So, we’re currently binging Buffy & Angel. I’ve seen Buffy all the way through before, but I’d only seen maybe a third of Angel. We’re alternating between the two series, following a guide that ensures we see the episodes in the right order. I’m also following someone on Twitter who’s watching them for the first time, and their insights are often hilarious.
I love Buffy, even though some aspects of it haven’t aged well (especially the creator). Just a couple of nights ago we reached “Once More With Feeling” (s06e07), and it remains one of the greatest episodes in TV history. I still have the songs stuck in my head two days later. Okay, that’s partly because I put the soundtrack on my phone and listened to it at lunch. I’m also a big fan of “Hush” (s04E10), which is just an all-around amazing episode.
I’m not digging Angel, though. There are reasons I never finished it before. When you’re going back and forth between the two shows, the difference in quality is striking. Every night it’s like, “If we sit through an Angel, we get to enjoy a Buffy.” I’m glad we’re mostly alternating, because Angel is a real slog on its own. If I wasn’t determined to see it through this time, I’d have given up on Angel already. People keep telling me it gets better, and I hope they’re right. There’s several episodes I’m looking forward to, like the one where Angel gets turned into a puppet.
The character of Angel is just so incredibly mopey and dull. He’s easily the least interesting character on his own show. David Boreanaz has decent comic timing, but the writers don’t let him quip enough (so far). He just spends so much time standing around and looking sad.
They keep flashing back to Angel’s past, which kind of reminds me of watching the Highlander TV series. That would be fun, except Angel is just as uninteresting in the past. At least Duncan Macleod went to other countries and assumed new identities, palling around with famous people and having period-appropriate adventures. Angelus spent his entire past wearing the same clothes and terrorizing identical villages. No wonder he’s so depressed all the time. I seriously can’t tell one episode’s flashback from another’s.
The whole concept of Angel feels like the kind of spin-off people parody. They took all the characters Buffy didn’t need on her show any more, moved them to Los Angeles, and had them start a detective agency. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d see on the Simpsons? I do love Angel’s supporting cast, especially Fred and Lorne. But I also know not to get too attached to anyone, because the writers are known for killing off some of the best characters for the sake of easy drama. And it’s that much harder to get invested in a show when you know that.
Look, I understand that “dark & edgy” was popular in the 90s. But Angel’s not what I’d call dark so much as boring. “Let’s have Angel brood in this corner for a while. Now let’s have him wander off alone because he thinks it’s the only way to protect his friends. Now let’s have him obsess over his past sins. So entertaining! Oh, we’re losing viewers? Better kill off a character. Maybe they’ll mistake it for drama. People like it when their favorite character dies, right?” I’m honestly amazed it managed to last five seasons.
Anyway, we’ve got less than two seasons of Buffy left, and then it’s Angel all the way. I hope Angel’s strong enough to stand on its own by then. I remember Buffy gets pretty dark towards the end as well. But so far, the darkest Buffy episode is still more fun than the most lighthearted Angel episode. I hope to get proven wrong about that though.
No comments:
Post a Comment