Angel - "Spin the Bottle" (Joss Whedon)
Joss Whedon penned (and directed) episode improves Angel by 100% shocker!
Well, it is a bit of shock since "Waiting in the Wings" (the other episode so far with JW taking solo credit) wasn't that much of an improvement in quality over the rest of S3.
This was exceptional. I will never love Angel but if I was to consider rewatching an episode then, so far, this would be my choice.
It is a wacky we-have-lost-our-memories episode like "Tabula Rasa" but I love characters behaving wackily even if I don't like the word wackily.
Plus, and this is big plus, anything that makes me LIKE Fred and Wesley (who are languishing in my least favourite Whedon characters drawer alongside Topher) is automatically raised a few notches.
Boohoo, Wesley, I do believe the fact that "I had my throat cut and all my friends abandoned me" was entirely your fault.
I loved the way it flowed and the way it was edited so that Lorne could seamlessly tell the story.
I have put up more pictures than text.
I like this episode -- I even like Fred and Wesley (though I want to smack him when he says that "throat cut" line) -- but I don't understand the framing device of Lorne telling the story in a nightclub. He couldn't possibly know some of the things that he tells the audience, namely the stuff with Connor. To me, it's just needless arty Joss bullshit.
Everybody is great in this episode. It's fun to see a flash of Buffy season-one Cordelia, and I'll always laugh at people making calling Wesley "head boy." I think David Boreanaz is great in this episode playing a side of Angel we've never seen before. I love his delivery of "I'm a vampire. They're gonna kill me." And, as usual, I love his scene with Vincent Kartheiser. Connor always makes Angel (the character and the series) more interesting.
This one reminds me of "Tabula Rasa", too, and I like both episodes. Although I do find the spell's progression a bit confusing. At first, they seem like they are on hallucinogens, which is funny, but doesn't make much sense.
And may I just say, I hate Cordelia's hair here oh so very much. The shorter it gets, the less the stylists seem to know what to do with it.
I think (and I may have hinted at this before) that Vincent Kartheiser is wonderful. I can only imagine how negatively I might feel about Connor (and Pete Campbell) if a less interesting actor was playing those roles.
I like Joss being "arty" when I'm in the mood.
And the episode doesn't really hang together if I think about it closely and, clearly, when I wrote this, I couldn't be bothered with that.
I didn't think the initial hallucinogenic effects of the spell seemed strange. Who am I to say how a mystical memory-restoring spell is supposed to work? And obviously the spell didn't work, so there's that. I like Gunn doing martial artsy hand movements when he's "high."
It took me several watches to realize that the writers were suggesting that Fred's persistent hunger was the result of too much weed when she was in college.
I am probably in a minority here, but I thought Wesley's line was fantastic. Plus I love him being "old-school" Wesley again - klutzy and awkward.
This episode was a delight in a horribly grim and depressing season.
I appreciate Vincent Kartheiser as an actor, but the Connor character is even more sulky and annoying than Dawn-at-her-worst in her first season.
Hi there OE and thanks for commenting.
I love bumbling Wesley in this. The brief sequence of W getting his weapons in a muddle ("All right. Nobody scream. Or touch my arms.") while the others find Lorne is hilarious. Great timing from Alexis Denisof.
I feel bad for AD that I don't like Wesley any more but the character is such a misery who just gets my goat.
OE, it's not a bad line, but it exemplifies what I find infuriating about Wesley: he's self-righteous and refuses to take responsibility for his own actions. He gets my goat as well.
My take on wesley's line is that every other charatcer gets to be bad and hurt their friends, but when it was him, they faulted him. After all, Angel never really loses any friends regardless of how many time he becomes Angelus.
In the commentary, I think Whedon actually mentions Tabula Rasa and the fact that both aired somewhat close together. He put in small touches to keep each unique.
I agree with Georgia. I think Wesley does take responsibility for his actions, but unlike Angel/us, Spike, Willow, etc is never given the chance by the group to atone.
What I like about him in this season is his uncompromising determination to do the right/necessary thing, whether it's appreciated or not, or whether he gets recognition or not.
And was what Wesley did truly bad, or simply misguided? He acted on his own to try and defeat what he believed to be a true prophecy. It was an executive decision, but he thought it was for the best of both Connor and Angel.
I think the failing is equal - Wesley for not trusting the group to work with him to find a solution, and the group for not trying to understand Wesley's actions.