#charles gunn
conceptually angel is such a fascinating character to me and i want more of his story. but literally how is the show able to make him so damn boring
Ok, begrudgingly i’ve decided to give ATS another shot… i’m sure i’ll have a lot of thoughts so i’ll tag them accordingly
FINALLY, i have finished angel season 1 and i’m ready to talk about it. my verdict: i actually like it! and i have a LOT to say lol
The season 2 review is in!!! And… it was actually excellent
I think at this point it’s safe to say that I’ll finish Angel all the way to the end. I really wasn’t expecting this season to be so good. From Darla’s return as a human to Angel firing everyone, showdowns with Drusilla + her siring Darla, Wolfram & Hart’s antics, Wes getting SHOT, Angel saving Kate’s life and having SEX WITH DARLA, Harmony’s return, the whole fucking Pylea fever dream….. dear god they snapped with this one. While I was watching, I was thinking about the people who actually watched Buffy season 5/Angel season 2 at the same time when the episodes were first airing way back when. Like that must have been fucking crazy – I can’t imagine watching the Scoobies try and protect Dawn from Glory and dealing with Joyce’s illness/death while at the same time experiencing Team Angel’s split due to Angel deciding to go Prick Mode on everyone. And then both season endings at the same time?? Buffy dying while Team Angel is trying to escape Pylea?? Talk about anxiety. They don’t make TV show universes like that anymore, they really don’t…
Season 2 Thoughts
Things here and there that struck me in particular:
#1 ‘Judgment’ — My girl Faith shows up at the very end<3 Angel had been so caught up in the prospect of potentially becoming human that he forgot the purpose of Angel Investigations fighting the good fight: It’s what they have the power to do, so it’s what they should do. It’s not a matter of counting years or counting cases so that one day he might finally be “done” and “officially redeemed.” It’s the act of constant doing that is the redemption. And it ties into Faith being in jail because at that point, there is the potential for her to be in jail for life. So the redemption process for her is not about the number of years she spends in jail, it’s about the commitment to being a better person and doing better. And their exchange – ”The road to redemption is a rocky path.” “That it is.” “You think we might make it?” I love them<3<3
#5 ‘Dear Boy’ — At the beginning when Angel beats up that one guy and ignores the rest of his team when they need his help… you know who I thought of. You know who I fucking thought of. It is a little scary sometimes how much he and Faith are alike, like they are really siblings across generations. Angel has that moment in ‘Guise Will Be Guise’ where he’s sparring with the “swami” and he tells the swami he holds back in fighting because he doesn’t want the darker side of him to come out and take control (um foreshadowing for the season finale episodes), which is something that Faith struggles with later on when she breaks out to stop Angelus. (I wouldn’t be surprised if they shared a common ancestry or something since they’re both Irish). Maybe he wasn’t talking out of his ass in ‘Consequences’…
Darla’s interactions with Angel are so incredibly fascinating to me. The whole scene with them in that warehouse… Angel saying Darla never made him happy… Darla saying “God doesn’t want you but I still do” … dear lord. Every toxic destructive couple on TV since then has learned from Dangel I think. It makes me wonder what Spike thinks of Darla. Because the rest of the the Whirlwind has their psychoanalysis-worthy dynamics with each other (Angel/Darla, Angel/Drusilla, Angel/Spike, Darla/Drusilla, Drusilla/Spike) but I wonder if they ever mention the dynamic between them two. Or maybe it’s like a “great-grandsire” thing and they don’t have as strong a connection as the others.
And wtf was up with Kate automatically going to Gunn and scanning his ID and not doing it to anyone else… more thoughts on this later.
#7 ‘Darla’ — YES give me fucked up babygirl who lived served cunt and then died. Dangel this season is so captivating because it has 1. The ties of a century-and-a-half-long love affair; 2. The dynamic between the Sire and the Sired – she created Angelus, meaning the monster that he is is because of her; 3. She’s been soulless longer than him so of course she wants to immediately go back to that, she doesn’t understand his power of restraint (especially in not killing her) so their current-day selves are incompatible; 4. Angel’s feelings towards Darla can be seen as like a fucked up expression of mommy issues; I could go on.
It’s kinda crazy how much Darla and Angel’s relationship mirrors Buffy and Angel when they were together. Bangel is in a whole other realm, of course, but somehow also the exact same: Buffy and Darla both give him a new purpose when they meet him, and they both damn him by killing him. Buffy killed Angel at the end of BTVS S2 and then he came back in S3 – Angel killed Darla at the end of S1 and now she’s back in ATS S2. And both Buffy and Darla have died twice/been resurrected twice. The main difference between both relationships, though, is that Buffy made Angel truly happy. He was actually in love with her, unlike the obsession he had with Darla. Seeing Dangel interact on screen makes me appreciate Bangel even more for how he finally got the relationship he was missing with Darla, he finally felt fulfilled. And Bangel has its own complexities that make it a compelling story, but for the purposes of this season… WOW Angel and Darla are so fucked up and I love it. I suppose that’s what 150 years of killing and pillaging while soulless together will do.
And I can’t believe Spike eating that Romani guy’s family essentially stopped Angelus from getting his soul removed…
#9-11 ‘The Trial,’ ‘Reunion,’ ‘Redefinition’ — This run of episodes drove me absolutely insane. Darla is dying of syphilis so Angel, all noble and brave and hardheaded that he is goes through a deadly trial to save her life. The fervor with which he dedicates himself to saving others makes me emo. And then it doesn’t work. AND THEN DRUSILLA SIRES HER INSTEAD. Very fucked up but Dru’s entrance was so badass lol. It was kinda like her payback towards Angel for torturing and siring her all those years ago. I wonder what she’s been up to all this time, last I remember she and Spike had split, and that’s when Spike came to Sunnydale and got captured by the Initiative.
Darla and Dru are so chaotic and gay, they steal the show for me (and they have a cute height difference). Darla’s initial anger at being turned back into a vampire (brought back, undead) and Dru’s subsequent guilt made me think of Buffy and Willow’s S6 dynamic. Though whereas Buffy struggles with being brought back, Darla quickly gets over herself and is ready to fuck shit up with Dru.
Angel letting them kill that room full of Wolfram & Hart people was SO fucked up but also very satisfying so no I can’t blame him. And dropping the cigarette to light them up like Christmas trees was most pleasing to me. But when he fired Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn? Nah big guy, I drew the line. (Though I’ll admit that my initial reaction was a small bit of satisfaction that came from deep down within me. But that might be from me over-identifying with Angel when it comes to relationships) I find the differences between Team Angel’s dynamic and the Scoobies’ dynamic to be quite interesting. Since Cordy, Wes, and Gunn are all adults that have come together for the sole purpose of “helping the helpless,” I don’t think they have the same amount of emotional drama in their group like the Scoobies have. For the most part they’re pretty up-front about issues that come up. And because all C, W, & G have ever done is help Angel, him turning his back on them comes out of the blue – whereas with the Scoobies, Buffy turning her back on her friends is usually (but not always) warranted because they can be frequently dumb.
#14 ‘The Thin Dead Line’ — Okay so this episode has me confused on where the show stands with the police. Are the police a force for good in-universe? Are they bad? Because at this point, BTVS is still pretty anti-cop. But in ATS S1, Kate and Angel frequently helped each other out, and Faith turned herself in. That led me to believe that the show was trying to paint a better picture of the police, in that they can be useful when necessary. But so far this season, we’ve seen more moments of Kate being antagonistic towards Team Angel (like in ‘Dear Boy’) and the police being generally useless, like in this episode. But then we get other moments where she’s helpful (’The Shroud of Rahmon’), and in a later episode the show wants us to sympathize with her when she’s treated poorly at work and gets fired? I’m still confused. I do like Kate as a character, and at times ATS reflects her positively, but other times the show reflects her negatively and idk. I’m being pulled in different directions. Maybe they were trying to do a “not all cops are bad” thing, considering in this episode they distinctly identify Kate as a “good cop” and separate her from the “bad cops” of the episode – the zombies and the police force that has risen them. It’s so weird how relevant this episode still is today. Oh my god and then Gunn’s friend records the video of him interacting with one of the cops… just really eerie.
Can I just say that they took wayyyy too long to get Wes to a hospital after getting shot. Like he was really bleeding out all over the damn place. I guess you could say he survived the streets…
#15-16 ‘Reprise,’ ‘Epiphany’ — Lindsey simping for Darla has been driving me crazy this entire time. I’m lukewarm when it comes to him. I’ll feel for him in certain moments, and then he goes and does some shit like that or runs Angel over with his car or plays the guitar at Caritas and I’m like, I can’t. I’d like to think that when he leaves in ‘Dead End’ that he’s able to finally find peace, but knowing this show (and his cute new Wolfram & Hart-approved Evil Hand) I’m not counting on it.
This one gets quite depressing/shocking - Angel faces off with Cordy and Wes tears his stitches in the process; Kate gets fired and tries to kill herself bc of it??? (I’m not too hurt that she’s no longer a cop, but it’s sad that they let her go from something she devoted her life to, something she had in common with her late father. This moment plus the “cops suck” sign Angel puts on Lindsey’s car in ‘Dead End’ lead me to believe that the show is now leaning towards a more negative view of the police); In his attempt to face off with Wolfram & Hart in what he expects to be a hell dimension, they bring Angel back to Earth and he realizes that oh. Everyone’s got evil in them. Everyone’s got some kind of darkness. And he essentially says “fuck it all” and jumps into bed with Darla. What gets me though is the post-sex scene that exactly mirrors Buffy and Angel’s first time, down to the “was I not good enough?” But whereas the Bangel scene was the beginning of the end for them, this Dangel scene was their end. The final act (or what should be the final act). Wow all Angel needed was to get laid to stop acting like a fucking idiot. Post-nut clarity is something else. So after, he saves Kate, reconciles with her, and gets back to working with Cordy, Wes, and Gunn. Team Angel Wes is back<3 Hesitatingly, but back<3
#19-22 ‘Belonging,’ ‘Over the Rainbow,’ ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ ‘There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb’ — Finally the introduction of Fred!! She is an icon she is a legend she is the moment she is going insane in a cave in a random dimension. Oh tell me why I was getting j0ss vibes from Cordelia’s interactions with that director…
We love trips to other dimensions<3 I kinda wish we saw more inter-dimensional travel in BTVS, I thought the whole construction of Pylea was pretty cool. And my guy Angel was able to walk in the sun<3 (though he let it go directly to his head lol). Cordy becoming queen of Pylea is so accurate like good for her. Deserved. And of course the Groosalugg is this fine ass guy but she was braver than the marines for not sleeping with him. Ugh I’m still waiting on her to get one good relationship. Idk if I’m counting her time with Xander considering all they ever really did was make out. And then he cheated on her (but they were cute nonetheless…) Like I just want her to get one quality bone now is that too much to ask?
I really like the concept of Angel turning completely into the uncontrollable demon version of himself, and then being traumatized after seeing his reflection. Even though he doesn’t see that demon come out in their home dimension, he still wrestles with it inside him everyday, and it’s why he feels the need to “hold back” all the time, for fear of the demon consuming him and taking over. I loved when he attacked the Groosalugg but didn’t let the demon side take over and kill him.
Overall such a wild season 2 ending, I was not expecting something like this to happen, I thought the end would be with Darla coming back and they’d have to fight her. But a trip to another dimension was unexpected. And then they come back and Willow is sitting there and she has to deliver the bad news about Buffy’s death… yeah I knew it was coming but it still hurt. It hurts every time
Recap/further comments:
Overall a really solid and engaging season. This is what I was wanting in the first place when I tried to start Angel last year. I wanted to jump right into the good episodes without having to watch the first season lol. But I’m glad that I’m sticking around to the end (now it only goes downhill from here right?).
Lorne and Caritas was such a highlight of the season. How strange is it that a karaoke bar became thehot spot to go to when demons needed insight on their auras and futures? We got Angel and the gang singing terribly, Darla giving an unexpected beautiful number, and fucking Lindsey with his guitar as well. I really like Angel and Lorne’s scenes together – Lorne always wants to be chill and entertain guests and Angel always wants him to get right to the chase bc he has never relaxed a day in his souled unlife. One scene I really liked between the two of them is in ‘Happy Anniversary’ where Angel vents to Lorne in the car. It made me wish we got more moments of Oz doing that. Just snapping and finally speaking his mind (instead of just leaving…).
I wish Faith and Darla met. I think that would be so crazy. They have parallels of being on the path of good, then a death happens (Faith killing Finch, Darla being sired by Dru) and they subsequently go evil (both are considered dark characters by the Buffyverse for being promiscuous). Plus there are all the parallels to be made for Buffy and Darla, so by associative property (or something) Faith and Darla have a lot in common. Faith meets Drusilla in the comics, and they have a really interesting interaction, so that’s the closest we’ll get to her meeting the full Whirlwind.
Ok for two seconds in ‘Disharmony’ I was a diehard Cordy/Harmony stan. Pleeaaase the whole interaction with Cordy thinking Harmony was gay and calling Willow to talk about it I know that later on Harmony joins Angel’s side, and I’m wondering if it’s due to her getting a soul or something similar. I’ll save my questions on that for when I get there.
Cangel, Cangel, Cangel… I’m currently undecided on it. When Cordy said she and Angel aren’t friends, yes my heart broke. And I did laugh when Angel promptly bought her a bunch of new clothes and she was squealing lol. I think they’re cute but it seems a little random to me. Like it wasn’t until Angel realized he was being a jerk to everyone and came back that he started showing her more affection. Which at first I was like “okay, that’s interesting” and then i got to ‘Belonging’ and I was like oh. Okay got it. So. We’ll see where that goes.
I loved Cordelia in ‘First Impressions’ but lmao white women do wayyyy too much sometimes, she was giving me Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
And finally… while I was watching ‘Darla’, I got to thinking: Did Angel deserve Buffy? After all that we’ve seen him go through before the first episode of BTVS? My knee jerk reaction is to say no, she’s too good for him. And then I thought about it a little and I felt sympathetic and wanted to say yes, because of the pain and suffering he went through before meeting her. But then I thought about it some more – he killed people as Angelus, then got a soul, then wandered around doing fuck all (which includes letting all those people die in ‘Are You Now or Have You Ever Been’ and drinking that one guy’s blood in ‘Orpheus’) before getting his shit together and helping Buffy out. So his redemption didn’t start until the moment he met her. And he’s now getting rewarded with the fulfilling relationship and love he’d been missing? Hmm… something’s off for me. They weren’t supposed to be together. That’s why when they have sex he loses his soul. That’s why she sends him to hell. His love for her allows him to really commit to his redemption, but the relationship itself makes things difficult. That’s partly why they split at the end of BTVS S3 (which, unpopular opinion maybe, I think was right). I think the split was necessary for several reasons, one of them being that he still had a long way to go in his redemption, and had to do it for himself rather than focusing it on Buffy. Which I can appreciate for his character, but it does make me sad for Buffy. Lol I think she deserved him but he didn’t deserve her. Ultimately I think Angel does have to let people in and stop being so cut off if he wants to do the best he can in his redemption. And NOW, after helping stop several apocalypses, after saving countless lives, and mentoring others? Okay, maybe he can have a little GF as a treat. Maybe.
One question I still have:
How the hell did Angel not kill himself after he was ensouled? Rejected by the Whirlwind, couldn’t feed on humans, nobody wanted him, floundering about in alleys and away from humans for nearly a full century. Like what did he have going on for him? What kept him alive? He was pretty pathetic as Liam, and then when sired, he was reborn as Angelus. But upon gaining his soul, and bearing the weight of all the things he did while soulless, where did he get the strength to keep going? For 100 years?? Could not be me, honestly. Spike was chipped for only a few episodes and then tried killing himself like… that’s more accurate, I think. But at least he had the Scoobies to hang with and random shit around Sunnydale to get into, to keep him going (before developing feelings for Buffy).
Ok but like let me tell you more about why the found family vibes on Angel get me every time.
This group of troubled people with so much family baggage managed to build a home together. With trust and love.
Cordelia, for all her privilege never felt like she belonged. Her family didn’t really care about her. The cordettes didn’t really know her. The Scoobies were the closest she ever got to having friends but pride (and Xander’s betrayal) kept her from ever truly letting them in. She only ever had herself to rely on.
Wes has spent his whole life drowning under the expectations of a father who will never be satisfied. His one driving force in life was to prove himself, and he failed. The Council didn’t want him. The scoobies didn’t want him. Faith didn’t want him. He’s probably felt alone for his entire life.
Angel literally spent 100 years isolated and cut off from the world, drowning in guilt. Before that he was an angry, lonely young man who was a disappointment to his family and was killed before he ever got a chance to change. As a vampire he did horrible things. He tried to find redemption with Buffy only to destroy her and himself. He doesn’t think he’s worth saving.
Gunn believes it’s him against the world. Losing his sister was losing his last lifeline, his last bit of hope. He doesn’t know how to be the leader his crew needs and he doesn’t know where he fits in the world. He’s smart and capable in a world designed to tear him down.
Fred is deeply traumatized. Her experiences not only isolated her from her family, friends, and home, but they forced her to wall off her mind in order to survive. She can barely function at times and doesn’t know how to exist in a world that was lost to her for 5 years.
This band of misfit toys somehow manages to find one another, rally around a mission to help people, and slowly become one another’s support systems. This group has seen one another through good and bad and they would die for each other in a heartbeat, but not without a fight.
I love their interactions, their family dinners, they way they bicker and fight and look out for one another.
The show has SO MANY FLAWS but the group dynamic and love was not one of them.
Billowy coat, king of pain.
friendly reminder that Gunn spent his childhood protecting his sister from vampires, and had to dust her when she became one ✿◕‿◕✿
