Baron Of Hell

When Gwen came on the scene someone should have screamed MORTAL KOMBAT.

Nick Martin

Sessa17

That's cool, I love stuff like that. I have a concept sketch from Farscape.


Actually I thought about it & it does make total sense now why Wes wouldn't go back to Angel & the gang even after Angel says things are cool b/w them. Something in him has changed, he is sleeping with the enemy & he knows how wrong he is but he may not be able to help himself, or he is up to something. But it all just shows how good complex the character has become.

Awesome, it's always great when new people start posting in these threads. Don't be afraid to ever bring something up.

LorenzoL

You are right.

henryfish

Nick Martin

Nick Martin

Another familiar face popped up in 'Ground State' - for "My So-Called Life" fans, anyway. If anyone here was a fan of that show, you know who I'm talking about.

MrJeff

ok, i've been silent entirely way too long.

angel is a great show and so is this thread.

I'm now tempted to go buy the seasons on dvd, certain episodes are pretty rewatchable you'll find.

Nick Martin

Please, buy it.

It's more than worth it.

Didactylos

FWIW I'll add that I find Angel not only re-watchable (and I confess, with some of my favorite eps, more than once) but in some degree better the second time thru... particularly S1. It's fun, watching Angel and Lilah meet for the first time, knowing where that relationship is going.
Fun, really, watching all the the characters grow when it's easier to see the important turning points... for example, the Faith-tortures-Wes scene in "5 x 5" is always a good time (does that make me a bad person?)... but also it's the point where Wes starts to lose some of his dorkiness.
Also with some of the eps.... "Billy," for example, was kind of a meh ep for me the first time round, but the 2nd time, understanding what a profound effect that ep had on Wesley's arc, and Fred and Gunn's for that matter, makes it much more interesting.

"Are you now..." is another ep I didn't much care for the first time... not enough Cordy, no slam-bang Angel... but the second time one can slow down a bit and enjoy the smaller stuff... the bellman is pretty damn funny, after all. As well, you can see more clearly how those events played a role in Angel's overall arc..

Plus there's just a whole slew of fun exchanges between the characters that you've either forgotten and get to enjoy again, or are just as fun the 2nd time round when the what-happens-next isn't taking up your attention...

RogueScribner

"Are You Now" is one of my favorite AtS eps. It rocks!

L8r

garmonbozia

mine too.

GreenMonkey

I was kinda going along with Sessa until he got ahead of our watching (pretty much when he went to just watching Buffy whereas we alternated, sort of).

I concluded that Angel is my #2 show, following up my #1 (Babylon 5). Unlike Buffy, Angel does a better job of having (or faking) a cohesive long term story arc. It has more of the feeling that they knew where it was going. Whereas Buffy tends to feel kind of like each season is mostly self-contained.

So from thinking Buffy was cheesy low-grade junk like Xena and Hercules (sorry Xena fans) and knowing only Angel was a spin-off of it...Angel has moved to my #2 favorite show, with Buffy probably falling in the top 10 somewhere (despite the show hitting peak in S3, and S4 being the last really good season IMO). But then again, I don't like that many TV shows.

We have still to watch S5 of Angel, though. I'm watching to see what Sessa thinks of the show, too..

Slayer2005

You know, not long ago I wouldn't have thought anything about your Xena/Hercules comments, but after watching all 6 seasons of Xena and then Hercules recently I have to say I thought they are both very fun action/adventure shows with heart and a lot of creativity (Xena being much darker overall). There is a lot campiness which orgiinally is part of what kept me from not watching more of two shows in the first place. Most of it is done on purpose and it ended up being part of the series charm. So, what I thought would keep me from liking the shows actaully became a part of what I liked about them once the characters grew on me. There's bad cheese and good cheese. Xena & Hercules are definitely the latter. Once the characters grew on me they were two really fun shows to watch. These are two fun shows if you are someone who doesn't take everything too seriously. If you take these two shows too seriously it would ruin them. They are great shows to just grab some popcorn and watch with a friend on my 10ft screen.

They are both very consitently entertaining. Xena's evil past is something I had no clue about after having only seen a few episodes here and there. For me that became very interesting when watching the entire series. It added depth that I didn't realize existed on the show. Plus, Gabrielle's evolution througout the series was a Wesley/Willow type evolution, which I loved.

I liked the two enough that I'm going through both a second time with my best friend. He has seen most of my TV series on DVD already (his two favorites are also Buffy & Angel) and now he's on Xena. I might mix in some Hercules so we can altnernate between the two. So far he seems to agree with me tha Xena is a pretty fun show if you someone who doesn't take things too seriously. Xena/Hercules can also be quite funny and on occassion when they get serious they can sometimes also be poignant.

I read a review of Hercules season 1 not long ago froma critic in which the reviewer said he had laughed at his parents for watching Hercules and liking it. UNTIL he sat down with them and watched the whole first season (which began with 5 movies). He changed his mind about the show, so it got a good review from him.

The shows are definitely not "junk". They aren't for everyone though. Specifically, they aren't for people who take everything too seriously (most of these people wouldn't admit to this anyway, but they exist. I know, because I know people like that. They are just unaware of how they are. ) and nitpickers. These shows are simply too purposely silly most of the time to bother nitpicking anyway.

Sorry to get off topic. Just thought I'd share my experience since I not too long ago I wouldn't have thought twice about GreenMonkey's comments.

GreenMonkey

Hehe

Knew I'd get someone aggravated.

You can say every show is "for someone". I've got a bit of film/TV geek elitism going on (I wouldn't even get near movies like XXX, the Fast and The Furious, or National Treasure, and my wife has me watching way too many indie/limited release films these days) and too many hobbies to support. Maybe if it wasn't for all the great books, video games, films, anime and TVonDVD to watch, I would have time to visit some of this just-kinda-amusing stuff. On the Star Trek DVD price survey I honestly answered "0" to how much TV I watch (excluding on DVD). We have 99 channels of cable that are basically free and I never turn it on, cause I don't like much of it.

To someone that has read wayyyy to many books, I need killer storylines or really great characterization to get my interest.

P.S. My old friend and then roommate for a year liked Xena/Hercules. Along with Highlander the TV series, I think I saw enough of them

boredsilly

Oh man, did I ever love that Saturday afternoon "Action Block" of syndicated shows. I discovered Highlander late. That was another show I was content on never watching, but surprisingly it was really fun and engrossing. It's definately not a show I would suggest that you (or anyone watch), but there is goodness to be had there.

On the rewatchability of Angel: it's my most rewatched tv-on-dvd show behind my Brit-Comedys. There are shows I enjoy but are just too busy for me to watch random eps here and there (b5, farscape) but Angel is light enough to just pop in a random disc and push play.

riley_dude

Wes has forever been changed by those events. You don't just snap back to your old self after the events that have transpired.

Gil Jawetz

Doughboy

Sure, you can. If there's a bottle involved.

Doc MacGyver

man, looks like we're gonna get another lump-sum review.... hopefully he hasn't gotten to Spin the Bottle or Apocalypse Nowish yet, I'd hate to have those thrown in with the likes of the Vegas ep.

Zee

The wait is killing me!

Sessa17

OK, I'm back & only with one review b/c I've only watched 1 episode since my last batch of reviews. Just haven't had time to watch any more.

"The House Always Wins" - By far my least favorite ep in a while, which had to happen sooner or later. There really was not a single thing I like about this one, except that it took place outside of LA, which I wish would happen more, & it seems like Lorne may be back. I thought the main plot was really lame & boring, people's destinies being trapped in casino chips . I also found the brief bits with Cord's giant, bloated, glowing head extremely annoying. I remember the days when Cord was one of my favorite characters, now she is just annoying. Oh yeah, there was one other thing I liked, Wes talking dirty to Lilah on the phone. Wow, has he changed.

JasonF

I like "The House Always Wins" because I'm thoroughly unfamiliar with L.A., but I know enough about Las Vegas to laugh at the geography mistakes. OK -- maybe "like" is the wrong word.

Nick Martin

Those geographic mistakes are addressed in the DVD commentary for the episode, if I remember correctly.

Doc MacGyver

Sessa, don't worry about the wait, I'd much rather you take your time with the episodes, especially since you're going to start getting into the meat of season four. As I implied in my last post, the house always wins is the big stinker of this season, so you're not alone in your hatred. Don't worry though, at least they got their crap episode out of the way early on. Can't wait 'till the next one as it is, if I remember my chronology of eps, one of my favorites. Aw man, so glad to hear you're diggin Wes' descent.



Doc