Everything else pretty much sucked. It’s not even worth analysis, so let’s do a brief sweep: plot line was so tired, guest characters were predictably cheesy, and the political/social commentary (if that was what it was s’posed to be) was pathetic. On the technicals; they really need to improve their set and make-up. There was some really shoddy camera work for the fight scenes, which were pretty yawn-worthy in themselves. That whole demon army thing really wasn’t doing much for me, either – are the bad guys in these things actually supposed to be scary, or just look like extras with a ton of badly co-ordinated make-up on?
Angel: I liked him in the first coupla scenes – being all brood-guy when Cordy was nagging him, and then later on talking to Doyle. Aaaahh – he’s having second thoughts about saying no to humanity – Buffy thoughts! Heave, sigh. Angel, you’re my hero.
Final note: How the biggest mistake ever was it for Angel to go off and have his own show?! I would have preferred him to have been condemned for an eternity of torture in Hell rather than see him being slowly burned beyond recognition this way. Even his vampire face is all wrong. Wrong, wrong - WRONG!!! (Oops – sorry ‘bout that!) Tell me I’m not alone in feeling this way.
I think I deserve a thank you and a cookie for managing to endure through that entire episode. Why the heck am I still watching this show?! I swear, I’m so close to abandoning it at this point – if there aren’t some radical changes in the near future, I don’t see why I should bother with the time wastage.
OK, that said, I’m gonna make this short. There were all of two good parts in this episode:
a) Angel looking angsty while telling Doyle about Buffy’s visit
b) Doyle sacrificing himself for the good fight.
That is, you were until you DID THAT GROSS FLATTENING THING WITH YOUR HAIR!!!! Oh my Lord! I could handle the blue sweater, I could handle the Hawaiian shirt, I could even handle that awful white hat. But the HAIR?!!? This definitely is not the Angel we all knew and loved. That image of him wearing the army uniform with the little boy comb over – ewww, I can picture it right now – it pretty much crashed any fragments of hope left in me that Real Angel would stride back in. I think this has forever shattered my pedestal-raised regard for the Dark Avenger.
I think the only thing going for this show is Cordelia. At least she’s managed to stay in character! Plus, the laugh factor. Shame about Doyle, but since I knew it was coming, I didn’t feel much of a loss. Besides, that hedgehog demon look really icked me out. (Superficial – who, me?!)
