AtS S5 and overview thoughts
I finished watching AtS awhile ago. I was going to make a post about it, then RL got in the way and then some ennui.
Despite enjoying it much more than I remembered, I found I didn't have a whole lot to say about it. Still, I feel a compulsion to say something.
- As I said, I think S5 is probably the strongest season start to finish. There's a lot of subjectivity there. I know some people loved the Darla arc of S2, but I didn't. This is the first season that really focuses on Angel's character in a direct way rather than he and the gang reacting to something else. One of the reasons I didn't like it back then and do now, I think, is that it doesn't feel like an Angel season. It really feels more like a Buffy season. In fact serves as parallel to S7 in terms of compromising values. "You can't beat evil by doing evil." vs "Maybe you can use evil to beat evil." Of course it ends badly.
-Conviction is probably Joss's weakest premiere ep and one of his weakest overall. It does all the typical Joss stuff like summarize the seasons themes in one show and sets the starting point, but it lacks all drive. The MoTW feels forced. The whole ep really feels like it's holding for the final scene.
-The first third is really kinda hit and miss. Just Rewards, Hellbound, Life of the Party, CToNC are all good eps, I think. Whereas Conviction, Unleashed (what was the point of Nina, really, other than Angel Likes Blondes?) and Lineage. Even Destiny is kinda... eh. Outside of the fight scene, it didn't do anything for me. Pissing contests don't entertain me.
-Harm's Way was much better than I remembered. I don't like Harmony in general, but the "other side" aspect of the episode is entertaining. Right-biter! Heh. You know fans complain about Spike upsetting things? It's really Harmony. Spike was evil, whereas you can make a case that Harmony isn't which is does not jive with the verse at all. You can't help but notice that Harmony's biggest fan (going by the number of Harmony eps he's written) is Fury, who hated Spike for the longest time.
-Soul Purpose is one of the gems of the show. It perfectly illustrates how BTVS and AtS were narratives with opposite trajectories. Plus I love good dreamage.
-They really didn't know what they were doing with Spike until mid-season, did they? I'd say it's not until Soul Purpose/Damage that he feels like a character in his own right. Until then he reverted back to his S4 Buffy self of just saying things for the others to react to most of the time. He still does but at least it feels like things Spike would say.
-Ben Edlund is one of the reasons I like this season. He brings a certain Jane Espenson-esque style that Angel had been lacking. He also has very Darin Morgan way of poking fun at the characters without demeaning them. Life of the Party is great in that regard.
-And then...Then there's the Illyria arc. It's not a stretch to say I disliked, bordering on loathed, this storyline. It's not that they killed Fred necessarily (although, dead girl, again?), but the long, drawn-out, angst porn stretched my nerves. I have to say, after hearing Joss fawn all over her for years after, I can't help but suspect the motivation was to get Amy Acker running around in fetish wear for some episodes, a la, Willow's costume in Halloween. I guess I just prefer Fred to Illyria. I had little interest in more Wes!Pain. Someone should tell Joss that just because you lampshade the girl saying she's not a damsel doesn't change that you damseled her. See also: EoD/Chosen when Angel shows up.
-Speaking of Wes/Fred, the mindwipe bothers me there the same way IWRY bothers me in Bangel, though I guess you could say since they were both wiped, it's not quite the same.
-I also really dislike them using Giles there because they can't get ASH or do that storyline. It seems unfair to portray Giles as uncaring when the Different Network rule is still kinda in play. Yes, is in the fictional world, it would make total sense that they'd try everything, including phoning up the Scooby Gang, but RL circumstances make it impossible. For instance, it also would have made perfect sense for Fred/Gunn to contact Sunnydale when Angel was missing, but they didn't because Different Networks and there's no way they could've wanked that the Scoobs wouldn't have helped. They wisely left it out of play, which is what they should've done in this arc.
-For that reason, I'm glad SMG never did Angel after S1.
-TGIQ will never not be funny and is canon, la, la, la.
-Power Play/Not Fade Away is kind of forced with the "Is he Angelus?" stuff. We know sex doesn't do it, guys. I don't think the message of NFA really fits Angel. To me, it was never about the fight so much as finding your place. It's kinda of the opposite of Chosen in that it was a good episode, but crappy thematic end, whereas Chosen wasn't great but a good thematic end. Like I said, it really serves as the oppposite of Buffy. BTVS was a about a girl who is typically fodder and creating a name/persona/narrative for herself. It's a constructive arc built on the blonde girl in a dark alley trope. Angel was about the deconstruction of the mythic male hero trope. He signs away his specialness and fights with his friends in that very same dark alley.
I guess had a little more to say than I thought.
Despite enjoying it much more than I remembered, I found I didn't have a whole lot to say about it. Still, I feel a compulsion to say something.
- As I said, I think S5 is probably the strongest season start to finish. There's a lot of subjectivity there. I know some people loved the Darla arc of S2, but I didn't. This is the first season that really focuses on Angel's character in a direct way rather than he and the gang reacting to something else. One of the reasons I didn't like it back then and do now, I think, is that it doesn't feel like an Angel season. It really feels more like a Buffy season. In fact serves as parallel to S7 in terms of compromising values. "You can't beat evil by doing evil." vs "Maybe you can use evil to beat evil." Of course it ends badly.
-Conviction is probably Joss's weakest premiere ep and one of his weakest overall. It does all the typical Joss stuff like summarize the seasons themes in one show and sets the starting point, but it lacks all drive. The MoTW feels forced. The whole ep really feels like it's holding for the final scene.
-The first third is really kinda hit and miss. Just Rewards, Hellbound, Life of the Party, CToNC are all good eps, I think. Whereas Conviction, Unleashed (what was the point of Nina, really, other than Angel Likes Blondes?) and Lineage. Even Destiny is kinda... eh. Outside of the fight scene, it didn't do anything for me. Pissing contests don't entertain me.
-Harm's Way was much better than I remembered. I don't like Harmony in general, but the "other side" aspect of the episode is entertaining. Right-biter! Heh. You know fans complain about Spike upsetting things? It's really Harmony. Spike was evil, whereas you can make a case that Harmony isn't which is does not jive with the verse at all. You can't help but notice that Harmony's biggest fan (going by the number of Harmony eps he's written) is Fury, who hated Spike for the longest time.
-Soul Purpose is one of the gems of the show. It perfectly illustrates how BTVS and AtS were narratives with opposite trajectories. Plus I love good dreamage.
-They really didn't know what they were doing with Spike until mid-season, did they? I'd say it's not until Soul Purpose/Damage that he feels like a character in his own right. Until then he reverted back to his S4 Buffy self of just saying things for the others to react to most of the time. He still does but at least it feels like things Spike would say.
-Ben Edlund is one of the reasons I like this season. He brings a certain Jane Espenson-esque style that Angel had been lacking. He also has very Darin Morgan way of poking fun at the characters without demeaning them. Life of the Party is great in that regard.
-And then...Then there's the Illyria arc. It's not a stretch to say I disliked, bordering on loathed, this storyline. It's not that they killed Fred necessarily (although, dead girl, again?), but the long, drawn-out, angst porn stretched my nerves. I have to say, after hearing Joss fawn all over her for years after, I can't help but suspect the motivation was to get Amy Acker running around in fetish wear for some episodes, a la, Willow's costume in Halloween. I guess I just prefer Fred to Illyria. I had little interest in more Wes!Pain. Someone should tell Joss that just because you lampshade the girl saying she's not a damsel doesn't change that you damseled her. See also: EoD/Chosen when Angel shows up.
-Speaking of Wes/Fred, the mindwipe bothers me there the same way IWRY bothers me in Bangel, though I guess you could say since they were both wiped, it's not quite the same.
-I also really dislike them using Giles there because they can't get ASH or do that storyline. It seems unfair to portray Giles as uncaring when the Different Network rule is still kinda in play. Yes, is in the fictional world, it would make total sense that they'd try everything, including phoning up the Scooby Gang, but RL circumstances make it impossible. For instance, it also would have made perfect sense for Fred/Gunn to contact Sunnydale when Angel was missing, but they didn't because Different Networks and there's no way they could've wanked that the Scoobs wouldn't have helped. They wisely left it out of play, which is what they should've done in this arc.
-For that reason, I'm glad SMG never did Angel after S1.
-TGIQ will never not be funny and is canon, la, la, la.
-Power Play/Not Fade Away is kind of forced with the "Is he Angelus?" stuff. We know sex doesn't do it, guys. I don't think the message of NFA really fits Angel. To me, it was never about the fight so much as finding your place. It's kinda of the opposite of Chosen in that it was a good episode, but crappy thematic end, whereas Chosen wasn't great but a good thematic end. Like I said, it really serves as the oppposite of Buffy. BTVS was a about a girl who is typically fodder and creating a name/persona/narrative for herself. It's a constructive arc built on the blonde girl in a dark alley trope. Angel was about the deconstruction of the mythic male hero trope. He signs away his specialness and fights with his friends in that very same dark alley.
I guess had a little more to say than I thought.