Damage (5x11)

Written by Steven DeKnight and Drew Goddard / Directed by Jefferson Kibbee

That episode had to be the most manic Jossverse product thus far. (I suppose given the writers: SD and DG, that's to be expected.) I thought it was excellent --- one of the best AtS episodes ever, though I do take issue with Spike being a total idiot with the demon possession/slayer thing. (Though, come to think of it, in a way, she was possessed --- with the memories of past Slayers and the power of Slayers does originate with a demon, so maybe he wasn't really such an idiot after all.)

I think this episode has gotten me excited again about the potential of the Jossverse! (This may mean an end to being spoiler-free and a return to crazy shower speculation.)

On the teaser: You know you're in for trouble when you're psych unit is low on diazepam.

OK… that teaser… it was more of a… queaser --- that is to say, it made my tummy all queasy. Finally we're seeing some negative effects of the Slayers power release in the canon of the Jossverse --- and it's really graphic and really grim. Listening to the sloshy and gurgly sound effects while watching that girl saw back and forth packed a real punch even without watching the guy's head tumble off. But did she really have to wipe the guy's blood on her face. Ick! A ancient Slayer channelling. *shudders* However… as seems to be an on-going thing in the Jossverse, that girl is never going to have to answer for her crimes.

Ah… but then perhaps Fred said it best early in the episode:

FRED: Nine holes instead of a jury of your peers, just what the founding fathers had in mind.

OK, yes, I know that girl was SERIOUSLY abused and obviously has been negatively impacted; she needs serious mental help (though I suspect Spike was right when he said that he figured she was lost).

But it's really starting to bug me that the only one who ever seems to suffer for his crimes (aside from inner torment) is Spike. Willow flayed a guy alive --- oh gee, let's send her off to Wicca camp for the summer. Gunn murdered Fred's professor --- hey, did that go with the mind wipe??? Giles killed Ben and we never heard another word about it (well, except for those of us who read the original script for "Lies My Parents Told Me" BtVS 7x17, which I still think would have been better left with the original title "Mothers and Sons"). Andrew killing Jonathan got a bit of attention, but apparently making him cry like a baby was punishment enough.

Gee… do you think I could get any more off-topic? (I'm afraid there's a good chance that I will get more deep as this things rolls on. So consider yourself warned.)

Gunn: I like a man in a vest. (I'll clarify that by saying a suit-type vest, not a sweater vest. Those should be reserved for my 90 year-old grandpa and his pals.) Gunn is lost in the law --- or is it in the evil… >insert mad cackle<

ANGEL: I think I liked you better when you just wanted to hit people.

Lorne: I think his stylist is having a great time --- gold coloured suit and coordinating square-toed shoes, flower patterned purple ascot, broad-peaked collar speckled blue shirt. Plus, I think he may have become radio-active since he seems to glow in the dark. (That light up board room table isn't doing anyone any favours.)

FRED: Whiskey!

LORNE: Oh god bless you, kitten, I was just about to suggest the same thing.

FRED: No, I mean when you're cookin' up whiskey it the whole room smell like molasses.
You cook up a lot of whisky in your time, Fred???

Fred: I'm not sure yet whether it's that she has a tiny frame or the footwear they chose for her, but AA sure seems to have large feet.

ANDREW (of Fred): Yes, attractive slender woman.

(Have I mentioned I love Andrew? Oh… not yet.)

Wesley: I'm so pleased to see the ever increasingly clean shaven face of AD. *sigh*

WESLEY: An army of Slayers. Brilliant stratagem, but with the Watchers' Council destroyed how will these new Slayers receive their necessary---

PJ: Funny you should ask, Wesley. They won't actually. They'll continue to run amuck over the Earth until one day when--- Oh, sorry. That's not the actual story. That's just my fanfic. (Little Bitty Puzzle Pieces. Shameless plug. Sorry. *waves to eeyore*)

ANDREW: Mr. Giles and a few key Sunnydale alum have been tracking down the recently Chosen, guiding them, training them, giving them the full X-men minus the crappy third act.

Andrew: I absolutely LOVED Andrew in this episode. He was hilarious AND he showed Spike some appreciation (whether the guy wanted it or not).

SPIKE: Of for the love of--

ANDREW: Spike? It's you! It's really you! Oh, my therapist thought I was holding on to false hope, but I knew you'd come back. You're like Gandalf the White resurrected from the pit of the Balrog… more beautiful than ever. Oh. He's my Frodo.
He's alive.

ANGEL: You two know each other?

ANDREW: Ah yeah. Um… We-We saved the world together --- I mean Buffy helped, but it was mostly us.

A return to "Storyteller" BtVS 7x16 --- right down to the "Slayer of the Vam-Pyres" and the choking on the pipe.

ANDREW (to Spike): You're not the only one who's changed. Mr. Giles has been training me and I am faster, stronger and 82% more manly than the last time we---

Spike then throws him to the ground next to a bloody corpse and his shrieks like a little girl.

I have to ask, if with that hair and that outfit (a combination of High School years Giles and Inspector Gadget --- the cartoon one, not the Matthew Broderick) he's 82% manly how manly was he before???

ANDREW: What's it smell like? Blood, I mean.

SPIKE: Metallic, sorta. You ever taste a penny?

ANDREW: No. Wait! No.

SPIKE: Smells like that.

Leave it to Andrew, he finds a penny on a dirty warf and tastes it. Ick. Andrew, hon, word of advice: Don't lick pennies --- especially not ones that have been on the ground.

Then later…

SPIKE: The blood. Smells different: stronger.

ANDREW: Like nickels?

Spike: Still nothing much new to report on the clothing front. *sigh* That damned duster is still there --- though I did wonder momentarily when the breeze blew it up whether if they showed a rear view if I could get… well a rear view. *eg* He did, however, end the episode dressed in a white hospital gown --- poor darling. (Being in the hospital, that is, though certainly there's no good to be had in hospital gowns and white's not a great "colour" on him.)

SPIKE: Sorry luv, I don't speak Chinese.

Got a kick out of their reusing that line --- though it was delivered better in "Fool for Love" BtVS 5x07.

But STILL he doesn't know she's a Slayer??? (Nope, I really wasn't impressed with them making Spike out to be so clueless early on. Seems to me Spike's seen a lot more Slayers in his time than demon possession, but… whatever.)

Somebody really must ask Spike what he's using in his hair. The fact that he can fight, get throw out a several story building and crash to the ground into a pile of shattered glass yet get up and have ever hair perfectly in place is astounding. Does his hair have memory? ('cause it was mussed when he hit the ground.)

SPIKE (to Angel of his guilt): And you should let it go, mate, it's starting to make you look old.

PJ: Hate to point this out Spike, but you're showing your age more in this episode too, luv.

ANDREW (of Spike): Bravo. I see your senses seem to be as well-honed as your Viggo Mortensen pectorals.

Angel: I'm not sure about the car-coat length suit jacket, but it was an interesting change of pace.

DOCTOR: I already told the police everything I know.

ANGEL: Well, let's go over it again just in case you left out any… details.

SPIKE: What he said, but with a bit more of a threat at the end.

Maybe Angel needs to go back to the funky dreaming and the "let's kill them all" attitude, 'cause as it is, I don't think either one of these guys can really use intimidation to get what they want. (Well… not without pulling out the fangs.)

DOCTOR: May I suggest you stop your friend? If he finds Dana, he's going to wind up dead like the others.

ANGEL: Yeah, but he'll just end up coming back.

I wonder how many times they had DB give the "good vam-Pyres" line before they gave up. (I don't think anyone can do it like TL.)

Seems Angel's still got Buffy issues (which is to be expected, I guess after his spring return to Sunnydale). Sure seemed to me there near the end his was being a big baby about Buffy rather than about the fact that Andrew was usurping his authority or pointing out what he knows himself (that he works for an evil law firm).

Miscellaneous Bits:

OK, you're a convenience store stock guy working for minimum wage and you see someone in a hospital gown with those little booties on that is totally unresponsive when you speak to her. Don't you think you should call somebody rather than trying to force her to pay for her doughnuts? (OK, and if you are that stock guy, I've got another question for you: what's the tomato sauce doing on the shelf below the breakfast cereal? And why are either of those things in the same isle as the toilet brushes?)

Why is it that when people drive on TV they do so darned much wiggling of the steering wheel? (Angel? Are you having a seizure?)

Isn't that the same set of stairs they use again next week? (from the promo shots???) And how many more times have they used it???

My new favourite Spike-ism: "'cause it sounds like you're past midnight on the crazy clock anyway."

How could drug injections affect a vampire that quickly? No circulation.

Deeper Stuff Warning…

I appreciated what they did with the Buffy issue with both Spike and Angel (though I was a bit annoyed they had Spike say he didn't actually burn up --- because as his description to Wesley in "Just Rewards" 5x02 attests, he did).

(from JR) WESLEY: Do you have any memory of a strange sensation when it released its energy?

SPIKE: Oh you mean my skin and muscle burning away from the bone? Organs exploding in my chest? Eye balls melting in their sockets? No. No memory at all. Thanks for asking.

The trouble, in my opinion, is that now they've made Buffy more of an issue (not simple between Spike and Angel but for each of them independently, particularly Angel in this episode) is that now more than ever I NEED to see them deal with Buffy ON-screen. *sigh*

I was just sick at the thought Spike could have done those things to that girl. It just didn't seem like a Spike thing to me. No fist and fangs, you know? (But then, I think we get a sense of that through his chat with Angel at the end.)

And all Dana's talk of "losing all your pieces", well, I was actually relieved to see he'd only lost his hands. *shudders*

SPIKE: I've done my share of bad, but you're not one of 'em.

His admissions to that girl were so moving. (And I thought there was something just about Angel's saving Spike this week after Spike had saved Angel last.)

I loved the end scene between Spike and Angel. It was a great bit showing the contrast between their past vampiric philosophies. Spike didn't look back at the victims; Angelus couldn't look away. Spike relished the thrill of the fight; Angelus delighted in his victims suffering. And it seemed humbling for both of them to admit that about themselves. No "but I didn't have a soul" excuses; no showing the other up or putting him down. Just raw honesty --- to each other, and to themselves. There might be hope for them yet.

SPIKE: But the tingling in my forearms tell me she's too far gone to help. She's one of us now; she's a monster.

ANGEL: She's an innocent victim.

SPIKE: So were we… once upon a time.

(No it's not at all funny but it is a brilliant bit of dialogue.)