Yeah, I agree that going to Paris last week to retrieve that head was a complete waste of time. On a side note: Had the episode been delayed by one week, I don’t know if UPN could have run it considering the chilling events in Iraq.
On another side note, in the May 16-22 (“Loving Las Vegas”) T.V. Guide, Marsters says he’s into future TV or DVD movies, but Boreanaz is not. “‘I was never into reunions.’ he says. 'You live. You learn. You move forward.”
Well, piss ant.
I’m all against violence against women, but you have to admit, there is a difference between a man beating a defenceless woman, and two “warriors” duking it out. What’s that expression? “Never hit a lady, but if she starts hitting you, she ain’t no lady.” Illyria wasn’t just some defenceless damsel, she was a god who spent her haydays in the midst of battle. Watching that scene was only hard because you were watching a once great warrior get the shit kicked out of them, and the humiliation in that was just rather rough. Personally, I blame Xena for my views.
And I thought Hamilton killed her, too. The previews show her in a couple of shots, but the last we see of her is Hamilton stomping on her head and you hear squishy sounds. If her head didn’t get squashed, why were there squishy sounds? And although the camera got a good view of the glamour, I also had the feeling he could see straight threw it.
What the hell is Hamilton, anyway? Just some uber-powerful demon, or something more? I’m curious if he’s going to bite it in the next episode, or if he’s going to be another one of the show’s “lose ends”.
As for who’s going to get it, Lorne has no fighting abilities whatsoever it seems, but I could have sworn that the previews showed Wes getting shot. It was a quick shot, but it showed him standing in a room full of bodies, with another guy in front of him holding the gun, and you see the mussle flair. Maybe he just gets it in the leg, but I’m thinking either her or Ilyria are toast. Maybe both.
Overall, I thought the episode was alright, but would have liked if there was more time for Angel’s deception to be built up. Taking two episodes acting like a prick with one happy go lucky episode in the middle didn’t really seem to convince me that he’d gone evil (well, without it looking like a cheap cop out). Still, it was interesting to see him eat whatshisname, then break his neck just to be efficient.
Well, yeah, like I said: “part of the story.” Still, I had a moment of reflection that, on the set, you’ve got Big Strapping Adam and Waifish Amy, and a stunt coordinator who is setting it up to look like the former is pummeling the latter senseless. When does that ever happen, outside the Lifetime Network?
Not trying to make a big point out of it. Just a Thing That Makes You Go Hmm. 
Oh, and Illyria and Drogyn playing video games was effin’ hilarious. “…And fruit.” “It is all so pointless… And yet I am compelled to play on.” 
Who says she’s in it for redemption?
I think the reason Spike was so slow to raise his hand was because he was weighing the consequences. Angel’s plan wasn’t going to stop the Senior Partners, just slow them down for what, in the cosmic scheme of thigs, wouldn’t be a terrribly long period of time. So, the guy who died saving the world last year would be getting killed for no reason except that he helped piss off some uber-powerful evil.
I haven’t watched a lot of the show, just started last season, but there seems to be a theme with the show that it isn’t important that you defieat evil. What is important is that you fight it, and I think Spike may be coming to a realization of that.
Also, the “Except that one time” line didn’t come out of thin air. There was a suggestion in the episode with the Battle for the Cup of Perpetual Mountain Dew that Angel intended to, ah, initiate Spike in a very special way.
Also, I think the SP’s did intend for Angel to wear the amulet in “Chosen”, but he didn’t. I also think that the reason Lindsay brought Spike back was because he wanted a souled vampire around who would be a contender for the Shanshu prohecy, and who he could just possibly manipulate into killing Angel. Put him out on the streets doing Angel’s old job, while watching Angel slide into apparent corruption.
Oh, and Drogyn and lllyria playing Crash Bandicoot was just priceless.
Earlier in the season, there seemed to be some Spike/Gunn bonding going on, and I kind of thought it was significant that the two of them were the ones who hauled Lindsay into the conference room. Spike and Illyria also seem to be doing some bonding as well- two former evil demon warriors, now on the side of good, (though Illyria doesn’t seem ready to admit it yet). I loved the “I haven’t been in a good tussle since I quit sparring with the Blue Meanie.” line.
Fearless prediction- any potential Buffyverse spinoffs/movies/whatever will feature a Spike/Illyria dyad. The two of them seem to work well together.
I’m kinda thinking the squishy sound was her nose getting seriously broken. I had been bloodied but not mashed. Killing Illyria would have been a bigger deal from a cinematographic point of view. (Remember it’s killing Amy Acker’s character again which I think is doubtful.) It would have been “drama”.
Joss sometimes kills good guys in the most blasé of ways, but Illyria probably would’ve been much more fancy death. Besides Hamilton probably likes the idea of humiliating a god more than killing one.
Re Spike Raising His Hand
I assumed this was due to what he said to Fred during his Casper the friendly bloke phase ‘I don’t just vanish. I go someplace. I can feel it pulling at me. It wants to me to stay there. It’s dark and cold. I know where it is and it isn’t the place where heroes go.’
Spike has good reason to suspect his death will send him to hell. My WAG- knowingly accepting eternal torment in order to fight evil is one of those things that earn you redemption and a ticket to one of the pleasant afterlifes.
I also had a thought about Shanshu- what makes everybody so sure it’s just about one vampire?
I’d like if it turned out to be properly translated as ‘This is what happens to the vampire with a soul’ ‘But if the roots are really protoBantu, then the syntax has been completely mistranslated. It should read- Any vampire with a soul shall become a champion. Should he fight against evil and earn reward he will live until he dies.- The reward isn’t a single destiny given to a single ensouled vampire. It’s a reward given to any vampire who gains a soul and earns redemption-You, Spike, any one.’
I’ve spent the week hanging around my father, and last night he sat in on Angel in another effort to understand why I like watching violent TV shows. Uninvited, natch. This was the scene in which he left the room, disgusted.
I thought about explaining the character’s history to him, but decided against it. Why bother?
A fun episode, all in all, even if a little rushed.
Daniel
Hmmmm…does anybody think that Illyria let Hamilton beat her up as part of Angel’s plan? Someone mentioned this to me yesterday as a possibility and I wondered why would Illyria cooperate with Angel when she seems not to care one way or another?
What IS Hamilton anyway? What was his connection to Drogyn?
Also, I don’t think Drogyn is dead.
Ilyria- I hadn’t thought of it, but it makes some sense. She hates WR&H. They were responsible for bringing her back to this world to find her followers dead. They were responsible for putting her in Fred’s body, which they knew would result in her being destroyed or vastly weakened.
AFAIK, the connection between Hamilton and Drogyn hasn’t been explained.
Hamilton, like Eve, is “a child of the Senior Partners”. Which I take to mean he’s a magical construct sent to look after their interests and keep Angel in line. He’s immortal (meaning ageless, I take it), and, unlike Eve, apparently got the physical upgrade package.
Plus he used to be Jayne (and shall be again!), which means he has access to the most powerful weapon in the 'verse: Vera.
Ohhhh. Good theory. She beat that demon earlier quite easily so perhaps she’s not so weak as it appeared.
Curse you, woman! You know good and well I’m the one who suggested that last night when we finally got to watch the episode!
Here’s my theory:
Illyria has as much as admitted she doesn’t want to be on Earth anymore. Angel has worked out a way for her to return to the Well of Souls (or whatever it’s called) and she has agreed. In return, she’s going to take out as many of the Black Thorn folks as she can.
How? My guess is they replace the energy they removed from her (in Star Trek language, they’ll “reverse the polarity of the dilithium crystals”) and she’ll eventually explode while in the presence of several Black Thorn members. Not all of the BT members will be there, though, either on purpose (because Hamilton figured out what they were doing) or by accident. So Angel and the gang will have to chase down those remaining – quickly, before the Senior Partners can stop what’s happening.
Drogyn isn’t dead; he will shepherd Illyria’s soul/spirit/whatever back to the Well and prevent her from “infecting” anyone else on the way there. He will want to stay and fight, but Angel will convince him to take her back, because that’s what Angel had promised Illyria he would do.
Oh, and Illyria will beat the everlovin’ crap out of Hamilton … probably before she’s re-powered. Just to prove to him that she can, and to show him that she wasn’t even trying before. My guess is she’ll kill him.
I think Lorne dies.
Feel free to mock me next week, when I’m proven completely wrong on all this.
Oo! I like those speculations.
But I thought that if Illyria blew up, it was kinda like a nuclear explosion and she’d take a big chunk of L.A. with her. (Not necessarily a bad thing mind you …)
Again, major guess – they’ll be in an alternate dimension when the explosion happens. Some sort of regular meeting the Black Thorn has there each month or whatever.
Hee! It would seriously rock if he broke out Vera in the finale.
Oh, maybe Angel will end with the Fang Gang standing on the edge of a big hole in the ground when a sign saying “Welcome to Los Angeles” then falls into said hole.
But I guess that’s been done.
Only if Angel responded “Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.”
I would love to see that. happy sigh
Did anyone else watch next week’s preview in slow motion?
[spoiler] Illyria is most definitely not dead yet. She’s in several scenes-- and I’m not certain, but I think that’s her behind Angel’s shoulder in the fight in the rainy alley. It appears that Connor is back too- it certainly looks like him ducking when the ceiling comes down in the L.A. office and Angel doesn’t flinch.
Lorne shoots Lindsay from about a foot away, but the gun is pointed low…
and the old demon memory wizard has Wesley hanging about a foot off the ground[/spoiler]
I’m looking forward to the big brawl and the quiet scenes of introspection. It’d be fabulous if it was a 2-hour job, but alas such is not to be.