I started watching Buffy when the reruns started on FX, and became a fan. Gradually, I’ve managed to see every episode. But they haven’t shown Angel reruns from the start yet, so I haven’t watched any of it.
Now the dilemma: I read a preview of tonight’s Angel, and I have a strong desire to watch it for spoileriffic reasons. Will it make any sense? Anyone willing to give a basic primer for the characters at the moment, without disclosing all the past history? I don’t really want to spoil all the older episodes before I get to them, I just want to watch this one.
Yes, tonight would be a good time to join. Here is all you need to know. By the way, Angel is currently(I emphasize currently, not overall) better than Buffy, so it’s worth it.
[spoiler]
Angel has been turned into Angellus, this time by his friends so that he can help them defeat the Beast, the so-far big bad of the season. Faith is returning(though I assume this is why you want to watch) and this makes it a great time to strat watching, since it has Buffy tie-ins. Anyway, Angel had a son with Darla, another vampire from the Buffy show. Also, Cordelia is now half-demon, though this never manifested itself in any real form until last week, when she murdered someone in the final 2 seconds of the episode. Many feel she is not the real Cordy. Oh yes, she banged Connor, Angel’s son. It’s quite messed up.
Hmmm…well, I could go on, but I think that’s the gist. Wesley is not the wuss you remember from Buffy. He is a bad-ass guy who has had his throat cut, his friends abandon him, and more. You will be surprised to see how he is now.[/spoiler]
Knowing what happens in the show tonight, you need to know the following too:
Wes has had on off/on relationship with Lilah Morgan, a lawyer at Wolfram & Hart, which is in fact the local sales branch of Hell, in L.A. His been flirting with his own dark side, drawn to evil, as so many others have been doing in the Buffyverse.
Lilah is the one Cordy killed last episode, sticking a knife (sort of) in her throat, made from a bone from the big beastie.
Other players tonight are:
Fred (Winnifred), geeky but sweet girl that was saved from a hell Dimension.
Lorne (Actually, Kevlornsworth of the Deathwok clan (sp?)) is from said dimension, but didn’t fit in there, since he’s sorta gay, and on top of that used to run a karaoke lounge.
Gunn (boy from the 'hood, turned Angel proselyte and Fred’s ex boyfriend).
The Beast. Big guy in rubber suit.
An asortment of demons and vampires in the chorus.
L.A. in the Buffyverse is truly twisted, with demon karaoke bars and demon brothels. Oh, and the sun’s been blotted out by the beast.
It turns out my evil WB station pre-empted it to show a UConn basketball game! They’re showing it on Saturday night, so I’ll be sure to post back after I actually see the damn thing.
Would this season make sense to a current buffy fan? I can give a solid “maybe” as a reply. I’ve watched Buffy since the series premiere, and I used to watch Angel. Up through the episode in season one when Cordy was pregnant with demon babies. Then I gave up on the show. I started watching it again this summer, so I saw perhaps the last two episodes of season 3, and a few of the beginning of the season. (I also ended up randomly tuning into the last couple episodes of season two a while back). In all I’ve seen somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the shows. Most stuff makes sense, but some does not. I have no idea who the chick Wes gave a bucket to is (though I think she killed Conner’s “dad”, right?), I don’t know what happened to the cute lawyer from Wolferman and Heart, How Darlia was brought back etc. Even with the blank spots I’d say it’s much better a show than it was when I orginally stopped watching it. I’m still a bit bitter about Doyle, though, even though there’s now no way at all for any cameos. I wish that FX would show the first three seasons, since at this point I’m not willing to buy the DVDS of earlier seasons, particularly the 1st.
There’s lots of episode guides for this show, so you can read summaries to get up to date if you want more detail. The problem with those I find is that they generally have TOO MUCH detail. I’d like a paragragh or two, often they are several pages describing each episode.
Justine 9with the bucket) had a sister who was killed by vampires and she became a vampire hunter herself. She was recruited by Holtz (Connor’s surrogate “father”) along with others in similar circumstances to go after Angel (huge oversimplification but I digress). She did indeed kill Holtz with an icepick-like weapon, making two punctures in his neck to frame Angel for Connor. Lilah, as already noted, was killed by She Who may Or May Not be Cordelia. Darla was resurrected as human by Wolfram and Hart and re-vamped by Drucilla.
Random disjointed thoughts (spoilers for the episode, obviously):
Wesley is a completely different character. I liked the old effeminate British one! The scene in the basement was a bit melodramatic, but probably not knowing the history hurt it. Cordelia changed her hairstyle, so that made it a bit confusing for me. For the first few minutes, I thought she was the “Fred” character. But other than that, she’s pretty much the same (except for the evil). So she’s the big bad… that’s interesting. How old is Angel’s son supposed to be? Him being with Cordelia is on the icky side since he looks about fifteen. And the pregnancy plot is soap-opera-ish, and not in a good way.
The whole “sun being blocked out” device seems like it would have gotten tired quickly, so I’m glad that’s over with. Why did my Faith have to get her ass kicked? Tha’ts no fun. Also, Joss sure does like his big ensemble casts that he doesn’t even bother to use.
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. I’ll watch it next week.