Up and down with season 3
Mar. 21st, 2004 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynThis has taken me so long to do that at this point, it's probaby worthless, but I won't rest until I do it!
Third season Angel was the near-breaking point for me. After having defended the show, to often very fractious results, on lists I was on, I suddenly found myself in season 3 almost abandoning the show. There were a number of factors -- the first three episodes felt weak and empty after the Pylea arc at end of second season, I had a lot of doubts about the necessity of adding another cast member in Fred, and a baby storyline will almost always make me run away from a show.
And at the time, everything felt disconnected and haphazard -- as if there was no grand plan, no consistency in the vision for the season. Rewatching the entire season, though, in order and in a the quality presentation, it seems to hold together better than I gave it credit for. Sleep Tight was a marker for me before, the place where I felt the season really took off (even though it was so close to the end), but in retrospect it feels stronger earlier on, especially in light of the events of fourth season.
I still have a hard time paying attention to the first three episodes -- none of them hold my attention for more than a few minutes at a time, and even trying hard to pay attention so I could write this didn’t keep my mind from drifting off. There are still some wonderful character bits that I love, particularly in That Old Gang of Mine, when we really see the character Wes is becoming when he warns Gunn at the end of the ep, but overall, these initial stories don’t hold much for me other than as introductions to Fred. But at the time it was airing, I wasn’t noticing the subtle shift in attention to Lilah, foreshadowing her role with Wes towards the end of the season, and it’s interesting to see how carefully they slipped her in there to become a pretty significant secondary character.
Where the season really took off was Carpe Noctem. I confess to a serious love of David Boreanaz when he does self-mocking physical comedy, and I adore his silly dancing almost as much as I love his bad singing, always with a pained face. Whether it’s when he cuts loose in the bar, the old man’s joy at discovering what kind of damage he can inflict, or his seduction of Lilah, it all made for a really entertaining episode where things finally got it into gear. But it was the drama of Billy that really hit me back then, and on rewatching it now, I still find this to be one of their strongest episodes (I wrote a lengthy post about this ep some time ago here). The foreshadowing of Wes’s darkness, of the bitterness of his feelings about Fred after she chooses Gunn, and of the hostility in his relationship with Lilah, all happens here. (Not to mention another wonderful jab at Angel’s narcissism, a gag I never really tire of.)
For me, the baby storyline was the near-killer. I have an incredible distaste for pregnancy and baby stories in just about any show I watch, because they frequently suck the life (no pun intended, really) out of the characters as we know them. After the birth episode, which is always filled with screaming and screaming and then the joyous happy event where everyone cries, the life of the show then devolves into being totally about the baby and everyone cooing at the baby. Angel was no exception, and the only Angel episodes I missed on first airing took place after the birth. While I thought Darla’s staking herself was one of the cooler events ever, I nearly missed it because I was so tired of the childbirth screams and the frantic, frenetic action around it.
All of the different story elements were tradeoffs to my tastes -- the Holtz story was a wonderful arc, but I had to endure the pregnancy stuff in order to get that. I loved watching Wes get dark, but then they added Justine to the mix. I could never really stand Darla (Julie Benz’s voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me, so it’s really challenging for me to watch her), and then having Justine was nearly as awful, a character I couldn’t find any interest in. So the episodes constantly felt unbalanced at the time, and it wasn’t really until Birthday that my interest was renewed. There’s something about alternate realities that always grabs me, and I was grateful for the break from the baby-cooing and the silly lightweightness that took over Angel’s character. Birthday had that wonderful tried and true Jossverse formula I’ve come to adore: start out slightly comedic, get funnier, and then get really, really dark; end with a punchline. The Groosalugg’s Anya-like speech qualities notwithstanding, it seemed as if the weak episodes right around this time period outnumbered the strong ones, at least for me.
And then everything started to gel into this dark, angsty, gorgeous piece of melodrama. Once Wes began to understand the prophecy, and Holtz stepped up his plan, the show seemed to have really hit its stride. The fact that they would have someone slit Wesley’s throat and that Angel would later try to kill his best friend, that they would take away the very thing Angel loved most (and try to get him to actually kill his own child), was much more dynamic and interesting -- and very risky for a network show. The darkness hit a level even Buffy didn’t hit until the end of S6. Double or Nothing, a definite filler episode, gives us time to breathe before we go back to the darkness, where Fred’s life is nearly forfeited to get Angel’s son back, and then, of course, he does get his son back, in the worst possible way.
As much as I loved the ending arc after Connor’s return, he was a character I could never find much interest in. I’ve asked people who really love him to educate me on why they do, and though I get it intellectually, I could never emotionally find him interesting or engaging. Watching these discs again, and some of the early season four episodes, I finally realized what was missing for me regarding Connor, and Darla and Justine: I never engage with characters who don’t change or learn or grow. In Connor’s case, he had a willful ability to disregard anything he didn’t want to know about, and never significantly changed, to my eyes, until the very end of S4. Neither Darla nor Justine change fundamentally during their time on the show (Darla’s brief stint as a human in S2 notwithstanding); both Justine and Connor maintain their air of sullen self-absorbed king-of-painness throughout, and that was never something that pulled me into their storylines. (I hope, of course, that it goes without saying that YMMV, and I’m not trying to disparage anyone who likes any of those characters -- these are totally my own feelings.)
I still don’t find his character engaging even with the advantage of post-S4 hindsight, but I definitely see more layers underneath it now, so that his story is more tolerable than I found it at the time. Holtz was also problematic to me in the ending arc because he seemed to have gained nothing, learned nothing, from everything that had happened to him, and his act of revenge on Angel really hurt Connor far, far more than it did Angel -- which seems peculiarly cruel considering his insistence that he loved Connor like a true son. When we first met Holtz, it appeared that he had the ability to change and alter his beliefs, but in the end, he sacrifices himself and his own son’s sanity and well-being in order to exact his revenge upon Angel. This felt illogical and inconsistent to me, but of course, it was also necessary to create the cliffhangery ending.
I’ve always loved the fact that Joss’s shows didn’t rely on cliffhanger season endings (something I’ve grown increasingly tired of as shows create ever more labyrinthine plot devices to accomplish them), so Tomorrow was something of a surprise. I remember everyone buzzing on my lists about the reasons for having Cordy ascend to some kind of heaven (beyond the obvious juxtaposition of Angel sinking to the bottom of the bay). And that’s what a cliffhanger should do, of course. For me the best part of the ending was the beginning of Wes and Lilah’s relationship, because it featured what I still think may be the best put-down line I have ever heard, anywhere -- when Wes responds to Lilah’s tough-as-nails after-sex “Don’t think about me after I’m gone,” with “I wasn’t thinking about you when you were here.” I could never, ever leave a show that would have a line like that.
It’s also interesting now to realize that AI was left in the hands of the two characters with the least leadership abilities. Their sense of confusion is a great place to stop the season, because then they’re forced by necessity to become not just a relationship pairing, but a business-running pairing and a fighting duo. This would of course change the dynamic of their relationship, which we see come out full force in S4.
There’s a definite line in the season that eventually leads to the reshaping (in a weird way, to my eyes) of Cordelia’s character. There’s the change in her visionary capacity, the shift in her character from a kind of girl Friday to more powerful fighter (especially at the end of Billy), the more mom-like role once Connor is born, and the increase in her powers after she takes on demon nature in Birthday. But there’s also the setup of romantic feelings with Angel, and it seems like that was where they began to not know what to do with her character. This is one of the hardest things about watching the discs, the way the character seems to shift in and out of focus, because they just weren’t sure where else they could go with her.
Overall the discs are sharp and clean, and the presentation is much more compatible with a high-def TV than other seasons of Angel and of Buffy have been. There’s not as much digital dragging effect, and not much edge effecting or artifacting as there has been previously. The supplemental materials are okay, with the overview of the season once again turning out to be a high point, but they’re sparse, as well. I guess this is the flip side of the reasonable costs of the discs. I’ve come to enjoy Tim Minear’s commentaries a lot -- I love how he always starts out talking about what we’re seeing on screen, and then mocks himself for his tendency to do “commentaries for the blind.” He’s awfully endearing when he does that. The biggest thrill in S3 on DVD is the noticeable advancement in their cinematography -- comparing this to S2, you can see a big shift in the color, lighting, camera tricks, and so on. All in all, a much more solid and engaging season that I had given it credit for when I watched it.
Third season Angel was the near-breaking point for me. After having defended the show, to often very fractious results, on lists I was on, I suddenly found myself in season 3 almost abandoning the show. There were a number of factors -- the first three episodes felt weak and empty after the Pylea arc at end of second season, I had a lot of doubts about the necessity of adding another cast member in Fred, and a baby storyline will almost always make me run away from a show.
And at the time, everything felt disconnected and haphazard -- as if there was no grand plan, no consistency in the vision for the season. Rewatching the entire season, though, in order and in a the quality presentation, it seems to hold together better than I gave it credit for. Sleep Tight was a marker for me before, the place where I felt the season really took off (even though it was so close to the end), but in retrospect it feels stronger earlier on, especially in light of the events of fourth season.
I still have a hard time paying attention to the first three episodes -- none of them hold my attention for more than a few minutes at a time, and even trying hard to pay attention so I could write this didn’t keep my mind from drifting off. There are still some wonderful character bits that I love, particularly in That Old Gang of Mine, when we really see the character Wes is becoming when he warns Gunn at the end of the ep, but overall, these initial stories don’t hold much for me other than as introductions to Fred. But at the time it was airing, I wasn’t noticing the subtle shift in attention to Lilah, foreshadowing her role with Wes towards the end of the season, and it’s interesting to see how carefully they slipped her in there to become a pretty significant secondary character.
Where the season really took off was Carpe Noctem. I confess to a serious love of David Boreanaz when he does self-mocking physical comedy, and I adore his silly dancing almost as much as I love his bad singing, always with a pained face. Whether it’s when he cuts loose in the bar, the old man’s joy at discovering what kind of damage he can inflict, or his seduction of Lilah, it all made for a really entertaining episode where things finally got it into gear. But it was the drama of Billy that really hit me back then, and on rewatching it now, I still find this to be one of their strongest episodes (I wrote a lengthy post about this ep some time ago here). The foreshadowing of Wes’s darkness, of the bitterness of his feelings about Fred after she chooses Gunn, and of the hostility in his relationship with Lilah, all happens here. (Not to mention another wonderful jab at Angel’s narcissism, a gag I never really tire of.)
For me, the baby storyline was the near-killer. I have an incredible distaste for pregnancy and baby stories in just about any show I watch, because they frequently suck the life (no pun intended, really) out of the characters as we know them. After the birth episode, which is always filled with screaming and screaming and then the joyous happy event where everyone cries, the life of the show then devolves into being totally about the baby and everyone cooing at the baby. Angel was no exception, and the only Angel episodes I missed on first airing took place after the birth. While I thought Darla’s staking herself was one of the cooler events ever, I nearly missed it because I was so tired of the childbirth screams and the frantic, frenetic action around it.
All of the different story elements were tradeoffs to my tastes -- the Holtz story was a wonderful arc, but I had to endure the pregnancy stuff in order to get that. I loved watching Wes get dark, but then they added Justine to the mix. I could never really stand Darla (Julie Benz’s voice is like nails on a chalkboard for me, so it’s really challenging for me to watch her), and then having Justine was nearly as awful, a character I couldn’t find any interest in. So the episodes constantly felt unbalanced at the time, and it wasn’t really until Birthday that my interest was renewed. There’s something about alternate realities that always grabs me, and I was grateful for the break from the baby-cooing and the silly lightweightness that took over Angel’s character. Birthday had that wonderful tried and true Jossverse formula I’ve come to adore: start out slightly comedic, get funnier, and then get really, really dark; end with a punchline. The Groosalugg’s Anya-like speech qualities notwithstanding, it seemed as if the weak episodes right around this time period outnumbered the strong ones, at least for me.
And then everything started to gel into this dark, angsty, gorgeous piece of melodrama. Once Wes began to understand the prophecy, and Holtz stepped up his plan, the show seemed to have really hit its stride. The fact that they would have someone slit Wesley’s throat and that Angel would later try to kill his best friend, that they would take away the very thing Angel loved most (and try to get him to actually kill his own child), was much more dynamic and interesting -- and very risky for a network show. The darkness hit a level even Buffy didn’t hit until the end of S6. Double or Nothing, a definite filler episode, gives us time to breathe before we go back to the darkness, where Fred’s life is nearly forfeited to get Angel’s son back, and then, of course, he does get his son back, in the worst possible way.
As much as I loved the ending arc after Connor’s return, he was a character I could never find much interest in. I’ve asked people who really love him to educate me on why they do, and though I get it intellectually, I could never emotionally find him interesting or engaging. Watching these discs again, and some of the early season four episodes, I finally realized what was missing for me regarding Connor, and Darla and Justine: I never engage with characters who don’t change or learn or grow. In Connor’s case, he had a willful ability to disregard anything he didn’t want to know about, and never significantly changed, to my eyes, until the very end of S4. Neither Darla nor Justine change fundamentally during their time on the show (Darla’s brief stint as a human in S2 notwithstanding); both Justine and Connor maintain their air of sullen self-absorbed king-of-painness throughout, and that was never something that pulled me into their storylines. (I hope, of course, that it goes without saying that YMMV, and I’m not trying to disparage anyone who likes any of those characters -- these are totally my own feelings.)
I still don’t find his character engaging even with the advantage of post-S4 hindsight, but I definitely see more layers underneath it now, so that his story is more tolerable than I found it at the time. Holtz was also problematic to me in the ending arc because he seemed to have gained nothing, learned nothing, from everything that had happened to him, and his act of revenge on Angel really hurt Connor far, far more than it did Angel -- which seems peculiarly cruel considering his insistence that he loved Connor like a true son. When we first met Holtz, it appeared that he had the ability to change and alter his beliefs, but in the end, he sacrifices himself and his own son’s sanity and well-being in order to exact his revenge upon Angel. This felt illogical and inconsistent to me, but of course, it was also necessary to create the cliffhangery ending.
I’ve always loved the fact that Joss’s shows didn’t rely on cliffhanger season endings (something I’ve grown increasingly tired of as shows create ever more labyrinthine plot devices to accomplish them), so Tomorrow was something of a surprise. I remember everyone buzzing on my lists about the reasons for having Cordy ascend to some kind of heaven (beyond the obvious juxtaposition of Angel sinking to the bottom of the bay). And that’s what a cliffhanger should do, of course. For me the best part of the ending was the beginning of Wes and Lilah’s relationship, because it featured what I still think may be the best put-down line I have ever heard, anywhere -- when Wes responds to Lilah’s tough-as-nails after-sex “Don’t think about me after I’m gone,” with “I wasn’t thinking about you when you were here.” I could never, ever leave a show that would have a line like that.
It’s also interesting now to realize that AI was left in the hands of the two characters with the least leadership abilities. Their sense of confusion is a great place to stop the season, because then they’re forced by necessity to become not just a relationship pairing, but a business-running pairing and a fighting duo. This would of course change the dynamic of their relationship, which we see come out full force in S4.
There’s a definite line in the season that eventually leads to the reshaping (in a weird way, to my eyes) of Cordelia’s character. There’s the change in her visionary capacity, the shift in her character from a kind of girl Friday to more powerful fighter (especially at the end of Billy), the more mom-like role once Connor is born, and the increase in her powers after she takes on demon nature in Birthday. But there’s also the setup of romantic feelings with Angel, and it seems like that was where they began to not know what to do with her character. This is one of the hardest things about watching the discs, the way the character seems to shift in and out of focus, because they just weren’t sure where else they could go with her.
Overall the discs are sharp and clean, and the presentation is much more compatible with a high-def TV than other seasons of Angel and of Buffy have been. There’s not as much digital dragging effect, and not much edge effecting or artifacting as there has been previously. The supplemental materials are okay, with the overview of the season once again turning out to be a high point, but they’re sparse, as well. I guess this is the flip side of the reasonable costs of the discs. I’ve come to enjoy Tim Minear’s commentaries a lot -- I love how he always starts out talking about what we’re seeing on screen, and then mocks himself for his tendency to do “commentaries for the blind.” He’s awfully endearing when he does that. The biggest thrill in S3 on DVD is the noticeable advancement in their cinematography -- comparing this to S2, you can see a big shift in the color, lighting, camera tricks, and so on. All in all, a much more solid and engaging season that I had given it credit for when I watched it.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-21 08:45 pm (UTC)Anyway, my point (and I do have one!) is that your review has made me reconsider buying the DVDs. Maybe watching the episodes with the knowledge of what will happen in the future and without the shadow of BTVS hanging over them will make them more enjoyable. So thank you!
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 11:18 am (UTC)That's a really good point about Provider vs. DP -- I hadn't thought of that, but you're right, timing-wise they present an interesting comparison. One of the things that felt wrong to me about BS6 was that whole destitution thing, and it's kind of sad that there isn't the same support and financial problem in the Angelverse -- because, he's a guy? I wonder about that now...
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 02:46 am (UTC)That's my big complaint about Season 3. I could deal with the pregnancy storyline because of its effect on Darla and the fact that it led her to stake herself which was, as you said, one of the coolest moments on the show; I could even deal with Angel cooing over baby Connor because he then lost him in such a heartbreaking way; but I really, really hated what happened to Cordelia, a character I loved. She just turned into someone I didn't recognise at all for no discernable reason.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 10:05 am (UTC)Oh, well. Guess it's what I deserve (and so ironic, since I'm usually so uptight about piracy, and never use pirated software, etc.). At least I can read your reviews and thoughts, that's some satisfaction.
Anyway, dear, why oh why are you not posting these lovely insights over at the Ford? Not out of shyness, I hope. So many members don't have LJs (no apostrophe) and don't really get how things work over here, and I hate for them to miss out on your terrific stuff. Same goes for your fic in progress. The Ford needs you! (Picture me in Uncle Sam pose with pointy finger.)
I'm still not resigned to you not coming to WriterCon, either: you're one of my short-list hit parade of People I Must Meet, and I hate to see such a near miss. ("Near" because, well, Las Vegas will be the closest I've ever been to the Pacific Northwest, and definitely nearer than Italy!)
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 11:28 am (UTC)I am shy about the posting to the Ford, I confess. I'm not sure where to put things, and so I was afraid to put stuff up, and then I'm also afraid that my less than intelligent ramblings are of interest. You guys are so smart!
But I will go do my due diligence and put this up if I can figure out where to post it. ;-) I wish I could go to Writercon too -- even without the unemployment problem, it was too close to Vividcon, and I'm so wrapped up in vidding, that it was my first con choice. If only it had been scheduled for like May or something!
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 11:46 am (UTC)No, but now I can at least pretend to be righteously indignant. Hee.
I am shy about the posting to the Ford, I confess. I'm not sure where to put things, and so I was afraid to put stuff up,
Well, the good thing about how we're set up is, someone will always come along and move anything that happens to be in the wrong place. (Not that you shouldn't at least try to get it right, but there's no shame or penalty in having your posts moved around.) Sometimes, a new place is even created that's better suited.
Right now I'm going to go create a conversation for your Grammar Notes. Watch the New scroll for an announcement of where I end up putting it. For the rest, you can either see where you think it fits best, or if you're stumped, use the Lazy Susan conversation in the Veranda (Home).
and then I'm also afraid that my less than intelligent ramblings are of interest. You guys are so smart!
You have got to be kidding me. These are terrific! If macha sees this, she'll go all battle goddess on you. Careful. ;)
I wish I could go to Writercon too -- even without the unemployment problem, it was too close to Vividcon, and I'm so wrapped up in vidding, that it was my first con choice. If only it had been scheduled for like May or something!
Well, yeah, except if it were in May I definitely wouldn't be going... not that I think these events should be scheduled around my needs, or anything. Still, it's a huge disappointment to me that you won't be there. I get the necessity of making choices: I actually am skipping a gathering by a group of long-term buddies scheduled in, once again, Las Vegas. It's Memorial Day weekend, which is kind of tight, and although some of my best online and real life friends will be there, I chose WriterCon instead because I'm not sure what's going to happen to the Jossverse fandom down the line, and I want to meet people who may drift away later.
So, okay, I can (barely) accept that you won't come this year, but you have to promise not to drift out of the fandom anytime soon. Deal?