Continuing with my viewing and reviewing of season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and season 1 of Angel...
***SPOILERS***
B4-18: Where the Wild Things Are
Synopsis: While Adam is recruiting an army of vampires and demons, Riley and Buffy's passionate lovemaking unleashes a group of poltergeists inside a frat house. (written by Tracey Forbes, airdate 4/25/00)
I echo Xander's comment: what is up with the SU Frat houses? Season 2 the guys worshipped a giant-snake. Early in season 4, one got all haunted. Now this. I didn't like it initially but I thought about it overnight and realized this was a good way to spotlight the gang by keeping Buffy and Riley out of it (doing the deed that caused the chaos). I loved the dynamics of the Xander/Anya relationship - especially with them discussing it in the ice cream truck where Xander is doing neighborhood deliveries. Can he ever hold down a job for more than a week? Not by having that discussion in front of a crowd of customers, including kids. LOL. Some good conversation between Spike and Anya as they commiserate about love. Of course, when all things go crazy at the frat house as everyone is getting hormonal, the Scoobies turn to Giles - who is off singing at the Expresso Pump. Wow - just wow. Anthony does have a pleasant singing voice. And when did Rupert start wearing an earring (I just noticed in this episode)? Great stuff with Mrs. Holt, the woman responsible for the pent-up frustrations of the dirty little spirits. Loved Xander's "she who smelt it dealt it" come-back. In the end, great teamwork - Tara leading the spell with Willow and Giles while Xander and Anya hack their way into breaking up Buffy and Riley's heated antics.
A1-18: Five By Five
Synopsis: Wolfram & Hart approach Faith with a promise to get all the murder charges she faces back in Sunnydale dropped in exchange for one small favor - killing Angel. (written by Jim Kouf, airdate 4/25/00)
Once again, I enjoyed the flashbacks that flesh out Angel's past with Darla. Seems she ended up being his downfall by bringing him a gypsy to feed on - thus leading to the curse and her final revulsion of him when he has a soul. A good parallel, of sorts, to the today storyline of Faith coming to LA, causing tons of trouble and then being approached by W&H to get rid of the thorn in their side. At first, I thought the writer didn't have Faith down - it seemed off - but eventually it started to gel. Loved how phantom Dennis tried to warn of Cordelia and Wesley. Of course, Faith is going to take Wes as both bait and torture. She feels he is the reason for her failures as a Slayer, because he wasn't as good of a Watcher as Giles is to Buffy. This picks up on Faith from B4-16 "Who Are You?" when Faith has her breakdown of self-hating. She is trying to be bad because that is what she thinks everyone expects of her. Good for Wesley to resist her - showing a ton of character. It parallels in ways when Giles stayed strong to Angelus' torture in season 2 of Buffy. In the end, Angel arrives and knows that Faith needs to work it out - and he lets her mostly by not putting up as much of a fight. Wesley is ready to kill her if need be but doesn't - realizing his boss understands Faith's torment and is probably the best person to help her get through it. Solid episode.
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