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Angel: Sanctuary

Angel: "For a taciturn, shadowy guy, I've got a big mouth."

Okay, so Angel was right and I was wrong. Actually, Angel was right and Wesley, Cordelia, Buffy, Wolfram & Hart, and the entire Watcher SWAT team were wrong.

I liked this episode from beginning to end. It brought together a lot of characters and story threads and they all worked. I especially liked Wesley's anger at Angel for giving Faith sanctuary, his interactions with the Watcher swat team, and his unshakable loyalty to Angel for all the right reasons. Eliza Dushku's Faith projected confusion and subdued misery and hit the right tone throughout. I've never been a Kate the Cop fan but I liked her in this one; she works better as a possible adversary instead of an ally, doesn't she? (And the whole "Scully's the skeptic, Mulder is the believer" conversation was great.)

The Buffy/Angel argument at the end was amazing. I've always been into the Buffy/Angel relationship, and this has been coming for awhile. It only needed Faith and Riley to set it off. Very good writing and acting.

So, essentially what Joss Whedon has done is put Faith back in a coma (jail, coma, what's the difference) with her loyalties and the state of her mental health still uncertain. She could re-enter either series at any time and under any circumstances and it'll be believable as well as an audience draw. I have to take my hat off to him.

Bits and pieces:

— I loved Cordelia being savvy enough to get money out of Angel and skip town. Very in character. And smart.

— Was everybody wearing black leather? Wouldn't that chafe in the rain?


— Have you noticed that Buffy and Angel tend to hit each other a lot, even when they're on the same side? I think Angel is the only sympathetic male character on TV who can get away with hitting his ex.

Quotes:

Wesley: "At least you only got the elbow."
Cordelia: "Well, if it's any consolation, it really does look like you were tortured by a much larger woman."

Angel: "Doughnuts?"
Wesley: "Developed a sweet fang, have you?"
Angel: "You got jelly?"
Cordelia: "Whole selection."
Wesley: "Won't she find it difficult enjoying delicious, jelly-filled doughnuts, if she is, one assumes, bound and gagged?"

Angel: "It wasn't too long ago that you were the one making the case for her rehabilitation."
Wesley: "It wasn't too long ago that I had full feeling in my right arm."

Angel: "He'll come around."
Cordelia: "Wesley? Sure. People always get a little funny right after they've been sadistically tortured. Well, you'd know."


Kendrick: "Come on, Kate. Everybody knows you've gone all Scully. Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone's desk you're always there. What's going on with you?"
Kate: "Scully is the skeptic."
Kendrick: "Huh?"
Kate: "Mulder is the believer. Scully is the skeptic."
Kendrick: "Scully is the chick, right?"

Lilah: "I told you he wouldn't be easy. He can't be bought, and apparently he can't be killed even by a vampire slayer. Rumor has it he used to actually date one."

Faith: "I've got to be the first slayer in history sponsored by a vampire."

Lilah: "Just so we're clear we won't be putting any of this down on paper. This is strictly a handshake deal."
Lindsay: "Not that it is necessary for you to have hands for us to do business with you."
Lilah: "That was species-ist of me. I apologize if I have offended you in any way."

Lindsay: "While it is true that we differ on a great many issues, we do have one thing in common."
Kate: "Our bodies are both eighty percent water?"

Three out of four stakes, and I can't wait to see Angel meet Riley next week,

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

3 comments:

  1. Was everybody wearing black leather? Wouldn't that chafe in the rain? LOL

    Although Faith continues not to be my favorite character in this universe, I do like this episode. I like it because of the others, especially Wesley who shows us his spine for the first time. I admire his standing up to Angel while, at the same time, standing by him.

    The Buffy/Angel argument at the end is great, mostly because it is so realistic. You are my ex; I still have feelings for you; I know how to push your buttons -- PUSH.

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  2. I never noticed until now...many times rewatched I can't pin a number on what time through this is....
    Cordelia makes a comment to Wesley about her face bruising Faith's elbow-compared to Willow's comment to Tara about bruising her face with Faith's fist, or something like that. Interesting two episodes so close would have characters saying basically the same thing about Faith

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  3. :o only 3 stakes? This would be my first 4/4 ranking! Even the episode title is the coolest in the show so far

    Kendrick: "Scully is the chick, right?"
    ^That's the best part about it lol, when they admit that their associations are based pretty much only on sex/gender. It's all so tiresome

    Buffy annoyed me returning to the "I don't trust you" well. Hate it when characters do that, even if it's valid. She's not a welcome presence on this show anymore, which is a pretty ballsy way to go after what was basically the perfect stopping point with I Will Remember You

    Wes: "Couldn't shake them, had to pretend I was helping them"
    Angel: "Why aren't you?"
    I liked this fast and brief exchange too.

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