"Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsmtsm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:5b2f543c-1756-41f9-b3a3-9928a26fb4ee@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ANGEL
> Season Four, Episode 16: "Players"
> Now, my first impression of “Players” was that it was a lackluster
> minor episode. But after watching it again, I have to say that I
> pretty much called it. Obviously in retrospect part of the agenda
> here is a first attempt to spend serious time on Gunn’s desire to be
> one of the big guys. This particular episode won’t really lead much
> of anywhere in that regard, but the theme will be tackled more
> successfully in Season Five. For now, I’m a little tired of ATS’s
> attempts at heist stories at this point – it’s like the show’s go-to
> for “we want a light stand-alone holodeck episode, now!” What bothers
> me more is not understanding what’s so refreshing for Charles about
> getting suckered into beating people up in the name of stealing from
> the rich (he “knows” they’re evil because the person who duped him
> says “they’re evil”) and giving to the even richer. What good fight
> is being fought here? If I were to judge only based on “Players,” I’d
> conclude that Gwen is a self-absorbed asshole, Gunn is a jerk who’d
> rather indulge in his fantasy role than be a real hero, and ATS
> figures that morality is relative for people who look good. It’s an
> unpleasant hour for me.
> Rating: Weak
I still like it and rate it Good.
"Gwen is a self-absorbed asshole." - Gwen has not been able to freely
feel
the touch of a human being in her entire life. If she's going to be
self-absorbed, then I think that's a pretty potent reason for it. The
series went through considerable effort early in the season to establish
that effect of her power - not the power itself - as the defining quality
of
her character. The best thing about this episode and the very limited
journey allowed this character is how her necessary obsession defines her
actions and release is finally given her. That hardly makes Gwen a
paragon
of virtue, but I find the story moving anyway. The motive informs the
deeds
in a fashion making her something quite different than a mere asshole.
They
lead to what is for her the single greatest moment of her life to date -
one
with the potential to be utterly transformative for her. The series
chooses
not to follow-up on her connection with either Angel or Gunn, which I find
unfortunate and diminishing of the character. But at least they follow-up
on her primary established character trait. I appreciate that.
"Gunn is a jerk who’d rather indulge in his fantasy role than be a real
hero." - Gunn has always had some of that characteristic in him. Sure,
the
mission drove him mercilessly at times, but so did the action and the
posturing. Why did he drift away from the streets and into Angel's team?
Just for the mission? Don't you think he also liked the sense of playing
with the big guys? To me it seems only natural that he would get a huge
charge out of the way he pulled off their entrance into the party. It's a
whole other level of play opening his eyes to potential he'd never
imagined
in himself before. As for any guilt about the theft, aside from coming to
see and understand the true meaning of it to Gwen, one of the artifacts of
his ghetto background surely would be substantial indifference to this
kind
of setback for those who clearly will continue to live on in spectacular
wealth. It's not like anybody died - he did stop that. However, it is a
crack in Gunn's facade, betraying a corruptibility within him that perhaps
we'd not grasped before. It is that, more so than his demonstrated
ambition
I think, that offers more foundation to his S5 story than you give it
credit
for.
In the meantime Cordy has been a bad, bad girl, and I enjoy most of the
scenes with her leading up to the concluding trap.
Perhaps most of all I enjoy the release from the previous run.
> Season Four, Episode 17: "Inside Out"
> EPIC. I’m used to television as long-form storytelling now, so I
> sometimes get this idea that it’ll take more than one episode to ramp
> the drama back up after having had a centerpiece episode so recently.
> This is one that puts the lie to that. What’s funny is that Steven
> spends a good portion of his commentary pointing out all the places in
> which they didn’t have the money to do what he wanted, or in which
> they skimped on what would have been a big setpiece, or in which
> things just look cheap. I honestly never would’ve noticed, except
> maybe for the shortness of the Angel/Connor fight. Quoth noted not-a-
> huge-fan OBS – “it's a surprisingly big episode for one where so
> little happens outside of the words until the finale.”
That's mostly meant as a compliment. I do find the words burdensome at
times, but due to the play and content of them rather than the volume.
That
the episode can feel so big even with so much talking is impressive.
On the other hand, "EPIC" wouldn't occur to me. After a rain of fire,
destroying W&H, blotting out the sun and Angel and Angelus having a dream
battle, this struggles to match the standards established by the series.
(Though I do give it props for Jamine's initial appearance.) One thing
the
season struggles with a little, IMO, is how things tend not to feel big
enough when everything is huge. It's only periodic though, and hardly a
major criticism for a season that actually does pull off BIG just about as
much as I've ever seen on TV.
> But words are
> what it’s all about on these shows, and “Inside Out” uses words to
> bring out the tension in every remaining storyline. I’m as swept up
> in father and son pitted irrevocably against each other as I was the
> first time, and it’s the talking that does it, not the stunt
> coreography. Meanwhile in a more conventional use of words, Connor
> has an angel and a devil on his shoulder, with Darla serving as a
> little bit of help from the PTB that’s far too little and too late
> given the way he’s been warped.
This kind of encapsulates my love-hate for the episode and its language.
I
pretty much loathe Cordelia's bit about good and evil just being words.
The
believability of Cordy's hold on Connor through such transparent
manipulation gets really strained. It's like she doesn't care anymore how
dumb the bullshit is anymore. Connor's sure to be baffled by it anyway,
so
what the fuck. Darla's part is a little better, but suffers from the
reality that Connor doesn't actually know her. There's a believability
problem in having a babbling ghost so quickly influence Connor. (Though,
I
guess we know now how easily he's baffled.)
I could go on much more on that, but the thing is that the content may not
much matter anyway. It's all about Connor being buffeted around,
effectively used by everybody he's in contact with, unable to know what to
believe, who to believe or what's real. The emotional resonance in that
is
very powerful in Darla's scene, and we get some of the best acting out of
the character. Good in spite of it being one of the least interesting
Darla
moments of the series. (Maybe her only appearance where she's not really
the focus? I'll have to think about that.)
> Perhaps I should say something about the nature of The Retcon, but
> I’ve explained why I like it already, so I’ll wait for others’ prompts
> to focus any thoughts about that. I’m fine to have a little doubt
> about whether or not we can believe Skip’s boastful assessment of how
> much they’ve shaped. I can totally understand why some might get
> impatient with S4’s constant futility and vagueness and lies, but this
> specific occasion seems like one in which this crazy mindfuck of a
> storyline shouldn’t feel obligated to deliver a clear truth.
I talked about The Retcom last time. I'll just say now that I'm not
terribly troubled by it in itself. Indeed, if it existed more by itself
I'd
likely laud it. (To the extent that it over reaches can probably be
attributed to Skip's somewhat ignorant boasting and excessive credulity
regarding Jasmine's capabilities.) Where I struggle with it is in how
it's
representative of a greater season practice of undermining so much that we
see that we can't believe anything. The Retcon is only part of that S4
attribute.
> Let me
> fulfill a different obligation by pointing out that Skip is awesome.
> More than that, he’s the kind of generous awesome that lets him
> translate his awesomeness to make the scenes he’s in feel more, well,
> epic, and makes the person who kills him (Wesley) inherit his
> badassery by association. Putting Skip in your episode is like a gift
> to your show, so I encourage any readers who happen to be struggling
> showrunners to contact 20th Century Fox about buying the right to use
> the character.
So the way to avoid worshiping Jasmine is to worship Skip instead?
> Rating: Excellent
Remains Decent in my book - in the sense of a strong contrast between
terrific and lousy elements leaving the sum in the middle.
> Season Four, Episode 18: "Shiny Happy People"
> How much do you like to cringe? What happens on screen for the bulk
> of the episode is an abomination, but it’s supposed to be one. Does
> that make it good or bad TV? Well, there are moments when it works,
> but in the end, I still think that it crosses the line of no longer
> being entertaining to watch, and it crosses that line early. As an
> audience member, I do not want forty-four minutes (or more) of this.
> And Jasmine needs to hypnotize herself up some better speechwriters.
> Fortunately, Fred sees the true face of what Evil Zoe represents in a
> scene that has more kick than I gave it credit for, and from there we
> enter a Phillip K. Dick style story of the few or the one against the
> world. Here’s a subgenre that ATS hasn’t spent so much time dabbling
> in, and it can be deliciously creepy here and in the next episode,
> especially anything involving lots of people directing silent glances
> at Fred. I do really wish the blood transfer in the bowling alley
> were shown more clearly – even knowing to look for it, I didn’t see
> where it happened. Like Apteryx says, you almost need to go over it
> frame by frame to notice. Be clearer, show. Who cares if you make
> your twist a little more obvious given that it doesn’t make any sense
> without the clue?
> Rating: Decent
Is this the return to Eden? Does the lamb lie down with the lion and not
be
consumed? Here is where the season really pushes its religious
allegories.
Next episode we'll hear Lorne utter this about a Jasmine web video: "This
is the greatest story ever told." Later he'll compare himself to Judas.
I
don't care to really go into that now beyond observing how strong its
presence is.
I've watched this a couple more times since we last touched on it, and
frankly, it's gotten more tiresome each viewing. Not exactly an acting
showcase for anybody other than Amy Acker. I still appreciate what
they're
doing with the story here, but the play of it on the worship Jasmine front
is pretty hard to take. This is especially unfortunate because the
episode
also consumes what little good will I have towards putting up with
Jasmine's
presence. I do kind of like the plot concept around her as she gradually
grows more perverse while bringing her gift to the world. I just don't
like
her and all her ga-ga drones. Oh, well.
The Fred part of the story is periodically good - the obsessive washing of
the shirt works for me. The scene in the mental ward not so much, though
the exposition is useful. The best and saddest may be Wesley's unthinking
betrayal - further buttressed by Gunn - when she takes the gamble of
getting
through to the smartest man she knows who might also lover her just enough
to... but no. Poor Wesley. Seemingly doomed to forever disappoint Fred
when it really counts. Still, I enjoy Fred's part more next episode.
Anyway, I'm afraid this episode takes a pretty hard drop from my prior
Excellent rating to a mere Decent. I don't recall dropping a rating two
levels before.
> Season Four, Episode 19: "The Magic Bullet"
> Conventional wisdom has Jeff’s directorial debut as clearly the best
> of the Jasmine set. I liked it better than its neighboring episodes
> originally, but I actually prefer SHP now, when at least the monotony
> is a little fresher. Not surprisingly, most (well, pretty much all)
> of the stuff I like about “The Magic Bullet” comes from the paranoia
> in Fred’s solo section. That’s some more good conspiracy-movie stuff
> going on, and its choice of hero combines vulnerability and resilience
> in just the quantities needed. I’m less convinced that it’s really
> necessary to take all of the side trips the episode does, or that it’s
> necessary to give Kramer’s midget sidekick any screen time at all.
Well, they do need some mechanism for Fred to recognize the significance
of
the blood. Otherwise it's just comic filler to no other purpose.
Fortunately I do find much of it amusing.
> Meanwhile, the Jasmine side of things, even what I originally called
> the funnier parts, are far more tedious on second viewing; this has
> gone on for an episode and a half too long for me. Once Angel’s back,
> the episode turns into a shoddy mess, and I’m surprised to see that
> few people seem to have even registered the baffling moment in which
> our heroes get captured, and then are free the next time we see them.
> All in all, TMB is nothing special.
> Rating: Decent
Another Decent for me too. I probably enjoy watching this most of the
group
because the good bits really turn me on, while I can zone out on most of
the
bad since it largely repeats the same old bad that I'm tired of
complaining
about. Some of the good bits include a terrific teaser with the Beach
Boys
that really captures the shiny happy facade with a far darker underside.
Fred on the run has some excellent moments of creepiness from the feeling
of
everybody watching - literally true in this case. I like the moment
Jasmine
casually tells Connor that she eats the people brought up to her room. (I
suppose Connor is pretty much lost by now, though it'll take Angel a while
to come to terms with that.) Most of all I love the magic bullet itself.
All of that doesn't come close to adding up to a full episode of goodness,
so the Decent rating is actually a bit generous.
OBS
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