Post by PreachCaleb on Sept 27, 2017 13:57:01 GMT
After the epicness of the last two episodes, these are more of a warm down.
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.
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.