|
Home | All Shows | Blog | Movie Reviews | Book Reviews | Site Updates | Articles | FAQ | About Us | |||
 |
||||
This review is also on our blog. |
 |
5.16 Shells Angel: "Death doesn't have to be the end. Not in our world." I found "Shells" to be... well, hollow. Although it would appear to be about Illyria, this episode was more about Wes. He was on the verge of attaining true happiness, and he's lost everything; he's been emotionally hollowed out. His rage and despair alternated throughout with an almost inhuman calm as he stabbed Gunn, his former best friend, and outright killed Knox. And still, I was never sure what he was really thinking. Wesley is a complex guy. Has he really lost it, or does he have a plan? Knox mentioned extraordinary sneakiness; Wesley can be extraordinarily sneaky, after all. Illyria is less a rampaging demon and more a leather bitch with an acute case of depression. Or is she also playing a game? When she saw Wesley killing and maiming right and left, she must have thought, hey, here's the high priest for me. Is that what Wesley wanted her to think? He figured out what the jewel did; his brain is still functioning. I can see him choosing to stay with Illyria because she looks like Fred and has some of her memories, but then again... I can't. The jewel has an effect on time. If Fred's soul is really gone, if Doctor Strangelove wasn't lying, is there a way to get Fred back that has to do with manipulating time? Poor Gunn has also lost everything. He has been hollowed out by guilt, embodied by the knife Wesley put through him, which must have been nearly as emotionally painful as it was physically painful. I'm assuming those papers he signed mean that he no longer works for our favorite evil law firm. That last flashback of Fred in Texas leaving her parents and driving toward a new life evoked more emotion in me than her death in Wesley's arms last week. I've always liked Fred. I really don't want this to be the end for her. Bits and pieces: -- Amy Acker looks absolutely fabulous in those "spiffy new threads" and that cool blue makeup. The bad guys always manage to acquire such cool outfits. -- Knox didn't die in the last episode after all. He died in this one. -- So Knox did sing for Lorne. Poor Lorne. Spike and Lorne both tried to get drunk. Didn't look like either of them succeeded, although the little bottles were fun. "It's a play on perspective." -- Harmony seems more sympathetic all the time; she was consoling Wes that at least the girl of his dreams loved him. Her behavior is again blurring the lines; her soul is gone, isn't it? Are vamps evil, or aren't they? Can they learn compassion? And if so, doesn't that make Buffy a serial killer? -- I always enjoy crossover stuff, even when it's just inferred. "Never a witch around when you need one." So Willow is in the Himalayas, and not on this plane? Giles still thinks Angel is the enemy for taking on Wolfram & Hart? The music at the end ("A Place Called Home") was also very BtVS. -- Angel's header out the window reminded me of the vamp in "City of." That had to hurt. -- If Wesley's shovel had connected, he would have decapitated not one, but two of his dead girlfriends. -- Illyria: "Your breed is fragile. How is it they came to control this world?" Knox: "Opposable thumbs? Fire? Television? What they lack in strength, they make up for in extraordinary sneakiness." -- Barry Allen was the Flash, right? Who were Jay Garrick and Wally whoever? [Yes, people wrote and told me. Thanks, everyone.] -- Angel mentioned that he's never seen Illyria's temple, the Vahla Ha Nesh, parked next to the Ralph's. For those of you who don't live in the area, Ralph's is a food market chain. -- The Gateway looked a bit like the lobby of the Hyperion. Same set, maybe? -- The skeleton key was a skeleton. :) -- Big gold acting stars to Alexis Denisof. Wes went from too calm, to grief, to fury, to utter despair. He kept trying to control his feelings, to bury them as Angel said, but he couldn't. -- Looks like Spike has finally made a decision; he wants to stay and help Angel. The two of them did some lovely tag team fighting here. Too bad the morons at the WB have put an end to it. I didn't like this episode much; I don't want Fred to be gone. But it was still well-written and very well-acted, Billie View all comments or post a comment. |
 |
|
Home | All Shows | Blog | Movie Reviews | Book Reviews | Site Updates | Articles | FAQ | About Us