Lizbet's Review

Ave Joss and David Greenwalt... oh, you know the rest.

Plot:

Angel's voice is heard over a cityscape: "Everyone has their reasons for coming to LA. In my case, it started with a girl.

"A really, really pretty girl," our drunken hero tells a burly guy at a bar, while two couples play pool behind them. But when the couples turn to go, the drunk act falls away to reveal determination. Angel catches up with them in the alley, fights and kills three vampires with a combination of street fighting and clever gadgets. When the two girls thank him for saving their lives, he snarls at them in full fright-face mode to go home, and disappears down the alley.

Returning to his humble abode (a basement of an old abandoned office building), Angel senses someone in his apartment. It's Doyle, a half-human, half-demon, completely annoying messenger from The Powers That Be. Doyle tells Angel the story of his life (Irish boy, brutal vampire, gypsy girl, meeting Buffy, losing his soul, "I believe the technical term is 'perfect happiness,'" regaining his soul, leaving Buffy) and then warns him that if he doesn't learn to care about the people he is saving, one day he's going to have a little snack.

Doyle explains that he gets visions -- well, migraines with pictures -- that he is to pass on to Angel so Angel can help people. He gives Angel a slip of paper on which he has written, "Coffee Spot, Tina, S(anta) M(onica)." Angel asks how he is supposed to strike up conversation with a girl he's never met. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" Doyle asks sarcastically.

In the Coffee Spot, Angel finds Tina almost immediately, begging her manager to give her more hours. Angel is just as awkward as he feared trying to talk to Tina, but gets her attention when he catches a coffee mug -- right-side up without spilling a drop -- that falls from the edge of a table. She agrees to talk with him after she gets off work.

When she comes out, she's dressed with every accessory a good Hollywood starlet wannabe needs -- including a can of pepper spray. She accuses Angel of working for Russell... whoever Russell is. Angel remains low-key and convinces Tina he just wants to talk to her, and he has nothing to do with Russell. Tina confesses that she just wants to go home to Montana. To that end, she's going to a party given by someone who has her security deposit. The money will buy her a ticket back to Missoula. Angel offers her a ride, and she accepts.

At the party, they are met at the door by the hostess, Margo, and a video camera. She waves them over to get drinks, and shortly thereafter Tina gets her alone to talk about money, despite Margo's warning to not leave a guy who looks like that alone. Left adrift in the party, Angel gets ambushed by a manager who insists that he's an actor and wants to represent him. Escaping him, Angel hears a familiar voice. It's Cordelia, holding court. She seems genuinely happy to see Angel, inquiring if he is still, you know, "Grrrrrrr," and sympathetic when he explains that there really isn't a cure for that. She's an actress with a condo on the beach and loves her life in LA, and quickly disappears to talk to people who are actually somebody.

Tina, meanwhile, has been ambushed by a thug-looking guy, who tries to drag her off somewhere. She pulls away from him and finds Angel. Struggling to hide her unhappiness, Tina asks to leave. But as they get out of the elevator in the parking garage, Tina is grabbed and Angel is yanked back into the elevator. Tina tells the thug that grabbed her that she'll go to see Russell, but almost immediately tries to run away. They catch up with her almost instantly and hustle her to a Mercedes.

Angel emerges from the elevator with two thugs on the floor behind him, and takes a flying leap into a black convertible. Unfortunately, it's not his. Getting into his own car, he takes off after the Mercedes. (Note to bad guys: Never play chicken with a vampire who is driving a pre-fiberglass car.) The Mercedes crashes and Angel faces off against the Head Thug, holding his own gun on him and ordering Tina into his own car. He punches the thug, and he and Tina take off.

Meanwhile, Cordy is hanging up her party dress in her suspicously-non-condo-looking apartment. Her dinner for the night is h'ourdourves from the party, as her answering machine plays a message from her manager, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Back at Angel's apartment, Tina changes from her party dress into comfortable clothes and Angel offers her tea. When he explains that he doesn't want anything from her, he just wants to make sure she has a safe place to stay, she breaks down. She won't give him any more information on Russell, except to say that the Head Thug, Stacey, works for him, and that Russell could get away with murder, and maybe has. Her friend Denise disappeared while trying to get away from Russell, and Tina's afraid that will happen to her.

Angel does some after-hours research at the public library. He returns to his apartment to find Tina in the grip of a nightmare. When she wakes he soothes her, and confirms that Denise is dead, and he thinks that Russell preys on young women who are alone in LA, and have no family to protect that. Unfortunately, by this point, Tina's no longer listening to him. She's focused on the slip of paper Doyle gave Angel, with her name on it. Furiously accusing Angel of helping Russell play an elaborate game, Tina gathers her things and runs outside. Angel tries to catch her, grabs her arm -- and gets his hand dragged into daylight. It flames up and he reverts into fright-face mode, terrifying Tina who runs off into the day.

She goes back to her apartment and starts packing. Whirling suddenly around, she points a gun at a mild-mannered forty-ish man behind her. Russell soothes her, telling her that he'd never heard her, why, Denise just went home, that's all, Russell heard from her only yesterday. Tina confesses the horrible monster that she just saw, and whispers that she just wants to go home. Russell's face shifts and he drains her.

Angel finds Tina's body on the floor of her apartment, obviously killed by a vampire. He sends Doyle into action tracing the Mercedes to find Stacey. Meanwhile, a melancholy Russell watches Margo's tape of the party and sees Tina. His lawyer for Wolfram and Hart gives him his alibi for Tina's murder. Then Russell's eye is caught by a new girl at the party -- Cordelia. When he is asked if this is a new long-term investment, Russell tells his lawyer that no, he just wants to eat. Angel makes an entrance -- through a window -- into Stacey's gym, and pries Russell's location out of him. Cordelia is meditating in her apartment, trying to convince herself that she's in the right place, that she's doing fine, that she's not starving. When Margo calls her and says that Russell Winters, the investment guy, wants to have dinner with her, Cordelia jumps at the chance (and the food).

Angel packs up to go after Russell. Doyle cheerfully waves him out of the door, until Angel informs him that he is to be the wheelman. Cordelia meets Russell and babbles happily about his beautiful house, and almost breaks down when he is kind and supportive of her. As she tries to get herself together she notices that there are no mirrors... lots of curtains... hey, you're a vampire, aren't you? Russell denies it but Cordelia keeps pressing, until it occurs to her that maybe confronting a vampire in his lair isn't the brightest thing to do.

Angel breaks into the house, leaving Doyle outside to drive the getaway car. He catches up with Russell as Cordy is running away from him. While Cordy gloats over Russell's soon-to-be-ignomous fate, Angel fights him. But he can't get an upper hand, and when some of Russell's thugs shoot him, Angel decides escape is the better part of valor, scoops Cordelia up, jumps over the balcony, and escapes. Doyle, despite having started to drive away, then deciding to ram his way into Russell's property (Note to good guys: Don't try to break down modern security gates, even with a pre-fiberglass car), is waiting for them, and drives them home. He and Cordelia patch Angel up, as Cordy desperately begs for reassurance that Russell won't come after her.

The only way to ensure that Russell won't is to stop him, completely. To that end, the next day Angel walks right into Russell's high rise, interrupting a meeting. Russell tries to explain the facts of unlife in LA -- he can do anything he wants, and no one can stop him. Quietly, Angel asks, "Can you fly?" and shoves his chair through a window. Russell falls, screaming, and burns to ash before he hits the ground. "Guess not." As the chair crashes to the ground below them, the Wolfram and Hart lawyer calls his superiors and arranges a 4 o'clock meeting. "There's a new player in town."

Back in his apartment, Angel picks up the phone and calls someone. Buffy's voice says, "Hello?" and he hangs up. When Doyle congratulates him on a job well done, Angel says that all he did was kill a vampire, he didn't save anyone. Doyle tells him that there is a girl upstairs who's happy to be alive -- punctuated by a piercing scream from Cordy, who just saw a cockroach. Cordy's in full-speed-ahead mode, and proposes that, since Angel is going to be helping people anyway, he might as well charge -- at least the ones who can afford it. And she can work for him, that is, if he thinks he can use her help. Angel agrees, and Cordelia cheerfully works putting the office to rights. Doyle asks if Angel is game. "I'm game."

Review

Rational. Will... be.... rational. Ah, forget it. Joss and David G. took this in a slightly different direction than I expected, and it is stunningly effective. And yup, it's Batman. It doesn't even make the slightest attempt to not be Batman.

The opening Doyle-exposition hits the high points of Angel's life in a hurry-up-and-get-it-over sort of way. Not really that illuminating for anyone who didn't follow Buffy, but there isn't much point in alienating new viewers with long exposition. If they stick around a few eps, they'll figure it out.

Characters:
Angel comes off the best in the episode ("I know something you don't know." "What?" "I'm the hero of the show." Sorry, random Princess Bride joke). Broody, awkward, sincerely wanting to help, sincerely grieving over Tina's death, sincerely scary killing Russell... he hits just about every wall, and still keeps going.

Cordelia is a small fish out of water in a big pond (how's that for a mixed metaphor). In June she's helping fight the Mayor and save the world; in September she's struggling to be noticed among a crowd of beautiful young girls. I think her decision to help Angel is partly because she wants to know where the scary things are (so she can avoid them, if possible), partly that she misses being a part of something bigger, and partly because she likes to eat (even if starlets are supposed to starve themselves, it should be because they need to lose weight, not because they can't afford food!)

Doyle... is a mystery. He's leaving some things out of his story; exactly how does getting migraines with pictures translate into giving information to Angel? Maybe Angel hisself was one of the migraines. *g* Glenn Quinn is working with very little information and manages to make Doyle come across as annoying without making me want to smack him (at least most of the time). But I was only in touch with the character when he pulled away from Russell's mansion and then immediately turned around to gun back.

Perri's Review

Whee! Welcome to a new obsession. Stunningly better than I was afraid of, not at all what I was expecting. Lovely.

I'm not usually a huge fan of pilots -- all that boring exposition -- and, indeed, there was boring exposition. But it was handled pretty well, gotten out of the way quickly, and even mocked slightly (Now that you've told me my life story..." < snerk >), paving the way for even better episodes that don't have to spend ten minutes retelling the last three seasons of Buffy. < g >. And there are some genuinely beautiful touches throughout -- Doyle's attempt to ram the gate in fine Hollywood style, Angel's dramatic leap into the wrong car... Joss and David are showing no compunctions about turning cliches on their heads. But then, they never have.

Russell was an okay villain -- most of his creepiness came, like the Mayor's, from the juxtaposition of normal, laid-back guy with bloodsucking fiend. But his death was the most impressive thing about him. Wolfram & Hart, on the other hand, shows real potential as a season arc villain -- it's a great gimmick to work from. They can be involved in whatever we like, and we already hate them on the grounds of hiring a smarmy associate and habitually covering up murders. This show could really turn into proof of "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." < snerk > Gonna give lawyer jokes a whole new lease on life.

The only new character, Doyle, doesn't have much to do, but Glenn Quinn delivers a great performance with what he has. In particular, his delivery on "Other people have things to atone for, too" is very nice, and neatly sticks a pin in Angel's self-centered self-pity potential; I'm desperately looking forward to more backstory on Doyle.

I knew Cordy was at that party to graze on the buffet. I really felt for her through most of the episode. Without the money for college and her home gone, she's playing on what she's got -- her looks, her style, and acting ability honed through years of playing the same part -- and she's getting through, sort of. She's a survival -- mroe of one than Angel, in point of fact. The payoff, of course, is Cordy sitting on Russell's couch, knowing what he can do for her, and prepared to pay whatever price he asks. And, of course, ralizing five seconds later that he's a vampire. The contrast between her vulnerability in the first scene and her glee at Angel's arrival is beautiful.

Angel is Angel. He's surviving pretty well, by his standards -- he's helping people as much as he can, he's back to honing his brooding skills but not to the extent that we saw in New York, and he's dealing. It sure doesn't take much for Doyle to talk him into helping, and he's wonderful to watch with Tina -- desperately awkward and painfully sincere. His body language is exactly the same as it used to be around Willow -- shoulders hunched, keeping his distance, all movements very careful and contained. It's sweet. He's got alot of work to do to become a person, the entire redemption issue aside. But he's on the right track.

I'm going to enjoy seeing Cordy and Angel together -- she needs someone to take care of her, something to do that's worthwhile, and someone to lean on when things suck. He needs someone to take care of, and someone to kick him in the butt when that brooding thing gets out of control. They'll both fill each other's bills quite nicely. Where Doyle is going to fit into that relationship, I have no idea -- Cordy is the only Slayerette who has successfully avoided dating a demon; let's see if Doyle can break that record.

Rating: Give it four stars out of five. As a pilot, it's pretty damn impressive; if the show improves on the pilot, as one always hopes they will, we're in for a helluva ride!

Mary Beth's Review

Spin offs are such perilous creatures. Fans of the source material worry that the new show won't be true to its origins, while the creators don't want to alienate or confuse new fans. Plus, they don't want to just fill another time slot with the same old thing. They want to spread their wings, branch out, start fresh, and do other cliche type things that I can't think of right now.

Well, Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt could write a How to on creating the perfect spin off --at least from this pilot. They did just about everything right.

From the opening voicover and shots of L.A. to the ending shot of Angel lurking over the city, this show ROCKED. The stylized cinematography, the music, the writing all set the tone of Super Action Hero while keeping Angel grounded (or, undergrounded as the case may be) by staying true to the characterization created on Buffy. We got something very new but still familiar all in one bent.

We get to see more of Angel, to understand him a little more, but it's still the same tortured soul we knew. Only now, he's a bit more bitter after having to leave is true love. And he's a bit stronger for tasting her blood. And he's more tempted for the same reasons. And thankfully, he's much funnier, too. He's understandably uncomfortable around people because of the temptation, and they wisely play that for some funny. But likewise, even as they create a sort of comic book tone to the show, they don't let Angel become to comical. He shifts to serious in an instant. And I wouldn't ever want to mess with him when he does.

One of the things I've always loved about David Boreanaz is how well he moves. Movement can be a forgotten portion of acting, really. Too many actors are stiff and come across as unrealistic as a result. Not Angel. He's a vampire, and he's as graceful as he should be -- whether it's in a fight, storming into a room, kicking a bad guy out the window, or simply walking down a hall. He just looks good. Hey, it makes it easier to watch. :-) But just as key -- it gives Angel the charisma and presence he needs to carry this show.

Importantly, Angel hasn't been sitting back, feeling sorry for himself since he left Buffy and co. He's been trying, as he'd promised after Amends, to atone for his past sins, to prove himself worthy of being saved by Buffy. But he hasn't exactly been going about it in the best way. This is a key distinction, I think.

Enter Doyle. Doyle provided the necessary background while setting up the premise for the show. And Glenn Quinn did a pretty good job with the thankless task of explaining it all to the audience. Doyle is funny. He has potential as a comedic foil for Angel, as the one character possibly in more need of redemption than Angel. I'm encouraged that it seems to be Doyle who is the reluctant hero in all this, not Angel. It gives Angel more credibility as a hero. But I'm waiting for Doyle to develop. Perhaps Cordelia will give him that chance.

Cordelia doesn't necessarily develop much in this episode. Her overall nature -- tough, self- centered, and outspoken on the outside, vulnerable and caring on the inside -- is introduced and solidified. She also provides some wonderfully humorous moments both when she realized that Russell's a vampire and at the end when they set up the office. But more than making us laugh, she reveals she is not so stupid as one might think. I wouldn't be surprised if they use this trait to their advantage some times.

She's already had it rough these last few months, and no matter what Angel is, she's thankful for the chance to do something. And I agree with Lizbet that she's more than just thankful for money. She's thankful for something familiar to do.

But this episode hinged on Tina. Tracey Middendorf was excellent. The first heroine of the show needed to be more than a simpering twit that Angel came to rescue otherwise the show risked tumbling into cliche before it even got started.. Besides her obvious resemblance to Buffy (the first two women we see Angel helping have long blonde hair.... coincidence?), Tina's witty, funny, and tough on the outside, but obviously hurting. She's hardly a shrinking violet though. I like that she's mistrustful of Angel. That's smart. But she's not so bitter that she can't recognized his earnestness. Thankfully, though, Joss and David G. avoided cliche by killing her off anyway. With that, the show became less about saving a particular damsel and much more about awakening Angel's resolve not to let more slip through the cracks (and... to set up the group dynamics).

As such, the show became the perfect set up for what is to come. Russell Winters was a passably vile bad guy -- intimidating, frightening, worthy of a flight out the window. But more important is the shadowy law firm we meet through him. I'm intrigued by the idea of a firm that helps the evil guys. And what's not to love about an evil law firm!

I also want to single out the fabulous music by Chris Beck. The sweeping score really helped set the atmosphere for the show, from the opening teaser. Beck has said he was heavily influenced by Danny Elfman and it shows. But he's taken that tone and added a mournful quality that helps keep the show grounded in it's roots: a vampire atoning for his wrongs. Beautiful stuff.

To be fair, though, and to provide a smidge of perspective: it is David Greenwalt, not Joss Whedon, who will be in charge of the day-to-day production of this show. Personally, Greenwalt's Buffy episodes haven't been my favorites -- with one notable exception: Angel. So, writing and storywise, I won't worry as much. But when it comes to maintaining the look, feel, and tone that the pilot established -- well, I'll worry for a little while. And hope that Joss checks in as much as possible -- without sacrificing quality on Buffy.... or his own sanity.

All in all, though, the show is off to an excellent start. The pilot was smooth and polished. The story well done. New viewers should be intrigued and the old viewers should feel sated. Especially the Buffy and Angel fans, like myself, reluctant to let go. The phone call between the two shows was truly inspired. If it's little things like this we get as the two characters grow up on their respective shows, I'll be happy.... for awhile.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5

SunSpeak

"Once upon a time there was a drooling fangirl
Who didn't trust the God and his apprentice
When they took her favorite character from her favorite show
And gave him his own show.
"He's not going to be able to anchor a cast," she said.
"It's going to be a train wreck," she mourned.
Until she sat back and watched..."
-- Lizbet, Drooling Fan Girl

"It has to be the smog. In Sunnydale the air was clear, so vampires feared the sun. But in Los Angeles? Nah. The thick smog layer protects vampires from all but nude sunbathing on Venice Beach."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. It was kind of annoying. There was so much sunlight streaming through those windows and *that* didn't bother any of the vampires but Angel's hand burned when he reached out to Lisa when she was standing in the sun. I guess he didn't notice *but the rest of him was also in the sun*." -- Abby & Debra Ann

"Quinn -- was that his name? I was too busy admiring the... accent. Yeah, the accent. That's it. Normal character growth for a new character, and great lines. But I'm hoping they use him better than just wheel man." -- Abby

"I knew I was planning on watching Angel for Cordelia scenes. Sure, Angel was much better than brood boy. But did any of you feel like you were watching Batman when he was on screen? Or was it just because he would skulk on rooftops and jump off buildings?" --Abby

"OK, I was going to be objective. Really. Truly. Nevermind that they were taking a character that I adored from day 1 (literally, since "Angel" was the second episode I ever saw, and yes, Perri did that on purpose) (and the reluctant hero thing gets me every time. You know, the whole deal of, "I don't want to help you, I don't want to help you, I *have* to help you.") and gave him his own show. I was going to be calm and rational. After all, there were a million and one ways to screw this sort of thing up. I was, in fact, rational. At least until the teaser was over. And I must bow down and worship Joss and David Greenwalt. Because they didn't screw it up.
--More Drooling Fan Girl, er, Lizbet.

"You *must* find a way to hear the theme. It's really really neat.... and features a cello and... and ... it's cool!!" -- Mary Beth

"I'm such a sucker for atmosphere, and this is perfect. Dark, gloomy, intense." --Lizbet

"Now all they need is his logo to shoot up into the night sky-- that griffin on his back anyone? a hundred feet long reflected on some nice looming clouds? *g*" -- Dianne

"I still wanna hear Angel say, 'I'm Batman!'" -- Jennie

"All of the promos this summer owe an awful lot to the Batman movies. Maybe it's all a plot by Joss to get David hired as the new Batman movie so the Angel series will end and he won't have to divide up his time between two shows. Or not." -- Karen

"Cordy, sweetie, cut the electricity to the sign above your head. You know, the big, blinking one that screams, 'Tasty treats here!!!' *snicker* You have to love her courage, though, trying to make it on her own in the big bad city. I just hope that soon we get more glimpses of the fact that yes, Cordy does have a deep side."
--Lizbet

"Doyle... I'm reserving judgement on. Not that I disliked him. But possibly the only time I felt 'connected' with his character is when he abandoned Angel and Cordy at Winters' house, then immediately turned back around to try to gun through the gates. For most of the episode, he lacked a character, despite all the witty things he was saying. We'll see."
-- Lizbet

"Angel... ::whimper:: ::sigh:: ::longs to throw herself at despondant vampire and make him feel all better:: *Loved* the drunkard ploy in the teaser. Doyle's right, though... he can't do much if he doesn't *understand* who's around him. But reaching out to the world can and will get him hurt. ::sniffle:: ::anticipate many more instances of wanting to fling herself at a despondant vampire::"
--Drooling Fan Girl at her drooliest...

"Sorry if somebody has already commented on this but didn't the scene changes in Angel look vaguely familiar somehow? ..not to mention the car? why do all vampires want to drive big old gas guzzling convertibles with big trunks? do the words van or sports utility vehicle with sun proof windows mean nothing to them? do they feel no responsibility for the stress they put on the environment by their carbon monoxide spewing vehicles? they want to redeem their souls, right? is polluting really going to get them there?"
-- maddog, being the "responsible" one

"Do like the established 'tunnels everywhere' set-up. It saves them having to film *everything* as taking place in the middle of the night. (I also had the delayed reaction to the 'Can you fly' routine... mostly: "Yay!... < he's falling >...but he's a vamp...< falling >...he _might_ survive...< falling >...oh, wait! **in sunlight**!... < bursts into flame >... he's *so* toast!" ;-)" --Dianne

"I was going to wait until I could be more coherent (and awake) to say anything about that scene, but I saw it coming the minute Angel walked in the room. I saw it ALL the way. At this point I was perturbed that the show was being somewhat predictable. It got worse when I said the last line BEFORE David did. I hate seeing what's coming. That's one of the reasons I love watching Buffy so much. You get mentally ambushed at every turn, but not so with Angel. Just as I was getting good and annoyed and disappointed, I had a more frightening thought. Maybe I'm thinking like Joss now."
--Julie, joining the ranks of Those Who Share Brain Cells with Da Man

"But that quiet 'Can you fly?' with the shove at the chair just kicked! Heheheheheeee....(as Winters screams all the way down.... heee!) I could believe that Angel was the baddest of the bad after that scene. *snerk* "
"I totally did not expect that! Which means, all else being equal and Joss being Joss, I _should_ have expected it... ;-) (I won't bring up the fact that outside windows in high-rise buildings, *especially* in earthquake areas like LA, are all high-tensile, extremely tough safety glass... but I'm not bringing that up. *gg*)"
"Well, if you did, Mama, I'd mention that vampires are stronger than your average mortal and presumably Angel could put enough thrust into his kick to send Winters into the light. Which gives a whole new appreciation for that boy's glutious maximus than I had before..."
"And once again, the trophy for 'Turning Mature Discussion Into An Excuse To Ogle Male Anatomy' goes to... my darling daughter Lizbet! Yaaayyyyy! *gg* Take a bow, Lizbet. Better yet, let's have Angel take the bow for you, so we get another chance to view said gluteus maximus... ;-)))"
--Kiki, Mo, Lizbet, Mo

" This *is* what FK should have been, could have been --- what I was hoping it was going to be, the first time Nick mocked one of his fellow vamps with 'Immortality is no excuse not to floss.' But, see, this show has the advantage of (a) being written by someone who has a healthy sense of humor, and (b) someone who is a control-freak with a series' Bible. There is no *way* they can screw it up the way FK occasionally got screwed up. Admittedly, FK wasn't _trying_ to be this--- and they were taking the whole premise in a more serious direction--- but still! . . . I'm just so amazed at Joss. I really thought it would suck a *little* bit. And it didn't. Not even a little little bit. :> :" -- Kiki

"I actually thought he was getting drunk and being stupid there, at the beginning. I was *hating* it; and then, Angel's face went from drunk-silly to serious-focused and I started dying. Perfect. Took everything I could have hated about this show and did the standing-on-the-head routine in the first 2 minutes." --Kiki

"Doyle's got a point, and so do the 'Powers That Be' (*giggle*) --- Angel was cruising toward a little 'accident' with the way he was living and fighting. I'll bet Doyle, for one reason or another, was at some kind of risk for going bad too, and that's why TPTB decided to hook him up with Angel." --Kiki

"Tracy Middendorf . . . did do a nice job with the victim part, and never seemed stupid. Tina just got sucked in over her head, partly for her friend's sake, partly her own, before she knew what happened. Then she went running away from the devil she didn't know, straight back to the devil-she-knew... and well, that could've happened to anyone. Bad timing, bad luck, not being the kind of person to pull a trigger--- although, she should've run from Russell, even at the last. Yup." --Kiki

"The thing I loved and did not expect about this show was how wonderfully they wrote Angel's *total* lack of social skills. It was cool to be brooding cryptic guy in Sunnydale, when the only people who interacted with him knew the score. It's more weird to be that awkward in L.A., especially with his appearance (as Doyle pointed out and that tiny comic bit with the agent just emphasized). I was coaching Angel aloud from the sofa on how to talk to Tina in the cafe', and groaning at how badly he was doing! But I didn't disbelieve it for one second --- and despite how awkward and clumsy he obviously felt, he stuck with it and kept swinging until Tina trusted him enough to let him help. And *that* is why I'm going to like him, if they keep that side of him uppermost. Not just the social weirdness, but the persistence to endure it and still try. That takes the kind of guts that I, personally, sometimes don't have, and really admire." --Kiki

"In WttH/The Harvest, he was annoying Cryptic Guy, and throttled way down after that. For most of the next couple of years, he either interacted with one person (usually Buffy), or remained quiet and in the background in group scenes except for when he had information. It makes perfect sense that pushing him center stage would make his awkwardness this evident." -- Lizbet

"I just hope that Angel doesn't get too cool too quickly. Witness the cool-ification of Xander, who went from goofy geek-boy to teen idol way too quickly for my tastes. Yes, people usually get more self-confident as they get through the hell that is adolescence, but Xander seemed to change too much, too fast. Let's keep Angel a little awkward, a little off-balance, for a while, please. (You listening, Joss? *g*)" -- Mo

"The thing I loved and did not expect about this show was how wonderfully they wrote Angel's *total* lack of social skills."
"In retrospect, it makes perfect sense (hindsight always being 20/20 vision), considering just how long he'd been brooding-and-sleeping-in-sewers-guy. And, honestly, 20th century social skills are *not* the same as whatever skills he may yet retain from his socialization as a human, 200-odd years ago."
"And I love that his 'sexy, brooding aura' is because of shyness and awkwardness. Nicely turned that around. ::beam::"
--Kiki, Mo & Lizbet (the... drooling fan girl....)

"Cordelia rocked; not just all her little posing and pretending to be successful, and the pathetic bits of stealing food from the party and meditating, but that one perfect scene with Russell just sold me on this show. ('You're a vampire!' 'I'm not...' 'Are too!') ::snerk snerk snerk:: She's *not* stupid. She's never been stupid; give her something to fight, and she goes for it. Plus I loved her 'are you still, y'know --- GRRR?' *giggggggle!* And David's comeback reassured me that they were going to have chemistry together. Sooooo cool. :>>" --Kiki

"Question that occured to me when I ran home over lunch and watched the teaser again... *why* is Cordelia willingly (!!!!!!) hooking herself up with the dark side of the Force again? I'm sure eating is a tremendous incentive, but there are a lot of other ways to make money in LA (trust me, I know, and no, I don't mean THAT). How did it feel for her to go from helping to destroy the Mayor to being in LA where she was a very small fish in a really big pond? I think Cordy just might be missing the 'helping the world help itself' that she had with the Slayerettes. If only subconsciously." -- Lizbet.

"Part of what was so hard for L.A. for Cordelia was that there wasn't anything concrete to *do*; just wait and hope and plead for a chance.... That's why she got into that limo, it was a way to make stuff happen, even if she was in heavy denial about what might be expected of her at Russell's until she got there. And you know what? She still sucked it up. She got all weepy and upset when it came to the moment, but then she was going to brace herself and not cry, not sell herself too cheaply--- but then she saved herself by going, 'hey, no mirrors, heavy shades, what does this remind me of?' *g* She was running up the stairs to get away from Russell, so she must have gotten at least a good enough kick to escape the room before he went after her in the hall. And she helped Angel out the door when he got shot. And then she finishes up by being the only practical one in the room and coming up with the detective agency idea. Gotta love Cordy. :>>" --Kiki

"All told, I really liked the new show - Doyle definitely needs to develop, Angel is nicely sardonic, the interactions between Angel/Doyle/Cordy show promise, and it looks to be a _different_ kind of show than BtVS, which is all of the good. Two hours of the same kind of show every Tuesday would have been too much of a good thing, but Angel looks to have a different focus. I can't wait to see how it develops!" -- Mo

"I was, in fact, rational. At least until the teaser was over. "
"Oh *please*. I nearly went blind from the gleam of her insane grin allevening-- she has more teeth-per-square-inch than anyone should and she wasdoing this scary hopping thing on the couch. I was ready to get out thestakes and eye-o-newt!" -- Lizbet and Dianne

"I honestly, honestly loved it. And I'm trying very, very hard to not just love it because it's Angel. I'm loving it because it's *good.*" --Lizbet