Angel ep by ep; WHY WE FIGHT?-submarines and subtext

saturn5

Scooby
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Into single figures!

WHY WE FIGHT

The Good;
Another wonderful Spike and Angel scene at the end, just as we saw in Damage. Once again past deeds come back to haunt us but this time it's what Angel did rather than what Angelus did. Also love Spike's 'Heil Hitler' salute to Angel and I think Eyal Podell does a great job as Lawson, he really looks like the naive all American poster boy (you could imagine him in Everwood or One Tree Hill or something) who is graphically confronted with the harsh realities of life.

The Bad;
Considering what badasses they're supposed to be Lawson overcomes AI very easily. Why do Spike and Lawson have to reach the shore before sunrise, can't they just hide underwater until night?

Best line;
Angel; "Spike's not in the SS, he just likes the coat"
plus
Spike; (of his fellow vamp prisoners) "Got to warn you, they're a bit stiff"
also like;
Nostroyev; (of Angelus) "You had quite the reputation back in the day but I haven't heard much of you lately"
Angel; "I haven't heard much of you EVER!"

Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Gunn speculates that Lindsey is 'boiling in his own filth'? YUCK!

Apocalypses: 5

Angel Cliches

In disguise; 8

DB/JM get's his shirt off; 18,

Cheap Angel; 8

Fang Gang in bondage: Wes, Fred and Gunn all trussed up. Not Lorne though, because losing his head wouldn't kill him? Angel chained to a mess of weights
Cordy: 5
Angel: 15
Wes: 8
Gunn; 8
Lorne; 6
Fred; 5
Spike; 6

Fang gang knocked out: Wes, Fred and Gunn
Cordy: 15
Angel: 19
Wes: 9
Doyle; 1
Gunn; 4
Lorne; 8
Groo; 1
Connor; 1
Faith; 1
Fred; 6
Spike; 5

Kills; 3 vamps for Angel several decades apart. Will he make the magic 150 total of kills by the end of the series?
Cordy: 5 vamps, 3½ demons
Angel; 48 vamps, 62 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 12 humans, one werewolf and one cyborg
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 14 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 3 humans, 2 cyborgs
Kate; 3 vamps
Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.
Gunn; 11 vamps+ 13 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human.
Groo; 1 demon
Fred; 3 vamps+ 2 demon, 5 zombies
Connor; 16 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 demons, Jasmine
Spike; 21 vamps, 7 demons+1 human+one parasite

Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 3
Angel: 3
Gunn; 1
Wes; 1

Alternate Fang Gang;
Cordy: 4
Angel: 11
Fred; 2
Wes; 1
Gunn; 1
Connor; 1
Lorne; 1

Characters killed: poor subs crew
2265

Recurring characters killed;
11

Total number of Angel Investigations; 6, from now on I really consider Spike to an inseperable part of the gang
Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wes, Spike

Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 14
Wes; 2

Packing heat;
Wes; 11
Doyle; 1
Angel; 4
Gunn; 3
Fred; 3

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast
Angel: 6; Buffy, Darla, The Transcending Furies, Eve
Wes; 3 definite; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 1 possible, Justine
Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen.
Fred; 1 Gunn
Groo; 1Cordy
Spike; 3-Buffy, Anya, Harmony

Kinky dinky:
Spike had been invited to a 'virgin bloodbath'...

Captain Subtext;
...but when he got there the virgins all looked like Gobbels? Nostroyev was the lover of Rasputin. Hello sailor!
Topical politcal comment on the War on Terror? This ep really deals with the moral compromises inherent in warfare, Lawson seems unable to accept that the US would do things like torture, use the supernatural for it's own ends and make alliances with evil people (like Stalin?) for the greater good. And yet here we do, Angel siring him to save the crew and help the war effort and then letting him and Spike go, responsible for the deaths of all they killed in the meantime. An obvious but powerful allegory to AI joining WR&H. It's a tribute to the power of the writing that there is no easy answer to all this, we don't know who's right or wrong, sometimes there are no easy options.
When Fred complains that Knox messed up an experiment Wes emphatically agrees that Knox is unreliable.

Know the face, different character; 6 Camden Toy who plays the Prince of Lies was also Gnarl and the Turok-Han on Buffy.

Parking garages;
9,

Guantanamo Bay;
Need info? Torture a Nazi! See Captain subtext. Lawson comments that you win wars by not doing whatever it takes but by doing what's right. Tell that to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or all those folks in Eastern Europe we sold down the river to Stalin.

Buffy characters on Angel; 17
Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony. POSSIBLY The First Evil, Andrew.

What the fanficcers thought; .
Plenty of stuff regarding Angel's missing years as indeed we also see in the comics with Angel during the Great War also travelling on a German U-boat and bumping into a Watcher called Colonel Wyndham-Pryce on the Western front.

Missing scenes;

Questions and observations;
Maybe Buffy's theory about Rasputin wasn't so far off the mark after all? So if you get sired by a vampire with a soul you're still evil but you feel guilty about it? Does sound like a rough deal. Gunn begins to demonstrate his loss of his newly acquired abilities. Spike sings the contemporary British National Anthem 'God save the king' (which would be George the 6th). Good to see he and Angel are still patriots even if they are undead. It seems the Initiative have been around in one form or another for a long time (like Torchwood?). What a shame they couldn't have named some of the goverment men Mulder or called an agent who chainsmokes Morely cigarettes Spender, that would have been so cool. Like The Master and Khakistos the Prince of Lies seems to be gradually devolving into a Turok-Han, the older a vamp get's the more that seems to happen to them. Note when Spike is first captured by the Intiative in season 4 of Buffy he speculates that it's the Nazis who are behind it, stemming from his experience here. Note we have Angel still in his recluse phase (as we'll see in Have you now or ever have been?) and not yet a crusader against evil, he just wants to brood and only does the mission as he feels responsible for Spike. Spike's small boys delight in seeing a submarine once against casts him in the little brother role to Angel(us). No Harmony, who get's to clock off on time on a Friday night unlike the executives.

What is it about the Nazi era that still fascinates us half a century later? History TV channels screen so many documentaries on the Nazis they may as well be called the Nazi channel. Practically every popular TV/film series will do some form of Nazi themed ep in it's time (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Last Crusade, The Boys from Brazil, Bear Island, The X-files, The X-men, Xena, Battlestar Galactica, Tarzan, Wonder Woman, The Odessa File, The Sum of All Fears, The New Avengers, The Tomorrow People, Dr Who, Lois and Clark, even Father Ted off the top of my head). Politicians and the media regularly hurl the term Nazi at each other as an insult. Even Quentin Tarantino feels the need to do a WW2 film with Hitler as a character. New books on the subject are published every week.
Communism is arguably an even more repellent regime, Nazi Germany for all it's abhorent evil never had to prevent it's population leaving in peacetime. The individual in Nazi Germany actually enjoyed more freedom than they did under Stalin. And he certainly killed far more people. Yet you walk down the street with a hammer and sickle no one bats an eye. Try it with a Swastika?
So what's the fascination? Is it that they are just so out and out the epitome of comic book bad guys? As Mitchell and Webb pointed out they even have black uniforms with skulls on them (communism is extremely humanitarian in theory, it just falls down in practice). WW2 is often referred to as the last good war, the clearly morally superior allies against the indisputibly evil axis (although with Stalin on our side you wonder if that's actually true?). Is it their larger than life villainy with hints of sci-fi and fantasy, inventing ahead of their time wonder weapons with extreme (mad?) science and fascinated with the occult?
Could it be as simple as how they dress? As Gabrielle once said 'Some guys (and girls) just love the leather'. Certainly Spike seems to think so. Lost count of the number of fanfics (and even lovingly crafted fan art web comics) where Wonder Woman becomes a Nazi sex breeding slave, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. An essential part of each fic is the modification/fetishfication of her outfit, red, white and blue, stars and stripes, go-go boots and lasso becoming lots of black and red leather/PVC, swastikas, spike-heeled black thigh boots and whip (don't worry she always overcomes in the end, her children rebel and rescue her or everyone falls in love with her and let's her go etc. My favourite is where she turns around at the end and goes "Well actually I'm jewish" and that's pretty much the end for the third reich, the regime is dismantled and she and Hitler set up house in rural Austria where he quietly lives out his life as an obscure painter). Is it just the power of their instantly recognisable iconography (kinda tough on the Swastika which is used in Hinduism, Bhudism and even by the ancient Greeks, actually makes sense for Amazon Wonder Woman to have them on her outfit). Think of Star Wars with it's serried ranks of identical 'stormtroopers' and Darth Vaders blacker than black futuristic Gestapo gear or the Daleks with their screeching hysterical voices and obsession with racial purity.
Or is the idea that it could ever happen again, all those Nazis who fled to South America or Southern Ireland with their stolen fortunes and technology, just biding their time for their revenge.
Why are we still obsessed with it all? Will we ever put it behind us? Or is it similar to our fascination with vampires? Power, seduction and the purity of evil? Do we find them sexy? (certainly Max Mosely does) Of course Angel gives us Nazi Vampires so we have both combined not to mention The Scourge with all their Nazi imagery.

Marks out of 10; 8/10, a good ep, pretty much 'In the bottle' or should that be 'In the sub'. With Angel's reduced budget this year they tend to go for a lot eps just confined to the WR&H set (Harm's Way, Life of the Party) or other stuff that's lying around the studio.
 
This episode is my least favorite out of the entire Buffyverse. 😛
It was just really boring.
Maybe because of the whole submarine shtick, seeing as I'm not very history-savy.

I'm one of those who absolutely adore Season 5, and I think it was a really weak ep in compared to the others.
 
A
Adam
Also my lest favourite episode...
I remember when this first aired I fell asleep. Last night I rewatched it, first time since it aired and what happened I feel asleep. Clearly not a episode I like. My 2nd worse of S5. Later I will be watching the last 20 minutes or so if I don't fall asleep again.
 
M
Ms.Trick
Haha, you know what to watch when you can't sleep then! :D
and I think Eyal Podell does a great job as Lawson, he really looks like the naive all American poster boy (you could imagine him in Everwood or One Tree Hill or something) who is graphically confronted with the harsh realities of life.

Absolutely, that guy did a great job in this episode!

The episode in itself is not one of my favorites. I don't know, I'm not sure how much I love the whole "oh the government is watching vampires asking them for help if they seemed de-fanged bit"
That was always a tough pill to swallow for me.

And as much as I love Spike in this ep I do think his presence on that submarine was a tad silly, what are the odds y'know. Oh how convenient that Spike just happen to be there too, without Dru, now that JM is a cast regular.

Also the fact that Lawson would be less of a vampire cause he was sired by someone with a soul seemed far-fetched to me. I don't see how that would matter.

I do however love the "Prince of Lies", he's very Nosferatu to me and he cracks me up 🙂


Communism is arguably an even more repellent regime, Nazi Germany for all it's abhorent evil never had to prevent it's population leaving in peacetime. The individual in Nazi Germany actually enjoyed more freedom than they did under Stalin. And he certainly killed far more people. Yet you walk down the street with a hammer and sickle no one bats an eye. Try it with a Swastika?
So what's the fascination?

To this I'd say "What happens in Russia, stays in Russia". I think in general people today are more well-read when it comes to the Nazi regim than the Soviet Union. I mean during my school years we would have "Holocaust information days" and whatnot, but if you asked someone to tell you about the Cheka and what they did people would scratch their heads in confusion.

It seems that generally communism is saved for higher studies or if you go out and read about it yourself.
 
M
Marisa
the prince of lies cracked me up as well.
This wasn't my favorite episode, but I didn't think it was horrible. Of course, I am a WWII buff so I am biased. But regardless, it's good to see an Angel flashback that didn't involve him with long hair and a bad Irish accent. And the Prince of Lies rocked my world.
 
I wasn't a fan of this episode. Seemed like such a bad mark on an otherwise awesome season. I remember being so bored during the first watch that I started doing other things and only realised it was over when my boyfriend yelled out from the bedroom to turn it off because the menu music was on repeat and driving him crazy!

I would probably give it 6/10. (And that's being generous!)
 
Why do the vampires have to keep everyone alive to run the ship? Surely they can just hop out and rise to the surface? And why does Angel, on learning that Lawson has an ace up his sleeve, let him go free to take him to the office? Why doesn't he just tie him up, beat him for information and just go find the people he's got hanging? Where on Earth is Drusilla? Why did the Germans recruit Spike, a Brit?

Yeah, I think this episode may be the dullest 42 minutes of the Buffyverse, not to mention it doesn't make any sense. 2nd worst Angel episode after The Girl in Question.
 
I really didn't like that episode, it was just...pointless. Seemed like the script was very quickly written.
Kind of the worst episode of Angel :/
 
One of the worst episodes of Angel ever, in my opinion.. it's tied with the episode with the Mexican wrestlers, wtf was that about?!
 
brinkster130
brinkster130
lol, I thought the same thing when I watched that wrestlers episode.
I agree, this episode was really boring. I wanted Spike to come in and see Lawson and save the day. That would have been more interesting IMO
 
I agree, this episode was really boring. I wanted Spike to come in and see Lawson and save the day. That would have been more interesting IMO

I liked this one, it was entertaining. First Impressions and Shroud of Rhmon still the worst ever Angel eps
 
What's so bad about First Impressions? I thought it was a good episode that explored Gunn's character a bit more.

(BTW, I'd say that this episode ties with The Girl in Question for the worst Angel episode).
 
What's so bad about First Impressions? I thought it was a good episode that explored Gunn's character a bit more.

(BTW, I'd say that this episode ties with The Girl in Question for the worst Angel episode).

Yes, The Girl In Question was annoying beyond belief!

But honestly most of the episodes of season 5 were really awful, IMO.
 
Watched this episode today. Definitely not one of my favorites, but I can see why so many people don't like it. I wouldn't, however, skip it on a re-watch. After watching it for the first time, I've realized how underrated this episode is. Just a few things I wanna get off my chest...

Spike with black hair? Please...don't ever do that again!
Spike is hilarious in this episode!
Lawson's story was quite interesting.
I'm glad I finally understand how the Initiative started haha, always wondered about that.
Prince of Lies was my favorite this episode!

Overall, I give this episode a solid 7/10
 
This wasn't my favorite episode, but I didn't think it was horrible. Of course, I am a WWII buff so I am biased. But regardless, it's good to see an Angel flashback that didn't involve him with long hair and a bad Irish accent.

Wow, amen to that last statement!

But really, other than fill us in a bit on what Angel was doing during WWII, show us the beginnings of the Initiative, and have Camden Toy doing another awesome demon, there really wasn't much to it. It doesn't progress the overall story arc of the season, nor does it really give us further insights into Angel's character and struggle. And maybe it's worse coming between some really good eps- Damage & You're Welcome before it, and Smile Time/Hole in the World/Shells afterward. I can't believe I am saying this, but I think Beer Bad is (barely) better. At least that had some funny parts.

I did feel bad for Lawson- it was sad when he asked Angel if he had a soul, too. I almost felt Angel should've told him about Spike's fight for his soul, so he could've had the option of trying that. But, he had 3 friends hanging by wires, so he had other things on his mind.
 
I really enjoyed this episode- but I tend to enjoy all the episodes with flashbacks that fill us in on Angel and Spikes history.
 
It was an OK eps. I find all that WW2 stuff and what not beyond boring so I was let down when I read that a WW2 Angel eps was going to show (back when season 5 was airing it's first time round)

I also dislike how Spike is there. I feel that having someone in the main cast can be a bad thing seeing as they do be wrote into scenes that make no sense or are plain stupid.

I loved the Prince of Lies though. He was cool. For a Vampire so old he should be very powerful, but he clearly lost his mind as he aged and just seems like a crazy old man xD
 
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