Angel 5.14 Smile Time

[thebratqueen]

TBQ's predictions about the two most common reactions to tonight's ep:

1) I want one!

2) Dude, the blooper reel must be worth its weight in gold.

TBQ's responses to the two reactions:

1) Get in line behind the spoiler whores, damn it. We've been waiting rabidly patiently for two weeks.

2) Oh fuck yeah. If Denisof wasn't personally stabbing himself in the thigh with a fork in order to keep a serious expression I'll bite myself. Plus I'm convinced they only got any work done by making sure Boreanaz got all of his voice overs out of the way before actually showing him the puppet 'cause you know looking at it must have made him pee like a three month old puppy.

Man, did they do good. Props to Edlund for directing but call me picky when I'm going to guess that even though Edlund got teleplay credit that Joss still had more of a hand in it than his shared story credit would imply. The actual action and verbal comedy beats feel too Josslike. Plus there's character dependant layers to each scene and we all know Edlund can't do that.

Still - dude. DUDE! Puppet rage! Puppet angst! PUPPET POWER SHOT!!! How did I not call puppet power shot? And game face!

I'm so happy that they got Henson's gang in to do the actual puppetry. Not just for the visuals of Angel as Guy Broody (tm sockkpuppett, appropriately enough ;) ) and of the demon puppets themselves, but the acting. As I watched puppet Angel come to life (since he was the first we saw for extended lengths of time) I realized that there's an entire language to the movement that puppets use and it takes a house with as much history to it as Henson's to really know how to work it. In a way I'm reminded of the Loa in s3: a premise that could have died a horrible, flaming death if not for the sheer brilliance of execution that the CGI department gave to it. It's the same thing here. Random puppets could not have done this. We needed puppets that unconsciously click for us as being "real" for their environment of a kid's show and also puppets that can handle the emotional range of the piece. Henson's gang can do kids, they can do adults, they can do serious, they can do comedy - they were perfect.

Speaking of emotions, I thought they did well here. Especially for an ep which has a core plot of a one-off but, like most eps this season, has meaning in the A plot and tons of stuff going on in the subplots. I'll avoid spoilers but suffice it to say for the most part I thought emotionally they struck the right tone.

(You can just predict the thing I'm going to bitch about, can't you? Wait for it. Wait for it....)

Even the Nina thing, though I worried about it in the spoilers, came off fine. They played it right, with Nina doing most of the work. If they'd tried to sell Nina as Angel's new Wun Twu Wub we'd have all called no way. But Angel is a biscuit, Nina would be blind not to notice, it's okay for her to have a crush. Angel, for his part, gets to be mostly oblivious and then decide to go after it just as a fun "what the hell?" It works. It creates a Gwen-like situation, where we're not forced to assume OTPness for the both of them, we're just allowed to see them progress as they are. If something happens, fine, if not, also fine. And in the meanwhile we can court the idea of another female on the show (and shut UP I am officially in denial about the c-word for the duration of this recap).

Wes's speech to Angel, too, was also fine for me. If I had a quibble with it it'd be that he wasn't giving this speech two years ago when Angel was supposedly panting after Cordy, but otherwise it's spot-on. Canonically Wes has always felt that perfect happiness wasn't as cut and dried an issue as everyone made it out to seem plus he's always encouraged Angel to do things which give him a little hope and happiness. Granted he did it in a scene which practically screamed "Would you kiss me, you fool?" but it's hardly Boreanaz and Denisof's fault that the two of them have more chemistry than the females they often get paired with, may poor Lilah rest in peace.

(Wait for it)

Again I avoid spoilers but as I talk about things that are nicely handled I will give major props to hints and clues that were thrown into this ep with no neon "NOTICE ME" signs flashing. Gonna be interesting to watch the non-spoilered see events unfold. I'll also give shout-outs to Fury for the great cameo (do you think he was playing the Mustard Guy again or the animal sacfrice guy again or maybe a whole new character? ;) ) and to the stunt department for putting together amazing sequences of people either beating the crap out of, or getting the crap beaten out of them by, puppets. I mean dude, Gunn flipped in the air. While fighting a puppet. I love it.

Gunn, of course, had other things going on with him but I think it's obvious that they're going somewhere with that so I'll just keep quiet and let it unfold. After all, when they're taking the time to set something up I don't want to undercut the hard work they do by adding subtle things into the narrative because if they don't do that WELL THEN WE GET WES AND FRED NOW, DON'T WE?

(See? Told you it was coming.)

Look, don't get me wrong, obviously Wes, for reasons completely unknown to man and God, has been jonesing for Fred for years now. I'm not disputing that. Nor will I dispute the fact that Fred turns to Wes often in a crisis has been a plot point going on for over a year now, so it's not as though on the sheer plot point level they didn't do the homework of providing a lead-in of "Fred relies on Wes, Fred eventually realizes that Wes is the hotness". I'm just saying they forgot step two.

Granted, how it unfolded on tonight's screen was much better than what we had before. For starters we actually got Wes talking about why he likes Fred at all, which is a welcome change of pace from "Because the plot said so" (and watch me keep my mouth shut), and he toned down the Chester the Molester vibe, which is nice. But Fred? No. Just no. I don't buy that she's emotionally into Wes. I buy that she apparently hooks up with whatever guy seems most convienent for her at the time and taps that ass accordingly.

I've actually got a whole essay on these two, like unto my rant of "So this is how they could've fixed the ungodly mess that was Angel/Cordy s3" so I'll save some of that for later, especially as it only makes sense to wait and watch how the season unfolds (season, not series) (shut up), but for now the sixpense summary is that if they want me to believe Fred has been jonesing for Wes in her Texas heart of hearts this was not the way to go about it. All signs point to Fred finding out that a guy was into her and deciding to go with that because it was easy. Hell, even showing the Fred/Knox breakup could've gone far - all we would have needed was a shot of Fred looking at Wes before she did it and we would have at least laid some ground work.

But this? No. This is Fred's "noticing Wes is the hotness" button being activated because the plot says so, and you can't sell this cheap enough for me to buy it. Not even with her little look back in You're Welcome, and not for all her "Let's ask Wes for help" in s4.

And again I now lapse back into silence and let the rest of the season unfold. 'cause that way I get to bitch about this more write my essay based on all the evidence.

Random final points:

I'm convinced that the costume department is just as against Wes/Fred as I am, because otherwise how can you explain the fact that in their big "Finally, romance at last!" episode Wes couldn't have been dressed gayer than Carson Kressley and that's not even counting the man purse, and Fred was never out of an outfit that you couldn't buy in Junior Miss. As a general rule when trying to convince the audience of a woman's attractiveness to a grown man, you tend not to want to dress her in shirts that look more appropriate on 7 year olds - and I'm not just talking about the size of the garment.

Also? Alexis, I love you dearly but never wear turtlenecks again.

Unless.... wait. Do you think the turtleneck was a shout-out? 'cause if he was hiding something on his neck then maybe I could allow it ;)

Speaking of Fred's clothes - Amy, I'm sure you're a lovely woman but I don't actually need to see your vagina. Keep your legs closed and have your agent demand that the costume department stop wrapping your waist in hankerchefs. Ta.

On a related note, they couldn't get poor puppet Angel a stool or something? 'cause I didn't need to see him shoving his face into Fred's no-go area either. It's a fine line between "funny puppet hug" and "Angel is now Fred's tampon" (Wes's no-go area on the other hand...)

Loved the foley department. Angel beating up Spike was made on the sound effects.

Also, funnily enough, props to audio. Granted that puppet!Angel was dubbed, but unlike most of the dubbing this season it wasn't as painfully bad. Possibly because the other puppets were dubbed as well so it gave a feeling that maybe all puppets sound like that, but it was even better than dubbed Invisible!Buffy so I give credit where it's due.

Knox gains points for the Joker reference. Loses points for making snarky comments to Wes, who is above him in the W&H orgchart. Though I give Fred even less points for not jumping on Knox and telling him to mind his status. Though maybe this is a holdover from me watching too much West Wing.

"Occasionally hirsute" - well that's appropriate, considering she's Angel's beard and all.

"Now touch it" - raise your hand if ew?

One bit of credit to Fred - she had the same reaction we all did to Angel as a puppet.

I can't tell who between Polo and Groofus I love more. On the one hand Polo drinks and swears like a sailor. On the other Groofus believes strongly in edu-tainment. Don't make me choose between my two children. It's not right.

You know I was dying for months to see Boreanaz beating the crap out of a puppet. Sadly I did not get that, but Marsters being beaten up by a puppet is almost as good. Credit to Marsters for doing the scene. (Also J and Alexis later)

"It's called courage and pluck" snerk. "Analagies are not metaphors" - SNERRRRK. Also shout-out.

Continuity error: at one point during the meeting in the office you can see the bars they use to operate the girl puppet's hands.

Man does the last few seasons of Happy Days line have a certain real-life pathos now. [sniff] Shut up.

Ratio squeaking? Got me every time.

Fred? As a rule, don't point the live gun at your head once you just used it or, you know, ever. Actually, wait....

And, most importantly, my wee little puppet fic did not get Jossed. Hooray!