Fluit Notes

The Best of Farscape, Part Two

My vacation continues, and so does this column’s look at the best episodes of Farscape. In Part One, I covered the best episodes from the first two seasons of the show. This time around, I’ll look at seasons three, four and beyond.

Season Three

Season of Death: Season Three picks up where Season Two left off, as “Season of Death” is the second part of the story started in “Die Me, Dichotomy.” The betrayals continue. The danger heightens. Aeryn is believed to be dead. D’Argo breaks up with Chiana and disowns Jothee. Jool is freed from being frozen and becomes the newest addition to the cast. And, oh yeah, Scorpius and a Scarran are both lurking about trying to kill or capture John Crichton.

Self-Inflicted Wounds, Part I and II: Continuing the quality from the second half of season two, with yet another strong multiple episode story. This time, Moya’s hull is fused with that of another ship while going through a wormhole. The two ships are suddenly linked together. The two crews supposedly have a common goal- to extricate their ships. But that common goal falls apart when the crews realize that freeing one ship could destroy the other. The other captain, Neeyala, is quick to send spies and assassins. Meanwhile Crichton and the rest of Moya’s crew can barely keep from tearing each other part. This story also features a couple of great character complications as Chiana feuds with the newest member Jool, while Stark professes his love to the dying Zhaan.

Thanks for Sharing: One of my favorite episodes from any season. John Crichton is duplicated. There are now two Crichtons running around. But rather than being a one-episode gag, as you’d expect, it becomes the new status quo for the season. Before we get there, though, there’s this fun story of love and betrayal with a son and a daughter who are both interested in seeing their father leave them the throne and D’Argo’s famous line, “I’m your daddy.” Plus, there’s the great ending in which the crew is split up between the two ships of Moya and Talyn.

Green-Eyed Monster/Relativity: Season Three is a real up-and-down year for the show. It has some of the best episodes, and some of the worst- both before the crew splits up onto two ships and after. At first, the Talyn crew is featured in the better episodes. “Green-Eyed Monster” does a great job of creating a love triangle between John, Aeryn and Crais, with the living ship Talyn picking sides and choosing to make life difficult for John. “Relavitity” further complicates matters by brining Aeryn’s mother into the picture as a Peacekeeper agent sent to capture them. John’s mistrust of Crais boils over as he thinks Crais is about to accept an offer to rejoin the Peacekeepers. Meanwhile, Stark and Rygel are along for the ride, providing some needed humor and commentary for both episodes, not unlike R2-D2 and C-3PO from the Star Wars saga, or Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet show.

Incubator: The best episode for the Moya half of the crew isn’t actually about them at all. “Incubator” tells the origin story of the villain Scorpius. Not every villain needs an origin. And not every origin story is worth telling. But Scorpius’ birth, brutal childhood and eventual betrayal of the Scarrans for the Peacekeepers is a gripping, sometimes disturbing tale. Scorpius was already one of my favorite characters in the show, even though he’s the bad guy. This origin story made me interested in him even more.

Fractures: There aren’t a lot of good choices from the second half of Season Three. That’s one of the problems with Farscape. It does occasionally go into prolonged slumps. But “Fractures” is certainly a second half highlight. The two crews are about to be reunited, but before that happens the Moya crew has one last adventure. Moya picks up a ship of escaped prisoners, including a Nubari, a Scarran and a Hynerian. Moya’s crew quickly develops divided loyalties for the new arrivals, especially Rygel who falls in love with the Hynerian female. There are betrayals in bunches and not-so-friendly rivalries between crewmates before the big reunion can finally take place. The anticipation and delayed tension make this one of the best episodes of the year.

Season Four

 Crichton Kicks: For the second time in the series, John Crichton is abandoned for a long period of the time by the rest of the crew. This time, he’s stuck on a dying Leviathan. But he still gets to grow his hermit beard. This episode also introduces Sikozu, an alien who specializes in Leviathans and who brought a group of hunters to the dying Leviathan. It’s an often quiet episode that still manages to draw you in. It’s fun to see Crichton a little off-kilter as he’s developed a bit of isolation madness, and great to see him thwart the villains on his own. Sikozu will quickly develop into one of my favorite characters on the show (though I could say that about almost everyone). And the reunion at the end of the episode is both heart-touching and heart-breaking.

Promises: Crichton and the rest of the crew finally make it back to Moya but there’s an unexpected surprise waiting for them. Scorpius- who had previously been defeated by the new big villain Graza and was last seen groveling and digging his own grave- is already there. Worse, he’s been invited aboard and given sanctuary by Aeryn who is suffering from heat delirium and needs Scorpius’ cooling rods and technical skills to keep her from a fate worse than death. It’s a melancholy episode as it’s emotionally heart-wrenching to watch Aeryn suffer. Plus, there’s the tension with Scorpius and the mystery of how Aeryn got the disease.

I Shrink Therefore I Am: When Farscape shoots for a comedy episode, it can really misfire, as with the awful “John Quixote.” But when Farscape goes for an action episode, it can be hilariously funny as well. That’s what happens with “I Shrink.” A Scarran cadre boards Moya and takes the crew captive. It’s a tense episode as John has to keep away from the Scarrans while trying to rescue his friends. But it’s also a funny episode as the Scarrans shrink their prisoners for safe-keeping and the miniature crew members roll around in metal cups.

Coup by Clam: This episode reminds me of the earlier seasons when the crew would land on an alien planet for some standard business and trading only to be drawn into difficulties by the locals. This time, the doctor who’s supposed to clear them for space sickness gives them a disease that simulates the other, putting their lives in danger. This is a real fun episode as the clams that they eat cause them to feel each other’s bodily functions. Plus, there’s a lot of fun as the crew members infiltrate an all-female underground rebellion. There are a bunch of great scenes such as D’Argo experiencing one of Nuranti’s orgasms, John trying to pass himself off as a woman and Scorpius’ surprising attempt to save the crew.

Unrealized Reality: This is one of the most ambitious episodes and one which could easily have become pretentious. Yet it works and it works brilliantly. The dialogue between John and “Einstein” is sharp and quick. The alternate realities are amusing, helping to offset the seriousness of the main story. Its fun to see Claudia Black play Chiana and Anthony Simcoe play Jool. And, its great to finally get the answers that we’ve been looking for since late in season one.

Kansas/Terra Firma: With the knowledge of wormholes finally accessible, John Crichton makes his way to earth for two eventful and memorable episodes. The first, “Kansas,” takes place in the past. John meets his younger self, a sulky, moody teenager and gets one last conversation with his mother who would die of cancer a few years later. Plus, the rest of the crew tries to pretend that they’re just dressed up for Halloween, a masquerade that’s easily pierced by some of the locals. Alternately funny and intensely personal, “Kansas” is a great episode. “Terra Firma” finds our characters back in the present as John finally finds his way home to the right place and the right time. The others become the first alien visitors to Earth. It’s an occasionally tense arrival, especially for those of us who remember season one’s “A Human Reaction.” But it’s great to see John take control of his destiny, to see the others fit in or not as the case may be, and to see Aeryn struggle with her feelings for John. Plus, it’s not all fun and games as Graza found a way to send an assassin to Earth after John. The Earth episodes continue a string of outstanding mid-season stories.

We’re So Screwed, Parts I through III: After some late season clunkers, Farscape’s fourth season finishes up with this epic encounter. It’s the best big story since season two’s “Liars, Guns and Money.” Aeryn had been captured earlier by the Scarrans. This trilogy tells the tale of their attempt to rescue her, and then their attempt to rescue Scorpius after he was left behind in the first rescue. There are the political machinations of the Scarran Emperor Staleek, War Minister Ahkna, Peacekeeper Commander Graza and Brace. There are the racial alliances, underground rebellions, pretenses, bluffs and fusion bombs. There’s the return of Stark and the torture of Scorpius. And, of course, there are plenty of betrayals and big explosions to go around. “We’re So Screwed” is an intense, action-packed thriller full of twists and turns. The prologue, “Prayer,” and the epilogue,  “Bad Timing,” are great as well, giving season four the best send-off of any year.

The Peacekeeper Wars

 Farscape was canceled after season four, irking fans who thought that the show was at its peak and dismaying fans due to the cliffhanger ending of “Bad Timing” in which John and Aeryn were apparently killed. Thankfully, Farscape came back for one more story with the TV mini-series “The Peacekeeper Wars,” tying up loose ends and satisfying most fans. And thankfully, Farscape came back better than ever as “The Peacekeeper Wars” is one of the greatest Farscape epics.

The crew of Moya is caught in the midst of a war between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans. Both  sides want to destroy the other. And both sides think that John’s wormhole knowledge will give them the edge that they need. However, John only wants to be left alone. He finally admits that’s not going to happen and goes off on a quest to bring tranquility to the galaxy by reintroducing a race of peacemakers. Naturally, the plan goes awry. The crew is captured by the Scarrans. The last peacemaker is killed. Jothee and D’Argo mount a daring rescue of the others. They retreat back to the planet they started from. They fight a losing battle. Aeryn has her baby. They escape back into space. And John builds his wormhole weapon, showing both sides the uncontrollable power that such a weapon entails. 

And that’s just the story. The details and the character moments are just as good. D’Argo gets one of the best final scenes of any character. John and Aeryn get to be happy and in love, even if they’re on the run from more than one army. There’s a lot of fun as they try to get married on multiple occasions only to have the service interrupted by one attack or another. Scorpius and Sikozu get to be another romantic couple, in a deliciously creepy way. Sikozu has a great scene in which she uses her gravity-negating and fire-starting powers to explosive affect. Even Emperor Staleek has a great scene in which  he’s influenced to negotiate for peace and argues that Scarrans are underappreciated. Plus, everybody comes back for the finale, including Jothee who’s now a leader of a war party, and Jool, who’s now a wild native.

 The equivalent of four episodes, “The Peacekeeper Wars” is the longest Farscape epic and arguably the best. And that’s it for “Farscape.” But that isn’t it for my look at some of my favorite science-fiction shows. Come on back next week for “The Best of Babylon 5.”

Thanks again to farscapecaps.com for providing these amazing screen-caps.

Image from Fractures from, Farscapeworld.com

Images for the PeaceKeeper Wars from Henson.com

The Best of Farscape, Part One

The last time that I took a major vacation, I gave the column a bit of a vacation as well. Instead of writing about comic books, I turned my attention to some of my favorite television shows. Two years later, I’m ready to do it again. I’m off to foreign lands, and “Fluit Notes” is off to the far reaches of space with the best episodes of “Farscape.”

Season One

It was actually pretty easy to pick a list for the first season. I had been drawn into the series by a Friday night Farscape marathon featuring many of the best episodes from the first season. These are the episodes that made me fall in love with the show and the episodes that I enjoyed immensely when I watched them again.

Premiere: An outstanding debut. You know right away that this show isn’t going to be like any science fiction you’ve seen before. Instead of Star Trek’s efficient yet friendly Federation, you have the tyrannical Peacekeepers. Instead of Star Wars’ friendly, and often cute, alien life forms, you meet a ship full of escaping prisoners. There’s betrayal, mistrust, confusion and danger right from the word “Go!” The main character, John Crichton, is sarcastic, funny and full of appropriate pop culture references. And, oh yeah, there’s the wizardry of the Jim Henson company bringing new life to puppets and prosthetics.

Throne for a Loss: An early episode that shows you that the cast is not going to become best friends so easily. Rygel steals from the ship in order to impress some trading partners only to get kidnapped for ransom. The others borrow one of the enemy’s weapon gauntlets in order to rescue him (and the crystal he stole) only to turn on each other with a version of steroid rage. Farscape does a great job of depicting the complex relationships of characters thrown together by circumstances who don’t necessarily trust each other or even have the same goals in mind. Plus, Zhaan has some great scenes in which she tries to convince their own hostage to give up his violent ways, including one in which she shows that she’s not embarrassed to be naked.

Thank God it’s Friday… Again: One of the things that I like about Farscape is that, just as the crewmates can’t trust each other, they also can’t trust the planets that they land on for supplies. The city of the Sakarens is a great example as this apparent paradise is actually an enslaved population kept in perpetual happiness by drugs. D’Argo is quickly entrapped himself and the others have to find a way to extricate him while not knowing who they can actually trust. Pretty soon they find themselves as part of an underground rebellion standing up to the suitably alien queen Volmae.

 DNA Mad Scientist: Just when you think that the crew might be coming together as friends, Farscape trips you up with a compelling story of selfishness and betrayal. A mad scientist claims that he can help anyone find their homeworld through their DNA. What should have been a series of painless trips to the doctor turns into a brutal fight for primacy as the aliens argue about who should get to go home first. In one of the most memorable scenes of the first season, they even cut off one of Pilot’s arms in order to achieve their goals. Plus, as we’ll learn time and time again, the alien always has goals of his own which don’t line up with those of the crew. In this case, the doctor injects Aeryn Sun with Pilot’s DNA turning her into a grotesque hybrid in another unforgettable and tearful scene.

Till the Blood Runs Clear: This episode is a perfect example of what makes Farscape great. There’s the constant conflict and tension: from each other, the alien worlds they encounter and the Peacekeepers who are chasing them. There are the sudden surprises and twists. There’s the humor. And, increasingly, there are the tender moments as creatures who seem to have nothing in common are inevitability drawn into friendship. “Till the Blood Runs Clear” features wolf-like bounty hunters tracking down the crew, a delightfully sarcastic alien mechanic named Furlow, Aeryn’s temptation to betray the others to the Peacekeepers in order to get her old life back and a powerful scene in which John and Aeryn rescue D’Argo from torture and try to keep him alive.

Jeremiah Crichton: Farscape loves playing against expectations. In this episode, John Crichton is apparently abandoned by Moya and the crew. Instead of a quick rescue, the show jumps forward several months. Crichton has eked out a living, grown a beard and befriended the locals including the beginnings of a romantic relationship. He’s making a life for himself on this planet, just as he had on Moya. When the crew finally finds him, it’s not obvious that John will actually rejoin them. Of course, the presence of so many aliens throws the locals into confusion, resulting in some hostile encounters and one of Rygel’s best scenes as he’s worshipped as a local emperor/god.

A Human Reaction: Farscape loves playing against expectations, but it also occasionally plays against our fears. “A Human Reaction” is one of the best examples. John apparently finds his way back to Earth but his home isn’t exactly a welcoming environment for his comrades. They’re hounded, quarantined and eventually dissected. It’s an occasionally dark mirror, reminding us of the worst of human nature and that we’re not always better than the alien races John has encountered. This episode was already good but the twist makes it even better. An advanced race is using John’s knowledge of his home to test whether or not they would be welcome there. They realize they wouldn’t but they appreciate John so much that they bless him by implanting knowledge in his brain.

 Nerve/The Hidden Memory: Throughout the first season, John Crichton and the crew of Moya have been playing mouse to Commander Crais’ cat. Finally, in this stunning two-parter, they walk right into a Peacekeeper base in order to save Aeryn only to be captured by Crais and someone even worse. This story introduces Scorpius as a great new villain, as well as Stark, a delightfully lunatic fellow prisoner. It starts out like a heist film, turns into a prison torture tale, and ends up as an escape story. Ongoing series in both comic books and television like to claim that nothing will ever be the same again. With Farscape, that’s true more often than not.

Season Two

Out of Their Minds: Season Two starts out a little rough. It’s not until the ninth episode that I actually found an episode I would include in a “best of” list. But at this point, the second season really picks up. “Out of Their Minds” is a hilarious tale in which the characters find that they’ve traded minds. It’s great fun for the actors to pretend that they’re someone else. And it’s great fun for the audience to see what the characters would do in each other’s bodies. Farscape is usually very funny, but it can sometimes fall flat when it goes for a straight comedy episode. This one, however, is a wonderful success.

 Look at the Princess, Parts I through III: Farscape does a great job introducing new villains. At the end of season one, we met Scorpius, who’s an even bigger threat than Crais. Now, we get our first extended look at the Scarrans, a race that’s an even bigger threat than Scorpius. They’re trying to control a planet through diplomacy, treachery and outright mental domination. And John Crichton is caught in the middle of it when the princess falls in love with him and asks him to be her husband. Once again, we’re shown a life that Crichton might just prefer to that of being an escaped prisoner. Once again, we’re caught up in a web of intrigue, deceit and betrayal. This time, however, the crewmates are actually able to trust each other. It’s everybody else that they can’t trust, including Scorpius, Braca, the Scarrans, the prince and his fiancee. “Look at the Princess” doesn’t change the status quo the way that other Farscape epics do, but it’s a great story deserving of the trilogy treatment.

The Locket: Farscape has often flirted with other love interests for John or Aeryn, but we’ve always been able to see the romantic tension in their relationship. “The Locket” shows us what their love could be like as first Aeryn and then John are trapped on a world in which time moves more quickly. They spend a lifetime and become old together in a truly touching tale.

Liars, Guns and Money, Parts I through III: The second season of Farscape is at its best when it tells big stories. “Liars, Guns and Money” is the second trilogy in the season, and again well worth including in a “best of” list. The basic story is a heist. But what a heist! Stark learned that D’Argo’s son Jothee has been captured and is going to be sold off as part of a slave auction. In order to rescue Jothee, Stark proposes that they rob a Peacekeeper Shadow Depository in order to get the money they need to be admitted to the auction. Then, in order to rob the Shadow Depository, the crew recruits foes and villains from previous episodes including Bekhesh from “Throne for a Loss,” Rorf and Rorg from “Till the Blood Runs Clear” and Rygel’s former captor Captain Durka. The raid features some of the best action and explosions of the series to date. But the plan is a failure as Scorpius buys Jothee before they can free him. Then the heist turns into yet another tale of betrayal, as their mercenary allies turn on them and each other, while they’re caught in a game of intrigue with Scorpius and Natira, the beautifully devious ruler of the depository.

Die Me, Dichotomy: Throughout season two, John Crichton has been battling a neural chip that Scorpius implanted in his brain. The neural chip has led to some great scenes as John argues with the Scorpius clone lurking in his brain. Now, after the big heist, John wants the chip and the clone out. They travel to a Diagnosin, but if you’ve been following Farscape at all then you know that nothing will go according to plan. Scorpius is there ahead of them. The Diagnosin’s assistant isn’t to be trusted. And Chiana and Jothee betray D’Argo’s trust by making love.

That’s it for Part One, and the first two seasons of Farscape. Come on back next week for Part Two.

* Thank you to farscapecaps.com for their excellent screen caps of the Farscape series!

The Best of Angel, Part Two

This is the last week of my vacation which means this is also the last week of this little detour away from comics. I’ve been discussing the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. In the previous column, I looked at seasons one through three of Angel. Now it’s time to wrap things up with seasons four and five.

 

Season Four

Spin the Bottle: In an attempt to restore Cordelia’s memory, Lorne obtains a memory spell that unfortunately backfires, making everyone think they’re high school students on a vampire hunt. If you’ve been reading the previous columns, then you know that I love these episodes in which some spell or enchantment forces all of the characters into different roles. This episode is one of my favorites of this type, right up there with Tabula Rasa from season six of Buffy. Spin the Bottle is simply so much fun. It’s hilarious to see Wesley as the ineffective head boy. It’s great to see roles reversed for Connor and Angel as for once, Connor knows more than Angel. It’s just a fun, little romp and an episode that I could watch again and again.

Apocalypse, Nowish: As Fred ponders her relationship with Gunn, the Beast that Cordelia saw in a vision returns setting in motion events that ultimately affect her relationship with Connor. There are so many great moments in this episode. There’s the huge battle with the Beast on the rooftop restaurant. There’s the rain of fire (which I keep thinking should have been the title of the episode). And there’s Cordelia going to bed with Connor because it may be the last night on earth. Then, there are the little moments like Lilah watching the rain of fire and Angel watching Connor and Cordelia. And as has been the case for several seasons of Angel, this episode kicks off the big mid-season storyline. Wow.

Calvary: Lilah’s attempt to persuade Angelus to kill the Beast proves fatal, and Angelus reveals that the Beast is taking orders from a boss who is even more powerful and dangerous. This is another big episode. Lilah sneaks into the hotel and tries to make a deal with Angelus. Angelus escapes. He chases Cordelia and Lilah through the hotel. The others chase Angelus out of the hotel but he doubles back to get another shot at Cordelia. Then, Cordelia kills Lilah, revealing that she’s been the Beast’s master all along. Oh no! The death of Lilah is one of the most shocking in Angel, especially for Wesley who had a relationship with her.

Release: As Faith and Wesley search Los Angeles for Angelus, Cordelia draws her web of deception tighter around both Angelus and Connor. Once again, I really like Faith’s appearance in Angel. Staring with Salvage and continuing with Release, Faith brings a great attitude to the series. This time around, she also makes for a couple of great fight scenes. She fights The Beast in Salvage, but it’s her fight with Angelus in Release that’s truly memorable.

Orpheus: When the final confrontation between Faith and Angelus leaves them both near death, Fred makes a desperate call to Sunnydale, and Cordelia finally reveals her pregnancy. This is another episode that I’d pick twice. I’d pick it for the surprise visit for Willow. And I’d pick it for the dream sequences with Angelus and Faith. The fact that they’re both in the same episode makes it that much better. Also, I’ve long since tired of the comic book clichés of having the hero fight himself yet I have to admit that the battle between Angelus and Angel really works. I guess it’s the exception that proves the rule.

Peace Out: As Connor confronts Jasmine about Cordelia’s whereabouts, Angel searches the other dimension for the Keeper of the Name, ‘the only creature who knows Jasmine’s true name.’ I wasn’t a huge fan of the Jasmine story. It was pretty slow to develop and definitely could have been dealt with in fewer episodes than it was. But I have no complaints with the conclusion. There are two things that really stand out as worth mentioning. The first is the Connor’s crisis when he learns that he may have lost Cordelia. The other is the theological debate between Angel and Jasmine, while they’re fighting of course. I’ve always appreciated how Angel has looked at the problem of evil but I was surprised that this episode provided the basic Christian rationale for the existence of evil: free will. I know a lot of people who like the deride TV in general and imaginative fiction in particular, but this episode of Angel shows that a television show, and a horror one to boot, is just as capable of dealing with deep issues.

Season Five

Conviction: As the Angel Investigations team moves into the L.A. law offices of Wolfram & Hart, two old friends from Sunnydale come back into their lives: Harmony and Spike. It was hard to choose between Conviction, the opening episode of season five and Home, the closing episode of season four. Home had the great return of Lilah and it introduced us to so many cool things: the science lab, the library and the panther. But I chose Conviction for mostly a personal reason. It’s the first episode I ever saw. And as with Buffy’s Innocence, it was the episode that convinced me Angel might be a pretty good show to watch. Plus, Conviction has all of the same neat stuff that was in Home as well as Harmony as a new, hilariously perky yet evil secretary and the return of Spike.

Destiny: Spike opens a package that makes him corporeal again, turns the firm’s employees into bloody-eyed monsters, and pits him against Angel in a race to drink out of the Cup of Perpetual Torment. There have been some great fights in Buffy and Angel. Buffy vs. Angel. Buffy vs. Faith. Spike vs. Wood. Angel vs. Faith. The fight in Destiny might just be the best of them all. Once again, there’s great personal emotion behind the fight. Plus, there’s some great images as Spike hits Angel with a cross and as Spike drinks what he thinks is the Cup only to discover that it’s a fake filled with Mountain Dew.

Damage: When Angel and Spike try to help a young woman who escaped from an asylum, they discover she’s actually a potential slayer empowered by the spell Willow cast back at the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. There’s a fun reason to like this episode, and a chilling one. The fun reason is the guest appearance of Andrew, who is now Giles’ assistant in gathering and training new slayers. The Buffy guest stars have generally made for great episodes from Oz and Buffy in season one to Willow in season four. The chilling reason has to do with the insane slayer herself. We’re misled to believe that Spike had tortured her, but the truth is even more chilling. She was the victim of a human killer, reminding us of a theme that’s been around since I’ve Got You Under My Skin and the human side of evil.

You’re Welcome: Cordelia returns to help her friends one last time after an old nemesis shows up determined to defeat Angel by overriding a secret failsafe created by The Powers That Be. It was tough not to pick all of the character-centric episodes from the scary Spike episode Hellbound to the funny Lorne episode Life of the Party to the heart-wrenching Wes episode Lineage. They were all so good for different reasons. But I only have room for so many episodes and this Cordelia-centric episode absolutely has to make the list. This episode brings back Cordelia for a brief moment, reintroduces Lindsey as a returning nemesis, features a great fight between Angel and Lindsey, and sets Angel back on his right path as a champion. Plus, it has that bittersweet ending in which we learn that Cordelia didn’t really come back but died.

Smile Time: While Wesley and Fred’s relationship heats up, Gunn makes a deal to ensure his mental powers are made permanent, and Angel gets turned into a little felt-covered puppet. Angel gets turned into a puppet. How cool is that? I think this episode would rank highly on a lot of lists of people’s favorites. Let me say that again: Angel gets turned into a puppet. Angel gets to be funny. Puppets get to be scary. And the team gets to fight with abandon.

A Hole in the World: After breathing in the air from an ancient sarcophagus, Fred falls deathly ill and the rest of the gang races to find a cure before it’s too late. This is what I love about a Joss Whedon show, whether it’s Buffy or Firefly or Angel. The show bounces from extremes, yet does each of them so well. Smile Time was one of the funniest episodes in the entire series, yet it’s followed up with this tear-jerker of a tale in which Fred falls ill and all of the guys vow to save her. Yet, despite their vows and their many skills, none of them is able to save Fred. She dies in Wesley’s arms. Other deaths have been shocking as was the case with Lilah but few have been as heart-wrenching.

Power Play/Not Fade Away: Angel’s strange behavior convinces the gang that he’s joined an elite group of evildoers called the Circle of the Black Thorn a group he could have only joined by killing one of his own. The gang prepares to attack the true powers of evil by attempting to take down the Circle of the Black Thorn in battle none of them expect to survive. I have a few problems with the season structure at this point. I didn’t feel that the finale had the necessary build-up, especially after one-shot tales featuring Connor and a search for Buffy. But I have no problems with the episodes individually. And I certainly have no problems with the finale. While I still think it would have been interesting to end with Power Play and start a sixth season by taking out the Circle of the Black Thorn (an option that wasn’t available), I can’t be upset with these episodes. They’re both packed full with great turns, great scenes, great moments and great lines. Angel’s speech at the end of Power Play is powerful and effective. The death of Wes is truly moving, especially as he dies in Fred’s arms just as she had died in his. I felt so forlorn for Lorne as he did his one last job before getting out. And I loved Lindsey’s reaction, being more upset that he had been done in by a flunky than that he was going to die.

And that’s it for Angel. I had a great time watching these two series over the past two years or so. And I hope you’ve had a good time reading my reminisces.

Join the Discussion either in Fluit Notes: The Best of  Buffy and Angel discussion thread or read what other Superflous Heros have to say about the whole Whedonverse at  That Whedonverse Thread  in the Captain Comics Message Board !

 

One last time, all synopsis quotations are taken from the liner notes found in the Angel: The Complete Season Four and Five.

(Originally Published at CaptainComics.us on May 4, 2007, The Best of Angel, Part Two)

The Best of Angel, Part One.

I''m still on vacation so this column is taking a break from the usual as well. I've already covered the best episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now it's time for the sister  series, Angel.

 

Season One

RM W/A VU: While Doyle deals with a demon who has come to collect on his loans, Cordelia and a ghost battle it out for the right to live in a gorgeous rent-controlled apartment. The early seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayerwould often use horror story clichés as metaphors for real world high school problems. Buffy eventually shifted to college. Meanwhile, Angel dealt with the real world problems that young adults face as they first try to make their way in the world. Of course, these problems are always heightened by mystical elements. In this case, Cordelia struggles to find a livable apartment but the home of her dreams happens to be inhabited by ghosts. Rm w/a vu was funny, scary and proof that Angel could be a great show in its own right.

The Bachelor Party: Doyle nearly loses his mind when he and Angel are invited to attend a bachelor party given by his ex-wife’s new fiancée Ano-Movic demon.Cordelia had her best episode in Rm w/a vu. Doyle gets his best episode here in The Bachelor Party. Again, Angel manages to combine humor and horror as the groom-to-be invites Doyle to the bachelor party only so they can eat his brains. This episode also includes the iconic picture of Angel kicking down the door so that he can gain entrance to the restaurant. Even more significant, this episode marks a major turning point for Doyle as he learns to respect his demon half.

I Will Remember You: When exposure to demon blood causes Angel to become mortal, he must decide whether or not to renew his relationship with Buffy.I wasn’t sure that I would want Buffy to show up in Angel. After all, I wanted Angel to be its own show. But I have to admit that Buffy’s guest appearance made for a great episode. This episode brought back the sense of lost love and truly established Angel’s longing for a normal life. It served to explain Angel’s broodiness while also making him a sympathetic hero. Of course, the romance is kind of fun, too.

Hero: Doyle gets a chance to atone for his past when Angel agrees to help a group of mixed-heritage demons being hunted by violent pure-blood demons known as The Scourge. This episode is most memorable because of Doyle’s heroic sacrifice at the end. And I’ll admit that it’s a great ending. Not just Doyle’s death, but also the kiss before dying with Cordelia. However, this episode isn’t just a great ending. The jack-booted villains make this a real fearful episode long before we get to the end.

Parting Gifts: As Cordelia struggles with the unwanted gift Doyle passed on to her, a leather-clad Wesley Wyndham-Pryce roars into town claiming to be a rogue demon hunter. There are a couple of reasons why I chose this episode. One, this episode deals with the ramifications and consequences of the previous episode. That’s one of the things I love the most about Buffy and Angel.There are consequences to actions. There are results. And we often get to see people dealing with those actions after the fact as we do here with Cordelia mourning Doyle. But this isn’t simply a sad episode. Parting Gifts balances out Cordy’s sorrow with the arrival of Wesley. Parting Gifts mingles sorrow and humor without either stepping on the toes of the other. Wesley’s arrival as a rogue demon hunter is both spirited and amusing and it’s one of my favorite moments in the entire series. This episode also marks something that sets Angel apart from Buffy. While Buffy would usually build to a big climax at the end of the season, Angel would usually peak earlier with the biggest events and best episodes happening in the middle of the season as is the case here.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin: An exorcism Angel and Wesley perform on a young boy possessed by a demon takes an unexpected turn when they discover just how much the demon wanted out. Again, there are two reasons why I chose this episode. The first is the power of the exorcism scenes themselves. We’re really caught up in the banter between Wesley and the demon. The second is that this episode includes a twist that will introduce a recurring theme in Angel. The real villain isn’t the demon possessing the boy. The real villain is actually the boy. Angel often takes a look at the horrors that human beings are capable of inflicting upon each other- the evil that’s within us rather than without- and this episode is a great example of that.

Sanctuary: Convinced that Faith is capable of changing her ways, Angel tries to help her even as Kate, the Watchers Council and Buffy continue to hunt her down. The human evil may be one of the major themes of Angel. Atonement is another. Sanctuary is the story of Faith’s first step down the road to redemption. It’s a wonderful story showing the power of having faith in another person. And this is one of the episodes that made me wish the proposed Faith series had actually come into being.

To Shanshu in L.A.: Angel turns to Gunn for help when Cordelia and Wesley are attacked by a demon although this is just the first creature Wolfram & Hart plans to send against Angel. I realize that I picked a lot of episodes for this season. I almost trimmed the list down, but these episodes did so many different things that I didn’t want to lose any of them. How could I leave out Doyle’s sacrifice, or the theological conundrums of I’ve Got You Under My Skin? And how could I leave out To Shanshu in L.A.? Well, besides the bad title. But other than that, there’s Angel’s confrontation with Kate, Lindsey’s hand being cut off and the unexpected return of Darla.

 

Season Two

 

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?: Angel has his eye on an old hotel where he’d like to set up the new offices of Angel Investigations, but first there’s a bit of old history to resolve and a demon to kick out. In my Buffy column, I mentioned how much I enjoyed the flashback episodes. That’s true of Angel as well. However, this isn’t a typical flashback episode. Rather the flashbacks serve as the main story. Angel’s adventures in the 50s are the real story of this episode, and his modern investigation of the hotel is secondary. Joss Whedon has mentioned that this is one of his favorite episodes and I have to agree with him: it’s one of mine as well.

 

The Shroud of Rahmon: Angel and Gunn infiltrate a gang of thieves intent on stealing the Shroud of Rahmon, unaware of its supernatural influence over anyone who gets close to it. Angel is known so much for its long storylines that sometimes the single-episode stories get overlooked. The Shroud of Rahmon is one of the better examples of the latter. Angel and Gunn both infiltrated the same gang of thieves, but they didn’t consult with each other and the infiltration becomes more of a rivalry than a plan. The Shroud turns out to be a great heist tale. Plus, we see a darker side to each of our heroes as they come under the influence of the Shroud, especially Angel who is forced into another confrontation with Kate in which he bites her to save her life.

The Trial: Dying from the same illness which infected her human body four hundred years earlier, Darla begs to be turned back into a vampire even as Angel risks his own life with a different solution. Angel is a champion or so we’re often told. This is one of those episodes in which we see just what it means for Angel to be a champion. He risks his life in a series of trials in an attempt to save Darla. He succeeds at the trials but ultimately fails as Darla has already been given a second chance at life and won’t be given yet another. It’s a great win without winning episode, which is fairly typical of Angel.

Reunion: Wolfram & Hart get more than they bargained for after they bring Drusilla to Los Angeles to save Darla, and an outraged Angel fires Gunn, Wesley and Cordelia. This is another example of an Angel climax happening in the middle of the season rather than at the end. Reunion picks up on the events of The Trial. Angel failed to save Darla. Now it’s Drusilla’s turn. Dru turns Darla into a vampire again and the two of them go on a murderous spree. They end up at the home of Holland Manners, a Wolfram & Hart partner, killing him and a houseful of lawyers to prove that they can’t be controlled. It’s a riveting episode.

Happy Anniversary: The Host contacts Angel after a song sung in his club by a grad student the evening before revealed that time would be stopping for everyone at 10 pm the following night. Like The Shroud of Rahmon and The Thin Dead Line, Happy Anniversary is a great single episode. The heroes are scrambling to stop the evil, and this time they’re on the clock. One thing that makes this such a great episode is that the grad student isn’t evil. He’s simply been hurt by the woman he loves. He isn’t trying to destroy the world, or even hurt the woman in question. He’s just trying to get his love back. It’s also great to see Angel acting as a hero again after his destructive and unfriendly behavior of the past several episodes.

Over the Rainbow/Through the Looking Glass/There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb: The Host reluctantly agrees to take everyone through the portal to his home world of Pylea to rescue Cordelia who’s not really in any hurry to go home. I love the Pylean trilogy. There are just so many fun and memorable moments. The Pylean dances. Lorne losing his head. The introduction of Fred. It can be a real gamble to take all of your characters out of their usual setting and send them to another dimension but in this case it works. These three episodes are a fun coda to the second season. And, although they may feel like a diversion at the time, many of the events of this story continue to have ramifications well into seasons three and four.

 

Season Three

 

That Vision Thing: Angel is forced to help Wolfram & Hart free a man being held by The Powers That Be after the law firm hires a demon who can cause Cordelia to experience terrifying visions and pain. There are two major reasons why I chose this episode: Angel and Cordelia. First, we truly see Cordelia’s inner strength when her visions begin to manifest themselves as external injuries. I really felt her pain which makes this another great instance of a Buffy or Angel episode getting the viewer to feel emotions. As for Angel, he gets perhaps his best heroic turn since The Trial as he once again goes into danger for a woman he cares about. I simply love the battle with Skip.

Billy: Fred has a frightening encounter with Wesley and Gunn after they’re infected with the blood of Billy Blim, the man Angel helped Wolfram & Hart free from The Powers That Be. Why do I like this episode? Once again, we have definitive and serious consequences to an earlier action. Angel rescued Billy. Now Billy is causing trouble throughout L.A., infecting other men with his intense hatred of women and enticing them to abuse or even kill the women close to them. As if this story wasn’t personal enough for Angel, Billy manages to infect Wesley and Gunn as well putting Fred in danger. The best stories always have that personal dynamic and this one does. We feel Fred’s fear as Wesley comes after her with an axe. And we feel Wesley’s sorrow once the spell is broken.

Lullaby: Fearing for her baby’s life, Darla makes the ultimate sacrifice just as Holtz arrives to take his revenge on her and Angel. Once again, the really big stuff all comes down in the middle of the season. In season two, it was the Darla and Drusilla story. This season, it’s Darla’s pregnancy and the return of Holtz. Lullaby is one of the major episodes in the ongoing story, and one of the best episodes of the entire series. Darla is pregnant with Angel’s child the reward of a life owed to him after successfully completing The Trial. At first, Darla hates the child within her but eventually the child’s soul brings out the goodness in her. When she realizes that she can’t actually give birth as a vampire, she stakes herself so that the baby can get out of the womb. This is truly an episode that you can never forget.

Waiting in the Wings While attending a performance by a renowned ballet company that he also saw back in 1890, Angel realizes that nothing has changed including the dancers. This episode may be about the ballet on the surface, but it’s really about the characters. Specifically, it’s about their love lives. Angel has recently realized that he cares for Cordelia. Gunn and Wesley are both interested in making a move for Fred. The ballet makes for a wonderfully romantic setting, and the magical spell causes some wonderful complications. Not for the characters, but for us. Angel and Cordelia are forced to act out a romantic scene, while Wesley is possessed by a ghost of jealousy. It’s a wonderful episode as two characters come together, leaving a third one as the odd man out. It’s truly heart-rending and beautiful at the same time which is a rare feat.

Sleep Tight: Angel is horrified to discover he’s been drinking his own son’s blood, and Wesley gets more than he bargained for when he tries to save Connor.I complimented Lullaby for being impossible to forget. Well, Sleep Tight is just as memorable. This time, however, it isn’t a noble sacrifice that we remember. Rather, it’s a truly tragic downfall. Wesley has been separated from everybody else ever since Waiting in the Wings. He tries to subvert fate all by himself by kidnapping Angel’s son Connor. But the plan backfires when Justine double-crosses him and slits his throat. Justine then gives Connor to Holtz who, after a standoff with Angel, takes the baby through a dimensional portal into the worst hell imaginable. This episode is one wow after another. It’s almost hard to believe that these things are happening. That’s not because it’s poorly written. It’s just amazing that any show would choose to push things quite this far. After the events of Sleep Tight, it was almost hard to breathe because my heart had been in my throat for so long.

A New World: As Angel tries to track down Connor in the streets of L.A., Lilah approaches a despondent Wesley with an offer from Wolfram & Hart. The single biggest reason why this episode is included in this list is the opening fight scene between Connor and everyone. It’s a flat-out amazing fight and one of the best uses of slow-motion I’ve ever seen. The rest of the episode isn’t exactly bad either. Connor’s exploration of this new world of L.A. is pretty memorable, riding on the top of a bus, killing some drug dealers and winding up on skid row.

Benediction: Holtz returns from the Quor-toth dimension and sets into motion the final part of his revenge against Angel. As we haven’t had enough big events already in this season, now we have the return of Holtz. He promptly works to pit Connor against Angel again and his revenge is another shot to the gut. Holtz has Justine kill him and frame Angel for the murder. We’ve seen the ultimate in noble sacrifice and tragedy. Now, it’s time for the ultimate in treachery. Seriously, no show should do so many things so well. It’s just not fair. But it sure is incredible to watch.

 

That’s Part One. Stay tuned for Part Two.

 

 

Join the Discussion either in Fluit Notes: The Best of  Buffy and Angel   discussion thread or read what other Superflous Heros have to say about the Whole Whedonverse at  That Whedonverse Thread  in the Captain Comics Message Board ! 

All synopsis quotations are taken from the liner notes found in the Angel: The Complete Season One through Three DVDs.

(Originally Published at CaptainComics.us on April 27, 2007, The Best of Angel, Part One)

The Best of Buffy, Part Two

Chris Fluit is on vacation this month so this column s taking a break from the normal routine as well. Instead of writing columns about comics, I'm turning my attention to the world of television- specifically "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. In The Best of Buffy, Part One, I looked at the best episodes from seasons one through four picking the classics plus a few personal favorites. Now it's time for Part Two, looking at seasons five through seven.

Season Five

The Replacement:When Xander blocks a Toth demon's magical blast from hitting Buffy, he wakes up the next day to find a doppelganger has taken over her life. Willow had her doppleganger episode back in season three's Doppelgangland. Now, it's Xander's turn. But instead of good Xander/bad Xander, the twist is that we get clumsy Xander and competent Xander. Xander has always been one of my favorite characters guess I just relate to him as the geeky guy in high school so I really liked seeing him take more control of his life and realize that he can be calm, cool and collected. But that didn't mean he couldn't still be fun. I went through a similar revelation, so again, I related quite a bit with this episode. Plus, it was just dang funny.

Fool For Love: After being impaled by a vampire, Buffy turns to Spike, who claims to have killed two Slayers, in an attempt to learn how other Slayers met their end. I always like the flashback episodes. It's just a lot of fun to see Angel as an Irish teenager, or Spike and Drusilla wreaking havoc in an earlier era. This is one of the best flashback episodes. It does a great job of building Spike's character, showing how he fell in love with Drusilla, how he killed two slayers, and introducing us to the real William the Bloody. And, like the best of the flashback episodes, it has relevance to what's going on right now. Buffy faces her fears about dying young as most slayers do, while Spike is able to get closer to Buffy. 

Into The Woods: Certain that Buffy doesn't love him the same way he loves her, Riley finally decides to confront her and offer her one last opportunity to give their relationship a chance. Buffy does great humor. Buffy does great horror. And Buffy does great heartache. This is definitely one of the latter. I know that other fans never got over Buffy and Angel, but I found Riley's departure to be much more heart-wrenching than Angel's. It was so tragic. Buffy realized that she did love Riley but her realization came too late for her to tell him. Also, I liked Xander as the voice of wisdom in this episode. Some fans dismiss him because he doesn't have super-strength like Buffy or witchy powers like Willow but Xander adds a lot to the others and this is a great example of that. 

 

The Body: Buffy, Dawn and their friends find themselves dealing with the painful events surrounding Joyce's sudden and unexpected death. This was a hard episode to watch but in this case, hard doesn't mean bad. So often, Buffy uses horror stories as metaphors for real life problems. Not this time. In this case, Buffy strips away the horror elements and deals with a real life problem head on. The series had actually been doing this all season with Joyce's illness and that finally comes to fulfillment in this issue. Joyce Summers is dead, but not by magic or some monster. She's simply dead. And now Buffy and Dawn have to pick up the pieces. It's every bit as heart-breaking as Into the Woods but for entirely different reasons. 

 

Spiral: Glory finally realizes that Dawn is the Key, and Buffy surprises her friends by telling them their best option for staying alive is to leave Sunnydale. It was pretty hard to pick best episodes for this season. There were just too many good episodes, and if I picked them all, I would have ended up with more than half the season. I had to skip the scary Listening to Her with the ceiling-crawling Queller demons, the funny Triangle with the troll that used to be Anya's lover, the powerful Crush with Spike and the three women in his life, and I Was Made to Love You which was a great one-shot story with Warren and his cybernetic girlfriend. But I just couldn't pick them all, especially not if I wanted to have room for the final stories. Spiral isn't quite the end, but it's definitely the beginning of the end. I picked a lot of funny episodes, and heart-wrenching episodes. The Spiral is one of the best action episodes. This is the episode in which Buffy and the Scoobies flee Sunnydale in a Winnebago before holing up in an abandoned gas station. The chase scene is amazing with knights on horses stabbing swords into a mobile home. Plus, it has a great doomed feel to it. 

 

The Gift: Refusing to believe that killing Dawn is the only way to save the universe, Buffy prepares to do battle against Glory and finally realizes the true meaning of her gift. Buffy has a tradition of great finishes. Most of them are of the good triumphing over evil variety. But a few of them are more tragic. Becoming would be one of those, with the death of Angel. The Gift is another one. It's a great episode with action, fighting and violence. I especially enjoyed Spike's role in the battle. But the real memorable moment is Buffy sacrificing herself for Dawn.  

Season Six

 

Life Serial: It's a case of bad timing as Buffy goes out searching for a job just as Andrew, Jonathan and Warren decide to test her in search of a weakness they can exploit. I know that a lot of other Buffy fans think that the series took a down-turn with seasons six and seven. I don't agree with them. Partly, it's because I remember some of the bad episodes of earlier seasons. And partly, it's because I found so much to like in these later seasons. For one thing, I loved having the Geek Trio as villains. The best Buffy villains bring menace and a certain kind of whimsy. The Geek Trio definitely qualifies on the latter, and even on the former.

 

Once More With Feeling: A demon named Sweet descends upon Sunnydale in search of Dawn, his arrival causing everyone to burst into song and dance and eventually into flame Here's another great reason to love season six. Once More with Feeling is one of the best Buffy episodes ever. It has the entire range of emotions, some great humor and a real threat. And it has songs! Great, singable songs! Plus, unlike most musicals, the songs actually move either the plot or the characters forward. One song introduces the beginnings of a rift between Xander and Anya. Another Giles' decision to leave. And a third allows Buffy to reveal to her friends that they had rescued her from heaven. And another thing: this episode sets up the relationships for the rest of the season. I can't hate the rest of the season without hating the episode that got everything going and this is episode is way too good to hate. 

 

Tabula Rasa:Confident that he has taught Buffy everything she needs to know, Giles prepares to go back to England just as Willow casts a spell which causes everyone to forget who they are. As I said before, I love these out of character episodes. It's just so much fun to put people in different situations and see how they react. The mistaken identities and conclusions are hilarious: Giles and Anya thinking they're a couple, Spike thinking that Giles is his father, and so on. This is another season six episode that measures up with the best of Buffy.

 

Older and Faraway: The guests at Buffy's birthday party are surprised when they realize they've been at the party for almost a whole day and even more surprised when they realize they can't leave. This is another great magic episode. Usually, the Scoobies are trying to keep evil things out of the house, such as an earlier party that was attacked by zombies. But this time, they can't get out thanks to Dawn's wish that nobody would leave. I like the interplay of relationships in this episode, and the inclusion of minor characters such as Clem. I doubt that this episode makes too many lists of classic episodes, but it's one of my favorites. 

 

Hell's Bells: All hell breaks loose at Xander and Anya's wedding after a man claiming to be from the future convinces Xander that Anya's future life will be far better without him. I picked a lot of episodes because they're enjoyable, because I liked them. Older and Faraway would be a good example of that. However, I also included some episodes that aren't exactly fun. Instead, they're well done, they're real, they're true to life. Hell's Bells was occasionally funny, but it was also hard to watch. I certainly didn't want to see Xander break up with Anya. Yet it felt very real. I've previously mentioned how much I identify with Xander. This was another episode in which I really identified with him, and empathized with his situation. This is pretty personal but I know what it's like to not trust yourself in a relationship because your parents are divorced. I've seen a lot of happy couples in fiction, but I've never seen this particular emotion portrayed before, let alone portrayed as well as it was in this episode. Having gone through something similar, my heart went out to Xander and to Anya. It wasn't what I would have wanted to happen. But what happened was very real and very well done. 

 

Normal Again: A demon which Jonathan, Andrew and Warren unleash on Buffy causes her to drift between her friends in the real world and an alternate reality where her mother is still alive. This is another episode that was neither funny nor fun. But just as my heart went out to Xander in Hell's Bells, I couldn't help but feel bad for Buffy in Normal Again. She's lost so much in order to be the Slayer and this episode really brings that home. I have to admire an episode, a season and a series that does such a good job of bringing out so many emotions, including difficult emotions such as Buffy's longing for a different life and Dawn's feeling of betrayal that Buffy doesn't want to be there.

Grave: Giles returns from England in an attempt to stop Willow, but in the end it is her oldest friend who reaches through her pain and stops her from destroying the world. This is another great climactic episode. There are just so many memorable scenes. There's the return of Giles. There's the destruction of The Magic Box. There's Buffy and Dawn trapped in a grave underground. And there's Xander's conversation with Willow: I love you. I love yellow crayon Willow and dark, veiny Willow. Plus, Xander, who's been feeling fairly useless is the one to save the day. Meanwhile, there's the great sub-plot as Spike fights for a soul.

Season Seven 

Lessons: As Giles works with Willow in England, Buffy accompanies Dawn to her first day at the new Sunnydale High and receives two surprises: a job offer and Spike. I'm surprised that I didn't pick more first episodes. I guess that most of them set things up that paid off later in the season and I picked the payoff rather than the set-up. But in this case, I really enjoyed the set-up. It was nice and refreshing to go back to Sunnydale High. But we didn't simply go back in time. Dawn is the one going to school. Buffy is the one who has grown up into adulthood. We get a bit of early season nostalgia, but without sacrifice all of the developments that have happened since then. I also liked the introduction of Principal Wood as I've liked D.B. Woodside in other roles and the return of Spike having been driven mad by his new soul. 

 

Help: Buffy's first day as a guidance counselor at Sunnydale High proves a bit more difficult than she expected after she meets a young girl who's convinced she's about to die. Season seven is more than just a return to Sunnydale High. It's also a return to some of the earlier themes. We get another horror story as metaphor for the real world with Buffy thinking a girl is going to commit suicide. And we get the struggle with fate and whether or not the future is written, something Buffy has dealt with again and again as she tried to avoid or to fulfill one prophecy after another. This is a great, though tragic, episode. 

 

Conversations with Dead People: As Andrew and Jonathan return to save Sunnydale from evil, Dawn is confronted by an image of her dead mother and Tara's ghost delivers a warning to Willow. This is one of my favorite episodes, though I guess I could say that a lot. First, I love the title. Second, I loved the various conversations with dead people and the impact that they had on the living from scaring Dawn, to antagonizing Willow, to helping Buffy come to grips with her situation. Also, I liked the return of Andrew and Jonathan, though I don't always remember that it happens in the same episode. But that's just another reason to like it. Three great conversations with dead people, plus the interplay between the Geek Duo, and then finally the tragic end of Jonathan: yup, there are a lot of reasons to like this episode. 

 

Potential: Dawn's belief that she's not an important part of the upcoming fight changes after one of Willow's spells makes her think that she's a Potential Slayer. I'm somewhat surprised myself at the number of Dawn-centric episodes that made my list: Older and Faraway in season six and now Potential in season seven. But they're both very good episodes. This one has the good twist in that its Dawn's friend and classmate that is the real Potential and not Dawn. It also has some great moments as Dawn continues to fight, showing her cleverness if not her Slayer-like strength. However, the best part of this episode is the ending as Dawn comes to terms with her lack of powers and as Xander tells her how special she really is. 

Storyteller: Andrew's videotape recording of the exploits of Buffy and the Potential Slayers suddenly hits a little too close to home after a link between him and the Seal of Danthalzar is discovered. As Xander takes over the Giles' role of mentor, Andrew steps nicely into the Xander role of geeky boy comic relief. I have to admit that Andrew cracks me up. And I really like this episode. I like how we're given a different perspective through Andrew's eyes. And I like how Andrew is given greater depth of character while also being forced to grow up a little. 

Lies My Parents Told Me: While Buffy attempts to figure out the secret behind The First's control over Spike, Principal Wood asks Giles to help him destroy Spike for good. It's been awhile since Buffy had a fight scene with this kind of emotion behind it, but Wood's battle with Spike in a room full of crosses goes down as a classic. Plus, we get more flashbacks into Spike's life, making us sympathetic to Spike and to Wood. We actually feel for both characters, making the fight that much more interesting. 

Chosen: In a desperate gamble, Buffy and the Potential Slayers decide that instead of waiting to be attacked they will open the Seal of Danthalzar and take the battle directly to The First. After this episode, I didn't need a season eight (though I'll happily read the season eight comic book anyway). Chosen did such a great job of wrapping up the entire series. There were the good, little moments such as Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow standing together for one last time. There were the great, big moments such as all of the Slayers fighting the hordes of the Hellmouth. There were positive developments such as Willow becoming a white witch of goodness and tragic developments such as the death of Anya. It just felt like the end. And it felt good. I can't imagine a better finale.

That's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Come on back for Angel.

Join the Discussion either in Fluit Notes: The Best of Buffy and Angel discussion thread or read what other Superflous Heros have to say about the Whole Whedonverse at That Whedonverse Thread in the Captain Comics Message Board !

All synopsis quotations are taken from the liner notes on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Season One through Four DVDs.

All Images are thanks to the hard work of folks over at www.screencap-paradise.com

(Originally Published at CaptainComics.us on April 20, 2007, The Best of Buffy, Part Two)

 

The Best of Buffy, Part One

I'm on vacation this month so this column will take a bit of a vacation as well. Instead of writing columns about comics, I'm turning my attention to the world of television. For the past three years, my wife and I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel on DVD. Now we"re done and it's time to take a look back at "The Best of Buffy."

Season One
To be honest, it was actually kind of hard to pick the best episodes from season one. Maybe it's because its been three years since I watched most of them. Or maybe its because at the time, Buffy was merely a good show that I watched for my wife and not yet a great show that I would consider a favorite of my own. Anyway, after thinking about it a little longer, I decided that there are a few fairly memorable episodes.

The Pack: A field trip to the zoo turns deadly after Xander and a clique of mean-spirited kids become possessed by the spirit of a demonic breed of hyena. There are three good reasons to pick The Pack. One, its the first episode to have one of the characters act out of character due to a spell or some other mystical influence- one of my favorite recurring themes in both Buffy and Angel. Two, its a great example of how Buffy uses magic and horror as metaphors for real world problems- in this case, the high school friend who suddenly turns on his old friends when a new clique lets him in. And three, the death of Principal Flutie. Its the first death of a recurring character on the series, showing the audience that there would be consequences. Plus, the fact that he was eaten is vivid, disturbing and very memorable.

Angel: A moment of passion turns to terror as Buffy discovers Angels true identity and learns about the Gypsy curse that has haunted him for almost 100 years. Its been a long time since I watched this episode but there are a few reasons why its worth noting. This episode represents Angels emergence from "mysterious stranger" to a character in his own right. There's some pretty good misdirection and miscommunication, especially after Buffy thinks that Angel has attacked her mom. Plus, this episode establishes so many elements that will be played with over the years: the gypsy curse, Angel is a vampire with a soul and Angels past relationship with Darla.

Prophecy Girl: As the Spring Fling dance approaches, Giles discovers an ancient book foretelling the Slayer's death at the hands of The Master. I don't think that this finale stands up when compared with later seasons, but I was pretty impressed when I saw it at the time. Again, this episode deals with many of the major themes of this series such as Buffy's struggle with her destiny as a slayer. Plus, its hard to forget certain scenes like Buffy's resurrection, Xanders role in her resurrection and the death of The Master.

Season Two

School Hard: Buffys mother gets trapped inside Sunnydale High School when a vampire named Spike arrives in town and launches an attack against the slayer. This was the episode that convinced me that Buffy was not merely a good show, but a great one. With Buffy, Joss Whedon had reinvented the vampire slayer. He made the slayer hip and modern. With School Hard, Whedon now turned the same trick for vampires. I had never cared for The Master, but Spike and Drusilla were villains you could love to hate. If any one moment encapsulated that epiphany, it would definitely be Spike' killing of The Anointed One.

Halloween: After renting Halloween from an unusual shop, Buffy and her friends literally begin turning into whatever costume they are wearing. I told you I like episodes in which everyone is changed into a different character. Halloween was an especially good episode for the supporting characters. Giles is given a nemesis in Ethan Rayne. Xander becomes the super-competent soldier man. And Spike has such glee with all of the confusion that he becomes an even more likable villain.

Innocence: Buffy must battle not only the Judge but also Angel, who has lost his soul after experiencing a moment of true happiness. Wow, this show really knows how to rip your heart out. Angel's turn back into Angelus is one of the most dramatic moments of any season. It has such a devastating effect on Buffy, and a domino effect on other characters such as Buffy's mom Joyce. Yet, despite having her heart torn out, Buffy still has to pull herself together and put a stop to Angel, Drusilla and the Judge. The big finale in the movie theatre with the rocket launcher was one of the first scenes I ever saw, and one of the reasons why I thought I might have to give this show a look after all. Not only does this episode have great, big action scenes, but it's another example of something that Buffy does so well: use horror story clichaes as metaphors for real life problems. In this case, it's the boy who becomes a jerk after you sleep with him.

Passion: Angel steps up his torment of Buffy and her friends even as Jenny Calendar searches for a way to restore his soul. Okay, so Innocence topped The Pack as horror story as metaphor for real world problems. Now, it's Passion, which tops The Pack for significant consequences: namely, the death of Jenny Calendar. This was a vicious episode, showing how truly evil Angelus is even before he kills off Giles love interest and Willow's mentor, the likable Jenny Calendar.

I Only Have Eyes for You: Sunnydale High School is haunted by the ghosts of a former student and teacher who reenact their tragic romance through the bodies of the school's current inhabitants. This is one of the most emotionally charged episodes of Buffy as she and Angel are pulled into reenacting an earlier tragic romance. It reminds you of what they lost. It scares you with where they're at now. And it's just so beautifully staged. Definitely a great episode, even if it didn't have the status quo changing affects of School Hard,Innocence or Passion.

Becoming, Part Two: While Angel tortures Giles for needed information concerning a ritual, Spike strikes an unlikely alliance with Buffy to keep Angel from destroying the world. What an incredible finale! Spike turns on Angel because he's losing Drusilla- just the first of what will be many times that characters switch sides. The brutal torture of Giles. Willow coming into her own as a witch and re-ensouling Angel. Buffy stabbing Angel with a sword. I watched season two only a couple of months after watching season one, yet these scenes and episodes are seared into my mind so much more strongly. This finale also shows something that Buffy does so well. It's not just about the big action, and having a fight scene. It's about having emotion behind the fight scene. It's not just about saving the world. It's about having to fight your former lover. It's about saving your friends. Buffy always finds a way to make the fights personal for the characters and emotional for the viewers and that's one of its real strengths.

 

Season Three

Homecoming: As Buffy and Cordelia vie for the Homecoming Queen title they are targeted by a group of killers preparing for SlayerFest '98. I remember this episode mostly for the great rivalry between Buffy and Cordelia. Their limo ride together, and especially their time cowering together in a cabin in the woods while hiding from slayer-hunters were both a lot of fun to watch. Plus, I love the ending. It's so Buffy. We're told that there's been a tie for Homecoming Queen. We automatically assume that we've been given a happy ending and both of our characters get to share the title of Queen. Nope, the tie is between the other two contestants and both of our characters are the losers. That little twist, that one extra beat, is so typical of Buffy.This episode also contains one of the most memorable scenes from this season: Xander and Willow's kiss.

Band Candy: Sunnydale's adult population begins acting like immature teenagers after eating candy bars being sold to finance new high school band uniforms. This is another great out of character episode but with an added twist of role reversal. The added twist is that the adults are acting like kids again, while the kids have to take responsibility and stop evil on their own. It's a lot of fun to see Giles as Ripper to see Joyce fawn all over the bad boy, and to see Principal Snyder sucking up to Buffy and trying to tag along.

The Wish/Doppelgangland: After Cordelia tells her new friend Anya that she wishes Buffy had never come to Sunnydale, she suddenly finds herself in a reality where vampires control the town.While casting a magic spell to help Anya regain her powers, Willow and Anya inadvertently summon Willow's evil twin, a vampire, from an alternate universe. What can I say? I'm a comic book fan. I love alternate universes. And the alternate universe of The Wish is a great upside down version of the Sunnydale we know and love. Xander and Willow are evil vampires. Oz and Larry are Giles' lieutenants in the fight against evil. And Cordelia realizes that she didn't exactly get what she wished for. Then, in Doppelgangland, Buffy brings part of the evil alternate reality into our world. The vampire Willow is a great character with great lines (Bored now.) and it's a lot of fun to see the real Willow interact with her evil duplicate.

Earshot: After slaying a telepathic demon, Buffy is bombarded with the thoughts of everyone around her including one student who appears to be planning mass murder. One of the best things about Buffy is the shows versatility. There are very funny episodes, such as Band Candy and Doppelgangland. There are great action episodes. There are scary episodes. And there are episodes like this one that are drenched with drama and tension. A lot of series have done school shooting episodes, but few have done as good an episode as this one. Earshot lets us into the mind of the shooter, and allows us to experience the real fear of other students at the same time.

The Prom: Buffy battles three fearsome hellhounds which another classmate has programmed to attack students during Sunnydale High's senior prom. There are two big reasons to choose The Prom as one of Buffy's best episodes. One, Buffy fighting to save a school dance is reminiscent of the finale from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Two, the happy ending. My wife Ana cries easily. I don't. But I'll admit that I teared up during Jonathan's speech about how they all know that Buffy is their Class Protector.

Graduation Day, Part One and Two: To distract Buffy and keep her from interfering with the Mayor's Ascension, Faith shoots Angel with an arrow whose poison can only be cured by the blood of a Slayer. Buffy, her friends, and all the students of Sunnydale High prepare to face off against the Mayor and his hoard of vampires in a seemingly hopeless battle to save their town. I managed to pick only part two of Becoming, but I couldn't do the same with Graduation.The first part had such great twists and turns between Buffy and Angel and Faith. Plus, there was the incredible fight scene between Buffy and Faith in which Faith is finally thrown from the roof. That's easily one of the best fights of the entire series. And then part two is just as good but for different reasons. It's great to see the supporting cast step up, to have Xander, Willow and even Cordelia lead the student body in an anti-monster uprising. There's the great explosion in the library. The finale even gets the little things right, such as having Jonathan do well against the monsters, while Wesley and Harmony don't.

 

Season Four

 

Fear Itself: A Halloween party at a campus frat house takes a frightening turn with the sudden appearance of blood-sucking bats, zombies and a demon that plays on everyone's innermost fears. Season two's Halloween was so good that we might have thought that Buffy should stay away from this particular holiday because there would be no way to measure up to the earlier episode. Well, Fear Itself is a more-than-worthy successor. It's a great haunted house story, with the characters separated and fighting on their own. And I simply loved Anya's bunny costume. That still makes me laugh.

Beer Bad: Buffy starts behaving strangely after sharing a pitcher of Black Frost beer with a group of fellow college students at the campus pub where Xander bartends.Buffy had done a great job of using horror stories to examine the real world high school problems. Now, its time to do the same for college. There are a couple of other episodes that do this such as The Harsh Light of Day and the party gone awry in Where the Wild Things Are. But Beer Bad is one of the best. I just think the Neanderthal Buffy was funny. Also, foamy and beer bad are a couple of great catchphrases. Plus, there's a great scene dealing with the fall-out of The Harsh Light of Day in which Willow tricks Parker into hitting on her only to turn around and berate him for being an idiot.

The Initiative: Buffy begins a relationship with Riley Finn unaware that he is part of a military organization tracking down and experimenting on the demons and vampires of Sunnydale. This is one of the best sense of wonder episodes in the entire series. When Riley first walks into The Initiative, I kept thinking to myself, Wow! wow! just wow. This episode did a great job of bringing so many things together, showing us the secret behind the military guys who had been running through the background throughout the earlier episodes while also bringing Buffy and Riley together as a couple.

Something Blue: When Willow casts a spell in hopes of getting over the pain of losing Oz, the exact wording she uses causes mayhem among her friends. Something I never thought I'd say: I love magic episodes. Usually, I love the out of character episodes, but I have to admit that this is just as good as any of those. Willows miscast spell creates mass confusion, and its a lot of fun to watch. A blind Giles, Buffy and Spike in love, and easily the best of the bunch: Xander as a demon magnet. Also, this episode shows why I can never be mad at the show for its significant changes. Did I want to see Oz leave Willow? No, I didn't. They were great together. But these significant changes have consequences and often result in great episodes like this one.

Hush: From out of a fairy tale comes a group of murderous creatures know as The Gentlemen: first they steal everyone's voices, then they being to collect human hearts. Usually, the horror elements of Buffy are the setting, while the main stories are mostly humor or drama. But every once in a while, Buffy (and Angel, for that matter) comes out with a truly scary story. Hush is easily one of the best. Its one of those keep you up at night kind of scary stories. Truly creepy. Plus, I really like Riley's role in this episode as he comes in to help Buffy with guns ablazing.

Superstar: Buffy suspects reality has somehow been altered after an unpopular former Sunnydale High student named Jonathan becomes the coolest and most popular person in town. I think that the opening credits are a big reason why I like this episode so much. I just appreciated that they went that extra step and incorporated Jonathan into the opening credits. Otherwise, this was just a good funny episode with a standard horror twist. Though, it was also nice to see another of the Sunnydale High students again.

That's Part One. Stay tuned for Part Two.

Join the Discussion either in Fluit Notes: The Best of Buffy and Angel discussion thread or read what other Superflous Heros have to say about the Whole Whedonverse at That Whedonverse Thread in the Captain Comics Message Board !

All synopsis quotations are taken from the liner notes on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Season One through Four DVDs.

All Images are thanks to the hard work of folks over at www.screencap-paradise.com

(Originally Published at CaptainComics.us, The Best of Buffy, Part One on April 13, 2007.)