I think Gunn as the superlawyer will be fun. Richards has always been able to project power as a muscle man. Now, with his idle brain filled with knowledge, he’s gonna be a kick-ass attorney. And I like that.
Knox is fun and as I said, Harmony, used in small doses, could very well be a good comic relief. “Blondie Bear” was stellar.
The only one in the back seat now, is Wes. I’m a bit concerned that he’ll be underused, but we’ll have to wait to find out.
I’m just hoping SuperBrain Gunn doesn’t spell the end of AssKicking Gunn. The last ElectroGwen episode of last season, wherein Gunn straightened his tie mid-fight, was one of my favorite Gunn moments.
May I just point out that a Gunn who knows all of the lyrics to “The Pirates of Penzance” is ten times even hotter than the previously quite smokin’ Gunn?
On a less lustful note, I’m glad they’ll be doing more with his character. Although it does seem to leave him more open to corruption.
So far this week, I’ve watched two shows about idealistic iconoclasts taking charge of evil law firms. “Angel” kicks “The Lyon’s Den”'s sorry ass.
So, is it really possible to take a publicity photo of a vampire? And what about the flash on the camera? Those things give off a lot of UV. Wouldn’t that bother Angel? Or are we just to assume the W&H have figured out necro-phtography too?
I think it’s been firmly established that vampires can have their pics taken, in the Jossverse. And clearly, light doesn’t hurt them, just direct sunlight.
Overall I didn’t really like the episode. Well, actually, I liked it, but I was expecting more. I think Harmony will be ok as long as they don’t go overboard with the ditzy thing. I was hoping Spike would be back sooner than the last 10 seconds though. I’m glad to see that Gunn will have something more to do that hit things, we might even get to see him sing some Gilbert & Sullivan!
Best scene: Angel trying to get a cup of coffee and instead gets an automated message “To sacrifice a loved one or pet, press 1” The voice for that was perfect.
Man, I missed both Angel and Smallville! I had to work last night and my VCR went nuts and didn’t record either of them! Damn ancient technology!
No one would have it in a…um…digital format would they? 
I really enjoyed the episode- the tone and tenor from last season are still evident.
I was worried about Harmony, but her addition seems to be fine as it is a somewhat revamped (heh) version of the character, not nearly as blindingly stupid.
The focus on Gunn, and the implications of his white room visit, and much deeper invovlement with the firm seems to foreshadow events to come. Wes did have some quality time- but of the less butt-kicking nature.
Fred as the cranky butt-kicking boss- classic!
As to him knowing Spike- the events in sunnydale were obviously well known to Angel (he was there for part of them) so to think he discussed Spike’s role is not much of a leap (after all- Angel’s gang was the back up plan for Buffy).
All in all another densely layered episode. I give it an 8 out of 10.
with regards to next week’s preview: spoiler boxed for those who do not partake in even those:
Looked interesting, but a little too Spike as comic side kick thing. Hopefully that’s just a misimpression for the preview- which has been known to happen
New buzzphrase: “I added a little otter!”
I missed Angel last night due to the Cubs game – does anyone know if WGN is planning on re-broadcasting it anytime soon?
It was Joss.
Loved it. Can’t wait until next week. Eve got on my nerves a bit, but I’ll give her a chance…I didn’t like the apple scene either, it was too…eh. I like the new Gunn direction, especially since we don’t know EVERYTHING that was or may have been done to him. Fred is impossibly cute. Harm got on my nerves a bit, but I guess that’s what she’s supposed to do. There sure are a lot of characters to give each of them their “fair share” of time. I’m betting Lorne and Wes take a back seat…which is disappointing. Overall, though, it was a great ep, and I can’t wait for the rest of the season.
elf6c re: your spoilerbox. As I’ve seen next episode, I can answer. Peek at your own risk.
I think your fears are justified
Gaspode
I do not agree at all. Based on episode 2 alone, Spike seems to be the “voice of reason” more than “wise cracking sidekick”. He saw almost instantly the problems Angel would be facing. Also, the cracking wise was bravado—he’s being sucked into hell and he’s terrified. Given that, I’m not too surprised he’s trying to cover it up by acting like there’s nothing wrong. If he was corporeal, he would probably be drunk by now, but he’s not, so he has to cope in other ways. My poor boy…
I e-mailed them about it, and if/when they answer, I’ll let you know.
I get WGN via DirecTV, and I didn’t even get the Cubs game – they had some stupid William Hurt movie on. I wonder if WGN feeds different programs to DirecTV. ? I’ll be ticked if I can’t get a WB channel somewhere.
Zanshin, WGN showed it in its entirety at 10:15ish, they just bumped Smallville and Angel later, but didn’t pre-empt. They probably won’t be re-showing it.
Gaspode, thanks for reminding me what Eve had been in before. That was driving me crazy and I couldn’t find it on IMDB (although now I see it is there).
I’m sorry, but after Willow turned all potential young women in the world into Vampire Slayers, isn’t Angel kind of pointless? Sorry, I was watching Paradise Hotel. Did they cover that in this Episode? Did the writers of Angel just pretty much remove the show from the Buffy-verse, creating an Angel-verse in the process, or are they just ignoring the Buffy finale? Or did the writers come up with some way to undo what Willow did?
D’oh! Thanks, guys. And if you get a reply saying that the show, by some miracle, will be re-broadcast, AuntiePam, let us know, eh?
Why would Angel be pointless if the world is fully of Slayers? Granted, I haven’t seen every single episode, but isn’t he a “noble vampire on the quest of redemption”? IOW, even if there are hundreds of girls out there saving the world, his job isn’t done.
Eh. Not a bad episode, and I’ll definitely keep watching, but it felt to me as if they’d lost a lot of steam from last season and are getting back to the stuff that made me hate the series in the first place. Except that I actually like the character of Lorne now.
The more I see of “written & directed by Joss Whedon” material, the more it just seems to be LOOK HOW CLEVER I AM. There’s some good stuff in there, sure, but he needs to rein in the attitude a bit.
The series on the whole seems to be headed away from being plot-driven and more towards a character-based action/comedy. Which can be a good thing, now that the characters are getting more fleshed out.
And was it just my imagination, or just that one episode, or did one of the “driving forces” of the show get squeezed out? The end just said “Executive Producer Joss Whedon” when I could’ve sworn they used to give some other guy the big credit.