The one with
Willow
Wait a moment. Why is everyone so focused on Willow in this episode? She's
fantastic, of course, but the theme and significance of "Orpheus" is
all trapped in Angel's head.
This episode focuses a solid laser on what a vampire is, what’s going on in
Angel’s head most of the time.
A vampire, from newly sired to pile of dust, is a demon-animated corpse.
There's the physical component -- the dead body, which the demon preserves in
eternal youth -- and there's the demon inside, whose presence can manifest or
not at will.
And in this case, they let David Boreanaz just walk Angelus in Angelus'
consciousness. But as we saw in Pylea, the demon animating Angelus is a
seriously badass one.
Whereas the human soul in Angel would be well represented by David, in that
he's a person and that's the image we get.
But as Angel and Angelus interact through Angel's memories inside Angel's
brain/consciousness, the exposition is provided by Faith.
And this is some of the best writing in S4:
Angel saving a
puppy (although I hate that in that very short cut it looked like a puppy and a
stunt puppy)
Cordy planning
to kill Willow with a knife (and boy didn't Cordy gain a whole lot of access to
a whole lot of magicks all at once, huh?)
Angel in that
'70s hair (the most compelling argument -- that when Angel gets close to blood
Angelus wants so badly to feed).
Faith's
assessment of no-hygiene-land ("Did you miss the invention of the
bath?")
Willow
mistaking Fred's crushy yammerisms at the end as a seduction ploy.
Wes and Willow
out-darking each other.
In the
commentary, when Liam's soul is subsuming Angel and David's got all the light
streaming out of his face both as Angel and Angelus, the director or whoever
said, "And that's just David. No CGI, that's just something he can
do."
Hands down, of
course, the funniest thing was that CGI floating head. Who was that meant to
impress, frighten or convince?
WILLOW WATCH: Nope, I was wrong. She's perfectly in character, running from
"Lies My Parents Told Me" to "Orpheus," with one slight
concern, and that's about her comfort level with the magicks.
As late as "End of Days" -- up to and including "Chosen" --
Willlow is skittish about drawing on that power -- "Even a locator spell
gives me dark roots," she said.
In L.A., she's throwing locator spells, Delothrian's Arrow, Orb of Thesulas,
re-ensouling a vampire, all with no little pep talks and certainly not going
evil (although her eyes do black up, so there's certainly something going on.
But whatcha gonna do? Sometimes the plot demands what the plot demands.
Maybe this is why everyone is focused on Willow in this episode -- we get
reacquainted with S5 Willow with all of her competence and confidence intact.
JASMINE WATCH: WACKY! What on Earth was she planning with Angelus? She never
did get on with it and now it's too late.
However, we do know this: Sending Connor to destroy Angel/us was an evil thing
to do. In determining motive for Jasmine, we need to keep that image in mind.
Even Connor is ready to call her on it, and Connor doesn't question Cordy/Jazz
Hands on anything.
Now, it's possible that she foresaw Angel's trip to the Blue World, that she
had a notion of her own mortality. She's certainly paranoid enough about her
own self-preservation. Maybe she figured her thrall was gonna be enough, but
she didn't want to take that chance.
This episode and the next few begin to illustrate the evil, lying sackitude of
dear sweet Maggoty Ann.
I'm trying to
understand why this season angers me so much. The answer, I believe, is bound
up actually in the next few eppies. I'm sure we'll be able to get to the bottom
of it.
And then we can embark upon the joyous adventure that is Season Five.