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Angel: Somnambulist

"My glamorous L.A. life. I get to make the coffee and chain the boss to the bed."

Angel revealed his vampire nature to his Buffy surrogate, Kate. And Wesley (Alexis Denisoff) joined the cast, which I knew was coming. I'm not a Wesley fan, but his presence wasn't as discordant in this episode as it was in the last one. Maybe he's finding his niche.

Penn was a really cool villain. In fact, it's too bad they didn't keep him around for a few more episodes. Did he have more-extreme-than-usual vamp powers, or are The Angel Powers That Be expanding the range of powers for Angel, too?

It was nice to see Cordy standing up for Angel, and bonding with him. Although it was pretty obvious that that Angel/Cordy scene at the end had been written for Angel/Doyle. And the shackles were back! Maybe sometime when I'm catching up on Buffy reruns, I'll make note of how many times those same shackles show up, and who has been in them.

Bits and pieces:

— What was with the Early Edition syndrome? Someone dies at dawn and it's in the paper that morning? I don't think so, Dave. But if they hadn't done that, poor Angel would have been in those shackles for a couple of days and it would have put a crimp in the plot. Things like that always jump out at me, though. Couldn't they have checked the news on TV? It would have been more convincing.

— I enjoyed the scene where Kate was describing possible attributes of the suspect, all of which fit Angel to a T. Nice touch.

— Nocturnal commission. :)


— Wesley actually had a great line in this one – "maybe because he's here and has me by the throat." I like Wesley better when he's not being a fussbudget.

Quotes:

Angel: "Who were you talking to?"
Cordelia: "Nobody. And Wesley."

Cordelia: "Third body found in alley. So? Not exactly front page news."
Wesley: "Actually that is the front page, but still, note the modus operandi? The mutilation of the corpse with a religious icon?"
Cordelia: "I'm against it?"

Cordelia: "I don't care how many files you have on all the horrible things he did back in the powdered wig days. He is good now. And he's my friend. And nothing you or anyone else can say will make me turn on a friend."
Angel: "Cordelia. He's right."
Cordelia: "You stake him and I'll cut his head off."

Cordelia: "Vampires can't sleepwalk. He'd take one step out of the front door and his peejays would burst into flames."

Cordelia: "No offense, Angel, but maybe you are committing those horrible crimes just in your dreams. But even so, I don't want to stick around for your nocturnal commissions."

Wesley: "You can't walk into a police precinct with intimate knowledge about these murders and claim a two-hundred-year-old Puritan is responsible. You'd be locked up faster than Lady Hamilton's virtue. (Looks at Cordelia) My apologies."
Cordelia: "That's okay. I don't know what that meant."

Cordelia: "So, you've discovered the seamy underbelly of the candy coated America, have you? Well, you've come to the right place! Here at Angel Investigations we won't judge, but we will charge."

Kate: "What are you going to do?"
Penn: "Well, first I thought I'd stop everything and tell you my plan."

Cordelia: "People really do change."
Angel: "Yes they do. And sometimes they change back. If the day ever comes that I..."
Cordelia: "Oh, I'll kill you dead."
Angel: "Thanks."
Cordelia: "What are friends for?"

Let's say a two out of four stakes for this one,

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

33 comments:

  1. HOLY CRAP THAT'S JEREMY RENNER. I thought Hawkeye looked familiar. Okay, now I feel dumb.

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  2. That's one of the things (of many) that I love about Joss Whedon. He likes an actor, he tries to give that actor work.

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  3. Billie,

    FYI, I now have also the Angel sets. Eventually, as with the Buffy ones, I'll go thru them.

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  4. That's a lot of Whedon TV for you to go through, Marc. We're just finishing a rewatch of Buffy and Angel, and it took months. (Of course, we weren't marathoning it.)

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  5. Did you even watch the early seasons? I usually skip Angel Season One.

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  6. And that above comment is from me. I don't know what happened.

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  7. We did watch nearly all of Angel during the rewatch, but as you said in your deleted anonymous comment, Josie, :) we did skip a few in season one. We also skipped three or four Buffy episodes.

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  8. People always forget that Joss is responsible for Christina Hendricks too.

    Did you skip The Pack, I Robot You Jane, Amends, and She? Because those are the ones I always skip. Also the one with the movie star who wants to be a vampire. Can't remember which one that was.

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  9. We skip "I Robot You Jane" and my least favorite episode, "Listening to Fear" (season five). And definitely "She". It's probably the worst Angel episode they ever did, even though I loved Angel's lecture in the museum and the dance sequence over the closing credits.

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  10. I have a weird hatred of Angel's "Why We Fight" (Season Five).

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  11. Now I'm confused : Is Josie also Billie ? You galls switch minds like in that very last ST 66 episode ???

    a) You'll have--eventually--my comments on Both Angels and Buffy. But NO marathon, no.

    b) I was off today : this monster, still burning but now to a lesser level, is at 40 seconds of walk from my door :

    http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/infos/faitsdivers/archives/2012/11/20121130-163925.html

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  12. Josie, that is weird. I love that one. I have an irrational dislike of the BtVS where Joyce is in the hospital and there's that demon thing on the ceiling.

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  13. This conversation has given me a great idea for a discussion post: Episodes we hate from shows we love. Or even a bizzaro version: Episodes we love from shows we hate.

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  14. Sunbunny, the one you're describing is "Listening to Fear," season 5. Can't stand it.

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  15. My god, celticmarc, are you ok?!?!

    The first time I watched Buffy, i skipped some on the 1st season, recommended by a friend. The 2nd time, I watched all of them, just to make sure the ones I didn't like wouldn't be better in hindsight.

    The only one I hate is "Hush".

    I'm kidding. It's my favorite!

    I will skip "Ted" and "Teacher's per" the next time around. I also don't like "Home again" because it makes no goddamn sense.

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  16. Aw, I think Ted is cute. Love John Ritter.

    Gus, I thought you might be clinically insane for a minute. Hating Hush? Is that even possible?

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  17. I'll third the hatred of "Listening to Fear." Ugh.

    Gus, do you mean "Normal Again"? I always skip that one for exactly that reason.

    Mark, I like your idea. I can think of two Lost episodes that fit into that category. We also haven't done a discussion post in a while.

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  18. Yes, Josie. That's the one. It would have been a good episode had they not included the final scene.

    sunbunny, I wouldn't like to live in a world where it is possible to hate "Hush".

    I like John Ritter too. But I tend not to like "I'm right but nobody believes me" plots. Especially if the victim is usually right.

    However, I like "Living Conditions", mostly because I find Bufyy's roommate's incessant listening to Cher's Belive hilarious.

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  19. People seem to really dislike Normal Again, but it's one of my favorites (it's #4, actually).

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  20. It's on my List of Things That Don't Exist, somewhere between the fourth Indiana Jones movie and leprechauns.

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  21. Gus,

    Yes I am ! "Noting" happened : the firemen were able to contain the fire. Let's just say that I'll never forget those few hours.....

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  22. Josie :

    Lost : Ab Aeterno from the last season. Very long and painful to watch. Loved ALL the rest.

    And there's is NOOOOOO second one to add to the list. The cages (arrgghhh) were in a few ep's.

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  23. What ??!!!? I'm NOT the only one hating the fourth Indiana Jones movie. What a relief ! (But you gotta admit, that Marlon Brando shout out was awesome) (just that scene) (and let's forget it ever happened)

    But, I see leprechauns on a daily basis around the office. NOT at the office : these are goblins and witches. Good thing NONE of my colleagues are reading this. I never wrote that.

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  24. I liked "Normal Again." I also liked "Ted." My mother dated a supersalesman guy like Ted who said nasty things to me when we were alone. Fortunately, he didn't turn out to be ... oops, spoilers, what he turned out to be.

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  25. I feel like I would like this more if Elisabeth Röhm was a better actress or if she had any chemistry with DB. I think they're trying to force something that just isn't there.

    I did like the bit with Kate's cross necklace. It paralleled the BtVS episode "Angel," when Buffy finds out Angel's a vampire.

    Were these the first vampbacks of Angel?

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  26. Yes, I believe they are our first vampbacks. Which were almost always terrific on Angel.

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  27. Unfair, there I was, swimming in the shallow end, just enjoying Angel chained to the bed and they had to bring back the ugly Angelus wig.
    We really could have stopped that scene at Cordelia's "nocturnal commissions" line and I would have been happy.

    Kate going into the warehouse alone when there are so many cops on the scene has to be against police procedure, not to mention just dumb. That kind of thing drives me nuts.

    Mostly an 'eh' episode for me. Though it was fun to see Jeremy Renner. I'm of two minds about whether I like that Kate is clued in now. I'll be interested to see if there is any fallout from that.

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  28. The first time through this series, I was surprised at how early the writers had Kate discover the truth. I thought it was an interesting choice and one that worked. Although this episode is not my favorite, it does move the overall season arc along nicely.

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  29. Why is Angel evidently immune to being staked? No kind off suggestion as to how that makes any kind of sense. This was a pretty dire episode I felt. Thrown together.

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  30. Two stakes is harsh but your opinion I guess. I give this at least 3.5 and it’s a highlight of the season

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