9/30/08 - 10/8/08 Episode discussion: Somnambulist

[SpikedBuffy]

Episode title: Somnambulist
Season: One

Discuss this episode here. What did you think about Kate finally finding out about Angel being a vampire?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I often forgot how much actually happened in the first season of Angel; it was quite busy. I was, up until this episode, a Kate fan- this was the last episode of that.

The character of Penn really hit it home for me. I would have liked to have seen him around longer. I always thought he was a Spike-lite in terms of vampire from Angel's previous life now on the opposite side. Too bad they killed him off.

Now the tradegy of the episode as far as I am concerned was with Kate. Even in this episode her character was 'full' but after the events that transpired I feel the writers took it alittle easy on her. She became very one dimensional; lacking the depth that was previously seen. A trait taken to extremes after her father died.

Now I have no problem with her and Angel being at odds, but make the character alive! She was in the past. Elisabeth and David (in my opinion) had something together. The scenes with them in the bar and whenever he was at the precinct, for instance, we very honest and believable.

This episode, in my opinion was wonderful and what Angel was all about: his struggle with his past. That was a theme however that would soon be left behind in subsequent episodes. In a schizophrenic opening season, this episode seemed to have all the pieces in place.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I definately agree with you about Kate, scobro. It was not long after this that I got completely bored with her character. She was so promising in the early episodes: I loved that we had a competent cop for once. I did still like her in this episode, but I can see that it probably was the turning point for her character. Instead of being a character in her own right, she was an accessory to Angel.

The rest of the episode though? I didn't really enjoy it as much. I didn't like the stupid random vamp powers, and I felt that it went too slowly. It's been a while since I've watched though, so I'll hand out the salt now.

 

[Karol]

Kate was boring.... 🙁

The best part of the episode, I think, is when the AI is suspecting Angel is the killer, so funny when then just leave him tied to the bed xD

The old british Wesley is a good thing to watch either.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

So much more could have been done with Kate, but as far as I remember the consensus on the net at the time was it was to soon after Buffy for Angel to be allowed another female interest. Joss and co listened to the feedback, and unfortunately what was developing into a good character was allowed to fall into shadows and stay there.

 

[Bluebird]

This was definately one of my favourite episodes of the first season. I loved the idea of Penn as a character, with crazy Angelus teaching him, and I always liked Kate. I much preferred these character episodes in comparison to a lot of the stand-alone save-the-girl episodes you had in season 1.