Episode 2.03: First Impressions. Original Airdate:
“Angel encounters an amorous Darla
in his dreams; Cordelia vows to protect Gunn after she experiences a vision of
him in mortal danger.”
Daniel’s Thoughts:
- Starting with Lorne! Hey Lorne!
- Angel sang a for Lorne, but we don’t get to see.
- And now Lorne sings which is probably better.
- Ooh, Darla is at Caritas! And she looks stunning in a red dress. And of course this is a dream, but it’s further proven by the fact that the room empties out and they dance alone.
- But Darla reveals this isn’t the first time this has happened…so maybe these dreams aren’t just dreams after all.
- Angel wakes smiling, but his smile turns to worry. Either worry or constipation. One of the two.
- Cordelia is dusting the newly acquired Hyperion. She gives up. It’s like me in quarantine.
- Gunn is here, as he’s a cast member now with some excuse that he needs Angel’s help.
- Anyway, David is also here, in full cape. David meets Gunn. It’s terribly exciting.
- Angel needs financial advice. Is that the only reason he’s here? Apparently. He keeps popping up for these weird one-off scenes.
- Angel, Wes & Cordelia join Gunn on the mission.
- Gunn meets his informant – Angel throws him the money but the informant tells him to keep it. He changed his mind. Then…why is he there? It feels like an easy way to make things more difficult.
- Vamps! Fight! Even Cordy gets in the fighting action. She stakes one, saving Wes in the process!
- We don’t see the other two vamps getting dusted, but the camera hilariously pans over three piles of dust.
 |
| One.. Two.. Three.. Dust Piles |
- “Who doesn’t love Denzel?”
- Hey, the Hyperion has valet parking!
- Cordelia is still living with Phantom Dennis.
- Oh no, Cordy vision! She sees Gunn fighting with a sword…but that’s about it.
- “Dennis, phone!” – Dennis throws her the phone. I love that. Wish I had phantom Dennis to hand me things. "Dennis, remote!" "Dennis, where's my phone?!"
- New Darla dream: Darla & Angel lying on the beach…at night. Because, vampires. It’s actually a pretty cool image.
- I also love how Cordy just happens to have a battle axe lying around her apartment.
- Cordy, very bravely, goes to save Gunn who turns out doesn’t need saving. Meanwhile, the cast of The Warriors sits on the side laughing.
- Back in Angel’s dream, Wesley is nailing a coffin and the sound combined with the image is pretty creepy.
- Angel sleeps naked! I think we knew this already but it’s always nice to hear/see.
- Cordy/Gunn, Angel/Wesley have separate “Dude, where’s my car?” moments. That movie has milked way too many references in other tv/movies.
- Ugh, Angel’s masculinity is attacked by a pink helmet.
- Deevak is tall.
- Omg, Cordelia gets into this weird ramble where she ends up calling herself a working girl. Stop, Cordy. Just stop talking.
- More vamps!
- Ha, I knew before Angel that the woman they were talking to was a vampire.
- Ohhhhhh the informant was Deevak all along! And he has a power that vamps have, to disguise themselves as human.
- But Angel & Wes drive in to save the day!
- More fighting! This time Wes saves Cordelia from a vamp. Nice balance there.
- Another Darla dream – but this time Angel acts wary (while also feeling weary).
- But he’s quickly mesmerized by sexy Darla.
- Meanwhile, in real life, Darla is really there on top of a sleeping Angel.
Zelda’s Thoughts:
- Apparently Angel sang clown songs at Caritas. I … why.
- I love Lorne though. God I love Lorne.
- Mercifully, we didn’t hear Angel sing, but we do hear Lorne singing.
- Oh but then Darla is there, and Angel embraces her fondly, all affectionate and okay this is a dream and WOW he has this big sweet smile that IRL Angel doesn’t sport unless he’s having a magic human day with Buffy.
- “I still can’t believe you’re here. I mean … I killed you.” // “I’m over that.” Very Buffy early S3 dreams.
- Dream Darla asks if Angel’s told anyone about their dates, which I guess fills us in that this isn’t Angel’s first Darla Dream, though it’s the first one we’ve seen.
- Angel, smiling happily in his sleep. Don’t forget to [dirty joke about the sheets]
- And then after the credits, Cordy dusts the hotel lobby, saying “this place is never gonna get clean.”
- Where was Angel sleeping in the time between the blown up office and moving into the Hyperion?
- Gunn shows up looking for Angel, pissed that he’s not ready for their joint mission.
- But luckily (?), David Nabbit shows up with purple cape and sword.
- Oops, he thought he was here to help fighty fight, but Angel wants financial advice.
- It’s kind of wild to me that they took over a GIANT HOTEL for a private vigilante investigator office. I mean, I love the spaciousness of the set, and I’m sure the crew appreciated it, too, but it makes zero sense. That’s so much wasted space, all the rooms upstairs.
- I wonder if there’s a pool. Oh wait, I think we find that out later? With the thirsty demon? Maybe?
- I could do with the crew treating
Gunn less like shit any time now. He didn’t even get to ride shotgun? This is
entirely his mission and they are
supposed to be his backup.
- Anyway, Jameel is here for their clandestine meeting in a parking garage, to tell Gunn where to find Deevak, a demon who’s been menacing the neighborhood. I kinda remember the twist here? But I forget why.
- Angel won’t let Gunn rough up Jameel to get information, even though Angel regularly beats people up to get information. But I guess he doesn’t like going after scared humans as much. Also I’m retroactively wondering why Angel doesn’t smell that Jameel isn’t entirely human.
- Why are they so wasted from fighting three vamps? Angel can take on that many single-handed. Oh, right, they’re beginning the narrative that Angel’s not operating at full capacity because of all his Darla Dreams.
- Wow the writers love Denzel (though Angel’s right, who doesn’t love Denzel?) and spend a lot of dialogue on that love. Feels much more a move for Buffy or Gilmore Girls than this show, but okay.
- Uh oh. Cordelia’s vision is of Gunn in danger! … in a void. A void of danger. With a sword.
- Aw, Darla and Angel are … well they’re not sunning because it’s nighttime. But they’re not mooning because … that’s a different thing.
- Also I love that Dream Darla tells him to ignore the ringing. My brain used to do this, too, finding ways to ignore my alarms or incorporate the sound into the dream so I wouldn’t wake up.
- Oh man. Cordy can’t get ahold of either Angel or Wes, but she grabs a weapon and heads over to Gunn’s on her own, even saying “I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.” But she goes anyway. I’m proud of our girl.
- Oops but she interrupts a training session, not a battle to the death.
- Dream Angel is so lovey dovey with Dream Darla. It’s interesting, because they were never like this in life. They were never sweet. He was sweet with Buffy, but never with Darla. These dreams, they’re sweet and serene and full of contentment, and you can see why Angel is getting addicted to them, but they’re not attached to reality [duh, Zelda, they’re dreams – literally everyone]
- Anyway he seems to be sleepwalking a bit, since his naked tackle into awakeness of Wesley is in the lobby, and not in the confines of his room.
- Oops someone stole Angel’s car, which is so rude since Cordelia stole it first.
- … was this done around the time of that stoner movie Dude Where’s Your Car? (yup, same year. This irritates me)
- I really hope Cordelia’s can of mace is Chekhovian, and not just another way for Gunn to mock her. She’s smart to have that on her.
- Angel not wanting to wear a pink helmet is … boring. Pink looks good with all that black. It pops.
- Gasp! This random stolen car dealer is in league with Deevak! Gasp!
- Meep, someone on Gunn’s crew is at a party when he should be on patrol duty.
- Cordelia’s judging Gunn’s leadership, and he replies “some people need discipline to survive.”
- See, this is frustrating for me with my future knowledge, seeing what a good leader Gunn was of his crew. No, he wasn’t warm and fuzzy but he kept his crew fed, kept them safe, and did a good job fighting the good fight. Once he’s officially part of Angel Investigations, he never gets to exercise those leadership skills again and they keep relegating him to muscle, even though he’s clearly intelligent and again, a better leader than Angel, let’s be quite honest.
- Like. Come on. Who on the show Angel is a demonstrably good leader? Who shows the discretion, planning skills, and willingness to both make hard decisions while not putting people at undue risk, like our Buffy did? It’s really just Gunn. There is even a canon acknowledgement that Angel is bad at plans.
- Anyway, I have accidentally been ignoring the party they’re crashing to find Desmond, because I’m irritated about this, but we got some vamps and others also crashing the party and beating the shit out of Gunn. And Gunn’s friend Veronica got a slice of glass in her neck, fuck fuck fuck. She’s bleeding a lot.
- Ouch. Gunn, beating himself up over Veronica getting hurt, says “I can’t take it easy. I can never take it easy. Not for one second, all right? The minute I forget that, someone like Alonna pays the price.” It hurts and it sucks and of course this would trigger him.
- Also A+ back of the head sight Cordelia, who stops Desmond from leaving the hospital til he returns Angel’s car.
- *snort* Angel and Wes are questioning someone coming out of the party looking dazed and Angel’s oddly persistent andddddddddd it’s because she’s a vamp and he headbutts her into vampface. See, Angel’s willing to rough up vamps when he’s looking for info.
- Deevak moves like a giant puppet with someone barely controlling the strings.
- And TAWIST, Deevak is Jameel. But like. Why? Why was Jameel pretending to be an info source? I don’t get it. Sure, it’s a twist, but I don’t get why.
- Anyway, it was indeed Chekhov’s mace and Cordelia uses it to get him to stop throttling Gunn.
- And Angel uses the pink motorcycle helmet to bean someone in the face so I guess he’s come to terms with it?
- Fighty fight and I still don’t get the point of Deevak/Jameel, but at least it’ll wrap up soon.
- Gunn, to Cordy: “Well, you finally saved my life. Guess I should say thanks.”
- Cordelia’s decided Deevak wasn’t the danger she saw in her vision. She thinks Gunn is his own worst enemy, on a path to self-destruction. “Better plan on having me in your life for a while. At least until you find some peace.” // “Could be a while.” While this may or may not be valid, the execution is sooooo hokey. Very Nickelodeon in the 90s style writing and delivery.
- Never mind, I figured out why Angel moved into a giant hotel after living in his basement apartment. I forgot how absolutely extra Angel is, with all his mansions and sitting and reading next to a roaring fire. Of course he wanted to live in a giant art deco hotel.
- Anyway, Dream Darla’s back, telling Angel he takes care of so many people, but who takes care of him? Angel smiles and says “You do.”
- AND THEN WE REVEAL! As Angel happily dreams sexytimes with Dream Darla, IRL Darla is straddling his sleeping self, both of them quite naked, and are we about to imply some rape? Cuz I think we might be about to imply some rape.
- Honestly, though, if you saw this episode out of context, you might not realize that that’s supposed to be IRL Darla and not Dream Darla, since that’s the only scene we see of her outside of the dreamscape this episode, and it could just be a dream within a dream. [Mawwiage? – Peter Cook]
- I guess it’s good to see Darla figured out how to spend her new lease on life?
- It’s funny, I really am excited about starting the Darla arc, because this show is so much better when it’s in arc-mode instead of monster of the week (see: how little I invested in Jameel/Deevak), but I’m also ughing a little because I know how annoyed I’m going to get at Angel being stupid. Cuz let’s face it: he’s being stupid. He’s so easily manipulated. Though, that’s nothing new either, if we look back to “Amends” on Buffy.
Crossfire!
Camera: *cuts away midfight*
Z: How many vamps? Three?
D: One two three piles of dust!
Favorite Lines:
Daniel & Zelda:
Wesley: "That was quite a performance."
Cordy: "I know! Talk about being wound up too tight."
Wesley: "No. I-I mean Denzel."
Cordy: "Oh. Well, he's always great."
Wesley to Angel: "What about you?"
Angel: "Who doesn't love Denzel?"
Arc/Continuity:
Recurring:
Generally Known TV Face:
Lorne’s Nicknames:
Caritas Song List
“Send in the Clowns” (offscreen)
“Tears of a Clown” (offscreen)
“Get Here (If You Can)”
Stats:
Cordelia’s Hair –
Dead Humans –
Dead Undeads –
Dead Flashbacks –
Dead Lawyers –
Cordelia Has a Vision –
Wesley Prat-falls – 0
Lawyered Ex Machina –
Evil Reveal –
Unevil Reveal –
Eyeroll Reveal – 1 (Gunn was a
danger to himself allllllllllll along)
Shenanigans Called – 0
Apocalypse Called –
Prophecy Called –
"And she looks stunning in a red dress." Back off, Denny. She belongs to Johnny!
ReplyDeleteJulie Benz is awesome as Darla, even if they retcon her a lot. I'm glad she got to come back even if it leads to the worst storyline of all time.