Angel 5/18- "Origins" *Spoilers* -- The Buffy Cross & Stake Main Board

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:38:50 04/22/04 Thu
Author: Kuzibah
Author Host/IP: 12.175.117.195
Subject: Angel 5/18- "Origins" *Spoilers*

There is a famous memory experiment in the annals of psychology where a group of subjects were asked to recall events in their childhoods, supposedly matched against interviews with the participants' mothers. During this time, the experimenter would "plant" the memory of the subject having been lost in a department store and being taken to the courtesy desk by a strange woman. The subject would be told that this "memory" came from the subject's mother, but in fact it was entirely fiction.

Six months later, the subjects were interviewed again, and asked to recall events from their childhoods. A startling majority at this later interview "recalled" the department store incident, often with a clarity of detail not suggested by the original "plant." They described what the woman who helped them was wearing, what their parents said when they were reunited, how they felt during and afterwards.

Which proves two things: 1) Memory is much more subjective and malleable than we'd like to think, and 2) The "Angel" writing staff has taken one or two courses in introductory Psychology.

- - - - -

I was a little worried about the return of Connor, as I always found the character to be rather one-dimensional in emotion, and inconsistent in motivation and action, but I have to admit, I kind of like the Connor I saw last night. Of course, it really wasn't about Connor at all, it was about Angel and what he did to his friends, especially Wesley. I'm sure the temptation was pretty great to take the Star Trek way out of the dead-end storyline that was Connor, but to the writers' credit, they knew they couldn't do that. *Angel* remembers, and would think about his son every day. There's no way they could continue to have Angel obsess about Buffy (who, at the end of the day, is a girl he dated five years ago), and not acknowledge the attachment to his child.

Felicitously enough, Connor as metaphor works better seperate from Angel than he did with Angel. The overwhelming drive of parents to change the world for their children became literal reality for Angel. To not only protect his son's life, but give him a happy, "normal" family, Angel was willing to have the entire world be remade. But as with more mortal parents, he finds that ultimately he can't protect his son from everything, that someday he'll have to meet his own destiny.

As heavy-handed as all of that could have been, it really wasn't. There was a lightness and charm to the script that kept it from getting bogged down. And I liked the new Connor. Good job, Vincent.

Dave also did a nice job conveying Angel's conflict. He cares about his son's continued well-being, he's curious (and proud) of his accomplishments, and yet he has to be sure not to tip his hand and upset all his carefully constructed fictions. And then the confrontation with Wesley, trying to get him to understand that he's better off *not* knowing the truth.

Alexis finally gets something substantial to do, and it's a whopper. Now he remembers everything, and he isn't Angel's trusted right-hand man, anymore. His understanding of his place in the group is completely devastated. I really hope this continues to unravel for at least a couple of episodes, because, frankly, the "Wes teaches Illyria the ways of Humanity" isn't getting any less boring.

Now, *Spike* teaches Illyria the ways of Humanity" is a bit more diverting, but only because I get to see Spike get the crap kicked out of him (although, either Illyria is really pulling her punches or Spike is developing even greater powers of regeneration, because they've already established she can do some major damage to him, and he looked relatively unmarked. But I digress.)

Quick visit to Hell's Subdivision, just to remind you that Gunn is still being tortured, and, more importantly, he thinks he deserves to be. We'll get back to him...

And as for our young lawyers in love, they were nowhere to be seen. Weren't even mentioned in passing, in fact. Normally this would be a matter of complete indifference, but considering last week an entire hour was devoted to their well-being, I'd have at least liked Harmony to mention they were comfortably chained in the werewolf cage.

And finally, they left the ending deliberately ambiguous. Was Connor protected from the return of memories by the magic wall? Did he remember and pretend not to (arguably in character, given his facade during Jasmine's reign)? Was there somatic memory only (hence the "neck" comment)? I believe the writers quite carefully constructed Connor's dialogue so it could be read several ways, and thus were a million fanfics birthed.

Four episodes to go, though the WB is making noises about TV-movies next year (I guess it depends how their Fall slate performs.) It should be a wild ride.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: Angel 5/18- "Origins" *Spoilers* -- Mcookies, 12:06:56 04/22/04 Thu (66.28.244.34)

I was not a fan of the whole Connor storyline. Actually, Angel lost me most of last season for several reasons. That said, I thought this episode was very well done. I actually liked Connor. I also enjoyed the subtle references to the past (I've always liked older women, his not liking his neck touched). The ambiguous ending was the right way to go. My BF, who is not an Angel fan by any means, kept commenting on what a good episode it was, how much he liked it. You have no idea what a HUGE compliment that is.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: Angel 5/18- "Origins" *Spoilers* -- firechild, 22:37:46 11/21/04 Sun (138.130.210.36)

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: Angel 5/18- "Origins" *Spoilers* -- firechild, 22:39:47 11/21/04 Sun (138.130.210.36)

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]