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That's My Take Archive Late January, 2001- airing of "Checkpoint" & "Blood Money" | |||||||||
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Buffy- "Checkpoint" I read the closed captioning to this episode before I saw it & I could tell who was saying what even though there is no indication of who says what or when someone starts & stops talking. Even in the scene where they switch to different characters being interviewed by the Watcher's Council. It just shows how in-character the episode was written. Reading the script, interpreting the lines before the actors say them is something I've never done before. I don't think SMG is doing her best work & I don't think the episode flowed, direction wise. But I found this episode very interesting. It steps up events a bit. They're laying out some plot here & tying up loose ends. Kick ass, Giles is a Watcher again. Of course, tying up that loose end makes me think something horrible will happen to Giles soon. I'm glad Buffy stood up for herself from that snotty Council & took the initiative, she has the power. What's wrong with Spike? Are we in second grade? Do we push our crush flat on their face, giggle, & run back to our friends, or what? Well, you know, if he had friends, he'd probably be doing that. You know, if I were Buffy, I don't think I would trust that guy to look after my family. Wow. Wouldn't that have been cool if Glory killed The Key to get The Key? Dumbass. Doesn't she have, like, Key radar? What up with Ben? Does he have feelings for Buffy? Is this going to be her latest conquest & then she'll be all hurt when she learns what Ben is & what he is to Glory? It's tired. Glory feeds on brains- so that's what the technical term for what she does is. Okay. Brain feeding on of. Got it. I don't know if I'm crazy, which yeah I probably am, but I find little "Restless" connections in almost every episode. I think Quentin saying that "The council remains, The slayers change. It's been that way from the beginning" is a connection to the beginning of Giles' dream in "Restless". Am I just reading too much into everything? You know, the people who do the commercials for these episodes really are misleading. Remember how the commercial made it sound like Buffy asked them what kind of demon she was fighting for the Council test & Quentin answered "it's not a demon." That's so misleading. They were talking about Glory & it was a led-in to the shocking cliffhanger of the episode "she's a God." Well, I pretty much knew that. Give me some new stuff, don't end the episode like that. Why so slow? This isn't "Buffy", "Buffy" is fast-paced & shocks you at every turn. I got two sorta'-kinda' words for this ending: "Grr Argh". Angel- "Blood Money" I just thought of something bad. Really bad. I liked how they summed up Wolfram & Hart's plan for Angel in 2 sentences. Nice. Here all these things are going through my mind, these intricate complex storylines & it's very simple, & chilling. So here comes the bad thought. If Angel can either destroy or save the world, then the prophecy, the Shanshu prophecy can be interpreted two ways. One is Wesley's- Angel goes from death to life, the Powers That Be make him a human as reward for saving the world. The second is to consider that Angel will be taken from death to a new life- pure demonic form, for vampires aren't pure demon, once he ends the world and everything goes to hell, literally. 'Cause, remember, Wesley inferred that 'shanshu' was Angel's "reward", but it wasn't in the text. The shanshu could just be a consequence of putting Earth in the demonic plane- a rebirth, ascension for the demon in Angel. Wow, Julia Lee has really grown up. I kept expecting Anne to mention Buffy, but no, no, no. I'm glad Lily got her life together. That money wasn't really blood money. It might have been gotten through Wolfram & Hart's connections, but the people who donated were celebrities & business men, not totally Wolfram & Hart. Plus, when you're trying to survive & you're only trying to do good you do what you have to do. Okay, I just traced Whedon's whole train of thought on Angel's fall from grace. You know, I really don't have much to say about this episode only that now I am very disappointed in Angel. He's flipped. David Boreanaz can really play the stalker, can't he? Was that guy perfectly cast or what? Who else could play that role? How stupid is Lindsey still thinking Angel won't kill him. With this episode, the whole plot of "To Shanshu in L.A." made no practical sense. If they were going to cut Angel off from the P.T.B. with Darla, then why was it needed to try to cut him off from the powers when they were bringing her back? I don't want Darla & Dru to deal with Wolfram & Hart anymore. I don't think the 15 body memo was enough (I love that phrase & therefore am going to use it as often as possible, well, before they come & lock me up for saying that phrase all the time), Wolfram & Hart is still messing with all them- Angel, Darla, Dru. I say, drink 'em all. Hell, turn a few over to vamps. Turn the senior partners & then take over their power. Don't deal with them to get it because they're just going to keep on outsmarting Darla. I'm rooting for the bad guys, because the evil vampires are way less evil than the lawyers. It's like rooting for the good guys. The evil, bloodsucking variety of good guys. & who says America's youths have depleting moral values. Buffy and Angel Where's a Buffy/Angel crossover event when you need one? Think about it. Buffy & Angel could sure use each other's help about now. Angel's gone overboard & Buffy's in a crisis. Together, they could stake Dru & Darla, & with a little side-nookie, Angel could forget about Darla & get back to his mission. Buffy could use some help with Glory & Angel knows things, he might be able to help her with it- hell, he could be a good guardian for Dawn to keep her safe & away from Glory. BUT, we couldn't have that because then both shows plotlines go out the window & I'm just getting to enjoy 'em. | |||||||||