-Thanks yabyumpan as always- particularly this time as I was getting withdrawal symptoms from such great previous episodes, and you got the new ones to me very quickly.
-A quick addendum to 2.2. I realised the other day what the Hyperion had been reminding me of. There's an oldish dilapidated hotel right in the centre of Leamington Spa called 'The Regent'. It's been slowly crumbling away, despite being right next to the rather grand town hall, for what looks like decades. It's boarded up, adn appears to be completely deserted. I for one have no idea why, but it's just sitting there, as if slowly sucking the life out of the town- also rather like a relic of lost British Imperialism. That's eerily close to the Hyperion, in my view, [except for the British Imperialism bit, I guess]. Just thought I'd mention it.

These three episodes were not up to quite the same standard as the supreme 'The Trial'/'Reunion'/'Redefinition combo, but then I still think those are the best three back-to-back episodes I've seen on either show, so I suppose it isn't that surprising. These episodes as usual sent me into some (perhaps weird) literary places. Apologies in advance for the extreme random-ness of my brain. Hey, it's the only one I've got.

2.12- 'Blood Money'

I felt this episode was perhaps a little bit too structured. By this I mean that the basic interest in the episode was held by the plot twists, with rather sparse offerings to hold interest in between. However, as a result of the (admittedly fiendishly clever) turns and double-backs at the end, the first two acts, which appeared to be setting up a simple confrontation, seemed to me deadly slow. Was it nice to see Anne again? Certainly. As usual in the Whedonverse, we see that most characters can be redeemed by being shown their own strength and given care and love by others. In this case, Chanterelle is in exactly the same position as Buffy in the Season 2/3 hiatus. Buffy does something quite incredible, and in the heroic mode, by finding inner strength all on her own. Chanterelle treads the easier path of finding strength from Buffy's concern and self=confidence. By the time of Buffy's leaving, Chanterelle respects Buffy so much that she asks to take the name 'Anne', as even what Buffy did under that name was enough of a model for her.

Here we see that she has found the strength to drag herself out of poverty and terror, and not only make a life for herself, but really continue the abstract Anne's work. But nothing is easy in Los Angeles, and by the end of the episode, we're shown that black and white simply don't exist. This is one of the most incredibly daring final scenes of the series I've seen. We see Angel, the monumentally flawed, battling presence, basically bet on a whim with his demon friend. And Anne accepts the money. Nobody is whiter than white, and where the money has come from is ultimately less important than what the money can do for her. A deeply morally ambiguous conclusion. Before the very final scene, there is an 'Enemies' type twist. Now I have to admit that I fall for these every single time. I had no idea Angel was acting in 'Enemies', and I had no idea Boole was double agent-ing here. However, in 'Enemies', the result of the plot twist is simple. Angel was good all along, and good triumphs, (except for the fallout that Angelus appears to be lurking inside Angel). In 'Blood Money', the resolution is many more complicated moral resonances. Firstly, it appears that our [OK, my] attempt to believe that Angel is doing the right thing by Anne is undermined. He has merely used Anne as a pawn to capture the double-dealing nature of the company. And beyond that, Anne, having made her final decision to go ahead with the fundraiser, is robbed of the money she would have received. She gets it back, but only on Angel's rather warped terms. Meanwhile, he also manages to embarass Cordelia and Wesley by using their tapes as the apparently damaging one to Wolfram and Hart, thereby committing an egregious act of betrayal to his one-time-friends, even beyond sacking them. Angel is a darned difficult character to like at the moment, but that's the fun. I still identify, even though he is not just a flawed character, (as Buffy is), but a character knowingly making reprehensible moral decisions just because he feels wronged by Wolfram and Hart. This is becoming a fascinating portrayal of a really epic character who slides along the scale from White Hat to Big Bad like a well-greased snake.

Other thoughts:
-It was really interesting to have Anne as the Victim-of-the-Week character. At this stage of the proceedings, it is impossible to trust Angel's motives, and, despite her apparent new leaf in 'Anne', it is impossible to trust hers. Therefore, we're into a complex guessing game of just who is being honest. The only given is that Wolfram and Hart are being entirely devious, and even this leads to the question of whether there was a degree of altruism in their fundraising (probably not).

-The other story is about the remaining members of Angel Investigations still working under the motto of 'We help the helpless'. It's interesting to see just how the actions of Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn attempts are affected by Angel, just as Lilah and Lindsay's are. We are clearly meant to make the parallel, as there is the obvious analogue of the vacuum of leadership in both groups. Lilah and Lindsay have trouble working well because neither of them is in command. Similarly, neither Cordelia nor Gunn is willing to accept the idea of a 'Wyndham-Price agency', (an ingenious echo of the end of 'Guise Will Be Guise'). While Angel affects Lilah and Lindsay positively, he affects Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn negatively. By this I mean that the lawyers are disrupted by his presence, while the remnants of the Fang Gang are disrupted by his absence. While Lilah and Lindsay plead with the higher powers to let them take Angel out, the Investigations crew are suffering from the negative space of Angel's absence. The name hanging over their heads, and the unresolved conflict between Wes and Gunn.

-Holland Manners on the video was as slippery as ever, and the posthumousness reminded me a lot of Mayor Wilkins recording in 'This Year's Girl', although without some of the immense evil pathos Harry Groener brought to his role.

-Not a bad episode, but plodd-y to begin with.

2.13 'Happy Anniversary'

I might be considered a little deranged for this- I don't really know- but I think 'Happy Anniversary is easily my favourite of these three episodes. Partly because a thought which had been brewing in my mind crystallised, [hmmm, bizarre mixed metaphor, sorry]. It's the title of this post- David Greenwalt is a demon.

This might make sense eventually. The demon I'm referring to is a green-skinned, red-eyed one. You got it. Lorne. Let me explain a little.

Firstly, there was that iconic moment at the start of Season Two where we are introduced to him singing 'I Will Survive'. How completely strange. And to me that symbolised all that Greenwalt is about- quirkiness, humour in unlikely places, and the slight subversiveness of the son breaking away from the Father [Whedon]. Then in Lorne's subsequent appearances, the fact that he was empathic meant that he would often give the important plot point, revealing the emotions of the characters, but always in a slightly distant way, like he didn't really care one way or the other, (why would he?)

And now here, we have another very funny Greenwalt episode, possibly the funniest of the season so far, and we're told much of the plot by Lorne. He reveals the oncoming apocalypse slowly, and with many hilarious irrelevant diversions on the way. Then, as we are plunged into the middle of the episode, it becomes clear that the writer is doing just the same with the plot- slowly revealing how the world is about to end- and uncovering it as the marvellous Lorne and Angel duo uncover the hidden truths themselves. They eventually stop the apocalypse, after much prevarication on the part of Lorne. Just as Greenwalt prevaricates for fun and laughs. And we have Lorne to wrap it up at the end with the physicist and Angel, giving the (slightly trite) moral of the story. So Lorne, clearly portrayed as the narrator several times in the episode, in fact has a role which goes one step further, for now at least- to portray the laconic creator's own thoughts. To be aloof from the story but rather intrigued. And, of course, he can sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' with effortless beauty. Which is always good. Three references in this episode, one of which may require you to narrow your eyes slightly and stare as if you're doing a Magic Eye thing. But they work for me.

1) Perhaps the most obvious reference- that to the science fiction genre. Buffy is usually fantasy, and Angel sometimes fits there as well, but each have their elements of science fiction. Here Whedon/Greenwalt go one step further with the story, putting in a well-observed if initially stereotypical quantam scientist and seeing how science might affect the world in which we live. The frozen water-drops was quite a compelling visual symbol, both of thepower and the unnaturalness of freezing time.

2) There's the very funny, playful reference to Sherlock Holmes. Wesley, in a fashion just teetering on the edge between believable yet funny and pure camp, clears up the family intrigue in true Conan Doyle style. You're just waiting for him to call Cordelia 'Watson' and of course his ridiculously over-blown Englishness (with the walking-stick), helps a lot. This subplot is also partly here to parallel with Angel's rather more technologically advanced mystery-solving.

3) So we have a science fiction Sherlock Holmes mystery. At this point, I introduce Keats, and ask you to stay calm. In 'Ode to a Grecian Urn' John Keats explores the Sylvan scene happenning on the side of the imagined urn he calls 'Thou still unravished bride of quietness'. One of the main ideas explored in the poem is the beauty and tragedy of being captured in one particular moment. There is a youth who is about to kiss a beautiful girl. He will eternally have the anticipation of being about to kiss her, but will never have the actual experience. It is both a wonderful and horrible experience. In the same way, the physicist wants to capture himself in time at the moment where he is still near to the woman he is about to lose. In this way, he will never lose her, although the irony is that of course he hasn't realised as Keats has that in the bubble he has created, he will always be about to lose her. So he will be eternally close but unhappy.

OK, back to the 21st Century. A couple of other thoughts.

-Lorne/Angel in their 'Muldering' really do represent the two sides of me quite well (no, not green demon and vampire, although believe that if you will). The constantly chipper, singing analyst of other's lives on one hand; the brooding, angsty confused anti-hero on the other. Possibly an indictment on me, but there you go.
-Virginia out-Cordelias Cordelia in her vacuousness, which I found incredibly funny.
-The line 'It's just a name' at the end is rather chilling. They are becoming detached from any reality in which a unliving, non-breathing Angel exists. And, of course, there's the meta-narrative that this is a show called 'Angel' where he doesn't appear to be interacting at all with the supporting cast.

Enjoyed the episode- much less wilfully confusing than the previous one; better paced, and sparking off a load of cross-references in my mind, which is always a god sign that I'm battling with the concepts brought up.

2.14 'The Thin Dead Line'

Well, this was somewhat close to the bone and an obvious metaphor if it means what it could mean. Is this genuinely an extremely black comedy meditation on the drawbacks of zero tolerance? That supposed safety of the streets is guaranteed at the expense of the liberty of people who merely look suspicious? That officers of law can turn into merely zombie-like militia, following violent orders and satisfying only the extremely simplistic needs of some evil leader sitting at adesk somewhere? If so, this is one of the most obvious occurrences of an Angel episode that really seems extremely left-wing with a political agenda that I've seen. If not,I'm just reading to much into a 50's B-movie homage plot again. You pays your money...

Beyond this, I didn't have that much interest in this episode except in passing moments. It was nice to see Kate given a little more to do again; and I thought her worried about her Dad as a zombie was honestly and emotionally portrayed. Wes and Gunn had some nice chemistry that developed the respect between the two of them a little further- and, by contrast to the indifferent street guy who is merely racist and self-serving, Gunn learns the real and unusual nature of his friendships with Cordelia and Wesley. In Angel, it is that much harder to forge lasting relationships. The natural order appears ot be towards chaos and angst, as opposed to Buffy, where the natural tendency is towards resolution and powerful friendships. I find the Buffyverse more comforting, but the Angelverse more realistic.

I don't think that the main cast can be kept apart much longer- there's going to have ot be a resolution to this rift both for logistical and story reasons. Logistically, after talking to himself in 'Redefinition' and then to Lilah, Lorne and Kate in subsequent episodes, he's running out of confidantes to share his state of mind. And for story reasons, I still can't see Wesley's gang surviving long, as in this episode their survival, (unbeknown to them) revloved around Angel smashing the statue. This just symbolises how Angel is still an essential missing component of their operation.

But reconciliation is going to be extremely hard, as shown by Cordelia's scathing words at the end of the episode. Angel wil have some serious apologising to do, somehting which, unlike atoning, he is extremely bad at. I look forward to seeing him try.

A couple of 'Huh?'s:
-Why do they keep changing the person who does the 'Previously'? Strange habit.
-I assume they resolve the truly weird 'Child with extra eye' storyline, but it's unusual to carry such a seemingly minor sub-plot over the end of an episode.
-Darla appears to be taking several weeks off in the Seychelles. Sure she'll be back soon, but a strangely prolonged absence.
-Next two are both Tim Minear. Hooray. Expect a rave some time later tomorrow.