S5.E02: Just Rewards

[Joe Hellandback]

JUST REWARDS

The Good; I know it's sick but always laugh out loud at Spike looking at 'bucket-o-lawyer' and telling Gunn and Wes "Your man Novak, he's been, how would you put it? Downsized!". Such an unpleasant storyline yet really it's quite immaterial as this ep really is about Spike and Angel rather than some necromancer.

The Bad; You can see the dark haired girl in the corpse showroom move slightly when she's standing behind Spike.

Best line; Spike (looking around Angel's plush digs)"If a certain Slayer could see you now!"

Jeez, how did they get away with that? Harmony telling Spike he can't be mean to her anymore because they're no longer dating. Oh that girl! Plus 'bucket-o-lawyer' (three buckets actually).

Apocalypses: 5

Angel Clichés In disguise; 8

DB get's his shirt off; 14, yep, bit bulkier but still looks good

Cheap Angel; 6

Fang Gang in bondage: Cordy: 5 Angel: 14 Wes: 7 Gunn; 5 Lorne; 5 Fred; 3

Fang gang knocked out: Angel by the Hainsley Cordy: 15 Angel: 19 Wes: 7 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 2 Lorne; 6 Groo; 1 Connor; 1 Faith; 1 Fred; 2

Kills; 2 humans and a demon for Angel Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons Angel; 45 vamps, 60 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 12 humans Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 14 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 humans Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans. Gunn; 11 vamps+ 13 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human. Groo; 1 demon Fred; 3 vamps+ 2 demon, 5 zombies Connor; 16 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 demons, Jasmine

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 3 Angel: 3 Gunn; 1 Wes; 1

Alternate Fang Gang; Cordy: 4 Angel: 11 Fred; 2 Wes; 1 Gunn; 1 Connor; 1

Characters killed: 2255

Recurring characters killed; 9;

Total number of Angel Investigations; 5, Spike not really in the gang yet Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wes,

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 13 Wes; 2

Packing heat; Wes; 8 Doyle; 1 Angel; 4 Gunn; 2 Fred; 2

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast Angel: 5; Buffy, Darla and The Transcending Furies Wes; 3 definite; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 1 possible, Justine Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen. Fred; 1 Gunn Groo; 1Cordy

Kinky dinky: Harmony is revolted by the thought of Spuffy "Slayer loving freak!". Fred thinks Spike is hot. The demon states that he considered other sorts of human bodies to inhabit but eventually he went with pretty as everybody does (anyone else think he sounds like Clem?). Spike suggests the villain is into necrophilia. Spike says he'd like to 'have a go' at Fred and that she looks like a 'goer'.

Captain Subtext; Spike refers to Angel as poncey and beefcake. Lorne says he sees Depp and Bloom for the Angel and Spike roles but comments he sees them a lot (Johnny Depp is in Ed Wood with Juliet Landau so in 2 and Orlando Bloom is in Black Hawk Down with Glenn Morshower so in 2). His remark 'I could sell that movie in a heartbeat' may be a hint at an Angel movie. Angel is jealous that Spike hooked up with his sexy, petite blonde ex. Spike points out that Angel now has HIS sexy petite blonde ex working as his secretary. Also note that when the Groxlar beast attacks Spike goes to help Angel.

Spike refers to himself as Angel's 'date' and says that forehead boy has a 'wide spotty ass'. How would he know? Later on in the season Spike refers to the intimate moment Spike and Angel share together much to the delight of Spanglers everywhere. BUT the moment in question could very well be the scene here where Spike is possessing Hainsly who has his fingers lodged inside Angel?

Know the face, different character; 5

Parking garages; where Spike meets Angel 8,

Buffy characters on Angel; 16 Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony. POSSIBLY The First Evil

Questions and observations; Gunn smokes cigars? We've never seen him do it before and do we ever see him do it again? Note in the teaser you can just see Harmony's hand appear around the doorframe just before we cut to Sunnydale. The last time we'll really see Buffy proper in the Buffyverse. Love the flashback to Spike's going out in a blaze of glory. How come Gunn has heard of Spike but Fred hasn't? Angel is still in touch with Buffy who's now in Europe. Wes seems to have been informed of recent events but not the others? But even he hasn't been told of Spike's soul, everyone at AI keeps secrets. The Littlelest Vampire is mentioned, either a ref to The Little Vampire or The Littlelest Hobo (Richard E Grant is in Dr Who with ASH so in 2, Patrick McNee is in Waxwork with J Kenneth Campbell so in 2).

So how does the medallion get to Angel? We know

Spoiler

it's Lindsey but how does he know about it? Eve or is he maybe in league with Lilah?

Angel knows a lot more about Spike than he rightfully should. He's jealous that Spike not only got to have more, ahem, intimate time with Buffy than he did but also that when Spike got his soul he was able to recover from the guilt in a matter of months whilst Angel tortured himself for over a century. Of course this was partly because Spike had help from Buffy and in some ways the rest of the Scoobies but also because he deliberately went out to re-acquire his soul and to be the champion Buffy wanted, he had purpose. And he had 3 years without killing before due to his chip, living more and more in the human world, forced to socialise with them and learning from the experience.

Marks out of 10; 7/10

[illdoc]

8 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

How come Gunn has heard of Spike but Fred hasn't?

Gunn has more experience with vampires (hunting with his gang), who might have mentioned him. Fred has few supernatural experiences outside of Pylea & any AI stuff. It's also possible that there was more bonding with Angel & the group before Fred joined them, where he might have mentioned "the good old days"/Angelus' experiences (and thus Spike).

[MerelyAFan]

Given Wesley's clear familiarity with Spike, its entirely possible some combination of him, Cordelia, and/or Angel mentioned him in some detail in late S1/S2, especially after Darla & Drusilla showed up in LA. 

[illdoc]

2 hours ago, MerelyAFan said:

Given Wesley's clear familiarity with Spike,

Or he could have read something in the Watchers' diaries.