REUNION: Shock to the System

[Queen E]

Here's the place for comments, etc.

[Sara]

Excellent review as always, Erin. Cripes, I'd already laughed out loud twice before the first paragraph was over, and you hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

You pointed out so many things I'd never noticed about this episode I don't know where to begin: the callback to "Lie to Me," the way Angel's single-mindedness was so evocative of his alter ego, how he's beginning to conflate Wolfram & Hart and TPTB in his mind, the expression that mirrors Holland Manners. Great, great stuff. If it wasn't so late, I'd be tempted to pop the episode in my dvd player right now so I can watch it with the fresh perspective you've bestowed on me.

I also thought you did a great job showing how time was a recurring theme, and the way the characters keep proving the old axiom about what happens when you assume. Oh, and I loved this: "He cuts his friends out of his life because they are not only his conscience, but his reflection. He has smashed his mirrors." Very powerful and evocative, and absolutely dead on: since he's unable to produce a reflection, Angel can only see himself as he appears to others. Thus your imagery, combined with knowing what the next episode brings, brought to mind for me one of the moral questions often evoked when talking about the power to be invisible: what is a person capable of when they don't have to look themself (or anyone else) in the eye?

Come to think of it, that's very much what happens to any human who's turned in Joss' 'verse: they interact with the world exactly like you'd expect from someone who no longer has to face themself in the mirror. Hmm...

Again, awesome job as always. I'll be looking forward to the next.

[Onjel]

"Lilah, Holland, and Lindsey on hand like evil fairy godparents" God, I love this line. ;D

"As horrible as Angel’s role in this was, it’s hard not to see the poetic justice of Holland’s fate." Oh definitely. I felt a thrill of guilt that I was so satisfied with Holland's fate, while feeling disappointed in Angel at the same time. He so resembled Angelus there, without the change in speech patterns, that it was very disquieting.

Fabulous review, Erin, as always! I'm not much for pithy commentary, but I read your reviews and gain a lot of insight into the episodes, which prepares me for additional viewings and seeing things I missed before. I did not pay particular attention to the focus on time and birth, though now that you mention it, birth is very forshadowy, given the coming birth of Connor some months hence.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this. It's been very enriching.

[Queen E]

yorick said:

Excellent review as always, Erin. Cripes, I'd already laughed out loud twice before the first paragraph was over, and you hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

Yay! I do enjoy making people laugh.

You pointed out so many things I'd never noticed about this episode I don't know where to begin: the callback to "Lie to Me," the way Angel's single-mindedness was so evocative of his alter ego, how he's beginning to conflate Wolfram & Hart and TPTB in his mind, the expression that mirrors Holland Manners. Great, great stuff. If it wasn't so late, I'd be tempted to pop the episode in my dvd player right now so I can watch it with the fresh perspective you've bestowed on me.

My evil plot...less sleep, more Angel! I knew the "run and catch" song familiar...but of all the episodes for it to be in. It fit just too well. As for the rest, Angel is certainly an obsessive chap at the best of times, but never more so than he is in Season 2, sans Angelus. It's almost a positive, in one respect, because Season 2 represents the closest he gets to integration. Then again, nothing exposes the cracks in the psyche like a child. Knowing how it ends, too, his frustration at the "strings" in his life really hit. The Wolfram and Hart string is obvious, but the PTB really hit me in this re-viewing...and how similar to Darla he was in his rage at being anyone's puppet. "Grandmum don't eat the double-speak." Neither does "Daddy."

I also thought you did a great job showing how time was a recurring theme, and the way the characters keep proving the old axiom about what happens when you assume. Oh, and I loved this: "He cuts his friends out of his life because they are not only his conscience, but his reflection. He has smashed his mirrors." Very powerful and evocative, and absolutely dead on: since he's unable to produce a reflection, Angel can only see himself as he appears to others. Thus your imagery, combined with knowing what the next episode brings, brought to mind for me one of the moral questions often evoked when talking about the power to be invisible: what is a person capable of when they don't have to look themself (or anyone else) in the eye?

Precisely. (And now that's making me wonder about the newest character in "Heroes"; when fandom brains collide!) Of course, when we get to Pylea, the question shifts...how exactly does it feel to see yourself after all these years? And what does that mean to the demon inside?

Come to think of it, that's very much what happens to any human who's turned in Joss' 'verse: they interact with the world exactly like you'd expect from someone who no longer has to face themself in the mirror. Hmm...

Again, awesome job as always. I'll be looking forward to the next.

For some reason, this is making me think of Jesse; that being vamped gave him the "confidence" to approach Cordelia. Minor, I know, but not being faced with your own gawky adolescence in the mirror has to be freeing in its way. Maybe that's why vamps come across as so confident.

And thank you so much, both for your compliments and insightful comments!

[Queen E]

onjel said:

"Lilah, Holland, and Lindsey on hand like evil fairy godparents" God, I love this line. ;D

"As horrible as Angel’s role in this was, it’s hard not to see the poetic justice of Holland’s fate." Oh definitely. I felt a thrill of guilt that I was so satisfied with Holland's fate, while feeling disappointed in Angel at the same time. He so resembled Angelus there, without the change in speech patterns, that it was very disquieting.

Hee! Thanks...rewatching that scene made me flash on some of the grimmer Grimms! And that's the beauty part of dramatic catharsis; you can enjoy the poetic justice in a safe environment. I think we're supposed to feel both with and for Angel. We can understand why he lets it happen, and we understand why it's wrong that he let it happen.

Fabulous review, Erin, as always! I'm not much for pithy commentary, but I read your reviews and gain a lot of insight into the episodes, which prepares me for additional viewings and seeing things I missed before. I did not pay particular attention to the focus on time and birth, though now that you mention it, birth is very forshadowy, given the coming birth of Connor some months hence.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this. It's been very enriching.

Aw, thanks! I'm so glad if these are enjoyed, and enhance one's enjoyment of the episode...then my goal is met! And these season 2 episodes hit the "time" theme so much, even I was getting sick of it..."yup, time again." Until it hit me why it's revisted again and again.

Thank you again for your comments and insight!

[Lola m]

Erin, I was positively squeeeing when I saw you had your analysis done for this ep, as it is one of my all time favorite AtS ones. Everything about it is just sooo perfect. It has Dru (yay!) and Darla! Emotionally unhealthy Lindsey and snarky Lilah! Wacky AI gang hijinks (“Man, somehow that weirds me out more than the whole bloodsucking thing.”, the bit with the kid worshipping Morgog)! Holland Manners and the lawyers in the people wine cellar!! And the best Angel line ever – “And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care.” MAN, I love this ep!

Ahem. OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s get back to your analysis. ;D

First, a mini snicker-snort for the little “Princess Bride” ref you snuck in there.

I liked how you point out that even W&H do not come out well in this ep. I think that aspect of chaos and the inability to control what they’ve created is one of the aspects of the “Darla back from the dead” arc that I love best. (Well, that and the lovely way this is the starting point for all the insanity to come, reaching all the way forward thru pregnancy, Connor, Jasmine and making a deal with the W&H devil.) But I love how no one is really able to tell which way things are going to go – and not just because Drusilla is in the mix. And we know that things will continue to be unpredictable, heck, the Shanshu prophesy is rooted in that uncertainty. The whole “which side will he be on” bit.

Nice examples of time (wine needing to age was a particularly nice catch). The whole ep really is one big “race against time”, isn’t it? As you point out, Angel was not in time to save Darla several times before, and this ep is no exception. Perhaps he should have been wondering a bit more about why he kept being foiled, eh? But he doesn’t want to listen. Not to TPTB, not to Lorne (thank you for reminding me about connection!!).

Wonderful dissection of Hollandl!! Such wonderful HM scenes we get in this ep, so appropriate as his swan song – hubris, indeed. (Well, penultimate swan song, as we’re not quite done with him yet.)

You put your finger right exactly on it when you said:

If there is one quality that Angelus, Drusilla, Darla, and Spike share, it is that they hate being controlled. For all his skill at manipulating Angel, Holland miscalculates badly, first by hiring Drusilla (as George Sr. on Arrested Development might have said: “You don’t hire crazy!”), second, by assuming that Darla would be grateful for her transformation, and finally, by relying on the good will he fought against in Angel. He lives only long enough to have his own words thrown in his face: “And yet, I can’t seem to care,” by the one he set out to destroy. As horrible as Angel’s role in this was, it’s hard not to see the poetic justice of Holland’s fate.

**bolded emphasis mine**
In season 5, Lindsey will get caught by that same mistake – not quite realising just how much Angel and Spike dislike and resist being manipulated by anyone, good side or bad side. As you point out, Angel isn’t exactly receptive to TPTB’s meddling either. Nor does Spike appreciate it. The characters of the show and we fans have often speculated how similar the Senior Partners and TPTB may be.

I also really appreciate your understanding of the whole vampire family dynamic. I love how as Drusilla weeps and tries to explain that she was only doing what she thought “mummy” would want, we see Darla move from anger to . . . appreciation of her newly re-vamped state. Well, moves from anger at Dru to anger at the appropriate source. W&H and Holland in particular. As you point out, the key to this new Darla is intense, controlled, yet obvious, anger. (I’m glad you quoted the song lyrics – I had never really thought to connect them with Darla and yet they fit perfectly. More perfectly with her than the rather sad little man in the garage.)

There is so much in this ep that will resurface later. You wrote:

Like Angelus, his vision is getting increasingly narrow; he has a goal, and woe betide those who stand in its way. “Still with the Darla of it?” Cordelia said in “Guise Will Be Guise.” Change that “still” to “only” and you have where Angel is now. He can’t see the parallels between him sacrificing everything for Darla and this boy giving up his life for Morgog.

And I immediately thought not only of the arc of this season, but how we will come back to that tunnel vision at the end of season 4, start of season 5. Angel will once again not want to see how giving up everything for Connor meant sacrificing his friends (their memories) and potentially his mission. As you point out, it’s not death that keeps getting mentioned over and over. It’s birth. It’s Connor that this is all leading toward.

Wonderful insights and things that made me think, Erin! Looking forward to the next ep analysis muchly.

[Lola m]

yorick said:

Excellent review as always, Erin. Cripes, I'd already laughed out loud twice before the first paragraph was over, and you hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet.

You pointed out so many things I'd never noticed about this episode I don't know where to begin: the callback to "Lie to Me," the way Angel's single-mindedness was so evocative of his alter ego, how he's beginning to conflate Wolfram & Hart and TPTB in his mind, the expression that mirrors Holland Manners. Great, great stuff. If it wasn't so late, I'd be tempted to pop the episode in my dvd player right now so I can watch it with the fresh perspective you've bestowed on me.

I also thought you did a great job showing how time was a recurring theme, and the way the characters keep proving the old axiom about what happens when you assume. Oh, and I loved this: "He cuts his friends out of his life because they are not only his conscience, but his reflection. He has smashed his mirrors." Very powerful and evocative, and absolutely dead on: since he's unable to produce a reflection, Angel can only see himself as he appears to others. Thus your imagery, combined with knowing what the next episode brings, brought to mind for me one of the moral questions often evoked when talking about the power to be invisible: what is a person capable of when they don't have to look themself (or anyone else) in the eye?

Ooooh, nicely put!! Angel tells himself that he is needs the aloneness to bring out enough of his "dark side", block out the humanity, to be a better hunter of Darla and Dru. But . . . .

Come to think of it, that's very much what happens to any human who's turned in Joss' 'verse: they interact with the world exactly like you'd expect from someone who no longer has to face themself in the mirror. Hmm...

Again, awesome job as always. I'll be looking forward to the next.

[Lola m]

onjel said:

"Lilah, Holland, and Lindsey on hand like evil fairy godparents" God, I love this line. ;D

**nods** ;D

"As horrible as Angel’s role in this was, it’s hard not to see the poetic justice of Holland’s fate." Oh definitely. I felt a thrill of guilt that I was so satisfied with Holland's fate, while feeling disappointed in Angel at the same time. He so resembled Angelus there, without the change in speech patterns, that it was very disquieting.

Fabulous review, Erin, as always! I'm not much for pithy commentary, but I read your reviews and gain a lot of insight into the episodes, which prepares me for additional viewings and seeing things I missed before. I did not pay particular attention to the focus on time and birth, though now that you mention it, birth is very forshadowy, given the coming birth of Connor some months hence.

**nods even more**

Thanks again for taking the time to do this. It's been very enriching.

[Queen E]

lolam said:

Erin, I was positively squeeeing when I saw you had your analysis done for this ep, as it is one of my all time favorite AtS ones. Everything about it is just sooo perfect. It has Dru (yay!) and Darla! Emotionally unhealthy Lindsey and snarky Lilah! Wacky AI gang hijinks (“Man, somehow that weirds me out more than the whole bloodsucking thing.”, the bit with the kid worshipping Morgog)! Holland Manners and the lawyers in the people wine cellar!! And the best Angel line ever – “And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care.” MAN, I love this ep!

Oh, WORD to all that. Not to mention: "I'm ringing! I'm ringing all over!" bit.

Ahem. OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s get back to your analysis. ;D

First, a mini snicker-snort for the little “Princess Bride” ref you snuck in there.

What can I say? I was in that kind of mood.

I liked how you point out that even W&H do not come out well in this ep. I think that aspect of chaos and the inability to control what they’ve created is one of the aspects of the “Darla back from the dead” arc that I love best. (Well, that and the lovely way this is the starting point for all the insanity to come, reaching all the way forward thru pregnancy, Connor, Jasmine and making a deal with the W&H devil.) But I love how no one is really able to tell which way things are going to go – and not just because Drusilla is in the mix. And we know that things will continue to be unpredictable, heck, the Shanshu prophesy is rooted in that uncertainty. The whole “which side will he be on” bit.

And that's why I feel like the Fang Gang will always be the ones who come out slightly ahead...they are used to living in ambiguity, and will always account for the chaos of every day life. Whereas W & H always wants to be 5 steps ahead of the game, and, more importantly, always THINKS they are ahead of the game. Drusilla is a nice metaphor, in this episode, for how little anyone can actually control.

Nice examples of time (wine needing to age was a particularly nice catch). The whole ep really is one big “race against time”, isn’t it? As you point out, Angel was not in time to save Darla several times before, and this ep is no exception. Perhaps he should have been wondering a bit more about why he kept being foiled, eh? But he doesn’t want to listen. Not to TPTB, not to Lorne (thank you for reminding me about connection!!).

Thanks! Funny, I've actually been to a wine tasting, but no vampires crashed it, so, phew. And that's where we have the difference between Angel and W & H; they are the ultimate order (and all that implies), and Angel, as used to living in chaos as he is, doesn't adjust his thinking for it; ie, he gets lost in it, not ever taking the time to consider the broader implications of what's going on...

Wonderful dissection of Hollandl!! Such wonderful HM scenes we get in this ep, so appropriate as his swan song – hubris, indeed. (Well, penultimate swan song, as we’re not quite done with him yet.)

Thanks! I do love Holland; he was so engagingly evil.

You put your finger right exactly on it when you said:

If there is one quality that Angelus, Drusilla, Darla, and Spike share, it is that they hate being controlled. For all his skill at manipulating Angel, Holland miscalculates badly, first by hiring Drusilla (as George Sr. on Arrested Development might have said: “You don’t hire crazy!”), second, by assuming that Darla would be grateful for her transformation, and finally, by relying on the good will he fought against in Angel. He lives only long enough to have his own words thrown in his face: “And yet, I can’t seem to care,” by the one he set out to destroy. As horrible as Angel’s role in this was, it’s hard not to see the poetic justice of Holland’s fate.

**bolded emphasis mine**
In season 5, Lindsey will get caught by that same mistake – not quite realising just how much Angel and Spike dislike and resist being manipulated by anyone, good side or bad side. As you point out, Angel isn’t exactly receptive to TPTB’s meddling either. Nor does Spike appreciate it. The characters of the show and we fans have often speculated how similar the Senior Partners and TPTB may be.

I think it has something to do with either separating themselves too much or overly involving themselves from human affairs. One is too far away and one is too close to see clearly. The PTBs are somewhat more in the right in this; I think the ultimate objective is not to influence, but to allow enough free will to allow humans to make their own decisions. The SPs, on the other hand, are very actively pushing their agenda, and manipulating circumstances to make it come about. Jasmine may have thought she was right in intervention, but I think her very obvious agenda was supposed to push us in the opposite direction. As hard as it might be, the theme of the show is so obviously adjusting to being "on your own" and being an adult. Regardless of the frustration the good guys feel, they definitely come to some understanding of that after the Jasmine debacle. Only, of course, to be undermined by the Senior Partners.

I also really appreciate your understanding of the whole vampire family dynamic. I love how as Drusilla weeps and tries to explain that she was only doing what she thought “mummy” would want, we see Darla move from anger to . . . appreciation of her newly re-vamped state. Well, moves from anger at Dru to anger at the appropriate source. W&H and Holland in particular. As you point out, the key to this new Darla is intense, controlled, yet obvious, anger. (I’m glad you quoted the song lyrics – I had never really thought to connect them with Darla and yet they fit perfectly. More perfectly with her than the rather sad little man in the garage.)

Well, they so rarely used modern music in the show, it always seems to have some significance to the plot. The sad part of Darla's anger is that it really shows us that she had accepted her fate before W & H took it all away. And eetah on Lindsey; he should have learned his lesson. He's dealt with 3 out of 4 of that vampire family; why would he think Spike would be any different? Was it because Spike was so attached to Buffy that Lindsey interpreted that as "weakness" or an ability to be controlled? Doesn't say a whole lot for Lindsey's view of relationships...

There is so much in this ep that will resurface later. You wrote:

Like Angelus, his vision is getting increasingly narrow; he has a goal, and woe betide those who stand in its way. “Still with the Darla of it?” Cordelia said in “Guise Will Be Guise.” Change that “still” to “only” and you have where Angel is now. He can’t see the parallels between him sacrificing everything for Darla and this boy giving up his life for Morgog.

And I immediately thought not only of the arc of this season, but how we will come back to that tunnel vision at the end of season 4, start of season 5. Angel will once again not want to see how giving up everything for Connor meant sacrificing his friends (their memories) and potentially his mission. As you point out, it’s not death that keeps getting mentioned over and over. It’s birth. It’s Connor that this is all leading toward.

Wonderful insights and things that made me think, Erin! Looking forward to the next ep analysis muchly.

Oh, definitely. He even has it immediately after Connor is born, until Cordelia manages to bust him out of it and let people in to help. Of couse, once Connor is lost, that's it. Angel will never see the broader perspective again, at least until "Origin."

And thanks so much! You always make me think new and shiny thoughts too!