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Angel: Apocalypse, Nowish

Lorne: (on the phone) "Well, it might take a couple of days; you're fifth on the bleeding-walls list. Spritz it with a little 409, we'll get back to you."

Okay. If Cordelia is now pregnant with Angel's grandchild, I'm really going to be pissed. Sure, she thought it was The End, but apocalypse, schmapocalypse!

How could she do that to Angel, someone she just confirmed that she loved? Yes, I know she saw an in-depth Angelus touchy-feely flashback and that turned her off, but she's known what Angel used to be for years, and I don't care. Cordelia, you've officially lost me. I'm not even blaming Connor. He's a teenaged hormone bomb with an Oedipus complex and a crush on her, and hey, this time she started it. He was even making some progress with Angel – getting Angel to talk to Cordelia, calling him "Dad." Of course, all that has now been blown to smithereens.

Leaving behind the apocalyptic badness of Connor and Cordelia coupling, what was with Fred? I had a problem with her freezing Gunn out right after he committed what was probably justifiable homicide for her. Gunn was feeling serious guilt about it, too, poor baby. And he's still the best detective in the group. He was the one to figure out the stuff Angel managed to extract from Lilah.

It was great to see Wesley back with the gang, standing with them, doing a Matrix gun thing with the Beast, and even holding an injured Gunn in his arms. It occurred to me during this episode that Wesley has actually become what he was pretending to be three years ago – a sexy rogue demon hunter. Who would have thought it?


One major thing has changed for me; I care about Angel as a character again. Seeing him injured so badly by the Beast was painful for me to watch. And then, watching him watch Connor screw Cordelia? It just made my heart bleed for him. Geez, Buffy caused him pain and killed him, but at least she never cheated on him.

Bits and pieces:

— Connor might be the key to the Beast; his "miraculous vampire birth" clearly had something to do with it. Could Connor have control over Beast and not know it? After all, Connor said, "Stay away from her!" and the Beast quite literally flew away.

— Lorne's bits on the phone were probably my favorite part of this episode.

— Interesting, that someone has horned in (pun intended) on Wolfram & Hart's planned apocalypse. Those unplanned apocalypses are probably a lot more fun.

— Loved Lilah going all out with the pigtails and glasses to get Wesley back ("I'm good and I'm pure, and science turns me on"). He played hard to get at first, but he did ask her to keep the glasses on, didn't he?

— Gavin didn't even have a line; he just sat there with a gag in his mouth.

— In this week's hair report, it looked like they took Cordelia's hair down a few shades. Too bad I didn't care any more. And hey, does Cordelia still have demi-demon powers? We haven't seen them since she came back.

— Did Gunn finally lose his hub-cap battle axe? Nooooo!

— Apparently the close-captioning last week was wrong; Connor is eighteen. Did they make him eighteen so that Cordelia wouldn't legally be robbing the cradle, the way Angel did with Buffy? And speaking of Connor, wanna bet he didn't use a condom? Why don't supernatural creatures believe in safe sex?

Quotes:

Angel: "No."
Lorne: "Why?"
Angel: "No."
Lorne: "Why?"
Angel: "I said no."
Lorne: "I said why. Now, let's meet in the middle with a 'why no'."

Cordelia: "It's a little on the foggy, but natural fog. Don't worry. I'm not gonna turn into amnesia action figure Cordy again."

Lorne: "Do we fight snakes?"
Angel: "Only if they're giant. Or demons. Or giant demons. Are they giant demon snakes?"
Lorne: "Well, unless this guy's thirty feet tall, I'm thinking they're of the garden variety."

(Groaning sounds in the bathroom)
Fred: "Okay, that's not the bidet."
Gunn: "Where's it coming from?"
Fred: "Um, everywhere. Maybe we should've brought a priest."
Gunn: "Or some consecrated Drano."

Angel: "You should probably get some sleep."
Cordelia: "Yeah, because impending doom, almost as good as warm milk."

Gunn: (to phone) "I'm sorry. I know, but we're pretty swamped right now. Well, if Snowball hasn't tried to eat your spine yet, hit her with the catnip until we get there."
Lorne: (to phone) "No, I don't think that much mucus is ever a good sign. Uh-huh. Oh, please, please, again, describe it in detail."

Very good episode; three, or possibly four out of four stakes. I can't wait to see what happens next. But if it includes yet another mystical pregnancy, I may throw up. And yes, I know Charisma Carpenter is really pregnant, but hey, can't they shoot around her?

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

12 comments:

  1. It seems the chances of it happening are getting smaller, what with the Universal Studios' rejection of the projet; and if it does, even though I really like Javier Bardem;

    I nominate Alexos Denisof to be The Gunslinger in the Dark Tower films/series. The scene in slo-mo made me realize he'd be perfect, for what I've read so far.

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  2. I second that nomination. He's exactly how I picture Roland.

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  3. How badass was that fight with the devil thingy? On a TV budget too! Loved Wesley going all John Woo.

    Billie, I'm so glad you don't approve of Cordelia's actions either because, given she has been Connor's mother figure throughout most of the series since his birth, that makes it statutory rape.

    I'm also glad you don't blame Connor because he's the victim in this. He's a child cut off from everything he's known, the only parent he's ever known died last year, his other dad kicked him out, and the other people that might have served him as guidance and support tortured him with a zapper.

    Now Cordelia mixes a one-night stand into the mix, destroying any chance of reconciliation with his father and creating an unhealthy template for his future romantic and sexual relationships (remember he has no other guidance to counteract this). Could somebody please call social services? Utterly disgusting.

    ...and yet really terrific episode until the last minute or so. This is the first apocalypse in the Buffy-verse that really felt like an apocalypse. They did an amazing job ramping up the suspense.

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  4. Dimitri, I'm enjoying your comments so much. Are you watching Angel for the first time?

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  5. It might as well be. I followed the series back when it originally aired, but I haven't watched it since, and I don't remember a thing... Of course that may be the flu speaking.

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  6. Am I getting my comments confused, or are both you and Mark sick?

    Billie, I think we have a virus!

    (Computer/illness puns. So awesome.)

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  7. Eeww, just eeww.

    The morning after, when Cordelia was trying to explain to Connor why they couldn't continue, I kept saying "Because 4 months ago you were a baby in my arms"... blah.

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  8. Oh lordie, this episode was disastrous all because of the CordyXConnor thing was just disgusting and all wronnnngg!!! What the hell is Cordy thinking?!! He's Angel's son!!! The man she's in love with? I miss the old Cordy, who is this new one.. Must be someone else wearing her skin because the old Cordy may be a vicious bitch, but she don't go and have sex with her lover's son and be all self righteous abt it!!!

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  9. This is, hands down, my favorite episode of Angel.

    I share everyone's hatred of the Connor/Cordelia thing. But there's so much awesome here:

    --The score.
    --Wesley with the shotgun.
    --Angel's obliviouseness to the end of the world in the first half.
    --The shot of Lilah during the rain of fire. Classic noir.
    --"You're fifth on the bleeding walls list" and all Lorne's other lines.
    --The camera work during the scene where they discover the "ancient alchemical symbol for fire. And destruction. You had me at fire."

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  10. I've been doing a Buffy/Angel rewatch and loving your reviews Billie - you're a legend for posting them!
    Although I've seen Buffy the whole way through before, when I tried to watch Angel last time this was the episode I got up to and stopped at.
    I just couldn't get over the nausea of the Cordy/Connor coupling- so so wrong, and a total butchery of her character. I also didn't have your brilliant reviews and community here to convince me to keep going x

    However, I've since found out that my favourite Whedonverse character is in season 5, so I feel like this time I should keep watching. And plus, this time I'm a little more willing to vomit and get over it so I can see what happens to dearest Wesley. My god he's had a fantastic arc!

    I'm happy to see that the cordy/connor thing is generally reviled though the fandom though!

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  11. "I'm happy to see that the cordy/connor thing is generally reviled though the fandom though!"
    I'm not, even if it is disgusting. Too many squeamish seagulls going on about it. Quiet, youse! It's an amazing episode and yet there are people unironically claiming that scene ruins the whole thing for them? As the Mexicans would say... "no!"

    >>"He played hard to get at first, but he did ask her to keep the glasses on, didn't he?"
    I felt bad for her for the first time lol... She's so cool about not letting it be a deal-breaker. Wes you're kind of a creep, my dude.

    The coolest effing looking demon ever shown on either show... And I loved the rainfall of fire... made me think of Supernatural **SPOILERS** when that one season ended with the angels falling down to Earth.

    Wesley's arrows being deflected and sinking into Angel, so cool.

    >>"And he's still the best detective in the group."
    Hell yeah. Well I didn't like how Fred handled the argument (Gunn innocently saying it's cool for them to take separate showers if she wants and her going "Can we not do this now?" what? I didn't pick up any tone in his voice that wasn't accommodating), but I think she's still right about him taking away her choice and her right to damn herself, even though I understand why he did it too.

    As for Connor... well, yeesh. Living the good life huh?

    22 episodes to go I'm amazed this happens in ep 7. And thankee Josie for writing a comment that really helped cool my jets lol >_> Pretty much covered everything.

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