Damaged Goods – Angel 5:11

review by PattiT

 

This week's episode of Angel was "Damage", written by the dream team of Drew Goddard , who gave us "Selfless", "Conversations with Dead People", "Lies My Parents Told Me", and "Lineage" and Steven S. DeKnight, who wrote "Deep Down", "Apocalypse Nowish", "Hellbound", and "Destiny". Put 'em together and what have you got? Bibbity Bobbity Woo Hoo magic!

 

We've wondered on the S3 board if ME could possibly have a spy lurking among us, because it seems that if we wonder about something soon an episode will reference it. That never seemed truer than now. Questions we have all been asking and debating were answered or addressed this week, including:

 

 

Dropped threads were picked up and skillfully woven back into our story, beloved names we have longed to hear were spoken, and long argued issues can now be put to rest. (Well, it COULD happen!)

 

Damage was one of those episodes that barely let me move or breathe. There was a new laugh or gasp or wince every minute. I laughed out loud and clapped my hands during Andrew's scenes – I didn't realize how much I had grown to love that character. Just a little later I was moaning, "Oh no! Don't let it be Spike who did that!" Last week we had the pain of seeing Angel being humiliated sans shoes – this week I for one flinched in horror to see Spike, sans hands. (I'm sorry - it had to be said.) And then there was Spike, in the basement again, in chains again, his eyes so clearly revealing his soul.

 

In Damage, we were shown once more how completely Spike and Angel differ from each other in personality and method as they each try to find and capture a psychotic slayer who has escaped from a mental institution after murdering several of the staff. Angel, as is his style, studies the situation, thinks it through, considers, and then acts. Spike on the other hand, 'the hero of the people', does what he always does, which is to leap into the fray and rely on fist and fangs to win the conclusion. And as often happens, the conclusion he leaps to is wrong.

 

Damage…we see so much of it, and it's so widespread. Who fits into the category of the damaged in this episode? Pretty much everyone.

 

Physically, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, morally….the potential for "Good" of almost everyone involved has been damaged.

 

But that's not the end of it. We haven't seen the end, but we are given some hope, some relief, some healing.

 

We are led to believe for awhile that Spike was the one who murdered Dana's family and tortured her for months. It was a flashback moment to "Never Leave Me" (another Drew Goddard episode) in which we were told that Spike HAD tortured girls Dawn's age….we know he has killed hundreds. But to our relief Spike wasn't the one who hurt THIS girl.

 

We see him horribly mutilated and we've seen THAT happen to beloved characters before….but this time, the resources of Wolfram & Hart are available and we see him begin to heal. Thankfully, Spike's hands were also available, because we already have one character with evil hand issues.

 

We see what we've BEEN seeing between Angel and Spike – taunts and snarls and seeming dislike. But in the end, Angel comes to Spike's rescue, returning the favor from last week. And then we get what so many of us have been waiting for….

Angel and Spike actually talk.

 

Spike admits, "For a demon, I never did think that much about the nature of evil. I just threw myself in. I thought it was a party. I liked the rush…never did look back at the victims."

 

Angel admits, "I couldn't take my eyes off them. I was in it for the evil. It was everything to me. It was art."

 

No, it's not the end of the damage, but it's a good start.

 

 

Notes and Quotes:

 

Hard to pick my favorite lines among the many gems, but these stand out and they are all from Andrew:

 

"Check the view screen Uhura, there are 12 slayers behind me and not one of them has ever dated you."

 

"Your senses are as honed as your Viggo Mortenson pectorals"

 

"Giles has been training me. I am faster and stronger and 82% more manly than the last time……EEEEEEEEK!

 

and of course…

 

"It's like Gandalf the White resurrected from the pit of the Balrog and more beautiful than ever! He's alive, Frodo, he's alive!'


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