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Date Posted: 09:43:17 04/29/04 Thu
Author: Kuzibah
Author Host/IP: 12.175.117.195
Subject: Angel 5/19- "Time Bomb" *SPOILERS*

I've two words for this episode: Slaughterhouse Fred.

They even used the phrase "unstuck in time." Kurt Vonnegut, call your agent.

- - - - -

Those of you out there who read comic books are familiar with the Superman cycle. For those who don't, let me explain: Superman, as everyone on earth knows, is the super-strong, near God-like defender of Truth, Justice, and The American Way. But in his 70 or so years of comic adventures, the character has, of necessity, gotten more complex. No longer does he stop trains from crashing or rescue women falling from buildings. Or, he probably does, because he's Superman, but they just are no longer featured in the comic. Superman has much bigger fish to fry these days. He defeats cosmic armies. He re-aligns planets into their proper orbit. No disaster is so big that Superman, with all his powers, can't overcome it. It gets ridiculous. My friend Sherlock jokes about the Justice League cartoon that *they have Superman,* what the hell do they need the rest of those guys for? "Oh, no, the bad guy defeated Superman! Our last hope for humanity is... Hawkgirl!"

And therein lies the problem. If nothing can ever defeat Superman, then why read the comic? Where is the dramatic tension? So every couple of years, Superman gets a powers downgrade. Lex Luthor gets a really juiced-up batch of Kryptonite, or Superman catches a cosmic flu. From time to time he even dies and gets reborn. All so the next challenge down the road is actually, you know, a challenge. After a few years, Supe's powers return to his usual God-like standard, and the cycle repeats.

So the Angel writers quickly realized they had the same problem with Illyria. Just to drive home the point, she busts Gunn out of Hell's subdivision in about 30 seconds flat. Badda-bing, thanks for playing, Senior Partners. For my next trick, I'll end war and famine. Don't forget to tip your waitresses.

So Illyria had to be downgraded, and after a lot of somewhat confusing time shifting (always a challenge, and it definitely could have been a little tighter in this case), and wa-a-ay too much pretentious, overblown, and ultimately very boring dialogue, she was. So she's still strong, but the rest of her powers are gone, bringing her down to a more manageable level.

The main problem with all this? I don't care. So Illyria doesn't have the power to do whatever she wants without the slightest bit of compassion or mercy anymore. Boo-fucking-hoo. How soon can they kill her for good is the question I want answered. We're killing demons and vampires every week for a hell of a lot less, and I'm supposed to feel sympathy for this abomination? I'm sorry, I don't. It's like asking me to feel sympathy for a tornado. And she can shut up at any time, also. I'm starting to realize why wwolfe keeps nodding off.

Luckily, the rest of the cast is up to some interesting stuff. Wesley is clearly not adjusting well to his recent influx of memories. And dealing with Illyria seems to be taking it out of him. He reminds me of a character in an H.P. Lovecraft story, where as he learns more about the elder gods, he slowly becomes more insane.

Gunn's rescue was somewhat anti-climactic, but that's par for the course with ME shows. I do like that while he still apparently retains the mad legal skillz, he's rejected the trappings of the station, his own version of sackcloth and ashes.

Lorne, funny. But here's a suggestion: Include him more in the good vs. evil dialogues. He *is* a demon, from a relatively evil dimension, who rejected all that to choose good. His insight on the choices they've all made would be enlightening, to say the least.

I liked Spike working with Wesley, and he did have my favorite line of the night ("Dear Penthouse; I usually don't write letters like this..."), but other than that, no real insight.

Which brings us to Angel. I like Angel a lot, and he has many good qualities, but brains is not one of them. That's not a problem in his case. He's always been self-aware enough to listen to people he knows are smarter than he is: Buffy, Wesley, Cordy, etc. When he tries making lofty speeches, he's out of his depth. When he and Illyria set up the pan-dimensional debating society, I scream at my TV. And "King"? Is that this season's "Champion"? Gah.

At this point, I've probably given the impression I didn't like this episode. It's not that I didn't like it, it's just that I have the feeling I could have liked it a lot more if it had gone through a few more edits. Add some action, cut some talk, make sure the twists and turns have their own internal logic. And they probably should have given Illyria a little more thought.

Finally, the last minute? Damn. Something is clearly up, and I'm pretty interested to find out what it is.

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