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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lessons (2002)
I liked it!
I found the other reviews interesting, because I quite liked this episode. Most of the other reviews went on to talk about how they felt about this whole season, rather than just this episode, and I guess that affected how they rated it. Which is fine, but not how I would think of it. So I haven't seen the rest of the season and don't know what's to come. But this is what I thought of this episode as is.
Randomly: I assume future episodes will explain that girl who gets kidnapped at the beginning? Because we don't go back to it the rest of the episode and that threw me off a bit. I like that Buffy is teaching Dawn how to hunt/protect herself. I don't like Dawn much, but she's well old enough now. Hopefully this will make her whine less, too. I like Willow training with Giles in England. He's kind of her Watcher now, and she's in recovery from everything that happened, and he's a good guy. I don't know, something about their scenes were just very pleasing to me.
Mostly I thought it was fun that they brought back some of the people who died when Buffy was in high school, by showing them angry in the school that's now been rebuilt. They're understandably angry; a lot of people died during Buffy's time at Sunnydale High. I don't blame Buffy - you really can't save them all - but I get why they would. I think this in combination with showing all the different Big Bads to Spike at the end was a really fun way of making a callback to the previous seasons. I don't know if they went into this season knowing it would be the last, but I thought it was fitting that the last season started with reminding us of the things that have happened in the previous six seasons.
I'm not saying it was the best episode of BtVS ever or anything, but I thought it was a good one.
Angel: Over the Rainbow (2001)
Angel in the Sun
I'm wondering if I should wait to review this episode until I've finished the season, so it'll make more sense in context. Regardless, here's my thoughts directly after finishing the episode itself.
Cordy's been transported to Pylea where they call humans cows and treat them as slaves and beasts of burden. This seems a little odd to me. We see a cow walking by later. Do the Pyleans actually think the humans are the same as cows, or do hey just decide to apply the name to both species? And are humans really so frequent an occurrence on Pylea that they have a vibrant slave base? We only know about Fred and Cordy so far, but they have these fancy shock collars and bartering system for them. And even though they miraculously all speak the same language, the humans get ignored and degraded anyway. I wonder how they justify that. I mean, I guess it's a heavy-handed allusion to slavery of Africans, but it just feels too contrived or something. Also they make this big deal about Cordy being cursed, but then they end up crowning her the Highness? I kind of thought we were leading there some how, and maybe next episode will explain it, but it just doesn't match at all what we've seen to this point.
I like the boys being so worried about Cordy, especially Angel. I like Lorne being so agonized about going back. It really is his personal hell, and I don't blame him for not wanting to go back. But he proves that he's truly not a coward, because he does go back. Good for you, Lorne! I like Gunn deciding to go with them. I wondered if the message Angel was leaving was for Buffy, though the tone didn't feel quite right for that. (And good thing, too, considering all Buffy has on her plate right now back in Sunnydale!) I like the fight; "I'll take the twenty on the right, you take the fifty on the left."
But I was tempted to give this episode 10 stars just for Angel being in the sun. He's so delighted and happy and chipper. We rarely get to see Angel like that, and I'm not sure there's anything I enjoy more. My favourite lines: "Can everybody just notice how much fire I'm not on?" and, while looking for branches, "Oh hey, look. There's some over in that patch of sun... I'll get 'em!" and his cute little prance off to get them.
Angel: Dead End (2001)
What Fun!
I liked this episode a lot. It's very Lindsey focused. You know, I really wanted to hate Lindsey. After he went back to Wolfram and Heart and deservedly lost his hand by bringing back Darla, he did so many things wrong I just wanted to hate him. But somehow, I always had a soft spot for him. He always seems so passionate, like despite his best efforts, he's always going to follow his heart. And yeah, sometimes his heart leads him to do evil, terrible things. But I think there's someone good deep down in there.
This episode also really reminded me of what Lindsey lost when Angel took his hand. It's never seemed that big a deal before, but now we learn he used to love to sing and play guitar, and he didn't get to do that anymore. He had to adapt and stumble through this harsh, competitive life, without his dominant hand. I think able-bodied people like me need that reminder sometimes. But it also makes it more beautiful when he does get to play and sing again. It's like he's finally connected back to his soul, and it's nice to see.
I like seeing Lindsey try to work with Angel. This is the second episode when that's happened, and it's just so much fun both times.
This episode also deals with the toll the visions are taking on Cordy. This worries me. None of the guys know how to deal with it. Cordy doesn't really know how to deal with it. I'm not sure what kind of path this will send her on. Poor Cordy.
There are two parts of this episode that I particularly like. The first is when Angel is trying so hard to cheer up Cordelia, he brings her a bunch of food. She tells him she loves him, and he just has this most wonderful smile that nearly made me tear up. It's really perfect - it's just full of his soul, so happy and worried and sweet and adorable. It's a quick but really beautiful moment.
But what really takes the cake and makes this a fun, wonderful episode, is when Lindsey quits Wolfram and Heart. He goes on this whole "evil hand" speech, and I love it. It's so funny and so Lindsey and just a really enjoyable scene.
Angel: Epiphany (2001)
Really Great
I really loved this episode. I wasn't expecting to, after where we left off last episode.
I didn't really think Angel would lose his soul again. I've never understood why everyone decided that Angel couldn't have sex at all without losing his soul. I was pretty sure it was just because it was with Buffy in a beautiful and truly happy moment. And if any sex was going to get rid of the soul, it wouldn't be this one, done in a moment of pure despair with someone he mostly wants to kill. Sure enough, I was right.
But I wasn't expecting it to cause an epiphany. It was really fun seeing Angel have this epiphany and make a complete turn around. He really hit rock bottom, and managed to make a pretty swift turn around back up. As Lorne mentions, if Angel isn't going to be Angel, we'd at least prefer him to be evil than hyper-broody. And I'm really glad we got Angel back.
My favourite part was him trying to make it up to Wes, Cordy, and Gunn. Especially with Wes in the car, he kept trying to make light-hearted jokes, and it was just so adorable.
The fight between Angel and Lindsey is also pretty fun. It's just so raw and well-done (and I'm sure Angel looking so beat up when he asks for forgiveness doesn't hurt!). I love that post-epiphany, he returns Lindsey's car with a "Sorry" note.
I had been worried about how Angel would finally make his return, and how he's win back the trust and love of his friends. I couldn't quite see a smooth way to do it that would feel right. But I think this episode did a really fantastic job doing that, and overall was really enjoyable, with a great mix of drama and humour.
Angel: Guise Will Be Guise (2000)
Fun Episode
What a fun episode! Probably the most comedic episode of Angel so far. I laughed out loud several times. There were just so many great lines or entire scenes.
I think the best part was that this episode managed to balance real character development and comedy, for a total of a really enjoyable episode.
This is a very Wes centred episode, which I think is great. He's come so far since we first met him on Buffy, but I think this is the first episode when he himself really realizes it. He still feels that he's the bumbling, "knocking things over, driving away business" guy. But when he impersonates Angel, he's actually really competent at protecting Virginia. Hopefully this starts the beginning of him really proving it to himself and to Cordelia, proving her statement that he "can't do stuff on his own" thoroughly wrong.
And even though the Shami was a sham, he raised some very true points for Angel to think about. I hope Angel really does do some personal reflection. I'm also glad that somebody finally addressed how silly it seems that a vampire drives a convertible in LA. I never understood how that happened.
While I loved the funny, it felt out of place after the intensity of the last couple episodes with Darla. It also kind of puts a pause on the continuation of that story line. But it's still a worthwhile episode.
But mostly I just want to commend the humour of this episode. From everyone's relief that Angel won't have to sing, Angel's "rockiness" being compared to the Rocky movies, Cordelia pretending to be Angel, (probably my favourite line; "Oh, no, I can't do anything fun tonight. I have to count my past sins, then alphabetize them. Oh, by the way, I'm thinking of snapping on Friday," Wes stumbling to be a vampire including drinking "nummy" blood, to the whole impure/lack of virginity of Virginia conversation, it was just a lot of fun.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Real Me (2000)
Ugh, Dawn
Okay, I'm just going to be totally honest. I did not enjoy this episode.
This episode introduces us to Dawn. I'm watching and reacting to the episodes in order. I was warned Dawn would be coming by the glimmers I've seen in some of the reviews for the previous episodes, so it wasn't as completely out of no where as it must have been for viewers watching them live. I still don't know anything about the actual situation, though.
It starts off feeling much like the episode starring Johnathon. We know that something is off and he doesn't belong, from the very beginning of the episode. But everyone's reacting as though it's normal, so you just wait to see it get resolved, assuming it's something like Cordelia's alternate universe wish. Which it is. So you feel much the same way about Dawn's appearance. Buffy's an only child, and Dawn will get resolved by the end of the episode, right? Not only does she not, but I gather from the other reviews that she's going to be around for seasonS. Oh, well, that's weird.
But it would be a lot better if Dawn weren't so darn obnoxious. I'm not sure what's worse: how she acts, or how she's treated. It's probable there's some kind of cyclical cause/effect there. She's being cottled and babied, and whining about wanting to be grown up and respected. She's apparently 14, which is only a year younger than when we first see Buffy and the gang at the beginning of the show. Thus, approximately when Buffy becomes the slayer. But she acts much younger. Also, Joyce reacts ridiculously. She expects Buffy to babysit her at all times, but also Dawn isn't allowed to see dead bodies or any slaying in action?! Dawn needs a babysitter, but as she states herself, she's "old enough to be a babysitter." I was babysitting my own younger siblings at a younger age than that. I really don't understand why they think she needs a babysitter at 14. Or why Joyce thinks it's appropriate for Dawn to tag along on all of Buffy's outings. This whole episode is Dawn whining about her situation, and/or Buffy whining about Dawn. Maybe it's just the older sister in me, but I feel like Buffy is totally justified.
Which also brings me to another thing that bothers me about both this storyline and the Johnathon one. When Cordy made her wish, all those events happened in an alternate timeline, so nothing there affected anything in "our" version of events. But for Johnathon and Dawn, supposedly all the same things happened, just with the addition of the new character. I just don't feel like that would work. Having another person in the mix has the potential to really fundamentally change things. Like if Buffy really has to babysit Dawn so often, then there's no way she had all the same slaying events in the past. It's just not convincing to me that we can have a functional storyline with something so fundamentally changed like this.
I probably would have rated this episode lower, but I've learned to have faith in the writers for this show. They've clearly been planning this for a long time; at least since before Faith ended up in a coma. And I gather that this will be definitely heading somewhere. Perhaps after I finish the season I'll have a greater appreciation for this episode.
But as of now, I didn't enjoy it. Dawn is not a fun character, being whiny and immature. The characters don't react to her in ways that make sense to me. I'm totally ambivalent about Harmony and her gangs she keeps somehow coming up with, but then she always gets away. I think my favourite part of this episode is Giles deciding to buy the Magic Box, despite the unusual mortality rate for the owners. Otherwise, definitely my least favourite episode so far.
Angel: Five by Five (2000)
Pits and Falls on the Path to Redemption
Much like the corresponding episode from Buffy, I initially started this episode feeling a little meh. We'd just seen Faith make some profound realizations while being Buffy, but clearly that didn't stick since she beats up several people immediately upon arrival. I was disappointed. Meanwhile, we're also getting flashbacks to Angel immediately post-soul. I was glad to see that, because I'd been curious, but I had no idea why that, why now.
But I should really learn to have more faith in these shows, because as they wove together, it became more clear and more perfect. Angel didn't immediately start on a no-kill, perfect path to redemption once he'd been cursed to get his soul back. His girlfriend of, what, a hundred years kicks him out, he's starving and dirty wandering the streets, yet unable to actually kill. He screams "I'm a monster" as he gets into fights, but isn't able to go anywhere with them. He's lost and broken. But we know where he's able to go from there, and now he's actively saving people.
Similarly, we see Faith now in that lost and broken stage. She's acting out in a psychotic rage, angry and confused and out of place. She's not really ready for redemption yet. This culminates when, after she's tortured Wesley and beat up Angel, she continues fighting Angel which devolves into her childishly slapping his chest screaming, "I'm bad!" and then "Just kill me, please kill me, I'm bad." It's heartbreaking and a really great moment for us to see. This is coupled with Wesley heading out into the alley with a knife, ready to end it, and then seeing Faith break down. He drops the knife, realizing he'd been wrong again. Poor Wesley. (Though it is nice to see him developing as a person, getting stronger and more confident.)
Now that we've seen the lows that Angel had to go through to get to where he is now, and we've seen that directly paralleled with what Faith is going through, we're more ready for Faith to potentially attempt redemption. She's done some terrible things, so it would be hard for an audience to forgive without a moment like this.
Overall a really well done episode.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who Are You? (2000)
Great insight into Faith
Wow! At the beginning of this episode, I was feeling pretty ambivalent. I didn't really want to see Faith being Buffy. But wow, they put it to really great use.
SMG's acting can't be commended enough for this performance. I knew from the moment they switched what had happened. She just instantly started to seem Faith-y. I was continually impressed. The way she holds her body, both the words she says and how she says them, her actions and attitudes. It was perfectly Faith, in an uncanny yet brilliant way. ED also does a good job being Buffy, but we see a lot less of that.
But what was really great about this episode was how we get to see insight into Faith, and her start to evolve, through using Buffy's life. Her exploring her body and practicing being Buffy in the mirror is cute. Her breaking down when Riley makes it clear he wants to make love, not just have sex, was one of those moments when I really started to have sympathy for Faith. She'd annoyed me before; it felt like her fall into evil was too easy, and she'd been rather obnoxious from the moment she arrived. But now I finally see that she has a far more complicated backstory than I'd given her credit for. Especially when she freaks out when Riley tells her he loves her, asking what he wants - wow, she's had to overcome some crap in her life. After seeing the good Buffy has in her life, evidently so much of which she never had any inkling of in her own, she starts to reconsider her choices. She goes to the church to kill the vampires and save the people. You see her realize that she could go on a different path.
I think all this comes to a head when she beats up Buffy-as-Faith, calling her disgusting and a killer. While it's clear from her coma dreams that she has a lot of pent up rage and fear towards Buffy, the amount of emotion that goes into this makes it more clear it's about her battle against herself.
I expected to be unimpressed by the ol' body switching trick, but I was wrong. They used it brilliantly.
Angel: Hero (1999)
Farewell, Doyle
I was really impressed by this episode. I feel like it really emphasized the kind of tone Angel would take, and how it's different from BTVS. It's a lot darker, such as actually showing us the slaughtered bodies of Doyle's demon "cousins." It also brings to light the true meaning of hero. The demons they're trying to save believe that Angel is the prophesied saviour, and Cordy believes that Angel is such a good looking heroic type dude that he's not relatable to others, but in the end it's people like Doyle who make the difference.
I liked the balance between humour and drama. It starts off funny, with Cordy narrating a theoretical commercial. Angel saying that he is the "Dark Avenger" totally cracks me up. Doyle's line "I don't see Angel puttin' on tights... Oh, now I do and it's really disturbing" won the episode for me early on. Doyle and Cordy trying to film the commercial is funny.
But then we get darker, with the Nazi-esque Scourge hunting half-demons. I feel fairly ambivalent about them, as it was a pretty heavy-handed allegory. They even made Angel's hair 1940s-ish when he "joined" them. But the scene about the demon boy relating his experiences on Halloween was touching. Doyle and Cordy finally getting a moment was great. Doyle overcoming his personal demons of having let down his demon-brethren in the past was great, and especially pronounced given his usual comedic role. And finally, Doyle kissing Cordy and sacrificing himself, proving himself the real hero, was tragic but powerful. It took me by complete surprise, as I really liked Doyle and assumed he was a main character, here to stay. This just tells me what to expect from the future of Angel - or rather, that I can't expect it to be the average, good guys always make it through kind of show.
Bookending the episode with the recording of Doyle's commercial was really great. It takes on a completely different feeling after his heroic sacrifice, in the best possible way.
Basically, a really strong episode.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy (1998)
Very Funny, but Not Game Changing
As I was watching this episode, I found myself simultaneously bored and delighted. It was a rather odd sensation.
I found it lack-lustre in that the plot is a bit overdone. Oh, the teenage main character is complaining that she's not being treated enough like an adult? Let's make all the adults act like teenagers so the actual teenagers have to take on adult responsibilities and realize the difficulties of things. Also, nothing really happens in this episode that feels eventful. More is revealed about The Mayor's entanglements and Ethan returns, but otherwise nothing you'd die without. Angel appears briefly, but his story isn't progressed (though he is shirtless for his entire appearance, which I suppose is good for some people). The big moment of stopping the monster of the week is somewhat ho-hum.
However, there are so many brilliant moments, it's absolutely worth watching. Young Giles, being "cool" and his casual British accent = wonderful. Him and Joyce, while a bit disturbing, is also wonderfully done. Willow and Xander's game of footsie is absolutely adorable. I think my favourite is when Joyce asks, "So why do they call you Ripper?" And Giles responds perfectly, "Wouldn't you like to know." But really, there are several one-off lines that are fantastic.
In conclusion, it's worth watching, but it's not the high point of the season or anything.