Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Aug 22, 2017 14:36:52 GMT -8
Oh nooooo, I'm due to finish the entire series tonight and I'm nowhere near done with these writeups
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Aug 22, 2017 19:22:23 GMT -8
"You're Welcome" [5x12] Writer: David Fury Director: David Fury
The most bizarre thing about Angel season five is that while the show has simultaneously been dumbed down and soft-rebooted in an attempt at appealing to a new audience, it's also been very willing to dig into nostalgia. Or maybe it's realized that the show was never going to appeal to a big audience and moved towards continuity porn in an attempt to ensnare the one audience it knew it had? Hmmm.
In any case, this episode is good. I'm almost tempted to call it very good! Cordelia is obviously great, and seeing her casually diss Eve and tell Angel he's a sellout to his face is much more satisfying than the metaphorical "oh no, Angel's lost his purpose!" metaphors this show has been shitting out as of late in lieu of plotting. And is very in-character: what Cordy brought to the show was that blunt, no bullshit attitude that contrasted with Wesley's milquetoastery and Angel's broodiness.
Unfortunately, the episode has a plot involving Lindsey McDonald. And, uh, it's kind of dumb. Not just in the sense that there's apparently a CEO-devouring monster in the basement of Wolfram and Hart, or that Cordelia stops said monster by pressing random buttons. (Though, needless to say-- very dumb.) "I'm Angel. I beat the bad guys!" ...really? That's the lesson Cordy imparts? That Angel is really good at thwackin'? Uggggggggggggh.
Cordy yay, machismo nay.
85/100
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Aug 24, 2017 11:38:53 GMT -8
"Why We Fight" [5x13] Writers: Drew Goddard & Steven S. DeKnight Director: Terrence O'Hara
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Angel meets a troubled old man who was once a hero, but has lately been reduced to a shadow of his former self... you know, now that I've watched "Not Fade Away" I'm starting to think that this Lawson character is some kind of metaphor for Angel? Possibly-- just spitballing here-- a commentary on how Angel has lost his, uh, purpose? Uncharted territory. Totally.
This episode is really aiming to be something special, because an episode set almost entirely in flashback, exploring the actions of an ensouled-but-unheroic Angel and how they resonate in the present, is a great premise. Indeed, it's the premise of what is in my mind the best episode of the entire show. Indeed, towards the end of the episode, Lawson really invokes the spirit of AYNOHYEB when he implies Angel gave him half a soul:
This is very silly if we take the metaphor literally, even by Buffyverse standards: can you really quantify a soul? But if we view Angel as a show about multiracial identity, as "Are You Now..." encouraged us to do, this statement makes some metaphorical sense.
Unfortunately, "Why We Fight" is mostly focused on a flashback that's not very compelling. "Are You Now" had a rich, beautifully directed world, drawing upon the cinematic and cultural baggage of the 50's. "Why We Fight" takes place in a submarine interior they presumably borrowed for ~$100. There's no sense of claustrophobia, even as Angel and Spike bicker in a dinky vessel 20,000 leagues under the sea. Other than the brief shock of seeing Spike in a Nazi uniform, the episode makes no attempt to use the WWII backdrop in any evocative way. It doesn't really work in a jingoistic way either. It's just kind of... there.
Which is a good metaphor for this episode, which does something different, but not to any successful or interesting end.
60/100
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Sept 15, 2017 11:52:36 GMT -8
Oh god damnit.
I had a very insightful post typed up about "Smile Time" which the internet promptly ate. I guess you can ask me about my insights into the episode. The big one was that the Smile Time crew are surprisingly in-depth mirrors of the AI crew-- seriously, even the evil My Neighbor Totoro has some layers.
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Post by Jeremy on Sept 15, 2017 11:58:06 GMT -8
The Totoro Muppet is the best part of "Smile Time."
I mean, he gets all the best lines.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Sept 15, 2017 12:06:37 GMT -8
The Totoro Muppet is the best part of "Smile Time." I mean, he gets all the best lines. He's totally supposed to be the Wesley of the group, the joke being that he is the sexless Muppet he thinks Fred sees him as, and also that Wesley's exposition is so obscure that it may as well just be various horn toots.
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Post by Zarnium on Sept 15, 2017 18:16:51 GMT -8
All I remember from the episode is Spike taunting Angel about being a puppet.
So, essentially, best episode of the whole show.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Sept 15, 2017 18:25:21 GMT -8
All I remember from the episode is Spike taunting Angel about being a puppet. So, essentially, best episode of the whole show. Curiously, I'm not sure NFA is even close to my pic for best Angel ep. 1. Are You Now... 2. Darla 3. Not Fade Away 4. Eternity 5. Smile Time 6. Waiting in the Wings 7. Reunion 8. Underneath 9. Supersymmetry 10. Shiny Happy People (?) I'm missing some obvious ones but the top five is pretty solid. I think all things considered, "Eternity" and "Not Fade Away" are equal. Not trolling, I swear.
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Post by ThirdMan on Sept 16, 2017 13:13:20 GMT -8
#3 on a Top 10 would generally be considered pretty close...haha.
And where are your reviews, woman?! I want to hear about how they objectify Acker by putting her in a tight-fitting outfit and giving her sexy blue hair and whatnot!
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Sept 16, 2017 13:20:26 GMT -8
I can't envision a top ten list that doesn't have "Shells" on it though.
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Post by ThirdMan on Sept 16, 2017 13:28:36 GMT -8
There's a hole in Quiara's critical faculties. Feels like we ought to have known.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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Post by Quiara on Sept 16, 2017 13:59:05 GMT -8
I can't envision a top ten list that doesn't have "Shells" on it though. "Shells" and "Underneath" are very close in quality, so it felt redundant having both there. And it's been a while since I watched this "girl" has watched the episodes "in question," hence no long-form reviews. Capsules of how they'd have gone out: "Smile Time" is awesome, except for the forced Fresley. "A Hole in the World" has a lot of nice Whedon touches, but I make every feminist criticism you'd expect me to make, and more. I take especial umbrage at the caveman and astronauts bit, which is both very Whedon and very indicative of the season's flaws. "Shells" and "Underneath" are both very, very good. "Time Bomb" is fine. It debuffs Illyria, which is obviously necessary for her to become a regular, and I think pulling a Billy Pilgrim is a solid way to characterize her. "Origin" is cool enough. I'm not sure if this goes before or after "Time Bomb" despite this being an important episode for Wesley, which should imply about how much I care for Wesley's character arc now that it's been taken out of cold storage (to make room for the fridged Ms. Burkle, presumably) "The Girl in Question" is kind of baffling-- it has easily the best Weslyria interactions of the bunch, but the main plot is... I hypothetically like it, but did we need yet another episode derailing the plot so we can have yet another Spike and Angel pissing contest? Andrew is misused (and also straight now??) and the Italian setting mostly seems to be an excuse to fill the episode with borderline-racist caricatures. "Power Play" is an odd episode, because it suggests that Angel's about-face is an act meant to get in W&H's good graces, even though his suicide mission really is an about-face for a show about fighting the good fight and all that matters is what we do, twisting the show's absurdist philosophy into this display of Kantian machismo in ways that the show barely seems aware of. Perhaps this is the moral of the show-- that even ensouled, vampires cannot truly change, that without mortality we can't hope to do anything beyond staying in a holding pattern, be it endless depravity or endless cycles of redemption and destruction? "Not Fade Away" is a great finale, but accordingly, I can't say I truly liked it. It might be unfair to hate it for not being "Epiphany," but that's why I can't in good conscience call it a highlight of the show. (That, and Eve is in it! Oh snap!) You might see me writing about Angel S4 again, picking up from where I left off on the old fora or possibly in some... other context... but I'm actually focusing my attention on writing about The X-Files offsite, in much the same style. I'll probably link to any really good posts I make on the show.
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Post by ThirdMan on Sept 16, 2017 14:23:27 GMT -8
Well, if it's not a highlight of the show, why did you put it at #3 on your list.?
I'm so confuzzled.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Sept 16, 2017 16:05:35 GMT -8
I can't envision a top ten list that doesn't have "Shells" on it though. "Origin" is cool enough. I'm not sure if this goes before or after "Time Bomb" despite this being an important episode for Wesley, which should imply about how much I care for Wesley's character arc now that it's been taken out of cold storage (to make room for the fridged Ms. Burkle, presumably) It..it goes before..... also how dare you take it back right now!!!
"Shells" and "Underneath" are both excellent, but they have different strengths I think. "Shells" has better pacing, but "Underneath" has incredibly solid and interesting themes.
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Post by Jeremy on Sept 16, 2017 16:32:54 GMT -8
He's totally supposed to be the Wesley of the group, the joke being that he is the sexless Muppet he thinks Fred sees him as, and also that Wesley's exposition is so obscure that it may as well just be various horn toots. And his name is Ratio, which is symbolic of the way Wesley grows from the center of the Fang Gang's circle to its outer edge! How deep does the rabbit hole go, "Smile Time"? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on The X-Files. You could probably write some interesting stuff about a series in which a male believer and a female skeptic team up to investigate supernatural mysteries.
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