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| Review of Episode 12, Season 2
"Blood Money" Well, while I was kicking Deacon Frost out of his office so I could write the special review of Jane Espenson’s Jonathan comic book (in the Angel Store section), Jymm was in my chair doing a kick-ass job reviewing this weeks ep of Blood Money. In fact, he did such an awesome job that we let him have the entire page! So without further babble, we are psyched to present...
VIP Guest Reviewer ~ Jymm Thomas of Darling Violetta First, I should preface this by saying that I don’t have access to any spoilers, so anything that might sound spoilerish is just conjecture because I hate spoilers myself. The segue to the main title was pretty cool, that scene was the dramatic swell I envisioned when we were writing the theme. Sometimes it doesn’t have as much impact but that was one that had the ‘uh oh, something’s really gonna go down now!’ And that darn theme song is so good! (laugh) One of the coolest things about Buffy and Angel is they take episodic television convention and twist it in on itself. You knew right away that it wasn’t what it seemed, Gunn and Wesley were getting ready to fight, then they come back and it’s RISK. You knew it was an obvious gag, but then they turn an obvious gag into something even better which is just the hallmark of both shows. WILL THE REAL ANNE PLEASE STAND UP ~ I really liked that they put in the character of Anne. Tiny crossovers are actually, in my view, a little better than the big crossovers with major characters. I think it just makes for a nice universal feel to both shows. At the end, seeing Anne really come into her own, where she could have enough courage to just pop Angel one and get in his face about using her. Also, I think with the times we’ve seen her on Buffy, from the initial introduction of her in ‘Lie To Me’ (Buffy, Season Two) to now, we’ve seen a maturation of that character because we’ve seen her go through a lot of hell, literally, in the episode ‘Anne’ (Buffy, Season Three). THE LA SCOOBIES ~ I like the bonding of the team as a triumvirate. They’re getting over being fired, slowly but surely, and I think the team getting confidence on their own is really cool. Hopefully that will either set up some conflict or it won’t be such an easy resolution, ‘oh, Angel’s back’ whenever they re-team, if they do. I like the Wesley/Gunn interaction, especially not seeing the monster. It’s kind of like the old saying that, ‘whatever you see in your mind is going to be better than what you see on TV,’ especially with a TV budget. (laugh) Then they cap that off with what I thought was one of the greatest lines of the show, "Let’s wait ‘till it turns around." (laugh) "Wait, I thought she said it breathed fire!" The comedic meter of the show is just always -- it’s very Joss Whedon. In person he’s just funny, he’s not trying to be funny, he just is funny. I like the intertwining of comedy, drama and the horror elements, but of course everyone does if they like the show. SHORT SNIP ON CORDY ~ I thought it was unusual that Cordelia had a vision without the audience seeing it. I thought they were gonna go for, ‘oh, she’s just having a headache’ misdirection, but it was just something new. I liked Cordy’s hair in this episode. I liked it before when it was straight and shorter, she pulls off short hair really well. I think it’s a good look and they’ve sort of segued to it by actually commenting on it on the show. I was thinking the character’s supposed to be around late 19 or 20 and she pulls that off too, it’s just that she’s kind of mature. WOLFRAM & HEART ~ I like the first time we see the Boone demon or as they call him later ‘The Cowboy’. It was just really funny having a demon chastise lawyers, "Do you people know anything about honor?" I like the demon dishing the lawyers - what can I say, I’m a musician! (laugh) Towards the end of the episode, I love the digs that the lawyers make. They’re like the ruling class in society, they’re the monks who are the only ones that can read Latin so they have all this power. But the political commercial of Holland Manners just reminded me of a George W. Bush or Al Gore campaign commercial with the fake sympathy, the fake caring for people and ‘it’s just all about me, me, me’ kind of thing. Another great line was "I’d like to think I underline the heart in Wolfram & Hart." I just love the fake sincerity of the lawyers on the show. (laugh) I was wondering when we were introduced to Nathan Reed, if this is the first time we’ve seen him or not. Something that struck me was, is he’s human? Are we going to be getting into Mayor territory again, because they have very strong interests in the Apocalypse, obviously. ANGEL, ANGELUS, ANGEL ~ As always, the fights on Angel are really cool. We didn’t have a lot of fighting, at least not seen, but I really liked the spin move when Angel gets knocked around in the shelter, because it’s just ramped up from the old Buffy fights. I think of the characters in terms of comic book, epic proportions and I liked that they have reached that instead of, punch and you fall down, it’s like, you fly across the room. It’s more Matrix-y, Crouching Tiger-ish, where you get things that aren’t gonna happen in real life. It kind of helps with the super hero elements of the characters. Also, the whole Lilah thing with Angel, checking her mirror and not seeing him and then being surprised. I thought that was a really good interaction and I like the way that, I think overall, we’re getting a view of the new Angel in the last couple of episodes who’s not bad, but who’s not totally goody-goody. He’s kind of like in a by-any-means-necessary, mission-oriented place right now. I really like the character there, it’s almost a mercenary type feel, which is nice because it’s dark but it’s not ‘he’s total evil we’re gonna kill him’ or he’s totally goody-goody and he can’t do anything outside the law. Hopefully it goes even darker because I like the dark side. (I don’t like Dark Angel! Bad, bad! On against our show!) (laugh) and it gives him the opportunity for some great lines like, "The begging, that comes later." INSIDE THE LINES ~ I was amused when Angel was revealing the plan of Wolfram & Hart to do some creative accounting. I just couldn’t help but thinking of the way that record labels and movie studios do it. (laugh) I’m sure that was in the minds of the writers. The whole ‘meet & greet’ with the stars of the TV show, just a funny twist out of left field. I haven’t been to too many fundraisers, so I don’t know if they usually do theme type things like that, but it was just kind of interesting and another element of creativity on the part of the writers. A couple of really funny lines were the reference to Willow and Tara, " . . . this thing about making your character gay. Is that, like, all about the ratings because I don’t get it…?" I found myself on the floor laughing about that and there’s always a few lines like that in every episode which is great. Wesley’s striping was really funny the second time I watched even more because I could look at the reaction shots. On Lilah, for example, who was very interested in what was going on on the screen even in the midst of all this turmoil that she’s in. (laugh) That was killing me! TO SUM UP ~ I thought it was a really good episode. I thought this might be a stand alone episode, monster of the week, kind of thing but it turned out to be a little more in-depth. I like that the series is going in that direction, even when there is a featured creature or featured event, there’s always a lot of story thread going through which was sort of missing from the first season. We learned a little bit more of the vampire lore or at least I did, about the ability to enter a demon lair without having to be invited. Then the blood money at the end and Anne’s great line, which is, "It’ll wash." It’s a good thing that she’ll be back as a recurring character like Kate. Overall, I really liked this episode, it actually grew on me more with the re-watch, because of all the little things and knowing the second time watching it that Anne was Lily/Chanterelle. I think a capper line on the episode was, "That’s the difference between you and me, you still care." which is good. I like, again, the inner character conflict going on in Angel. He’s not bad, he’s still good but he has to get this done and he knows the enormity of taking care of Wolfram & Hart. This is turning out to be a really cool season! I give it... CoA would like to thank Jymm for the extreme amount of time and effort he put into his review for us. He actually had a ton more to say so if you’d like to read the full transcript and learn a little fun fact about Jymm, you can download it here. Be sure to check out all of the band’s haps on their web site at: www.DarlingVioletta.com |
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Wesley: You think I don't have what it takes. Gunn: I know you don't have what it takes. Wesley: I guess we'll just have to find out. Gunn: Come on English. Make your move. 'Cause it'll be your last. (They roll the dice) Gunn: And now I rule Europe, Australia and South America. Wesley: I've still got Kamchakta. Gunn: Three-fifths of the world covered in water, the rest covered in me. Who's your ruler baby. What's my name. Come on English say it, dog. Wesley: Oh, God... Wesley: Wait... wait till its back is turned... NOW! (Massive flame burst - Gunn and Wesley jump back and wave the air) Angel: I ask you for a favor and you're avoiding me. That's impolite. Merl: Hey, what about my hundred bucks? Anne: Well, let's see what you got. (pulling out girl's top) Well, that's not what I expected. What's the matter? Doesn't fit you anymore? Angel: I just had to drop by and congratulate you on your big promotion. Co-Vice President of special projects! Wow! That's super. You deserve it, and so much more. Secretary: (over the intercom) Mr. McDonald? Your 10 o'clock is here. Lilah: So, what if this guys as good as he says and actually kills Angel? Cordelia: And you weren't scared? Gunn: Our new Agency. Angel: Anne? Lilah: How do I know you're not on one of your Kamikaze missions with me as your co-pilot? Angel: Do you believe that? Boone: He doesn't have it. Are you okay? I tried to cushion the fall. Lindsey: You don't have us on tape, do you. Anne: (holds up a soiled stack of bills) What's this? |
