Meatros, that was mentioned above, though I didn’t notice myself (I was reading and playing with the dog - kinda hard to watch TV too).
I’m astonished, personally. This episode was absolutely the greatest mindfuck I’ve ever seen on TV. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream.
This one’s going to win some serious awards.
I agree, I was glad I was not spoiled either. The episode was good fun. I remember thinking-- “Hey, wait a minute” a few times, and when he was about to knock boots with Cordy thinking- ummm, really bad idea.
So the end was not a total surprise to me, but it was so well done, so well written, directed and acted, that it was “just right.”
10/10.
Angel should’ve thought about golf… or Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day. :eek:
I agree, but I think that it won’t happen. Neither Buffy nor Angel has ever won an award, right? I think the academy has it out for them…
They’ve won technical awards for make-up and maybe stunts? I don’t know for sure.
I’m kinda surprised everybody liked the episode so much. WHen I got spoilers for this (quite by accident. I don’t like AtS enough to actually seek them out) I thought “This is going to piss everybody the fuck off.”
Guess I was wrong…
There is always the possibility of a dream sequence/fake out being a horrible tease to the viewers. I mean, was anyone happy with Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower?
But if they are done correctly, like this one was, they can be incredibly effective. It showed what Angel wants, what is true happiness to him, and why he can never get it. And it moved the plot along in a meaningful way. It was similar, in a way, to the Buffy/Angel crossover where Angel became human for a day, then wished it all away, but that one was IMO less satisfying.
Add me to the list of fans who loved the episode. In the teasers last week, they had shown the scene where Angelus is on the table laughing, and the episode did such a good job making the “dream” real that I wrote it off as a misleading teaser and not the twist ending.
I really liked the episode. Bring on next week…
Urk, lost my post to connection fubar. Let’s try again:
This ep made me swear off spoilers forever. I came across a plot description last week while poking around a Buffy/Angel fansite, and just couldn’t resist reading it. Then while watching the episode, I kept feeling like I was watching too closely for signs that things weren’t quite right: Cordy’s eyes going milky during her vision (which I didn’t even think she’s done since coming back this season), Wesley’s apology, the convenience of the dark monk delivering all his information on the beast by commiting suicide, etc.
Plus, I admit to a masochistic enjoyment of twist endings. If an episode has me screaming at the TV because my brain has to immediately reorganize everything it saw in the past hour, that’s good entertainment. 
Alas, the spoiler took that from me…
I can at least take comfort in the fact that Angel and Conner’s conversation about killing Angelus actually happend.
“I said if!”
And I can’t wait to see Angelus back in action. He’s always been my favorite villian in the Buffyverse (just ahead of Spike) simply because he seems to enjoy himself immensely. David Boreanaz handles the switch from depressed/brooding to cunning/playful really well.
I hate Angel. Really, everybody probably knows that by now. But I’ve been watching AtS this year because I knew Angelus was going to make an appearance…and really, I just can’t miss that. He’s just so much fun.
It was a cheap copout and audience cheat. There is no lamer ending that “It was all a dream.” I was absolutely amazed they pulled that tired old amateur’s “trick”; it was crap and made the entire episode a waste of time.
I won’t say this was when Angle jumped the shark, but it shows a severe lack of imagination that doesn’t bode well for the future.
Also, it’s inconsistent to say Angel will lose his soul from having sex. That was the gypsy’s curse, but Angel doesn’t have the soul because of the gypsy curse; he has it because Willow brought it back to him and she gave no such limitation.
I thought Willow simply repeated the original gypsy spell that had cursed Angel to begin with. Did I have that wrong?
Gotta say, Chuck that I disagree with just about every word in your last post. But this is the only part where the disagreement isn’t a matter of opinion. The spell Willow used to re-curse Angel was a reconstruction of the original gypsy curse, put together by Jenny Calender. It was the exact same spell that was used on him the first time, including the “no happiness” clause.
As for the show itself, easily one of the best episodes of Angel this season. “It was all a dream” endings tend to be cheesy and lame, but only because it’s overused by hack writers. In experienced hands, it still works fins (“Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge,” anyone?) It worked particularly well here because there was a legitimate purpose for the fake-out. It wasn’t, “hey, let’s do a lot of wacky shit to these characters and then take it all back at the very end,” it was showing a process that that was integral to the over-reaching story arc for this season. Doing it this way was much more interesting than having the monk come in, wave his hands around until he triggers some sort of FX, and then walking back out.
Nope, you were right.
Also, its not “sex” people, its a “moment of perfect happiness.” In theory you can have sex without it, and have a moment like that without sex.
I’m sorry, but is it absolutely necessary to have his precious soul sitting in a fragile glass globe on a tiny wobbly table? Hello? Could we treat this thing with a little more TLC? Do we have to be so aggressively stupid?
Grumble grumble…
I think this worked because the ‘fake out’ wasn’t to fake us out but to fake Angel out and get his soul released.
It wasn’t just sex. The whole episode was Angel’s wet dream come to life (no pun intended.) Everything he wanted to happen, every desire he had at that point, is exactly what he got. Sure it culminated with sex, but I doubt sex with Cordy would have done the trick by itself because the whole time Angel would have the Curse on his mind…that’s hardly condusive to perfect happiness.
And it wouldn’t have worked until Cordy made clear her love of Angel over Conner, and Conner having recognized that she was meant to be with him and forgiven him. And Cordy had to get over the knowledge of all of Angelus’ past deeds. Lots of stuff before that moment of happiness.
Clearly Angel has had sex more than twice in the past 100 years, after all we have Conner around.
At various points during the show I expected Angel to reveal that he was acting and had already turned to Angelus. There was some undercurrent about things just not feeling right, and I thought he might bite Cordy during the scene where they found the sword. I had this image of the scene with Angel and Faith when he utters the line “Second best”, perfect fake-out there, only reverse.
—Clearly Angel has had sex more than twice in the past 100 years, after all we have Conner around.—
His royal screwing of Darla was proof that sex isn’t enough to trigger the curse. It’s gotta be happy sex.
Thought this episode was great. Loved it from head to toe.
Minor nitpicks:
I agree with Stoid about the putting Angel’s in a glass bottle. All Angelus would have to do is throw something at it… or have someone back up into the table. “Oops.” Has no one thought of Tupperware? With a leak-proof lid?
I also thought it was humorous that Wes and the gang had to actually weld the cage together. Have they never used the internet? [click, click] 8 x 10 steel cage [click,click] 2 inch reinforced bars [click, click] Express delivery [click, click].
Why double lock the cage while the shaman dude is still in there? Isn’t he their plan for restoring Angel’s soul? If not, what IS their plan for the restoration?
Connor needs to cut. his. hair.
Sorry, Cordy and Angel have 1/10th of the chemistry that Buffy and Angel or Gwen and Angel had.
Happy sex? You mean there’s another kind?