Haven’t been bitten by the Angel bug, or teeth rather,
I am, for the most part, pleased with Angel: Season Two. Not knowing
anything about the first season, I am impressed to find that it offers a variety
of genres within the many episodes. This season begins with a very self-conscious
attempt to be dramatic, which feels very heavy handed and slow. In the end,
however, the show seems to have more fun with itself, and as a result, so does
the audience.
Spawned from the immense success of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel
(David Boreanaz), the vamp-with-a-soul ex-lover of the aforementioned slayer
begins his own life-saving agency in the dark streets of L.A. with gal pal/vision
girl Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter). Also on board is an uber-demon guru
on wheels, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof), and Gunn (J. August Richards),
your typical slayer gang leader from the streets. In the second season, Angel
and Co. meets The Host (Andrew Hallett), a soul-sensing shrink who rocks on
and off the open mike. They establish their agency at an old hotel, and tackle
some truly ugly and (as Buffy and Angel fans are all too aware)
quirky vamps, demons, and other other-worldly oddities. As the season continues,
Angel’s past also begins to reveal itself. His past friends, enemies,
and lovers (some fits all three categories) come back to complicate his already
troubled identity crisis. If you are already stuck on Angel, this DVD
set is a given: commercial-less and schedule-free. But don’t expect too
much else, the special features falls somewhat short of special.
For the most part, I wasn’t too impressed with the first couple of episodes.
The story seems formulaic and the characters two-dimensional. All the beginning
episodes involve a mission, a plot twist in the mission, and a life-saving ending
with a message. David Boreanaz’s Angel always looks like he’s got
something up his…feathers. Whenever Cordelia, a.k.a. Cordy, speaks, you
know she’ll say something that vaguely resembles sarcastic wit. Wesley
is a stiff upper-lip bore, and Gunn is just a short fuse looking to blow. The
drama-rama in each of the beginning episodes feel labored and stretched. After
a while, I wasn’t sure what all the hype is all about.
As the season went on, however, my mind was steadily changing. By the final
episodes, I was sufficiently satisfied. I got the feeling that, near the end,
the creative team finally found the show’s attitude: if we laugh at us,
you’ll laugh with us. The farce factor is across the board, switching
from intense psychotic drama to whip-cracking comedy at the drop of a body.
Angel plays up the straight face confusion with smart and subtle humor.
Wesley and Gunn are a tag team comedy duo. And Cordelia is given the room to
be something more than a quirky one-liner bitch. The show seems to realize its
own absurd characters and plot twists. So instead of covering it up with heavy
handed dialogue, it ups the stakes, the pace and the quirk, making it zany,
witty, and heartfelt.
The somewhat disappointing portion of this DVD is the Special Features. In
each disc, a special feature is laced within. There are commentaries on Episode
2: “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?” by co-executive producer
and writer Tim Minear, and on Episode 20: “Over the Rainbow” by
director Fred Keller. There are interviews and behind-the-scenes looks in “Season
Two Overview,” “Making Up the Monsters,” “Inside the
Agency,” and “Stunts” featurettes. Lastly, there are scripts
for Episode 7: “Darla” and Episode 17: “Disharmony,”
a still photo gallery, and blueprints of the set.
By far, my most favorite special feature is the audio commentary by Tim Minear.
A writer and a director, not to mention co-executive producer, Mr. Minear rapid
fires his substantive commentary; this man knows his stuff and it shows. He
packs it full with anecdotes on story development, cinematography, and many
other neat tidbits about the episode. It really made me appreciate the process
of putting together one episode of a near one-hour long show. And he isn’t
just all talk, the man delivers: “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?”
is one of the best written, shot, and directed episodes in the season. Bravo,
Tim Minear! On the other hand, the commentary by Fred Keller, who has a slow
dry cadence, quickly lost my interest. He spends most of the time summarizing
the storyline and complimenting the work by the cast and crew. Do you really
need a summary of something you already watched? As an audio commentator, he
may lull you to sleep, but by the look of the episode, he is probably a pretty
great director.
“Season Two Overview,” as the title suggests, is a mere summary
of the entire season. Since the “Special Features” is on the last
DVD, one would assume that by then, you have watched all the episodes. Again,
why? Sure, it has some interviews and discussions about the season, but even
those are just general babble on the characters and plot points of the second
season. If you don’t know anything about season two, this may peak your
interest. But if you just watched the entire season, what’s the point
of this feature?
The three featurettes, “Making Up the Monsters,” “Inside
the Agency,” and “Stunts” give a more extensive look at makeup,
set design, and stunt choreography. My favorite out of the three is the “Making
Up the Monsters.” It shows how the process of makeup is designed and then
applied for various characters. It focuses specifically on the mask application
of The Host, which is a three-hour long process. The amount of detail that goes
into putting on just one character’s mask is immense, and these makeup
artists are absolutely amazing at it. So, if you ever considered it as a career,
this featurette is definitely something to check out.
“Inside the Agency” is a walking tour on the various sets of the
show. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much emphasis on the design and building
process, just a look at the finished product in ugly florescent lighting. You
don’t really get a sense how it all comes together. Besides, what they
show you is pretty much what you see in the show. It’s something to watch
with your thumb (or claw) on the fast forward button.
The final featurette is “Stunts.” This one gives you a sense of
the fight choreography and the use of various stunts in the storytelling process.
For instance, several stunts may be filmed for one section of the episode. Then,
in the editing process, the one stunt that is considered to best tell the story
is then picked and used. But even this feature doesn’t show much of process.
It’s mostly interviews with positive comments about one another. How nice,
but bit of a bore.
All the other stuff is pretty self-evident. The blueprints are interesting
and useful for those interested in set design. The scripts are fun to skim through,
though you can’t print it out so it makes a rather uncomfortable read.
Finally, the still photo gallery is just stills from the episodes. You can do
that on your own; it’s called a pause button.
So, if you are a die-hard Angel fan who enjoys watching these episodes
over and over again and who already owns the first season on DVD (as well as
all the Buffy episodes, I’m sure), this is obviously for you. It’s
a no non-sense DVD set packed with all your favorite episodes for you to laugh,
cry, groan, moan, scream, snort, snicker and gasp. If you are new to Angel,
technically you can watch this stand alone, since the stories are fairly self-contained.
Personally, I’d rent, and with it the first season, since many of the
plotlines refer frequently to the first season. But either way, do it for the
show, not for the frills.
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