Angel 4x15 "Orpheus"

[estepheia]

I liked:
Everything Willow. From her interaction with Fred, to her talk about darkness with Wes. She was almost old!Willow - not as dull as she appears on BtVS. The darkness was acknowledged but it wasn't overbearing. I'd forgotten how much I used to like her.

Everything Wes. I heart Denisof. It occurred to me that over the years he has played quite a lot of different Wesleys. Right now I feel really sorry for him, because he is the one who makes the hard decisions and everybody hates/blames him for it. Also notice this: Faith was given the means to drug herself, but it was a last resort. And unlike in BtVS S3 he didn't send her out on her own, but went along and got beaten up. I like Angel but currently I'm watching this show because I like watching Wesley.

Everything Faith. Is it her looks? Is it Eliza Dushku's fascinating voice? Is it the character? Probably the mix. I didn't think she was strongly written in this episode, but I didn't mind terribly.

Blah blah:
If I try very hard I can feel sorry for Connor. I really can. Has there ever been a time when no one tried to pull his strings? First Holtz and Justine, later Cordy... I don't think the actor is unattractive, but I hate that character with a passion. I just wish they'd bump him off.
I find it hard to relate to his plight. The Oedipus theme is getting old fast.

I hated:
The whole dream/flashback sequence. WTF? We already know that Angel ate rats, thank you very much. And that he's not perfect. And good lord, those hairdos. Shudder.
I am normally a sucker for flashbacks, but this was lame. Also DB looks too stocky to look convincing. He just doesn't look like he's starving. I can reconcile his much slimmer stature in the early seasons of Buffy imagining him half starved. In pre-soul flashbacks I find it ok if DB looks fleshy, he eats well in those days. But flashback!Angel looked stupid.

I would have preferred Angelus flashbacks, or more background on Faith. Her nightmare would have been much more fun, especially when laced with Angelus commentaries.

I also hate the whole evil!Cordy storyline. Yuk. Makes me want to watch S3 Buffy, where she was beautiful, snarky but also vulnerable. Obviously Charisma Carpenter can't help looking like a stranded whale, but her make up and costumes are so unbecoming, it makes me genuinely upset.
Maybe that's what ME wants? *shrug*

Lorne is getting on my nerves. I wish the writers would actually DO something with the character than reduce him to head nurse. What about his friction with Connor? That's been diluted but never resolved. Boring.

All in all I give this episod a 4 out of 5, mostly because of Willow. Without her this would have been a 3 - still good television but nothing to get overly excited about.

Comments

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

God, I agree about Lorne. Why put him in the opening credits if you've got nothing for him to do. I loved Lorne, but that character is getting old fast without something to say other than "Sweetcheeks." His dialogue has more pet names in it than substance!

[(Anonymous)]

About Lorne/Andy Hallett: I figure they put him in the credits so that they can then bump him off, like Tara Benson on Buffy! Pesimisstic, much? :)

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Let's hope not. I like him, the way he's so outragously camp. Lorne is amusing, but unfortunately underused. He does have a number of flaws (foremost a great deal of cowardice), but he has no storyline in which the flaws are seen to conflict with his values.

He does not like personal risk, has deliberately chosen a non-violent life ('coming out' as a nurturer rather than warrior and as a music-lover to boot) but the fascinating borderline between cowardice and the moral choice of pacifism hasn't been explored.

And Lorne is able to feel resentment, right? Not strongly, though. I don't want another character to be plunged into darkness, but the occasional grey spot on his otherwise immaculately green personality wouldn't hurt.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

The whole dream/flashback sequence. WTF? We already know that Angel ate rats, thank you very much. And that he's not perfect.

I agree about the hairdos, but I think the flashbacks were supposed to have a higher purpose. We know that Angel made mistakes but Faith didn't. I think that was the point. My take on it was that this whole thing was about Faith. Faith needing to understand that redemption is hard. She can hide in prison, like Angel hiding from society, but that is not redemption. She needs to get past her self-hate, join the world. She might makes mistakes but that's ok. Even Angel falls off the wagon. The important thing is what you do next. Do you hide in the shadows again, or do you pick yourself up and get on with saving the world.

I think that whole thing was a set up for a Faith spin off. That all depends when it was taped/written.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I think it was HarmonyFB who complained that almost everything pertaining current events in Sunnydale was dealt with off-screen. Was there no time to mention First Evil (a global evil, not a local one, which already tried to manipulate Angel once)? Since ME used up plenty of screentime to endlessly drag out the dream sequence I was a bit miffed.

Yes, maybe it was supposed to set up Faith for a spin-off. And boy, would I have liked to watch a Faith/Wes/Spike spin-off.

I still think the flashbacks didn't work well. But, I gave it a 4 - so I wasn't exactly unhappy about the episode.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that Willow was very central to this ep. I think it had a lot to do with Mere Smith's script. I really like her writing, I think because she was "one of us". She was just a BtVS fan, got to meet Joss, her hero, at the first Posting Board Party, then went from there.

I grinned the entire ep last night. I just thought it was very entertaining in all. Too bad we don't get to see Willow like that on her own show. Hey, maybe it had something to do with Aly gettting to act with her honey, Alexis. I've heard rumors that the set of Buffy is less than loving lately. Maybe the stresslessness of the Angel set was freeing for her!

ps. love your fic
Kenya