4.10: Awakening

[Highlander II]

info from tvtome.com --

Cordelia reveals that The Beast and Angelus used to be a team. She had a vision which let her sample the past of Angel's alter-ego. Wesley arrives at the hotel, he brings a Shaman with him named Wo-Pang. He has the ability to extract and replace souls. After much discussion, the gang decide that the only way to find information on The Beast is to ask his 'partner in crime'. Wo-Pang sedates Angel and inserts a simulation into his mind where everyone is happy and The Beast is dead, Angel and Cordelia make love and Angel wakes up in reality, minus one soul.

 

[Highlander II]

Rating --- 10!!

This episode ROCKED!

Ok - well, lemme just say, I'm *REALLY* glad I didn't read that ep teaser before I saw the show - it would have RUINED the whole thing!

The 'not-knowing' was the best part!

B/c you go through the whole episode, and it was done in such a way that you really don't know what's going on until the very end -

Although - they did seem to 'vanquish' the demon a bit too easily -

(that was about the only downer) -

And, now, reading that the whole bit was a 'simulation' (if that's really what it was supposed to be) - make it an interesting twist on 'soul extraction' - mostly b/c I didn't figure they'd have Angel lose his soul the same way twice - (a bit too predictable - so, simulated moment of happiness, I guess) -- and, I don't think Angel woud sleep with Cordy and risk losing his soul unless the world was going to end --- (but, hey, I could be wrong on that one)


Something that caught me tho - they said the only way for Angelus to return was for Angel to lose his soul - but what about the 'happy pills' that woman gave him back in S1? Did they all FORGET? Why didn't they try that? (Aside from the fact that it's not nearly as interesting)

Anyway -- nicely done episode! Best ep of Angel they've had in a looooong time --

Oh - one more thing -- Wesley apologize to Angel? Definitely a dream! :evil:

 

[Shaun]

I agree, this was an awesome episode.
I had no idea that it was a dream. The way everything was turning out happy was a bit cheesy but I didn't care, they need some happiness. I just thought they'd give us this happy moment before taking a huge dark turn. Well, I was half right, except they took away the happy moment where everyone got along. How could I have thought we'd have a light happy ending? That's not "Angel".
The quest to get the sword was good too, it reminded me of Indiana Jones .

 

[Highlander II]

Yeah - I thought of that too --- the "Indiana Jones" feel -

I was almost expecting him to have to balance some rocks or bags of sand to get the sword w/o blowing up the world or the cave --

The traps were kinda cool - the bells that activated the wooden stakes - and, of course, there's always the 'oops! jump, quick, before they all slam closed and kill you!' -- it's a must!

The action / adventure made this a nice episode - it kept the viewer interested - which is something AtS has been sort of struggling with of late --

Good show, David Fury and Stephen S. DeKnight!

 

[tokyogirl]

right after they got the sword i yelled 'run away fast! didn't you see the temple of doom?!?'

oh, and ditto on the 'happy pills' h2. that was my first thought. it worked once, why not let it work a second time. it's a whole lot safer

oh! and the best part about the 'dream'.....connor gettin smacked around. see, i told you it'd do the kid some good. also, there were a couple of suspicious parts in it. not that i knew what was really going on or anything, but like you said the whole losing his soul the same way twice thing. that just seemed a little stupid on angel and cordy's part. then cordy freakin cause they almost died, like they don't almost die at least twice an episode. and before cordy and angel 'slept together' i knew something was going to happen. my roommate (who just got hooked on both buffy and angel) got all excited because things were all turning out ok. i kept telling her to wait, something bad was going to happen. something bad ALWAYS happens at the end of an episode like that. looks like i was right, too. just not the way i thought i would be. also, the seen from the previews with angelus being tied up and laughing, just before you realize everything that happened wasn't real i started trying to remember if that had come up anywhere and realizing that it hadn't. but a GREAT episode anyway you look at it.

i also liked at the end when they showed scenes from next week when they showed the logo with angel's face and the time, instead of saying 'ANGEL 8/9 C' it was 'ANGELUS 9/8 central'

 

[Diamond9697]

Okay this episode was awesome to say the least.

So many things that we should have caught that said this couldn't be real and yet put together in just such a way that we think..."well, I suppose it's possible"

Wesley apologizing, Cordy freaking out about them almost dying...again, Angel forgiving her so easily after last week, Connor realizing Angel isn't so bad, The demon just poofing after that huge build up....and then the end thing and Angel and COrdy doing that when they know damn good and well what would happen. Then the shaman and Angelus and I'm like YES!

definitly a 10 episode...heck maybe even an 11 :rolly2:

 

[tokyogirl]

this is definitely the best episode they've had in a long long long long looooooooooooooong time!

 

[obcooke]

Okay, a few thoughts...

A good episode. I have a friend that I have been showing "the best of" Buffy/Angel episodes and I think this qualifies.

I admit I was suckered in. Another "let's fool the audience" episode.

But in my defense, I was wondering why in Heaven's name Angel and Cordy would be foolish enough to have sex at the end. It just seemed all wrong. But I'm so used to the characters acting stupid the last year or so, that I dismissed it as "business as usual".

And another thing... I seem to remember when Angel was so happy over having Conner that he was almost giddy that people began to ask, just how happy does he have to be for the curse to kick in? It's my memory that Joss answered that the curse was a twist that the gypsies put on the soul retreival spell. It was my understanding that Willow's spell was curse-free.

I realize that if he isn't cursed he could have settled down with Buffy, but they had to come up with an explaination for why fatherhood didn't make him happy-happy.

So does that mean that being a father comes in on the scale of happiness as second to gettin' some? So Angel's only true happiness come from sex? How crass.

He didn't even change with Buffy until the afterglow. With Cordy he suddenly gets happy during the act, eh? Strange.

One last thing...

What's with the Angel in a bottle? There was never a need for a container for the soul before. The soul just went away until it was restored and then it just came back. This must mean that they have discovered another way to restore a vampire's soul.

So that would be two methods to restore a soul unwillingly and one to restore a soul if the vampire tries hard enough. Gee, it used to be so tough and now its becoming commonplace.

It seems clear to me that the only reason for the bottle is so they can, at some point, make Angel's soul into the McGuffin. For those of you who don't know - Alfred Hitchcock used the term McGuffin to refer to what everyone is after in a film. It can be diamonds, microfilm, whatever - the point being that it is the driving force behind the plot - everyone is after the McGuffin. At some point, they must intend for everyone to be chasing after Angel's soul.

 

[Highlander II]

Well, remember - that both the gypsy and Willow (or Jenny, if she'd been able) needed the Orb of Thessala to 'channel' Angel's soul back to his body - or that was the impression I got - that they needed the orb as a recepitcle to 'hold' Angel's soul while they finished the spell, then the soul was shuffled off to it's body -

That's what I took the jar as - a container to hold the soul, so they wouldn't have to 'go look for it' (in a mystical sense) before they put it back. (It's like a more convenient Orb) -

However, someone told me that they're waiting for someone to knock that table and break the jar - thus sending Angel's soul off into the nevernever -- meaning, they'll have to find something to get it back -

And on the topic of sex being the 'happy-factor' - maybe it was more a 'power of suggestion' thing - Angel *thinks* that having sex w/ someone he truly loves is the only way for him to lose his soul, so the shaman tapped into that to convince Angel's soul to jump into the jar - Angel's only lost his soul (until now) that one time - with Buffy - and it happened to be after having sex with her - sex that, btw, looked much more loving and passionate than whatever he was doing w/ Cordy (and that was 'looked') - but anyway -- it's the only way he knows 'for sure' that his soul will leave - sex w/ Buffy is a definite, but I'm guessing he'd rather not take chances w/ anyone else.

On the curse - if Willow used the same spell the gypsies had used (and we'll never know for sure if it was the EXACT same spell, b/c Jenny translated it from the older language and found the spell somewhere - don't think we ever learn where for sure) - then the curse would have been built in - or that's how I would see it - but hey, this is Joss' world - anything goes -

 

[tokyogirl]

also, when angel slept with buffy, she was the only thing really important to him. all he needed was to be with her, and he was perfectly happy. now that he has more people in his life he kind of needs more to be happy. i mean, the more you have, the more that can be taken away. in his vision he had everyone he cared about back in his life. there wasn't the big, dark, continuous cloud over everything.

 

[JonahBlack]

This episode kinda reminded me of the 'Potential' Episode of Buffy from a couple weeks ago, in that both were much better in retrospect. While watching the episode, my opinion was that it was good, but not great, and that the ending, and some of the cordy/angel scenes were cheesy. Then, when I was just about to mark this as a 'so-so' episode, WHAM!, it was all an illusion, playing upon Angel's hopes and fears! It made a lot of stuff make more sense: Wes's apology, Connor showing up at the end, Angel and Cordy getting it on - these were all fantasies out of Angel's mind.

 

[Brit Chick]

Originally posted by Highlander II
Yeah - I thought of that too --- the "Indiana Jones" feel -

I was almost expecting him to have to balance some rocks or bags of sand to get the sword w/o blowing up the world or the cave --

The traps were kinda cool - the bells that activated the wooden stakes - and, of course, there's always the 'oops! jump, quick, before they all slam closed and kill you!' -- it's a must!

loved the Cordy quip - looking down 'I knew you two would get me into trouble one day' unless I got that wrong she was talking about her boobies getting in the way of traps - not talking about Angel and Wes !!!

I'd been trying to avoid spoilers but did see some - but even so, I got so wrapped up in thinking, hey for once everything is going right that I almost forgot that somehow Angelus had to reappear. Fantastic episode and I can't wait for next week - Angelus is back and I do love a bad boy !!!!

 

[angelle myst]

Loved this ep but i have to clarify something - did Angel call Cordy Buffy? Just as he was turning into Angelus...i coulda sworn but just assumed i was hearing things...?

 

[Highlander II]

Nope - you heard right - he said, in a strangled whisper - Buffy just as he was losing his soul ---

I'm wondering what significance this has... I'd assume that it wasn't put there for 'no' reason - that it was there to serve some later purpose -

I suppose, it could also be Angel's memories jumping in - the last time he lost his soul was because of Buffy - so, that could be it, but I'm kinda hoping there's something deeper.

 

[VAMPette]

I didn't catch that! Just as well Angel lost his soul before Cordy killed him for saying the wrong name during sex - big no no! Great ep - WELCOME BACK ANGELUS!! Just cannot wait until next week now - plus, it would be great if the jar does get smashed and no-one can find Angel's soul! The simulation part was a great idea, I was thinking that it was all coming together just a bit too easily - I mean, Connor was so understanding over Cordy and Angel at the end, I just couldn't quite believe it, then Angel getting together with Cordy, Wesley apologising and back in the group - not rowing with Gunn for a change, the sun coming back - knew that something had to give - a happy ending in Angel, I don't think so!

 

[VAMPette]

Oh, nearly forgot - absolutely loved the bit at the beginning where everyone's having this really serious conversation about the sun going out and then it shows Angel in the next room singing merrily away to Lorne - so funny!

 

[markpud]

This was a cool episode, I have to admit to being fooled by the story. It was very well done though - I wonder if they will find any reason to kill the Shamen and read him, cos now only Angelus knows about that....

I was also thinking that Angel wouldn't be so dumb as to do the act with Cordy, knowing what happened the last time he had sex with a human (The fact that Darla was a vamp may excuse her from giving him true human happyness?)

 

[Highlander II]

Angel said that when he was with Darla that he felt 'true despair' or 'perfect despair' -- b/c Darla was angry that he didn't get all happy and go soul-less again -- Angel said that ^ was why -

 

[tokyogirl]

i loved when he slept with darla and she starts trying to argue with him once she realizes he didn't loose his soul. whe says how she knows it was perfect because she used to do it professionally.