Big damn heroes
Nov. 11th, 2002 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynSpoilers for Angel episode Spin the Bottle, 11/10
Ach... one of those depressing weekends that makes it hard to sit down and actually think about something and be clever. At least Angel was amusing last night. Yes, it was Tabula Rasa, just with teenage years instead of blank memories (and Something Blue, and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered...), but it was Joss’s Tabula Rasa, and for that, well, it got the job done and then some — the setup, the spell gone awry, and then the kick-ass, sad tag, all worked for me surprisingly well, even while I was going, oh hey, it’s Tabula Rasa.
The main reason it worked for me? The return of sass. I’ve been bitching for a couple years now about how they’ve removed the best thing about Cordelia (I’ve never liked her all that much as a character, except as she was the truth-teller, the funny one stating the obvious, and a perfect foil for everyone on Buffy, so without those elements of bitchy sarcasm, she’s never been terribly interesting to me), a lot of what made Angel so cool (his mystery, the brooding — which I don’t mind them making fun of, but removing it is another thing altogether, and his haunted, angry quality), and this year, I’ve griped ceaselessly (yes, we know, shut up already! my friends say) about how they’ve removed all of Gunn’s sass and street cred and given it to... well, Wesley, I guess.
So the return of sass for both Cordy and Gunn was a hugely welcome relief, although it also makes it harder to go back to the earth mother Angel-loving Cordy and the neutered Riley-ness of Gunn again. I loved the homoerotic tension jokes about Wes and Gunn, especially because it’s the truth-telling old Cordy persona making an observation that so many in the audience have enjoyed. And the thing is, without his sass, Gunn is almost boring enough that he has no tension or chemistry with anyone, let alone Wes-tension, so it’s doubly funny because we haven’t seen this guy for awhile, we haven’t seen these two guys like this in far too long.
I adored Wesley’s head-boy smugness, his freakout pantomime with the weapon on his arm (and boy, was that a cool toy or what?), and his sillyness in general. I didn’t like the old BtVS-Wes when he came on Angel as a regular; I worried he was too stupid and twittery and would grow tiresome, but in a short glimpse like this it was fun to have Watcher Wes back. (Fred trying to do the same hand motions and get a stake to pop out of her sleeve was laugh out loud funny.) And I loved the throwaway references to Buffy.
Fred’s pothead student vibe was cute, and Angel’s vampire morphing extravaganza in the bathroom was absolutely delightful. I don’t read Angel spoilers, so I could be way wrong, but it looks pretty clear that they’re getting ready to being Angelus back, and this was a nice way to drop the shoe without going all the way yet. While I do miss the broody Angel of old, his changes bother me the least in some respects, although I don’t know why, and he had some delightful moments in this episode. Plus, Angel is just... sexier when he’s bad. Hoo-ah.
Despite Lorne’s singing, I did like the teaser setup of him telling the story that way. It added a nice thematic link to the tag, when we get a sense of what Cordy’s forgotten and just what’s coming ahead for them. With the added weight of Lorne’s narrative, we know that all the zany hijinx are a momentary diversion from something far more serious — a nice structural touch and well thought-out. The contrast between their oblivious teenage selves and the seriousness of what’s coming was transparent, but I thought handled well. Now if they could just get rid of the egregious Connor (and was he always supposed to be 18? I thought he came back as 16, and wondered if they changed his age to make it more acceptable for older women to be macking on him) I’ll be happy.
More spoilering for Firefly episode Safe, 11/8
I still haven’t figured out what I thought of this. It wasn’t as strong for me as some episodes, but I also found a lot of it completely fascinating and frequently rather funny in a low-key way. It might be simply that we’re finally really being introduced to Simon and River, and any introductory text is by necessity a little less than dynamic. Or it might be that the story wasn’t as engaging, I just don’t know for sure (I need to rewatch it, really), but parts of this I thought were outstanding. Simon and River’s youth and home world was fascinating to me, and their lives as geniuses and how vulnerable that made them was a spiffy glimpse of what made them who we’ve seen so far on the show. But the flip side of that was the cliché parents who care more about their social status, etc., than the safety of their children, and I expect better than that, especially from Drew Z. Greenberg.
The mystery of Book/Shepherd/Preacher was deepened, and that can only be for the good for future storylines. A character with mystery is always good for any show, if you ask me. And the tension between Inara and Mal was cracking good — she knows just what he’s avoiding and she forces his hand, and he knows just how much he needs someone like her doing just that, and he hates it. Wonderful stuff. So far the Alliance has been portrayed somewhat arbitrarily; it’s time we got a glimpse into more of their operational nature and not just as blank black-hats dogging Our Heroes’ trail. (The docking shot was so cool — again, the silence.) I’m hoping this is the start of more. And once again Jayne just cracks me up; he’s becoming the truth-teller/loudmouth/honest one in this bunch and he’s just awfully fun when he does it. I loved his smarmy cracks while going through Simon’s journal and his personal items; he’s like the Terminator — big, loud, amoral, scary, and the Ultimate Rude Person.
But I think the allegorical witch/persecution story was where they lost me a little, and maybe why I’m having trouble figuring out what I think. It already felt like Simon, and River especially, were clearly set up from the beginning as to their outsider natures, their privilege and their genius. River’s got spooky abilities and she’s going to worlds where anything outside the norm is feared and persecuted, okay, we got that; Simon doesn’t really belong in this frontier world and with these kinds of people. The religious nutball folks on the planet (the primitive frontierspeople with narrow minds) and the trying to burn River as a witch (anything outside our faith is dangerous) may have provided tension for the fourth act, but still, it felt a little old and obvious. Although it did give us Mal, Jayne, and Zoe with guns and that’s all for the good, as far as I’m concerned. I’m shallow, so sue me. ;-)
But it nicely paves the way for next week, it looks like, where who and what Simon and River represent appears to be pivotal. And Simon’s just such a little cutie-pie that I can’t begrudge any more Simon-time on screen. Man, I just love being able to like all the characters in a show. What fun.
Ach... one of those depressing weekends that makes it hard to sit down and actually think about something and be clever. At least Angel was amusing last night. Yes, it was Tabula Rasa, just with teenage years instead of blank memories (and Something Blue, and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered...), but it was Joss’s Tabula Rasa, and for that, well, it got the job done and then some — the setup, the spell gone awry, and then the kick-ass, sad tag, all worked for me surprisingly well, even while I was going, oh hey, it’s Tabula Rasa.
The main reason it worked for me? The return of sass. I’ve been bitching for a couple years now about how they’ve removed the best thing about Cordelia (I’ve never liked her all that much as a character, except as she was the truth-teller, the funny one stating the obvious, and a perfect foil for everyone on Buffy, so without those elements of bitchy sarcasm, she’s never been terribly interesting to me), a lot of what made Angel so cool (his mystery, the brooding — which I don’t mind them making fun of, but removing it is another thing altogether, and his haunted, angry quality), and this year, I’ve griped ceaselessly (yes, we know, shut up already! my friends say) about how they’ve removed all of Gunn’s sass and street cred and given it to... well, Wesley, I guess.
So the return of sass for both Cordy and Gunn was a hugely welcome relief, although it also makes it harder to go back to the earth mother Angel-loving Cordy and the neutered Riley-ness of Gunn again. I loved the homoerotic tension jokes about Wes and Gunn, especially because it’s the truth-telling old Cordy persona making an observation that so many in the audience have enjoyed. And the thing is, without his sass, Gunn is almost boring enough that he has no tension or chemistry with anyone, let alone Wes-tension, so it’s doubly funny because we haven’t seen this guy for awhile, we haven’t seen these two guys like this in far too long.
I adored Wesley’s head-boy smugness, his freakout pantomime with the weapon on his arm (and boy, was that a cool toy or what?), and his sillyness in general. I didn’t like the old BtVS-Wes when he came on Angel as a regular; I worried he was too stupid and twittery and would grow tiresome, but in a short glimpse like this it was fun to have Watcher Wes back. (Fred trying to do the same hand motions and get a stake to pop out of her sleeve was laugh out loud funny.) And I loved the throwaway references to Buffy.
Fred’s pothead student vibe was cute, and Angel’s vampire morphing extravaganza in the bathroom was absolutely delightful. I don’t read Angel spoilers, so I could be way wrong, but it looks pretty clear that they’re getting ready to being Angelus back, and this was a nice way to drop the shoe without going all the way yet. While I do miss the broody Angel of old, his changes bother me the least in some respects, although I don’t know why, and he had some delightful moments in this episode. Plus, Angel is just... sexier when he’s bad. Hoo-ah.
Despite Lorne’s singing, I did like the teaser setup of him telling the story that way. It added a nice thematic link to the tag, when we get a sense of what Cordy’s forgotten and just what’s coming ahead for them. With the added weight of Lorne’s narrative, we know that all the zany hijinx are a momentary diversion from something far more serious — a nice structural touch and well thought-out. The contrast between their oblivious teenage selves and the seriousness of what’s coming was transparent, but I thought handled well. Now if they could just get rid of the egregious Connor (and was he always supposed to be 18? I thought he came back as 16, and wondered if they changed his age to make it more acceptable for older women to be macking on him) I’ll be happy.
More spoilering for Firefly episode Safe, 11/8
I still haven’t figured out what I thought of this. It wasn’t as strong for me as some episodes, but I also found a lot of it completely fascinating and frequently rather funny in a low-key way. It might be simply that we’re finally really being introduced to Simon and River, and any introductory text is by necessity a little less than dynamic. Or it might be that the story wasn’t as engaging, I just don’t know for sure (I need to rewatch it, really), but parts of this I thought were outstanding. Simon and River’s youth and home world was fascinating to me, and their lives as geniuses and how vulnerable that made them was a spiffy glimpse of what made them who we’ve seen so far on the show. But the flip side of that was the cliché parents who care more about their social status, etc., than the safety of their children, and I expect better than that, especially from Drew Z. Greenberg.
The mystery of Book/Shepherd/Preacher was deepened, and that can only be for the good for future storylines. A character with mystery is always good for any show, if you ask me. And the tension between Inara and Mal was cracking good — she knows just what he’s avoiding and she forces his hand, and he knows just how much he needs someone like her doing just that, and he hates it. Wonderful stuff. So far the Alliance has been portrayed somewhat arbitrarily; it’s time we got a glimpse into more of their operational nature and not just as blank black-hats dogging Our Heroes’ trail. (The docking shot was so cool — again, the silence.) I’m hoping this is the start of more. And once again Jayne just cracks me up; he’s becoming the truth-teller/loudmouth/honest one in this bunch and he’s just awfully fun when he does it. I loved his smarmy cracks while going through Simon’s journal and his personal items; he’s like the Terminator — big, loud, amoral, scary, and the Ultimate Rude Person.
But I think the allegorical witch/persecution story was where they lost me a little, and maybe why I’m having trouble figuring out what I think. It already felt like Simon, and River especially, were clearly set up from the beginning as to their outsider natures, their privilege and their genius. River’s got spooky abilities and she’s going to worlds where anything outside the norm is feared and persecuted, okay, we got that; Simon doesn’t really belong in this frontier world and with these kinds of people. The religious nutball folks on the planet (the primitive frontierspeople with narrow minds) and the trying to burn River as a witch (anything outside our faith is dangerous) may have provided tension for the fourth act, but still, it felt a little old and obvious. Although it did give us Mal, Jayne, and Zoe with guns and that’s all for the good, as far as I’m concerned. I’m shallow, so sue me. ;-)
But it nicely paves the way for next week, it looks like, where who and what Simon and River represent appears to be pivotal. And Simon’s just such a little cutie-pie that I can’t begrudge any more Simon-time on screen. Man, I just love being able to like all the characters in a show. What fun.
