You never quite know who to trust in Sunnydale. A lot of people here, they aren't quite what they first seem to be. I'm sure you'll learn that as we take A Tour of Sunnydale.
Angel (not to be confused with the eponymous character Angel or the spin-off show Angel) is the seventh episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is written by David Greenwalt, the second of the eight episodes he'll be credited for writing on Buffy. We last saw his work with the rather sub-par but nonetheless enjoyable Teacher's Pet. Directing is Scott Brazil, in his one and only credit on the show. According to The Phi Phenomenon, Angel is the 24th most liked episode of Buffy, putting it well above our previous peak of Welcome to the Hellmouth at 40, and making it the second highest ranked episode of the first season.
Angel is one of those episodes that matters. It's the first episode of Buffy that's really for the fans, that's entirely based on previous material in the show and is pointless to the casual watcher. It's also the first episode with lasting, obvious consequences since the pilot, which doesn't really count since it's the set-up for the whole show. I don't think it's unfair to say that Angel is a foundational episode for the remaining 136 episodes worth of Buffy, and all 100 episodes of Angel (the show). It's also, as was mentioned in the introductory paragraph, a very well regarded episode of the series.
As such, I really do wish I could like Angel more than I do.
Ever since my first watch through of the show, Angel has been one of those episodes that I forget about. I usually can't really tell you what happens in it. I guess it's revealed that Angel is a vampire, and then... ummmm... yeah. Nothing of much consequence really happens. We mull about for a while, get in a fight, and then the episode ends.
I'm going to be plain here: The reveal that Angel is a vampire is fine. It provides a very effective moment, but the entire episode suffers as a result of the weight of having to make it happen. The most obvious way is how Buffy and Angel are suddenly completely, totally in love. There'd been indications previously that Buffy found Angel attractive, but come her conversation with Willow near the start of this episode and she's suddenly completely head-over-heels for the guy, when the most she'd said before was that he's hot. Conversely, there'd been absolutely no indication that Angel felt this way about Buffy at all, yet here he seems even more hopelessly in love with her than she is with him.
What's more, the entire episode feels pretty aimless. There's no driving force here, really, nothing anyone is working to accomplish. Characters just kind of drift from plot point to plot point in order to have the big reveal happen, and eventually they collide into each other in the big fight in the Bronze at the very end. Events happen that have no real relevance to this episode or any other, like the appearance and then almost immediate execution of The Three by the Master. For an episode as fundamental to the Buffy mythos as Angel is, an incredibly small amount of run-time is spent on things that actually matter, to this story or any other.
Angel is also full of beats that don't quite work, be they incosistencies with lore that's established in the future which are annoying to Buffyverse veterans (like The Master being fond of Angel when their relationship was actually very combative and unpleasant), or simply moments that come across as cheesy and contrived. Particularly notable is the contrivance of Buffy walking in on Angel in vamp face holding an unconscious Joyce. There's also tonnes of things that don't make any logical sense, like Willow and Xander then walking into Buffy's house for no apparent reason.
It's not like everything about Angel is poor. This is still Buffy, and the episode is full of a million and one great character moments. Today's "pick out of a bag" highlight is just how adorable Willow shipping Buffy and Angel even through the revelation that he's a vampire is. It's also got it's share of highlights that don't automatically come with being a Buffy episode, largely in the phenomenal performance by Julie Benz (Who I remembered being mediocre from previous watch throughs, but this time around I found very fun) and the absolutely fantastic final showdown in the Bronze. That is the point where the episode coheres for me. The cinematography becomes very striking, with everything cast in heavy shadows that allow the ensuing fights to take on a different character from usual, becoming more about deception and sneaking about than the usual straight up punch-outs Buffy and Angel tend to engage in. There's also the mixture between hilarity and genuine awesome that Darla just pulling out dual pistols brings about, perfectly walking the line between ridiculous and cool that Buffy basically thrives on
Here is also where we get the strongest moment of the episode, namely Angel's monologue. It's a very well written piece of dialogue, and it gets across just how evil Angelus was, and just how much suffering having a soul really brought about to him. It's admirable how punchy and to the point these lines are, and the incredible power they have for how little time they eat up. This little monologue, around 30 seconds in length, is one of the essential building blocks the entire show will hang on for the next three seasons.
Overall I just think Angel is a fairly standard, if unusually important, season 1 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's probably stronger than the average episode of season 1, but that's honestly not saying that much, and I don't think it deserves anywhere near as much praise as it gets. It's a seriously flawed episode, and the show is very lucky that the couple of moments that do work in it (the vampire reveal in Buffy's house and the monologue at the end) just happen to be the important ones. If Angel had faltered just a tiny bit more, Buffy would have been built on a broken base, and would have ultimately collapsed under its own weight. Angel works. It really works when it matters, but it's not exceptional except for its mythological significance.
Here's ranking and rating: The ranking is of all episodes of Buffy and Angel I've watched so far, with 1 being the best one, and the rating is out of ten in context of the quality of the show: I'm essentially trying to decide what 10% of quality of that particular show the episode belongs in. Because both shows are so good, this means negative ratings are not neccesarily a diss on the episode - I just think it's one of the show's weaker ones.
I think this is the first time an episode comes in at neither the top nor the bottom of the list! My immediate point of comparison was Welcome to the Hellmouth, which was a similarly flawed arc episode. I think Angel is pretty easily better than Welcome to the Hellmouth, as it actually gets to play with the characters rather than spending the entire time introducing them. Above Welcome to the Hellmouth we have The Harvest, and I had a very hard time deciding between Angel and The Harvest. Ultimately, however, I think I like The Harvest more. Where I found myself pretty bored for long stretches of Angel, but enjoyed a few moments a lot, I was constantly engaged but never blown away by The Harvest. This, and the fact that it didn't have glaring flaws the way Angel does, puts it above Angel in my book. Therefore, Angel fits in at spot number 4 on my list, right between The Harvest and Welcome to the Hellmouth.
Rating: 4/10 This just feels right. I also went back and checked and this is what I rated The Harvest, so it feels appropriate. Rule for the future (and one I followed this time too): I'm not allowed to go back and check past ratings to decide on new ones. I can check a past rating once I've decided on a new one, though. That should have a fun effect on consistency.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario