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watcherscouncil2025-07-20 11:23 am
wearing_tearing) wrote in watcherscouncil2025-07-20 11:23 am
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AtS - 1.01: City Of
Original Air Date: October 5, 1999
Writer: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt
Director: Joss Whedon
I really like that this opening scene lures us into thinking he’s off pining for Buffy when, in reality, he’s going to kick some ass. I remember watching some of the premiere promos with the fight scenes and how this promised a darker tone than Buffy. I’m glad that went with that instead of trying for the same vibes.
Is Angel struggling with feeding? Or with just regularly being a vampire?
I do love the opening music sooooo much! It fits the vampire lead element so well and the cut scenes in between lets us know there is going to be Drama and Sadness and Anguish. Again, cementing the differences between Buffy.
Also… we only had 3 regular cast members????
Doyle!!! And our first mention of The Power That Be :D To think they're brought up in the first few minutes of the episode. I haven’t really rewatched Angel throughout the years, so my memories of the show are very all over the place, but I do remember them!
Aaahh, the quick little recap for non-Buffy fans so they know what’s going on and why Angel is Angel etc.
Very interesting question to ask yourself, Angel: why aren’t you kicking Doyle out? And great of the show to address the feeding thing. I guess almost draining Buffy to cute himself was specifically traumatic for Angel. Makes sense he would avoid humans and their blood so he wouldn’t be in that position again. If he’s capable of doing that to someone he loves, who’s to say what he’ll do to random people?
I feel you, Angel. Getting involved can be the worst thing. And he’s so awkward about iiittt. He used to be more socialized than this.
Okay, but those star-shaped mini sandwiches are cute as hell. I would also like to know how is Russell.
CORDELIA MY LOOOOOOOOVEEE!!! And Angel looks so happy to see her! Until she basically calls him a nobody lol
Okay, but Angel grabbing the gun like that is so hot djkhfshfksf COMPETENCY!!!
Aw, Tina :/ I don’t remember if you have a happy ending, but I sure hope so.
Angel browsing around 3 computers at the public library at night? Who is he? What did Willow teach him?
I have no memory of Russell… but of course he’s a vampire :B
THE YELLOW PAGES!!!!! HOW OLD ARE WE!!!!!!!!! God. This dates the show to me way more than the computers they use. Yellow pages, hot damn.
Aaaaawwww, Angel doesn’t want to share his feelings. Maybe doing that would make you feel better about all of the trauma and pain, though. Doyle seems like a good listener.
LINDSEY I SEE YOOOOOUUUU
And we got a W&H mention!
Of course the bad guy focuses on Cordelia. Why not make her life even more difficult all over again?
Angel saying there’s nobody left he cares about and the show cutting to Cordelia????? Poetic cinema.
Where has Angel been through that he’s seen 14 wars… plus Vietnam. There is still so much we don’t know about him and his history, what he’s been through, what he’s done…
Cordelia asking Russell what he wants her to do just breaks my heart. She should never be put into that position, nor should anybody else, and it’s horrendous that this is such a common occurrence so as to be a subplot in a series episode.
She is so smart, though. To recognize real quick that Russell is a vampire. Go, Cordelia <3
It does fill me with curiosity that Russell doesn’t know who Angel is. Wasn’t/Isn’t Angelus super mega known in the vampire world? And then here is a vampire dude who’s obviously done very well for himself who has no idea who he is up against?
Angel really did that. Just foot on chair did that. I love that for him. No second thoughts, no wondering, just full on taking out the bad guy in front of a bunch of people—including Lindsey.
Cordelia, the true mastermind behind Angel Investigations. We love her. Angel’s little smile while she goes on about work is so soft. She’s going to be his connection to the human world!
Go team!
Vampires Slayed: 4.
Series Total: 4.
Scenes with Angel Being Awkward: 2.
Series Total: 2.
Episode Quote:
Doyle: Get involved.
Writer: Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt
Director: Joss Whedon
Angel is a centuries-old vampire cursed with a conscience who has left the small California town of Sunnydale and the only woman he ever loved to take up residence in the City of Angels. Sunnydale escapee Cordelia Chase has also come to Los Angeles with high hopes of living the glamorous Hollywood dream but the two soon discover that they could use each other's help. They are joined by Doyle, a disreputable spiritual mentor who has been sent by "The Powers That Be," a mysterious and powerful force trying to make things right.Here we are! The first episode of Angel’s spinoff series. We have a new setting, new conflicts, and Angel seems to be back to his competent self!
I really like that this opening scene lures us into thinking he’s off pining for Buffy when, in reality, he’s going to kick some ass. I remember watching some of the premiere promos with the fight scenes and how this promised a darker tone than Buffy. I’m glad that went with that instead of trying for the same vibes.
Is Angel struggling with feeding? Or with just regularly being a vampire?
I do love the opening music sooooo much! It fits the vampire lead element so well and the cut scenes in between lets us know there is going to be Drama and Sadness and Anguish. Again, cementing the differences between Buffy.
Also… we only had 3 regular cast members????
Doyle!!! And our first mention of The Power That Be :D To think they're brought up in the first few minutes of the episode. I haven’t really rewatched Angel throughout the years, so my memories of the show are very all over the place, but I do remember them!
Aaahh, the quick little recap for non-Buffy fans so they know what’s going on and why Angel is Angel etc.
Very interesting question to ask yourself, Angel: why aren’t you kicking Doyle out? And great of the show to address the feeding thing. I guess almost draining Buffy to cute himself was specifically traumatic for Angel. Makes sense he would avoid humans and their blood so he wouldn’t be in that position again. If he’s capable of doing that to someone he loves, who’s to say what he’ll do to random people?
I feel you, Angel. Getting involved can be the worst thing. And he’s so awkward about iiittt. He used to be more socialized than this.
Okay, but those star-shaped mini sandwiches are cute as hell. I would also like to know how is Russell.
CORDELIA MY LOOOOOOOOVEEE!!! And Angel looks so happy to see her! Until she basically calls him a nobody lol
Okay, but Angel grabbing the gun like that is so hot djkhfshfksf COMPETENCY!!!
Aw, Tina :/ I don’t remember if you have a happy ending, but I sure hope so.
Angel browsing around 3 computers at the public library at night? Who is he? What did Willow teach him?
I have no memory of Russell… but of course he’s a vampire :B
THE YELLOW PAGES!!!!! HOW OLD ARE WE!!!!!!!!! God. This dates the show to me way more than the computers they use. Yellow pages, hot damn.
Aaaaawwww, Angel doesn’t want to share his feelings. Maybe doing that would make you feel better about all of the trauma and pain, though. Doyle seems like a good listener.
LINDSEY I SEE YOOOOOUUUU
And we got a W&H mention!
Of course the bad guy focuses on Cordelia. Why not make her life even more difficult all over again?
Angel saying there’s nobody left he cares about and the show cutting to Cordelia????? Poetic cinema.
Where has Angel been through that he’s seen 14 wars… plus Vietnam. There is still so much we don’t know about him and his history, what he’s been through, what he’s done…
Cordelia asking Russell what he wants her to do just breaks my heart. She should never be put into that position, nor should anybody else, and it’s horrendous that this is such a common occurrence so as to be a subplot in a series episode.
She is so smart, though. To recognize real quick that Russell is a vampire. Go, Cordelia <3
It does fill me with curiosity that Russell doesn’t know who Angel is. Wasn’t/Isn’t Angelus super mega known in the vampire world? And then here is a vampire dude who’s obviously done very well for himself who has no idea who he is up against?
Angel really did that. Just foot on chair did that. I love that for him. No second thoughts, no wondering, just full on taking out the bad guy in front of a bunch of people—including Lindsey.
Cordelia, the true mastermind behind Angel Investigations. We love her. Angel’s little smile while she goes on about work is so soft. She’s going to be his connection to the human world!
Go team!
Vampires Slayed: 4.
Series Total: 4.
Scenes with Angel Being Awkward: 2.
Series Total: 2.
Episode Quote:
Doyle: Get involved.
no subject
I really like that this opening scene lures us into thinking he’s off pining for Buffy when, in reality, he’s going to kick some ass.
I also love that!
s. I remember watching some of the premiere promos with the fight scenes and how this promised a darker tone than Buffy.
Funnily enough, I never saw the promos since I wasn't into either at the time, but the opening sequence made me think "wow, this one's edgier". (Although IMHO, Buffy kind of started to emulate AtS in season six. I think in part because if Buffy is about the evils of teenagerhood, AtS is about the complexity of growing up and heading into the adult world, except really, by season six so is Buffy. They're technically still college age, but live and act more like they're in their mid-twenties to early thirties.)
THE YELLOW PAGES!!!!! HOW OLD ARE WE!!!!!!!!! God. This dates the show to me way more than the computers they use. Yellow pages, hot damn.
I think even by 1999, you could look people up on the internet, right? Not AS easily, I don't think you could look up "Joyce Summers Sunnydale CA" and get a million record searches, but it wasn't entirely impossible. So that might be part of it.
and it’s horrendous that this is such a common occurrence so as to be a subplot in a series episode.
Yeah, they set up Cordy to be such a great character, but at the same time made her the damsel so often. Justice for Cordy.
I actually like Angel as a character better on his own show. I liked him on Buffy while I watched it, but I think AtS ruined BtVS!Angel for me. I'm always like "stop hanging around teenagers and go fight Wolfram and Hart, my dude".