Density......I mean, Destiny

Well, talk about polar opposites. My reaction to DESTINY was quite the reverse of Brian's.

Having not seen the trailer to last night's episode, I walked into it wondering what I was going to see. As usual, the episode started in a very matter-of-fact way. Spike gets a package (?) and BOOM! He's corporeal. Whoa. I have to apologize, because many of the wonderful morsels of dialogue featured in this episode were blown out by the surprise ending, but more on that later.

Blood from the eyes, and everyone acting irrational was, to me, totally expected. It has become an unwritten law in the M.E. universe that nothing good happens without something bad having to happen as a result. So, there we go. I did think it was nifty, but I do have to agree that locking down the building is getting to be old hat. It just doesn't mean that much anymore. Why does it seem like the place was that much harder to get into BEFORE the good folks at Angel Investigations took over?

I don't believe that it should have been a surprise to anyone that the fight between the two heroes was the least heroic thing they could have done. I am mildly disappointed that it didn't occur to either of the combatants. However, the fight was cool in and of itself, and set a precedent. Usually in comic-dom, or genre fare, when twp titanic characters such as these duke it out, the outcome is usually left unresolved. We never find out if the JLA could beat the Avengers, or if Batman could beat Captain America. Something always gets in the way, or there is always some cop out like "he wasn't himself. His mind was controlled, so it wasn't fair." This time, the writers took the bold move of answering the question, plain and simple. Spike beat Angel in a fair fight. Case closed.

Past that, I enjoyed the historical interludes, simply because they did show us something we had never seen before. What was Spike and Angelus' relationship like back in the day. Yes, we knew that they had a falling out over a girl, but what about before that? They were friends? No. But they were pals. And that was something new again. Kudos again go to the writing staff, however, for not copping out at the end and having Spike and Angel put their differences behind them.

Finally, to the finale. Lindsey. My freakin' god, it's Lindsey. The moment I saw him I was left speechless. I couldn't make a sound. You have to understand, watching Eve undress and hearing her talk to someone, I quickly shot down the list of potential bads she could have been talking to. At no point did his name cross my mind. It was totally unexpected and totally awesome. This was one of those surprises that you pray for, and was delivered right on cue. I can't believe this. I mean, Angel and Lindsey were never the best of friends or anything but they left on quasi-decent terms. His exit was made as the kind of person who is leaving the show, never to come back. I just found it amazing, and can't wait to hear all about where he's been, what he's been up to and all that stuff. Damned cool to me.

As for Eve being evil. Again, this is the "d'uh" factor that we experienced earlier in the season. In an earlier episode (and we all remember when it was) we were re-introduced to Spike, who spent the entire episode in moral ambiguity, but claiming he was one of the good guys. We watched him play his game, and despite a moment of perceived evil, at the end we were shown that he was indeed a good guy (for now, at least.) If we had listened to him from the start, we wouldn't have had a problem. That story was told. End of story. To tell it again, with Eve, would have been repetitive. Instead, we are introduced to the other side of that coin. Someone who is professing their innocence but who is, in fact, guilty. And perhaps the lessons "learned" from the Spike incident will be their undoing in this new situation.

Overall, I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable ride. I loved every minute of it, including the ten minutes of speechlessness that I was left with when the show was over. GOD how I loved that!!!

  posted by J @ 15:58