Monday 19 April 2010

Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 48

A3.18 Double or Nothing
Whilst I accept that a filler episode was needed here in between the two Connor arcs, this was just an awful story and I think I would've preferred a run of the mill story of the week. I find it very hard to believe that Gunn would make any kind of deal with a demon as he was pretty demon phobic until he met Angel. Secondly I did not like the idea that the reason Jenoff was collecting his debt now because Gunn was 'giving his soul' to Fred, I mean what is this soul swap?! I know they were falling in love but the idea that Gunn was giving his soul to her made me feel a little bit queasy, as did most of their lovey-doveyness. Also I hated the over cliched use of Gangster's Paradise during Gunn's flashback.
The episode wasn't totally bad, Alexis Denisof continued to portray a million emotions, this time without even any words, and I liked the scenes between Cordy and Angel. Its unsurprising that Angel's grief would be silent, but its a testament to Cordy that she knew to keep quiet and just be there. (5/10)

B6.17 Normal Again
This is a bit of a marmite episode for fans. The concept of an alternate reality is nothing new, but the final scene takes it that much further, creating ambiguity over the whole show. I don't entirely like that final scene, it adds a chilling climax to the episode but its a bit too out there for me. The institution scenes in general are a bit too meta for me; little jokes about creating Dawn causing inconsistencies and about the whole show is revolved around Buffy as a superhero. They're funny in jokes, but in the context, it goes a bit too far for me.
It was nice to see Joyce back however. Its also nice to see the core Scoobies working together on the problem as it makes it feel a bit more like old school Buffy. (7.5/10)

A3.19 The Price
This would be an amazing episode if it was not for two things- those creepy slugs and the spider in a box thing from Lilah. Don't get me wrong I love the idea of Lilah needing a spider to unlock an email but I have a terrible fear of spiders and all crawly things so this episode definitely creeps me out!
Otherwise this was a great episode. The dehydrating slugs were an interesting idea and putting Fred in danger with one of them always works well. It was fun to see more of the hotel as we have seen relatively little so far and I also like Groo on the team as he's very sweet and keeps up the superhero ratio. Speaking of superheroes Cordy's glowing power was certainly interesting and perhaps a little convenient, but perhaps that's when her power emerges? One thing I didn't like was Gavin, who was especially annoying here.
The best thing about this episode was just knowing that Connor was coming at the end. Its that cliffhanger that makes the coming arc leading to the finale so good. (8/10)

2 comments:

shawnlunn2002 said...

The Angel episodes were definitely not the strongest ones from Season 3 and one I tend rewwatch very rarely.

I like Normal Again but I don't really love it as much as I might have.

Nat said...

As I said Normal again is marmite, some people absolutely adore the episode, some people hate it. I hated it when I first watched it, but it was a little more palatable on the second watch.