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Wow, look at me, actually watching some Angel AND reviewing it! I figured it was about time. It's been about two years, which is VERY scary!
Couplet
Boring for the most part, though I loved Groo ending up looking just like Angel. (Hey, two Angels for the price of one – that can't be bad! *g*)
Five minutes from the end, it suddenly picked up, with Wesley warning Gunn to take care of Fred, and Angel's jealousy of Groo nobly giving away the credit for the victory over the stupid tree monster leading to him being noble too and telling them to go away together. And then the sweet scene with Angel realising he has Connor and the sinister look down at Wesley's translation of the prophecy – the father will kill the son. A great ending to a pretty crap episode.
Still, at least it doesn't have the annoying Justine in it, I guess.
Oh, I forgot, I did love the scene where Angel and Groo were patrolling the sewers and the demon they were chasing leapt out into the light, where only Groo could follow it. Poor Angel, forced to stay back in the shadows while Groo shone in the light.
6/10
Loyalty
Now, this one was a good one. Not one of the best, but it was a very entertaining script and it had Sahjhan in it, which is always good. He's one of the best characters ever, and I loved the way Lilah got to him, sussed out that he's scared. Which reminded that it's him who writes the prophecy, isn't it, and set me trying to work out what the hell was going on with that in this episode. Because I've always been confused by the prophecy which turns out to be false, and yet how can it be false when Wesley's got a supporting prophecy from a talking hamburger that mentions the portents that happen in this episode (earthquake, fire, blood)? It wasn't until I saw the very brief shot of Lilah smirking during the earthquake (and it's not very clear, because it's not a close-up and if I only just noticed it on my nice 32" flatscreen tv this time, no wonder I didn't on a smaller screen before!) that I realised that the whole earthquake must be engineered by Wolfram & Hart – that this must be what she was talking about when she told Sahjhan that her plan had already started. And therefore, presumably the talking hamburger was actually set up by W&H too. Which actually makes it even more funny because that then is Lilah having a laugh at Wesley's expense!
Anyway, I'm really chuffed with myself for finally having got that. It's only taken me 7 years.
Apart from that, the Fred and Gunn stuff was necessary, I suppose but kind of boring. The real star of this episode is Wesley. AD is such a fantastic actor. And this episode really built his growing sense of desperation – and of isolation because he's the only one who knows the prophecy – and then diffuses that near the end with him laughing with Angel because of course it's ridiculous, which then makes the cliffhanger ending even more scary. I have to admit, I was sorely tempted to go on and watch the next episode, because I can't remember how on earth that gets resolved!
I was a bit worried, though, that neither of them seemed particularly concerned about putting out the fire in Angel's room!
Oh, interesting glimpse of the real Lilah, there, on the phone with her mother, who's presumably in a nursing home and doesn't remember who Lilah is. Perhaps that mother is the reason Lilah turned to Wolfram & Hart?
7.5/10
NOTE: I don't tend to give episodes scores any more, especially with DW/TW, because it doesn't seem to work that way for me, but I started compiling reviews and scores for both Buffy and Angel so I've assigned these episodes scores and positioned them in my table of Angel episodes in order which one day may, you never know, be complete! *g*
Couplet
Boring for the most part, though I loved Groo ending up looking just like Angel. (Hey, two Angels for the price of one – that can't be bad! *g*)
Five minutes from the end, it suddenly picked up, with Wesley warning Gunn to take care of Fred, and Angel's jealousy of Groo nobly giving away the credit for the victory over the stupid tree monster leading to him being noble too and telling them to go away together. And then the sweet scene with Angel realising he has Connor and the sinister look down at Wesley's translation of the prophecy – the father will kill the son. A great ending to a pretty crap episode.
Still, at least it doesn't have the annoying Justine in it, I guess.
Oh, I forgot, I did love the scene where Angel and Groo were patrolling the sewers and the demon they were chasing leapt out into the light, where only Groo could follow it. Poor Angel, forced to stay back in the shadows while Groo shone in the light.
6/10
Loyalty
Now, this one was a good one. Not one of the best, but it was a very entertaining script and it had Sahjhan in it, which is always good. He's one of the best characters ever, and I loved the way Lilah got to him, sussed out that he's scared. Which reminded that it's him who writes the prophecy, isn't it, and set me trying to work out what the hell was going on with that in this episode. Because I've always been confused by the prophecy which turns out to be false, and yet how can it be false when Wesley's got a supporting prophecy from a talking hamburger that mentions the portents that happen in this episode (earthquake, fire, blood)? It wasn't until I saw the very brief shot of Lilah smirking during the earthquake (and it's not very clear, because it's not a close-up and if I only just noticed it on my nice 32" flatscreen tv this time, no wonder I didn't on a smaller screen before!) that I realised that the whole earthquake must be engineered by Wolfram & Hart – that this must be what she was talking about when she told Sahjhan that her plan had already started. And therefore, presumably the talking hamburger was actually set up by W&H too. Which actually makes it even more funny because that then is Lilah having a laugh at Wesley's expense!
Anyway, I'm really chuffed with myself for finally having got that. It's only taken me 7 years.
Apart from that, the Fred and Gunn stuff was necessary, I suppose but kind of boring. The real star of this episode is Wesley. AD is such a fantastic actor. And this episode really built his growing sense of desperation – and of isolation because he's the only one who knows the prophecy – and then diffuses that near the end with him laughing with Angel because of course it's ridiculous, which then makes the cliffhanger ending even more scary. I have to admit, I was sorely tempted to go on and watch the next episode, because I can't remember how on earth that gets resolved!
I was a bit worried, though, that neither of them seemed particularly concerned about putting out the fire in Angel's room!
Oh, interesting glimpse of the real Lilah, there, on the phone with her mother, who's presumably in a nursing home and doesn't remember who Lilah is. Perhaps that mother is the reason Lilah turned to Wolfram & Hart?
7.5/10
NOTE: I don't tend to give episodes scores any more, especially with DW/TW, because it doesn't seem to work that way for me, but I started compiling reviews and scores for both Buffy and Angel so I've assigned these episodes scores and positioned them in my table of Angel episodes in order which one day may, you never know, be complete! *g*
no subject
the real Lilah
But isn't it all the real Lilah? She's complicated and she has layers, which is no small thing in the realm of simple, one-dimensional evil (although, honestly, wasn't one of the best things about Angel the fact that it showed so clearly entertainingly that evil is never simple or one-dimensional?). But I'll grant you this --- having to take care of a mother is certainly solid grounds for becoming an attorney. Some (most) would say that's the same thing as turning to and embracing the dark side.
no subject
Denisoff plays tortured so beautifully
That he does. I wish I could fancy him more. I love the character of Wesley and I think AD is an amazing actor, and yet somehow I just can't get interested in reading or writing about him. :-(
But isn't it all the real Lilah? She's complicated and she has layers, which is no small thing in the realm of simple, one-dimensional evil
Oh, absolutely. Lilah is probably one of the most complex 'evil' characters ever (though I guess Angel himself would count up there too) and additionally one can never really know what's true and what's not about her. It's possible that even she doesn't know at this point, that almost everything she does is part of a role of one sort of another.
no subject
Very true.