And they’re cancelling this?
:pauses to curse the stupidity of WB:
Ahem.
This is what truly good tv should be like. What an amazing episode. There’s continuity, a really juicy bit for the shippers, a cameo by a producer, romance, terror and great fun.
And yes, the puppet works. When Angel is talking to Nina in the basement, I actually forgot the puppet on the screen. They’ve done a truly fantastic job, ballancing perfectly between the ridiculous and the masterpiece.
I’m so happy that Wes finally, after carrying the torch for almost three years, gets Fred. And even though I got to see a lot of Werewolf Nina, I’m sure I could get used to seeing more of actress Jenny Mollen. And of course, with Gunn spiraling downwards to the dark side, Angel finding a sort of romantic interest and Knox seemingly walking away in a jealous rage, there was so much going on in this ep, that I’m really sad to see the show cancelled.
Some great lines too: “Is there a Gephetto in the house?” and “I’ve got a lot of demon in me.”
Vamp/puppet/Angel kicking another puppet’s ass was great.
Great episode…i was expecting far worse with this premise. But did anyone else notice when Wes and Lorne went to interogate the owner of the show, the dude sang a few lines. Shouldn’t Lorne have been able to read his thoughts? Does the fact that the guy was being controlled by a demon puppet have anything to do with it? Even if so shouldn’t Lorne have taken notice and suspected something? Ah well?
“I think someone wants to talk to the hand again.”
The evil puppets were great, “Give me those pretty eyes.” just tossed into the combat banter.
Very entertaining and very helpful in building the strong theme arc of the season. Next week looks like the start of the plot that will carry it to the end. I think that we are going to get a lot of pay off during these coming episodes. Though I notice Eve there. This troubles me slightly, but after this episode my trust in ME is greater than ever.
Oh and on preview I need both Angel puppets. I generally don’t go merchandise crazy but those were so cool.
<whimper> TiVo is evil. It died at somepoint this afternoon and didn’t record. <sniff> Did anyone record it? I’ll send you a video tape and pay for postage. Anyone??
Very good episode, much like “Once More With Feeling” they took a risky premise and made it work. I watched with a friend who laughed harder than I’d ever seen her laugh at a TV show. She was practically apoplectic during the scene with Spike.
The werebabe was pretty hot, nothing new there. Nice relationship work with both Angel and with Wes/Fred. Knox clearly could turn bad as a result of this, so can Gunn.
But the Angel puppet was just spot on. Werebabe waking up with stuffing on her lips was priceless. The Angel/Spike fight had me practically falling off the couch. They have got to start selling those puppets, it might finance the show.
Great, great episode. One of the funniest ever. I loved the fact that Fred dissed Knox the whole time. Let me say that I’m totally unspoiled (and wish to remain that way), but I’m very scared that bad things will happen to Fred. The whole time, I’m wondering ‘why is Fred suddenly interested in Wes’ (not that I cared, because I like Fred/Wes)…now I’m afraid I know why…because they had to make them both very happy before next week’s (Joss penned) episode, and we all know how Joss treats ‘happy’ relationships.
But great episode. I couldn’t stop lauighing at puppet Angel.
Wow! The parody power walk was my favorite part, I think, and the fact that the Angel-puppet had Perma-scowl, even when he was talking to Nina at the end.
And oh yeah, the dramatic dying swan fall the puppet did after the attack by Were-Nina (and for something so fragile, I though he did pretty good in the final fight until I realized his opponents were also puppets) and Lorne’s “Is there a Gepetto in the house?!” I’m really going to miss Lorne.
And Fred and Wesley at last! I always thought they belonged together.
Jeez, I’m so contrary. My standards usually ain’t too high… but I just didn’t like this episode. It’s still at least 10x better than anything else WB airs–but it kinda sucked. The complete randomness of bringing the boring-as-heck werewolf character back in? The remarkably tedious Wesley/Fred romance? The general squickiness of Gunn’s self-loathing?
There were a few funny lines, but it bothered me, over all. On the plus side, no Eve.
Still, WB cancelling the show is infuriating. The noxious previews for WB’s dumb ass upcoming shows and the painfully stupid commercials combined to make me honestly want to WEEP for humanity tonight.
Damn it, I don’t always like Angel. Sometimes it sucks. But even when it sucks, it has moments that actually make me think. It has moments where it doesn’t hit the audience over the head with an anvil the size of New York City. It’s capable of subtlety, and sometimes? it even has moments that make me laugh. The shite currently being advertised on WB is a plague upon humanity. I’d rather watch paint dry.
Also, when is poor Lorne going to get some action?
I had stopped watching “Angel,” so I’m very glad I looked at this thread and was convinced to record it tonight. It really was excellent.
It had so much potential to be just terrible. Cute puppets talking shit is such a trite concept now, “Greg the Bunny” and “Crank Yankers” and Meet the Feebles have pretty much run it into the ground. And Meet the Feebles shows just how painfully unfunny it can be when you just have trash-talking puppets and don’t have anything to back it up other than, “Get it? Irony!” Somebody at ME understands that if you have a gimmick episode, you’ve got to have some weight to it or else it’s just a gimmick – even the musical episode of “Buffy,” which I hated (I think I’m the only one who hated it) you have to respect for having a major shift in the plotline for that season. This one did a great job of setting up story developments while still being funny.
Instead of saying, “Why would they cancel this?” I’m thinking that the cancellation could actually be a good thing. If and only if they’re really serious about the “Angel” made-for-TV movies. The one thing about “Angel” is that it’s the most inconsistent show on television. They’ll have an episode or two that’s just absolutely brilliant, and then follow it up with several more episodes (or a whole season) of just meandering. If these movies happen, it could mean that the team can focus on coming up with a tight, solid story that doesn’t have to fit into some season-long story arc.
I’d prefer to see a series of “Tales of the Slayers” TV movies, because it’s a great concept and anthology series never do well, but I’ll take what I can get. “Angel” could totally work as made-for-TV movies.
And this is the first time I’ve ever laughed out loud at an episode of “Angel,” and I did it several times. Especially when he transformed to Vampire Puppet. Somehow I hadn’t seen that coming. Sign me up for one of the Angel puppets when they start mass-producing them.
Okay, this is the first ever Angel episode I’ve ever seen. (And I’ve never seen Buffy either.) I am tired of waiting for Netflix to deliver the two next Firefly DVDs, so I thought I’d check out what else Joss Whedon has done.
I really liked it. They even gave enough snippets of a backstory (quickly) for me to kind of have a clue of what was going on. It’s a terrible shame that this show is being cancelled.
I didn’t know about the Muppet thing (didn’t know Angel was going to be turned into one) so that was a huge shock. I think they pulled it off really well. I laughed out loud many times.
I’d love to get more backstory on all these characters (and anything any of you want to tell me, please do) but I suppose I should really just start looking up some Angel websites and see who is who and what is what.
…I’'ve only read the wildfeed, (we’ve only just started season 4 here in NZ (kudos to TV 3, even at 1100PM without any announcement, we’re happy to have it!) , it will be a long while before we catch up ) and that was one of the funniest things I have ever read!!!
Loved it! I practically laughed myself into an asthma attack it was funny (and my husband loved the Angel puppet scowl).
But am I the only one that misses Fred / Gunn? And the fact that barely recall it? What exactly do they remember about the past year?
Am I the only one that thinks that maybe the senior partners don’t have anything to do with Gunn losing his legal acumen? Hmmm…I really hate that they are cancelling this just when it is starting to become interesting.
Oh, man! I laughed until tears were running down my face. Loved it, loved it, loved it. My favorites lines were the previously mentioned “I don’t have puppet cancer” and Spike’s incredulously delighted “You’re a wee little puppet-man.” The Angel/Spike fight was fantastic.
And real stuff happened. Gunn gets deeper in the dark side; Angel gets the girl; Fred and yummy, yummy Wes finally do something. This is how TV should be.
) and that was one of the funniest things I have ever read!!!
I practically laughed myself into an asthma attack it was funny (and my husband loved the Angel puppet scowl).