I have to say, they crammed a lot of
good into this eppy.
On the face of it, it seems too easy. Kill the priest and the day is saved.
After all, it didn't seem like he had anything in the way of security holding
them back as they ran around in the leftover set from 1) Dr. Who or b)
"The Princess Bride."
But Wesley did come across with the rather ominous line that they didn't act on
for fully 1˝ seasons -- and didn't reference when they should have. "When
you try to save everyone, you end up saving no one."
Not until Angel had to sacrifice Fred's and Drogyn's lives at soul-searing
costs did Team Angel actually confront that particular reality. And when the
realization hit, Wesley really learned the meaning of that prophetic phrase.
Wesley sets forth a wonderful plan that did, in fact, kill off most of the
rebels. However, how great an inspiration for the downtrodden -- to realize
that that power is, indeed, assailable. That they can, in fact, rise up and
defeat the oppressors.
It's one of the biggest problems I have with the current situation. If the
people had been empowered to take control of their own destinies in Iraq, they
very likely would not be suicide bombing the occupying forces. America
should've fought this war through the means that we always have – cultural
subversion. Airdropping literature into the town squares explaining step by
step how to depose a bad king. In the absence of any information to the
contrary, America is seen as being at least as big a bad as Saddam Hussein.
We're $200 billion poorer and we have nothing to show for it besides an
increasingly suspicious populace nominally governed by an illegitimate interim
body, a meaningless constitution and
people longing for the good old days when Saddam hugged their children and
executed "criminals" on television.
If they'd been allowed to conduct their own coup d'etat, if America had
been guiding them rather than doing it for them, they'd feel a lot more in control,
and we'd be out a few thousand bucks in printing costs.
Back to the topic at hand ...
Angel's challenge was quite dramatic, although when we got a good look at the
challenge torch it was three flaming marshmallows on a stick. Even so, it was a
great fight scene, big with the bloody, and they stuffed David back into the
prosthesis. Now that was Angelus. Not this namby-pamby "Find me
someone to eat!" running through the streets of L.A. S4 nitwit, or the
vaguely bored libertine of “Orpheus.” They should’ve brought the Monster back
for those scenes, imo.
Cordy's declaration of love for Groo was a little out of nowhere, but to be
fair she was in another dimension and she hadn't had a good com shuk in a
while.
I realized the strategy of having her wear that ... wonderful little top. Ain't
no way anyone with jingle-bell boobs can sneak up on someone. If the priest had
had any respect for how very Cordy she was, however, he'd never have turned his
back on her. She was really maturing a lot in this episode, realizing that the
Visions she got from the Powers That Be really contributed to the good fight.
Also, don't believe everything you're foretold. Really, Groo with the Visions?
Completely Keanu Reeves. "There's, like, a dude, and he's fighting this other
dude, and they're in, like, the forest." How useless is that?
It's amazing Wes didn't scoop up an
armload of books when they took their leave. Convenient of them to materialize
in Caritas and not, say, in Nebraska, or Brazil, or deep within the Earth's
crust or an outer moon of Jupiter or somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy, all of
which are potential entry points in this dimension.
But if I pay attention to that, I have to focus on the fact that everyone in
Pylea spoke English, although the texts were in another language entirely (and
me without my universal translator), which Wesley could read anyway despite
their tripartheid organization.
And Willow at the end. Heartbreaking.
Lots I forgot to mention, but all in all a very good eppy, good closure to the
Pylea arc, and very nice season finale.