Well, I was fooled by recent episodes of both “Buffy” and “Angel.” Both did so with bad writing, but in one case, it was “bad” writing, and it was so “bad” it was good.
So Giles isn’t the First. Oookay. The problem is, I theorized he was the First because it was the best explanation for bad writing. Now it turns out he’s tangible. Which leaves us with no explanation as to why no one has touched him, or hugged him, or shaken his hand. No explanation as to why he didn’t try to haul Buffy out. What explanation do we have at present? Ha ha, got’cha, made you think he was the First. Problem is, it’s easy to fool people using bad writing. Is there some further twist? He’s not the First, but instead he’s…what? Giles, except he’s just been out of character for five weeks.
Once upon a time, BTVS would lead you to think one thing was going to happen, and then something else utterly unexpected does. In this case alert fans were led to believe Giles was the First, except actually he’s…not. If that’s where it’s left, then it was a pointless red herring for no reason other than to have a red herring. Which is pretty fishy.
Now “Angel,” on the other hand, continues to get it right. At the end of last week’s episode, I was furious to realize the previous 45 minutes had been mere hallucination. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized they’d played fair. Any number of times during the episode, I was amazed and annoyed how everything seemed to fall conveniently into place. I even thought at one point, “This is all too perfect” without once putting it together. Would I have accepted the notion that the Shaman could just have waved his hands and boom, Angel’s soul is gone? Sure. We all did in the 3rd season episode where Buffy and Angel hosed Faith. The fact that it was a hosing was beside the point. But the producers obviously want to stick to the Gypsy curse and maintain that *only* a moment of perfect happiness loses the soul. Okay, fair enough, especially since he’s never lost it any other way. And that being the case, the way they staged it was right on the money. What seemed to be bad writing as one convenient thing after another occurred, and each bit of character conflict was too tidily resolved, turned out to be a major “got’cha.” I admit it: I was had. Should’ve seen it coming; didn’t. Nicely done. Everything that “Buffy” does wrong, “Angel” does right.
If only the two series were produced by the same people…
By the way, this week’s episode–“Angelus of the Lambs”–absolutely rocked. When Cordy came downstairs, I was dying for Angelus to purr, “Hello, Clarice…”
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