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Angel: Lonely Hearts

Angel: "Are you maybe in need of some rescuing?"

I enjoyed this one. Maybe not as much as the first episode, but it had its moments. There was a certain pathos in the way everyone in the bar kept talking about how much they hated singles bars ("You don't look like you belong here -- that's a compliment, by the way"); the way they kept talking, a bit sadly, about trying to make a connection. Although Angel was the personification of evil at one time, I thought he had a certain air of innocence to him. It made the tawdriness around him look tawdrier. (Is tawdrier a word?)

So Kate the "self-flagellating hypocrite slut" cop is probably the love interest for Angel that we heard about? Hmmm. I'll reserve my judgment. She's sort of too Barbie-pretty for me, although she has great eyes.

Doyle is cool. I like Doyle. I like Doyle with Cordy. I like Doyle with Angel. Think of the possibilities.

One thing bothered me. We've been told twice now that Angel can never have sex, because if he has an orgasm, he'll change. I had thought that it was the fact that he loved Buffy and achieved perfect happiness having sex with her that changed him, not just the sex itself. Orgasm doesn't automatically mean perfect happiness, right? I don't like the idea that our hero can never sleep with anyone, ever. But it is certainly an interesting plot device.

Poor Angel. Like Garbo, he just wants to be alone. He likes to mope in the dark. I'd like to mope in the dark with him.

Bits:

— The Batman references were fun.

— Loved Cordy's apartment, and Doyle's and Angel's reactions to Cordy's apartment.

— "I'm a... veterinarian." Now that was out of left field.

Quotes:

Doyle: "You need to chat people up a little more casual like. You know, hi, what's your name? How's life treatin' ye? What's that you say? Minions from hell gettin' you down?"

Doyle: "They're messages I get, you know from the higher powers, whoever they may be. You know, it's my gift."
Cordelia: "If that was my gift, I'd return it. I mean, you get those headaches, and you do this bleah thing with your face."


Kate: "Well, I'll tell you what. I can go wherever I want, and you can go to hell."
Angel: "Been there, done that."

Cordelia: "I've met a lot of demons, and slime aside, not a whole lot going on there."

Kate: "You're telling me you're an investigator?"
Angel: "More or less."
Kate: "Where is your license?"
Angel: "That's the less part.

Cordelia: "That is so high school. Cordelia wears bras. Oooh, she has girlie parts."

Doyle: "Yeah, well, we put together that list of eviscerating demons that you asked for. We actually narrowed it down to three or four."
Angel: "I saw it. It's a burrower."
Cordelia: "It's a donkey?"

Cordelia: "It's a parasite. It moves from body to body. And when it leaves one for the next, not going to gag here, but the first one goes kaplooey pretty fast."
Doyle: "Yep. Curdles like cream on a hot day."
Cordelia: "I believe I covered that with nondairy kaplooey?"

Okay, how about a two out of a possible four stakes for this one?

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

16 comments:

  1. The thing that always bothered me about this episode was the fate of the bartender. Not only did he get murdered, his friends and family have to live with the idea that he was a serial killer. I suppose it was unavoidable, but it's still sad.

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  2. "You look troubled, or is that just your lazy eye?" Oh, Cordelia, I love you - don't ever change.

    Angel's social awkwardness seems kind of surprising after over 200 years. But David Boreanaz is good at the cute bumbling conversation. I agree, Billie, he does have a kind of innocence that is endearing.

    Did I hear right? Does Angel live over the library? Brooding good looks are fun for a while, but now I'm really attracted.

    So when Angel goes back to Cordelia's place it sure seemed like daylight to me. That is going to get distracting.

    I enjoyed this one, despite the higher body count it was a bit lighter than the first. I liked Angel settling in for a contented brooding session at then end.


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  3. I like this one as well. They writers did a good job at the beginning of this series of setting up the characters and the relationships. Our trio becoming friends is a hoot to watch and Cordy is certainly much more fun here than previously.

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  4. This was an enjoyable episode, Angel is just so much better than he was in Buffy. DB brings such humor to the character. I liked the scene with the grappling hook fail, I'd been thinking his gadgets were a bit lame so this gave me a laugh.

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  5. I like this one a lot. I liked Kate and the gelling of the main trio is actually quite good. I agree that Angel and Cordy are better here than they were during season 3 of Buffy, at least. It seemed that they had both outgrown that show, so it was a smart choice to choose Cordy to move over to Angel, I think.

    I'm excited for this re-watch. Despite all its flaws (and it has many), and this show being objectively weaker than the mothership, I actually love it dearly.

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  6. There's not a lot to say about this episode. I will, however, vouch for being single and in your early 30s in LA does, in fact, suck precisely that much.

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  7. I enjoyed this episode, though I don't have much to add in the comments. I feel like the show is just getting going, but I don't know how much I would have kept watching it if it weren't for me having all of you to vouch for it.

    One thing I was confused about was the bartender. Was he just the most recent host for the beast or had he been the parent to clone beasts? Sunbunny said he was a serial killer, but I was thinking he was just the last of many hosts.

    I agree with you, Billie, about the no sex thing-- I thought he became Angelus because he had sex with BUFFY, the love of his life, not just because he had sex. As most people can attest too, you don't have a moment of ultimate happiness every time you have sex...

    Anyway, my favorite moment was the final scene. I loved Angel trying to go along with what he thought the others wanted but then being so relieved that he got to sit and brood in the dark.

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  8. Sorry a.m.! Didn't mean to confuse you. You're right, he was just the last host. I meant that all the murders are pinned on the bartender as far as the cops are concerned, so everyone who knew him will think that he was a serial killer instead of a victim of a demon.

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  9. "As most people can attest too, you don't have a moment of ultimate happiness every time you have sex..."

    Ha! That made me laugh out loud, a. m.

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  10. It is interesting that both our selections this week - Buffy and Angel - are concerning relationships and the difficulties in establishing a good one. Come to think of it, last week, both shows were dealing with starting fresh in a new place, but that could just have been because both shows were in season premiers. Is this a common thread between the shows? That each one addresses the same idea from different perspectives?

    Anyway, I liked all the character development this week. Doyle's shyness at picking up Cordelia. Cordelia being all business at the bar. Angel being generally socially awkward after having brooded in the dark for a century.

    I usually hate the fights, particularly on Buffy. I feel the fight scenes are just gratuitous feats of athleticism that serve no purpose. If you need to stake a vampire, just do it without all the fanfare, ok? But I liked this fight sequence quite a lot. There was actual acting involved - the demon was truly desperate and was fighting for its life. Angel was also desperate in the fight, and was not guaranteed a win. That is what makes a worthy fight, in my opinion.

    In the end, Angel is doing his best to be a good boss and see to his employees' needs with an outing, but they see through it and let him return to what he does best - brood in the dark. Ahhhh.

    Not the best episode, but definitely had its moments.

    And Josie, if you think being single in LA at 30 is the pits, try it again at 60.

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  11. Pucklady, that's a really good point about how Buffy and Angel resonate with each other. I watched all of Buffy before I watched Angel, so I look forward to seeing how often that happens as I re-watch them together.

    I hope not to try it again at 60. :-)

    Seriously, though, I've heard that complaint before. Many of my colleagues are in their 60s and single, and so is my mother. As a relative young whippersnapper, I love the maturity, emotional stability, and clear-sightedness that many people seem to acquire by the age 60 or even 50. I hope to be that "settled" (in a good way) by then. But I feel sad that there's no good singles bar for y'all to meet each other, because all that emotional togetherness should be rewarded with foot rubs and a constant dinner companion!

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  12. If I said being single in LA in your twenties didn't suck, you'd probably throw things at me, right? Yeah, okay, I won't say it.

    Also I love how Cordelia was all "Dating is so easy in high school" and the last three season of Buffy were just full of relationship angst.

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  13. Thanks, sunbunny for clearing that up. He seemed like a good guy--before the whole demonic possession thing--so I can understand what you mean.

    One thing I did like about this episode, that I just remembered, is that the possessed people blended in so well that you couldn't really tell the difference between them and the regular bar attendees who were out looking for a good time. Maybe that's not a good thing when it comes to society, but I thought it was well done in the show.

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  14. Loved the song they used here for the montage with the burrower demon. VAST's Touched... "The razors and the dying roses plead I don't leave you alone."
    And had a sensible chuckle @Jane's comment there about Angel settling in for a contented brooding session lol. I mean that is just literally what he did but I like how it's worded. It's oddly cozy for such a darker-aspiring show. Catching up is gonna be easier than I thought since this was remembered as my least favourite season but I'm appreciating the earlier procedural stuff for what it is more now. None of the same impatience.

    Reading about some newbie Buffy watcher commenter complaining about unexpected spoilers has me worried that might've been me. It's only after I noticed separate sections for the veterans as a seasonal overview that I started being mindful and it might've been too late by that point if I was just posting my scattered thoughts without a 2nd glance. If somebody spoiled, accidentally or not, would you notify them (hopefully in a non-threatening way) or just delete their comment?

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  15. Onigirli, they weren't yours.

    If a comment with a spoiler has just gone up, I usually delete it and post a comment saying they can repost it, and that I can provide the text if they need it. If it's an old comment, I usually just delete it. This site began in 2005, and some comments are *very* old; tracking down the commenter isn't possible.

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  16. Im not minding the case of the week episodes on Angel this time around so far. Maybe because the three characters just gel really well? Or I just know there’s great goodness to come (all I remember is loving later plot lines on the show but have hardly any memory of what actually happens).

    Also I wish the writers just gave Angel a potion or spell that allowed him to walk in daylight, because it keeps distracting me how active he is in the daytime moving from place to place.

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