Angel 5-5

[Felon]

He's mentioned as straddling the line, but seems mostly to be a force for himself. I just don't think it fits, because he's never been mentioned before, they just toss him in with added background that makes him seem important. Add that Buffy is dating him. That seems weak and contrived.

I see your point, but it's part of the very nature of the buffyverse to introduce long-lived characters that are major players, yet have somehow managed to fly under our radar for years prior to their appearance. How many times did Giles speak in bated breath of some primeval, antediluvian, unspeakably evil BBEG that pops into Sunnydale out of nowhere, only to be glibly and unceremoniously gacked by Buffy towards the end of the same episode it was introduced in? And it works on a certain level, as an immortal could very well keep a low-profile for a decade or two...or three or four...or twelve...

Don't get me wrong: The Immortal was a blatantly contrived mcguffin...but Whedon intentionally played up that blatancy. The point of the character is his inapproachability, at least as far as Angel and Spike are concerned. Since Gellar wasn't showing up for that episode, it's questionable what exactly "good writing" could do to create truly seamless closure, other than by having her killed off (off-screen). Then again, I suppose that begs the question of whether or not we really needed closure. The slayer goes on a grand slaying world tour, nuff said. Heck, I'm curious to know what a non-super guy like Xander's up to.

 

[AuroraGyps]

I enjoyed this episode. It might not have moved the plot line along much, but it was more of a character growth episode (well, hopefully the characters see how ridiculous they were being and grow). I loved how the Immortal + Buffy (or Darla & Dru in the past) made Angel & Spike bristle like a couple of tom cats. I was expecting at one point that Angel would turn to Spike and say : "you pee in that corner and I'll pee in this one," to mark their territory. I swear, the fact that these two 100-200+ year old vampires were acting like a couple of macho teenagers was really funny.
As for Illyria acting like Fred...really creepy. When she does that jerky head tilt and stares... weirds me out.

 

[Wolf72]

... It might not have moved the plot line along much, ...

whew ... still upset at missing an episode, but at least I won't be to lost.

 

[Staffan]

I'd rather have seen some more of that hulking new liason (is that the same guy who played the demon Skip previously?)

Nope. He played Jayne on Firefly, though.

 

[LightPhoenix]

whew ... still upset at missing an episode, but at least I won't be to lost.

You won't be lost at all. The only thing of import to the arc that happened in the episode were that Illyria can take Fred's form and mannerisms. Oh, and Angel describes Nina (the werewolf girl from earlier in the season) as his girlfriend.

To address RangerWickett and John Crichton, the biggest problem with this episode isn't it's style or writing or acting... I would agree that this was a decent episode of Angel.

The problem with this episode is really the timing. This was, for all intents and purposes, a filler episode. My personal opinion is that when you're building a cliffhanger ending (which it fairly obviously will be) you need to build suspense. While this should certainly be done over the course of the entire season, the last four or so episodes should be very centered on the growing peril. This episode did absolutely nothing to do that, and that's the problem with the episode, not that it's "vintage" Angel or what have you.

Also to address another of RW's comments... at least for myself, I'm hard on the show because I like it and feel that this season overall has been less than it could have been. The writing has been pretty good, Spike settled in nicely, all of the characters got some story and growth. It just hasn't felt as cohesive as the earlier seasons. I think it's felt more like a well-writen/acted season of Trek than it has a season of Angel or from what I gather, Buffy. The episodes feel almost semi-detached from each other and from an overall story. For example, the robot ninjas. Shown once, made out to be fairly important, and never dealt with again. I expect this of a show like Enterprise... Angel I hold to a higher standard, because I know that they can meet it easily.

 

[Jeremy]

Agreed. This season has seemed extremely episodic, while most seasons of Buffy and even multiple seasons of Angel have one big or a few big story arcs.

Getting a non-arc episode so close to the end of it all inbetween being bombarded with the new "fresh episode" terminology is disheartening. Now is the time for events of widespread impact and import. Worst of all it makes me not look forward to next week as anything more than another episode (which on taken as a whole is still a lot of anticipation), when it should be much more.

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

 

[Vocenoctum]

For example, the robot ninjas. Shown once, made out to be fairly important, and never dealt with again. I expect this of a show like Enterprise... Angel I hold to a higher standard, because I know that they can meet it easily.

For me, the worst is Lindsey. They left one of their's behind in order to get him out, and he goes "the end is already here!" and they drop him from the show, never to be heard from again.

I just don't get it.

 

[ConnorSB]

Mmm... angel is on tommorrow. I wonder what will happen... how evil Illyria will become... how much more tortured and messed up Wesley will become... how generally less lawyery Gunn will become...

 

[AuroraGyps]

Agreed. This season has seemed extremely episodic, while most seasons of Buffy and even multiple seasons of Angel have one big or a few big story arcs.

Well, that's what the WB wanted, so that's what Joss wrote. He said he wrote the season to work whether there was another season or not. When they canceled Angel, if they wanted him to make changes to the final episodes, I doubt he'd make that many... and I can't imagine how hard it would be to rewrite half a season anyways.

 

[Fast Learner]

You won't be lost at all. The only thing of import to the arc that happened in the episode were that Illyria can take Fred's form and mannerisms. Oh, and Angel describes Nina (the werewolf girl from earlier in the season) as his girlfriend.

Umm... and that Illyria is either falling in love with Wesley (perhaps due to Fred's personality still being in there) or is feeling somehow beholden to him. It was a quick, seemingly throwaway, 3-word line, but it was important, I suspect.