Angel ep by ep; rewatch and reviews

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by saturn5, Jun 28, 2010.

  1. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    With my thanks to Boo who allowed me to adapt his/her review format used in the Buffy rewatch and Keith Topping's excellent fan books Slayer and Hollywood Vampire for inspiration;

    City of Angels

    The Good;

    Impressive opening scenes, funny yet moving. Love Angel choosing the wrong car and very suprising that he doesn't save the girl, at least not the guest star (they use the same time difference trick as they did in Helpless to convince you he will). Especially loved him killing Winters at the end, real vicious stick it in and break it off revenge, great stunt, great effect. Cordy realising that Winter's is a vamp and him initally denying it is also fun.

    The Bad;
    If Winters had all this security at his House how can Angel just walk into his office?


    Best line:
    Angel; Can you fly?


    Jeez, how did they get away with that?

    Winters killing the heroine is very brutal. Also the whole sugardaddy/casting couch scenario shows the stark reality behind the Hollywood glamour.

    Apocalypses: 4

    Angel Cliches

    Damsel in distress; 1

    Inverting the Hollywood cliche; Doyle rams the gates of the Winter's mansion but they seem suprisingly resilient. Also Angel fails to save the girl.

    In disguise; Angel does his rube in the big city act for the first time

    DB get's his shirt off; in order to allow Doyle and Cordy to remove the bullets. Yeah, right!

    Fang Gang in bondage: no but he knocks out and ties up the guard at the mansion
    Cordy: 5
    Angel: 4
    Wes: 1

    Fang gang knocked out: no but Angel knocks out about 4 guys
    Cordy: 6
    Angel: 6
    Wes: 1

    Kills:
    Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, � a demon from her time in Sunnydale
    Angel: kills 4 vamps in the opening episode which is remarkable as according to Boo's figures he only killed 3 in the whole 3 seasons of Buffy. So that gives Angel 7 vamps, 1 demon, 1 human.

    Fang Gang go evil:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 1

    Alternate Fang Gang:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 3


    Characters killed:

    2; Tina and her missing friend Denise (offscreen)

    Total number of Angel Investigations:
    3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy

    Angel Investigations shot:
    Angel: 4, pumped full of lead by Winter's bodyguards


    Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
    Cordy: 1?
    Angel: 1;Buffy

    Kinky dinky:

    Tina appears to be Winter's kept woman. She describes him as 'liking pain' (his own or other peoples?). Cordy also considers him for a sugardaddy much the same as she'll consider doing later to David Nabbit. Tina offers herself to Angel as a reward for saving her but like the white knight he is he gently turns her down.

    Captain Subtext;

    Oliver at the party considers Angel a 'beautiful man' but only on a professional basis, he's currently in a long term relationship with a landscape gardener. 'Drunk' Angel also gives the appearance of hitting on the guy in the bar.

    Questions and observations;

    Doyle drinks Colt .45 beer, the equivalent of Tennants Extra in the UK, pretty much in keeping with the down at heel nature of his character. First appearance of Lindsey, he and Angel are the only characters who appear in both the first and last eps of the series. Angel goes all Punisher finding his way to Winters, not hesitating to beat and threaten his way to his goal. The series already appearing much darker and more adult than Buffy. Angel's narration is similar to Angelus' in Passion and Whistler's in Becoming. It's also reminiscent of the noir crime fiction set in LA, could easily be the The Black Dahalia or LA Confidential or Chinatown. When I first saw this I wasn't sure if Winters was a vamp or not, the vamp makeup is subtly different but will eventually fall back into resembling that on Buffy once more. Angel was in Montanna during the depression, maybe Spike's line about vampire cowboy wasn't too far off the mark? Angel tells Cordy there's no cure for vamparism but we'll actually find 3 in the first season alone. Cordy refers to Angel having never developed an investment portfolio but he must get money from somewhere, he seems very well to do. The money he and Darla stole from their victims or does he just have loads of bank accounts with 200 years of interest to collect, much like Highlander Angel shows some knowledge of explosives which he'll also use in Dad but according to the dialogue he's seen 14 wars and Vietnam in his time. Nice crossover when he phones Buffy in Sunnydale.

    Marks out of 10; 6/10 good beginning but not compared to the heights Angel will eventually soar to.
     
  2. ToddKent

    ToddKent Captain Captain

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    Cool. I was hoping you'd do an Angel thread to go along with your Buffy one. I've been doing a re-watch as well (although I'm a little ahead of you).

    I've always wondered about this. He had an apartment in Sunnydale and seems to be renting a lot of space in LA. I wish they had addressed his money situation at some point (before he started charging his clients).
     
  3. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Maybe The Powers That Be set up a trust fund for him. :p
     
  4. ToddKent

    ToddKent Captain Captain

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    Also, regarding the first episode, when I re-watched it recently I noticed that one of the vampires that Angel kills in the first scene was Sawyer from Lost. I really don't think I've ever seen him in anything else.

    In hindsight they should have cast him as an attorney at WR&H with Jin and Bernard.
     
  5. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Yeah, I noticed Sawyer when I rewatched Angel's pilot a few months ago. I love spotting that kind of stuff.
     
  6. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    Damn, I'm going to have to re-watch that now. Never noticed!

    Although, Josh Holloway is in Command & Conquer 3.
     
  7. Nick Ryder

    Nick Ryder Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Well I think Angel probably had money stashed all over the place. Not tons of cash, but enough to keep him going for a while. Possibly even antiques that he sells here and there. I mean, hell, he could have a stack of Action Comics from the 1930s that he sells here and there for quick money.
     
  8. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    mmmm... angel.
    i will be following this thread!
     
  9. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    People have said that to me before although I never watched Lost so I'll have to take their word for it. Angel must have money, I mean he's got that big bag of it stashed in the Hyperion in 'Are you now or ever have been?'. I figure his tramp phase was self loathing rather than inflicted via poverty
     
  10. Skellington

    Skellington Part-time poltergeist Rear Admiral

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    Keith Topping - Now there's a blast from the past. He used to write for a magazine called (if I remember correctly) TV Zone, where he would review episodes oof Angel and typicaally give them either 8/10, 9/10 or 10/10. He even referred to himself once as the "king of hyperbole".:)
     
  11. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Not a Fury are you?;) Yeah Keith Toppings books are pretty good but I felt the need to do my own.

    Lonely Heart

    The Good;

    Angel on the singles scene is a joy to behold, another commentary on the reality if life in LA. And Kate!

    The Bad;
    The nightclub actually seems quite hip and not 'stuck in the 80s', better than Henry's.


    Best line:

    Kate; You can go to hell!
    Angel; Been there, done that


    Jeez, how did they get away with that?

    Can you say 'eviscerated'? The nasty has some obvious influence from the Aliens series and some obvious influence from a very bad film called The Hidden which Kyle Maclachlan made before he got famous.

    Apocalypses: 4

    Angel Cliches

    Damsel in distress; nope, still 1

    Inverting the Hollywood cliche; we think there's a male killer picking in helpless females but that's not the case. Also Angel tries to use his grappling hook only to pull the beam down

    In disguise; no but he poses as a vet which Fred will also pick as a job for him in Dad

    DB get's his shirt off; not this time so that makes 1

    Fang Gang in bondage: no although Kate tries to handcuff Angel
    Cordy: 5
    Angel: 4
    Wes: 1

    Fang gang knocked out: no but Kate is
    Cordy: 6
    Angel: 6
    Wes: 1

    Kills:
    Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale
    Angel: 1 demon for Angel. So that gives Angel 7 vamps, 2 demons, 1 human.

    Fang Gang go evil:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 1

    Alternate Fang Gang:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 3

    Characters killed: 7 including a couple offscreen

    Total; 9

    Total number of Angel Investigations:
    3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy

    Angel Investigations shot: no although Kate shoots at Angel, shoots the lock out with her backup gun and shoots the bartender at the end.
    Angel: 4,

    Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
    Cordy: 1?
    Angel: 1;Buffy

    Kinky dinky:

    On a scale of one to incredible exactly how gorgeous is Kate? No shortage of beautiful women in the Buffy/Angelverse but even so! Hard to imagine her in a cop's uniform (although I'm sure many have with the fanfic to prove it). Only in LA could the character of Sharon be called 'dowdy'. Now, of course this ep was originally known as Corrupt and was much darker in tone. It concentrated largely on Kate who was posing undercover as a prostitute but had gotten too far into her role and was actually having sex with her clients (sounds like the plot of some late night Channel 5 film, 'Undercover Heat' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114786/). The studio said no and the series is probably the better for it (although we still have an oblique reference to sexual dysfunction). Unfortunately this meant we lost this rumoured scene.

    Cordy (posing as a streetwalker, approaching a group of hookers on a corner) "Hello fellow prostitutes, how's tricks?"

    Hooker; Bitch! If you're living the life I'm Julia Roberts!"

    Even so she's still mistaken for a prostitute at the club and will interview a bunch of them in Carpe Noctem. Presumably the scene in the opening titles with the lovely girl in the bikini top getting into the sports car also comes from this sequence. Angel also get's propositioned by a girl who get's turned on by him hitting people. Doyle examines one of Cordy's bras which she thinks is 'So high school'. Kate refers to herself as a 'self flagellating drunken slut'. Doyle uses internet porn. Cordy and Doyle slumber on each other's shoulder.

    Captain Subtext;

    For the second time in 2 eps Angel is mistaken for hitting on a guy in a bar. Cordy also says she's a student of humanity and can tell one of the clubbers is a 'closet dyke'. Weird she never twigged Willow, huh?

    Questions and observations;

    The guy who is the third victim says he was a real 'something is out there' geek, a reference to the X-files I almost missed. There's also 'High school's over' which might be a oblique ref to Buffy. Angel sitting alone in the dark rather reminds me of how we first see Bruce Wayne in Batman Returns. Angel muses how different the dating scene is to when he was Liam, small town boy getting used to the big city.

    Marks out of 5; 3/5 good ep but Angel still dealing with the case of the week
     
  12. I am not Spock

    I am not Spock Commodore Commodore

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    Angel season one was good, but as with Buffy, it was mostly just standalone eps, with the real cream of the crop coming along in later seasons.
     
  13. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    no, but it is a favorite scene of mine. i can't tell you how many times i've dreamed a trio of furies would say "mmmmm.... mal" :evil: that would be shiny :techman:


    Kate: the other hot Lockley!
     
  14. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Oh yeah! Anyone got the pic of Traci as the holowhore from River of Souls?
     
  15. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    Jan 26, 2005
    no, but i just noticed something amazing

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    i'll be in my bunk.
     
  16. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Apr 2, 2010
  17. Mal

    Mal Commodore Commodore

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    Jan 26, 2005
    wes?
     
  18. Skellington

    Skellington Part-time poltergeist Rear Admiral

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  19. mimic

    mimic Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My parents are watching Angel for the first time after seeing all of Buffy...I made them hold off on Angel because with a few exceptions the crossovers are pretty minor and it's kind of annoying to alternate. It'll probably be a bit of a shock for them to see original recipe Spike and Oz again. :bolian:
     
  20. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I envy your folks to be able to watch the whole series fresh. And yes I included Wes although I know he's not in it yet.

    In the dark

    The Good;
    Spike mocking Angel is excellent, lovely to see Oz and a great rescue and final battle at the pier. Nice end coda too. The Cordy/Oz/Angel scenes are hysterical, as Willow observes both she and Buffy know the love of 2 taciturn men.
    The Bad;
    Very little, strong ep. Boy Spike is dumb but funnily so. Everyone at the pier seems to take the 2 guys jumping off the end on fire very calmly.

    Best line:
    Doyle (to Angel); Long time between sunsets huh?

    Jeez, how did they get away with that?
    Well, Angel get's tortured to nearly death for the majority of the episode. Spike also hints that Marcus has an interest in the kids beyond just eating them. Reputedly this is the ep that got the Angel season 1 dvd boxset an 18 rating in the UK. I don't disagree but what makes this worse than 'Hellbound' which only got a 15 rating?

    Apocalypses: 4
    Angel Cliches
    Damsel in distress; yep, that makes 2
    Inverting the Hollywood cliche; rather than play the unbreakable tough guy Angel admits that with a little more torture he'd have told Marcus everything. Cordy notes the Gem isn't in the freezer or toilet tank as it would be in the movies.
    In disguise; no
    DB get's his shirt off; no but we get some torso action, Marcus commenting he has 'little external damage'.

    Fang Gang in bondage: yep, Angel for virtually the whole ep
    Cordy: 5
    Angel: 5
    Wes: 1

    Fang gang knocked out:
    Cordy: 6
    Angel: 6
    Wes: 1

    Kills:
    Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale
    Angel: Another vamp for Angel. So that gives Angel 8 vamps, 2 demons, 1 human.

    Fang Gang go evil:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 1

    Alternate Fang Gang:
    Cordy: 1
    Angel: 3

    Characters killed: only Marcus
    9;

    Total number of Angel Investigations:
    3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy

    Angel Investigations shot: no
    Angel: 4,

    Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
    Cordy: 1?
    Angel: 1;Buffy

    Kinky dinky:
    Spike refers to Buffy as 'slutty the vampire slayer' and teases Angel over Buffy's affair with Parker.
    Captain Subtext;
    Spike's speech on Angel is full of homophobia. He also asks if Angel and Marcus would like to be alone when running his hands over Angel's naked torso. Spike comments that Buffy is 'cute when she's hurting', you wonder did he always have a thing for her? Such a shame we never get to meet Doyle's wonderfully named friend 'Frankie Tripod'.
    Buffy characters appearing in Angel; (unless someone can correct me no original Angel character ever appears on Buffy?)
    4; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike
    Questions and observations;
    Why does Angel grab his neck when Marcus puts the chain around it? Surely he doesn't breathe? Marcus wears glasses which presumably like Dalton in Buffy are for sentimental reasons. Doyle has read Angela's Ashes and it reduces him to tears (the novel focuses on the shiftless father so it may appeal to Doyle who never knew his). Angel once again beats his way to what he wants, without Buffy's influence he tends to be a lot more brutal. It's a great performance from Kevin West who is a very familar face on TV (although I thought he was in Scrubs and Ally McBeal but he isn't, that's Robert Clendenin another actor with a similar look). Marcus wears a Bond style Nehru jacket. Angel knows Doyle's mother. This is Angel investigations first walk-in client and her problem for once is just a very human jerk ex-boyfriend rather than anything Supernatural. Ok so the ring makes vamps unkillable, even if you cut their heads' off?
    Marks out of 10; 6/10