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A very mediocre episode of Buffy, and a brilliant one of Angel.
Wrecked
Well, better than Wrecked but by no means spectacular. It was still a bit ploddy, but at least it had some humour in it. The bits with Spike were hilarious, especially the waggling ear! Everyone did a great job of acting with invisible Buffy but I think James Masters had rather more to do than everyone else! And the invisible fight at the end was really funny, because you could imagine it all in your head but your brain told you it was actually just an empty room with the camera moving about. Great stuff!
I liked Buffy’s hair, makes her look a lot younger and cuter.
Spike was very menacing in the scene where he comes to retrieve his lighter. Scenes like this really do make the most of the chemistry between JM and SMG. Watching with hindsight, though, I did enjoy a little chuckle at the supposedly ‘all-seeing’ Xander’s reaction to catching them together: “Never gonna happen!”
Nice to see some more of Xander this episode.
The part I really didn’t like was the way the Social Services were portrayed. Fair enough, Buffy (and the others) would hate someone interfering in their lives like that but the social worker had a real point. Quite apart from all the abnormal magicky, vampiry stuff going on in Dawn’s life, the gang really haven’t come anywhere close giving her anything approaching a normal, structured life and it’s Social Services’ duty to do something about that. I thought the “haunting” of the social worker was very unfair and set a bad example to viewers, especially as Buffy was not punished in any way for it, i.e. what she did was not shown to be wrong.
On the other hand, at least we finally have Buffy facing up to her life and responsibilities, and wanting to get on with life again. (For the moment, anyway.)
The geeks were actually funnier this week, I thought, and more interesting with the growth of the undercurrent of Warren actually being far more evil than the other two, i.e. actually prepared to kill Buffy, while Jonathan’s shocked at that and Andrew couldn’t care less as long as he’s with Warren.
Oh, and I loved Buffy whistling Going Through The Motions.
6/10
Birthday
This has always been one of my favourites – I adore “what if” stories. And though there’s just a bit too much of Saint Cordy (for me) in the idea that successful, movie-star Cordelia would still move into helping people, I do agree she’s curious enough to follow up the lead and once there would certainly help. Whether she’d kiss Angel or not – whether she’d feel for him so much if she hadn’t seen him since Sunnydale…I don’t know if that’s so believable, really. But I like the idea of her ending up at Angel Investigations whatever.
Anyway, to the episode.
So many good bits. Cordy performing her award acceptance speech to Fred, dressed in clothes filthy from scrubbing the floor. The birthday cake with Wonderwoman on (!) and Cordy making a wish – hadn’t noticed that before – wonder if she wished for the visions to go, or the visions to stop hurting her? Cordy pretending to decide between gifts and baby and “Take the baby!” – because she’s having a vision, not because she wants gifts (the latest ‘no, it’s a vision’ joke). Amazing that Cordelia is ‘dead’ by the end of the teaser. It’s a long teaser.
Then all the revelation – wonderful. Cordy waking up out of her body. Lorne walking through her. The revelation that Cordy is in fact a good actor, because she’s been hiding the effects of the visions from everyone. Phantom Dennis in his party hat. Gunn going through Cordy’s underwear. Cordy just trying to tell everyone about the girl in her vision. Cordy taking over Angel’s body.
Some of the cutting between shots in these early bits is rather clumsy, so that it’s unusually obvious it’s a different take from what you’ve just been watching. Maybe they were short of time for shooting or maybe it was the difficulties of having to use a double for Cordelia.
Skip’s entrance: scary to fool you, which works despite ‘That Vision Thing’. Skip, in general. His statement that people’s astral selves are normally idealised versions of themselves (“You’re pretty confident, aren’t you?”). Doyle. Tammy, with the back of her head blown out (her ‘Cockney’ accent is terrible, though!). Angel going to the Conduit to the PTB – and don’t those voices sound like the voices of the Oracles from S1? Nice touch. And I loved the way Skip only showed her the bit where Angel said she was too weak for the visions, ‘skipping’ (sorry) the bits where he said she was a hero. The video of the party and Oliver bumping into Cordy not Angel. Cordy’s “They can do that? Turn back time?” and Skip’s “They don’t go for that – much.”
Lorne’s fact-finding mission and his “I can’t talk about it. No, I really can’t talk about it. Didn’t say I couldn’t write it, though.”
Cordy the star. Love the credits sequence for her show. Love her sycophantic PA (though he was rather annoying). Strange that the Hyperion is still actively a hotel in this reality; I don’t see why Cordy being a star should affect that! The bit with her peeling off the wallpaper is a bit silly, too, as it shouldn’t come off that easily and cleanly!
The weirdness of Cordy the star visiting Cynthia, and Cynthia’s ‘by the way’ pentagram. Gunn and one-armed, battle-scarred Wesley barging in. Wesley’s arm having been the fault of a Kungai demon – presumably the one he was hunting back in Parting Gifts – maybe in this reality he didn’t fall in with Angel quite as soon due to the lack of Cordelia’s influence? Gunn snickering over the idea of Cordy and Wesley having dated. Wesley’s “Much as I’m enjoying this forced death march down memory lane…”
Angel. (I assume this bit is at Wesley’s apartment, as it’s obviously not the Hyperion.) Wesley’s “Sometimes he sends us out to save people he killed 200 years ago.” God.
The kiss still feels unnatural and strained. But I guess it had to happen for plot purposes. I love the way everything freezes at that point. Cordy’s “Demonise me already.” Waking up and checking for horns (ooh, that reminds me of Buffy in Earshot). The vision no-one realises she’s having because she’s not screaming in pain, and the levitation. Nice, light-hearted ending.
This is an inspired script, in turns funny, scary, dramatic and poignant. One of the very best of Angel.
9.5/10
Wrecked
Well, better than Wrecked but by no means spectacular. It was still a bit ploddy, but at least it had some humour in it. The bits with Spike were hilarious, especially the waggling ear! Everyone did a great job of acting with invisible Buffy but I think James Masters had rather more to do than everyone else! And the invisible fight at the end was really funny, because you could imagine it all in your head but your brain told you it was actually just an empty room with the camera moving about. Great stuff!
I liked Buffy’s hair, makes her look a lot younger and cuter.
Spike was very menacing in the scene where he comes to retrieve his lighter. Scenes like this really do make the most of the chemistry between JM and SMG. Watching with hindsight, though, I did enjoy a little chuckle at the supposedly ‘all-seeing’ Xander’s reaction to catching them together: “Never gonna happen!”
Nice to see some more of Xander this episode.
The part I really didn’t like was the way the Social Services were portrayed. Fair enough, Buffy (and the others) would hate someone interfering in their lives like that but the social worker had a real point. Quite apart from all the abnormal magicky, vampiry stuff going on in Dawn’s life, the gang really haven’t come anywhere close giving her anything approaching a normal, structured life and it’s Social Services’ duty to do something about that. I thought the “haunting” of the social worker was very unfair and set a bad example to viewers, especially as Buffy was not punished in any way for it, i.e. what she did was not shown to be wrong.
On the other hand, at least we finally have Buffy facing up to her life and responsibilities, and wanting to get on with life again. (For the moment, anyway.)
The geeks were actually funnier this week, I thought, and more interesting with the growth of the undercurrent of Warren actually being far more evil than the other two, i.e. actually prepared to kill Buffy, while Jonathan’s shocked at that and Andrew couldn’t care less as long as he’s with Warren.
Oh, and I loved Buffy whistling Going Through The Motions.
6/10
Birthday
This has always been one of my favourites – I adore “what if” stories. And though there’s just a bit too much of Saint Cordy (for me) in the idea that successful, movie-star Cordelia would still move into helping people, I do agree she’s curious enough to follow up the lead and once there would certainly help. Whether she’d kiss Angel or not – whether she’d feel for him so much if she hadn’t seen him since Sunnydale…I don’t know if that’s so believable, really. But I like the idea of her ending up at Angel Investigations whatever.
Anyway, to the episode.
So many good bits. Cordy performing her award acceptance speech to Fred, dressed in clothes filthy from scrubbing the floor. The birthday cake with Wonderwoman on (!) and Cordy making a wish – hadn’t noticed that before – wonder if she wished for the visions to go, or the visions to stop hurting her? Cordy pretending to decide between gifts and baby and “Take the baby!” – because she’s having a vision, not because she wants gifts (the latest ‘no, it’s a vision’ joke). Amazing that Cordelia is ‘dead’ by the end of the teaser. It’s a long teaser.
Then all the revelation – wonderful. Cordy waking up out of her body. Lorne walking through her. The revelation that Cordy is in fact a good actor, because she’s been hiding the effects of the visions from everyone. Phantom Dennis in his party hat. Gunn going through Cordy’s underwear. Cordy just trying to tell everyone about the girl in her vision. Cordy taking over Angel’s body.
Some of the cutting between shots in these early bits is rather clumsy, so that it’s unusually obvious it’s a different take from what you’ve just been watching. Maybe they were short of time for shooting or maybe it was the difficulties of having to use a double for Cordelia.
Skip’s entrance: scary to fool you, which works despite ‘That Vision Thing’. Skip, in general. His statement that people’s astral selves are normally idealised versions of themselves (“You’re pretty confident, aren’t you?”). Doyle. Tammy, with the back of her head blown out (her ‘Cockney’ accent is terrible, though!). Angel going to the Conduit to the PTB – and don’t those voices sound like the voices of the Oracles from S1? Nice touch. And I loved the way Skip only showed her the bit where Angel said she was too weak for the visions, ‘skipping’ (sorry) the bits where he said she was a hero. The video of the party and Oliver bumping into Cordy not Angel. Cordy’s “They can do that? Turn back time?” and Skip’s “They don’t go for that – much.”
Lorne’s fact-finding mission and his “I can’t talk about it. No, I really can’t talk about it. Didn’t say I couldn’t write it, though.”
Cordy the star. Love the credits sequence for her show. Love her sycophantic PA (though he was rather annoying). Strange that the Hyperion is still actively a hotel in this reality; I don’t see why Cordy being a star should affect that! The bit with her peeling off the wallpaper is a bit silly, too, as it shouldn’t come off that easily and cleanly!
The weirdness of Cordy the star visiting Cynthia, and Cynthia’s ‘by the way’ pentagram. Gunn and one-armed, battle-scarred Wesley barging in. Wesley’s arm having been the fault of a Kungai demon – presumably the one he was hunting back in Parting Gifts – maybe in this reality he didn’t fall in with Angel quite as soon due to the lack of Cordelia’s influence? Gunn snickering over the idea of Cordy and Wesley having dated. Wesley’s “Much as I’m enjoying this forced death march down memory lane…”
Angel. (I assume this bit is at Wesley’s apartment, as it’s obviously not the Hyperion.) Wesley’s “Sometimes he sends us out to save people he killed 200 years ago.” God.
The kiss still feels unnatural and strained. But I guess it had to happen for plot purposes. I love the way everything freezes at that point. Cordy’s “Demonise me already.” Waking up and checking for horns (ooh, that reminds me of Buffy in Earshot). The vision no-one realises she’s having because she’s not screaming in pain, and the levitation. Nice, light-hearted ending.
This is an inspired script, in turns funny, scary, dramatic and poignant. One of the very best of Angel.
9.5/10