<chrisg@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:13rsjc0jbmiii3a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Arbitrar Of Quality <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> ANGEL
>> Season Three, Episode 20: "A New World"
> This is one of those episodes that feels exciting while it's playing,
but
> afterwards feels kind of slight, almost truncated. As OBS already
pointed
> out in his reply, not a whole lot of ground is covered beyond the
> introduction of Connor and his less than loving attitude towards his
> father. I think it's all done well, but there could have been more.
> This isn't enough of a problem to keep me from enjoying the episode,
just
> enough to make me hesitate to call it Excellent.
I may get to Excellent yet. I've been thinking about this more and I'm
beginning to think that it's a good idea not to burden the episode with
too
much meaningful plot. The unstated implications (which don't need to be
stated) of who he is, where he came from, the age change, who raised him,
and so on are pretty massive. I think the episode as written gives the
audience helpful space to absorb all of that and think about it. Then the
conclusion with Holtz caps it with the message that his game is afoot
again.
> But there are certainly good moments aplenty. The whole Lilah-Wesley
> scene, for instance. I love Lilah's pleasure in her blatantly fake
memory
> lapse in the speech about traitors -- Oh, I always forget, what *was*
his
> name? -- and Wesley's guilty inability to cut her off. It's kind of
neat
> the way the Lilah-Wesley relation****p straddles the end of S3 and
> beginning of S4, when they'll continue to have wonderful little scenes
> together isolated from the rest of the cast.
Lilah's play on Wesley is one of my favorite things in the series. She's
so
on top of her game. Wesley also has some of his best moments - one of the
curious side effects of Lilah's seduction is that it serves to steel
Wesley
and make him more formidable than ever. But for now anyway, Lilah is
always
one step ahead of him. Always delivering the cru****ng blow. And
delighting
in it.
The only thing I miss is that for a little while here she seems to lose
her
connection with fear - the way she seems to feed off of her own inner
quaking is something I love about the character. But she'll get that back
soon enough.
> The actiony bits are good too, the first one in the teaser and beginning
> of act 1 in particular. In the final fight scene, it's fun, in a
slightly
> cruel way to watch Connor slap that loathsome drug dealer upside his
> mutilated head. And I really like Sunny. Her sad little voice as she
> insists that no, she isn't sad, sticks with me. I wonder how Connor
would
> have developed if Angel had shown up just in time to get her to the
> hospital? Or even if Angel's first reaction was to try to help her?
> Instead, Angel's unsympathetic reaction to her death, furiously
demanding
> if she put any of that crap into Connor, is just about the worst it
could
> be for Connor at that moment.
By description alone, all of the drug stuff is terribly cliche. Yet,
somehow they managed to make it feel fresh. Maybe it's the way we see it
through Connor's eyes. I don't know. Whatever it is, it works. And,
yes,
Sunny is a wonderful, albeit tragic, character.
> I'll add that it's the season of Holtz, my favorite AtS antagonist.
> (Except sometimes it's Lilah, but she also figures prominently in S3.)
I
> can understand OBS's view that S2 is stronger because there's more focus
> on Angel and his struggle for redemption, but S3 still feels more
> satisfying to me overall. There's less focus on Angel's redemption, but
a
> stronger seasonal plot arc and better development for the other main
> characters (except maybe Cordy). Maybe the difference is that S2 has
more
> of what makes Angel a great character, but S3 has more of what makes AtS
a
> great show.
To be clear, I think that S2 and S3 are equivalent in quality. Just with
different attributes.
OBS
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