Jonathan Dupont
news:bn6pbn$u2r5o$1...@ID-90381.news.uni-berlin.de:
Going to have to disagree with you there - S1 (in comparison, anyway)
rocks. Any chance you could go into the deeper stuff, or do you just
mean the whole Angel keeping control thing?
>
> 5x04: It's "Ghost" all over again! Did anyone else have flashbacks
> to Patrick Swayze and bottlecaps? Jeezoh. The "reaper"'s casting
> needed to be a bit better and he could have been utilised in a far
> creepier role so I'm rating it worse than last week, but at least not
> a Client Of The Week episode.
I actually really liked the casting, and the episode as a whole come to
think of it. Best Angel ep of the year so far - nothing since the Faith
arc has felt this polished to me. I'm also extremely relieved that Angel
has finally had a better and more interesting episode than the week's
Smallville (which is sort of ironic, considering the writer) - it was
getting embarassing.
> So, who reckons Spike will actually
> stay as a ghost but the writers will have him be able to touch stuff
> so easily that he might as well not be, and eventually they'll forget
> about it entirely? Cynical? Moi?
I wouldn't be surprised... :)
Just for the record, is Spike still being sucked into hell or what? I'm
figuring yes because there's no reason why he shouldn't, but then the
positive end to the thing sort of wasn't that clear.
Jon
Tony Gowland
> Just for the record, is Spike still being sucked into hell or what?
> I'm figuring yes because there's no reason why he shouldn't, but then
> the positive end to the thing sort of wasn't that clear.
I didn't think he was being. Wasn't it the Reaper who was phasing him in and
out of visibility to toy with him? And since this was the only manifestation
of him being sucked, I presumed it was all a big mistake on Spike's part.
--
Tony Gowland
http://www.planethalflife.com/freakyzoids/
"Guestbook ? Filthbook more like."
Iain Clark
I thought Spike meant that the most recent "disappearing", where he
thought he was still there but they couldn't see him, was down to the
Reaper.
It's a bit like Cordy's visions in That Vision Thing - her visions
were getting worse regardless of W&H's intervention, but we were led
to think they were getting much worse, much sooner than they actually
were.
However, I think it could easily be interpreted the other way.
Iain
--
"Look at me - I'm crazy, but I get the job done.
Yeah I'm crazy but I get the job done."
Iain Clark
>> 5x04: It's "Ghost" all over again! Did anyone else have flashbacks
>> to Patrick Swayze and bottlecaps?
Not in the least, since Ghost was drippy and romantic, and this had a
much more traditional "haunted house" vibe.
> Jeezoh. The "reaper"'s casting
>> needed to be a bit better and he could have been utilised in a far
>> creepier role so I'm rating it worse than last week, but at least not
>> a Client Of The Week episode.
>
>I actually really liked the casting, and the episode as a whole come to
>think of it. Best Angel ep of the year so far - nothing since the Faith
>arc has felt this polished to me.
I think this was the best ep of the year so far, by quite a long way.
Okay it was clearly 'The Halloween Episode', but it was very well
executed and less, well, "bitty" than the last few weeks.
It also scored over last week's great-in-places-but-very-variable
episode by not nicking its ending from Dawson's Creek ;-)
> I'm also extremely relieved that Angel
>has finally had a better and more interesting episode than the week's
>Smallville (which is sort of ironic, considering the writer) - it was
>getting embarassing.
>
I've given up on Smallville, I'm afraid.
>> So, who reckons Spike will actually
>> stay as a ghost but the writers will have him be able to touch stuff
>> so easily that he might as well not be, and eventually they'll forget
>> about it entirely? Cynical? Moi?
>
>I wouldn't be surprised... :)
>
Me either. I'm not a huge Spike fanboy (honest <g>) but I like him
when he's written as a three dimensional character and not just some
petulant English bloke with an attitude. He fared very well here.
I do hope we get more from Wes and Gunn in future weeks. They're not
exactly sidelined, but neither are they centre front. Last week we
had "The Angel Episode" and this week we got "The Spike Episode", and
Fred has been given plenty of chance to shine, so I think the rest of
the ensemble deserves a break.
Iain
--
"I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to Scully me."
Jonathan Dupont
news:4a6jpv87g7tq0cn43...@4ax.com:
>> Jeezoh. The "reaper"'s casting
>>> needed to be a bit better and he could have been utilised in a far
>>> creepier role so I'm rating it worse than last week, but at least
not
>>> a Client Of The Week episode.
>>
>>I actually really liked the casting, and the episode as a whole come
to
>>think of it. Best Angel ep of the year so far - nothing since the
Faith
>>arc has felt this polished to me.
>
> I think this was the best ep of the year so far, by quite a long way.
> Okay it was clearly 'The Halloween Episode', but it was very well
> executed and less, well, "bitty" than the last few weeks.
>
> It also scored over last week's great-in-places-but-very-variable
> episode by not nicking its ending from Dawson's Creek ;-)
That really was awful...
>> I'm also extremely relieved that Angel
>>has finally had a better and more interesting episode than the week's
>>Smallville (which is sort of ironic, considering the writer) - it was
>>getting embarassing.
>>
>
> I've given up on Smallville, I'm afraid.
I'm mildly enjoying it at the moment, although it's as clumsy as ever.
OTOH, they've been playing with some interesting ideas at the moment,
although I don't expect it to last. Strangely I found that while aspects
of Drew Greenberg's episodes were cleverer than the norm, the thing as a
whole was written worse than usual.
In any case, I'd put any of Smallville 3x01-03 up against Angel 5x03,
any day.
>>> So, who reckons Spike will actually
>>> stay as a ghost but the writers will have him be able to touch stuff
>>> so easily that he might as well not be, and eventually they'll
forget
>>> about it entirely? Cynical? Moi?
>>
>>I wouldn't be surprised... :)
>>
>
> Me either. I'm not a huge Spike fanboy (honest <g>) but I like him
> when he's written as a three dimensional character and not just some
> petulant English bloke with an attitude. He fared very well here.
If it turns out that he's not going to hell at all, then I've again got
big problems with the way his S7 redemption arc has been ruined.
Hopefully we'll get an explanation of the whole amulet deal soooner
rather than a Connor style later.
I wish that sometimes Joss would indulge in a big dramatic resurrection
as well as the emotional aftermath, rather than just do the latter (see
Buffy S6, rather than, say, Darla).
> I do hope we get more from Wes and Gunn in future weeks. They're not
> exactly sidelined, but neither are they centre front. Last week we
> had "The Angel Episode" and this week we got "The Spike Episode", and
> Fred has been given plenty of chance to shine, so I think the rest of
> the ensemble deserves a break.
>
> Iain
I'm presuming they're just settling Spike into the show at the moment,
and we'll get the others more later. Then again, Gunn only tends to get
2 focused episodes on him in a good year and Xander went about three
years without one...
Jon
Jonathan Dupont
Hmm... That sounds about right, although it's all a little ambiguous. I
guess it'll probably be cleared up next week.
Jon
ilmaestro
<inv...@x01.co.uk> proclaimed:
>5x04: It's "Ghost" all over again! Did anyone else have flashbacks to
>Patrick Swayze and bottlecaps? Jeezoh. The "reaper"'s casting needed to be
>a bit better and he could have been utilised in a far creepier role so I'm
>rating it worse than last week, but at least not a Client Of The Week
>episode. So, who reckons Spike will actually stay as a ghost but the
>writers will have him be able to touch stuff so easily that he might as well
>not be, and eventually they'll forget about it entirely? Cynical? Moi?
I didn't really think 5x03 was up to too much, save from Angel
throwing the crypto-zoologist to the wolves, so to speak, and Spike's
made-up run in with Wesley, so I will leave that at that.
As for 5x04, I thought the episode was quite excellent, even though
some of the Angel/Spike dialog felt slightly off at times. Angel's
punishment of the Reaper is excellently nasty, given what he went
through a year or so ago, which keeps up his record of one cool evil
moment per episode (The shotgun death in 'Conviction', can't really
think of one from 'Just Rewards' apart from slicing Hainsley's head
off, as he didn't know he was already dead, and then not caring about
the crypto-zoologist in 'Unleashed') although I thought the character
of the Reaper was not even half as worrying as he should have been,
once we finally saw him, which was disappointing given the generally
excellent atmosphere of the episode. And, whilst I agree that you
could be right about Spike, I do believe that they'll come up with
something better in the plot than just forgetting about him being a
ghost. And it will be interesting, and hopefully fun, when they get
around to doing something more focused on Lorne's department, which I
think I saw that they are doing with today's episode.
Finally, whilst Amy Acker in the shower is a truly lovely thought,
could I just say Mmmm... Eve.
--
ilmaestro
"No you don't. But thanks for saying it."