Angelus pulls a Hannibal Lecter!
Missed last week’s episode, but it doesn’t look like there’s much of a gap there. And, actually, not much happens this week except a lot of wary circling, planning and complications. I was a little annoyed at how easily they’re letting Angelus get to them, but otherwise it’s one of those situations where you honestly can’t see how anything’s going to go seriously wrong, even though you know it HAS to…
You know damn well it is my job to make threads for each episode.
Um…no…
Come on, it’s the guy’s reason to live.
Ok, type “Angel” in the search. Then change to “Look in Subject Only”.
I rest my case.
You’re kidding, right?
About as much as you like Steely Dan.
Then this is the saddest thing ever.
Well, you are the one who read and posted about it. I can live my life the way I want to.
*sighs*
Well, OK…I just thought that, y’know, since I’d SEEN the episode, I’d start a discussion…I didn’t realize I was violating union rules.
Kickass.
*Spoilerish*
Had a feeling for some time now that Cordy isn’t quite Cordy…or not at all. Watch her expressions during the one two shots
*end spoilerette*
Good ending.
Angelus hopefully remains that way till reinstatement of equilibrium many episodes away. Think they’ve been building towards this from the beginning of this season. Lots of possibilities from hereon end.
Back to what the thread should be about now:
Minor spoilers (mostly just plot points)
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The episode, like last night’s Buffy, is a disappointment (but not quite as much as Buffy). The majority of the show is spent with Angelus behind bars, with the gang interrogating him, Silence of the Lambs style. It’s very dark, and somewhat drags as Angelus tries to corrupt the Angel gang, by… insulting them? And the biggest problem is that the majority of these insults come off as two elementary school boys bickering in the school yard (“You smell like pee.” "You were born from your mom’s butt!"
. It all comes off really flat and very badly written.
Another problem I had was with Boreanaz. I’ve never really liked him as an actor, and I find that it takes him a while to get into a role before feeling comfortable with it. In the first few episodes of Buffy, he’s just really awful, and ackward in the part of Angel, but then he soon found his footing. Then, the Angelus stuff begins on Buffy, and he reverts to a lousy actor, but once more, a few episodes with that role, and he seems to be confortable adapting that change in character. Well, since he hasn’t played Angelus in a while now, he seems to have lost the touch once more, and I give him 2-3 more episodes before I actually find him decent in the role again.
L.A. being overrun by vampires due to the blockage of the sun (it takes a while to adjust to the events of last episode that did not actually happen), and they do a good job of creating an atmosphere where the city is just being taken over by the vamps, kind of like what Stephen King did with Salem’s Lot. There’s just a really good sense that the human population is decreasing, while the vampire activity is definitely on the rise.
And there’s a twist ending that’s just completely useless, and unless they do a good job of explaining it in the near future, could be one of the lamest plot points I’ve witnessed on TV all season long.
Spoilerish, but not really
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I have to agree with the captain on this one. While the episode had it’s moments it was very slow moving and the only real plot development comes in the form of yet another cliffhanger type ending. I swear this whole season could be reduced to just the first and last two minutes of each episode and you would understand the entire plot just as well as if you had watched them as a whole.
Also, the entire Wesley/Gunn/Fred triangle is so juvenial it is riduculous. I’m not sure where it would fit better: a bad latin soap opera or a highschool cafateria. And they really ham it up this week. You would think Cordilia would give her “Get over it” speech one more time.
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Cool, this episode was directed by Sean Astin.
From Devin’s interview with Sean Astin:
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| Q: What episode is that? Astin: The episode of Angel is called “Soulless.” I felt like I had arrived! I was driving onto the Paramount lot and I was a director. When we would go on location before I would get there I would see this huge line of trucks and this catering tent and I would look at the slate and it would say “Director Sean Astin,” and I would be, “Wow, cool.” But it was hard! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It’s a very specific challenge, directing episodic television. I was fortunate enough to, right after Lord of the Rings, observe Alex Graves on West Wing for a week, and to observe Alan Ball for a week on Six Feet Under, and to observe Richard Lewis on CSI. So I literally just say there on the set watching these directors work, and trying to get to know the Powers That Be on the shows so that I could maybe get a slot. It’s a very unique beast. It’s not like what Peter Jackson was able to do in terms of creating his vision. You have to synthesize 37 different personalities and attitudes. I thought of it like Green Mile, remember Michael Clark Duncan, when he would sort of suck the cancer out of somebody and kind of blow it off. I had to suck all the disparate feelings from all these different people and then get rid of it and allow them to do their work. It was a fascinating challenge, and I look forward to doing more of that. Q: How was that episode to shoot? Astin: It’s a good episode. I’m nervous about what to say about it because, it isn’t the highest ranking show, it’s lower in the ratings, but it has a very loyal coterie of followers on the Internet and they want to know what happens next. It was a great episode, where Angelus factors prominently. Q: When does the episode air? Astin: February sweeps, I think. |
Funnily enough, it looks like Angelus is imitating an Evil Clone of Sean Astin…
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| Coyote starts over from Square One.: Funnily enough, it looks like Angelus is imitating an Evil Clone of Sean Astin… |
I love the fact that Astin directed this.
I thought it was ok. Just like Buffy last night.
He mentioned Faith. That’s good.
I think this episode could have been covered in the first 30 minutes of a regular episode and not a full hour.
I noticed the “Sean Astin” credit, and just assumed it was someone different. Kind of a weird thing to do as a vanity side project, but hey, cool.
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| The Prankster: Kind of a weird thing to do as a vanity side project, but hey, cool. |
Actually I don’t think it was a vanity side project. He’s directed before on an episode of Perversion of Science and Kangaroo Court.
He also did a voice in Kingdom Hearts from what I heard. =)
PEACE OUT!
Not very eventful, but its great to see Boreanaz playing Angelus again. Its like he becomes a completely different person, who I in no way recognize as the guy who plays Angel.