Commenter Lookup *Caution* Unless you see an ADMIN tag, the comments below may not all belong to the same person! "That Old Gang of Mine" | View Comments2 | fryrishMar 11, 2007 This episode isn't really a favourite of mine, and while it's poor reputation is defintaley unfair I don't find anything particularly new of amazing here either. Yes, it has good development for Gunn, and a couple of other nice touches but it doesn't quite come together for me. Either way, I appreciated your analysis of the show's morality. Dingdong, the song Fred sings is "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. "Reprise" | View Comments3 | fryrishJan 15, 2007 Great work on both reviews Ryan, they go right to the core of these episodes. I’m also glad you brought up the significance of the philosophy of Reprise/Epiphany to season 5 because I think a lot of people miss the parallels. Definately agree with your decision to push Reprise up in the top 25 too. I don't think Release comes close in darkness to Reprise. Even in S4 there are episodes that strike me as darker, but I don’t think there are any episodes from that season that aren’t dark. While I agree Release contains some incredibly dark aspects and the Wesley/Faith dynamic works well (wish there’d been more of that), but I don't think it quite reaches its potential. "I also must argue, to the awe of even myself, that Tim Minear is a better Angel writer than Whedon. While Whedon's work is utterly stunning at time, Minear creates, imo, absolute masterpieces which are, at the same time, unapologetic and piercing." I agree to an extent, but looking at the episodes each has written and based on what their episodes set out to achieve it’s quite difficult to compare. I can't speak for Whedon's contributions to the story behind the scenes, but if you take a look at their credits for Angel, other than the pilot and season five he didn’t do much that had long-term ramifications for the series. While Minear wrote more episodes for Angel than any other writer (someone correct me if I'm wrong) and over the first three seasons Minear wrote many of the best and most important episodes of the series. I've read elsewhere than Whedon didn’t have a lot of involvement in Angel S2 and was more concerned with S5 of Buffy, leaving Minear and Greenwalt to do their own thing. "I must say that "Shells" is as perfect, if not more so than "A Hole in the World." I'll bang out some reasons why later, but it echoes many of the same thmes of its predecessor and of Not Fade Away." A Hole in the World and Shells, really it's impossible for me to separate them. I’ve been trying to write up a top 20 list for Angel and I have them both in my top 10. I have a more emotional reaction to A Hole in the World so I’d go with that I had to choose. It has been criticized from the use of melodrama, but I think that level works perfectly. The rawness of some of the performances, the thematic resonance, the direction, cinematography and music all standout to me and mark it as one of Joss Whedon’s finest hours. Shells works quite differently and uses a brilliant mix of drama and dark humour in expressing the reactions of each character to Fred’s death and the presence of Illyria raises all sorts of philosophical questions. Last time I watched it I was surprised at just how funny it actually is. Come to think of it, I think it is much closer in darkness to Reprise than something like Release. "I'd also like to know your opinion on which is better: 2x05-2x16 or 5x12-5x22 (excluding Why We Fight)." Too close to call, I'm not sure I want to choose. The season 2 run works better as single story and is possibly more thematically consistent. Those episodes from season five I’m not sure I’d say are better overall, but they strike me as much more risky, perhaps brought on by the fact that the writer’s knew Angel wasn’t going to be renewed. "Unlike any other episode (even NFA), every single line of dialogue has relevance." To be honest, I’m not sure I understand entirely what you mean by this. "Reprise" | View Comments4 | fryrishJan 15, 2007 Re: Shanshu. That clears it up. I don't disagree, I just wasn't sure where you were coming from with that comment.buffyholic "I Will Remember You" | View Comments5 | fryrishJul 31, 2006 I may have already mentioned this here, but I feel the same way Dingdong. The episode has just never really clicked with me and it doesn't make me feel much of anything at all. I doubt it would make my top 25. It's not a particularly bad episode, but it didn't really have the same impact as it seems like it should have. I wasn't particularly fond of SMG's appearance in Sanctuary either. "She" | View Comments6 | fryrishMay 9, 2006 This is an episode I love in spite of the main point. I don't dislike it all that much really, but its stuff Marti Noxon had already covered better in her Buffy eps to that point. There's some really great character interaction between Angel, Cordelia and Wesley that makes up for its flaws though. I love the party and the Angel dancing. One of my favourite quotes being: CORDELIA: This is your idea of hell, isn't it? ANGEL: Actually, in hell you tend to know a lot of the people. I love scene in the office with Angel offering Wesley a job. I love the final scene with the coffee bean spillage. Bumbling Wesley as a negative. :P I found him coming onto all of the women during the rescue hilarious. This stuff, and the stuff you mentioned in the review, raise my opinion of an otherwise lackluster episode. I've only seen a few episodes of Forever Knight so I'm not sure what you mean in regard to the criticisms. Care to elaborate? Looking forward to your next review. It's one of my favourite episodes of Angel. "Hero" | View Comments7 | fryrishApr 24, 2006 I second your opinions on Doyle as a character in this episode. The other flaws you put forward, I don't even consider flaws. I felt the Scourge were an effective villain in this episode and the Nazi allusions worked, given Doyle's entire inner-conflict was about coming to terms with his demon side. Again, the mythology is a non-issue for me. Pure blood demons is an interesting thing, but I think you may be overstating the issue. There's definately a distinction between Pure Demons (ala Graduation Day) and demons with pure blood (ie, their blood isn't mixed with human blood). I'm terrible with quotes so I'm not sure about the exact wording used in either episode, from memory. I don't know where the idea that all demons must be part human comes from, I can't recall any exact quotes to that effect. Again, it's been a long time since I've seen Graduation Day. How are they half-breeds? I don't really understand your logic there. "I Will Remember You" | View Comments8 | fryrishApr 19, 2006 I have to say this episode is not one of my favourites. It's never really had much of an emotional impact on me. Can't explain it really, I don't think it's bad, it's just never grabbed me in the way some others have. "I Will Remember You" | View Comments9 | fryrishApr 18, 2006 "And it will take him until the fourth season to see, that he will have never paid enough, that he won't ever be done with paying (I think 4x15 Orpheus)." It doesn't take him anywhere near that long to figure out. "The Bachelor Party" | View Comments10 | fryrishApr 17, 2006 Pleasantly surprised to see this episode get a 95 rating. It's always been one of my favourites but is often discounted, up there with the funniest episodes of and has a lot of great character moments. They had to have this episode for Doyle's death to have a big impact IMO. He was a really great character. Also, top marks for putting so much thought into episodes that may on the surface seem a bit slight. One disagreement though. I don't think the show's ambivalence to expose the exact nature of the soul is a problem with the mythology. I can see now that I am going to disagree with some stuff in your review of Hero. ;) |
Latest News  The Shell of Despair MikeJer - Mar 17, 2013 At long last, another ACP update! Forum superstar Iguana-on-a-Stick has turned in another great review! Hit the title for the link, and enjoy. :D View Full Post Latest Comments Nic Nac [Apocalypse, Nowish] *in reply to Hera (#11) Hera, it wasn't so much the age thing for me, but the huge differen... View CommentMay 15, 2013 David [Five by Five] How did angel manage to get into the " guy who faith hospitalized" into his apartment becaus... View CommentMay 10, 2013 David [Hero] This episode was very good , I get upset everytime Doyle dies in this episode. Is it me or w... View CommentMay 10, 2013 Latest Forum Posts alpha54 [Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] Will definitely be tuning in to this show when it comes out. Looks like a very solid mix of ... View PostMay 18, 2013 NewSpock [Comparing Season Atmospheres] If it helps, I like to lie myself that it was deliberate: When Buffy was new to slaying, ju... View PostMay 18, 2013 NewSpock [Alyson Hannigan's interview] Agreed, the Buffy Angel part of season 3 didn't work that well. In fact when I saw Angel com... View PostMay 18, 2013 |
I'll be interested to see your reviews of some of the weaker episodes of this season, because I consider this to be just about the worst episode of either show. Actually scratch that, forgot about Double or Nothing.
The biggest thing that lets down season three for me is that, while the main arc is good, it contains some of the dullest standalones in the Whedonverse.