Angel: end of series 1
Feb. 18th, 2011 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI'd forgotten that Lindsay's arc was very touching when you watch it in order. I originally saw some of the later episodes before season 1. It makes a lot of sense that he might be tempted by good, but come back to W&H, and at this point, breaking into W&H with the vampire-in-the-lobby-trick was quite ingenious, even if it seems silly that they go ON and ON and ON breaking into W&H long after you feel W&H should have wised up and (a) got some decent security, whatever it cost or (b) moved out of LA and stop futzing with their losing battle to not look like idiots in front of Angel.
There's a vague prophecy. It's not as bad as the one later that keeps W&H messing about trying to not-quite kill Angel. A good prophecy for a story not specifically about prophecy is something like "the protagonist if anyone will defeat the villain". To be honest, even that's a bit of a crutch -- a good writer can provide a better reason -- but it sets up the conflict without involving a lot of predeterminism in deciding the future motivations. But ones that say "for arbitrary reasons, the villain will alternate between scary and half-arsed" are just annoying. Come up with some decent reason for it. It doesn't have to be predictable, but have some reason why tension ebbs and flows, don't just have the villain switch back and forth between menacing and ineffectual :)
Darla reappears. I'd forgotten how much was already set up in season 1. Having Darla appear is obviously very emotionally important for Angel. But unfortunately it starts a long run of characters being resurrected long after it starts feeling forced. And this is not their fault, but I preferred the original actress who appeared briefly in Buffy season 1, so have always been somewhat disppointed by later Darlas.
There's a vague prophecy. It's not as bad as the one later that keeps W&H messing about trying to not-quite kill Angel. A good prophecy for a story not specifically about prophecy is something like "the protagonist if anyone will defeat the villain". To be honest, even that's a bit of a crutch -- a good writer can provide a better reason -- but it sets up the conflict without involving a lot of predeterminism in deciding the future motivations. But ones that say "for arbitrary reasons, the villain will alternate between scary and half-arsed" are just annoying. Come up with some decent reason for it. It doesn't have to be predictable, but have some reason why tension ebbs and flows, don't just have the villain switch back and forth between menacing and ineffectual :)
Darla reappears. I'd forgotten how much was already set up in season 1. Having Darla appear is obviously very emotionally important for Angel. But unfortunately it starts a long run of characters being resurrected long after it starts feeling forced. And this is not their fault, but I preferred the original actress who appeared briefly in Buffy season 1, so have always been somewhat disppointed by later Darlas.
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Date: 2011-02-22 12:09 am (UTC)