1/12: Expecting

[Techno-bot]

Written by Howard Gordon
Directed by David Semel
Air date: 1/25/00

After a night out on the town with her new boyfriend, Cordelia wakes up eight-and-a-half months pregnant with something decidedly inhuman growing inside her.

[Rachael]

Okay, so I just don't like demon pregnancy eps anymore - it was done to death. So, I don't have much, but still:

Does Dennis do this to ALL Cordy's dates, or just the ones he suspects are evil? Oh, wait. . .she hasn't HAD any others she liked enough to bring home. Hmm.

Why did Cordy think she was being punished? What'd she do wrong?

A few trends and motifs I noticed:

First, Angel (and others) are constantly sneaking up and startling people in this episode. Angel does it at least three times, Cordy does it to Wesley. . .it's very prominent, and happens over and over, and thus it must mean something. But what, I dunno.

Wesley shaping up as a partner for Angel is still side-by-side with his self-loathing. Again, he says, "This is all my fault."

Finally, "Wesley, can you shoot straight?" Ayup. The first Wes with a gun episode. And he certainly can. It marks Wes as a different type of hero than the ones we've seen thus far - 'cause, up to now, only villains of one sort or another have used guns. In fact, for the entire run of BtVS, guns were pretty much only used by bad guys.

And then Gunn comes along and makes the transition blatant and obvious, even to his name.

I did love -

"Sex is bad." "We all knew that."

"I really don't like it when people shoot me."

And Wes' whole "come out of there instantly," "don't make me come in after you," Watcher/Daddy vibe while he's stalling for time is just adorable.

[Lola m]

Rachael said:

Okay, so I just don't like demon pregnancy eps anymore - it was done to death. So, I don't have much, but still:

Does Dennis do this to ALL Cordy's dates, or just the ones he suspects are evil? Oh, wait. . .she hasn't HAD any others she liked enough to bring home. Hmm.

Why did Cordy think she was being punished? What'd she do wrong?

She's said this "being punished" thing a couple of times now - like when she got the visions from Doyle and then got kidnapped. I think she is looking back at her behavior in high school. Because the "I'm being punished" thing seems to come up in conjunction to her talking about her old life. In this ep, for example, she is telling creepy dream date about her life and uses words like "haughty" and "shallow" and draws the parallel to expecting the guy to show up with bags of fame and fortune and how that didn't happen. Plus, probably a little "I didn't appreciate Doyle and now he's dead" guilt.

But I was really glad to see Wes step in so quickly and decisively and say no she wasn't being punished.

A few trends and motifs I noticed:

First, Angel (and others) are constantly sneaking up and startling people in this episode. Angel does it at least three times, Cordy does it to Wesley. . .it's very prominent, and happens over and over, and thus it must mean something. But what, I dunno.

We get a whole bunch of the "no reflection" gags in this episode, which I usually take as being specifically there to remind us of Angel's vampire nature. But I'm not sure why so much in this ep - and why all the other sneaking up things. Other than to just underscore the sneaky nature of the bad guys in this ep - appearing to be all nice normal guys on the surface but not really. And not because they are demons, they're just icky humans. Huh. Maybe that's why. To point out the "demons not always bad, humans not always good" theme?

I do love the little clever and subtle touches we get on any Joss show. Like the scene where Angel finds the bad guys at the gun club and he hits Cordy's date and then the others show up and the guy is all "you have no idea what you're dealing with" - they don't go right into Angel being a vamp or have him say "neither do you" or whatever. Instead they cut to Wes looking at the demon that infested Cordy. Jump cut edits are always just so good on a Joss show. Plus, on what other show would be get a line like Wes': "Oft times these 16th century engravers tended to exaggerate". LOL!

Wesley shaping up as a partner for Angel is still side-by-side with his self-loathing. Again, he says, "This is all my fault."

Such different backgrounds and childhoods for Cordy and Wes and yet they are both heading down the road of innaccurate self-recrimination. Perhaps Angel's attitude of guilt is catching.

Finally, "Wesley, can you shoot straight?" Ayup. The first Wes with a gun episode. And he certainly can. It marks Wes as a different type of hero than the ones we've seen thus far - 'cause, up to now, only villains of one sort or another have used guns. In fact, for the entire run of BtVS, guns were pretty much only used by bad guys.

And then Gunn comes along and makes the transition blatant and obvious, even to his name.

And I really love how Angel just keeps asking Wes along and giving him important things to do. Angel does a pretty good job of this with both Cordy and Wes. He just takes their various quirks and shortcomings in stride and helps them see the things they are good at.

I did love -

"Sex is bad." "We all knew that."

"I really don't like it when people shoot me."

And Wes' whole "come out of there instantly," "don't make me come in after you," Watcher/Daddy vibe while he's stalling for time is just adorable.

Oh, yes. Loved his voice on the "come out of there instantly" - just too too cute. And then when he's stalling the demon and says "do you have any hobbies?" I just crack up!

Other things I liked:

The ending lines where they joke with the possible "meanings" of this ep - "men are evil" "LA is full of fakes" "sex is bad" - and then just flat out tell you the real one - "I have people I can count on". Fits so nicely with Angel saying he's Cordy's family earlier.

Nice bit of story foreshadowing to have Wes and Angel go off to kill some hatching demon eggs at the start of the show. Again, bonus is hearing Wes say "That was bracing!" and getting the funny bit with breaking in on the wrong couple.

Lola

[Karen]

Rachael said:

Why did Cordy think she was being punished? What'd she do wrong?

A few trends and motifs I noticed:

First, Angel (and others) are constantly sneaking up and startling people in this episode. Angel does it at least three times, Cordy does it to Wesley. . .it's very prominent, and happens over and over, and thus it must mean something. But what, I dunno.

I think that most women dealing with an unwanted pregnancy are at first startled that they ARE pregnant, and later, after the enormity of that life-changing experience sinks in, they start to wonder WHY it happened to them. They think of it as something that was done to them, but they know deep down it happened because of the choices they made.

Because pregnancy happens when you have sex. Not that it's a bad thing really - pregnancy. It takes a person over, tho, and if it's not planned, it may feel like a terrible burden. Hence the feelings of WHY? And WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS? Of course, for some, the answer seems to be because they gave in to their moment of pleasure and now must be punished.

I don't believe this, of course, but for some it's easier to blame a higher power than take responsibility for their own actions. But, you know, shit happens. And if it can happen, you should expect it might.

Rachael and Lola - I really enjoyed reading your observations. I love the "bonding" feel of this episode.