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shadowkatWell I took the bull by the horns so to speak and posted the first 15 pages of my ATS ranking meme, goes up to episode 12, on atpo board. Might do 13-22 at a later date. Depends on the responses. Very interesting exercise by the way - tells you a lot about the series and how the writers construct it thematically. [And wouldn't you know it? I screwed up. I flipped That Vision Thing with That Old Gange of Mine - which is the hard part of this whole ranking game. Ack! Thanks go to the poster on ASSB who spotted it. Certainly explains why Gang and Vision didn't quite fit in the categories I attempted to place them in. Also the nice thing about LJ - I can edit! Damn posting boards - can't edit at a later date. Oh tried to edit on ATPO but still screwed it up, I give up.)
The Angel The Series Ranking Episode Game/Meme
To make the game a little more interesting, since the series is still going and hasn’t ended? I’ve decided to add another layer to the game – that layer is – what do the episodes have in common? What episode in each section best handles/expands/builds upon the themes expressed? Or for that matter furthers the characters emotional arc? How is the writer building the characters’ arcs structurally through these episodes? This is the really challenging part of the meme and while I think I do a decent job with it, I feel as if I’m missing something in each category – so anyone who’s interested in putting their two cents in? Please do!
My ATS ranking choices and analysis on what each episode has in common besides where they fall in the series and what if anything the writer’s intent might have been regarding that group of episodes. Only got up to episode 12, if there’s interest – I’ll do 13-22 as well.
Episode 1: City of ..s2 Judgement, s3 Heartthrob, s4 Deep Down, s5 Conviction
What the episodes have in common? Each episode examines Angel’s state of mind at the beginning of the arc and how he views his situation and the supporting characters with him. What he views their roles to be and their relationship to him. Each episode builds on the idea of feeling uncertain about your place in everything or a lack of conviction.
City of …starts things out with Angel getting drunk in a bar, contemplating the end of a relationship and trying to find the strength to go forward – when he meets Doyle and then Cordelia who are also in LA searching for a purpose – they find it through Doyle’s visions which assist Angel in saving Cordelia’s life.
Judgment – Angel, Cordelia and Wes believe they’ve found their purpose – that it is to do enough hero deeds so that Angel becomes human, they’ll use the visions as their guide. Unfortunately the visions mislead them and Angel kills a demon championing a pregnant woman who’s on trial. Angel takes the demon’s place as her champion, discovering that the visions aren’t always the best guide.
Heartthrob deals with Angel’s uncertainty regarding his feelings or the lack thereof for Buffy’s death. His old comrade James is so torn up about his lover, Elizabeth’s demise that he literally has his heart torn out. But Angel feels nothing, he’s okay and this bothers him and he’s wondering about his purpose about the meaning of his life, now Buffy’s gone – Cordelia tells him the meaning hasn’t changed, it’s still about helping others and grieving for Buffy, dying for Buffy isn’t what she would have wanted nor does it prove his love for her. Passion or “passionate conviction” in something can lead you to seeing a far too narrow view, you lack perspective, as James did regarding Elizabeth or even Angel’s relationship with Darla, seeing love as only being possible if you were passionate about and could not live without the other person. (ie. Too Much Conviction)
Deep Down takes the idea of hunting meaning in your life and examining your role and your desires to an even deeper level psychologically, where we see Angel lying beneath the ocean dreaming of his family and simultaneously of destroying it. Every time Angel grasps hold of something with any sense of conviction – it floats away. The MC Escher perspective.
Finally we have Conviction – the title giving voice to the themes of all the episodes preceding it in this category. Except here Angel seems certain – he’s not asking advice from his comrades – not really – he takes action. Yet, within the episode we see how everyone is being pulled by external strings, including Angel himself, and just as he is giving a speech to his comrades about how they can handle anything that pops up and they’ll do it one step at a time, up pops something Angel can’t begin to handle – Spike.
The other thing these episodes have in common is they all set up Angel’s ship or feature relationship – in City of…it’s the ghost of Buffy and Kate. In Judgment – it’s Darla who appears at the very end. In Heartthrob – it is Cordelia and baby Connor. In Deep Down – it’s Connor. In Conviction? It’s Spike.
Best? Deep Down S4 – why? Because of the tight plotting, the wonderful twists and turns, the noir themes, and the wonderful visual metaphors. This episode furthered each character, took each to a dark place, which was examined in greater detail as the season unraveled. Deep Down also depicts Angel’s fractured state of mind visually – through his dreams. The other four episodes don’t quite take us that far inside Angel. In this episode we see the duality Angel is constantly struggling with – a duality he later describes as an MC Escher perspective. Also Angel’s dreams foreshadow what happens during the season as each of his worst fears come to life.
Worst? Judgment. Just for bringing the word “champion” into the series lexicon. Also somewhat cheesy plot set up. An episode that even though I’ve seen it a couple of times, I keep forgetting. Judgment thematically is a confusing episode. Heartthrob and Conviction do a far better job of setting up Angel’s ennui or uncertainty about his mission. City of , even though at this point in the series I think the writers were planning a more stand-a-lone, anthology like format, does a decent job of showing us how Angel’s sort of lost his way again and needs someone to nudge him in the right direction. Judgment appears to be attempting the opposite – showing us an Angel who appears to be more certain – I’m going after the shanshue, I’m saving whomever the visions tell me to save to get it – only to discover he’s killed the wrong person. This would be wonderful – except for one problem – instead of having someone else save the damsel, Angel gets to be her champion and gets points for doing it, which sort of unravels everything interesting about the episode. It does set the stage for Angel’s eventual downward slide, but it does it choppily. Conviction, while also cheesy in places, is smoother – and the metaphor in Conviction of the son being the vessel containing world destruction – is a wonderful way of commenting on Connor without mentioning him directly. Unlike Judgment, Conviction improves upon re-watching.
Episode 2: s1Lonely Hearts, s2 Are You Now…s3 That Vision Thing, s4 Ground State, s5 Just Rewards.
What all the episodes have in common? This time, the theme is how we relate to those around us? Do we trust them? Can we trust and depend upon them? How important is our ability to connect to others? Angel is the ultimate in the disconnect, an outsider of both demon and human worlds because of what he is. These episodes deal with how important it is for him to connect to those around him.
Lonely Hearts is about the attempt to connect through sex – but only feeling more disconnected or becoming a parasite feeding on the physical connection not the emotional one. It’s also about trusting strangers in the most intimate fashion – only to have them betray you.
Are You Now is also about trusting strangers and being betrayed and how distrust can lead to paranoia – again there’s a parasite, but this time it’s feeding off of this emotion.
That Vision Thing is about Cordelia wondering if she can trust the Powers who gave her the visions. It's the classic dilemma - what happens when you learn that the visions you thought were from god, may be from some nasty shaman down the street? The question of trusting the higher power and with it your own calling. Cordy begins to question her own role. She has faith, but her faith is put into question and the writers are asking - what happens if faith turns you into a puppet to anyone's manipulations? Can we trust in it?
Ground State comments on Lonely Hearts – we’re back to the personal – one to one connection – where just connecting with someone on an emotional and physical level can be destructive to them – something Angel fears, because when he does it – he loses his soul. When Gwen - the supercharged thief does it – she electrocutes the individual, re-starting Angel’s heart and stopping Gunn’s.
Just Rewards comments on both threads –trust/paranoia and the need for emotional/physical connection. Through the ghostly Spike – we see how both threads interact. No one in AI trusts Spike, they want to get rid of him and we are lead to believe he like the characters in all the episodes before him, will betray the AI team, especially Angel, to get what he wants. Spike meanwhile wants physical and emotional connection more than anything else – something Angel is somewhat afraid of and keeps at arms length. The villain in Just Rewards – is a type of conduit – he connects the demons to the humans by providing them with a human shell to animate. They have to trust him to do it. Angel defeats the villain by trusting Spike to inhabit the villain and break the villain’s power over Angel. It’s Angel’s ability to trust Spike and Spike’s ability to reward that trust that wins the day.
Best? Just Rewards , does it in the most entertaining way. It establishes the Spike/Angel relationship out of the box. It also does a good job of exploring trust issues in relationships. How do you trust someone who once tortured you? Who you are jealous of and know is jealous of you? Someone you’ve known almost forever, and know what he is capable of ? Is it even wise to do so? This episode also does an interesting job with the metaphor of being a puppet. Throughout the episode we’re mislead into seeing Spike as the potential puppet, yet in reality the only one in danger of being a puppet is Angel – to the PTB, to W&H, to his own desires. A theme that will continue to be explored throughout the season and better yet refers to all the seasons before it including episodes in BTVS. Nice use of the supporting characters as well – everyone is well-utilized. Enjoyable upon more than one watching. While I enjoyed Ground State, which does an excellent job of showing how being superhuman can disconnect you – it was uneven in places, specifically regarding Cordelia story line. Also a tad cliché on the superhuman bit. I did like how Gwen’s inability to touch and Gunn’s involvement with that is revisited in the later episode Players. Tough choice but going with the one that made me laugh.
Are You Now is the episode I’m sure most people will pick – not to be contrary, but I’ve never much liked Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (the full phrase by the way is “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Communist Sympathizer” taken from the McCarthy hearings…where many Hollywood writers, directors, and filmmakers got banned – Arthur Miller refers to it in his play The Crucible, Jack Finney discusses it in Invasion of The Body Snatchers, and Rod Serling deals with it in The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, I think Hollywood is still obsessed with this topic.) I’ve tried to like Are You Now, because disliking it is a bit like disliking Casablanca to Angel fans for some reason. But it bores me. I basically knew the entire story the moment I met the woman in the hotel. I think the reason for this is that I’ve seen the same story done many times before – the tale of the person hunting a fugitive, everyone has a secret but is afraid of being caught, all feel guilty, but also justified in keeping their secrets – so to survive they find a scapegoat and that person gets lynched. Are You Now discusses the repercussions of distrusting your neighbor and paranoia on a grand scale, showing how the paranoia makes us a demon’s puppets. Just Rewards, on the other hand – brings the story closer to home, it’s less about the big theme or moral and more about the characters inter-relationships, more about the issue of trust on a much more visceral level – which is far more interesting and far less predictable or obvious in its answers than the mob mentality tale. To be fair? I was never overly fond of Rod Serling’s The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street either – it too seemed to be more about the theme of paranoia than about the human characters. Yet it is admittedly well done and possibly the best version of this next to the 1950s film version of Finny’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Perhaps my difficulty is with the morality play structure itself – I don’t like being preached too, or told what the moral lesson is – I like being told a story and somehow coming up with my own conclusions. Just Rewards for me at least seemed to do this – it examined the characters, the moral, if there was one, I found for myself.
Worst? Lonely Hearts - Lonely Hearts is least memorable of an incredible bunch and does little to further character, spending far more time on the somewhat cliché metaphor of sexual parasites.
Episode 3: s1 In the Dark, s2 First Impression, s3 That Old Gang of Mine, S4 The House Always Wins, S5 Unleashed.
What they all have in common? Each deals with the idea of who we are, what makes us who we and how we handle that. Each episode also has some sort of device – which would make things better – a temptation. A mirage if you like – a mirage that you want so badly you might sell anything for it, but you buy into the mirage and you lose everything. In In The Dark – it’s the vampire equivalent of the holy grail – the gem of amarra. In First Impression – it’s the kid who seems weak and easily defeated and appears to worship Gunn – in reality the kid’s the monster, in That Old Gange of Mine it's the temptation to rejoin the old gang, the human gang - which seems noble and heroic but has become monsterous while the demon, you're working with, is actually more human - so your stuck, unable to go back to that glorious past (which wasn't that glorious) and stumble onwards in your new group of friends, in House Always Wins – it’s the temptation to interfere with someone else’s path – to make it better, and finally in Unleashed – it’s the beautiful girl who is also a deadly monster, the romantic view Angel has that his two sides really are separate and manageable and that he has a tight family unit – just as Nina, the werewolf girl does.
Unleashed in a way comments on all the others – it discusses the romantic view of life – the idea of a life in the sun that the gem provides (In The Dark), the impression of hero-worshipping kid (First Impressions), the human gang of glory fighters, the gang you formed (That Old Gang of Mine), the concept of gambling for a better life or destiny because the one you have isn’t good enough – or the idea that you can make someone’s life better and give them their destiny (another somewhat egotistical view of heroism – which may comment on the one shown in That Old Gang of Mine?) (House Always Wins), and finally the idea that the monster won’t destroy your family and you aren’t responsible for the inner beast (Unleashed).
Best? Ugh! It was easier when That Vision Thing was here. Okay...The House Always Wins because it does the metaphor the best - with the temptation to interfer and give someone back their destiny. In The Dark and First Impressions were the most enjoyable but a tad clunky metaphor wise. Geeze - episode 3 seems to be a weak category for ATS doesn't it?The House Always Wins – clunky as it is, does a far better job with the metaphor of Angel as a puppet to external forces and his own desires. The temptation in House is also far more interesting and less obvious, since it is Cordelia’s temptation to interfere – she saves the day, but by doing so, may actually be opening the door to Jasmine. Also the scenes with Wes/Lilah and Connor have energy to them – that the supporting character scenes in Unleashed somehow lack.
Worst? Unleashed - nothing redeeming here. The conflict is a bit obvious and has been done better elsewhere in the series – the maiden who becomes a monster and struggles with the dark part of herself. Yes, the dinner party sequence is wonderfully twisted and there’s a hint at darkness to come, but no guarantee. Exploitive and cliché with the girl werewolf in places. Direction isn’t bad. Script? Dull.
4. s1 I fall to Pieces, s2 Untouched, s3 Carpe Noctem, S4 Slouching Towards Bethlehem, s5 Hellbound.
What do they have in common? Each episode deals with our own worst impulses and how those impulses can take control over us – so that they are our master and not the other way around. The idea of “will” and “control”.
I Fall To Pieces starts things off with a person who has found a way to control every piece of his anatomy with his mind and uses this ability to control another human being by stalking her and threatening her. In Untouched – a telekinetic, who was molested as a child, loses control of her power – it is all controlled by her emotions and pain, others attempt to harness it by controlling those emotions. Carpe Noctem – deals with a man who can switch bodies with others, forcing them to occupy his aging one until he sucks theirs dry. Slouching Towards Bethlehem is about Cordelia’s loss of memory – without our memories, what motivates us, she is controlled by her perceptions and desires, yet, we later learn she is also being manipulated by a higher being who is using her impulses and weaknesses against her. Hellbound – comments on the previous episodes – showing an evil fiend who manipulates all incorporeal objects – able to torture and send other ghosts to hell instead of himself – he tells Spike, it’s about the will – do you have the “will” to control your own reality or are you just a puppet of someone else’s will.
Hellbound - wonderfully dark and creepy. The visual MC Escher metaphor at the end with Pavayne staring out at an endless hallway not only echoes Deep Down and Tomorrow but also reflects back on Angel’s own state of being. Spike’s discovery that it is all about having a will – is a nice contrast to the idea of being trapped in one’s own eternal state of nothingness. Dark. With nice use of supporting characters.
Worst? I Fall To Pieces - cheesy episode and very creepy. Also somewhat cliché bit about crawling body parts. Doesn’t really go anywhere or comment on the characters. Carpe Noctem, while not much better, at least comments on Angel’s dark nature and how others relate to him.
5. s1 Room with A View, s2 Dear Boy, s3 Fredless, s4 Supersymmetry, s5 Life of The Party.
What do they all have in common?
Room with A view is about Cordelia’s insecurity – which is symbolized by where she lives. This is a girl who has always felt secure in who and what she is – exudes confidence, but somewhere in Buffy S3 the rug got pulled out from under her and she’s been floundering ever since. The horrible state of her apartment, her inability to bunk with Angel or Doyle, and the discovery of the lovely Room with A View – which is occupied by two restless spirits – all depict Cordelia’s own internal struggle for confidence and home. Dear Boy – discusses Angel’s uncertainty about his state of being as well as Darla’s. Both have souls, yet are they good, evil, or something in between? How much of their past actions were really due to the lack of a conscience to being a demon? One can’t go into the sunlight, the other is doomed to die of a deadly disease. Both want salvation – but they want it by changing places – Darla wants to become a vampire again, while Angel desires to be human. Both are connected to each other by their desires – by the fact that they are in a sense family. Both feel responsible for the other’s state.
Fredless discusses the idea of belonging and Fred’s insecurity regarding where she really belongs. Does she belong with her parents or the AI team? Do her parents presence make the monsters in her head more real? What is the connection between parent and child? And how responsible is she for her insanity? Supersymmetry – another Fred episode, discusses how you deal with those who hurt you and how you struggle with your own darkness – Fred struggles with hers, Wes with his and Gunn with his – what are the costs? Is it worth giving up a portion of your soul to save another’s? (The redresses the issues in Dear Boy just as Fredless redresses the issues raised in Room With A View – both from different angles.) The final one, Life of the Party – takes this a step further and questions what happens when you give up something in order to belong, in order to be important and be accepted and be the Life of the Party – and how giving up a part of yourself adversely affects those around you. (Again may be reaching on this one – tough category to analyze.)
Best? Dear Boy – it is possibly the darkest of the bunch and does a wonderful job of developing Angel and Darla’s twisted relationship as well as introducing Drusilla and explaining in greater detail just how twisted and sadistic Angel was and as Darla notes, still is. The episode leaves viewer wondering how much of Angelus is still in Angel. A question that will be addressed continuously through the series, making Angel a true “noir” hero or anti-hero. Supersymmetry while wonderfully murky is also deeply flawed – the plot feels contrived in places and has to almost be fanwanked to work – ie. how did Fred’s professor manage to get her to open that precise book in the library anyway? It does propel the characters forward nicely and does a wonderful job of blasting apart a relationship that isn’t going anywhere, but – it still feels contrived in places and disjointed, while Dear Boy is nearly flawless. Room with A view showcases Cordelia and Doyle wonderfully, but does little for the lead, Angel, also it doesn’t really propel the story forward. In some ways Fredless, also flawed in some respects – with the insect subplot, addresses these issues a little bit better by simultaneously addressing the question of family. Also the mother and son ghosts in Room are a tad hokey and over the top. Charisma and Glenn Quinn’s acting saves it, barely.
Worst? Life of The Party - another episode that is nice in theory but doesn’t quite work on screen. The characters seem silly rather than funny. Their actions do little to propel either the story or themes forward. Also it doesn’t cover the consequences of giving up something of yourself for others and the murky issues that go along with that decision quite as well as Supersymmetry or Dear Boy. I enjoyed Life, but it doesn’t quite live up to the other episodes in the category.
6. S1 Sense and Sensibility, S2 Guise Will Be Guise, S3 Billy, S4 Spin the Bottle, S5 Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo
Every episode in this category deals with how we relate to others and deal with our feminine side. Sense and Sensibility starts things off with the obvious metaphor of the sensitivity stick and sensitivity class – a nice twist on “anger management”. Angel needs to be more sensitive to others, but he can’t lose his own identity in the process. The whole episode is about getting in touch with your feminine or sensitive side. Guise Will Be Guise – looks at the same topic from another angle – Angel goes to a swami to figure out how to deal with his feelings towards Darla and how to open up, Wes meanwhile does open up and date and interact with women by pretending to be Angel. Both are dealing once again with pretenses, denying the sensitive/feminine side and being a guy. takes it a step further – showing how the male frustration with the feminine side of his personality can develop into misogyny or misogynistic tendencies. Billy literally projects his hatred of his feminine side onto others. Is Angel more in tune with this side? Not clear. Spin the Bottle – is about that inner child or adolescent, we’ve dealt with the inner feminine now, but we’re still a little immature in how we’re dealing with it. Cautionary Tale is about the midlife crisis, we have incorporated all these issues, but how do we deal with that stage in life when the adventures are done, we are no longer the hero we once were? How do we deal with the fact that our friends are no longer the same? Things have changed around us…the world is no longer quite as clear-cut. We still put on the mask, but instead of wearing it, it wears us – Numero Cinquo is his mask – the hero wrestler, yet the mask means nothing without his brothers – the mask symbolizing their unity. Now it only isolates him, closes him off from others– so he can’t be sensitive to their needs. Numero Cinquo like the other season 5 episodes seems to comment on the episodes that came before it in that category and expand on them. It’s not just about integrating the two sides, it’s about how we deal with others, how important others are too us – we can’t be a hero alone; sometimes we are more heroic together. Numero Cinquo realizes that in some ways his brothers and his relationship with his brothers made him more than he could ever be by himself.
Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo - a lovely character sketch on a former Mexican Wrestler as well as a nostalgic trip on the Luchadores. If you knew nothing about them? It probably flew over your head. But those who did? It was a rare treat. The actor who played Cinquo brought the right mix of pathos and dry wit to the role. The episode also did a nice job of revisiting the territory of Epiphany in S2, with a nice little twist. Every character was utilized here and every character brought something to the mix. Also builds on the theme of brotherhood and incorporating the gifts others bring. How our positive relationship with others can strengthen us.
Worst? Sense and Sensibility - while Guise Will be Guise is somewhat silly regarding the mafia – it does have a nice bit with the swami and Wes pretending to be Angel. Sense and Sensibility – is a mediocre episode focusing on the pluses and minuses of sensitivity. More cringe-worthy than laughable. Doesn’t do much to further character or plot.
7. S1 Bachelor Party, S2 Darla, S3 Offspring, S4 Apocalypse Nowish, S5 Lineage.
What do they all have in common? They all deal with family or relationships with family and the family’s destructive traditions. How our family can turn us into monsters and the struggle not to be a puppet to the family’s will.
Bachelor Party – the family requires that groom eat the ex-husband’s brains otherwise they can’t accept a divorce. The groom (a demon) is in love with his new bride (a human), but she gives him an ultimatum – either give up the ritual or she won’t marry him. The family doesn’t practice any other rituals but the notion of divorce is reprehensible to them. The groom picks his family and loses his bride. The other theme is accepting who you are and your family, but not letting your family control what you are or decide to do. Doyle is half-demon and is ashamed of his family and denies that side of himself.
Darla deals with the idea of throwing away family or children – becoming something else and the regret that goes with that, it also examines how she became a puppet to her new father – the master – doing and believing whatever he wished, yet struggling with that, when she sires Angelus (her vampire child/lover) Darla leaves the master and goes off with Angelus – rebels against her father. Now with a soul she’s struggling with the ties she remembers and the guilt she feels regarding what she did because of those ties and connections.
Offspring – the idea of having a child and struggling with what it means. What is this thing inside me? Is it human or a monster parasite? And falling in love with the idea of having a child depend on you – yet trying not to let that control your actions. Loving the child no matter what it is, because it is part of you. Apocalpyse Nowish comments on Offspring - giving birth to a beast and sleeping with your surrogate mother. The idea of family in the extreme – can our desire to link with the mother we knew create a monster? Should we let our love and desire to protect our mother control us? Lineage being a puppet to your father’s will – the other side of Apocalypse Nowish – this time it’s the father doing the manipulating. Yet we eventually learn that the mother (Cordelia) and the father (Roger) are puppets themselves controlled by another force entirely.
Darla - lovely cross-over that isn’t really a cross-over with Fool for Love. Flawless in its execution and what it tells us about Darla – both in the present and the past, as well as what it tells us about vampires and souls. Advances the mythology and the characters. Also delves deeper into the character of Lindsey.
Worst? Bachelor Party - a romp without much to say. Shame to, since Doyle was a fascinating character who doesn’t get much screen time before he’s killed. We’re given a little background on Doyle – but most of the episode is taken up by the silly demon family.
8. S1 I Will Remember You, S2 Shroud of Rashomon, S3 Quickening, S4 Habeas Corpses, S5 Destiney.
What do these have in common? All deal with quests and the desire to become human or inhuman and all are about searching for information, information that the hero or heroes may take a tad too literally for their own good. In each – the hero must undergo several challenges or a fight of sorts to get to the object of his quest and in each the information he is given is misleading or he misinterprets it.
The first, IWRY– actually has the character, Angel, achieve his goal without doing anything more than killing a demon and getting soaked with it’s blood – Angel questions the simplicity of it and feels undeserving. He also has trouble with his loss of “hero” status – he feels that without him, the world will end, his friends will die – so it is a reverse quest in a sense. Instead of hunting for humanity – Angel hunts for the opposite, he goes to the Powers, represented by Oracles, for advice and help – they grant him his wish and time is turned back – he is given the chance to alter time, to take what he knows and ensure he does not become human again. The sacrifice is the loss of Buffy. But towards the end of the season, when the oracles are killed, Angel discovers a scroll that gives him hope that he can earn the humanity. Shroud of Rashomon is another quest tale – this time they are hunting a Shroud with mystical powers – its powers turn the people who touch it somewhat demonic or nasty/shallow in some way. It has the reverse effect of the demon blood in IWRY. The episode appears before Darla is turned into a vampire again and Angel goes dark. The shroud brings out the worst impulses of the characters – forcing them to overcome being puppets to their internal desires.
Quickening is about a quest to determine what is inside Darla and the meaning of Holtz’s return – what do the Niscean Scrolls mean. The AI team journeys to a hospital to get a sonogram. It ends with AI team successfully determining a human child is inside Darla, not a beast, and that it could be the bringer of good or darkness – the information is not clear. Habeas Corpses comments on Quickening, in this episode an adolescent Connor, the child in the previous episode, is trying to determine his relationship to the Beast that destroyed the sunlight – am I a Beast as well? They reach the white room eventually and are told by the conduit before it dies that the answer to their quest regarding the appearance of the Beast lies among them, the information misleads them into believing that the person responsible is Angel, when in reality it is the one person who is not present at the time – Cordelia. Finally Destiny, which in a way comments on all the episodes before it – the quest to become human, the horrible price to be paid, and the desire to save the world – yet is the information provided true or false? A complete mislead? Or in reality was the quest about the two men on it?
Destiny - as much as I love Habeas Corpses, Destiny was better – it’s riff on the false quest for the Grail, the information it provides on Spike and Angel’s past meeting and past history and the fight scenes alone catapult this episode to the top. The supporting characters – Gunn, Fred, Harmony, and Eve are also utilized well. And the best part? We find out the whole quest and possibly the prophecy itself is a game set up by Lindsey – who provided Angel with access to the prophecy to begin with. A nice mind-twist.
Worst? Shroud of Rashomon - even though I Will Remember You comes in a close second. Silly episode that sets up Angel’s view that he can’t be human and be a hero, and/or he doesn’t deserve being human, yet desires it. But as much as I did not like IWRY – Rashomon is worse, the plot doesn’t quite work in either episode and the metaphors are clunky and confusing – but Rashomon does little to further the plot and with the Darla arc going full-steam ahead, this break in the action is annoying at best.
9. S1 Hero, S2 The Trial, S3 Lullaby, S4 Long Day’s Journey, S5 yet to be seen
Each one seems to be about an unlikely hero or about striving to save lives by giving up your own. The ultimate sacrifice. Hero – does it first with Doyle’s decision to push Angel out of the way and save the half-demons from the full-blooded demon troops himself. Doyle had previously been set up as someone who was denying his demon heritage and avoiding being heroic at all costs. In the Trial – Angel attempts to give his life for Darla’s. Which is a surprise because prior to this Angel is shown as denying that he cares for Darla. Angel also is the one who staked and killed Darla the first round. But the life he gains is not Darla’s but something else. Darla is still doomed to die the way she did as a human. But before Darla can fully embrace that death – Drusilla steps in and turns her. Lullaby comments on Trial – where Darla gives her life for the love of the child she and Angel created. Selfless act? Not really. Certainly not like Doyle’s. But for Darla it’s miraculous. Prior to this, Darla cared for no one but herself and hated the child inside her, wishing to kill it. Now she kills herself so it can be born. Long Day’s Journey is about Angel taking lives in the past…it seems to twist the commentary in on itself. The characters attempt to save Manny – the neutral human in long day’s journey – the man who can go either way, but fail, because they fall asleep on the job. Manny’s life is unwittingly sacrificed. We later learn it’s by Cordelia for the Beast. Cordelia does the opposite of Darla – in this episode, yet for the same reasons to protect the life she wishes to bring forth. (Season 5’s version on this theme of sacrifice and responsibility is tonight.)
Best? Lullaby - one of the best episodes of the series – a dark examination of motherhood and selflessness. In this episode we explore who Angel and Darla are and what they have reaped with their sins. Holtz perfectly embodies Angel and Darla’s worst fears – the dark father neither can ever appease or gain the approval of, the one person both have been running from their entire lives. It culminates with many twists and turns in an alley, with Holtz holding a cross bow on Angel and his newly born son – which was brought into being when Darla staked herself. Holtz’s decision not to shoot the crossbow, is an interesting twist and fitting, since his choice of revenge is so much better. This episodes themes and metaphors echo throughout the episodes that follow. A wonderful cap to Darla’s arc. While I enjoyed Long Day’s Journey – it isn’t quite as poetic nor as smooth in its portrayal of the themes as Lullaby is.
Worst? Hero - like Lullaby, a character sacrifices himself for others, but the reasons are so contrived. The threat a cliché rip-off on old WWII Nazi movies. Doyle deserved a better send-off.
10. S1 Parting Gifts, S2 Reunion, S3 Dad, S4 Awakenings, S5 yet to be seen
Each of these episodes has at its center a false hope or dream. Also each episode sets up the next one – 11 – which involves a fall or redefinition of a major characters status. Parting Gifts – is about the ghost of Doyle and the false hope Cordelia has that she can pass the visions to Wes or someone else. The desire Angel has to hold onto Doyle or move Wes into that role. Instead, all they have is a video-tape. Wes is however more or less brought into the group. Reunion is about Angel’s false hope to reclaim Darla after Dru vamps her. And perhaps Darla’s anger and disappointment at being brought back into the world vampires. Yet at the same time it comments on the connection the two women feel for each other. Angel fails in Reunion and seeks bloody vengeance against W&H, whom he blames for causing this, as do Dru and Darla. In this episode they break W&H’s control on them or so we think. Dad is about Angel’s desire to be super-dad and in this episode that dream seems to be realized – only to be smashed just a few episodes later. Angel thinks he’s outmaneuvered Holtz and W&H yet in reality they’ve hoodwinked Angel as we discover in a later episode. Awakenings – is Angel’s dream of the perfect day which is another quest, where the members of his family – Wes, Cordy, Connor pull together, apologize to him, and let him save the day. He bonds with his son and Cordelia – only to find out it’s just a dream engineered to release his soul. Waking up from it – his alterego, Angelus, laughs.
Reunion - as good as Awakenings is, Reunion is better – in Reunion, we see the relationship between Darla and Dru explored for the first time – as well as what happens when you sire a vampire. The sibling motif is one that will be revisited later with Spike and Angel. We also see a dark side of Angel we haven’t really seen up to this point, evidence that Angelus always lurks beneath the surface. Angel’s decision to lock the lawyers in with Darla and Dru is one of the darker moments in the series and a calculated risk by the writers – to show a much darker complex hero. It is also a mislead, the audience believes that Angel has gotten the upper hand. Awakenings, in contrast, is really a one joke show – a great joke and one that explains Angel a great deal – but it does not further the plot or the characters nearly as dramatically as Reunion. Of course after I see S5’s episode 10, I might change my mind on this one.
Worst? Dad, while Parting Gifts is clunky in places – it starts with a wonderful montage on Doyle and has the entrance of leather pants Wesley. Dad on the other hand is less than memorable – mostly a chase sequence between Angel and five groups fighting over a Connor which got a tad repetitive after a while.
11. S1 Somnabulist, S2 Redefinition, S3 Birthday, S4 Soulless, S5 yet to be seen…but if the prior ones are any indication? Watch out. It should be memorable and dark to say the least.
Each episode turns a characters world upside down. All are in a way about redefinition – based on trauma. A character is forced to re-evaluate their life, themselves, etc based on what they’ve done. Someone forces them to look at their past in a different way and by doing so, the character redefines himself in some way. How do we deal with past crimes? Past regrets? How are we punished or rewarded? And how do they define who we are now?
Somnabulist – is about Angel’s past obsession with killing families and how he redefined himself upon becoming a vampire, and then again upon becoming ensouled. How he dealt with his father – and how he deals with his vampire son, Penn, and the responsibility he feels in that situation. Angel in Somnabulist is forced to redefine who he is based on what he was. Kate in Somnabulist, the cop Angel has befriended, is also forced to redefine her relationship with Angel and her trust of him. Their relationship shifts.
Redefinition is about how Angel redefines himself and his life after his loss of Darla to W&H’s machinations. How he deals with that loss and like he did with Penn, goes after Darla to destroy her, yet can’t do it. In this episode, Angel also redefines his relationships with his friends – firing them.
Birthday – is about Cordelia and how she deals with the limited options – the visions are killing her and Skip others her a means of redefining herself, she can either rewrite history and pick another path – that of an actress, do nothing and die, or become part demon. In the episode – Cordy deals with the question of what might have been, her regret of not becoming an actress and belief if she pursued it she might have been a star with her own situation comedy. Simultaneously she’s forced to consider how her actions may have affected others in her life. Sort of the reverse of Somnabulist – not regretting what you did, so much as regretting lost opportunities. Cordy chooses becoming part demon – a huge redefinition but like those before, not necessarily a good one.
Soulless – which like Redefinition, comments on Birthday – Cordelia in Birthday becomes part demon to help Angel, Angel due to Cordelias machinations, lets his soul go and becomes demonic in soulless – he is redefined in the eyes of his friends. While Cordelia in Birthday is redefined in her own. In Soulless – each character is forced to re-evaluate and redefine itself and it’s relations with others. Wes is forced to re-evaluate his relationships with Fred and Lilah, Gunn with Fred and with Wes, and Angelus with Cordelia and Connor. Angelus’ appearance also redefines who Angel is and how much of Angelus lurks in Angel. The episode simultaneously comments on guilt and how we justify or excuse it.
Best? Soulless - outside of the Cordy bits, a wonderful six person play. The interaction between the caged Angelus – Fred, Gunn, Wes, and Connor is brilliant to watch and informative on every character in the piece. We learn quite a bit about how sadistic and nasty Angelus truly is. He doesn’t need to touch these guys to hurt them – he knows where their buttons are after all. The literature references alone are worth a second look. One of the best episodes in the series. While I loved Somnabulist – Soulless takes the themes explored and expands on them, it also does a good job of exploring the supporting characters. I may change my mind after S5’s 11.
Worst? Birthday - while the Cordy sitcom bits are entertaining and the episode has some interesting things to say – this episode starts an arc that painfully deconstructs the character of Cordelia. Clunky at times, its easy to see why Cordy fell for Skip’s con. But confusing the audience in the process probably wasn’t a great idea. Birthday is a murky episode, to this day I can’t decide if Cordy made the right decision – I have a feeling if I were Cordelia I’d have done the same thing.
12. S1 Expecting S2 Blood Money, S3 Provider, S4 Calvary S5 – yet to be seen.
All about the consequences of redefining ourselves – who we are. How what we think is true isn’t. Expecting is about the redefinition of the body during pregnancy – in this episode, Cordelia is seduced by a one-night stand and ends up becoming a brood mare for a demon. The child changes her somewhat – making her redefine her priorities, albeit briefly for it. She is a bit ruthless regarding the child. Blood money is about being ruthless to achieve positive results. Angel manipulates a young woman and others to obtain a bunch of money, he even hurts a few innocent people to get it, and attempts to redeem his actions by giving the money to the young woman. But his purpose all along was to make W&H pay – a purpose he’d latched onto in Redefinition. Provider also deals with obtaining something by nefarious means. In both cases it’s money. In Provider – like Expecting – it’s for a child, Angel’s child. The redefined purpose of Dad – where Angel decides his purpose is no longer to help others so much as to be a Dad. Cavalry – likewise deals with the idea of the ends justify the means – in Cavalry – Lilah suggests letting Angelus loose to kill the Beast, Cordelia lets him loose to kill everyone and keep people distracted from her child. (Cavalry comments on the redefinition in Soulless – where everyone falsely believes Cordelia got Angel’s soul back when it was just a ruse so she could release him. In Cavalry we learn that it’s a ruse and he didn’t get his soul back at all.) This episode cleverly comments on both Expecting where Cordy fights Wes and Angel for her child and drinks blood to nourish it and Blood Money/Provider where the AI team continue put lives in jeopardy to accomplish their own ends.
Best? Calvary - the culmination of the Lilah/Cordy arc where Cordy literally takes over Lilah’s femme fatale role by killing her and making it look like a vampire bite – the second time in the series that Angel has been framed. One of the series best – should be seen in association with Billy and That Vision Thing for full effect. Of course S5’ 12 may change my mind.
Worst? Expecting - as bad as Provider and Blood Money are, Expecting is worse. Blood Money has W&H’s Lilah and Lindsey to propel it as well as the interesting reintroduction of Anne from BTVS. Provider? Some nice male bonding between Wes and Gunn. Expecting? Nothing memorable. Except possibly Cordy drinking blood.
That’s all I’ve completed so far. Thanks for reading. Comments? Suggestions? Ideas???
Feedback appreciated as always.
In other news - I got a job interview next week. It's for a human resources position. Fingers crossed. Off to research company this week. Hoping for the best. First, methinks I'll get something to eat though, since I sort of skipped lunch again.
The Angel The Series Ranking Episode Game/Meme
To make the game a little more interesting, since the series is still going and hasn’t ended? I’ve decided to add another layer to the game – that layer is – what do the episodes have in common? What episode in each section best handles/expands/builds upon the themes expressed? Or for that matter furthers the characters emotional arc? How is the writer building the characters’ arcs structurally through these episodes? This is the really challenging part of the meme and while I think I do a decent job with it, I feel as if I’m missing something in each category – so anyone who’s interested in putting their two cents in? Please do!
My ATS ranking choices and analysis on what each episode has in common besides where they fall in the series and what if anything the writer’s intent might have been regarding that group of episodes. Only got up to episode 12, if there’s interest – I’ll do 13-22 as well.
Episode 1: City of ..s2 Judgement, s3 Heartthrob, s4 Deep Down, s5 Conviction
What the episodes have in common? Each episode examines Angel’s state of mind at the beginning of the arc and how he views his situation and the supporting characters with him. What he views their roles to be and their relationship to him. Each episode builds on the idea of feeling uncertain about your place in everything or a lack of conviction.
City of …starts things out with Angel getting drunk in a bar, contemplating the end of a relationship and trying to find the strength to go forward – when he meets Doyle and then Cordelia who are also in LA searching for a purpose – they find it through Doyle’s visions which assist Angel in saving Cordelia’s life.
Judgment – Angel, Cordelia and Wes believe they’ve found their purpose – that it is to do enough hero deeds so that Angel becomes human, they’ll use the visions as their guide. Unfortunately the visions mislead them and Angel kills a demon championing a pregnant woman who’s on trial. Angel takes the demon’s place as her champion, discovering that the visions aren’t always the best guide.
Heartthrob deals with Angel’s uncertainty regarding his feelings or the lack thereof for Buffy’s death. His old comrade James is so torn up about his lover, Elizabeth’s demise that he literally has his heart torn out. But Angel feels nothing, he’s okay and this bothers him and he’s wondering about his purpose about the meaning of his life, now Buffy’s gone – Cordelia tells him the meaning hasn’t changed, it’s still about helping others and grieving for Buffy, dying for Buffy isn’t what she would have wanted nor does it prove his love for her. Passion or “passionate conviction” in something can lead you to seeing a far too narrow view, you lack perspective, as James did regarding Elizabeth or even Angel’s relationship with Darla, seeing love as only being possible if you were passionate about and could not live without the other person. (ie. Too Much Conviction)
Deep Down takes the idea of hunting meaning in your life and examining your role and your desires to an even deeper level psychologically, where we see Angel lying beneath the ocean dreaming of his family and simultaneously of destroying it. Every time Angel grasps hold of something with any sense of conviction – it floats away. The MC Escher perspective.
Finally we have Conviction – the title giving voice to the themes of all the episodes preceding it in this category. Except here Angel seems certain – he’s not asking advice from his comrades – not really – he takes action. Yet, within the episode we see how everyone is being pulled by external strings, including Angel himself, and just as he is giving a speech to his comrades about how they can handle anything that pops up and they’ll do it one step at a time, up pops something Angel can’t begin to handle – Spike.
The other thing these episodes have in common is they all set up Angel’s ship or feature relationship – in City of…it’s the ghost of Buffy and Kate. In Judgment – it’s Darla who appears at the very end. In Heartthrob – it is Cordelia and baby Connor. In Deep Down – it’s Connor. In Conviction? It’s Spike.
Best? Deep Down S4 – why? Because of the tight plotting, the wonderful twists and turns, the noir themes, and the wonderful visual metaphors. This episode furthered each character, took each to a dark place, which was examined in greater detail as the season unraveled. Deep Down also depicts Angel’s fractured state of mind visually – through his dreams. The other four episodes don’t quite take us that far inside Angel. In this episode we see the duality Angel is constantly struggling with – a duality he later describes as an MC Escher perspective. Also Angel’s dreams foreshadow what happens during the season as each of his worst fears come to life.
Worst? Judgment. Just for bringing the word “champion” into the series lexicon. Also somewhat cheesy plot set up. An episode that even though I’ve seen it a couple of times, I keep forgetting. Judgment thematically is a confusing episode. Heartthrob and Conviction do a far better job of setting up Angel’s ennui or uncertainty about his mission. City of , even though at this point in the series I think the writers were planning a more stand-a-lone, anthology like format, does a decent job of showing us how Angel’s sort of lost his way again and needs someone to nudge him in the right direction. Judgment appears to be attempting the opposite – showing us an Angel who appears to be more certain – I’m going after the shanshue, I’m saving whomever the visions tell me to save to get it – only to discover he’s killed the wrong person. This would be wonderful – except for one problem – instead of having someone else save the damsel, Angel gets to be her champion and gets points for doing it, which sort of unravels everything interesting about the episode. It does set the stage for Angel’s eventual downward slide, but it does it choppily. Conviction, while also cheesy in places, is smoother – and the metaphor in Conviction of the son being the vessel containing world destruction – is a wonderful way of commenting on Connor without mentioning him directly. Unlike Judgment, Conviction improves upon re-watching.
Episode 2: s1Lonely Hearts, s2 Are You Now…s3 That Vision Thing, s4 Ground State, s5 Just Rewards.
What all the episodes have in common? This time, the theme is how we relate to those around us? Do we trust them? Can we trust and depend upon them? How important is our ability to connect to others? Angel is the ultimate in the disconnect, an outsider of both demon and human worlds because of what he is. These episodes deal with how important it is for him to connect to those around him.
Lonely Hearts is about the attempt to connect through sex – but only feeling more disconnected or becoming a parasite feeding on the physical connection not the emotional one. It’s also about trusting strangers in the most intimate fashion – only to have them betray you.
Are You Now is also about trusting strangers and being betrayed and how distrust can lead to paranoia – again there’s a parasite, but this time it’s feeding off of this emotion.
That Vision Thing is about Cordelia wondering if she can trust the Powers who gave her the visions. It's the classic dilemma - what happens when you learn that the visions you thought were from god, may be from some nasty shaman down the street? The question of trusting the higher power and with it your own calling. Cordy begins to question her own role. She has faith, but her faith is put into question and the writers are asking - what happens if faith turns you into a puppet to anyone's manipulations? Can we trust in it?
Ground State comments on Lonely Hearts – we’re back to the personal – one to one connection – where just connecting with someone on an emotional and physical level can be destructive to them – something Angel fears, because when he does it – he loses his soul. When Gwen - the supercharged thief does it – she electrocutes the individual, re-starting Angel’s heart and stopping Gunn’s.
Just Rewards comments on both threads –trust/paranoia and the need for emotional/physical connection. Through the ghostly Spike – we see how both threads interact. No one in AI trusts Spike, they want to get rid of him and we are lead to believe he like the characters in all the episodes before him, will betray the AI team, especially Angel, to get what he wants. Spike meanwhile wants physical and emotional connection more than anything else – something Angel is somewhat afraid of and keeps at arms length. The villain in Just Rewards – is a type of conduit – he connects the demons to the humans by providing them with a human shell to animate. They have to trust him to do it. Angel defeats the villain by trusting Spike to inhabit the villain and break the villain’s power over Angel. It’s Angel’s ability to trust Spike and Spike’s ability to reward that trust that wins the day.
Best? Just Rewards , does it in the most entertaining way. It establishes the Spike/Angel relationship out of the box. It also does a good job of exploring trust issues in relationships. How do you trust someone who once tortured you? Who you are jealous of and know is jealous of you? Someone you’ve known almost forever, and know what he is capable of ? Is it even wise to do so? This episode also does an interesting job with the metaphor of being a puppet. Throughout the episode we’re mislead into seeing Spike as the potential puppet, yet in reality the only one in danger of being a puppet is Angel – to the PTB, to W&H, to his own desires. A theme that will continue to be explored throughout the season and better yet refers to all the seasons before it including episodes in BTVS. Nice use of the supporting characters as well – everyone is well-utilized. Enjoyable upon more than one watching. While I enjoyed Ground State, which does an excellent job of showing how being superhuman can disconnect you – it was uneven in places, specifically regarding Cordelia story line. Also a tad cliché on the superhuman bit. I did like how Gwen’s inability to touch and Gunn’s involvement with that is revisited in the later episode Players. Tough choice but going with the one that made me laugh.
Are You Now is the episode I’m sure most people will pick – not to be contrary, but I’ve never much liked Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (the full phrase by the way is “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Communist Sympathizer” taken from the McCarthy hearings…where many Hollywood writers, directors, and filmmakers got banned – Arthur Miller refers to it in his play The Crucible, Jack Finney discusses it in Invasion of The Body Snatchers, and Rod Serling deals with it in The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, I think Hollywood is still obsessed with this topic.) I’ve tried to like Are You Now, because disliking it is a bit like disliking Casablanca to Angel fans for some reason. But it bores me. I basically knew the entire story the moment I met the woman in the hotel. I think the reason for this is that I’ve seen the same story done many times before – the tale of the person hunting a fugitive, everyone has a secret but is afraid of being caught, all feel guilty, but also justified in keeping their secrets – so to survive they find a scapegoat and that person gets lynched. Are You Now discusses the repercussions of distrusting your neighbor and paranoia on a grand scale, showing how the paranoia makes us a demon’s puppets. Just Rewards, on the other hand – brings the story closer to home, it’s less about the big theme or moral and more about the characters inter-relationships, more about the issue of trust on a much more visceral level – which is far more interesting and far less predictable or obvious in its answers than the mob mentality tale. To be fair? I was never overly fond of Rod Serling’s The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street either – it too seemed to be more about the theme of paranoia than about the human characters. Yet it is admittedly well done and possibly the best version of this next to the 1950s film version of Finny’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Perhaps my difficulty is with the morality play structure itself – I don’t like being preached too, or told what the moral lesson is – I like being told a story and somehow coming up with my own conclusions. Just Rewards for me at least seemed to do this – it examined the characters, the moral, if there was one, I found for myself.
Worst? Lonely Hearts - Lonely Hearts is least memorable of an incredible bunch and does little to further character, spending far more time on the somewhat cliché metaphor of sexual parasites.
Episode 3: s1 In the Dark, s2 First Impression, s3 That Old Gang of Mine, S4 The House Always Wins, S5 Unleashed.
What they all have in common? Each deals with the idea of who we are, what makes us who we and how we handle that. Each episode also has some sort of device – which would make things better – a temptation. A mirage if you like – a mirage that you want so badly you might sell anything for it, but you buy into the mirage and you lose everything. In In The Dark – it’s the vampire equivalent of the holy grail – the gem of amarra. In First Impression – it’s the kid who seems weak and easily defeated and appears to worship Gunn – in reality the kid’s the monster, in That Old Gange of Mine it's the temptation to rejoin the old gang, the human gang - which seems noble and heroic but has become monsterous while the demon, you're working with, is actually more human - so your stuck, unable to go back to that glorious past (which wasn't that glorious) and stumble onwards in your new group of friends, in House Always Wins – it’s the temptation to interfere with someone else’s path – to make it better, and finally in Unleashed – it’s the beautiful girl who is also a deadly monster, the romantic view Angel has that his two sides really are separate and manageable and that he has a tight family unit – just as Nina, the werewolf girl does.
Unleashed in a way comments on all the others – it discusses the romantic view of life – the idea of a life in the sun that the gem provides (In The Dark), the impression of hero-worshipping kid (First Impressions), the human gang of glory fighters, the gang you formed (That Old Gang of Mine), the concept of gambling for a better life or destiny because the one you have isn’t good enough – or the idea that you can make someone’s life better and give them their destiny (another somewhat egotistical view of heroism – which may comment on the one shown in That Old Gang of Mine?) (House Always Wins), and finally the idea that the monster won’t destroy your family and you aren’t responsible for the inner beast (Unleashed).
Best? Ugh! It was easier when That Vision Thing was here. Okay...The House Always Wins because it does the metaphor the best - with the temptation to interfer and give someone back their destiny. In The Dark and First Impressions were the most enjoyable but a tad clunky metaphor wise. Geeze - episode 3 seems to be a weak category for ATS doesn't it?The House Always Wins – clunky as it is, does a far better job with the metaphor of Angel as a puppet to external forces and his own desires. The temptation in House is also far more interesting and less obvious, since it is Cordelia’s temptation to interfere – she saves the day, but by doing so, may actually be opening the door to Jasmine. Also the scenes with Wes/Lilah and Connor have energy to them – that the supporting character scenes in Unleashed somehow lack.
Worst? Unleashed - nothing redeeming here. The conflict is a bit obvious and has been done better elsewhere in the series – the maiden who becomes a monster and struggles with the dark part of herself. Yes, the dinner party sequence is wonderfully twisted and there’s a hint at darkness to come, but no guarantee. Exploitive and cliché with the girl werewolf in places. Direction isn’t bad. Script? Dull.
4. s1 I fall to Pieces, s2 Untouched, s3 Carpe Noctem, S4 Slouching Towards Bethlehem, s5 Hellbound.
What do they have in common? Each episode deals with our own worst impulses and how those impulses can take control over us – so that they are our master and not the other way around. The idea of “will” and “control”.
I Fall To Pieces starts things off with a person who has found a way to control every piece of his anatomy with his mind and uses this ability to control another human being by stalking her and threatening her. In Untouched – a telekinetic, who was molested as a child, loses control of her power – it is all controlled by her emotions and pain, others attempt to harness it by controlling those emotions. Carpe Noctem – deals with a man who can switch bodies with others, forcing them to occupy his aging one until he sucks theirs dry. Slouching Towards Bethlehem is about Cordelia’s loss of memory – without our memories, what motivates us, she is controlled by her perceptions and desires, yet, we later learn she is also being manipulated by a higher being who is using her impulses and weaknesses against her. Hellbound – comments on the previous episodes – showing an evil fiend who manipulates all incorporeal objects – able to torture and send other ghosts to hell instead of himself – he tells Spike, it’s about the will – do you have the “will” to control your own reality or are you just a puppet of someone else’s will.
Hellbound - wonderfully dark and creepy. The visual MC Escher metaphor at the end with Pavayne staring out at an endless hallway not only echoes Deep Down and Tomorrow but also reflects back on Angel’s own state of being. Spike’s discovery that it is all about having a will – is a nice contrast to the idea of being trapped in one’s own eternal state of nothingness. Dark. With nice use of supporting characters.
Worst? I Fall To Pieces - cheesy episode and very creepy. Also somewhat cliché bit about crawling body parts. Doesn’t really go anywhere or comment on the characters. Carpe Noctem, while not much better, at least comments on Angel’s dark nature and how others relate to him.
5. s1 Room with A View, s2 Dear Boy, s3 Fredless, s4 Supersymmetry, s5 Life of The Party.
What do they all have in common?
Room with A view is about Cordelia’s insecurity – which is symbolized by where she lives. This is a girl who has always felt secure in who and what she is – exudes confidence, but somewhere in Buffy S3 the rug got pulled out from under her and she’s been floundering ever since. The horrible state of her apartment, her inability to bunk with Angel or Doyle, and the discovery of the lovely Room with A View – which is occupied by two restless spirits – all depict Cordelia’s own internal struggle for confidence and home. Dear Boy – discusses Angel’s uncertainty about his state of being as well as Darla’s. Both have souls, yet are they good, evil, or something in between? How much of their past actions were really due to the lack of a conscience to being a demon? One can’t go into the sunlight, the other is doomed to die of a deadly disease. Both want salvation – but they want it by changing places – Darla wants to become a vampire again, while Angel desires to be human. Both are connected to each other by their desires – by the fact that they are in a sense family. Both feel responsible for the other’s state.
Fredless discusses the idea of belonging and Fred’s insecurity regarding where she really belongs. Does she belong with her parents or the AI team? Do her parents presence make the monsters in her head more real? What is the connection between parent and child? And how responsible is she for her insanity? Supersymmetry – another Fred episode, discusses how you deal with those who hurt you and how you struggle with your own darkness – Fred struggles with hers, Wes with his and Gunn with his – what are the costs? Is it worth giving up a portion of your soul to save another’s? (The redresses the issues in Dear Boy just as Fredless redresses the issues raised in Room With A View – both from different angles.) The final one, Life of the Party – takes this a step further and questions what happens when you give up something in order to belong, in order to be important and be accepted and be the Life of the Party – and how giving up a part of yourself adversely affects those around you. (Again may be reaching on this one – tough category to analyze.)
Best? Dear Boy – it is possibly the darkest of the bunch and does a wonderful job of developing Angel and Darla’s twisted relationship as well as introducing Drusilla and explaining in greater detail just how twisted and sadistic Angel was and as Darla notes, still is. The episode leaves viewer wondering how much of Angelus is still in Angel. A question that will be addressed continuously through the series, making Angel a true “noir” hero or anti-hero. Supersymmetry while wonderfully murky is also deeply flawed – the plot feels contrived in places and has to almost be fanwanked to work – ie. how did Fred’s professor manage to get her to open that precise book in the library anyway? It does propel the characters forward nicely and does a wonderful job of blasting apart a relationship that isn’t going anywhere, but – it still feels contrived in places and disjointed, while Dear Boy is nearly flawless. Room with A view showcases Cordelia and Doyle wonderfully, but does little for the lead, Angel, also it doesn’t really propel the story forward. In some ways Fredless, also flawed in some respects – with the insect subplot, addresses these issues a little bit better by simultaneously addressing the question of family. Also the mother and son ghosts in Room are a tad hokey and over the top. Charisma and Glenn Quinn’s acting saves it, barely.
Worst? Life of The Party - another episode that is nice in theory but doesn’t quite work on screen. The characters seem silly rather than funny. Their actions do little to propel either the story or themes forward. Also it doesn’t cover the consequences of giving up something of yourself for others and the murky issues that go along with that decision quite as well as Supersymmetry or Dear Boy. I enjoyed Life, but it doesn’t quite live up to the other episodes in the category.
6. S1 Sense and Sensibility, S2 Guise Will Be Guise, S3 Billy, S4 Spin the Bottle, S5 Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo
Every episode in this category deals with how we relate to others and deal with our feminine side. Sense and Sensibility starts things off with the obvious metaphor of the sensitivity stick and sensitivity class – a nice twist on “anger management”. Angel needs to be more sensitive to others, but he can’t lose his own identity in the process. The whole episode is about getting in touch with your feminine or sensitive side. Guise Will Be Guise – looks at the same topic from another angle – Angel goes to a swami to figure out how to deal with his feelings towards Darla and how to open up, Wes meanwhile does open up and date and interact with women by pretending to be Angel. Both are dealing once again with pretenses, denying the sensitive/feminine side and being a guy. takes it a step further – showing how the male frustration with the feminine side of his personality can develop into misogyny or misogynistic tendencies. Billy literally projects his hatred of his feminine side onto others. Is Angel more in tune with this side? Not clear. Spin the Bottle – is about that inner child or adolescent, we’ve dealt with the inner feminine now, but we’re still a little immature in how we’re dealing with it. Cautionary Tale is about the midlife crisis, we have incorporated all these issues, but how do we deal with that stage in life when the adventures are done, we are no longer the hero we once were? How do we deal with the fact that our friends are no longer the same? Things have changed around us…the world is no longer quite as clear-cut. We still put on the mask, but instead of wearing it, it wears us – Numero Cinquo is his mask – the hero wrestler, yet the mask means nothing without his brothers – the mask symbolizing their unity. Now it only isolates him, closes him off from others– so he can’t be sensitive to their needs. Numero Cinquo like the other season 5 episodes seems to comment on the episodes that came before it in that category and expand on them. It’s not just about integrating the two sides, it’s about how we deal with others, how important others are too us – we can’t be a hero alone; sometimes we are more heroic together. Numero Cinquo realizes that in some ways his brothers and his relationship with his brothers made him more than he could ever be by himself.
Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinquo - a lovely character sketch on a former Mexican Wrestler as well as a nostalgic trip on the Luchadores. If you knew nothing about them? It probably flew over your head. But those who did? It was a rare treat. The actor who played Cinquo brought the right mix of pathos and dry wit to the role. The episode also did a nice job of revisiting the territory of Epiphany in S2, with a nice little twist. Every character was utilized here and every character brought something to the mix. Also builds on the theme of brotherhood and incorporating the gifts others bring. How our positive relationship with others can strengthen us.
Worst? Sense and Sensibility - while Guise Will be Guise is somewhat silly regarding the mafia – it does have a nice bit with the swami and Wes pretending to be Angel. Sense and Sensibility – is a mediocre episode focusing on the pluses and minuses of sensitivity. More cringe-worthy than laughable. Doesn’t do much to further character or plot.
7. S1 Bachelor Party, S2 Darla, S3 Offspring, S4 Apocalypse Nowish, S5 Lineage.
What do they all have in common? They all deal with family or relationships with family and the family’s destructive traditions. How our family can turn us into monsters and the struggle not to be a puppet to the family’s will.
Bachelor Party – the family requires that groom eat the ex-husband’s brains otherwise they can’t accept a divorce. The groom (a demon) is in love with his new bride (a human), but she gives him an ultimatum – either give up the ritual or she won’t marry him. The family doesn’t practice any other rituals but the notion of divorce is reprehensible to them. The groom picks his family and loses his bride. The other theme is accepting who you are and your family, but not letting your family control what you are or decide to do. Doyle is half-demon and is ashamed of his family and denies that side of himself.
Darla deals with the idea of throwing away family or children – becoming something else and the regret that goes with that, it also examines how she became a puppet to her new father – the master – doing and believing whatever he wished, yet struggling with that, when she sires Angelus (her vampire child/lover) Darla leaves the master and goes off with Angelus – rebels against her father. Now with a soul she’s struggling with the ties she remembers and the guilt she feels regarding what she did because of those ties and connections.
Offspring – the idea of having a child and struggling with what it means. What is this thing inside me? Is it human or a monster parasite? And falling in love with the idea of having a child depend on you – yet trying not to let that control your actions. Loving the child no matter what it is, because it is part of you. Apocalpyse Nowish comments on Offspring - giving birth to a beast and sleeping with your surrogate mother. The idea of family in the extreme – can our desire to link with the mother we knew create a monster? Should we let our love and desire to protect our mother control us? Lineage being a puppet to your father’s will – the other side of Apocalypse Nowish – this time it’s the father doing the manipulating. Yet we eventually learn that the mother (Cordelia) and the father (Roger) are puppets themselves controlled by another force entirely.
Darla - lovely cross-over that isn’t really a cross-over with Fool for Love. Flawless in its execution and what it tells us about Darla – both in the present and the past, as well as what it tells us about vampires and souls. Advances the mythology and the characters. Also delves deeper into the character of Lindsey.
Worst? Bachelor Party - a romp without much to say. Shame to, since Doyle was a fascinating character who doesn’t get much screen time before he’s killed. We’re given a little background on Doyle – but most of the episode is taken up by the silly demon family.
8. S1 I Will Remember You, S2 Shroud of Rashomon, S3 Quickening, S4 Habeas Corpses, S5 Destiney.
What do these have in common? All deal with quests and the desire to become human or inhuman and all are about searching for information, information that the hero or heroes may take a tad too literally for their own good. In each – the hero must undergo several challenges or a fight of sorts to get to the object of his quest and in each the information he is given is misleading or he misinterprets it.
The first, IWRY– actually has the character, Angel, achieve his goal without doing anything more than killing a demon and getting soaked with it’s blood – Angel questions the simplicity of it and feels undeserving. He also has trouble with his loss of “hero” status – he feels that without him, the world will end, his friends will die – so it is a reverse quest in a sense. Instead of hunting for humanity – Angel hunts for the opposite, he goes to the Powers, represented by Oracles, for advice and help – they grant him his wish and time is turned back – he is given the chance to alter time, to take what he knows and ensure he does not become human again. The sacrifice is the loss of Buffy. But towards the end of the season, when the oracles are killed, Angel discovers a scroll that gives him hope that he can earn the humanity. Shroud of Rashomon is another quest tale – this time they are hunting a Shroud with mystical powers – its powers turn the people who touch it somewhat demonic or nasty/shallow in some way. It has the reverse effect of the demon blood in IWRY. The episode appears before Darla is turned into a vampire again and Angel goes dark. The shroud brings out the worst impulses of the characters – forcing them to overcome being puppets to their internal desires.
Quickening is about a quest to determine what is inside Darla and the meaning of Holtz’s return – what do the Niscean Scrolls mean. The AI team journeys to a hospital to get a sonogram. It ends with AI team successfully determining a human child is inside Darla, not a beast, and that it could be the bringer of good or darkness – the information is not clear. Habeas Corpses comments on Quickening, in this episode an adolescent Connor, the child in the previous episode, is trying to determine his relationship to the Beast that destroyed the sunlight – am I a Beast as well? They reach the white room eventually and are told by the conduit before it dies that the answer to their quest regarding the appearance of the Beast lies among them, the information misleads them into believing that the person responsible is Angel, when in reality it is the one person who is not present at the time – Cordelia. Finally Destiny, which in a way comments on all the episodes before it – the quest to become human, the horrible price to be paid, and the desire to save the world – yet is the information provided true or false? A complete mislead? Or in reality was the quest about the two men on it?
Destiny - as much as I love Habeas Corpses, Destiny was better – it’s riff on the false quest for the Grail, the information it provides on Spike and Angel’s past meeting and past history and the fight scenes alone catapult this episode to the top. The supporting characters – Gunn, Fred, Harmony, and Eve are also utilized well. And the best part? We find out the whole quest and possibly the prophecy itself is a game set up by Lindsey – who provided Angel with access to the prophecy to begin with. A nice mind-twist.
Worst? Shroud of Rashomon - even though I Will Remember You comes in a close second. Silly episode that sets up Angel’s view that he can’t be human and be a hero, and/or he doesn’t deserve being human, yet desires it. But as much as I did not like IWRY – Rashomon is worse, the plot doesn’t quite work in either episode and the metaphors are clunky and confusing – but Rashomon does little to further the plot and with the Darla arc going full-steam ahead, this break in the action is annoying at best.
9. S1 Hero, S2 The Trial, S3 Lullaby, S4 Long Day’s Journey, S5 yet to be seen
Each one seems to be about an unlikely hero or about striving to save lives by giving up your own. The ultimate sacrifice. Hero – does it first with Doyle’s decision to push Angel out of the way and save the half-demons from the full-blooded demon troops himself. Doyle had previously been set up as someone who was denying his demon heritage and avoiding being heroic at all costs. In the Trial – Angel attempts to give his life for Darla’s. Which is a surprise because prior to this Angel is shown as denying that he cares for Darla. Angel also is the one who staked and killed Darla the first round. But the life he gains is not Darla’s but something else. Darla is still doomed to die the way she did as a human. But before Darla can fully embrace that death – Drusilla steps in and turns her. Lullaby comments on Trial – where Darla gives her life for the love of the child she and Angel created. Selfless act? Not really. Certainly not like Doyle’s. But for Darla it’s miraculous. Prior to this, Darla cared for no one but herself and hated the child inside her, wishing to kill it. Now she kills herself so it can be born. Long Day’s Journey is about Angel taking lives in the past…it seems to twist the commentary in on itself. The characters attempt to save Manny – the neutral human in long day’s journey – the man who can go either way, but fail, because they fall asleep on the job. Manny’s life is unwittingly sacrificed. We later learn it’s by Cordelia for the Beast. Cordelia does the opposite of Darla – in this episode, yet for the same reasons to protect the life she wishes to bring forth. (Season 5’s version on this theme of sacrifice and responsibility is tonight.)
Best? Lullaby - one of the best episodes of the series – a dark examination of motherhood and selflessness. In this episode we explore who Angel and Darla are and what they have reaped with their sins. Holtz perfectly embodies Angel and Darla’s worst fears – the dark father neither can ever appease or gain the approval of, the one person both have been running from their entire lives. It culminates with many twists and turns in an alley, with Holtz holding a cross bow on Angel and his newly born son – which was brought into being when Darla staked herself. Holtz’s decision not to shoot the crossbow, is an interesting twist and fitting, since his choice of revenge is so much better. This episodes themes and metaphors echo throughout the episodes that follow. A wonderful cap to Darla’s arc. While I enjoyed Long Day’s Journey – it isn’t quite as poetic nor as smooth in its portrayal of the themes as Lullaby is.
Worst? Hero - like Lullaby, a character sacrifices himself for others, but the reasons are so contrived. The threat a cliché rip-off on old WWII Nazi movies. Doyle deserved a better send-off.
10. S1 Parting Gifts, S2 Reunion, S3 Dad, S4 Awakenings, S5 yet to be seen
Each of these episodes has at its center a false hope or dream. Also each episode sets up the next one – 11 – which involves a fall or redefinition of a major characters status. Parting Gifts – is about the ghost of Doyle and the false hope Cordelia has that she can pass the visions to Wes or someone else. The desire Angel has to hold onto Doyle or move Wes into that role. Instead, all they have is a video-tape. Wes is however more or less brought into the group. Reunion is about Angel’s false hope to reclaim Darla after Dru vamps her. And perhaps Darla’s anger and disappointment at being brought back into the world vampires. Yet at the same time it comments on the connection the two women feel for each other. Angel fails in Reunion and seeks bloody vengeance against W&H, whom he blames for causing this, as do Dru and Darla. In this episode they break W&H’s control on them or so we think. Dad is about Angel’s desire to be super-dad and in this episode that dream seems to be realized – only to be smashed just a few episodes later. Angel thinks he’s outmaneuvered Holtz and W&H yet in reality they’ve hoodwinked Angel as we discover in a later episode. Awakenings – is Angel’s dream of the perfect day which is another quest, where the members of his family – Wes, Cordy, Connor pull together, apologize to him, and let him save the day. He bonds with his son and Cordelia – only to find out it’s just a dream engineered to release his soul. Waking up from it – his alterego, Angelus, laughs.
Reunion - as good as Awakenings is, Reunion is better – in Reunion, we see the relationship between Darla and Dru explored for the first time – as well as what happens when you sire a vampire. The sibling motif is one that will be revisited later with Spike and Angel. We also see a dark side of Angel we haven’t really seen up to this point, evidence that Angelus always lurks beneath the surface. Angel’s decision to lock the lawyers in with Darla and Dru is one of the darker moments in the series and a calculated risk by the writers – to show a much darker complex hero. It is also a mislead, the audience believes that Angel has gotten the upper hand. Awakenings, in contrast, is really a one joke show – a great joke and one that explains Angel a great deal – but it does not further the plot or the characters nearly as dramatically as Reunion. Of course after I see S5’s episode 10, I might change my mind on this one.
Worst? Dad, while Parting Gifts is clunky in places – it starts with a wonderful montage on Doyle and has the entrance of leather pants Wesley. Dad on the other hand is less than memorable – mostly a chase sequence between Angel and five groups fighting over a Connor which got a tad repetitive after a while.
11. S1 Somnabulist, S2 Redefinition, S3 Birthday, S4 Soulless, S5 yet to be seen…but if the prior ones are any indication? Watch out. It should be memorable and dark to say the least.
Each episode turns a characters world upside down. All are in a way about redefinition – based on trauma. A character is forced to re-evaluate their life, themselves, etc based on what they’ve done. Someone forces them to look at their past in a different way and by doing so, the character redefines himself in some way. How do we deal with past crimes? Past regrets? How are we punished or rewarded? And how do they define who we are now?
Somnabulist – is about Angel’s past obsession with killing families and how he redefined himself upon becoming a vampire, and then again upon becoming ensouled. How he dealt with his father – and how he deals with his vampire son, Penn, and the responsibility he feels in that situation. Angel in Somnabulist is forced to redefine who he is based on what he was. Kate in Somnabulist, the cop Angel has befriended, is also forced to redefine her relationship with Angel and her trust of him. Their relationship shifts.
Redefinition is about how Angel redefines himself and his life after his loss of Darla to W&H’s machinations. How he deals with that loss and like he did with Penn, goes after Darla to destroy her, yet can’t do it. In this episode, Angel also redefines his relationships with his friends – firing them.
Birthday – is about Cordelia and how she deals with the limited options – the visions are killing her and Skip others her a means of redefining herself, she can either rewrite history and pick another path – that of an actress, do nothing and die, or become part demon. In the episode – Cordy deals with the question of what might have been, her regret of not becoming an actress and belief if she pursued it she might have been a star with her own situation comedy. Simultaneously she’s forced to consider how her actions may have affected others in her life. Sort of the reverse of Somnabulist – not regretting what you did, so much as regretting lost opportunities. Cordy chooses becoming part demon – a huge redefinition but like those before, not necessarily a good one.
Soulless – which like Redefinition, comments on Birthday – Cordelia in Birthday becomes part demon to help Angel, Angel due to Cordelias machinations, lets his soul go and becomes demonic in soulless – he is redefined in the eyes of his friends. While Cordelia in Birthday is redefined in her own. In Soulless – each character is forced to re-evaluate and redefine itself and it’s relations with others. Wes is forced to re-evaluate his relationships with Fred and Lilah, Gunn with Fred and with Wes, and Angelus with Cordelia and Connor. Angelus’ appearance also redefines who Angel is and how much of Angelus lurks in Angel. The episode simultaneously comments on guilt and how we justify or excuse it.
Best? Soulless - outside of the Cordy bits, a wonderful six person play. The interaction between the caged Angelus – Fred, Gunn, Wes, and Connor is brilliant to watch and informative on every character in the piece. We learn quite a bit about how sadistic and nasty Angelus truly is. He doesn’t need to touch these guys to hurt them – he knows where their buttons are after all. The literature references alone are worth a second look. One of the best episodes in the series. While I loved Somnabulist – Soulless takes the themes explored and expands on them, it also does a good job of exploring the supporting characters. I may change my mind after S5’s 11.
Worst? Birthday - while the Cordy sitcom bits are entertaining and the episode has some interesting things to say – this episode starts an arc that painfully deconstructs the character of Cordelia. Clunky at times, its easy to see why Cordy fell for Skip’s con. But confusing the audience in the process probably wasn’t a great idea. Birthday is a murky episode, to this day I can’t decide if Cordy made the right decision – I have a feeling if I were Cordelia I’d have done the same thing.
12. S1 Expecting S2 Blood Money, S3 Provider, S4 Calvary S5 – yet to be seen.
All about the consequences of redefining ourselves – who we are. How what we think is true isn’t. Expecting is about the redefinition of the body during pregnancy – in this episode, Cordelia is seduced by a one-night stand and ends up becoming a brood mare for a demon. The child changes her somewhat – making her redefine her priorities, albeit briefly for it. She is a bit ruthless regarding the child. Blood money is about being ruthless to achieve positive results. Angel manipulates a young woman and others to obtain a bunch of money, he even hurts a few innocent people to get it, and attempts to redeem his actions by giving the money to the young woman. But his purpose all along was to make W&H pay – a purpose he’d latched onto in Redefinition. Provider also deals with obtaining something by nefarious means. In both cases it’s money. In Provider – like Expecting – it’s for a child, Angel’s child. The redefined purpose of Dad – where Angel decides his purpose is no longer to help others so much as to be a Dad. Cavalry – likewise deals with the idea of the ends justify the means – in Cavalry – Lilah suggests letting Angelus loose to kill the Beast, Cordelia lets him loose to kill everyone and keep people distracted from her child. (Cavalry comments on the redefinition in Soulless – where everyone falsely believes Cordelia got Angel’s soul back when it was just a ruse so she could release him. In Cavalry we learn that it’s a ruse and he didn’t get his soul back at all.) This episode cleverly comments on both Expecting where Cordy fights Wes and Angel for her child and drinks blood to nourish it and Blood Money/Provider where the AI team continue put lives in jeopardy to accomplish their own ends.
Best? Calvary - the culmination of the Lilah/Cordy arc where Cordy literally takes over Lilah’s femme fatale role by killing her and making it look like a vampire bite – the second time in the series that Angel has been framed. One of the series best – should be seen in association with Billy and That Vision Thing for full effect. Of course S5’ 12 may change my mind.
Worst? Expecting - as bad as Provider and Blood Money are, Expecting is worse. Blood Money has W&H’s Lilah and Lindsey to propel it as well as the interesting reintroduction of Anne from BTVS. Provider? Some nice male bonding between Wes and Gunn. Expecting? Nothing memorable. Except possibly Cordy drinking blood.
That’s all I’ve completed so far. Thanks for reading. Comments? Suggestions? Ideas???
Feedback appreciated as always.
In other news - I got a job interview next week. It's for a human resources position. Fingers crossed. Off to research company this week. Hoping for the best. First, methinks I'll get something to eat though, since I sort of skipped lunch again.