Just Rewards and Desserts too

And so week two of ANGEL begins with a lesser feeling of foreboding than last week. Is it because this one was more user friendly than the last one? Maybe.

As far as the ep itself is concerned, boy was it cool. In my mind, I thought it was amazing that the entire episode would have been a cakewalk if you took it at face value. I mean, look at Spike. As far as we knew in the BUFFYVERSE, he had reformed. Fully. And yet from moment one, those of us who knew him were immediately suspect of his motives. I'd wager that there was not a one of us who was surprised by his "moment of betrayal." And yet, if we had just gone along with what he said, the ending would not have been a surprise. This worked on both the initiated and the uninitiated because even the boys at Angel Investi-- I mean, Wolfram & Hart couldn't get past the man's history to embrace the man he has become. Whether or not Spike will continue to behave is a matter of speculation for which only time will tell, but that was just damned cool. We were our own worst enemies and I love it!

For the future, we have an interesting interpretation of an old prophecy that I would love to revisit. Imagine, if you will, that the linchpin profit of the first season, that "the vampire with a soul, upon averting the apocalypse, will Shanshu," pertained to Spike. It is still valid, if you think about it. Spike averted the apocalypse (being the vampire with a soul.) And he did, indeed, Shanshu. According to Wesley, the verb can mean Live or Die. Well, I'd say that becoming a ghost, or losing corporeal existence, falls under that category. What kind of a mess would that make Angel? I mean, he felt threatened enough just having Spike there......Woooooo.

All around, I would say that it was good fun, despite the fact that NO ONE should have been surprised that the necromancer could have affected Angel. I can't wait to see where Spike goes with Fred (figuratively.) I have to say that I am a little upset with the WB for trying to lead us to believe that Angel could fall in love with someone as deeply as he did Buffy over the course of one episode, but who knows? MAYBE it's true.

  posted by J @ 13:14