Hey, remember when I wrote that Angel was more of a procedural than Buffy ever was, and that this 'vampire detective' schtick was exciting, fun and a refreshing change from Buffy? Well that may all true about the first season, but about halfway into the second season all that goes flying out the window. There are multi-season story archs, plot lines darker than most anything I've seen on television, and one ridiculous cliff hanger. Oh, plus Pete from Mad Men shows up as an evil Peter Pan from hell, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.
The second season starts right where the first one left off. Angel is busy being a champion (the show's word, not mine) and saving all sorts of helpless people. Already being more useful than she ever was in Buffy, Cordelia acts as the show's emotional center and as Angel's guide to the higher powers by receiving visions of people Angel is supposed to save. In addition to a tougher and more likable Wesley the show adds to the main cast Gunn, a 'street' (read: black) vampire fighter. Eventually added are Lorne the empath demon (also the most likable 'theater person' I've ever seen on screen) and Fred the quirky but intelligent girl discovered in Lorne's home-world. As well as I thought the 3 man team of the first season worked together these character additions (especially Lorne and Fred) add a much needed breath of fresh air to the show. As the series progresses and gets darker and darker, any level of levity is greatly appreciated. So let's get to those dark plot lines that plague Angel's middle seasons.
At the end of the first season Angel's main rival, the law firm Wolfram and Heart, brought back Darla, the vampire that sired him back in the 18th century. It's never really clear why they do this, nor why this is such a big deal, but they pretty much bring her back to screw with Angel. We get lots of exposition about Angel's past (not really that much more than what we got in Buffy) and when he eventually finds out that Darla is alive he obviously loses his shit. There are some pretty intense (and occasionally melodramatic) scenes where Angel is deciding what to do about Darla being alive. Eventually an old friend turns Darla back into a vampire (she comes back as human) and this upsets Angel so much that he fires everyone he works with, starts to brood constantly, and starts blurring the line between 'hero' and 'villain'.
This section of season 2 was a little melodramatic, especially given how annoying Darla is. It's hard to buy that Angel cares so much about her as a human when he only knew her as an evil fiend. Additionally, we're supposed to believe that Buffy was Angel's true love, so it's hard to understand his actions with respect to Darla seeing that he was only with her when he was evil himself. It also seems a little forced to rely on the possibility of Angel going 'bad' seeing that Buffy's second season already explored this territory very successfully. However after the Darla storyline finishes, and Angel gets everything back in order the show picks back up. The final story arch with the crew going to Lorne's hometown to save Cordelia is especially good, and it's nice to see these characters interact in a more traditional 'fantasy' type setting.
Whereas the episodes of the second season was about half and half overarching story and one-offs, the third season completely destroys this ratio. From the get go we get scenes of a pregnant Darla, and discover that she's pregnant with Angel's baby from a night of hate sex which occurred during the previous season. This pregnant-Darla storyline dominates season 3, and the MOTW episodes completely disappear when a rival from Angel's past shows up to muck up things further. Darla eventually gets out of the picture and dies in childbirth (by her own hand even!) and at that point the series takes an extremely dark turn. There are lots of dire monologues about revenge and vengeance, hate, and the steps necessary to dispose of one's enemies. Gone are the days of the loquacious mayor who is both a germaphobe and an immortal demon, and instead we have a villain who is driven purely by hate of the long-gone evil Angelus. Frankly, Hotlz is not much fun, and every thing he's involved in is covered by a thick depressing cloud.
Having Holtz around to make everyone act out of character was bad enough, and I haven't even brought up the 'prophecy'. Wesley discovers that according to a prophecy (that later turns out to be false) that Angel is destined to kill his son. Being overly distraught, he plans on stealing the baby from Angel and raising it himself far away. Of course Holtz gets involved in this as well and eventually steals the baby (now named Connor) after Wesley takes it, and slits Wesley's throat for good measure. After stealing the baby Holtz takes it to a 'hell dimension', seemingly never to be seen again. Obviously Angel is distraught over these events, but it seems a little extreme to have him try to suffocate Wesley while he's recovering the hospital. Wesley essentially gets ostracized from the group even after they understand his side of the story, and starts hatefucking one of their main opponents from Wolfram and Heart. (There sure is a lot of hate sex in Angel, isn't there?)
The child eventually comes back from the dimension as a teenager (time works different in different dimensions) and after gaining the trust of Angel Investigations he finally turns on them as are Holtz's wishes. The season ends with Holtz killing himself in a manner than makes Connor believe that Angel was responsible, and then Connor trapping Angel in a large metal box and throwing him to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. I cannot think of a darker cliffhanger than having Angel's son betray his father by making the immortal Angel suffer with this knowledge at the bottom of the Pacific ocean for the foreseeable future.
Joss Whedon's shows are famous for their witty dialog and humor even when the shows delve into serious storylines, as they often do, and I think Angel lost sight of this somewhere. This is not to say that I wasn't engrossed in the story, it's just that I wish there was a little more time for the characters to interact and play off each other with the original premise of the show. There are so many character additions in these seasons just having them solve demon or paranormal related events would be more than enough to keep the show interesting. While Buffy also introduced 'big bads', I think that it was much more able to successfully fit those stories within the original premise of the show. By the end of the third season Angel pretty much turned into a supernatural soap opera with teeth.
No comments:
Post a Comment