(Advance) Five-Star Poll: 5x13
Tafka
I'm slack over in umta this week and I'm slacker here!
BTW, I notice some people have voted for these episodes but aren't doing
the UMTA thing... if you want to fill in the gaps (5x01-5x08, mostly) then
go ahead.
-Tafka-
Can't turn a ho into a housewife
Hos dont act right
There's ho's on a mission, an hoe's on a crackpipe
Hey ho how ya doin, where ya been?
Linda
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At first I thought this was going to be a Retcon of Angel's past but the
more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
Angel was among the first demons captured and put to use by what was someday
going to become The Initiative. He managed to escape enslavement but you can
be sure that the boys in Washington were looking for him and watching him
when he popped up now and then. I'm sure that the American government
recorded every bit of the time they had Angel in their control. Angel
appeared on National and International TV when he cut the demon's mouth
open to end Jasmine's power. So that tipped off the government that he is
still around.
Then there's that research about opening Vampire's brains and sticking
things in them to try to control them, shades of a Chipped Spike and maybe
that's where The Initiative got the idea in the first place. Of course
Lawson couldn't believe that America could be capable of something like
that.
Now that we know that the American government is well aware of Angel and his
condition, I assume that they want him back in their control. Do you suppose
that the Ninja Cyborgs from *Lineage* were actually the results of the
experiments conducted by The Initiative on Riley and his friends plus the
experiment on Adam? That would make sense if our government was able to get
the Watchers records after the building blew up. Maybe a deal between
Britain and the USA made sometime during WWII.
At the end of the third act I was furious. How could they imply that Angel
lied to Darla in *The Trial*. That he didn't know how siring her while he
had a soul would affect her. But by the middle of the fourth act I realized
that Angel really didn't know. He never saw Lawson again after siring him so
couldn't know how his soul affected Lawson. Lawson even stated that he was
stuck between fully being an evil vampire and being a vampire with a soul.
I've never thought about someone being half-sired being stuck somewhere
between, more so than Angel feels stuck in-between. That Angel had given him
a part of Angel's soul but not enough. And that satisfied me.
The writers really did study the continuity. As I've said before, Angel
really does know many human languages and is fluent in them. I had always
thought he knew how to speak and read German. There is one exception - Angel
lied to Buffy. He has fed on a living human when he had a soul. I know he
did it for a good cause and Lawson was actually telling him to do it as he
was dying because he knew he could fix the engines if he had time, plus he
was still loyal to his country. Does it count as a lie if Angel only
half-turned Lawson?
We found out that Spike really couldn't sense Angel's soul. Wesley stated in
*Disharmony* that only a few vampires had that sense. So Spike in *School
Hard* really didn't know Angel wasn't Angelus. But Spike going along with
Angel(us) in order to get out of the situation was a bit OOC. After all, he
could have just opened to hatch anytime to get out of the sub. He doesn't
need to breath air. But I can understand him wanting the Americans to have
the sub after finding out what the SS was going to do to him and others like
him. He may be evil but he's still loyal to the crown. And that's a good way
for him to get vengeance on the Nazis.
I laughed out loud when the two older vampires knew who Angelus was but
couldn't understand why Angelus didn't know them. I've always wondered when
we would get to see some older vampires. They usually show us the newly
sired.
One thing I didn't like is not one word about Cordelia. Was there a memorial
service or funeral? Why is no-one mentioning her? Instead we got speculation
about Lindsey and Eve that could have been put in somewhere else like say,
the next episode.
A very enjoyable episode.
--
Best regards,
Linda
Mmmmmm......Angel
Iain Clark
<tafka...@nospam-spamfree.boltfree.net> wrote:
4.4 from me. A slight step down from the last couple of weeks, about
on a par with 5x07.
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At one point this looked like it might be as good as AYNOHYEB. As it
is, it quickly turned into a solid enough episode but far from an
absolute classic.
Still, I did like what we got. The atmospheric setting, the ties to
the Initiative (both at the start and in the attempts to put chips in
Vampires' brains. America got a lot of things from Nazi Germany, and
I find it darkly appropriate that this was one of them.)
Angel was broadly in character for a pre-1950's setting, although it
was a *slight* stretch that he would get so pro-actively involved in a
heroic mission, no matter what the coercion. Having said that, Angel
remains Angel though history. At times, withdrawn, denying his
humanity. At times, self-pitying. At times, a hero. I can believe
that what we see here, reluctantly. is a glimmer of the man he would
one day become. Mixed with a glimmer of the monster he once was.
Spike was worked into the scenario fairly nicely, although this is one
occasion where the episode could have worked perfectly well, and
perhaps better, without him. The writers trod a very fine line in not
having Spike realise that Angel was ensouled. He couldn't find out,
since he didn't know in School Hard during Buffy Season 2. They just
about pulled it off, but I could have done with Spike being a bit more
suspicious (and also a bit more vicious, although I suppose 'Angelus'
is essentially dominating him.)
Liked the Russian vampire (does he provide mild confirmation of
Buffy's theory about Rasputin being a vampire from Buffy Season 4?
<g>) I can't decide if the Nosferatu vamp was unforgivably silly, or
a nice touch. :-)
Ultimately Angel's decision to vamp Lawson was a tad rushed - not
quite as inevitable as it could have been. Also, it's a shame we
don't see more of the immediate impact of the decision on Angel. He's
so much in "grim, withdrawn, introvert" mode that I could have done
with seeing more of his conflicted feelings of guilt and remorse in
the days and weeks that followed.
We know of course that, if anything, he ended up even more of an
obsessive recluse, determined not to have anything to do with
humanity. I'm of mixed feelings about whether the events of this
episode make that scenario more, or less, likely. But I don't think
it really hurts.
I did like the ending. The idea that Lawson had been partly souled,
just enough to rob him of any satisfaction from killing, was
interesting. I also liked the idea that, just as when he was human,
it was his restless search for purpose that drove him to seek out
Angel once again. Good touch.
Overall, not quite the profound classic it was aiming for, but a very
respectable episode.
Iain
--
"Caught a bolt of lightning
Cursed the day he let it go"
Nadia
"Tafka" <tafka...@nospam-spamfree.boltfree.net> wrote in message
news:idhp20tq4oragujce...@4ax.com...
> Hey,
>
> I'm slack over in umta this week and I'm slacker here!
Tsk...
>
> BTW, I notice some people have voted for these episodes but aren't doing
> the UMTA thing... if you want to fill in the gaps (5x01-5x08, mostly) then
> go ahead.
I think I'm filling in my gaps. Again I enjoyed it. I think a nice solid 4
for this one - not a classic, but it didn't make me want to hurl the brick
at the TV...
Nadia