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Oct. 15th, 2003 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloWhat a dull, clichéd, shallowly characterized filler episode. Please let this be an exception and not the new norm. I got so bored I got up and made tea in the middle of it. There were two or three funny moments, but not nearly enough to make it good based on humor alone. And there were so many interesting issues right under the surface, but the episode managed to gloss over all of them! They could've used the werewolf girl to really explore Angel's (and Spike's) way of dealing with his own inner darkness, but instead they just used it as an excuse for Angel and the girl to have a "connection." A connection that you know won't last because she's just a girl-of-the-week; it would've at least been meaningful if there'd actually been some possibility of a relationship. What a waste. (And you know the reason Angel wanted to help that particular girl so much was that she looked like Darla. If it was a big hairy old man, I seriously don't think he would've made it so personal.)
What was with the tacked on happy ending? The reason Angel has those people is largely because he erased all their memories, especially when it comes to Wesley. And shouldn't Connor at least have been mentioned when it came to Angel and "family"? And, oh yeah, they just let a group of people who eat werewolves alive continue to do so! With no indication that they were going to stop with the scientist guy. WTF? If they're going for moral ambiguity then maybe they should skip the tacked on happy ending, otherwise it just comes across as really cheesy. And are we really supposed to think that Spike's a jerk for not caring about the girl, but not hold Angel to the same standards? Because he let every accessory to murder in that room get away.
What was with the sappy musical montage? The girl stormed out after a big fight; where the hell did the happy little reunion come from? Since when does AtS gloss over real issues like this? It was blatant manipulation of the characters and situations to serve the "family" theme, and it was lazy. Why is AtS suddenly turning into Full House?
Wesley's cool, though. I vote for more Wesley doing cool things, please.
Frankenstein! That was funny. Not funny enough to save the episode, but still funny.
And I get that Spike was being an ass because he was hurt and terrified, but I don't think they showed that in a very convincing way. I suppose (hope) that's what next week will be for. His characterization felt very shallow and one-dimensional in this ep--I've been saying that I love that Spike has his snark back, but this really felt like a reversion, and I don't buy it. Souled Spike wouldn't be so dismissive of the girl's plight. I suspect that there's more to it than that; maybe he's identifying with her and transferring his self-hatred onto her, but the writers didn't let us see that. Or he's in so much pain that he literally just can't see beyond it, but again, they didn't show that. Instead they showed us Spike through other people's perspectives, where he came off like a total jerk. I suppose that's my problem; I loved that we were seeing through Spike's POV in Just Rewards. I hate that we were seeing Spike through the POV of people who don't like him and don't care about him in this episode. I mean, it got to the point where I was annoyed when he popped up with some inane comment. And me being annoyed by Spike is, well, pretty surprising.
The best thing about tonight was the preview. Next week is the episode that made JM take up smoking again around the time of DragonCon. Hee! Graphic nudity! And I love the WB promotion tactic. They're trying to find a tasteful way to say "Check it out! Next week, we've got NAKED SPIKE!" So they hide behind a "GRAPHIC NUDITY" warning. >:)
Also, I watched the preceding Smallville episode and that Lana chick is SO ANNOYING. How do the Smallville fans stand her? I really don't think I'd be able to put up with her, even for lots of Clark/Lex subtext.
In other news,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jaydk and I went to a preview screening of the new Robert Downey, Jr. movie, The Singing Detective. It was interesting--very well-made and experimental. Robert Downey, Jr. is an amazing actor, and he really shows it in this movie. Overall, I'm glad I saw it, but I probably wouldn't want to see it again--it was very disturbing and difficult to watch. (To clarify: I don't get disturbed by movies generally, but some parts of this film were very upsetting because they were so realistic). I liked the mix of different genres, I thought some of the psychobabble was a bit irritating, and I thought the end didn't fit the rest of the movie. But overall--it's good, I recommend it for Downey's performance if nothing else.
What was with the tacked on happy ending? The reason Angel has those people is largely because he erased all their memories, especially when it comes to Wesley. And shouldn't Connor at least have been mentioned when it came to Angel and "family"? And, oh yeah, they just let a group of people who eat werewolves alive continue to do so! With no indication that they were going to stop with the scientist guy. WTF? If they're going for moral ambiguity then maybe they should skip the tacked on happy ending, otherwise it just comes across as really cheesy. And are we really supposed to think that Spike's a jerk for not caring about the girl, but not hold Angel to the same standards? Because he let every accessory to murder in that room get away.
What was with the sappy musical montage? The girl stormed out after a big fight; where the hell did the happy little reunion come from? Since when does AtS gloss over real issues like this? It was blatant manipulation of the characters and situations to serve the "family" theme, and it was lazy. Why is AtS suddenly turning into Full House?
Wesley's cool, though. I vote for more Wesley doing cool things, please.
Frankenstein! That was funny. Not funny enough to save the episode, but still funny.
And I get that Spike was being an ass because he was hurt and terrified, but I don't think they showed that in a very convincing way. I suppose (hope) that's what next week will be for. His characterization felt very shallow and one-dimensional in this ep--I've been saying that I love that Spike has his snark back, but this really felt like a reversion, and I don't buy it. Souled Spike wouldn't be so dismissive of the girl's plight. I suspect that there's more to it than that; maybe he's identifying with her and transferring his self-hatred onto her, but the writers didn't let us see that. Or he's in so much pain that he literally just can't see beyond it, but again, they didn't show that. Instead they showed us Spike through other people's perspectives, where he came off like a total jerk. I suppose that's my problem; I loved that we were seeing through Spike's POV in Just Rewards. I hate that we were seeing Spike through the POV of people who don't like him and don't care about him in this episode. I mean, it got to the point where I was annoyed when he popped up with some inane comment. And me being annoyed by Spike is, well, pretty surprising.
The best thing about tonight was the preview. Next week is the episode that made JM take up smoking again around the time of DragonCon. Hee! Graphic nudity! And I love the WB promotion tactic. They're trying to find a tasteful way to say "Check it out! Next week, we've got NAKED SPIKE!" So they hide behind a "GRAPHIC NUDITY" warning. >:)
Also, I watched the preceding Smallville episode and that Lana chick is SO ANNOYING. How do the Smallville fans stand her? I really don't think I'd be able to put up with her, even for lots of Clark/Lex subtext.
In other news,
jaydk and I went to a preview screening of the new Robert Downey, Jr. movie, The Singing Detective. It was interesting--very well-made and experimental. Robert Downey, Jr. is an amazing actor, and he really shows it in this movie. Overall, I'm glad I saw it, but I probably wouldn't want to see it again--it was very disturbing and difficult to watch. (To clarify: I don't get disturbed by movies generally, but some parts of this film were very upsetting because they were so realistic). I liked the mix of different genres, I thought some of the psychobabble was a bit irritating, and I thought the end didn't fit the rest of the movie. But overall--it's good, I recommend it for Downey's performance if nothing else.