Angel 5x18 Origin
Wed, Apr. 21st, 2004 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterFirst impressions: Yes! Gunn is still in the credits and therefore Not Dead!
And: CONNOR!! Eee, he's so cute and happy ^_^.
I liked Illyria much more in this episode, beating up Spike, wanting him for a pet, and sundry. Although, on a superficial note: did they get AA a new wig or something? It looks different and not that great.
I was extremely creeped out by the Gunn scenes, particularly the one in which he asks for the necklace back. Like with Wesley, Angel or someone should tell him to decide to live instead of slowly die on the inside. It reminds me of the Sandman issue of Orpheus, and Morpheus saying to his son: "She is dead. You are alive. So live." Not the kindest of sentiments, but extremely to the point. Or like Angel said in the episode before, they paid a high price for the knowledge in Gunn's head, and right now they can't even use it.
I can't even begin to go through the layers in this episode (as re last week), the constant mention of family, both real and constructed, obviously hitting a sore spot with Angel for his lost son. Angel has, in a sense, lost his other family as well -- Cordy is dead, and it seems as though Wes is just as good as dead to him. To give Connor a family, Angel has lost two. Also, if I were Angel, I would not be letting Wes go around free range, particularly with Illyria in his custody.
I am finding that I enjoy being unspoiled -- this is the first time ever that I've been unspoiled for Angel or Buffy. Well, I've gone through episodes unspoiled, the most prominent being Grave and the Giles!squee, but this is the first season in which I have no idea what's going on. Part of this is because I started watching Buffy around S5 and sort of skipped around seasons; whereas for Angel, I had read enough fic to know in general where things were going. So Wes dropping the box, whoa. Glued to the screen, hand to my mouth, half afraid that Joss still wasn't going to go there.
But ooo, now I look forward very much to next week and to ramifications! Let there be ramifications galore!
Unfortunately, Connor doesn't seem to be one -- did the barrier prevent the spell from working? Or did 17 odd years of fabricated memory overlaid on painful ones make Connor decide that he forgave his father and that his other family needed him as well? (Haha, I also spent a good portion of the episode wondering how pissed off Masq was going to be!)
Wes doesn't look half as happy to have them back. After watching Eternal Sunshine, I still find myself wondering if there are memories so bad that not having them is better.
Angel's house of cards is tumbling down on him, has been the entire season, and now it's just catching up with him.
And: CONNOR!! Eee, he's so cute and happy ^_^.
I liked Illyria much more in this episode, beating up Spike, wanting him for a pet, and sundry. Although, on a superficial note: did they get AA a new wig or something? It looks different and not that great.
I was extremely creeped out by the Gunn scenes, particularly the one in which he asks for the necklace back. Like with Wesley, Angel or someone should tell him to decide to live instead of slowly die on the inside. It reminds me of the Sandman issue of Orpheus, and Morpheus saying to his son: "She is dead. You are alive. So live." Not the kindest of sentiments, but extremely to the point. Or like Angel said in the episode before, they paid a high price for the knowledge in Gunn's head, and right now they can't even use it.
I can't even begin to go through the layers in this episode (as re last week), the constant mention of family, both real and constructed, obviously hitting a sore spot with Angel for his lost son. Angel has, in a sense, lost his other family as well -- Cordy is dead, and it seems as though Wes is just as good as dead to him. To give Connor a family, Angel has lost two. Also, if I were Angel, I would not be letting Wes go around free range, particularly with Illyria in his custody.
I am finding that I enjoy being unspoiled -- this is the first time ever that I've been unspoiled for Angel or Buffy. Well, I've gone through episodes unspoiled, the most prominent being Grave and the Giles!squee, but this is the first season in which I have no idea what's going on. Part of this is because I started watching Buffy around S5 and sort of skipped around seasons; whereas for Angel, I had read enough fic to know in general where things were going. So Wes dropping the box, whoa. Glued to the screen, hand to my mouth, half afraid that Joss still wasn't going to go there.
But ooo, now I look forward very much to next week and to ramifications! Let there be ramifications galore!
Unfortunately, Connor doesn't seem to be one -- did the barrier prevent the spell from working? Or did 17 odd years of fabricated memory overlaid on painful ones make Connor decide that he forgave his father and that his other family needed him as well? (Haha, I also spent a good portion of the episode wondering how pissed off Masq was going to be!)
Wes doesn't look half as happy to have them back. After watching Eternal Sunshine, I still find myself wondering if there are memories so bad that not having them is better.
Angel's house of cards is tumbling down on him, has been the entire season, and now it's just catching up with him.
Re: Because it's all about me!
Thu, Apr. 22nd, 2004 09:36 pm (UTC)Mostly I've been spoiled because that's just kind of how I started watching series TV -- with anime series, I seemed to always get in at a point in which I could get my hands easily on the end of the series, but not the beginning. It's kind of interesting that way too, like watching Memento, trying to figure out how all the characters get to that point.
Plus, being in Taiwan and being an X-Files fan didn't lend to unspoiledness either ;).
But, whoa, so glad I'm watching the last season of Angel unspoiled. Like I was kind of glad I watched the last season of Buffy spoiled -- I think I would have been a lot more disappointed in what had happened if I hadn't known.
Re: Because it's all about me!
Thu, Apr. 22nd, 2004 10:09 pm (UTC)I watched the first two seasons of BtVS all by my lonely little ol' lonesome--no internet fandom. I started lurking at the Bronze during the summer between seasons 2 and 3, mostly because I wanted reassurances Angel was coming back somehow. I wanted to be spoiled on that.
Lurking during the first half of season 3, I was drawn into delurking by the big Buffy/Faith slash crowd on the Bronze. It wasn't about writing fic, it was about hanging out with like-minded fans talking subtext. I would go to spoiler sites to find out what would happen. There was something important that went down in season 3, I don't even remember what it was--Trick dying, Faith going to the Mayor's side--but I was mad about finding it out before hand. Totally ruined the experience of it.
I read what other people were writing about being spoiled, about how they knew Kendra the "second slayer" was coming before she showed up. How they knew it was Jenny who was going to die in "Passion". I remember thinking, "God I am SO glad I didn't know about those things before hand!" It would have taken away the whole surprise. The delight or fear you feel as the story unfolds before your eyes.
I became a card-carrying loyal spoiler-phobe and I never looked back until the week before "Home" aired last season. And that scared me right back into purity again.