Angel 4x17 Inside Out

Going against the grain and saying I absolutely love this season. And love how much Angel we're getting from you!

I only watched season 4 once, and now I’m watching it again just for you 😘 lol. Can’t wait for season 5, it’s my favorite!

Yeah, you can really tell that Firefly was cancelled at the time, as Nathan Fillion shows up in Buffy and Gina Torres here in Angel.:-) This extreme (and very controversal) Cordelia storyline is a bit much. I guess that means that we really haven't seen the REAL Cordelia since season 3x11 'Birthday' when they 'demonized' her. Ever since then she has just been a pawn in a bigger scheme...

Jules, warning for Angel season 5. Do NOT watch the opening credits for 5x01. There is a huge spoiler in there that ruins the whole episode.

Quote of the Episode: Skip - "Nobody comes back from Paradise. Well, a slayer once." There is a DVD commentary by the director/writer Steven DeKnight. It is OK but he spends a lot of time describing the mechanics of directing, lighting, framing the actors doing the scenes, etc. He did mention that Charisma Carpenter was 8 1/2 months pregnant during the filming of this episode and because of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) rules, she was very restricted in how many hours she could work. A lot of the scenes she was in were shot with her alone and the actors, mostly Connor, were shot later and spliced in. Also he talked about her black dress (a favorite of Juliette's). Apparently the fringes around Cordy's midrift kept falling off and littering the set. Steven mentioned that this was the first time he met Gina Torres and he was nervous about the scene they were shooting. She was wearing a robe when he was giving her directions on how to play her scene. She then took off the robe to reveal that she was wearing a very skimpy costume since she was supposed to be naked when she appeared out of the cloud.

Well spotted on that Wes and Angel moment: that's a good one. Conor isn't mind controlled, just extremely paternal. He's kind of a flip side I guess to how Angel acted when he was born. And though peak Conor whining is on show it will serve a key purpose later. Skip's grand conspiracy of Angel the Series seems like all kinds of Pepe Silvia nonsense. The first six episodes (before The Beast) give us a Cordy acting against the interests of her as we see here. We've got hints all the way that something isn't right as to the quality level of the Cordy story. This episode all that comes flooding out and its terrible, ugly, a really bad episode. Unfortunately its also Season 4's plot lynchpin for the season. That doesn't mean the rest can't be enjoyed on their own merits but ugh, really, no. Just crap writing. Speaking of, I bet the writer's room conversation was something like, "well someone's name has to be credited as writer on this episode. Which idiot can we get to do that? Hey, Steven DeKnight, you said you wanted to direct one. We have a proposition for ya..." There are a few mis-steps and more tragedies ahead but no other bad episodes. After Inside Out you're on the jump ramp for my favourite season. Enjoy the ride (you will)

They say that given enough time a room of monkeys could type the complete works of Shakespeare. This season of Angel though? Impossible!

Those writers were havin' fun! :) Now underneath all the Sturm-und-Drang are some serious commentaries on identity and mind control and unchecked power and the nature of reality and--- oh, who am I kidding? It's just a bunch o' CRAZY FUN...! :D [Edit: Wow, did I really forget--- about the sacrifice scene? The conclusion to Darla trying to de-Anakin Connor is--- really anything but "fun."] Oh, and: "What about Skip?" Nice!