Angel: Shiny Happy People

Lorne: "Let me guess. Green?"
Angel: "No. Kind of... mocha."

I liked Gina Torres playing God more than I thought I would.

Exceptionally good casting. Torres is extremely beautiful with her own unique look, and Jasmine was sweet, wonderful and ultimately chilling, because you wanted her to be as wonderful as she appeared to be. The big question is, of course, what is she, and what does she really want? Fred said at one point that "Skip said the Beastmaster was using Cordelia to give birth to itself." So if Jasmine is the Beastmaster, why is she making the L.A. Scoobies kill all the demons? Isn't that a good, as Buffy would say? And how can she change the world by eradicating evil, which, according to the First, is impossible?

There were things about Jasmine that she had in common with the First Evil. She talked a lot about how wonderful it was to experience sensation, intimating that she was formerly incorporeal. She is a former "great being" from the time before humans and demons walked the Earth. She also mentioned being human now, and "there are some rules even I must follow." She can be harmed, obviously, or that vampire would not have been able to hurt her. It was her injury that enabled first Stoler, and then Fred, to see Jasmine as she truly was; they both had injuries and came in direct contact with Jasmine's blood. Which brings up the question: how is Fred going to obtain more of Jasmine's blood in order to make anyone else see what Fred sees?

The scene with Stoler really creeped me out, although the fact that we couldn't see all of his face was a huge clue that he was disfigured. Jasmine must have deliberately disfigured him, because she also touched Connor, Angel, and Lorne and nothing happened to them. I also thought that the cell phone ringing while Stoler was going on about Fred being "called" was extra creepy, too. And hey, Fred did so well initially, but I was disappointed in her when she blew it by going to Wesley.

At least we're not dealing with an actual baby this time. I much prefer Gina Torres.

Lots of other interesting and fun stuff. Connor and Angel being so sweet to each other was hilarious. The bowling alley scene was surreal, with Fred and Jasmine talking while the guys were staking vamps all around them. I also thought the vamps bowling with heads was a hoot.

Bits and pieces:

— Cordelia will probably be in a convenient coma for awhile. This is good. Charisma Carpenter just gave birth and certainly needs the rest. Maybe it'll give her time to recover from the Cordelia character assassination.

— The names proposed for Jasmine were Helen, Dianthia, Iphigenia, and Aristophila. I'd better break out my baby name book and see what all those names mean.

— How about Angel in a white and yellow striped shirt? Something of a new look for him.

Quotes:

Fred: "I don't know what I was thinking, letting these books be all unorganized."
Lorne: "Well, one does tend to let the housekeeping slide during an apocalypta-lite."

Lorne: "It's just the buzz saw. Nothing to get worked up over. It's Gunn and Wes down in the basement. They're dismembering that armor-plated demon Skip."
Fred: "Oh, right. Well, there's been an awful lot of dismembering going on in that basement lately if you ask me."
Lorne: "Well, it's been a busy month."

Fred: "Do you think he'd actually... you know...
Lorne: "Dismember mama?"

Wesley: "All right, what about..."
Fred: "Clorox."
Gunn: "Clorox... she bleaches away the hate."
Wesley: "Probably best we avoid brand names."

Connor: "Hey, we made the news. Dramatic decrease in Southland murders this week."
Lorne: "Well, hey! So much for that nagging apocalypse."

Lorne: "It's too diva, isn't it? Diva, deity, it's a thin line."
Jasmine: "It's lovely. There's that wonderful smell again. Jasmine. Oh, really, Lorne, it's more than I could ask for."
Lorne: "Oh, well, I'm as tickled as... someone so tickled they're out of similes."

Interesting arc episode. I'm very curious to see where things go from here. Two out of four stakes,

Billie
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Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.

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