Angel 4.19 The Magic Bullet

[thebratqueen]

La la la!!! I love Jeff Bell! La la la!!!

...

What, you wanted more than that?

Okay, first off the 37 cats thing? Shout-out thank you VERY much.

Hee - Angel and Wes held hands - hee.

(What? I am a cheap whore, you knew this. Look Wes held Gunn's hand too so all you Gunn/Wes freaks can also get a happy. Shut up and let me have my moment.)

Mmm... Jeff Bell-y goodness. The fucking Beach Boys song killed me.

This episode I think, in a nutshell, sums up why Jeff Bell kicks ass as a show runner. In one ep we had creepy, horror, angst, pathos and humor - everything Angel is supposed to be.

Contrast this ep with last week too and you'll see what was missing. Last week was too flat. This week the characters popped, even while they were brainwashed. Last week would not have given us something as cool as the guy with the implant in his head. Jeff remembered that people had to have personalities on top of the brainwashing. Lorne became charismatic preacher, Wes group leader, Angel quietly dedicated muscle - they were themselves. Hell, even Fred had personality.

Gotta love the eye for detail too. The stuff with Connor, especially, had me wanting to write a thank-you letter to Jeff and ME for remembering that I've got a brain. (You non-spoiled will find out why next week).

And Wes. As soon as I saw the line about the kidnapping I said to myself "Jeff Bell wrote this" and damned if I wasn't right. Again well acted and directed too. Once Wes lost the connection to Jasmine you just knew he was feeling the full weight of everything from before. He'd gone from blessed to damned again. Of course he'd crack the line about the kidnapping (then look like a man walking towards his own execution when he brought in Connor).

LA was also used very well in this ep. I had fun trying to play spot the location.

And God the directing. I felt Angel's loss after Fred infected him. Beautiful shot too. I just - gah. So many camera angles I could point out in the entire ep that were just beautiful, that visually told you all you needed to know about the scene, or increased the sense of paranoia, or drew you in to Fred's exhaustion, or - gah. Seriously, there's not much for me to say here. It's guilding a lily. Watch the ep. See what they did? With the whole hour there? That would be good.

Mmmm.......

(Oh, and did you notice - during the hand holding Angel visibly squeezes Wes's hand tighter.)

(I. Am. A. Cheap. Whore.)