Thursday, 4 March 2010

Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 36

A2.17 Disharmony
This is probably the first crossover episode we've had that was purely an Angel one. Harmony's appearance was a funny one, her vampire reveal (to Angel only audiences) was well done and I liked the lesbian/vampire confusion as well as the appearance from Willow. It made for a nice storyline and focus on Cordy and a call back to her Sunnydale days and how far she has come. Although she hasn't completely changed as shown by the hilarious final scene where Angel gives her clothes which is one of my favourite scenes from the series.
The episode also nicely allows for the team to continue re-building, focusing on the Cordy/Angel relationship, which is arguably the deepest as they have been working together the longest. I love the idea of the vampire pyramid scheme and motivational seminars and books; its so quintessentially LA and is an excellent base storyline for the episode. I would've liked to have seen more of Gunn and Wesley's tension with Angel as I don't think we get to see much of it in later episodes but I could be wrong. (8/10)

B5.18 Intervention
This is a bit of a mixed episode. Buffy's quest, whilst proving to be pivotal, is pretty boring to watch. However the Buffybot scenes and Glory's beating of Spike is excellent. Sarah Michelle Gellar is excellent as the Buffybot and I have to remind myself that its still SMG playing the robot as she does it so convincingly. The gang's reactions to what they think is Buffy having sex with Spike are also funny, although considering they have encountered a robot recently, Buffy's right to be offended they can't tell the difference. The Buffybot's play fighting with Spike is hilarious, but its Spike scene at the end of the episode with the real Buffy that shows his real feelings towards her and its definitely an endearing moment for Spike. His torture at the hands of Glory was also fun to watch, its a different tack for her (she usually just brain sucks her victims) and shows how sadistic she can be. (8.5/10)

A2.18 Dead End
Its a shame that Lindsey leaves at the end of this episode because as it shows, he's a wonderful and hugely interesting character who can more than carry an episode. The idea behind this episode is a neat one, Lindsey finally gets some closure on his life with Wolfram and Hart and Angel (kind of anyway until season 5) by leaving the law firm and getting a new hand. His apathy for his job is show throughout the episode with his blase attitude in meetings compared to Lilah's high-strung one, and with recent events concerning Darla, its hardly surprising that he leaves his job behind. Its not quite the redemption that Angel hoped for him in season 1's "Blind Date" but its something at least. I'm not sure if I'll miss the childish rivalry between Lindsey and Angel though; its sometimes fun, but its sometimes tiring to watch, especially as Angel always seems to win.
As for the rest of the episode, we get the first signs that the visions are having a bad effect on Cordelia. We don't really get a conclusion to the story which I know we get in season 3, but in terms of this episode, it makes it a little unsatisfying. Also its a little weird that the gang especially Wesley don't try and do some research on the effects the visions are having; considering her pain, it would make a lot of sense.
Highlight of the episode has to be Lindsey singing in Caritas. Great song, great performance and I loved the whole gang's reactions to it, especially Cordelia's. (8.5/10)

2 comments:

shawnlunn2002 said...

I didn't mind Disharmony but I actually hated Dead End, one of the worst Angel episodes for me.

Intervention is a good episode. A lot of nice moments with the Scoobies and Glory and Spike.

Nat said...

Oh really? We definitely differ on Dead End then. I'm a big Lindsey fan though, so that maybe thats the reason?!