Hold on to your stakes as we delve into the eerie world of the Buffy spinoff show, Angel, in an episode that shifted the series' tone by focusing on the core characters. We're unpacking the head-spinning episode 'Eternity', where we witness a fading television actress's desperate bid to retain her youthful appearance by flirting with the undead. An episode shrouded in mystery, with no actual villain or demon, except for a fleeting glimpse of Angel himself. Intrigued?
Our journey through this episode unveils the harsh reality of Hollywood's beauty standards through the eyes of Rebecca, the famous actress. Experience the fear she feels due to her career struggles and her stalker, and the unexpected connection she forms with Angel. As we weave through the narrative, we analyze the intentions of Cordelia's business manager, the humor rooted in the character, and the implications of Rebecca's desperate decisions. How does an episode with no villain captivate its audience? It's all about character development!
But the darkness deepens as we recount the tragic murder that sparked America's first anti-stalking laws. We reveal a shocking twist as we dissect Rebecca's desperate attempts to manipulate Angel, and her ultimate realization of the horrifying consequences. Prepare yourself for an emotional roller coaster with Angelus, my favorite big bad of the series, as his return takes a sinister turn, and our exploration ends with a haunting question: When is lying good, and when is it bad? Spoiler alert: The answer isn't as black and white as you might think.
So, ready to plunge into the world of 'Angel'? Join us for a spine-chilling journey, where the monsters are not always who you would expect them to be.
Hold on to your stakes as we delve into the eerie world of the Buffy spinoff show, Angel, in an episode that shifted the series' tone by focusing on the core characters. We're unpacking the head-spinning episode 'Eternity', where we witness a fading television actress's desperate bid to retain her youthful appearance by flirting with the undead. An episode shrouded in mystery, with no actual villain or demon, except for a fleeting glimpse of Angel himself. Intrigued?
Our journey through this episode unveils the harsh reality of Hollywood's beauty standards through the eyes of Rebecca, the famous actress. Experience the fear she feels due to her career struggles and her stalker, and the unexpected connection she forms with Angel. As we weave through the narrative, we analyze the intentions of Cordelia's business manager, the humor rooted in the character, and the implications of Rebecca's desperate decisions. How does an episode with no villain captivate its audience? It's all about character development!
But the darkness deepens as we recount the tragic murder that sparked America's first anti-stalking laws. We reveal a shocking twist as we dissect Rebecca's desperate attempts to manipulate Angel, and her ultimate realization of the horrifying consequences. Prepare yourself for an emotional roller coaster with Angelus, my favorite big bad of the series, as his return takes a sinister turn, and our exploration ends with a haunting question: When is lying good, and when is it bad? Spoiler alert: The answer isn't as black and white as you might think.
So, ready to plunge into the world of 'Angel'? Join us for a spine-chilling journey, where the monsters are not always who you would expect them to be.
Don't you know who I am? Remember my name. Hey, I'm gonna live forever. I'm gonna learn how to fly. Oh, I'm gonna come here together. People will see me and I'll say I'm gonna make it to heaven. Light up the sky like a flame. I'm gonna live forever. Stay there and remember my name.
Speaker 1:Hello, welcome to Wolfram Cast, an angel retrospective. I am longtime fan Stephen Yonkin. In this podcast I'll be doing a deep dive discussion on the Buffy Spinoff show Angel, one episode at a time, with spoilers for both series. I have chosen to focus on Angel because, as a fan of the show, I feel that even 20 plus years after the show premiered, it still has themes and ideas that are worth discussing. My co-host, carrie Lobach, is out practicing her lines for her version of a doll's house, as well as getting her water bottle blessed in case she gets visited by a vampire theater critic. So you'll just have my opinion to listen to. I look forward to her return in just a few episodes so she can let me know whether or not Evil Angel would have worn the pants that Angel had worn in this episode.
Speaker 1:In this week's episode, I will discuss the 17th episode of the series Eternity, which was directed by Regis Kimball. Regis also directed the episode of Buffy Earshot and also worked as an editor for series such as American Horror Story, fargo, true Calling, the X-Files and Matlock. Regis was nominated for three Emmys for his work. On Fargo, the episode was written by Tracy Stern, who also wrote the Bachelor Party. Tracy also wrote for the series Desperate Housewives, law and Order, svu, sports Night and ER.
Speaker 1:The episode originally aired on April 4, 2000, and the IMDb description of the episode is a television actress whose career is in a slump tries to preserve her useful appearance by becoming one of the undead. Tim Minier, in an interview, said that the series was originally intended to be more episodic in structure and focus more on the victim of the week. As he explained, though, you can have an interesting plot and an interesting client, but it's difficult to create sympathy for someone you're introducing for one episode. If you look at how the episode ended up, it's really about our core people, and by the end of the episode the client's gone. There's not even a wrap-up scene at the end with the actress. It's all about Angel being chained to the bed and Cordelia not untieing him.
Speaker 1:In the first version of the script, the emotional focus remained on Rebecca for the entire episode until Joss Whedon decided to add the element of Angel going bad. If that episode had gone before the camera's earlier the rotation I think you would have probably seen a different ending, with more emphasis placed on the actress and her problem than on Angel. Joss came in one day and said you know what? This is wrong. What needs to happen is Angel needs to go bad. Suddenly that element was added and now that's what the episode was absolutely about.
Speaker 1:You can see in that episode Joss and David and me and everybody else saying let's stop doing these close-ended detective stories and start making it about Angel. I remember Joss saying after watching the cut of the episode we have to start making it about Angel and his friends in the way that Buffy is about Buffy. Whenever they would break an episode on Buffy if it would start to become too much about the machinations of a plot, joss would always come back to the question what's the Buffy of it? What is the story we're telling? What is it that we're saying about her? What is it doing to either further her character or how is this a roadblock to her character? What does she learn about herself? Why does this story have to be told about this character. Often whole stories would be thrown out and would start them from scratch because we didn't have the Angel of it.
Speaker 1:Now for the episode. I would have to say that, as I'll discuss here in a little bit, you can tell the change in tone of the episode and also the change in the course of the series, starting with this episode and possibly before with. I've got you under my skin as well as the prodigal, in the sense that the show is starting to focus more on the gang as opposed to on Rebecca and as a result, this ends up being a little bit more of a mixed bag of an episode. It's not as bad as some of the other ones or as throwaway as the ring, but on the other hand, it's not as good as prodigal or some nambulist or any of the others. And I think the major problem with it and one that I've seen online a lot of people have had issues with is the use of Angeles. Now I just want to go on record.
Speaker 1:Angeles is one of my favorite characters from either series. When he was brought on in season two he elevated that show. He is my pick for Buffy's best big bad of the entire series. There's been debates between him, glory or the mayor, and there's legitimate arguments that can be given for any of the other two, but for me it is Angeles because of the fact that he was somebody you weren't expecting.
Speaker 1:It was highly unusual in a series to take the love interest of the main character and make him into an out and out villain. And Joss had a tough time doing that in season two because you liked Angel so much, because he was a romantic lead and between Joss's writing and David's performance in Buffy, by midway you wanted her to run a steak firm. You truly hated him. You wanted him to be dusted at the end of the season but at the same time you were fascinated by him because David brought a charisma. No pun intended, concerned the actress. David brought an energy to this character, almost a sense of humor to it. Not in the same way the spike in Drew were funny, but in a way that was borderline creepy and that's what made him so interesting. And also in season three when he was quasi brought back yes, it was Angel acting like he was Angelus, but still we had that old Angelus energy back in season three.
Speaker 1:And also what I always liked about Angelus was. Even though he was a vampire, he was still very dangerous. I mean, this was a guy who viciously killed Jenny Callender and then, on a whim, try to send the entire world into a hell dimension just for the heck of it. And in enemies, when he teamed up with the, with Faith and the mayor, that, even though that took up a good portion of the episode, it reminded us all how truly dangerous he was. So that at the end, when Faith and Angelus had Buffy chained up, you actually felt a sense of danger for her because of the fact that you knew what angels could do. You knew that he was somebody who would torture just for fun, and that's what made him terrifying. But now in this episode, on the other hand, one he's in there for just a few brief minutes.
Speaker 1:In the fourth act we have all this build up, a reference to him, but then we don't get much, as compared to later on in the series when he is brought back for a mini-archive, and even in the episode soulless where he is literally in a cage for the entire episode. But you still sense danger from him because of the way David portrays him then has almost silkily evil, but in this one he's brought on, he makes a few taunts and then he's gone. There's nothing truly dangerous or scary about him and the way they brought him back is also highly anti-climatic. Because, yes, there's been debates online and many people have put out even in the audio commentaries they do for the episode surprise and innocence. They explain the fact that, yes, they realize the initial curse that Angelus or slash Angel is under makes no sense whatsoever If you're a good guy as long as you're miserable, but if you become happy, you lose your soul and become evil. In the audio commentary they explain don't try to think it's real, because you will just get confused, because it makes zero sense and the writers had trouble game past it. But in this case it cheapens it even more because now we find out, all you have to do is be given the right drug and Angelus pops to the front. And because the big problem with that is the fact that it almost makes it seem like it's too easy to bring Angelus back.
Speaker 1:In the episode, wesley and Cordelia have a discussion where he explains that, oh no, angelus won't return simply because he has to find a moment of pure bliss, of true happiness, riches rare, and it happened with Buffy because he was truly in love with her. So he did feel a moment of pure contentment while they were together. So that made that special, that made that unique. Here in this one she literally just drugs his drink and a few minutes later there's Angelus, he's back. So that means technically in the future they were needed Angelus or whatever. Just give him a drug and he's back. And the other problem is the fact that by making it a drug, even though it's artificial, it also cheapens the concept of true happiness, of perfect happiness, because now it's no longer a moment of true bliss, now it's just. He's relaxed. As a reminder, in Innocence.
Speaker 1:He lost his soul not because he had sex with Buffy. If you rewatch the episode you'll notice that he didn't lose his soul during the act of sex. No, he was actually fine for a moment. After they were through, after Buffy was laying in his arms, he was still angel. It was when he was purely content, when all was right with the world, because the woman he loved was in his arms. That's what caused him to lose his soul. It wasn't a sexual act, it was the fact that he was at peace. He was no longer tormented by what he had done in the past and that's what caused him to lose it. So that made that special, because it takes a lot to be that content, that perfect contentment.
Speaker 1:But in this episode, on the other hand, once again it's just a drug. Now, layer on in Soulless, at least there the way they extract his soul is done through a spell similar to the magic show they put on for face benefit and enemies, but it's a similar concept. They had to get mystical items in order to make this occur. So a result it still made it a chore, it still made it a challenge to do that, so that one then cheapened it. This one did. So that is one of my biggest issues. You took a great character and you reduced him to a gimmick that was used just for a few minutes. Now, another issue I had with it was the actual theme of the episode, because in Like and Buffy, the best episodes of Angel all have a concept.
Speaker 1:As Tim Menier was mentioning in the quote that I was reading at the beginning, is the fact that a problem I've seen online with a lot of fans when they do fan fiction, they say, oh, we should bring in Frey or we should have them hook up with the dollhouse or with supernatural wouldn't it be awesome if so? And so teamed up with so and so. Well, my main problem with the fan fiction is the fact that they're ignoring what I just read in there from Tim Menier and just which is. This is more than just a plot machination. Reason why Buffy and Angel have lasts as long as they have is it's about the characters. It's not just about some cool comic book style came up. It is about the Buffy of it, the Angel of it. It is about the characters.
Speaker 1:It is about an overall concept and further, some themes, some idea, and the best episodes have done that, because that is what I stressed heavily within the prodigal, that was about fathers and sons, or fathers and daughters. That was centered around that theme, this one. On the other hand, it starts off with one good theme, which I had no problems with, which is a discussion of fame and how people view it those who have it, the fans, those working to achieve fame, so on, and I have no problem with that concept. That is an interesting idea. Especially since you're in LA, it's inevitable that they would discuss that at some point.
Speaker 1:And then, for a brief while, it moves into a different concept in which discussing how difficult Hollywood is for women who age, as well as a slight reference, is the fact that Rebecca is still in her 20s, but they make it sound like she's 90. By the way, hollywood treats her as too old. Of course I know her character is not even 30 yet, but already she's too old. But sadly, in Hollywood that's not unusual. This concept of actresses being the on-genue one day and the mother or matron the next day, aging out of their quote sex appeal, was done very well, in fact, in a sketch on Inside Amy Schumer, where it was called Last Effable Day, which starred her, patricia Arquette, tina Fey and Julia Louise Dreyfus as themselves, where they get together and discuss that all actresses had a shelf life where one moment you're young, sexy, hollywood wants you to play the love interest, the sex pot. Next day you're the mother. And, as they put out in the movie Pudge Line, sally Field was Tom Hanks' love interest and literally just a couple years later in Forrest Gump she was his mother. And then also another famous movie that covers some more idea is Sunset Boulevard, the classic film about an aging actress who's clinging onto it desperately.
Speaker 1:Now in this one they cover that for just a few minutes Because almost not so much going to discuss the theme almost uses a bridge into the last part of the episode, where she becomes desperate enough that she wants to be a vampire just to hold onto her youth. And it's not so much that this is how desperate women are, it's just almost as a plot device and less of a theme, and once again, it cheapens stats. Now the second half, in fact, all drops both of those themes all together, and now it becomes more of a discussion of honesty, of the fact that Angel is lying to Cordelia, cordelia is lying to Angel. You know everyone's Rebecca is being lied to. I mean, it now covers that concept. I mean, so we've got three main themes fame, how Hollywood views women and their age, and then also honesty, all being covered within about 48 minutes. That's a lot to cover in one episode, and it does have this distinct. Okay, we're done with this concept, let's move on to this one. Then let's move on to this one, and it feels a little disjointed as a result.
Speaker 1:Now some interesting concepts, though, that I do like about it, though, because I don't want to say it's a bad episode, no, there's actually some good things I did quite like? First of all one I like the fact that this is probably the first episode of the entire season not to have an actual villain or an outside demon of any kind, because, as I mentioned, angel doesn't count because he's on there so briefly, it's practically a cameo from the character and he's never truly a threat. In terms of the business manager, yes, he's the one who's arranging for her attempted attacks and the stalkings and all that, but they make it very clear that one. There was never any maliciousness intended by his actions. It was done 100% for her benefit, to try to get her back into the papers, to get people to pay more attention to her, so he was doing it actually out of her best interest. And then also, he was made very clear that he truly did care for her and not in a creepy way I'm in love with you, I'm a stalker way, but no, in terms of a good friend type of way and that he, as I said, he meant good things for her and also, very importantly, she was never in any actual danger from any of his attacks, because the guy shooting at them was using blanks. I mean, everything was meant so that she would never be harmed. So a result, the business manager is obviously not a villain, and even Rebecca bringing out Angeles didn't make her a villain, because that was just more misguided judgment on her part than anything evil Like, oh, I'm bringing him back the way, let's say, a Darla or a Drusilla might have brought him back. No, in this case she was doing it because she didn't truly realize how dangerous Angeles was, and so she was doing it to try to help herself, and once again, not in a malicious, selfish way, but in a way that she was desperate. So that does make it interesting that, as I said, we have no real antagonists in this one, which also, I think, somewhat interesting and also somewhat of a flaw, because without an antagonist it's hard for the plot to really move forward. It's almost more just a series of events happening and not anything that has to be resolved, because even the gay evangelist was no big deal, because it was chain him up, wait for the drugs to wear off. Well, not much of a challenge there. But now on the positive side.
Speaker 1:First, good use of Cordelia. Throughout this podcast I have mentioned many times the fact that I've had mixed feelings about Cordelia, because they've used her quite well, such as her with a view. Sometimes they've either wasted her, barely used her, or made her dumb. Now, in this case, the use of her was quite good as an audience surrogate. In terms of how the view fame, especially as a woman who's trying to get into the industry and is fascinated by movies, tv, all that, it makes sense that she would have sparkles in her eyes, meaning Rebecca.
Speaker 1:Also, as you'll hear me reference, throughout the entire episode, a number of the good lines are given to her and Charisma, as usual, knows how to deliver them so that they are genuinely funny and charming. And that leads to one other elementary like about more character based humor, because, as you'll hear me play in a moment, this has probably my second favorite funny prologue that the series has had. Great it. It's not up to the gold level that was Spike's Myologian in the dark, but it is up there with the Our Rats Are Low commercial in Heroes and this one, the scene between Wesley and Angel at the theater is inspired and it is a nice warm hearted way to start this episode off. And throughout the episode they make other good lines as well.
Speaker 1:But in general I would say that I like the trend the series was now taking because it was getting away from the victim of the week, because they realized for a show like this you couldn't sustain that. You needed to focus on the characters, because that's what buffing did so well. They focused on Buffy and Giles and Willow and Xander, so on, by focusing on them and just keeping the monster of the week just as an excuse for them to explore them further. That's why Buffy has done so well and with Angel it took them a few episodes, or about two thirds of the first season, but now they are finally realizing that's where you needed to focus on, focus on Wesley, angel and Cordelia and then, as we'll see in later episodes, when they bring on Gun and Fred and Lorne and in the final season, spike, that this is how you make that show last. This is how you make the fans truly like it is by giving us character-centric storylines, which leads us now into discussing the episode in detail.
Speaker 1:The episode opens with this. That opening always makes me chuckle because of the way it's shot, in which it's purposely misleading, in which at first you're thinking they're facing some harsh demon with the word doom. There's no way out. It then pulls back with Wesley's line, in which I'll explain that pop cultural reference here in just a little bit, to realize that there is something even worse for them, which is Cordelia doing a doll's house that's even very well done, where she is on stage and front of an audience doing it and literally right in the middle of her doing her vial log, she yells out line as if it was a rehearsal, showing how pathetically bad of an actress she is, which then later on leads to the nice bit she does with Angelus. All of that is a nice chuckle and also because of her bad acting it's not just a throwaway gag, because it does come into play later on when she does actually bluff Angelus with the fake bit about the holy water.
Speaker 1:Now just a few comments about the play that she's doing, because normally I save this for the pop cultural reference, but I do want to point out a couple of things because it is pertinent to her character and then also to the series. As I mentioned, she's doing a scene from the play by Henrik Ebsen, a doll's house, and she's playing a character named Nora Helmer, the female lead, though the dialogue, if you look up the play, is not 100% accurate. It's more paraphrased for purposes of showing it on TV and the scene that we are watching is between the characters of Nora and Mrs Linda and occurs about halfway into the first act, which sadly means that even though Wesley said we only have an hour to go, it means they actually have much longer to go than that. And the character of Nora is an interesting choice for Cordelia to play, because in that play she seems nothing but adolescent capriciousness, basically very full of herself, etc. But then independence, foresightedness and enough native wisdom to confront an emergency manifest through this facade. So she's actually a lot smarter, a lot more aware than she first appears, which is a nice description of Cordelia herself. And also, I like, was the ending of it before they go into the opening credits, which is after she yells out her line and continues with the play. Agel in nice, deadpan just says and I thought I knew eternity. Nice bit of chuckle. And it keeps up the trend that the show does do very well, which is give us a short, brief sketch to lead into the opening credits.
Speaker 1:Now, after the credits, the trio are walking down the street and Cordelia is eager to hear both of their opinions and both of them are cacked full in terms of how she did, because, since she is a good friend of both of them. They don't want to be rude and say you were awful, no. So they talk around it, such as Wesley saying well, your projection was excellent and you took the role and made it your own, okay. So even as she points out, the fact that all he just said was she talked loudly, that doesn't mean she acted well. She just talked loudly and you took the role and made it your own. That could be good or bad, that doesn't mean anything. When she turns to Agel and she asks him was I any good? His response is I wouldn't have said if I didn't think so, with her realizing wait a minute, you didn't actually say it. That doesn't exactly say much. And then also, his other response was it was a night in a theater that I will never forget, which I will have to save that for a future movie or theater review. So stuff that is awful. Just to put that as a blurb. It was a night in the theater that I will never forget. Not wrong, but also doesn't necessarily mean good.
Speaker 1:Now, as she's talking to them, though, she then notices that Oliver Simon, a business manager, is across the street. She points out to them that he's one of the most powerful and important talent managers in Los Angeles. What is cute with this episode is it has a number of different callbacks already to previous episodes. We're just into the 17th episode of the show and already we're getting references and callbacks. This is callback number one because Oliver, whom we see out in the street, the talent manager he was in the very first episode. City of His character didn't have a name, but he was the guy who approached Angel at Russell's party and handed him his card saying we could do great things together, and he made clear I'm not hitting on you, I would love to represent you.
Speaker 1:Though when Angel even remembers I even says yeah, I saw him at a party makes her do more than just a little jealous and because she was trying to make connections there. And Angel literally just shows up at a party and has a powerful talent agent trying to pick him up. But she lets that slide very quickly because she then spots Oliver's client who's also there at that moment, actress Rebecca Lull, who she describes as an acclaimed actress and was the star of a TV show called On your Own as the character Raven, and she explains that that show ran for nine and a half seasons before it got cancelled. Well, while she's going on giving us Rebecca's resume, angel spots a car purposefully trying to run her over, and he dives out and knocks her out of the way just in time, and Cordelia has immediate response to Angel is oh my god, what was she like?
Speaker 1:But once again, as I mentioned a few moments before, cordelia gets a number of good lines, and that's one of them, because this is covering the concept of fame, where, whenever we hear about oh, I saw so and so in the deli, or I saw so and so and a wrestler, or I bumped into so and so at an airport or whatever, even if we only talked to that famous person for like three seconds, our friends would say oh, what was that person like? Were they nice, were they rude, etc. Etc. So the same thing here he saves her life, and Cordelia, as a fan, is really wanting to know what was she like, even though he had literally no contact with her other than saving her. Well, rebecca, though, does talk to Angel, and she thanks him sincerely for saving her, but Cordelia, still, being the ultra fan, is gushing over Rebecca, saying it was such an honor to save your life.
Speaker 1:Angel is a lot more. I would say blasé or removed from it. And in fact, when Oliver, who comes up and assumes that Angel wants a reward of some kind and is about to offer him money, angel nicely turns down the money, says yeah, I didn't do this for money at all. And that's when Rebecca realizes that Angel wasn't doing this for attention or to try to get money or do anything like this. He truly had no idea who Rebecca was, which was true because Angel had no idea who she was before Cordelia pointed her out to him.
Speaker 1:But then Cordelia then introduces Angel to Rebecca and we now get callback number two because she introduces him as the Dark Revenger Side note. She gets the name wrong because, as fans might remember is in the episode hero he was the Dark of Menger, not the Dark Revenger. But before they can talk any further, the paparazzi are now snapping photos of them and as she turns around, he does a Batman as disappearing and Cordelia then uses the line of oh, he does that now as a side note. That's not a Dark Knight reference, even though the movie Christopher Nolan's the Dark Knight had a similar thing, where characters are talking with Batman. They turn around and he's suddenly gone and Commissioner Gordon says oh, he does that because the reason why I'm saying this is not a Batman reference, because that movie didn't come out for eight more years. That didn't come out until 2008, eight years after this episode aired.
Speaker 1:So, in this case, more of a coincidence of lines, well, cordelia then hands Rebecca her card saying if you ever need rescuing or just a pal around Wesley, who now knows who Rebecca is but is not as dazzled by her fame, or whoever she is, is gently trying to pull Cordelia away. And but in general with this scene, as I said, while I like was with Cordelia, yes, she was gushing, yes, she was enamored of Rebecca because of being an actress that she greatly admired, but she wasn't being overly obnoxious about it. That's the way I like to think I would be if I met somebody famous, such as Sarah or David or any of the cast members in the show. That, yes, I would gush over them and say, oh, I love you and Buffy and so on, but I would try not to be obnoxious about that. They, okay, just get him away from me as they're about to leave. That's when Rebecca then spies Angel walking down the street.
Speaker 1:The next morning, angel comes into Angel investigations, claiming she made the newspapers. And she looks at the picture of Rebecca from the night before when she was attacked at the whatever, and she is technically in the picture. Her elbow was at least. Angel is even more blase because he writes off yeah, she's just an actress, no big deal. And he even points out the fact we're in Los Angeles, we're going to run into famous people at various points, which is true, and he also tries to blow off the article, doesn't even mention rescuing her, though it is very clear his feelings work hard because he did save the woman's life and he's even mentioned the article. Well, we find out a little bit more exposition, because Cardelia then points out that Rebecca hasn't had any work in one and a half years.
Speaker 1:Now in the episode they keep on saying seasons as opposed to years, but I'm assuming that's what they meant. But as they're talking, rebecca then walks in with her security wanting to talk to Angel and as she goes into the office with him alone, she knows, as his blinds are drawn and she makes it come in that the fact that it doesn't appear to be too fond of sunshine, not realizing anything else, might be a bit odd, but she does confirm that he is completely unaware of who she is, so that this way then she knows that his saving of her was not done for any personal gain or because she was famous, he did just to be a nice guy. Well, she explains a little bit more about her the fact that she is Emmy nominated never one, though and that she's been famous since she was 14. So she was essentially a child star or teen star who grew up in the business and, like with a lot of famous people, she's surrounded by people who are called, paid to care about her. But then she gets into a little bit more of a plot by saying that she's being stalkerish, death threats, wringing blood and also getting scary calls in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1:Now, as I mentioned in much more detail when we get to the pop culture segment, a young, beautiful, famous actress getting love letters and stalkerish calls from a fan, harking back a little too much to the tragic story of actress Rebecca Schieffer, a popular sitcom actress who was in real life killed by her stalker on her doorstep just about 10 years before this episode aired, and I'll talk about that more in just a moment. Getting back to the episode, though, angel looks at the note that the one that notes the stalker sent her that was allegedly written in blood, and he immediately comments that no, this isn't blood. Which Rebecca's impressed Say he can just look at it and immediately know that. We as fans of course know why he can tell that immediately, but he hasn't explained to her how he can tell just by glancing at it. She does go on saying the fact that she didn't call the police because of.
Speaker 1:The main problem was she was afraid that the media would find out and that this would put her in a bad light. Because it's one thing to be famous for doing a new movie or new TV show or whatever, but to draw attention to her in a national inquirer type of way by being stalked is just not how she wanted to be famous. But what she is hoping for is to get a role in a new series that she's thinking might revitalize her career Because, as she points out, even being off the air for one and a half years is practically a lifetime and she will go from being famous to being in the where are they now? List. Even though Angel made a note of the car that tried to run her down, he politely and nicely tells her no, sorry, I'm not going to take your case. That's when Cordelia chews him out and in her ripping him a new one in terms of the fact that he's willing to take on almost any case except this one.
Speaker 1:She does pull back number three. She references donkey demons who can rip people's guts out, which. That one's a reference to Lowly Hard and her joke in that one about not understanding what a borrower demon was by thinking that was a donkey demon. Well, wesley understands that the reason why he turned down Rebecca was because he was afraid of getting too close to her, because he was attracted to her, because she is young, beautiful and he could sense a kindred spirit, as it were, with her, and he was afraid of what happened to him when he was with Buffy having to him again.
Speaker 1:At that moment, cordelia then starts to fake having a vision about Rebecca, and it's just as bad as her acting was when she did a dolls house, because Wesley and Angel are not buying into it at all. But she does make it clear that we need to help her out, if not just to be near a famous person, because, as she said, just knowing a star makes your life better. Once again, a concept of how people view fame that, wow, I know this person or I know this person who knows this person, and so that makes me better, because I have the six degrees of connection to a famous person. Well, meanwhile, also covering the fame, now we see what the people who have fame, what they're wanting to do to keep it, because it cuts over Rebecca, who is getting a very rough beauty treatment, and the person working on her mentioned surgery to remove the fat from behind the jaw, even though the actress doesn't look like she has any fat underneath the jaw, but because she's under Hollywood standards. Even an ounce of it is quote too much. And just to make it very clear how short lived an Anjanu's lifespan is in Hollywood, the woman who recommends this treatment is saying that another woman had it done at the old age of 24. And so, wow, she needs to get it done. She's aging out fast because she's in her late 20s now.
Speaker 1:It then cuts over to a montage of a party at Rebecca's place. As a piece of trivia, she's living in the same mansion that Lady Gaga used to film her poker face music video. Once again, that would be done eight years later, but still it's the same place, but in the episode we see that Rebecca is holding this for a similar reason as why Cordelia went to Russell's party in City of, which was to mingle and to network, to get to know people, to make connections. But after the party, after everyone leaves, she wanders alone in her apartment and we see that someone the stalker is watching her from the outside. Now, as the stalker is about to come in and attack her, at that moment Angel crashes through the door. Now big question there. He had never been to her place before. She never even gave him a remote invitation, saying sometimes, stop on by. Similar to what Cordelia did with Angel in Room with a View where she said once I get a place she can come on by, which was treated as an invitation here he had none, but yet he's able to crash through the door, but anyways. The attacker then flees out the broken door because Angel does not know how to enter a place just by walking through a door. He has to smash through it and the stalker uses that opening to get through it as well. And Rebecca is about to sank him when she notices by looking in the mirror that she has a reflection, but he doesn't, before she can say anything else. Angel disappears.
Speaker 1:Well, now it cuts to a little bit later and police are investigating the crime scene and also there is her business manager, concerned about her because the stalker was attacking her, and he offers to stay with her, but she makes it very clear she wants to be alone and she'll be fine. She locks the door and wanders through the house. Actually, it's pretty darn quick because it doesn't show like a gap of time. It's almost within a minute or so that we have police swarming this house and next minute they're all gone. Well, not everyone is gone, because she does sense that someone else is there and she quietly calls out Angel, who then comes out from around the corner and she explains that she has figured everything out the not being a big fan of daylight, the lack of reflection in the mirror, also knowing the fact that what was on the note was not really blood. She puts it all together and figures out that he is a vampire and instead of being scared or frightened or repulsed by the fact that he's a vampire, she in fact is fascinated by it, and not even in the way the vampire club was fascinated by the mythology of vampires. No, she's actually more interested in him, as if this is a great new aspect of the character she wants to know more about.
Speaker 1:And I do want to give compliments to the episode. This is a very well put together scene. It's got great soft music underlying their low key line delivery and there is definite chemistry between the actress and David, way more than there was between Bae Lee and him and she, where that was manufactured chemistry. Here you can actually sense a true sexual chemistry between them, so that you can understand why Angel wanted to pull back and, as a result, this is actually highly erotic, much more once again than in she. And she then mentions to him that she doesn't want to be alone.
Speaker 1:Well, the next morning Wesley is catching Cordelia up and he mentions the fact that Angel phoned and said that they are taking the case and that he wants them to follow up on the stolen vehicle. That's when Cordelia hears that he spent the night with Rebecca, and well, he's with a beautiful woman that he's attracted to. So she's understandably concerned, because the last time that happened, that's when Angels came out, and so she's afraid the curse is going to happen again. That's when Wesley then expresses huge amounts of doubts about it, because he makes reference to the fact that, yes, he might be with Rebecca sexually, but he's not going to experience the true happiness he found with Buffy because, as I mentioned before, with Buffy, he truly loved her. It was not just a sexual attraction, it was actual love.
Speaker 1:Well, cordelia is still concerned and goes to visit Rebecca to make sure she's okay. That well that Angel didn't come out and repound her throat. And as she comments, as she's about to leave, angel spent the night with Rebecca. I owe it to the poor girl to see if you wound up channeling down on my one link to fame. Once again, great line from Cordelia. It is a bit of concern for the character. But yet also, how is this going to affect me?
Speaker 1:Well, she does visit Angel at Rebecca's and she allies with the lattes and also is carrying a cross which Angel puts out a couple of times. And you have a cross which shows that she's not stupid, because she doesn't know if Angel is there. So she's prepared either way. If it's still Angel, well, she's got lattes. If he's Angelus, she's already with the cross to protect herself. But then she does figure out that he's definitely not Angelus by observing his clothes because, as she says, well, judging by the outfit, I guess it's safe to come in. All. Angel would never have worn those pants For my co-hosts. That's why I would, of course, ask her. We're not. Those clothes are carbon dated. One nice technical touch that I do like is the fact that they shot in such a way that there was shade enough in the back corner of the room that Angel is in so that he could purposefully stay in that shade even during the daylight, so that this way then they could have a nice layout of the room very spacious and all that but yet keep the character in shade so that, well, he didn't turn it into a big pile of dust.
Speaker 1:He admits to Cordelia that he did tell Rebecca that he was a vampire. Her response is so do you think she would still set me up with her manager? Once again, another great Cordelia line. Because once again, just like with the MyOneLink to fame is okay. Well, forget that. How can this help me? Once again, a vintage Cordelia, where she doesn't quite realize how selfish that sounds or self-centered that sound, because in her part of heart she's not being self-centered. That's just her viewpoint.
Speaker 1:Well, it cuts over to Rebecca, who is meeting Oliver for lunch, and they're meeting at Mirror Bells which, as a note, is an actual breakfast restaurant in Los Angeles. So this is a legitimate place where she would have met Oliver. He tries to let her down as gently as possible, but he says that the studio canceled. Slash, post, hone the meaning and further. Instead of the part being offered to her, like you would expect from a famous person, say hey, we really want a Tom Hanks, we want a Meryl Streep or whatever for this role.
Speaker 1:Now they want her to come in and actually read for the part auditioned for it, so that Tom much lower she has dropped on the ladder is the fact that she is now back to the point where she has to audition for parts, which depresses her even more. And back at her place, she's complaining the angel about it and she's afraid that it's because she's been off the air for one and a half years and now at this point she's a has been that she's gone from A list to C list or D list. But she also lets him know that she has a premiere that evening that she's going to go to and she will need her bodyguard to be there with her just in case somebody else tries to attack her, which makes sense. Well, milly cuts over to that evening at the premiere and it shows Angel getting out of the limo in a very nice tux and the popper opti is going crazy as Rebecca steps out of the car and the fans in the media are going crazy, screaming at her, shouting out but one interesting thing is, as she points out, they don't call out Rebecca, rebecca, we love you, rebecca. No, a lot of them are calling out her character, say Raven, which I can actually see that happening, because I could imagine, let's say, if Sarah went to a premiere, I could actually picture some fans yelling out Buffy, because with a lot of these celebrities, when they get associated with one character, that's all we associate them with. Because I read one interview some time ago that that was a big reason why David stopped doing interviews for Buffy and Angel right after the show went off the air, because he was afraid that he was going to get too associated with the character of Angel and that would stifle his career. So now, obviously, since he went on to do 10 years on bones and now on seal team, obviously his career has prospered quite well post Joss Whedon. But still a lot of actors in especially in genre shows tend to get associated with one character and that's all the fans will accept them as, and that's what this scene is showing. That's all they accept her as. It doesn't matter if she does a doll's house next week and she acts the daylights out of it and said they'll say we loved you as Raven and not as Nora in a doll's house.
Speaker 1:They walk down the red carpet and one guy we do see is being very close attention to her. The episode makes it very clear as thought, that as far as he's pulling something out of his jacket, well they go out into the bag alleyway. Because Rebecca makes it very clear she was not there to see the movie. She didn't care about the movie, she has no interest in the movie. She was there for the red carpet just to get the paparazzi to snap pictures of her and that was it. And she had already worked this out in advance. The driver was going to meet her at the end of the alleyway. Well, as they're about to head down the alleyway, that's when the guy whom we saw on the red carpet approaches and shoots at her from a rafter up above Angel, shoves her out of the way and leaps up and fights the man. And this is a very short fight, it's like two or three punches he's out and Angel then hugs Rebecca protectively.
Speaker 1:Well, it cuts just short time later, old, to the street where Angel is giving information to the police and Oliver approaches Rebecca, once again concerned because, well, she was just shot at. But that's when Rebecca knows it's something odd. She says she recognized the stalker because he was a stuntman that Oliver used to represent and, once again, showing that Rebecca is not dumb, she can put things together fairly quickly. She figures out that for the stalker to be able to know her phone number to call her because that's the only reason he would have been in the alleyway is if he knew that she often skips premieres. And also the stalker knew the security code to her house. She puts all that together and she figures out that only way he could have gotten all that information is from Oliver.
Speaker 1:And Oliver then explains, as I said during my review, which was that, yes, he was the one who organized all of this, but there was never any intention for her to be hurt. He was hoping that it would just get her some cheap and free publicity to help her career a little bit more. And that's when he makes it clear that for the TV series she was hoping to get to revive her career, the studio decided to pass on her all together, not even for a reading. And the reason why? Because they felt she was quote too mature for the role which is Hollywood Speak for All. And so now she is convinced that Raven is not just the peak of her career, it is her career that she has no future because she is going to keep getting older each and every day and she realizes that she'll never look as young as she did in Raven and as she gets older she'll become more and more useless to Hollywood. But then that's when she looks over at Angel and suddenly gets an idea.
Speaker 1:At this point, while people were trying to find out on what streaming service on your own was on, my spidey sends a stingly. It must be time for our pop culture segment where I find every pop cultural reference in the episode compiled in a supercut and make heads or tails of what they're talking about your spider sense Pop cultural reference. Sorry God who called me T. I figured what's better than dumb. One day I might yes, many years from now, when I've lost my looks a little, do not laugh. Franklin Jell-O was the only performance I believed in. He's not technically a crowded theater. I've slept with Ernest Borgnein and I'm a lemak the Beatles, the Bella Legosi, gary Oldman, the have Vampires Entertainment Tonight. Then I'd just be hand feeding the story of the Inquirer, not Skinks. We have to use this now before she's just another E true Hollywood story. I'll give you a private screening of the episode. I didn't win the Emmy for. Oh, him Borgnein's a very skilled lover.
Speaker 1:Now a couple of the things I wanted to discuss of the Pop cultural reference. First of all is the character of Dracula, because in the earlier scene, when she realizes that Angel's a vampire and she makes the reference that Bella Legosi, gary Oldman that they were vampires and he makes a reference to Frank Langella, the common character they're all referring to is the character of Dracula. Now, as a note, as of 2015, the Gizbook of World Records has listed that Dracula is the most performed literary character on film, counting both movies as well as TV. And no, we are talking about the character of Dracula, not just vampires in general, but the specific character of Dracula, and that he has been portrayed in 538 different movies and or TV movies. Number two is Sherlock Holmes and with a diss at number two, at 299.
Speaker 1:Now some of the actors who have played Dracula over the decades Bella Legosi, of course. Christopher Lee many people feel that he is probably the best one Luke Evans, more recently Marlendale, who actually won an Academy Award and technically, in his case he portrayed Bella Legosi, and there was a scene where he asked Bella Legosi was playing Dracula. And then Morgan Freeman, which for those who are not as old as I am, will go. I'm probably looking right now to see what vampire movie did he play Dracula in? It was in a children's PBS series back in the 70s called the Electric Company, and in that one he was Dracula, also a character named Easy Reader as well. Other actors who have played Dracula are Klaus Kinski, lon Cheney Jr, leslie Nielsen, george Hamilton, rutger Howard, judd Hirsch and Nicholas Cage. As a note, this is also not counting all the different TV series appearances such as Rudolph Martin in Boppy vs Dracula, a role he later recreated on screen in the movie Dark Prince, the true story of Dracula. So one could put up a debate. Who was the real Dracula? My pick Leslie Nielsen in Dracula, Dead and Loving it. That's your vampire.
Speaker 1:Another thing I want to discuss I mentioned very briefly before, but I do want to go into a lot more detail is the story of Rebecca Schaefer, because, as I mentioned earlier, the concept of an actress being stalked by a fan and being in danger for her life was a real life tragedy. Rebecca Schaefer was a TV actress in the 1980s, and she started off as a model and appeared on the cover of Seventeen Magazine. That cover caught the eye of a casting director who cast her in the role of the younger sister in the TV series sitcom my Sister Sam, and it was on CBS, and it did start off as a hit, but fell very quickly in the ratings and was canceled midway through the second season. But, unlike Rebecca, she did actually have a little bit of a career afterwards, because she did get some movie roles, because she was in movies such as scenes from the class struggle in Beverly Hills, voyager, terror, the Achilles Laurel of there, end of Innocence and the movie Out of Time. During this time, though, she was being stalked by a 19 year old fan named Robert John Bardo, and he had actually been stalking her for three years. He wrote numerous letters to her, none of which she answered, because, well, she was creeped out by him and one time he went to visit her on the set of the sitcom my Sister Sam, but security wisely turned him away before he could get any closer. After the series went off the air he was still stalking her and he saw her in the movie scenes from the class struggle in Beverly Hills and he became enraged because in that movie there was a scene where she was in bed with another man and he wasn't understanding the first one that was in the movie. She wasn't actually in bed with the actor, it was just a scene and two. She and Robert weren't a couple, so there's no reason for him to be jealous. But nevertheless he decided to punish her for quote becoming another Hollywood horror and so find her address. He hired a PI who got her address through the DMV, because at that time it was very easy to get information like that from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Speaker 1:On the day of her murder she was expecting a copy of the script for the movie Godfather Part 3. She was hoping to audition for the role of Michael Stoddard Mary, a very key and important role in the movie, and as she got it would have elevated her career. You, because you're working on the third film in the Godfather trilogy. You're working without Pacino, andy Garcia, diane Keaton Jordan, by Francis Ford Cobla huge role for her to have. Well, she answers the door expecting it to be the script being delivered to her, and he's there with a letter and an autograph that she had sent him, and she had sent him, most likely, the autograph, not knowing who he was, it was just a fan. Here here's an autograph. Well, they talked briefly in the doorstep and she made it clear she did not want him to ever come to her house ever again. Robert then went to a nearby diner, rooted about it and then returned. She then answers the door and, before anything else can happen, he shoots her point blank in the chest and her final word was why? Well, she was then rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead 30 minutes later, and Robert then was arrested the next day and immediately confessed. He was prosecuted by Marsha Clark, famous for the OJ trial, a few years later, and he was then sentenced to life without possibility of parole.
Speaker 1:Now, this tragic story of a young actress struck down literally in her prime by a fan, because at that time there were no real anti-stalking laws, so there was nothing that could have been done to protect her, sad enough. But it did have a positive effect on there, because a couple of laws that passed was, first of all, the Drivers Privacy Protection Act was passed soon afterwards which restricted the release of personal information from the DMV, so like that cannot happen again where a person can just walk in and say, hey, I need someone's adress. No, they can't get from the DMV. And then also it helped prompt the 1990 passing of America's first anti-stalking laws, so that now you don't have to tragically wait for the stalker to make an overt act, because in a lot of cases like that the overt act is well what happened here, the shooting of her that had that law been passed before she could have gotten the police to arrest him for stalking and she would have lived.
Speaker 1:But now game back to Angel where back at Angel Investigations and Wesley produces the forensic report from the theater and Angel already figured out that the bullets were blanks, which, as I said, angel already knew because he had gone back that evening and examined and the shots never connected. There was no bullets in the wall, shit paint. And when he saw like this I'm thinking, oh my god, you're actually stopping like a real detective and not just a vampire who broods a lot. I mean, that was some nice conclusions there. But what he doesn't think is the fact that he doesn't believe that Rebecca knows that the killer was a fake, because he doesn't know about her conversation with Oliver. Yet he's not sure we're not to tell her because, as he explains, he's not sure which will be the worst news to her the fact that she was being stalked or the fact that she wasn't being stalked. In her mind, she wouldn't be worse having somebody obsessed with her At that moment.
Speaker 1:Rebecca and Cordelia are also out hanging around, and Cordelia is, of course, genuinely excited to hang out with this big time star, somebody famous. As they're going shopping, rebecca is being very pleasant and nice and giving Cordelia advice on her career, telling her don't give up, try to keep at it, that someday you will be famous. But while she's being genuinely friendly towards Cordelia, we figure out that what she's also doing is getting information on Angel and having her explain about him being a vampire. And because Cordelia is so enamored at being with a famous person like Rebecca, she is more than happy to give up Angel's entire story to Rebecca as to how things work with him. Well, that evening Rebecca visits Angel back at his place. She brings him a bottle of Dom as a thank you gift, and Angel pours two glasses and tries to tell her about the stalker. When Rebecca makes a very clear shower, renew that it was all fake. And she does a romantic thing of linking arms with him, which the show also does, to show how their hopes are also intertwined, because of the fact that these are two lonely souls and so they're almost getting mixed in with each other, but also for the episode as they're doing a bit of the linking of the arms. She spills some of the drink onto his shirt. Well, he goes off to change, while at that moment she then slips a drug into his glass which he then drinks out of.
Speaker 1:Well, cordelia then calls Wesley, has him come over to her place very worried. She reveals that she pulled Rebecca everything about Angel, including his curse and how it can be lifted. And all that because she explains that Rebecca was questioning her big time about Angel and also asking her how does one become a vampire, which should have triggered something with her? Because that's not a common question everyone asks, but because Rebecca was famous, she didn't think twice about it. Cordelia does realize that, oh my God, rebecca's main objective now is to use Angel to help turn her into a vampire so that this way then she stays young and beautiful forever and as a last-ditch attempt to save her fading career, back at Angels. The drug is slowly taking effect and he's sharing a bit of his past as Angelus, and we now get callback number four because, as he's describing the things he's done, he references almost sucking the world into hell, the Acophila scheme from becoming part two. Well, he's beginning to relax and she tries to seduce him and it's very clear it's having an obvious effect because he is falling for it, and she then makes it clear that she wants him to turn her into a vampire, which causes him to sober very quickly, and he refuses out of concern for her and the fact that she doesn't truly understand what she's asking for, which leads to this dialogue.
Speaker 1:You don't know what it is you're asking me to do. Of course I know I'm not a fool. There's a price. I understand that you couldn't possibly understand. I wasn't afraid, was I, when I looked into the mirror and you weren't there. I didn't scream, I didn't run, I understood. No, you weren't afraid. You looked into that mirror and all you saw was yourself. That's all you ever see when back at. That's what really frightens you. This isn't about the way the studio, the network or your fans see you. It's about how you see yourself. Your own reflection has been corrupted into something unrecognizable. You think you want to stay the same. What you really want is to make it disappear.
Speaker 1:Now, as I mentioned, this episode doesn't have any villains or any real antagonists of any form, because in this case, rebecca's motivation is nothing evil or anything vicious, it's just sympathetic vanity. She's desperate. It's similar to Billy Fordham in Lidamy, where he's willing to become a vampire because in his mind he has literally no other choice. He's tried everything else and nothing is working. Same thing here with her, because she's afraid that unless she can stay frozen in time and remain looking as young and beautiful as she does at this moment, her career will leave her, she'll be unemployed, her career will be over before she ever had a chance to truly enjoy it. As a result, she is sympathetic.
Speaker 1:We can understand because, as I mentioned, that is unfortunately the way Hollywood treats women. That's why I've never seen the Amy Schumer sketch, because they make it very clear in that sketch that whereas women have an last effable day, men don't? You see this in movies all the time, where you rarely ever see an older woman with a young, sexy male lover. But there's been tons of movies, nate take your pick of whatever Woody Allen comedy you want where you have a much older man with a beautiful young actress. In fact, in the Woody Allen comedies people had found that for quite a while, as he grew older, his leading ladies became younger and actually became creepy as anything. And there's been many movies like that where you have somebody who's literally old enough to be the woman's father, but yet in the movie there are a romantic couple, whereas, as I said, with older women you don't see that as much. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's much less common.
Speaker 1:So, as a result, you can understand her concern here, because she's an industry which punishes her for getting old. But at the same time, angel isn't wrong in his concerns for her and the fact that she doesn't truly understand what she is asking for. To try to show her what her life would be like, he then drags her into the kitchen and force feeds her some of the blood from his refrigerator to let her know what her future holds. At that moment he then leaves because he realizes, okay, it's one thing to do tough love with her, but what he's doing there is boiling cruelty by shoving blood into her mouth. And that's where he realizes wait a minute, that's not me, that's not something Angel would do, because Angel's not that mean. And that's when he figures out that he was drugged and she immediately apologizes for doing it. And that's when we get another great bit of transition dialogue, which is her saying I just wanted you to be happy. And Angel, with his head on her shoulder, saying but I am happy, you are, ow, as after she slightly bit, and he leans back in full vamp face and full Angel's mode, perfectly happy At that moment when I first watched that, besides it, yes, angelus is bad.
Speaker 1:Angelus then proceeds to taunt Rebecca and he turns to kill her by putting her head on a spic or a pike after killing her which is actually very true to the character of Angelus, because, remember, this is what separates Angelus from literally every other vampire, including Spike and Drill, because every other vampire out there killed either for defense or for food. That was their two motivations and, yes, angelus would do that as well if needed. But he also just killed for fun, because this was a guy that wanted to torture Giles in becoming part two, where he told Giles I really hope you don't tell me what I want to know because I really want to hurt you. And it's not because he has any animosity towards Giles, it's just because he gets off on it almost orgasmically. And he uses a similar line to Rebecca here, saying tell you what I'll torture you for a few unbelievably long hours and then you can tell me if this is the lifestyle for you, which is reminiscent not just of the Giles scene but also Jenny Callender in Passion, where similar idea there, where he actually enjoyed the fact that he got to chase her through the skull because he wanted to work up an appetite, and also the look that he gave Buffy looking through the window when she finds out that Jenny Callender died a very creepy, almost orgasmic look on his face because he was getting off on the pain he was causing. So same thing here. Well before he can say too much more, rebecca clocks him with a candle stick and flees by getting into the elevator.
Speaker 1:She goes upstairs and is rescued by Wesleyan Cordelia, and Cordelia is now very much unenamored with her because she is thinking that because Rebecca slept with Angel, angelus is back now. That's what Wesley then concludes that it was the drug. And because the drug is artificial, the effects will wear off eventually. But in the meanwhile, angelus does do a mini stalking I mean very mild. He cuts the power in the phone and he walks in slowly towards the three of them and he taunts both Wesley and Cordelia by peeking at sensitive parts on them.
Speaker 1:For Wesley, it's making fun of his inferiority complex, as I had discussed in I've Got you Under my Skin. That is. The defining characteristic of Wesley is the fact that he does feel inferior. He doesn't feel he's worthy of any praise, whereas Angel would actually work the opposite and try to build up his self-esteem. As we've seen in previous episodes, angelus, on their head, goes for it, goes for the jugular, as it were, by making fun of how inferior he is.
Speaker 1:For Cordelia, her sensitive spot, her acting by openly telling her what a lousy, miserable actress she is, once again getting at what he perceives is her weakest part. Well, at that moment Cordelia pulls out a water bottle and tells him that she kept holy water in it on tap, just in case Angelus returns. She said, every other Tuesday I would go to the nearby parish and get the local priest and she gives a convincing explanation Father, whoever would bless it? And she hasn't blessed every second Tuesday. I mean it's a legitimately plausible story that she's giving because she says while he's downstairs brooding, she's going to get blessed. Because she said I have no idea when you're going to return, so I want to be ready, which makes perfect sense. She then throws it at him and the bluff worked. And what I like about that was it was a nice contrast with her pre two previous attempts at acting a doll's house and then the fake vision that when she needed it the most she could actually be a good actress, which is not surprising because, as we saw in the previous episode in the ring when she was posing as a cop, I commented there that she actually gave a plausible performance as a cop there as well. She didn't overplay it. Well, same thing here. She doesn't overplay, she gives just enough for it to be a nice bluff. It bluffs Angelus just enough to distract him so that Wesley could tackle him and throw down the elevator shaft, which is a nice move.
Speaker 1:Well, now we cut to the epilogue. At this point Rebecca is gone. In fact, it's written off with just a line from the two of them by saying that Rebecca has chosen not to keep him on as her bodyguard because Angel wakes up and he's completely chained up laying on his bed and Wesley and Cordelia are watching him very warily, not ready to believe that the drugs have worn off quite yet, even though he's now talking more as Angel and less as Angelus, but still, you want to be safe. Well, wesley, believing Angel has her turn, is ready to put the comments that Angelus made behind him, saying that that was just Angelus, not Angel. Angel, to show that he is a little bit more back, compliments him on saying nice move that you did upstairs, and you could tell Angelus delivering it sincerely.
Speaker 1:And Cordelia, well, she's willing to forgive him because once again she realizes Angel, Angelus, she's a bit more blue and it's time. So much because he insulted her acting, which you get the feeling someone like her. She knows she's going to get criticized. You're in the entertainment industry, you're going to hear people trashing you, but what she is hurt by is the fact that Angel was essentially lying to her. She wanted an honest opinion honest but tactful, but still honest opinion from her about her acting because she trusted him and instead he lies to her. So, as explained, she says Angelus, while he's not the most relaxing company, at least he's honest. Should I not expect the same from the non-evil version of my friend, which leads into layer on and soulless when she makes a reference? Layer on that he lies with the truth, because referencing again that's the thing with Angelus that is actually somewhat similar to Cordelia. They're both honest. They might not use it in the best ways, but they are honest. For this episode, though she has forgiven him. As she walks out, still leave him chained up. She has forgiven him, but she's still careful and the episode ends Well.
Speaker 1:Now for the next segment of the show, which is favorite kills and lines the Order of Taraka. I mean, isn't that overkill? Now, in this case, this was the most peaceful episode yet of the series because there was literally no deaths in the entire episode. The bodyguard was just knocked unconscious by Angel and even though we had a stalker shooting at Rebecca and we had Angel show up in the fourth act, nobody died rather disappointing. Well, that still leaves our kill total at 24.5 for Angel.5 for Wesley and.43 for all other characters, which takes the total up to 68 for the series, and because we had such a peacenick episode, well, obviously no favorite kills. Now for the favorite line. For me it would be the one that was used at the end, because, as listeners might know, when I'm picking a favorite line, I try to go away from not the one I found the funniest or the most lighthearted, but the one that best summarizes the character or the episode the most. So for me, my favorite line would be the one used by Cordelia at the end.
Speaker 1:Angelus may not be the most relaxing company, but at least he's honest. Shouldn't I expect the same from the not evil version of my friends, which that plays into the theme in the second half of the episode? It's sort of the theme did exist in a sense in the beginning of the episode as well, which is the concept of honesty when is lying good and when is it bad? Because, as I mentioned before, is Angelus. When he's back, he is honest with Cordelia and Wesley, he's giving them honest opinions of both of them. He's speaking the truth, which he is using it as a weapon, which leads into that line I mentioned before for the episode Solus. He lies with the truth. In this episode, everyone is an S's line to each other.
Speaker 1:Angel and Wesley at the beginning are lying to Cordelia about how they felt about her play. Oliver is lying to Rebecca about the attacks and how the network is viewing her. Angel is lying to Rebecca about not taking her case and his friends about his criticism of them. And finally, rebecca is lying to Angel and Cordelia about her true motivations that she's not just hanging out with Cordelia to be nice. Nope, she's trying to get information about Angel.
Speaker 1:As Cordelia points out, the only one in the episode who is truly and completely honest is Angelus, because he tells Rebecca what his honest plan is for her that had he stayed around longer, he probably would have put her head on a stick or a pipe after torturing her for several hours. We know that that's not too far from removed from what he would have done to her and also his feelings about Wesley and Cordelia, even though that might not have been Angel's feelings. That was Angelus' feelings, completely honest. So now it leads into the question that little kids are always confused about which is. Is lying a good thing? Which is? Angel, on the one hand, is lying to protect them. He's trying to be nice to Cordelia because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings, he doesn't want to offend Wesley by making Wesley feel more inferior. And he's also lying out of a sense of justice to protect Rebecca. And Rebecca is lying out of care for herself and is unable to see the love that Oliver has for her. She manipulates Cordelia but once again, as I mentioned before, it's sympathetic. She's not trying to be mean towards Cordelia, she's not trying to use Cordelia, but she truly has no other alternatives in her opinion. And finally, the one last bit of a lie that occurs in this episode is Angelus himself, even though I just said he's honest. Well, the character is honest. His appearance is also a lie because it's drug induced. So it's not true Angelus, it's a drug induced Angelus. Later on in the series we get true Angelus. Well, that's it for this week's episode.
Speaker 1:In the next show I'll discuss the following episode. I will continue my retrospective with the episode 5x5, where we have the return of another character from Buffy, plus the return of not one, not two, but three Wolframan heart attorneys. So join me as I wrestle with which moment from Eliza Dushku is the most awesome. The heck with it. They're all great. So join me, stephen, for the next episode of Wolframan Cast. If you wish to reach out to us with any questions or comments, you can reach us at Facebook, instagram or Twitter, at Wolframcast, or email us at Wolframcastsgmailcom. Feel free to write to us and we might read your comments or emails on the air. Please leave us a rating and review on iTunes, spotify or wherever you get your podcast entertainment. But for now… See you next time.