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Post by Techno-bot on Jun 13, 2004 21:23:19 GMT -5
Written by Tim Minear Directed by Winrich Kolbe Air date: 1/18/00
Kate discovers Angel's secret after he comes to her assistance when a vampire from his past shows up in town and begins a killing spree.
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Post by Lola m on Sept 2, 2004 16:32:17 GMT -5
Somnambulist – someone who is sleepwalking. Angel is afraid he has been doing some sleep-killing. Even after he learns he has only been having dreams because of Penn, he’s upset and feeling guilty. Not just because he sired Penn and taught him to hunt in that special Angelus way, and thus feels responsible for all the death Penn has caused, but for a more visceral reason. He “enjoyed it” – found pleasure in memories of cruelty, blood and death. He even repeats this emphasis at the end of the show, after Penn has been killed, so that we know Penn’s destruction did not help him with the feelings he is still struggling with.
But also - Doyle was sent by TPTB not only to guide Angel to people in need, but to encourage him to take part in life – get involved with people. To stop “sleepwalking” through his unlife now that he has a soul.
Random brain bubbles:
* Mmmmmm. Wes in the “ice cream” suit again. Niiiice. And he’s still got that season 1 goofy, mock suave, overly-watcher-y voice. So much the emotionally bereft little puppy, looking for someone who will be nice to him. “We made an effective team, I thought”. Makes me wanna just cuddle him. Later, (after Cordy’s very funny “OMG! You cut up Dr. Folger’s newspaper!” line), I totally cracked up when he did the thing with “I did extensive research – specifically on Angel!” and holds up an adorable little file folder with “Angel” written on it. I just thought, oh wow; it’s like Andrew and the lunch bag!
* Wonderful sequence of shots – Angel walking the streets while Kate’s voice is heard profiling the serial killer – description sounding eerily like Angelus’ motives and behavior. Of course, we learn that really it is Penn doing the killing. Interestingly, while he learned his trade at Angelus’ knee, so to speak, he is actually not that much like him. Too clichéd, too prosaic, (to quote Angel), unable to be as truly “creative” as Angelus. Stuck repeating the same patterns he learned over a hundred years ago. Although they do have similar “daddy issues”. Wow. What a surprise that this theme is surfacing just as Wesley is becoming part of the show. Actually, now that I think of it, during his final confrontation with Angel, Penn kinda reminded me of Lawson. Huh. I don’t know what that means yet. I’ll have to think about it.
* Annnnnd we have bondage fun! Yay! Wes and Cordy chaining Angel to the bed. **goes to happy place momentarily** “Like I need instructions from you!” OK, Cordy, we don’t need to know how you got so expert in chaining guys up.
* Kind of sweet, kind of sad, to see the whole arc of Kate and Angel’s relationship alter in this ep. At the station, she’s still trying to flirt (not very well, but she’s a trooper, our Kate) and Angel? Well, he’s still at “she’s a good cop”. And then, by the end of the episode. . . . Well, at least she didn’t stake him. But that’s about it.
* Huh. Penn was waiting for Angel in Italy. In the end, it always seems to come back to Italy, doesn’t it?
* The moment in which Kate learns that Angel is a vampire is very different than that same moment three years earlier with Buffy, yet also has some eerie parallels. As with Buffy, Kate discovers Angel’s secret by accident, not because he decided to tell them about it. However, Buffy’s discovery moment occurs during a moment of passion and Kate’s takes place during a fight for her life. Both women are relatively new to a relationship with Angel when they find out, although it had obviously gone further emotionally with Buffy. Buffy already knew about the world of demons and vampires, so that was not a surprise, but carried the burden of being the chosen one, a slayer with a duty to kill beings just like the man she was beginning to love. Kate has the double whammy of discovering that make-believe actually exists AND that both the killer she is chasing and the man who is helping her, are vampires. But Kate is no Buffy. Faced with a new reality, she not only figures out the vampire truth quickly, but immediately closes herself off – “I don’t need your help”.
* A (possibly) major eye opener for me was the final conversation between Angel and Cordy. Cordy says “Sure it’s in you. We all have *something*. But it’s not the only thing that’s in you. You’re not him, Angel. Not anymore. The name I got in my vision, the message didn’t come for Angelus, it came for you. Angel. And you have to trust that whoever The Powers That Be be, -are, is... anyway, they know the difference” And “People really *do* change.” (Bolded emphasis mine.) I know that when the episode was first aired, and even since then when I have re-watched it, I have always heard Cordy’s speech as another variation on just “Angelus is not you, you are not Angelus”. But that’s not completely true. She’s not really saying that Angel and Angelus are two different people. She’s saying that all those aspects of him are there but that who he is, how he behaves, can change. That he can become a better person. So it may be that she’s saying he can be more than just Angelus AND more than “just” Angel. And that would be a very different thing than simply saying that they are totally separate beings. It comes closer to the idea that we have kicked around on the board here a lot – that he needs to knowingly integrate all the parts of himself, admit that, and move on.
Lola
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