See, I think that they should have brought Doyle back. My roommate and I almost stopped watching when they killed him in the first season…grrr…
I consider Angel (as I did Buffy) in the same mindset as The X-Files. Chris Carter commented once that no one really dies on the X-Files, and the same possibly holds true for Angel and the return of characters like Lilah. You’ll be hoping against hope about the return of Doyle since Glenn Quinn, the actor who played him died last year.
Kinda hard to do, since the actor (Glenn Quinn) died.
I was upset the first season too, I liked the character of Doyle.
Damn! Sorry Judith, too fast with the button pushing!
I loved it. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it!!!
Harmony was just hilarious (I thought “Blondie bear?” was the best line in the ep.)
I wouldn’t worry too much about Spike taking over the show, or about Wesley or Lorne being underused. Withouth revealing any plot points, I’ll just say that I’m spoiled through ep seven and any fears in this regard are unjustified. Everyone will get their share of screen time.
Of course, I’m thrilled that Spike’s back, but, well, after last season I’d pretty much made up my mind that if the show was renewed it would be “appointment TV”, or at least “appointment VCR time”, even without the Peroxided One- he’s just the icing on the cake for me. The ensemble cast great, and since my hopes for Spillowness have been dashed for good…
Spinnifred anyone? Please, please, please?
Still waiting to how the whole Spike thing plays out before making a judgement. I really like the murky moral territory they get to play in with the firm, but I could see it working out poorly if they get sloppy.
Harmony is very odd for a non-souled vampire, and they really need to deal with this better than they have so far (though her main Angel standalone ep did a fairly good job). Being a vampire is supposed to extract the core traits of the human and twist them to evil: in Harmony’s case, that’s undoubtedly synchophancy (sp?). But still, she a little too soft-hearted: much in the same way the recently vamped Spike was that we saw in last season’s Buffy. Is it possible that certain sorts of human types make rather exceptional vampires insofar as them not quite having the full hang of pure evil thing?
I think Harmony is too self-centered to be really nasty evil. She just doesn’t care about anyone else. She might kill someone who got in her way or had something she wanted, but she wouldn’t go out of her way just to hurt somebody. Contrast this with Angel, who cares deeply about other people (the whole helping the helpless schtick). When he loses his soul, he still cares about other people, just not in a… good way.
As for why Harmony stopped drinking human blood, I suspect that started the minute she found out she was going to be Angel’s secretary. It’s not a moral choice, it’s self-preservation.
Spesley?
Spunn!
Willow-Wes!?
Now wait…hmmm
I loved the episode! Actually, the plot itself fell a bit flat, but I loved what they did with the characters.
This is odd for a hetero female to say, but Fred looked decidedly HOT when she got testy with her lab team!
I hated Harmony on Buffy, but I like the way her character has played so far in this one episode. Her comic timing really worked for me.
I always thought Boreanze was too wooden, but his scenes with Harmony really worked well. I liked his new fighting style too.
Gunn looks great! And I loved the way he carried off the sharp lawyer in the court room.
Didn’t see enough of Wes, Lorne, or Spike to make a judgement. But I hope they’ll do the writers will do the same good work with them that they’ve done with the other characters.
The only character that fell flat was Eve. The cutesy evil chick thing is a bit stale at this point. And, as others have mentioned, I didn’t see any chemistry between her and the rest of the cast.
Was it just me, or did the intro theme music sequence seem to be sped up and less “dark” for this episode? I remember it always being a very haunting, poignant bit, but this time it seemed rather rushed. It could be me though. I was watching in a hotel room and room service was delivering my dinner right as the show was starting.
Did anyone else notice the music in the school scenes? It seemed to be a play on Holst’s The Planets, specifically “Mars, the bringing of war.”
Seemed really appropriate.
Hey, can a guy who hasn’t seen Angel since its first season get a litle help here?
Oddly, I have but one question. It seems not much has changed that’s of consequence right now.
Who’s Fred? I mean, besides a reasonable facsimile of a pre-magic/lesbian (I assume) Willow.
Oh, and exactly how did Angel and co. take over Wolfram and Hart?
Thanks.
That’s odd. I just noticed in my local newspaper today it shows Angel being aired tonight at 8 pm on the WB. No description, but I guess it might be the season premiere being rerun.
Yet the tv-guide-like booklet that came with my Sunday paper indicates “The Practice” being aired at 8 pm on the WB tonight.
I’ll have to tune in tonight to see which is correct. I’m hoping it’ll be Angel. Want to hear Harmony say “Blondie Bear” again.
[spoiler]Fred, aka Winnifred Birkle, was a researcher/student who was sucked into Lorne’s home dimension several years ago through a dimensional portal. Angel and co. rescued her a couple seasons ago.
After Angel and co defeated the Big Bad from last season, W&H contacted them to say they were withdrawing from Los Angeles and ceding control of the LA branch to Angel.[/spoiler]
If you want more setailed information I’m sure many would be happy to provide it.
It was Angel, but it was one of the very early episodes that had Doyle in it.
Just started watching Angel again to help assuage my need for a Buffy-fix. Good clean fun for the whole family.
I haven’t watched it since the first season. Has it always been blatantly political? I loved the line about both Bushes being W&H clients. And Fred obviously hanging a Dixie Chicks poster.
Huh – I missed the Dixie Chicks poster. I mean, I knew she was hanging something, and I figured it was probably an in-joke, but I didn’t recognize who it was.
The Bush jokes amused me, though I’d forgotten about them until you just mentioned it. Wonder what sort of shamans the White House has?
Daniel
Combine that DC poster with the references to the DC on ER, perhaps Hollywood is a vast left-wing cabal.
Or not.
After last season with lots of action and IMO little sensible character development, I’m really impressed with the start of this season. They have some danger points to avoid, like overusing Harmony or keeping Eve as is or Spike == Fonzie, but, as a good Red Sox fan, I believe.
Maybe Eve as bad girl is supposed to be intentionally lame. Like, she will realize halfway into the season that she’s really not cut out to be the bad girl and will have some sort of epiphany.
Just a thought, since otherwise she’s just a poor man’s Lilah and kinda sucks.
Well, they did go out of their way to have her mention that she may not be young or female, so that gives them an out, like Dr. Who or something.
I said at the time poor FIREFLY was with us that Morena Baccarin’s character was boring because the actress, while not exactly horrible, was just like a 25-watt bulb where we needed a 100-watt one. Ditto with Eve. I never happened to be a Lilah fan–thought Romanov got sort of one-note–but now even I miss her. As for the change, I know casting for Eve started early this summer, and I’ve also heard that a) Joss had Eve in mind all along, with guest appearances by Romanov planned; b) Lilah was supposed to be there instead of Eve but there were money problems with the actress. I dunno.