Angel
The Magic Bullet
original air-date: 04-16-03
It's hard
to imagine a set of network execs dumber than the clods running
ABC. The WB, however, is gaining fast.
Everyone
pretty much knew that the Angel - Fred kiss (complete with
suggestive voiceover) highlighted in the promo for this week's
episode was a red herring. Yet making that teaser scene an
absolute throwaway, not even a heat-of-the-moment mistake
or expression of tenderness, the WB still managed to find
possibly one way to annoy an expectant audience.
The extra
long blocks of commercials certainly didn't help either (another
but different instance of expanding shorter Angel episodes
into the hour long slot; at least this time the WB April promo
included Angel). I guess fans shouldn't expect too
much from the network that seems to be banking its future
on Jamie Kennedy.
Despite
such Frog-gravations, the episode offers up a few enjoyable
moments against a simple, linear plot and one of the cheesiest
demon costumes in the Whedonverse (though Buffy's Loan
Shark demon still holds that award by far).
The audience
certainly knows Fred will remain free and "cure"
Angel and possibly other Fang Gangers of Jasmine's spell.
Otherwise the series would be over (shhh...don't give the
WB execs any ideas, or we may see a "My Jasmine and Two
Kids" clone in the Fall lineup).
Interestingly,
Jasmine doesn't seem all that threatening at first. When visiting
with worshippers, she tells them nice things about their offspring
or personal grooming. Sort of a Kelly Ripa dosed with some
Tony Robbins and Stuart Smalley.
Of course,
there is the small matter of what's happening to those lucky
worshippers called up to her room. And the "we're all
connected" catch phrase smacks of some mystical Borg
plot that would undermine individuality.
Of course
Fred knows Jasmine is no good. She literally has to go underground
to stay free after evading some new Jas-mind powers involving
communal, remote possession ("We see Fred people.").
Fred does, however, manage to sneak in some research at an
occult bookstore. The "happy" owner is the first
of several fun moments in which the audience gets to see how
dopey the Jasmaniacs are acting. An open mike night later
on at the hotel delivers similar chuckles.
Luckily
Fred realized that Jasmine's blood is the key to breaking
the spell. Far more luckily, the bullets happens to go through
Jasmine and into Angel, who just happens to be standing right
behind her. Definitely not a stellar moment in the plot device
category.
Another
weak spot involves a hand eating "hobbit" demon.
There is no point to this scene other than to raise the question
why Jasmine's spell works on some demons, e.g., Lorne, but
not others, e.g., "Gnome-nuts" here.
A bigger
question that remains unanswered is why the blood cure does
not work on Connor. Or maybe it does, and he's just being
even more of a dick than usual (sorry, there's not point in
sugar coating it, is there?).
Overall
for this storyline to work, the writers need to up the ante.
Right now Jasmine just doesn't seem that scary. Even if she
"eats" a dozen people a week, a lot of people might
not think that's such a bad deal to ensure world peace and
bliss (of course, those same people might list Shirley Jackson's
classic "The Lottery" on their top ten reading lists).
It's like having a Bond villain who merely wants to blow up
a dam. Like Goldfinger or Karl Stromberg, Jasmine needs to
go nuclear. And even though Moonraker was of debatable
quality, Hugo Drax at least had a world changing vision.
Let's
hope the Angel writers are also visionaries.
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