Angel 1-14-04 (SPOILERS)

[RangerWickett]

Oh, and what's the Weyland-Yutani reference? I know I recognized the name when I heard it, but I can't place it.

 

[LrdApoc]

Weyland-Yutani is the megacorp in the Alien universe that Ripley worked for and that lead the development of the alien bioweapon research.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Weyland-Yutani is the megacorp in the Alien universe that Ripley worked for and that lead the development of the alien bioweapon research.

And a reference because Joss wrote Alien: Ressurection.

One thing I didn't notice until someone else mentioned it - the view of Angel through Harmony's eyes. Angel seems a lot more evil in this one - because most of the employees, and certainly Harmony still see him as being mean. I think it just makes me like the episode more.

Sure, it's a standard filler show about a character that we barely ever see in the first place. When I heard what this eppy was about I groaned too - I really didn't like Harmony. I expected the worst and came out better than I expected. I'd be lying if I said it was the best this season or even near so - characters are woefully under used, and the story is both simplistic and common for Angel.

However, it adds depth to a character that previously had none. Harmony isn't particularly dumb. I would say more than anything she isn't particularly wise or perceptive. She feels like no one is appreciating her work and treating her like garbage, she isn't liked by anyone else at the firm, or anyone else in general. In fact, most people don't even notice her. Which is the point I think this episode was really trying to make - it sucks when people don't notice you, and what's the point of trying when it doesn't matter if you do or not?

Now, the question is, what does this episode say arc-wise?

One, that Angel and company still don't have things under control at Wolfram and Hart. In fact, the more I think about it the more I'm convinced Team Angel will be leaving it after this season. They just can't get it under control, and one of the reasons is because for all their good guys, they're just not that personable. Whereas someone like Eve is. In fact, Angel and company seem to be doing everything possible to be as distant from the rest of the firm as possible - something that may very well bite them in the butt later on.

Two, a lot of people think we're seeing Team Angel work together again. I disagree whole-heartedly. Angel's being moody and sullen, and reclusive, as always. Fred's just making excuses for him while waffling about what to do with Wesley and Knox (and Spike, presumably ) and being the new moral center (poorly). Spike is just a point of contention, and Harmony may be being pushed farther away as well. Lorne is so enmeshed in the firm that he's basically on his own - no one sees him much any more. And it still can't be told if Gunn can be trusted, whether he knows it or not. Ironically, IMO the only one who is being a team player at this point is Wesley. Who knew?

Three, and this is total wack-theory, we're setting the stage for another division in Team Angel. This time a little more broad than just losing Wesley. Things are coming apart, just like they thought they would, but they're just not seeing it at all. Which is what I think Cordy will take care of when she wakes up - she's always been the center of the group, and she'll be the one to make them see that they're not the tight-knit group they once were, and they need to wake up themselves.

 

[Pielorinho]

Ummm, Harmony prevented the demon combat by staking the chick on the confrence table, no?

She didn't prevent anything that she hadn't caused in the first place. Remember, had she:
1) Come to Angel as soon as she realized something was wrong, or
2) Not konked Mr. Blood-Tester on the head and hidden him in a closet, or
3) Not conked Fred on the head and hidden him in a closet, then
4) The demons would not have been about to come to blows anyway.

Indeed, if the villain had waited a little longer before revealing herself, then Harmony would have most likely killed Danny, and then the demons would have started the slaughter anyway.

Another thing. Remember when she started killing Danny, and all the other secretaries left the break room? What'd they do, go down the hallway and start chatting again? When one disliked secretary starts killing a coworker, does nobody think to call security? Angel's secretary goes murderously insane just down the hallway from his meeting room, and nobody tells him?

Stupid stupid stupid.

Daniel

 

[Kahuna Burger]

And a reference because Joss wrote Alien: Ressurection.

Someone WROTE that? I always assumed they just solicited sample alien scenes from a variety of failing film students and put them all together... Oh dear, my respect for Josh just plumeted...

Maybe he wrote a good script and evil demons turned it into what I actually saw...

One thing I didn't notice until someone else mentioned it - the view of Angel through Harmony's eyes. Angel seems a lot more evil in this one - because most of the employees, and certainly Harmony still see him as being mean. I think it just makes me like the episode more.

Well, ya know, he IS mean. I'm not a longtime angel veiwer, but really the veiw through Harmony's eyes is the same one I've been seeing of him all season. He despises the people who work for him, he hates his job, and he pushes away the people on his side, and he isn't a particularly nice guy for all of being a 'good guy'. He has a hardline attitude that really doesn't make sense to me considering his own past and expereince with redemption, but again, I'm not a longtime veiwer, though I've picked up the structure of what came before, if not the emotional nuance. If I'd watched it from the begining, I'd probably interpret his actions more favorably, and see the tourtured soul underneath it... But I see him from a more outsider stance which is what we were all given a veiw of this episode.

Kahuna Burger

 

[Pielorinho]

Someone WROTE that? I always assumed they just solicited sample alien scenes from a variety of failing film students and put them all together... Oh dear, my respect for Josh just plumeted...

Maybe he wrote a good script and evil demons turned it into what I actually saw...

Evil French demons, if you believe what he's said in interviews. When I first heard that Jean Jeunet, the director of Delicatessan and City of Lost Children, (perhaps my favorite movie of all time), was directing the next Alien movie, I was giddy with anticipation -- and that was even before I knew who Joss Whedon was.

The movie was pretty stinky, of course. Joss Whedon blames Jeunet for its putrid qualities, and seems to hate the man.

The worst thing about these things is that, when the actors say it wrong, it makes the writer look stupid. People assume that the line... I listened to half the dialogue in Alien 4, and I'm like, "That's idiotic," because of the way it was said. And nobody knows that. Nobody ever gets that. They say, "That was a stupid script," which is the worst pain in the world. I have a great long boring story about that, but I can tell you the very short version. In Alien 4, the director changed something so that it didn't make any sense. He wanted someone to go and get a gun and get killed by the alien, so I wrote that in and tried to make it work, but he directed it in a way that it made no sense whatsoever. And I was sitting there in the editing room, trying to come up with looplines to explain what's going on, to make the scene make sense, and I asked the director, "Can you just explain to me why he's doing this? Why is he going for this gun?" And the editor, who was French, turned to me and said, with a little leer on his face, [adopts gravelly, smarmy, French-accented voice] "Because eet's een the screept." And I actually went and dented the bathroom stall with my puddly little fist. I have never been angrier. But it's the classic, "When something goes wrong, you assume the writer's a dork." And that's painful.

Can't say that I've got a high opinion of Jeunet any more, especially not after reading his own opinion of Alien:

Nevertheless, the film turned out to be an amazing adventure for me. It was unlike anything I've made before. It was the first time I didn't write the script—Joss Whedon wrote it—but I decided from the beginning to modify each scene to include at least one personal idea, so I could claim the film for myself in a way. Now I love the film. I saw it again a couple months ago, and I'm very proud of it.

Daniel

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Another thing. Remember when she started killing Danny, and all the other secretaries left the break room? What'd they do, go down the hallway and start chatting again? When one disliked secretary starts killing a coworker, does nobody think to call security?

of course not, that would stop the murder, maybe even given her a chance to explain herself... then she wouldn't get fired/killed.

Comeon, your treating this like a normal office - in the (only a few months ago) old days, one personal assistant killing the other was probably the start or culmination of a minor tiff between two executives. And I'm not sure she was activly disliked as much as not yet accepted due to her non merit based leapfrog of a promotion.

Anyway, hitting people gently on the head and locking them in a closet? I figured that would get her accepted into the club!

Kahuna Burger

 

[RangerWickett]

Another thing. Remember when she started killing Danny, and all the other secretaries left the break room? What'd they do, go down the hallway and start chatting again? When one disliked secretary starts killing a coworker, does nobody think to call security? Angel's secretary goes murderously insane just down the hallway from his meeting room, and nobody tells him?

You know, that seems just about right for this lawfirm. Thanks, I now like the episode even more. In fact, I kinda wish they'd shown that.

 

[Pielorinho]

Fair point, Kahuna, about the staff just figuring it was normal daily death-feuds. That hadn't occurred to me, and it makes sense.

But I really don't see Angel taking kindly to a vampire beating up Lorne and (especially) Fred, for whom he seems to have fatherly feelings. She's a vampire, obviously out of control; she could easily have killed them. And even if she hadn't, she could easily have caused the two demon clans to go to war with one another.

Daniel

 

[RangerWickett]

IT'S A COMEDY EPISODE. FUNNY, UNLIKELY STUFF IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!

Okay, that's out now. Really, you people take these shows too damned seriously.