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Angel
Episode Air Date 10/08/01We introduce the Chriscrotty, a fearsome sinus demon.
Being a huge fan of both Angel and Buffy, it is ironic that as a youth I did not like any story involving vampires. Despite a near insatiable appetite for things sci-fi and fantasy, I found Count Dracula and his blood sucking ilk, well, boring. Batman, however, was a different story. Neat gadgets, campy dialogue, and a pleasing parade of guest supervillains (and villainesses. Julie Newmar's Catwoman, anyone?)
In one episode, Cliff Robertson parodied himself as the cowboy gone bad, Shame. At one point Shame actually pulls a revolver on the Caped Crusader. Batman derides Shame: "Shame on you, Shame." Isn't it beneath him? Is a gun the best Shame can do? With all the whacked-out technology available to the modern supervillain (let's see that catalog), guns just didn't belong on Batman. Who wants an Uzi when you can turn the Dynamic Duo into giant postage stamps or a pair of Frosty Freezes?
Likewise, guns don't belong on Angel (though Gunn does). With a universe of demons, dark magic, vampires, and (gasp) attorneys, the writers should not have to resort to machine gun toting baddies to create suspense.
The episode opens with Angel attempting to apologize to Merle the snitch (why?). The writers, in their continuing attempts to "humanize" demons, try unsuccessfully for some laughs. As Lloyd Bentsen might have said to Merle: "I knew Skip. Skip was my friend. And you are no Skip." Fortunately for us, Merle is soon converted to a green frappe by some unknown force instantly recognizable as a Cuisinart demon. The subsequent investigation reveals multiple victims, all "harmless" demons including an amusing squeaky-voiced, Glug (think Big Gulp) drinking Yarbani.
Meanwhile, Gunn visits his old crew, now headed up by friend Rondelle and newcomer Geo, involved in an inner city manifestation of the Salem witch trials (via Miami). Seems the crew has been viciously eradicating anything even resembling a demon. Hmmm…guess how these two plot lines come together.
And once again we suffer through the obligatory WAWGTDAFS (what are we going to do about Fred subplot ). At least this week it yielded some good laughs, e.g., "She seems to be laughing at something that shrub just said" (Cordelia), and "That's a stroke. I wasn't trying to be snooty" (Fred). Unfortunately, the Furies obsessed with Angel's anatomy got old fast (like on the preview and commercial).
So what did we get from this week's throwaway episode? Out-of-place guns and a poor attempt to distract from the real plot, i.e., Darla's pregnancy and the new bad boy for Wolfram & Hart (the guy in the fire cage, not the real estate lawyer, though the latter may be a dark horse).
Shame on you, Angel.
