Geoff's Comments about Angel, season 3
Last updated: 5 February 2004
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Angel, season 3
3.1 Heartthrob (8)
As with season 2, the opener is another briskly-paced canter on from
where the preceding season left off. This is a
passionate and sometimes intense look at love and devotion, fleshed
out with another in the ongoing tradition of flashbacks to Angel's
past and rounded off with a genuine surprise (unless you've read the
spoilers, of course).
3.2 That Vision Thing (7)
A story about looking after one's friends, laced with moral
ambiguity. It's dark and competently done, but feels like Angel
on autopilot; the lack of humour unbalances it in much the same way as
Shadow and Listening to Fear in Buffy's fifth
season.
3.3 That Old Gang of Mine (6)
A very hard episode to like. The central idea about Gunn's divided
loyalties is good, but the abrupt change from drift to violence and
tension halfway through only emphasises how, even more so than 3.2
The Vision Thing, unbalanced it is without leavening humour. Of
which there is some, to be fair, but not enough.
3.4 Carpe Noctem (6)
Not Carpe Noctum, as in the episode summaries on the box set!
Another appearance for the Body Swap plot device, giving David B an
opportunity to show his sarcastic side and the show an excuse to lapse
into some gratuitous lechery. Wesley's very disturbing dark side
apart, this is some welcome light relief in context of the season so
far, but Buffy did this much better in Doppelgängland
and Who Are You?
3.5 Fredless (8)
An odd, determinedly single-focussed and somewhat skewed episode which
halfway through subverts the expectation that Fred's parents want to
take her away against her will. Amy Acker shines amongst a fine
ensemble performance, and despite the obviously perfunctory monster
storyline it ends up cosy and quite touching.
3.6 Billy (7)
An even more shocking and difficult-to-like episode than 3.3 That
Old Gang of Mine, and probably the most disturbing to date of
either Buffy or Angel; the state of Lilah's face pretty
much says it all. It treads water for the first half, but keeps you
glued to your seat courtesy of standard horror-film clichés and a
nastily misogynistic storyline, and it does at least manage to say a
little bit about rich-kid privileges. Fred's resourcefulness puts her
in good stead once again, but right now the season's direction is
looking bewilderingly obscure.
3.7 3.8 Offspring/Quickening (8 and 8)
The start of the main story-arc. On the whole these episodes are
solider and more interesting than some of their predecessors, although
dramatically as well as chronologically they're all over the
place. The intensity of season two's best episodes is still lacking,
but Julie Benz's sarcastic world-weary performance goes some way to
making up the shortfall.
3.9 3.10 Lullaby/Dad (9 and 8)
The conclusion of this slow-burning yet ultimately draining four-part
story. All of the plot-threads are drawn together nicely, and if
Angel's paternal outbursts sometimes threaten to cheapen the effect,
Darla nonetheless gets an unexpectdly sympathetic farewell thanks to
one final helping of Julie Benz's fine work. [And, while we're at it,
let's not forget that Darla was the first character we ever saw on
Buffy.] Like the preceding two episodes the silly bits - for
example, the eidectic woman in the filing department - are handled
with amusing aplomb, and the closing hospital scenes round everything
off nicely.
3.11 Birthday (8)
Angel's first birthday episode starts out a bit like a low-key
filler, but ends up as a very interesting look at the state of
Cordelia; it clearly borrows ideas from a few Buffy episodes -
the alternate-reality storyline is very like The Wish, for
example - but it's carried off with confidence and continues to send
the season in an intriguing new direction. Three observations: (1)
What were in Cordelia's presents? (2) What part of England was the
girl in the mall supposed to be from? (3) If Cordy! isn't real,
it certainly should be. [The commentary for the deleted scene reveals
that it kept coming out too much like a parody, which is amusing
because as a parody it works very well.]
3.12 Provider (7)
Very much a less-than-serious turn of events. Plenty to be amused at,
including a brief visit from the Spanish Inquisition ("out three
number one priorities..."), but with three storylines the episode
tries to do too much and ends up not totally satisfying.
3.13 Waiting in the Wings (9)
Angel meets high culture as Joss Whedon once again demonstrates
his genius. Superficially a trip to the ballet with the regulation
supernatural twist, with Wolfram and Hart on the back burner this is
actually an opportunity to explore the relationships within the
regular cast, helped in no small measure by gorgeous direction. Even
the supernatural-plot-of-the-week, which stays out of the way for much
of the episode, gets a poignant ending. And don't miss the deleted
scene which is available on the DVD.
3.14 Couplet (8)
Another look at the inter-agency relationships, handled in a manner
which blends the humorous with the offhandedly cruel, to which the
supernatural storyline is again merely the backdrop. Wounded male egos
abound, finding refuge in the solace of the still very young Connor,
yet even this isn't going to be plain sailing.
3.15 3.16 Loyalty (7) / Sleep Tight (7)
The main story-arc returns in this odd and not totally satisfying pair
of episodes - lacking the Cordelia touch they're darker and altogether
more serious than usual, the strange scene with Wesley talking to the
giant hamburger person aside. And while the storylines are fine,
they're more than a little confusing and take a while to get going -
the first part on a bad day might be more aptly named "Lethargy". But
the ending, which draws the threads together, is surprising and
dramatically powerful.
3.17 Forgiving (8)
The aftermath. More of the same as far as mood and tone are concerned,
but it provides explanations, seems to tie everything up, and then
delivers another shocking ending which twists things around in
trademark manner.
3.18 Double or Nothing (6)
I suppose Angel can be forgiven lapses in quality like this
after the intensity of the preceding few episodes. It's an entirely
self-contained and otherwise unnecessary look at Gunn with a very
anticlimactic ending (a simple cut of the pack? Come on!). Oh,
and Cordelia returns with a new and not very appropriate haircut.
3.19 The Price (8)
The season gathers itself together for the home straight. This is
pretty much another self-contained episode with links to the main
story, but it has more urgency about it than usual - Wesley's absence,
for example, is sorely felt - and is consqeuently more successful. And
there's yet another surprise ending.
3.20 3.21 A New World / Benediction (7 and 7)
This story of reconciliation promises much; in particular, the first
episode has a cool beginning with much slow-motion fighting. And the
tone changes too, from portentious mysticism to a kind of sundazed
urban realism. But, for all this, both episodes are weighed down by
frequent dramatic longeurs which the almost total absence of a sense
of humour fails to redeem.
3.22 Tomorrow (8)
Perhaps not unexpectedly, this is the least satisfactory season finale
of either Buffy or Angel; it noticeably lacks the flair
of 1.22 To Shansu in L.A. or the sheer daftness of 2.22
There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb. Still, it's not afraid to leave
a lot of loose ends hanging - Wesley and Lilah, for example? - and
rather scarily scatters the central cast to the four winds,
culminating in the intriguing parallel ending in wich Cordy goes up
while Angel sinks down.
The DVDs
Besides the deleted scenes, the extras include the usual season
overview (which gets episodes 2 and 3 round the wrong way!) and
picture gallery, together with the screen tests for Vincent Kartheiser
and Amy Acker, the second of which is rather funny; and a brief but
entirely appropriate eulogy to Darla ("deliver us from evil").
An interesting choice of episodes to add commentaries for: the
season's best two and the most objectionable. Joss Whedon does a great
job on 3.13 Waiting in the Wings; as with the best
commentaries, it actually enhances your enjoyment of the episode. Not
so the awful mess done on 3.6 Billy by the double-act of Tim
Minear and Jeffrey Bell; the larking about it jars with the tone of
the episode, and they even apologise afterwards. Minear does better
with Mere Smith for 3.9 Lullaby, but even so the results are
merely adequate.