Violets and Aspercreme

Episode 1.05: Rm w/a Vu. Original Airdate: 11/02/99

“Cordelia falls in love with a rent-controlled apartment that turns out to be haunted, and a demon comes to collect on Doyle’s loans.”

Daniel’s Thoughts:

• Aww bad Cordelia acting.  
• Angel’s voicemail has “we help the hopeless” 
• Cordy not wanting to socialize with her old friends because she doesn’t want to talk about her life – relatable. 
• Angel knows a lot about Cordelia back in HS.  They didn’t hang out that much. 
• Aww, Cordelia’s phonebook.  I used to have something similar, ya know, before smartphones. 
• Oh man, Doyle is referencing that ‘priceless’ ad which if it were out today would have been such a social media meme. 
• Cordelia needs to run from her apartment. Doyle needs to run from his.  Angel is naked.  Priceless. 
• “Do you have mousse?  Of course you do.” – Cordelia.  Do people still mousse??  I moussed once upon a time which is weird since my hair is already very big. 
• Angel, close your damn robe 
• I love when Angel is persnickety. “And the reason there is a wet towel on my leather chair?”  He’s so the Monica of this show.  Cordelia’s Rachel.  Doyle’s definitely Ross. [I'm Phoebe! - Lorne]
• I love Cordelia’s scorched diploma and the reason we all know behind it. 
• Cordelia, apartment shopping: The apartments here are just as bad NYC hunting. Maybe worse.  More cults. 
• Cordelia wants to take out a wall.  Um, you have to own the place to do that.  You can’t just take down a wall when you’re renting.  I mean, I know this is foreshadowing but still. 
• Oooh, spooky wall.  Very Nightmare on Elm Street.

• Ok, so Cordy’s apartment is haunted. And whomever is haunting her is a perv going through her bras and stuff. 
• Doyle always seems uplit. 
• I don’t think Doyle’s crush on Cordelia is charming at all.  So far, it really only seems to be looks based. 
• Mirror scare!  Beth Grant. Zelda, “She’s in everything.” Yeah. 
• SHENANIGANS: HOW DID HE GET THERE

So. Much. Sun.

• She’s currently hiding the ghost and I’m not sure why. I know she wants them to think she’s doing ok, but this is what the team does.  They can get rid of ghosts. 
• Angel doesn’t know where to get all the ingredients for a spell. Um, just ask Anya and Giles.  But also, there’re no magic shop in LA?   
• Oh wow, the ghost is impersonating Angel’s voice.  How odd.  Well I guess Beetlejuice could do it.  But like, she can use the phone, too? 
• Hey, detective Kate!  Oh man, Kate’s got it bad….she gets all weird when Angel leans over her. 
• But at least they figure out what happened sorta.  Or at least they know about Dennis…they just don’t exactly what happened. 
• Real poltergeist action now, things blowing all over the place. 
• Uh oh.  It’s so inconvenient when you’re trying to get out of a haunted apartment and demon mobsters are after you. 
• “You stupid little bitch.”  “I’m a bitch…”  I love that this is what motivates her.  YES, I’m bitch. So screw you.  
• “Cry-Buffy!” 
• Uh oh, Cordy is possessed. 
• She Cask of Amontillado’d her son.  Wow, what a whack job. 
• So the demons who were sent after Doyle are dead…I’m sure there will be others. 
• Cordy’s apartment is really nice.  She’s pretty lucky….I mean, despite almost dying for it. 
• We looked up the name Aura, the girl from Sunnydale who calls Cordelia. Turns out Aura was in the first episode of Buffy.  She’s the girl who found the dead guy in her locker – and we never hear from her again.  It’s interesting that this is who Jane Espensen decided to bring back…even as a voice over.  IMDB doesn’t have the name of the actress playing the voiceover in this episode.

 Zelda’s Thoughts:

• I remember Jane Espenson (this episode’s writer) saying that writers got a bonus if they create a recurring character, when that character repeats. She created Phantom Dennis, but since his subsequent appearances are, you know, blinvisible ones, it doesn’t count for her. WELL, IT COUNTS FOR US, JANE.
• Doyle is very sweet and agreeable in the face of Cordelia so far not being a very good actor … and also not being a very good Angel Investigations employee, as the ringing phone goes to the answering machine REMEMBER ANSWERING MACHINES.
• Apparently it was someone named Aura. Did we ever meet an Aura? (Yes, she had the extreme dead guy stuffed in her locker in the pilot)
• Angel explains the Cordettes at Sunnydale High, and I’d raise an eyebrow but he knew about the dance that one time because he lurks, so I’ll allow it.
• Anyway, Cordelia’s apartment spews brown water and dim lighting and the door sticks and HEY A ROACH ON THE TV and jesus christ so many on the carpet time to burn the place to the ground.
• Gasp! A random demon in Doyle’s apartment! With pretty smooth skin and stylish horns.

• Ah, this is the one collecting on Doyle’s loans that the imdb summary foretold.
• Angel listens to Ode to Joy in the shower. 'kay.
• Man, season one really leans into Angel, wet and shirtless. Not that we’re complaining. 

• Cordelia thinks roaches have antlers.
• I’m really glad I’m watching this episode after I no longer live in an apartment building with a roach problem.
• Cordelia tells Angel once she gets a new place he’s “completely invited over,” and thanks for that little line plant.
• I like the touch of Cordelia checking her reflection in the kettle because he has no mirrors … though don’t most bathrooms come with a mirror?
• Doyle is quietly freaking out because he walked into Angel’s basement apartment and Cordelia’s in a robe, she got peanut butter in the bed, and Angel’s wearing boxers and a fairly porny red robe.
• Doyle refers to Angel’s overhanging forehead, and Angel self-consciously touches his brow, and I laugh forever.
• Wow, Cordelia is scraping up Angel’s linoleum tile, and putting her high school trophies on his mantle.
• Aw, nice touch, her high school diploma is a bit scorchy.
• Heh, Angel lied to Doyle that there’s a big guy to see him so he can make him come clean about what or whom he’s hiding from.
• “It’s a system of checks and balances.” // “And some of your checks didn’t balance.”
• Angel offers a quid pro quo: Angel helps Doyle with his debt, Doyle helps Angel with his Cordelia roommate.
• Sounds fair to me.
• Wow, one of the places she looks at is basically a cult, how fun.
• Ugh, creepo super hitting on Cordelia gross gross gross.
• Question: when you apartment hunt, are all the places pre-furnished? The only time I’ve seen furnished places was when I was looking to purchase; all the rentals were empty. But the ones Cordelia looks at have furniture. And dang, does the actual pretty apartment she chooses have good furnishings.
• “First thing: hire someone to take out that wall.” Cordelia, that wall has a face inside it and does not want to be removed. Just … fair warning.
• It’s nice to see how happy she is, though. It’s a nice color on her, the bouncy planning joy.
• I don’t get the demon referring to Angel the vampire helping some demon half-breed … vampires are half-breeds too, aren’t they? That’s certainly the ethos in the upcoming Hero ep. And according to Anya, the only real demons are giant Mayor Snakes.
• Wow, Cordelia was able to move in right away? Jealous.
• Except for the ghosts messing with her drawers and radio. Less jealous of that.
• Also hey remember radios?
• Oooh nice touch with the boiling glass of water.
• “I’m from Sunnydale, you’re not scaring me, you know!” Aw but she is scared. Poor Cordy.
• And with morning, the bed crashes back down to the floor. Yay?
• Hey, Beth Grant is our ghost! She’s in all the things! Sometimes she doubts our commitment to Sparkle Motion.

Told ya.

• “You know what, I get it. You're a ghost. You're dead. Big accomplishment! Move on! You see a light anywhere, go towards it, okay?”
• Angel brought Cordelia the tiniest cactus as a housewarming.

• Aw, Cordelia’s in denial about her haunted home. But the wall is bleeding the word die. “I am not giving up this apartment.” // “It’s haunted.” // “It’s rent controlled!”
• Aw, Angel tells her it’s just a place and she’s more than that and she says “how, how am I more than that?”
• Oh man, she sees it as a punishment for how she was kind of a bitca in high school, and the idea of the nice apartment as some kind of reward and end of punishment.
• OH RIGHT I FORGOT. Ghost Mom pretended to be Angel to lure Cordelia back to the apartment. Sneaky sneaky!
• AND DAVID BOREANAZ AND HIS VOICE WERE COMPLICIT.
• “Too bad you wouldn’t leave my son alone.” And it actually reads two ways. One, she’s displacing her rage against her son’s fiancee onto Cordelia, but also if Cordelia takes out that wall, she’ll find Dennis’s corpse.
• Thanks for the backstory help, Detective Kate! Your hair looks great.
• And Angel’s hunch pays off, there’s a history of suicides in the apartment.
• And don’t think we didn’t see that TENSION as Angel leaned over Kate’s shoulder.
• “Angel Investigations. We Hope You’re Helpless.” Oh Doyle. Oh Doyle Doyle Doyle.
• Woof, she’s got a cord around Cordelia’s neck and she’s slowly asphyxiating. But at least Angel and Doyle are here in time!
• Oh man, poor Cordelia’s so scared and shattered. Charisma’s doing great work this episode.
• Heh, in all the chaos a book absolutely knocks Angel on the head but he shakes it off. I wonder if that was supposed to happen.
• Oh, in perfect timing, collector demon came back with two friends, one of whom looks human. Mama Ghost is mad but demon says “Ignore her, it's just a ghost.”
• And she’s so annoyed they broke one of the tiles on the fireplace.
• Season One isn’t the strongest, but this is a pretty great episode, and this chaos exorcism slash battle is awesome.
• And then this wonderful moment, when the ghost calls Cordelia a bitch, and Cordelia remembers, “I am a bitch. I’m not a sniveling whiny little cry-Buffy. I’m the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. I take crap from no one.”
• Eesh, Cordelia’s line about the ghost being translucent, when she’s super not tells me that they waaaaaaaaaaaanted her to be more see-through and didn’t have the budget for it. Which explains the makeup, which here looks caked on but would probably look better under a translucent filter.
• Wow, it’s really damn cold, that Mama Ghost Amontilladoed her own son so he wouldn’t get married. (I know Daniel already made this joke above, but I love the fact that we both verbed the title of that story that I'M KEEPING IT).
• Cordelia’s apartment has a big round arching window, and aw Buffy design flashbacks.
• Heh, now that Dennis was freed from the wall, he’s having fun being a pranky roomie to Cordelia.

Crossfire!

Cordelia: How come Patrick Swayze is never dead when you need him?

D & Z: *clutch their hearts in dismay*

Favorite Lines:

Daniel: “Do you have mousse? Of course you do.” - Cordelia

Zelda: “I'm a bitch ... I'm not a sniveling whiny little cry-Buffy. I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. I take crap from no one.” - Cordelia

Arc/Continuity:

First Appearance: Phantom Dennis

Recurring: Detective Kate Lockley, We Help the Hopeless

Generally Known TV Face: Beth Grant
Buffy Crossover: Aura (uncredited: voice only)

Stats:

Cordelia’s Hair – blown straight, and tangled by ghosties

Dead Humans – 0

Dead Undeads – 3

Dead Flashbacks – 2

Dead Lawyers – 0

Doyle Has a Vision – 0

Lawyered Ex Machina – 0

Evil Reveal – 0

Unevil Reveal – 1 (Dennis didn't kill his mom)

Shenanigans Called – 1

Apocalypse Called – 0

Prophecy Called – 0