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Re-watching Angel S5
So, I've been binge-watching Angel S5 on Hulu, with no commercials. I splurged and at 11.95 a month, I can watch any television show that airs on it, with no commercials. It has a lot of old television series. Sort of the TV Land of streaming services.
Anyhow...realized a few things upon re-watching:
* In "You're Welcome" -- seriously can they give Cordy a more revealing shirt? It's unbuttoned to the degree in which her boobs appear to be popping out of it. I swear I saw a nipple in one shot.
Also, Cordy doesn't really do much in the episode, except give Angel a pep talk and say the PTB are still behind him, he still has a destiny, he's still the chosen one. To such an extent -- that I couldn't help but wonder if the Senior Partners of WRH had woken her up to get their gig back on track. Lindsey had successfully begun to push it off the rails. And they needed someone to come in there and expose Lindsey, so they can grab him.
The reason I don't think she was working for the PTB upon re-watch (outside of the fact that I know what the writers had planned down the road, and have read the comics) is two-fold, 1) The PTB don't believe in interfering in that way. 2) She tells Angel to torture the truth out of Eve, and when Angel says no, Harmony does it. (It's Fred who says this isn't a good idea and Angel). 3) It's too neat. Also, almost all the episodes are about how outside or external forces are trying to manipulate Angel and Angel is a puppet. Or manipulate someone. In fact, the writers even get a bit didatic and obvious about it at times -- with Smile Time, where Angel literally becomes a puppet and Soul Purpose, where a parasite is controlling him.
I didn't like the episode. It's not as well written. And a few things don't quite work. It seems designed to do two things, bring Spike back into the fold of WRH, and put Angel back on track.
They needed to pull everyone back to the status quo before they split them up again.
* An interesting pattern has emerged from each and every episode...in every single one, someone in the lead cast is being manipulated or is manipulating someone else -- pulling their strings. And usually the manipulation is being done through the character's desire to be a hero, to be great at something, to have a destiny, to be important. It's all about their egos and insecurities. Every single episode. And in Destiny, Damage, and Why We Fight -- we are reminded at what a master manipulator Angel is, and was -- he enjoyed breaking people down, using their weaknesses against them, and pulling their strings. As he tells Spike in Damage -- "He was in it for the EVIL."
Hmmm.
* The episode after Whedon's "Hole in the World" by Stephen Denight, is actually the better episode.
It has better lines here and there, and is a little less over the top. Whedon goes overboard in Hole in telling the audience how important Fred is to everyone. And then we get the longest death sequence on record...it takes forever, is sappy as all get out, and by the time she died -- I was die already, please, this is just painful. Whedon kills Fred in an insanely painful manner.
Not only does he kill her? He eradicates her soul and insides. (A metaphor, I think for how WRH is eating the gang from within, or corrupting them from within. A point Spike keeps making.)
In Hole, the Spike and Angel partnership is being heavily solidified -- they'd been working up to it through the other episodes. And now, these two are almost in every scene together. And Angel seems to confide more and more in Spike regarding problems and issues, as Spike seems to confide more and more in Angel. There's a bro-romance forming -- and it solidifies a bit here with Fred at the center of it. Both Spike and Angel love Fred -- their love for her unites them.
And there's several good character arcs here :
Spike and Angel, where Spike decides to stay, after Angel offers him a place anywhere in the world (preferably Outer Mongolia). And Angel accepts, because he needs him, whether he wants to admit it or not. (Spike keeps being brought into shows to take over Cordelia's spot. It's hilarious. I actually like him better than Cordelia -- combination of actor and character, Charisma never did much for me and while I liked her character well enough, she ranked at the bottom. This may explain why Angel S5 is my favorite of the seasons, no Cordelia, lots of Spike, and for once in that series history, I liked all the characters and the writing. Sigh. It got cancelled just when I was beginning to really enjoy it. Such is life.)
Wesley -- his character arc is just beginning to take off. Because he has to decide whether to help Illyria be good, and he's not exactly the right man for that job. Considering he was basically stabbing and shooting whomever he felt hurt Fred or prevented him from helping her, including a poor employee who wanted to know if they could work on other things besides just saving Fred. And Illyria asks interesting questions.
[This brings up a few difficulties with the series -- it's too testerone heavy and has a toxic male perspective that would not fly today, and may well date it. The women are often clad for sex appeal. Fred was the only who wasn't, and the writer kills her off, and replaces her with Illyria who is basically clad like a fanboy's wet sex dream come true. She's in skin tight leather, and made up to look amazing. It's the first time we see breast definition. In short she went from looking like the kid sister or lab geek to well a hot female warrior queen. Harmony is also used for sex appeal throughout. And...Spike in an episode is hanging out at a strip club, they go there more than once. Women are in some respects harassed, and objectified in this series -- in ways that I don't think would fly on television now. I didn't notice it as much the first round, now I'm jarred by it. Which shows how times have changed in some respects for the better.
Fred/Illyria don't really have an arc themselves -- they are there for the men. Illyria is there for Wes's characterization. Everything she says reflects one of the male characters. Same with Fred for the most part. I didn't notice it previously, but now...it feels as if she's there to support them.
Another difficulty? Ghod, it's racist. It really is. To such a degree that I'm wondering about the writers. Charles Gunn's arc appears to be -- Flowers for Algernon, except it's...oh he's ashamed that he's not a brilliant lawyer as opposed to the street-smart gang leader. It's very cliche and very stereotypical, and there's one scene in Hole in the World that shouted out at me -- smart Gunn is singing "Gilbert and Sullivan" and when he's caught at it by Wes, he shifts to rap song that he can't remember. Whedon?? Really??? That's the glaring example. This show would not do well now.
I'm still enjoying it, but I feel I have to be critical of these flaws in the ointment. ]
Anyhow...realized a few things upon re-watching:
* In "You're Welcome" -- seriously can they give Cordy a more revealing shirt? It's unbuttoned to the degree in which her boobs appear to be popping out of it. I swear I saw a nipple in one shot.
Also, Cordy doesn't really do much in the episode, except give Angel a pep talk and say the PTB are still behind him, he still has a destiny, he's still the chosen one. To such an extent -- that I couldn't help but wonder if the Senior Partners of WRH had woken her up to get their gig back on track. Lindsey had successfully begun to push it off the rails. And they needed someone to come in there and expose Lindsey, so they can grab him.
The reason I don't think she was working for the PTB upon re-watch (outside of the fact that I know what the writers had planned down the road, and have read the comics) is two-fold, 1) The PTB don't believe in interfering in that way. 2) She tells Angel to torture the truth out of Eve, and when Angel says no, Harmony does it. (It's Fred who says this isn't a good idea and Angel). 3) It's too neat. Also, almost all the episodes are about how outside or external forces are trying to manipulate Angel and Angel is a puppet. Or manipulate someone. In fact, the writers even get a bit didatic and obvious about it at times -- with Smile Time, where Angel literally becomes a puppet and Soul Purpose, where a parasite is controlling him.
I didn't like the episode. It's not as well written. And a few things don't quite work. It seems designed to do two things, bring Spike back into the fold of WRH, and put Angel back on track.
They needed to pull everyone back to the status quo before they split them up again.
* An interesting pattern has emerged from each and every episode...in every single one, someone in the lead cast is being manipulated or is manipulating someone else -- pulling their strings. And usually the manipulation is being done through the character's desire to be a hero, to be great at something, to have a destiny, to be important. It's all about their egos and insecurities. Every single episode. And in Destiny, Damage, and Why We Fight -- we are reminded at what a master manipulator Angel is, and was -- he enjoyed breaking people down, using their weaknesses against them, and pulling their strings. As he tells Spike in Damage -- "He was in it for the EVIL."
Hmmm.
* The episode after Whedon's "Hole in the World" by Stephen Denight, is actually the better episode.
It has better lines here and there, and is a little less over the top. Whedon goes overboard in Hole in telling the audience how important Fred is to everyone. And then we get the longest death sequence on record...it takes forever, is sappy as all get out, and by the time she died -- I was die already, please, this is just painful. Whedon kills Fred in an insanely painful manner.
Not only does he kill her? He eradicates her soul and insides. (A metaphor, I think for how WRH is eating the gang from within, or corrupting them from within. A point Spike keeps making.)
In Hole, the Spike and Angel partnership is being heavily solidified -- they'd been working up to it through the other episodes. And now, these two are almost in every scene together. And Angel seems to confide more and more in Spike regarding problems and issues, as Spike seems to confide more and more in Angel. There's a bro-romance forming -- and it solidifies a bit here with Fred at the center of it. Both Spike and Angel love Fred -- their love for her unites them.
And there's several good character arcs here :
Spike and Angel, where Spike decides to stay, after Angel offers him a place anywhere in the world (preferably Outer Mongolia). And Angel accepts, because he needs him, whether he wants to admit it or not. (Spike keeps being brought into shows to take over Cordelia's spot. It's hilarious. I actually like him better than Cordelia -- combination of actor and character, Charisma never did much for me and while I liked her character well enough, she ranked at the bottom. This may explain why Angel S5 is my favorite of the seasons, no Cordelia, lots of Spike, and for once in that series history, I liked all the characters and the writing. Sigh. It got cancelled just when I was beginning to really enjoy it. Such is life.)
Wesley -- his character arc is just beginning to take off. Because he has to decide whether to help Illyria be good, and he's not exactly the right man for that job. Considering he was basically stabbing and shooting whomever he felt hurt Fred or prevented him from helping her, including a poor employee who wanted to know if they could work on other things besides just saving Fred. And Illyria asks interesting questions.
[This brings up a few difficulties with the series -- it's too testerone heavy and has a toxic male perspective that would not fly today, and may well date it. The women are often clad for sex appeal. Fred was the only who wasn't, and the writer kills her off, and replaces her with Illyria who is basically clad like a fanboy's wet sex dream come true. She's in skin tight leather, and made up to look amazing. It's the first time we see breast definition. In short she went from looking like the kid sister or lab geek to well a hot female warrior queen. Harmony is also used for sex appeal throughout. And...Spike in an episode is hanging out at a strip club, they go there more than once. Women are in some respects harassed, and objectified in this series -- in ways that I don't think would fly on television now. I didn't notice it as much the first round, now I'm jarred by it. Which shows how times have changed in some respects for the better.
Fred/Illyria don't really have an arc themselves -- they are there for the men. Illyria is there for Wes's characterization. Everything she says reflects one of the male characters. Same with Fred for the most part. I didn't notice it previously, but now...it feels as if she's there to support them.
Another difficulty? Ghod, it's racist. It really is. To such a degree that I'm wondering about the writers. Charles Gunn's arc appears to be -- Flowers for Algernon, except it's...oh he's ashamed that he's not a brilliant lawyer as opposed to the street-smart gang leader. It's very cliche and very stereotypical, and there's one scene in Hole in the World that shouted out at me -- smart Gunn is singing "Gilbert and Sullivan" and when he's caught at it by Wes, he shifts to rap song that he can't remember. Whedon?? Really??? That's the glaring example. This show would not do well now.
I'm still enjoying it, but I feel I have to be critical of these flaws in the ointment. ]