Angel
1943
original air-date: 02-11-04
When Angel
was first introduced as a character, all that anybody really
cared about was telling a good story. Back in the fledgling
days of the WB, Joss Whedon and his writers hoped to make it
through twelve episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and
let it go at that. But a funny thing happens once a show gets
successful. It develops continuity. And with continuity comes
baggage.
Flash
forward eight years, and it's kind of a mess. The whole explanation
for vampirism has gotten hazy - initially they were demons,
but more and more often they seem to be just the worst side
of their original human personalities. Even the process of
siring them wavers depending on a story's needs.
Then
there's the lead vampire himself.
Had Angel
remained just a supporting character, it would have been okay
that he had spent several decades brooding, moping, and generally
bemoaning his sins. But as its own premise, it cuts out a
lot of potential, and slowly, the writers have been finding
"exceptions" to his long exile from humanity.
Most
of these have been presented as failures in Angel's past,
where he tried to do the right thing and somehow, something
still went awry. Because he has to feel guilty, the past always
comes back to haunt him.
Not only
did this seem like a hackneyed way to get to the action of
"1943" (set, naturally, in 1943), even the writers, Drew Goddard
and Steven S. DeKnight, seemed to know it. Scenes set in the
present played out rather perfunctorily, leading one to wonder
why they didn't just throw in the towel and do an entire episode
set in the past. Because there, continuity hounds, some cool
stuff happened.
Ah, yes,
you say, it has to somehow tie into the overall storyline,
or at least deliver on a theme behind the season. So a majority
of the Fang Gang has to be immediately put in peril - two
captures are shown, and poor Gunn, who probably had the best
fight, has it completely offscreen.
Their
captor? A clean-cut young navy man, Ensign Lawson, claiming
to be an old friend of Angel's. Since he hasn't aged a day
since 1943, we know that something supernatural must be afoot.
(There's also the clue in the opening tag - Lawson dragging
his submarine commander away from something that has ripped
his throat open. You only have one shot at guessing what it
is.)
To make
it plausible that the brooding Angel would have joined the
war effort, the writers present us with the beginnings of
The Initiative. It's a nice touch to see the embryonic stage
of the governmental agency, and a reminder of the depth of
this mythos that we can go years without hearing about it.
Lawson's crew has captured a Nazi submarine, but obviously,
something has killed most of the crew, Axis and Allies. Uncle
Sam needs Angel to weigh himself down to the ocean floor and
see if he can complete the mission.
Once
onboard, he encounters a swastika-clad Spike. "You're a Nazi?"
Angel asks incredulously. "Nah," a black-haired William the
Bloody replies, "just ate one."
Spike
isn't alone. It seems the Germans have been gathering vampires,
hoping to dissect them and somehow duplicate their powers
for a super-army. Though Lawson expresses contempt for the
plan, Spike quickly realizes that the U.S. wants to try the
same thing if they can. (See Buffy's season four villain,
Adam.)
With
a couple of cool concepts swirling around, the episode still
falls a little flat. Once we realize it's just vampires -
wow, when did they become so mundane? - there's not a lot
of tension onboard. Angel manages to keep Spike and "The Prince
of Lies" in control fairly easily. The usual submarine story
conflicts arise - call it The Hunt for Blood Red October.
And then come the continuity issues.
Spike
seems unaware that Angel has a soul, and takes him at face
value as his old running mate. Darla never mentioned why Angelus
wasn't hanging around with them anymore?
It serves
the purpose of the plot, but not the big picture. To be fair,
Spike also doesn't seem very different from the way he is
in the present, perhaps a sop to those who have come late
to the party and see him as a heartthrob. But there isn't
even an attempt to have either character use the slang of
the day. If there weren't Nazis involved (and only superficially),
you would have no idea this was set in the past.
You would
know, however, that it's set in the Marvel Universe, as one
sailor calls Angel a super-soldier, "…like Captain America
or Steve Rogers." He's quickly corrected by his buddy that
the two are one and the same. Sure, they could be talking
comic books, but remember that Willow was taught to control
her witchcraft by the Fantastic Four's governess. Clearly,
Whedon would be happy to throw his whole universe in to Joe
Quesada's playpen.
But I
digress. Back in Sunnydale, it seemed like anybody sucked
dry by a vampire automatically became one. But with this episode
(and if memory serves, not for the first time on Angel),
it's a much more involved process. Lawson's inevitable transformation
may come as no surprise, but guest star Eyal Podell fails
to play the emotional conflict up.
Sure,
in 1943 there's no time for it anyway, but the only way for
the framing sequence to work is to see his internal struggle,
which the dialogue hints is constant. We're supposed to come
away understanding the difference between a regular vampire
siring and one involving a soul. But only because Angel says
so.
In the
end, it's all just a convenience to kill time with an episode.
Why Lawson has chosen this time to return never becomes clear.
If he has plotted revenge all along, then why has he checked
up on Angel every ten years or so and done nothing? Every
vampire in the country supposedly came to L.A. last year to
worship Jasmine, but Lawson must have had a hair appointment
or something.
He sought
purpose. At least, that's Angel's terse analysis. But so do
we. In that regard, "1943" comes up short. Take heart, however,
because next week Angel will get transformed into a pissed-off
muppet, and I can hardly wait.
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