Those Jasmaniacs and their demon jihad
Apr. 17th, 2003 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynSpoilers for Angel episode 4/16, The Magic Bullet--Watch out!!! Honestly! There's spoilery stuff here!
I very nervously post a review after the Angel fracas last week...
So, first off, a big heeee: did anyone else besides me notice that the motel Fred was staying at was the same motel in Memento? It truly must be motel hell. I loved the nice paranoid feeling of this episode; I thought they did an excellent job of creating a sense of space being squeezed down farther and farther, of pressure and fear that were as claustrophobic as any actual imprisonment could be. And the joke that as large a city as Los Angeles is, Fred can’t escape, was handled deftly.
Then both times, when she thinks she may have found kindred spirits, they turn out to be dangerous others: first the conspiracy guy, who even with Jasmine’s influence still has the suspicious mindset and dubious look on his face; and the demon, who may be able to see through Jasmine, but is set on killing poor Fred. Where’s a girl to turn? I was deeply impressed with how cleverly she figured how to get Angel on her side — it’s so easy to forget with her mousiness and stammering qualities just how smart and strong she really is. I have a whole new regard for Fred these days I never expected to feel. And seriously, how could you not howl with laughter at Wesley’s over the top denunciation of her as a siren of evil who’ll lure you onto the rocks of disbelief? Fabulous bit of old Wes coming out there.
So clearly in Joss-land, religion is even freakier than it is in my land. Ultimate, all-accepting belief in anything seems to be bad both metaphorically and literally, and I suppose it would take a show about demons to get away with using religion and religious-sounding words to say that all-consuming belief in anything is dangerous. I’m not certain that with the zeitgeist in the U.S. right now, on any show besides Joss’s two and on 24, people would be able to get away with such a strong message. The unswerving commitment that your way is the right way and anyone else must be punished or killed is a scary message on a good day; when it’s happening to someone like Fred, it’s even more tragic, and they’re certainly pushing it for everything they can get. What I think is especially interesting is that on both Buffy and Angel, unlike 24, which is more reality-grounded, they’re subverting the usual messages of love and belief and sharing and caring, and turning them into something really scary because it’s, at heart, evil.
Can I just say that I’m loving Angel right now for all of this? And doing it with some humor and some horror, nicely balanced, is just making this show rock for me. I almost cried I was laughing so hard at the Angel-Connor duet of Mandy for Jasmine. That’s one thing I love about this show this season — they’ve lost a lot of that Angel-as-doofus tone where it was starting to turn into a bad comedy, and brought back some of the noirish aspects of first season (last night especially was very film-noirish in the traditional sense, particularly in the claustrophobic terror as the episode progressed), and they’re doing an outstanding job of melding themes and styles. In the way that Buffy has always carefully balanced the humor and the tragedy, Angel is doing it as well, if not better, and it’s really rocking. How do you beat evil when no one else can see it? I just can’t wait to find out.
I very nervously post a review after the Angel fracas last week...
So, first off, a big heeee: did anyone else besides me notice that the motel Fred was staying at was the same motel in Memento? It truly must be motel hell. I loved the nice paranoid feeling of this episode; I thought they did an excellent job of creating a sense of space being squeezed down farther and farther, of pressure and fear that were as claustrophobic as any actual imprisonment could be. And the joke that as large a city as Los Angeles is, Fred can’t escape, was handled deftly.
Then both times, when she thinks she may have found kindred spirits, they turn out to be dangerous others: first the conspiracy guy, who even with Jasmine’s influence still has the suspicious mindset and dubious look on his face; and the demon, who may be able to see through Jasmine, but is set on killing poor Fred. Where’s a girl to turn? I was deeply impressed with how cleverly she figured how to get Angel on her side — it’s so easy to forget with her mousiness and stammering qualities just how smart and strong she really is. I have a whole new regard for Fred these days I never expected to feel. And seriously, how could you not howl with laughter at Wesley’s over the top denunciation of her as a siren of evil who’ll lure you onto the rocks of disbelief? Fabulous bit of old Wes coming out there.
So clearly in Joss-land, religion is even freakier than it is in my land. Ultimate, all-accepting belief in anything seems to be bad both metaphorically and literally, and I suppose it would take a show about demons to get away with using religion and religious-sounding words to say that all-consuming belief in anything is dangerous. I’m not certain that with the zeitgeist in the U.S. right now, on any show besides Joss’s two and on 24, people would be able to get away with such a strong message. The unswerving commitment that your way is the right way and anyone else must be punished or killed is a scary message on a good day; when it’s happening to someone like Fred, it’s even more tragic, and they’re certainly pushing it for everything they can get. What I think is especially interesting is that on both Buffy and Angel, unlike 24, which is more reality-grounded, they’re subverting the usual messages of love and belief and sharing and caring, and turning them into something really scary because it’s, at heart, evil.
Can I just say that I’m loving Angel right now for all of this? And doing it with some humor and some horror, nicely balanced, is just making this show rock for me. I almost cried I was laughing so hard at the Angel-Connor duet of Mandy for Jasmine. That’s one thing I love about this show this season — they’ve lost a lot of that Angel-as-doofus tone where it was starting to turn into a bad comedy, and brought back some of the noirish aspects of first season (last night especially was very film-noirish in the traditional sense, particularly in the claustrophobic terror as the episode progressed), and they’re doing an outstanding job of melding themes and styles. In the way that Buffy has always carefully balanced the humor and the tragedy, Angel is doing it as well, if not better, and it’s really rocking. How do you beat evil when no one else can see it? I just can’t wait to find out.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 04:08 pm (UTC)I love your icon, when I saw Spike stretched out on his narrow cot, complete with pillow, sheet and bed hair of redemption, I said to myself, "now that's a screencap." Hehehe. Well hello there yourself Spikey. In answer to your comment about why Caleb let Buffy and crew go, I don't know either. The First is very big on the whole "it isn't time yet," thing. Maybe it wasn't time yet, or maybe just to stretch it out til next ep. And why is he so strong anyway? Has The First imbued him with power, or was Caleb always super human strong? Go figure.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 07:02 pm (UTC)Oh, I didn't now about the time wonkiness theory -- now I guess I'll have to go look for that. I'd never even thought of anything like that (damn, I'm getting behind in the fannish theory games!)...
Bed hair of redemption... man, that's just glorious... what a great phrase!
no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 08:45 pm (UTC)Thanks for confirming what I suspected about the motel (I don't have Memento on DVD, but I *knew* it had to be the same place). Totally cool.
One small (well, actually *big*) beef: I'm blanking, now, but somewhere, there was a voice-over calling Cordy "His greatest love," or something like that. Aieeeeee!
Jill
no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-17 11:28 pm (UTC)Jill
Re:
Date: 2003-04-18 07:04 pm (UTC)