Post by ag25 on Oct 6, 2017 0:31:09 GMT
Shadow, of course, chronicles Joyce's worsening condition. Suddenly, it's no longer just a mysterious illness. It's a very real, very scary situation. "Shadow" has one of my least favorite creature designs of the entire series. The cobra-demon looks ok from a design point of view. But there isn't much it can do. The head just sits there and there's no real expression to it. The CGI sadly has aged terribly.
The highlights are, naturally, all the Summers scenes. Joyce, Buffy, and Dawn make a great family unit. It's heart rending to see them in such despair. And, as a fan of Glory, I enjoy the fight scenes. Buffy just can't make a single dent. Big ups to Tara for recognizing what not even Giles could. The reason Glory isn't in any books isn't because she's new, but ancient. Great bit of foreshadowing.
Over on Angel, we have "The Shroud of Rahmon." A traditional, Ocean's Eleven-lite heist. This one actually has one of the cooler creature designs in Tony Todd's demon with the spinal ridges. Gunn still struggles with following Angel's orders, which as a leader of his own gang would be understandable. He's not used to letting others tell him what to do. There's nothing terribly special about this episode, but the growing conflict between Angel and Kate is very interesting. They're both good guys trying to protect people, yet they keep clashing.
Kate knows, and time will prove her right, this war between Angel and Darla will leave behind many casualties. A strong point she brought up in Dear Boy:
"while you're fighting your big battles of good and evil the innocent are the ones who get caught in the crossfire. Those are the ones I care about, like that man tonight, like the real owners of that house if what you say is true. And those are the ones I chalk up to your boss."
Angel for his part, despite his anger at Kate, masks genuine concern.
"You get stuck between me and Darla, it'll be the last thing you ever do."
It's not some mere threat. It's actually a warning. He, too, knows that the war between him and Darla could cost lives. He doesn't want Kate to be one of them.
Neither episode is all that great. But after the combination of Fool For Love/Darla, the audience needed a little cool down.
Yes, Shadow is great for the Summers girls. and I love that in this episode, the show does two things differently: One, how Joyce's illness is very real, like you said, and not something that superhero Buffy can fight...or really do anything about. Second, coming off of the first is Glory, a big bad Buffy can't figure out. She is almost like a manifestation of Joyce's illness, so Buffy is dealing with something she can't fight on two fronts. Good writing.
Regarding The Shroud of Rahmon, I do agree that it is not great, but I also disagree that it's nothing special because of the episode's structure. I really, really like the structure, and along with it being a "Gunn" centric episode, brings the episode up for me a little bit. I forget about it and then when I watch it and it opens on Wesley (serious Wesley, like the foreshadowing of seasons 4 and 5 Wesley) I'm like, oh yeah, this episode it kinda cool. The comedy and drama are balanced well I think.
Yes, I like that the show delves back into Kate's character in this episode, and I agree with the rest of what you said about her and Angel.