S1.E13: She

[Joe Hellandback]

SHE

The Good;

Angel and Wesley dancing at Cordy's party is possibly the funniest thing you've ever seen. A laudable if slightly heavy-handed rant against female circumcision. Also love the scene where Angel pretends to be an art guide and Angel and Phantom Dennis.

The Bad;

The scene where Wes tries to chat-up the girl at the party is cringeworthy, he's pretty much treated as the comic relief for this ep. The scene where the camera wheels around whilst Angel and Jiera talk, growing increasingly worked up carries on for so long and is so over the top it's almost parody.

Best line:

Mars; "The little sisters are chilling"

Also like Cordy's;

"I'm so glad you came. You know how parties are, you're always worried that no one is going to suck the energy out of the room like a giant black hole of boring despair but there you were in a cinch"

Jeez, how did they get away with that?

The whole 'unmaking' scene is just unwatchable. The contrast between it and the obvious affection between the now submissive 'unmade' girl and her captors when they send her back is incredibly creepy, especially her 'dead behind the eyes' expression and the way she refers to herself in third person.

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Clichés

Damsel in distress; 15, a whole bevy of them

Inverting the Hollywood cliché; Wes and CC snooping at the garden centre amazingly don't get caught.

In disguise; 3

DB get's his shirt off; yep, he feels the need for a shower

4

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; 2

Fang Gang in bondage: Cordy: 5 Angel: 5 Wes: 1

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 8 Angel: 7 Wes: 2 Doyle; 1

Kills: Cordy: I'll give this one to Cordy. 3 vamps, 1½ demons Angel: half a demon so 8 vamps, 4 and 1/2 demons, 2 humans. Doyle; 1 vamp

Wes; 1/2 a demon

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 1

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 5

Characters killed: 5, the poor guys burned to death by the demonbabes

25

Recurring characters killed;

1;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 3, Angel and Cordy and Wes officially joins the firm for the first time

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 6,

Packing heat;

Wes; 1

Doyle; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky:

I'd say that Bai Ling is lovely but that seems quite redundant even with the ridges and violet eyes (she's also in Southland Tales with SMG). Cordy's friend Laura also sounds like a fun girl as is her friend 'Pants on' Diego. Naked hotties on ice who seems to have a strong effect on both Wes and Angel. Mars says his Shaman could never turn away 'Scantily clad women in distress'. Wes refers to the girls at the party as 'fillies'.

Captain Subtext;

Obviously this is an allegory against female circumcision (once watched a documentary on it and afterwards went and got drunk for the first time in my life to try to blank the memory). Although you wonder if the males' fear of the females is more to do with them burning people to death rather than just simple chauvinism? Note that the male demons don't hurt any humans, it's Jhira and co who killing and she's quite prepared to let Wes and Cordy die for her cause. Not to stereotype but Wes has a knowledge of flowers in addition to the occult.

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages;

3,

Guantanamo Bay;

Angel once again beats his way to the truth

Buffy characters on Angel;

6; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes

Questions and observations;

Angel refers to his time in Hell again where he remarks he knew many of the people. AI use their mobile phones to good effect. It'll take the Sunnydale Scoobies another 3 years to get theirs. Great performance from Sean Gunn as the spa manager, always thought he was in Desperate Housewives but he's not. Wes handles himself well in a fight for the first time. One of only 2 eps of Angel with a sequence over the end titles (Buffy does it in The Puppet Show). It seems unlikely that Angel actually knew Manet or Baudelaire as he would actually have been Angelus at the time? Still we now know he's a poetry fan like most of Buffy's other boyfriends/lovers. 

Marks out of 10; 7/10, Keith Topping loathes this ep but I think it's quite good