I liked it, but I too hope that the ghost thing is just temporary. I'm on the fence here. The change of scenery is interesting, but the pacing is just weird here. In some ways, too much is happening too fast, yet in other ways it feels like nothing is happening at all. I think Gunn's transformation should have been a gradual process that was teased through a few episodes, instead of just dumping the change on us in the opener along with the twenty other new things. Show him being frustrated at his inability to help out, etc. And did the added knowledge have to kill his personality?

As for the new locale, I like the idea but so far the execution isn't swaying me. The Wolfram & Hart office scenes of old had a dark, almost modern gothic feel to them. Sort of an oppressive quality. Where is that? Now it's all sunny and bright, with an occasional demon thrown in there to remind us this isn't L.A. Law. I know they wanted to change it up a bit, but this is too much.

My biggest problem with this season so far, however, is the disconnect between the main characters. I don't feel the years of bonding, the years of ordeals they've been through together. They interact as if they were a bunch of strangers that were just recently assembled for whatever reason. They still individually act like themselves (Gunn perhaps excluded) but they don't respond to each other the way they should. The new characters (Spike and Harmony) are the only ones who interact realistically with other characters based on their pasts.

Hopefully these are just part of the growing pains. I still enjoyed the first two eps of this season, but with reservations. Maybe it's just overstuffed now and they'll get around to fixing the flaws over time. I hated when they gave us the goody-goody, Grusilag-loving Cordy, but I ended up loving where that *eventually* went, so who knows?

Anyone notice that Angel has now killed 2 humans? Sure they were evil, but I dont remember him killing 'evil' humans before.

I actually really liked the Necromancer character.

Spike was getting on my nerves, though.

The other thing I didn't like was the bogus audience
manipulation by hiding key dialogue between Spike and Angel, just so we're surprised - it's cheap, poor writing and the product of a hack.

Gunn going LALaw doesn't bother me... yet.

Oh, also - did anyone notice Ben Edlund (creator of The Tick) as one of the writers?

How long 'till Angel yells out "SPOON!!!" ?

How bout season one when he kills that doctor who can detach his body parts?

My, how quick people are to write off the entire season based on one episode that didn't happen the be the Most Amazingly Fabulous Thing Ever. The premiere was terrific and this was quite a solid episode, with lots of great interaction between the characters and a decent storyline.

You're don't want Spike to be nothing more than comic relief? I would assume the writers don't want that either, or else they wouldn't have had Spike specifically say, "I'm not going to hang around here being your comic relief"! Does no one here actually listen the show's dialogue?

And who said that Angel looks like he put on weight from last season? Did you not watch last season? He's slimmed down quite a bit! He was awfully paunchy at the end of Season 4.

Oy! I'm a ghost! Ponce! Bloke! Crumpet! Where's me bird!?

That guy always kills me. He played a doctor on a few episodes of Seinfeld.

I think he only looked a bit chubby in the scene with the necromancer when it looked like he was wearing the fake belly plate. (the scene where he's trying to transfer Spike into Angel)

Otherwise, I agree, he's a lot slimmer.

I noticed he looked heavy in the scene where he took off his shirt and got into bed, when Spike came and bothered him.

I was thinking "put the shirt back on"

Did y'all think Boreanaz looked chubby in the new Dido video "White Flab"?

Loved the scene where Angel hits the butler in the head with a tea spoon. Spike looks at him in disbelief, "A spoon?!!" Then, when the butler pulls the spoon out and looks to start in on Angel, Spike goes, "Well, now that's more..." Butler collapses, dead. "...disappointing."



Too bad David Greenwalt wasn't able to absorb some of Joss Whedon's wit and put it in Jake 2.0 - what a total flop that's turning out to be.

Excellent news for Angel

Link

The good: The interplay between Spike and Angel and with Fred at the end.

The not so good: The lack of face time for Wes, Corporate Gunn, the already mentioned Ghost Spike (hope this changes), and the general lack of closeness of the group. I'm used to see them more confined I guess and dependent on each other instead of the W&H resources.

Don't get me wrong, it's still the show I most look forward to each week and I'm sure ME has some great surprises in store for the season.

I really, really enjoyed this episode. Reminded me of old BtVS eps. They even managed to keep Fred from being too annoying. Spike was great. James is such an amazing actor, his scenes with the others just seem to click efffortlessly. They need to work Wesley in more though. He's been the best character over the run of the show. Hopefully they don''t give him a backseat role now.

Josh Z: great post

DRG: agree completely. this is really bugging me.

I said the same thing last week. nothing bad about that.

Apparently, a bunch of people caught the workprint of this episode. They said that Spike's lines sounded just fine to them, so the re-dubbing on the aired version is just weird.

FWIW, if I thought this episode was a guarantee of the rest of the season's quality, I wouldn't be planning to watch next week. I didn't think the premiere was all that impressive, and I thought this episode felt like a Buffy S7 episode. I know this show can be better, but this episode played to every single fear I had about Spike joining, including the complete marginalization of the rest of the minor characters. After years of just waiting for ME to deliver on Buffy, I'm officially past trying to have faith in improvement. I'm cynical, but with reason. And I'll be all the happier if things massively improve.

good episode. spike cracks me up. really adds life to the show. fred looked good. really good. gunn wasn't so annoying. wes needs more lines. angel needs a haircut. i'm sleepy.

Anyone else see a potential spark between Fred and Spike? He likes the women!

Ugh, not my Fred!

I was just thinking how much I would be annoyed at Spike if I were him. Spike gets a soul, barely any remorse (could be it hasn't hit him yet), and best of all, he can have sex without losing that soul. I'd be overeating(overdrinking?) too.

I agree with everything you've said, Jlbkwrm. I wasn't surprised by the premiere -- with the exception of S7 of Buffy and the accompanying S4 of Angel, I don't recall ever being particularly bowled over by any of the premieres of either series.

Hey everyone...how was your summer?.....two episodes into the new direction and it feels like the show is still asserting itself and what it going to be this season. I did like the 2nd episode over the first. Between the end of Buffy last year and with the premiere episode of Angel it is like Whedon is writing Angel the way he was when he left Buffy. Kind of like Claremont returning to X-Men and writing them like it was still the mid-80s....at least to my ears. Anyway, I thought there was a major improvement with 5.2. I like the Spike/Angel dynamic and it does look like they are setting up a Fred/Spike thing. I wish they would clear up the Cordie issue as it just feels like it is hanging over the show's head and her character deserves some kind of resolution.
On the viewer side, seems the ratings are solid enough for the WB to greenlight a full 22 episode season. At least according to what I saw over at The Futon Critic.
Cheers

Anything that turns Spike from a mopey Buffy-loving poof into a foil for Angel worthy of his Season 2 status is FINE BY ME.

Nobody pisses Angel off like Spike. Here's hoping Buffy stays FAR AWAY because I like this matchup a whole lot better.

Great episode. I'm really excited to see where the season goes. Looks like things are just ramping up.