Deep Down / Same Time, Same Place : The Rant

Angel Thoughts

- Are you telling me that Connor is such a good liar that Fred and Gunn believed him for 3 whole months? Maybe Fred and Gunn are just the most naive people of all time. Or maybe, just maybe...no, they're naive.

- Fred zapping Connor...sweet. Somehow I knew Fred had an angry nutso-like side. She went all street walker self-defense with the tazer.

- Why did the Wolfram & Hart suits believe Lilah was telling the truth after she cut off the grand pubbah's head? Just because she had a device for cutting it off? Something tells me they're nothing but "yes" people now. See the P.C term? Yeah, I didn't think it was funny either. We have something in common.

- Connor with long hair? He's not pulling *that* off anytime soon.

- Quote me right now: Wesley the reluctant hero is the most interesting character in the Joss-verse so far this season. And that includes anyone on BtVS, AtS and Firefly. Period.

- Cordy's "God, I am soooo bored." It made me think of old Cordelia. Classic Queen C. I personally can't wait to see how she comes back and what Angel will say.

- Angel's speech to Connor. Highlight.

Final Verdict: It's season premiere blew Buffy's out of the water. I hate to say that, but it's just so obvious. I loved the build-up, the speech, "Sit down" - everything about the last 20 minutes of the episode. It wasn't just a good season premiere, it was a great one. And that's a rare thing.

Rating: 3 1/2 Stakes

- Buffy thoughts

- Besides Willow being back, was this filler? I feel sorry for Jane Espenson, who seems like she (most of the time) gets stuck with these gigs. You know, those "somewhere on the edge of telling the actual arc, but not quite close enough" ones. I would hug Jane if I didn't already have that pesky restraining order.

- Absent are the runaway girls (AKA - The Slayers in training, as most call them). Another point that most of this was filler. The arc was closed. ARC, not ARK.

- It took me half the show to figure out what happened with the invisible stuff. Does that make me ignorant or blind? (Get it?! Blind? Invisible? Oh, you're no fun!)

- I loved the scene of Willow thinking about the shooting at the window. It was classy, and it showed how most humans react to death of loved ones, with quiet memories. People keep asking, "Why aren't they mentioning Tara?" It was only 3 1/2 months ago. I once had a friend that went about 6 months without talking about his brother dying, and still has a hard time to this day....10 years later. Think a little. It makes sense.

- Still no real storyline for Xander. I know you're sick of hearing me talk about it. But it's what ticks me off the most about the series. The guy is the most loyal man in the history of loyal men. I'm a nice guy, but *I'm* not even that great. The Xan-man (with the exception of the The Pack episode), has been the most *not* evil, *not* dumb person on the show, and has stood by his friends even when they do the stupid things they do. And yet they still go to Xander for the ridicule. "Or we could be smart". I wanted to stuff a sock in Buffy's mouth at that moment. Same goes for all the morons who think the same thing about him.

- On the opposite coin, I'm tired of the "Spike Show". I never knew Spike was the centralized character of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", but apparently he's become that. Sick of the soul, sick of the "oh me, oh my...my spark", sick of Buffy and Spike and the torrid romance you could only read in a trashy fiction novel. Buffy's better than that, and Spike is even better than that. But shouldn't be the main focus.

- Dawn's character just gets better and better. She continues to grow on me with each passing episode. STSP was no exception. The posable Dawn....classic Espenson, and great work by Michelle T. I never thought, "Man, that's bad." I was just cracking up the entire time.

- One word: Anya. The lines just kept hitting a home run. We're back to not-so loathsome Anya, even if she did look a bit sad a couple times. The rest of the time it was the funny former-demon, former-human, current-demon-again that cracked me up for the last few seasons. I'm glad she seemed like her old self for once.

- I don't know about you, but I dug Gnarl. He was creepy but enjoyable.

Final Verdict: Funny, but mediocore. I loved the moments with Willow and Anya, the last 10 minutes, and the stuff with posable Dawn...even with all of it, it still felt like filler.

Rating: 2 1/2 Stakes

- Mac