One of the
things I found most enjoyable about this was the re-emergence of Spike from his
own perspective -- drunken out-of-focus handheld camerawork as Spike is
spinning around disoriented.
OK, now he's back, what do we do with him?
Well, we can't explain it. As far as I know, we've only had one other vampire
"ghost" and we're not entirely sure what her deal was -- emanation of
the First, some sort of angelic emissary from the Powers That Be ...
Well, interestingly enough, Fred is the one who suggests that's what Spike is
there for (if I'm remembering correctly).
Shoot back to Spike's perspective: What right did they have to yank him back?
He was perfectly happy being dead, it seems -- from his perspective, the
immolation in the cavern of the Hellmouth transitioned immediately to his
reemergence in Angel's office, with no comment whatsoever on the three weeks in
between.
Well, we find out later it's probably not the Powers That Be, because Lindsey
sends the recorporalization spell, and Lindsey is probably the one who tracked
down the amulet in the first place and sent it to Angel. Which again raises
that delightful question: Was Ghost Lilah working with Demon-Essence Infused
Lindsey, or did that amulet actually come from the Senior Partners, and if it
did, what's their interest in destroying a Hellmouth-full of Shaka-Khans?
That's at least two foiled apocali the Senior Partners seemed to have
taken a special interest in -- the Jasmanian Farmscape and the Unleashed
Ubervamps. They were, if anyone can be believed, grateful enough for the ending
of "world peace" that they turned over W&H-L.A. to Team Angel,
along with a truly gay brooch that would end that other apocalypse going on in
Sunnydale.
How ... humanitarian of them.
It's possible they really wanted to do this on their timetable. But if
all they were going to do was send hulking demons of their own, as we saw in
“Not Fade Away,” why on earth would they object to a few thousand ubervamps
flooding out of the Hellmouth?
I guess they don't want any chaos unless it's their chaos.
The discussion of whether Angel was meant to have worn the amulet is
intriguing. If they -- the Senior Partners or Lindsey -- wanted Angel to float
about as a ghost, they could do that easily enough. Pavayne is there, after
all, and he's sort of badass.
Spike's bad enough, but if Angel were a ghostish-type emanation popping
in and out, the chaos in the L.A. branch would be complete. Part of his ability
to take control of the operation was his very physical beating the crap out
of/killing associates and minions. If he was the new guy and
incorporeal, he wouldn't have been able to get a thing done -- not only through
his own ineffectiveness, but because all his closest allies would be focused on
trying to fix him rather than on the various tasks at hand.
Anyway, Spike seems to be a not-a-ghost, so much as some sort of energy matrix.
A projection of sorts. Yet he can possess Hainsley.
Well, he can possess Hainsley if Hainsley draws him into himself. Otherwise, he
just sort of goes through people and walls and things.
This show turns stereotypes on its ear. In "Conviction," we had the
bodybuilder mystic who was into spanking. In "Just Rewards," we have
a necromancer who looks like some sort of German pastry chef or butcher.
I did enjoy his showroom, however.
I'm intrigued by Angel killing the butler/henchman with a spoon. Hauser's
paramilitary squad from last week was heavily armed and extremely dangerous.
This guy was old, alone and armed with two meat cleavers. I'm interested in why
Angel wouldn't just overpower him.
It seems to me that Hainsley's liquidation of the W&H lawyer was way over
the top. Angel's decision to cancel internment acquisitions was something he could
easily have foreseen and ...
Hold a moment.
Hainsley had shares in W&H -- a respectable number. If Gunn freezes
Hainsley's assets, what does that do to capital at W&H? Anyone know
offhand?
Bringing the tax guys in was way less violent than murdering a division, but
ultimately not an effective strategy. Hainsley could be expected to murder or
thrall or arrange possession for any tax guy he came into contact with, so
Gunn's approach, while shrewd, was ultimately not going to be effective.
Fortunately we never had to see how it would've played out because Angel killed
him.
First though, nicely played, Joss. Spike's loyalties are always mercurial and
hard to read, so setting up a situation where Spike might betray Angel and take
over his body was some compelling storytelling. One found oneself being
terribly concerned for Captain Forehead and deeply relieved to discover there
was a plan in place all along.
Cheesy as Spike's head sticking out of Hainsley's body ended up looking.
GUNN WATCH: Not evil. Not anything like. He's having fun with his new legal
capacities, and he's very much using them to end-run the bad guys. Not that
they'd have ultimately been all that effective in this case, in my opinion, but
he's projecting an image of growing competence and delivering some fun lines.
If you're just tuning in:
S5 brought with it a pack of Buffy viewers and others who weren't 100 percent
familiar with the show, so Joss seems to have structured these opening episodes
in such a way as to introduce the uninitiated into the new universe they've
entered, mostly focused on Angel himself:
S5x01 -- Angel's job, his associates and some background on his son.
S5x02 -- More on Angel's associations, specifically setting forth the
relationship between him and Spike, with a thumbnail on both of their
relationships with Buffy.
S5x03 -- Seems to take a peek at the life of his heart.
So looking forward to meeting Nina again for the very first time.