Been a crazy few days, but finally I’m getting back in the rhythm of things. Herewith comments on last week’s Smallville and Angel, since I know you’ve all been waiting to read what I say so you can know what to think…
SMALLVILLE: A couple years ago I said, “Hey…what if Chloe, an aggressive reporter character, turns out to be Lois Lane. Maybe she invents the name for a byline for some reason.” And I was immediately told by a number of fans that, apparently in an episode I missed somewhere, it was established that Lois was Chloe’s cousin, so that wouldn’t happen. So imagine my demented giggling fits when Chloe talks about writing under the byline of her cousin, Lois, who has no interest in journalism at all.
Now does that make Chloe becoming Lois a slamdunk? No. Nothing’s predictable with “Smallville” (although I’d bet pretty heavily on Jonathan having a heart attack in the near future, ’cause that’s sure being talked about enough.) What it does seem to tie into, though, is the recurring theme of this season which appears to be identities. Everyone’s trying to figure out who they are in all sorts of ways, even moreso than previous seasons. Lana is seeking other avenues of romance; Clark acquires the glasses that will theoretically mask his identity (yeah, like that’s gonna work on Lex, Chloe, et al, but never mind) while his Kryptonian heritage simmers; Lex is literally searching for an entire piece of himself that’s been excised. And in this episode, the characters lose their identities entirely as they try to kill Chloe who is herself laying groundwork (if we take the developments as rote) that will form her own future identity of “Lois Lane,” Daily Planet reporter.
Perhaps that’s why Pete Ross has had short shrift this season. Pete is the character in the show with the most poorly defined identity. We have more of a sense of Adam Knight, the maybe Bruce Wayne, in two episodes than we do of Pete Ross after several years. He is the only one defined entirely by his relationship to Clark. Furthermore, there’s no aspect of his character that isn’t duplicated by someone else. A sounding board for Clark who knows his ID? Ma and Pa Kent. A fellow student? Lana. Someone involved with the newspaper? Chloe. Someone who’s been adversely affected by LutherCorp? Lex. A connection to law enforcement? The Sheriff. Someone to be taken prisoner so Clark can save them? Ma and Pa, Lana, Chloe, Lex. Thus far there’s nothing that’s uniquely his. No interests of his own, no storylines of his own. Maybe the reveal that his mother’s a judge (if it was brought up earlier, I missed it) will cause Pete to develop an interest in law. Or politics. That’d be cool. Either way, they’d have to play catch-up with him. I hope they do.
ANGEL: This was one of those episodes where I loved it while it was happening, and had several incredible jaw dropping moments (all involving Spike). And I loved the idea of Andrew showing up…loved it so much that it took me all the way to the end of the episode to realize that it really didn’t work. Andrew shouldn’t have shown up for the same reason that Ted Baxter wouldn’t have worked in a guest shot on “Lou Grant.” It’s too jarring. Too many things we’re being asked to swallow for reasons that are too obvious. Andrew’s lengthy expository speech underscored too many major problems. He had to make the speech for those people who might have started watching “Angel” and knew nothing about “BtVS” which is, okay, fair enough.
But are we actually supposed to believe that in six months, Angel and Co. have remained completely in the dark over the events of the Buffy season closer? This wasn’t a small scale event: Sunnydale was swallowed. With all the resources of Wolfram and Hart at his command, Angel wasn’t able to find out about the multiple slayers? He wasn’t able to contact Buffy? Giles? ANYone? Oh, but we’re told Buffy and Co. don’t trust him. Why is that, exactly? The last time Buffy saw Angel, they parted on good terms and, by the way, the resources of W&H provided the amulet that helped save the world. So in six months, Buffy couldn’t pick up the phone, call Angel and say, “Thanks for the amulet, we have a ton of slayers now, and by the way, tell me more about this whole W&H thing you got going.”
It’s annoying. It’s contrived. Almost as contrived as Andrew requiring W&H’s help until the 11th hour at which point he pulled a dozen slayers out of his ášš to be his back-up. If he had them handy, why in the world did he need W&H to go in and finish the job? He was worried a dozen slayers (armed with tranq guns, no less) couldn’t bring down one nutball slayer? Doesn’t sound like the world’s in such safe hands, does it.
I was really with the story until that end sequence when Andy’s Dandys showed up, and that whole “Buffy doesn’t trust you” speech, at which point the entire episode started to retroactively unravel for me. Which was very, VERY annoying.
I’m hoping for better things this week. Let’s just hope they don’t do something unfortunate like kill off Cordy.
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Roger Tang said:
“But how would Giles and the newly reformed Council know?”
Didn’t the make some calls to Giles et al once they realized she was a Slayer?
Hugh Mowen said:
“Dana was kidnapped and tortured years ago, the LAPD unable to find the guy yet Angel and co solve the case and guess what he died five years ago. And they do this how exactly?”
I’m assuming this has a lot to do with W&H’s psychics and perhaps thier “dirty dealings squad.”
RD Francis said:
“Yes, Xander might have been a better choice, but was Nicholas Brendan available/willing at the time?”
I think I heard from that ever dubious internet grapevine that Nick Brendon did ask if he could guest shot on “Angel” and actually got turned down. That seems odd, given that we are getting Buffy crossover people now. I mean, how cool would it be for an all BTVS cast intervention in the season finale trying to get Angel & Co out of W&H?
Then again, I’m still bummed Gellar didn’t show up for that tiny cameo that Buffy supposedly had a couple of weeks ago. What, you’re so busy you can’t do an hour or two for the guy/role who pretty much made you a star?
Not directly related, but anyone notice that Michelle Trachtenberg (sic) chose, for her post-BUFFY movie, the moronic-looking, t&a-filled, absolute-lowbrow EUROTRIP? While I haven’t seen the movie, the trailer featured these witty sources of comedy: a brother and sister accidentally making out; a French robot-artist getting kicked in the ‘nads; a “funny” guy-gets-tied-up scene reminding me of the trailer for TOMCATS; and ending with long, lingering, lecherous shots of a guy watching someone — perhaps Michelle – remove her sweatshirt in slo-mo to reveal a bikini top underneath.
Good choice, Michelle.
I think there’s something to that rumour. Nicholas Brendon has said publicly that he would do anything to stay associated with Mutant enemy.
Somewhere along the way Nick Brendon did something to annoy joss because something had to happen for them to just ignore this character.
Or maybe it’s just Joss and the writers have a habit of creating a teritery chacter and falling in love with it and over using it. I’m sure Tom lenk is a nice guy and all, but really i can’t stand Andrew.
This episode cried out for Xander really. he comes in trades barbs with Angel AND Spike and then at the end his sarcasm is revealed to be a very serious statement.
Then you probably could have rewritten the exposition so it fits a little better, maybe tailor it more to Lorne and fred who probably don’t quite understand about the slayer thing.
*sigh*
Josh: Pete will most likely be killed too.
Luigi Novi: Which would be yet another divergence from the comic, since we know he lives to adulthood therein.
red-Ricky: No one besides Adam knows what an IP address is?
Luigi Novi: Not impossible. Many people who use the Internet don’t know how it works, as well as many other modern technological conveniences.
red-Ricky: And my favorite… “Hey, Jonathan! Let’s open this e-mail together! It’s from Brainwave!” “Oh look, Martha! It has an attachment! I bet it’s something sweet and not a nasty virus!”
Luigi Novi: The email may have had instructions for her to get him to re-open it himself once she was “turned.”
Considering the story stems from a Buffy storyline, it makes sense a familiar Sunnydale resident appears in the episode to help the story along. Some might have been looking for Willow or Xander, but really who better than Andrew,
Like he said, Willow or Xander. Or Giles. Dawn. Robin Wood. Faith. Kennedy. That’s kind of the problem: When you have such a staggering list of people who would have made more sense, it makes the decision all the odder. Yes, I agree all the bits with him were funny. But you can’t ignore the common sense of the universe because, hey, we can have a lot of funny bits.
I suppose the thing that *so* torques me about the Buffy lack-of-trust thing is that she was just devastated toward the end of season 7 when her sister and supposed allies told her they had lost faith in her and didn’t trust her. If ANYONE should be willing to, at the very least, give Angel the benefit of the doubt (Angel, who has saved her on multiple occasions including, by the way, giving her the amulet that won the battle for them) it should be Buffy. Instead Andrew is sent with a “screw you”-gram?
And yes, I understand that everything from actors’ schedules to SMG passing on an “Angel” appearance has impact on story decisions. But in that case, you finesse your way around stuff by ignoring it if you have to; not go out of your way to justify absences by pummeling characterization, even when the character is off screen.
The only aspect of the snubbing that made sense to me was Giles thinking very little of Wes. Giles’ last impression of Wes was from the end of BtVS third season, back when Wes was a total git. Wes has changed a lot since then (getting your throat slit will do that to you.) But Giles wouldn’t know that.
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Hmm. I wonder how much (or what) Willow remembers about her guest shot last season? Depending on her memories post-Connor-Crisis, you’d think she might have mentioned to Giles at some point how much Wes had changed.
I think I may have figured out an in-story reason to send Andrew; picture a conference call among the Scoobies, sans Andrew. “OK, Angel and Co. are working for Wolfram and Hart. Willow, they called you in last year because they brought back Angelus. Can we be sure that Angelus isn’t back? [Nos all around]. So, we need to send someone to check things out. Who’s the most expendable? [chorus
of ANDREW!]”
Seriously, because of Angel being vulnerable to that curse, this is a valid reason for the Scoobies to keep something of a guard up about him constantly, and get more suspicious when he starts working for the forces of evil than, say, Xander. I do agree Xander would’ve
been a better choice as emissary than Andrew though.
As to SMG not appearing for the cameo in the dream sequence last week, let’s be realistic. Unless she’s right in town and has a spare day, the scene was too minor to go to any real bother. Heck, even if she was available, it’d somewhat cheapen her “return” since it was so minor. Besides, the scene wasn’t about Buffy; it was about Angel’s jealousy/insecurity with regards to Spike.
Re: Smallville: Interesting touch that Chloe’s supervisor at the Planet was named Taylor (even if it was Max instead of George). However, his death does leave an opening on the Planet staff, which will probably be filled by Perry White in future episodes.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this but I think Adam is a clone. He has no parents he spent months in rehab learning how to walk after being raised in some sort of gestation tank. He is pre-programed with skills and knowledge that he does not know where they came from. His background is vague as hëll and his name is ADAM duh!. I think this is the next step in the cloning process of the little girl from last year. For one last leap of faith if kryptonite or Clarks DNA were used in the process Adam could turn out to be Bizzaro. Or who knows he could just be Bruce Wayne.
ANGEL: If you look at the timeline, everything in this episode happens in a couple of hours. Dana escapes the asylum, Angel learns she is a slayer, he calls Giles, He drives back to W&H and Andrew is all-ready there. Conclusion: Andrew is in LA all the time. He was sent because he was the closest person they could send.
Thematically, it made perfect sense to send Andrew. The theme of the episode was the responsibility of evil, and the responsibility of redemption, and I think the last scene encapsulated that. This theme was not only evident in Spike and Angel, but in Dana and Andrew as well. I mean let’s face it peeps, Dana killed a hëll of a lot of innocents. And last time we left Andrew, he was all guilty over Anya’s death and just beginning to feel remorse for his past actions.
Why didn’t they send Willow? Her “redemption” was complete, as was Faith’s; those characters got their closure at the end of Buffy, with Faith becoming all Genral Slayer and learning to trust and laugh, and Willow helping empower women. Andrew was only halfway there. And Giles, ever the Mentor, sent Andrew into a situation where he could appreciate the grayness of the events, and perhaps grow from them (in one scene, he was screaming like a little girl, and in a later one, he was bravely facing Dana with a tranq gun, the kid has grown). Giles, Xander and Robin would have pulled too much dramatic tension away from the central arc of the episode due to their past histories with Angel and Spike, and most if not all of the cast were involved either in their own TV shows or plays (ASH) to make time. Also, the dramatic tension is increased as Angel and Spike (and the fans)only hear second-hand information about those they care about, making their if and when appearances much more satisfying for fans like us. Also, with a shortage of Watchers in the world, Giles needs all the help he can get, and Andrew is a veritable genius, has profound knowledge of the occult, and has field experience that is extremely valuable despite his annoyingness (which only endears him more in my opinion). let’s face it, Wes was the Council’s last choice for a Slayer Watcher and he lacked that very important final component. As for Andrew arriving in L.A. so fast, Willow could have teleported him and the Slayers, or Andrew could have been rounding up newly activated girls and was in the neighborhood, at which point W&H
could have sent a plane for him, which is another reason his 12 Slyaers might not have been able to help as they were on their way.
Buffy not trusting Angel makes perfect sense to me character and storywise; Angel and Spike have both expressed that they want to let Buffy enjoy her “normalcy” now, thereby not taking actions, which seems to me to be a theme of the show this season, which Angel becoming more and more confused about which actions to take. And the fact that Angel deduced so quickly that Dana was a Slayer shows that he was aware of that as a possibility, and therefore knew a little about what happened. I think the real test for him was whether he would hand Dana over to Andrew or not, seeing as Buffy felt she had a responsibility for Dana’s actions to a degree, and Angel should have known how Buffy likes to handle her responsibilities.
I’m taking a number of things that Andrew said in the episode with a grain of salt. He’s never been well known for telling the truth and Watchers dole out honesty like water in a desert. It’s possible that this is a set up for something to come though I have to admit that maybe wishful thinking on my part.
I think the episode shows that Angel did already know about the multiple slayers. He figures out that the escaped woman is a Slayer, and given the mayhem caused as she escapes, she’s obviously not simply a Potential. When Andrew arrives, Angel allows Andrew to go through the whole speech because while HE knows it all already, Fred, Lorne and Gunn obviously don’t. Angel had previously shown he didn’t talk much about his little trip to the Buffy series finale much to his crew. Andrew was sent as opposed to any of the others because he was in the area, whereas so many of the other characters were elsewhere doing something important. And while the new Watcher’s Council is trying to get it’s feet on the ground, searching for and training Slayers, it doesn’t have the resources for a comprehensive manhunt in a place like LA, while W&H does. So they use Angel. I’ve got no problem with Buffy not fully trusting Angel right now. She probably knows he isn’t Angelus, Willow could fairly easily confirm that much information. However, he’s walking a mighty fine line.
ANGEL: Perhaps the episode was written for Xander; it kind of makes sense that way. Since Nicholas Brendan is shooting a mid-season comedy, though, chances are he wasn’t available anyway.
As far as SMALLVILLE goes, forgetting about the Adam name, I’ve been wondering if instead of Batman, he is in fact Mon-el. Possible?
SMALLVILLE: The Chloe as Lois thing makes no sense. It’s not like the Lois we all know for her to have had a crush on Clark Kent. She was always the person who blew the country boy Clark away when he first saw her.
The *only* way I could see this working would be for Chloe to attend college overseas or something, change her name to Lois Lane officially (because Chloe is pretty goofy) and return to the Daily Planet with a new hairdo (black) and an even more aggressive attitude.
Ultimately, though, I doubt that’s the case because DC plans on introducing the Chloe Sullivan character into the comics.
ANGEL: See, I have no problem with Angel running Wolfram and Hart. He’s about defying expectations. He’s a vampire with a soul. He works with a demon. He works with a failed Watcher. Unlike Buffy, he was able to save Faith(*because* he knew what it was like to be a killer).
Not trusting him because he works for W&H makes as much sense as people not trusting Wesley because he worked for Angel.
And, yes, this episode screamed for Xander (who I always assumed would become a Watcher, once Dawn jinxed him with the “you see things” comment). Andrew should be in jail — not just for Jonathan but because of his assistance in the murder of an innocent woman.
Smallville:
When I saw the “Brainwave” e-mail, I could only think of Hector Hammond with his orange jumpsuit & big ol’ conehead helmet with the jetson-style plastic rings. What a Mort! *Sigh* I miss the Silver Age.
Is there anyone on either show who shouldn’t be in jail at this point? The characters have committed a staggering amount of computer crime, breaking & entering and trespassing, after all.
The review of “Angel” shows so many signs of a late-arrival to a story that has been unfolding for many seasons on multiple networks.
While you noted some amazing moments, your interpretation is far off base.
Essentially, the salient points to this season revolve around The Amulet and it’s origin and purpose; Angel and Co. think they are on a path to undermine W&H yet those of us who’ve watched since the first episodes know that someone else is directing W&H and Angel. The cost of hiding Connor’s identity came at a price as yet unknown, even if Angel thinks he knows that price.
Also, regarding Andrew and the Slayers — early this season mention was made of how the events in Sunnydale had altered the Slayer system and that the Watchers were undone. There are obviously many more ramifications to Buffy’s sharing of power! Should it all be dished out in one easy-to-swallow episode??
In the Buffyverse, a large gap exists between Buffy’s time and the arrival of Fray.
And for Andrew to be the one to put down Angel as unreliable was a moment for Angel’s character to again encounter his enormous failures – Angel is not coping with his actions, whether from outside influences or not remains unknown.
Whedon’s writers seldom reveal all their plans to spoon-feed critics — each season has carefully unfolded, even those seasons when the networks were vague about the future of the Whedon series.
Yes, I expect Cordelia to echo the fact that W&H have led Angel to abandon his path — since she was one of the few he trusted, perhaps it will provide a catalyst.
Last week’s episode made the mystery a little deeper.
I also liked the take that a Slayer was kidnapped and terrorized by some crazed serial killer and had to have help – BUT
who knows her real origin?? Is she really a Slayer? Maybe that was why W&H were needed to locate her – and if Spike is more the hero than Angel, then perhaps she was used to try and take him out of the picture.
You folks can’t seem to see the forest for the trees!
Andrew is a veritable genius, has profound knowledge of the occult
Has Andrew ever demonstrated this supposed knowledge? Warren was always the real the brains of the three geeks (why someone who could build perfect, realistic, humanoid robots would waste his time trying to take over Sunnydale instead of filing the appropriate patents and just plain BUYING Sunnydale with royalties from the IPO on Fembots Inc. is another question entirely). Andrew was, at best, a side man. And it’s not like he did anything intelligent (or useful, or interesting, or amusing) during Season 7 of Buffy…
I couldn’t agree with Chris more: Andrew and Warren. Andrew was pretty much just a flunky. Warren was the evil genius.
As for his not patenting his realistic robots, well, he was emotionally stunted — he wanted to be a super villain.
I’m not sure how I feel about the Chloe-using-Lois’s-name thing, since either of the two ways they could take it would make no sense.
They could either have Chloe *become* Lois Lane, which would make no sense because she already has a cousin using that very name. Could you imagine if your cousin starting publishing under your name and became one of the world’s most respected journalists? Wouldn’t that make you a little uncomfortable?
Or Chloe’s cousin, the real Lois Lane, could be the Lois Lane from the comics, but that would be even more uncomfortable, since that would mean she would achieve the success her cousin always dreamed of. Chloe would have nothing while her cousin has a few Pulitzers and the love of Clark Kent. Ouch. That’d be enough to send Chloe to that loony bin with Johnathan Taylor Thomas and the Electro Man.
The only way I can see for the writers to dig themselves out of this problem is if Chloe actually dies…and somehow inspires her cousin to become a journalist, or something. I’m not sure how that would work, but Chloe can’t become Lois and Lois can’t be Lois either as is.
And has anybody else noticed how Clark has stopped showing an interest in writing? I know he’s been busy with some other stuff, but what happened to his love of writing and journalism?
Maybe *he’ll* become Lois Lane!
Regarding Angel: I had hoped that Andrew’s appearance would have shown some growth in his character since last year, but all that really changed in him was his hairstyle. I agree with the consensus that Xander would have been a better choice for this role, even though his pulling a fast one on Angel would have been less of a surprise. Xander never got along with either Wes or Angel or Spike, so instead of being annoying, they’d be real tension. While I think Xander is also being groomed for joining the Watcher council, it’s irritating to here about it only in an offhand manner.
Andrew was used this week becaue Whedon and the other producers have a bizarre fascination with this geek. Maybe Giles sent him to get rid of him for a few days or maybe this was Andrew’s big chance to prove himself worthy of becoming a watcher. Either way, he was just plain irritating until the very last scene when he finally showed some backbone.
Plus, you know Xander would have asked about Cordy.
As for the slayer-squad, I suspect that Andrew was sent as the advance man to find out what was going on at W&H The slayer squad was sent later, once Andrew reported on the goings on at the law firm.
Someone asked if Giles and Buffy knew it was a slayer when they sent Andrew. The answer is yes, that’s why Angel called Giles in the first place.
What really ruinned this episode for me, though, was how heavily landen it was with exposition. Angel knew how to get in touch with Giles, but not about the multiple slayers (even though Spike was THERE!), so we get a summary on the slayer legend. Later, Andrew rattles off where all the Scoobies went. He sounded like giving a laundry list. This is despite the fact that Angel said in an earlier episode that he knew Buffy was in Europe.
This whole episode hinges on the idea that despite the amulet and Spike’s return and what had to be numerous reports of super-strong girls around the world, there has been no communication between the two camps for the past nine months. It doesn’t work.
One interesting thing: Angel continues to find himself in the middle. He’s got evil clients and evil employees to contend with as well as people on the outside conspiring against him (Lindsey, the roboninjas, and now the Scoobies).
I’m hoping that next episode sheds more light on the situation. Will Cordy still have visions when she awakens? Are the powers that be still out there trying to influence events? Is Lindsey really working for them is that a con?
Regarding Smallvile:
Ninja fighting girls, yay!! That scene was so great, I didn’t mind Lana’s miraculous recovery from having her leg broken in three places.
Seriously, I still don’t believe that Chloe is going to become Lois. In fact, I think she’s the strongest candidate to die at the end of the show’s run since she’s not part of the comic book mythos.
Maybe she will inspire her cousin to become a reporter. It’s a shame, I still root for her to have some happiness, but I don’t see it coming for her.
Regarding Andrew’s new “look”: several reviews have said it was quasi-Doctor Who-like, but to me he was a dead ringer for how David Warner was dressed as Jack the Ripper (even down to the floppy hair) at the end of “Time After Time” (1979). Did anyone else notice this or am I just obsessed about this excellent Nicholas Meyer movie?
Smallville:
I think Adam is really Linda Danvers.
I haven’t read the whole thread yet, so if this has been mentioned, my bad.
Why do people keep saying Andrew assisted in Tara’s murder? I can understand why Willow thought that, since she was bad with grief. But if you saw those episodes, you know that he was in jail at the time, and was just as surprised as anyone that Warren had done that.
I think people are referring to the murder of Warren’s ex, not Tara. Andrew probably would qualify as an accessory there. (Of course, Buffy was also an accessory to the death of the Assistant Mayor, and no one’s beating the drum for her being in jail for that…)
Not Tara’s murder, brentac, but Katrina’s. (I think that was Warren’s ex’s name)
Also, notice how they say the amulet Spike wound up unsing in “Chosen” showed up mysteriously in an envelope? And then, the episode where Eve and Lindsay turn Spike corporeal starts with a mysterious envelope?
I think maybe the post office is the real culprit here… Ðámņ you Cliff Clavin, dámņ you to hëll!
Re: Why Warren didn’t do Fembots, Inc. I’ve heard the theory that all of the super-villain style tech the Troika used would only work within a certain distance of the Hellmouth, as consciously or not it was influenced/affected by said Hellmouth.
And has anybody else noticed how Clark has stopped showing an interest in writing? I know he’s been busy with some other stuff, but what happened to his love of writing and journalism?
Hëll’s bells, I’m still wondering why none of these supposed high school students ever seem to go to class!
Clark is always off saving people, Chloe is the prodigy reporter, and Lana is always running the coffee shop. About once an episode, we get a hallway scene to give them the feel of being in school, but that’s it. Maybe that’s why we rarely see Pete anymore. He’s busy taking chemistry notes for everyone else.
the body wasn’t found by the cops
Ok, my apologies if this was already addressed, I’m a loser and didn’t read all the comments, but can you honestly tell me that the cops didn’t ‘find’ the headless corpse at the mental hospital? Or the poor dockworker? Or that the storeworker with a broken arm didn’t want to make a statement? Or that the ‘presumably’ dead cop at the store didn’t warrant a little notice? Did she eat all these people or something?
Unless a witness talked, W&H “Cleanup Crews” probably handled it, including Cops and the like that are actually on the W&H payroll…At least that’s my take on it Rogue
The “police” and the “official” authorities could never handle something like that, so it falls on those who also work outside the law (or from within it) to take care of it. L.A. may be bigger than Sunnydale, but they still fall to prey to the whole “the mind makes up it’s own rational explanation for the supernatural” vibe from BtVS…
I liked this Angel episode mainly because it helped us see more of Angel’s point of view on the whole WRH mess. We’ve had fun cheering on Spike because of his Devil-may-care attitude–but that same attitude almost got him killed and I think he now has a greater appreciation of Angel’s position. Now Spike is beginning to see the pain and anguish he caused pre-soul; he gave lip service to it before and he is trying to be heroic and helpful–but now he really understands the pain mere mortals can suffer and how one who could fight back truly felt about being a victim. Angel realized that Spike had gotten a lesson beaten into him and there was zero hint of “I told you so” but instead a huge hint of caring big brother. I really liked seeing that.
Angel and Spike earned each other’s respect in the episode and I hope to see less of them sniping at each other and more building of grudging admiration for each others position/opinions and finally them working together.
Smallville, on the other hand, has made a mockery of all that is Superman. Others (on another chat board) have pointed this out better, but I agree: who is left in the Supermythos who hasn’t been trashed? Perry, a (reformed?) drunk due to the golden influence of Clark? (This Clark???) Shouldn’t Perry be one of Clark’s inspirations? (I’m generously assuming that Clark even likes to read, let alone has an interest in journalism.) A Lois who doesn’t like journalism? So much for her influence on our (former addict, individual crime-wave, wild boy) Clark. Miss Pink, Lana Lang? I don’t wish her ill but I do wish she’d, um, move away, far, far away. Maybe she’ll hear Hollywood calling (she might hear it when sitting on the water tower to the west of Smallville; she can likely see California from there). Mr. Invisible, Pete Ross? He’s the most genuine character in the show–so naturally he gets almost zero air time.
So kudos to Angel for more character definition for Angel and Spike as well as helping us see more of the overall arc (and Andrew was funny, too, his presence also defining the arc even if it was awkward to some).
Smallville? What a boring disastrous waste of time and money (and for a few of the actors, talent). The only good thing about Smallville is the scathingly funny reviews anti-fans write of it 🙂
ANGEL: Well, I’m with Mia and the reviewer from Cityofangel.com…I thought (and hubby John thought) it was a spectacular episode. The showdown between Andrew and the Slayers and the Fang Gang was there to especially reinforce the question: “Just whose side is the “new” Wolfman & Hart fighting on?” The issues of trust, of good vs. evil, of black and white and shades of gray are, I believe, the themes of this season’s ANGEL. (I am believing, more and more, that Lindsey is not the evil guy, but that he is working to stop the “fall” of Angel and the Fang Gang. (Did you come to same conclusion, Peter? I seem to remember reading that somewhere…was it your post?)
As for Andrew himself, well, I do have to admit that I was EXTREMELY disappointed when he survived and Jonathan didn’t. I would have preferred seeing Jonathan survive–he was geeky enough to make the LOTR references (and btw, who else here thought that Andrew, with his new haircut, looked like Merry?) and I also think that Jonathan becoming a Watcher would have been a nice coda to the episode where he magically made himself a “Superstar.”
Ah, well.
At any rate, I give “Damage” a 10.
Mindy
Re: Angel.
After thinking it over for a while, it occurred to me that Andrew has always been pretty disconnected from reality. And extremely prone to, well, make stuff up.
In earlier scenes, it seems like Andrew has lost some of the emotional progress he made in Buffy’s last season. (Yeah, like there was much to begin with.) I find it very plausible that he could also be backsliding in the area of compulsive lying.
Of course, true or not, it may have been exactly what Angel needed to hear…
– DB Bennett
1-Now Smallville: one thing that bugged me from the moment it became apparent that Clark was hypnotized to kill Chloe is why didn’t he use his powers to do it? We know from Lana’s case that the instructions weren’t specific as to the method to be used, just “Kill Chloe”.– Josh
The “real” answer is that a truck chase that slowly unravels in order to reveal Clark as the culprit, just as we cut to the opening credits, is more dramatic. And if the writers blow Clark’s secret… What will Chloe do the rest of the season?(Make out with Pete?)
Besides, if I were to have Clark go crazy and shoot fireballs through his eyes at someone… Who better than Lana?
Anyways, the comicbook letter page answer to your question would be that Clark is “hardwired” not to use his powers to kill people, the same as Chloe was “hardwired” not to kill herself.
But you know, continuity being what it is now-a-days, you can expect that Clark (or Red Klark) will kill someone sooner or later.
red-Ricky: No one besides Adam knows what an IP address is?
Luigi Novi: Not impossible. Many people who use the Internet don’t know how it works, as well as many other modern technological conveniences.
Agreed. It’s just that I found Lana’s questioning annoying as hëll. And out of all the conversations I’ve had about IP addresses (with Parents, friends, co-workers and teachers), no one has ever asked how I know this… Nor would I care to recount how I was part of the Al Gore newbie/elder gopher purge of early 90’s; or how I witnessed the Great PAD/ChuckG Flamewar (The Mother of all Flames!)
Anyways, if it were up to me, I’d change Adam’s answer to “the Internet”.
Adam, where did you learn about IP addresses? …The Internet.
And Martial Arts? …The Internet.
And how to scale walls? …The Internet.
And how to throw Batarangs? …The Internet.
And how to do the Batusi? …The Internet.
Luigi Novi: The email may have had instructions for her to get him to re-open it himself once she was “turned.”
I thought the program would delete itself once executed. In any case, that wasn’t a big turn off either. I just wanted to poke some fun at the fact that no one thought they could get a nasty virus through an unsolicited e-mail. I bet Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of our time, would’ve screened his e-mails for spam.
Anyways,
I didn’t mind Jonathan grabbing some Green K and putting Clark in his place. In fact, I’ve been waiting for this since last year’s season finale. (Makes you wonder if Jonathan’s pact with Jor-El was necessary at all.)
One final Note:
I think that Chloe’s comment about Lois Lane was just a joke and nothing more. I don’t think she’ll grow up to be Lois or get upset that her cousin stole her high-school sweetheart or won a pulitzer. Besides, no one besides Chloe can do ten or eleven back ground checks in a week. If you ask me, she has a bright future in today’s HomeLand Security Department. Hëll, she could even end up getting a cabinet position as Luthor’s head of the FBI.
Stand aside Mulder, here comes Chloe!
Sorry to intrude with an off-topic post, but it’s at least vaguely relevant.
My wife and I actually missed last week’s Angel owing to a VCR screw-up, and no local friends have a tape we could borrow.
Anyone happen to have a tape they’re willing to lend out? If so, e-mail me: I’ll happy pay round-trip postage and all that.
Thanks,
TWL
Can’t wait for the round-up on tonight’s Angel and the promo for next week’s…
I dislike the idea of Chloe ‘becoming’ Lois, Clark’s future love interest, especially since there’s already been enough references to her cousin, Lois Lane. I can’t think of a way for Clark to just not know that she’s actually his friend Chloe from Smallville. I haven’t actually watched any of the third season yet, but Chloe doesn’t seem too happy with Clark at the end of the second anyway.
As a side note, I’ve always wondered how morbid Chloe would get when her dream boyfriend falls for her cousin… Still, that would be more plausible in the long run, I think.
I have not seen this episdode and living in England I probably won’t do for some time.
Right with that out of the way can I just say that I find Andrew the most annoying character of all time. Mostly because he reinforces the idea that anyone with even a passing intrest in Sci-fi is weird and a geek. Maybe some people find this funny but I just find it annoying, irriating and most of all just plain BORING!