gwyn | here we go...

I fully expect to be mocked. In fact, I've given Merry

mlynne carte blanche already to mock away, and expect to extend the credit to others soon. For a long time, most people who know me know I've been very anti-blog, because the ones I was seeing really bothered me in their attempts to generate praise, or worse, talk about what they had for breakfast, their recent application of anti-fungal toenail medication, or their ongoing battle with mental illness and the things Satan was telling them to do through their hamster. Not all of them were like that, of course, but a disproportionate amount I had looked at seemed to be, and I got serious wiggins. I was very uncomfortable with some of the blog wars I saw, too, so I wanted to stay the heck away from the culture.

But recently, after writing some essays on Buffy episodes Beneath You and Seeing Red, and getting some private mail from people on message boards I play on telling me they enjoyed reading my mini-reviews and essays and suggested I do more, I realized how much I missed doing reviews. The two best years of my life were when I was lucky enough to make my (rather penurious) living from writing movie reviews (and also pinch hitting on music and television), and I really enjoy talking about episodes of the series I'm watching or the movies I'm going to. One person who suggested I do more mini-reviews and essays of Buffy said "why not a blog or LJ?" And I went ick! Ptui! No way! After my little tantrum, though, I thought, well, okay, that's childish, I mean, I don't have to make this about my cat's skin condition or give people the daily rundown on my weight. No law says it has to be personal. I may not understand why people share those things, and understand less why people read them, but they do and they enjoy it -- but I can just keep it to reviews and essays.

And Merry said, well, shyeah, duh. You should do it. And I realized there was no reason not to other than the unpleasant act of crow-eating. It's not like I'm going to get a big friends list (since I, like, have no friends ;-) ) and I'd be amazed, frankly, if anyone stumbles on this review page anyway. That's okay. It's a wank, but when I send out episode comments to most lists I'm on, I either get no responses anyway, or people tell me I'm wrong about Spike or whatever. I mean, I can just do that here and no one will be wiser. ;-)

So, for a first review, I think I'll tackle Angel this week (10/13), Ground State. Spoiler warning! Sin ce I'm making this a review/essay page, and I haven't learned to take the spoilers to a different page yet -- I'll just assume people have seen the ep. I'll figure this damn thing out eventually.

This was an interesting episode in terms of setting up wha t could contradict or reshape the canon from last year, but in most other respects, it left a lot to be desired. It's clear that they intend to bring Gwen back. Since she was ostensibly the "villain" of the piece and she left standing, they're setting her up to be a recurring character. She's also a rare guest villian with a background. Up to the point with the elevator macking, I was enjoying her duality -- the conflict she clearly felt over her desire to remain unaffected by others and their emotions, a nd wistfulness about love or being cared for by someone. She clearly felt remorse for Gunn, but didn't want to have her life affected by emotional decisions.

They laid the sex appeal part of her on a little too thick with the saucy sauntering and the leather/vinyl and all, but as guest villians go, she was all right. What didn't make sense was the instant kissage after Angel got his jump start. When your life is threatened, why would you take the time for that, all attractions aside? What was its purpose, exactly? (Aside from the obvious thrill of finally being able to kiss someone you'd normally turn to a crispy critter.) The only explanation I can come up with is that they're setting up some roadblocks in the Cordy/Angel romance. I didn't think the romance needed them -- frankly, Angel couldn't have seemed less impassioned or interested when he said he loved her than... well, Riley when he told Buffy he loved her. It's not that Angel and Cordy don't have a good dynamic, but they've never given off overtly sexy romantic vibes in their scenes together, and the end of last season was forced and rushed in their admission of love for one another before being separated. This is one of those things that Joss does best, and most of his writers just don't do as well at -- conveying deep-seated emotions and loss or anxiety. I'm wondering if the Angel team is trying to slow down or possibly backtrack on the romance, and push Angel in different romantic directions while they get a handle on where they're going. A triangle or something where Angel gets to focus on some sexy other girl might also mean that he's angsty enough to keep his soul.

Which kind of gets around to Gunn and Fred. Fred seems somehow to have developed a deeper personality than her rabbity ball of nerves had suggested she was capable of, while Gunn seems to have had his sucked away. There were times last night I wondered exactly what was distinguishing about him, and couldn't come up with anything. The feisty, troubled, street kid is gone and has been replaced with... well, Riley. He reminded me constantly of Riley -- kind of stalwart, harmless, undynamic, attractive, and just there. I'm a little nonplussed by this, and hope to hell they can bring back his personality. While Wesley has developed this dark persona and become all Batmany and begun unearthing complex layers every time we see him, Gunn seems to have become little more than the stolid boyfriend with a soul patch (which is remarkably unattractive, to me), instead of the streetwise punkass killer who can take care of himself. I really hope they don't homogenize him in favor of adding grit to Wesley.

Although I'm loving the Wes-man. Holy moly. We were promised he would be darker and darker this season, and boy is he, but in such a great way. He hasn't become dark by being evil, he's just become dark by being... dark. Plumbing the depths of his soul, finding out just how bleak it is in there, and then doing something about it. I love his scenes with Lilah, they're just so fun together. I had no belief in this show last year after that horrid finale; these first two eps are giving me hope that this could be a kickass season to contend with. I hope that the few slips in this episode, largely with the Gwen story, aren't indicative of more slippage. But I look forward to finding out.ii