5.9 Harm’s Way
written by Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft; directed by Vern Gillum
Of Shoes and ‘Ships
This episode’s slight and unconvincing plot, the work of the team that
gave us
“Unleashed,” is the pretext for a tour of the designer-shoe underclass
of
Wolfram and Hart--the secretaries and the personal assistants:
predominantly
women, dressed to the nines, a subculture with a strict pecking order
based on
their bosses’ position with the firm.
Despite the intro--a parody of a smarmy and blatantly self-serving
employee
motivational video (doubtless the work of Lorne’s division) that gives
W &
H’s history and asserts that W&H’s influence extends to Yoyodyne (Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems is the
evil Red
Lectroid company from Buckaroo
Banzai), Weyland-Yutani (the evil
Corporation from the Alien movies) and Newscorp (the
[actual] parent company of Fox, that runs The Simpsons, that
also takes shots at Newscorp)--corporate life at W & H can be
nasty,
brutish, and short, as Eli from Accounting learns: called to Angel’s
office,
for praise, he thinks, he’s summarily beheaded for his off-hours hobby
of
dismembering virgins. Read: the corporation has life and death
authority over
your private life. It’s more true than it is an amusingly macabre
exaggeration.
Harmony is much troubled by this--not least because she hasn’t been
happy in
her work herself. As Angel’s personal assistant, she has first dibs on
the
microwave and is, in theory, the Queen Bee of the clerical underclass.
But both
the underclass and the upper echelon persist in ignoring her. Other
secretaries--pardon, assistants--barely acknowledge her attempts to
join in
their backbiting chat and romantic speculations about their “betters.”
And when
Harmony offers well researched information about the demon feud W&H
is
attempting to arbitrate, Wes says he’s glad she’s in the meeting:
they’ll need
to order lunch. The camel she orders from the caterer, to be
slaughtered by
Angel as hors deuvers for the demon summit, doesn’t go over all that
well,
either. The only exception to the strong oppressing the weak seems to
be Lorne,
who makes a point of calling attention to the contributions of his
aide, Danny,
in front of the Big Boss. There’s nobody to perform that service for
Harmony.
Her attempted contributions are either unnoticed or ignored.
Seen from below, Angel is more than usually bearish: impatient,
complaining,
finding fault, ignoring Harmony except when something’s wrong, slamming
his
door in her face, and beheading transgressors against his “Zero
tolerance
policy.” As he puts it grimly in the personnel video, “You don’t kill
and we
don’t kill you.” The following attempt at a smile is anything but
convincing.
It’s been suggested in discussion that this whole episode is subtly
skewed from
Harmony’s viewpoint--we’re being shown people, not as they are, but as
Harmony
sees them. That would account for Angel coming over pretty much as a
scowling
ogre.
As Fred says in excuse for Angel’s grumpiness, the CEO has a lot on his
mind. There’s
the demon summit W & H has been invited to preside over by demon
activist
Tobias (Toby) Dupree, each murderous clan sticklers for minute details
of
protocol: the original feud began over the improper usage of a fork. As
petty
as who gets first crack at the microwave? Angel is trying, with a
conspicuous
lack of success, to learn the languages of the demon races concerned,
presumably to have some independent knowledge of what’s going on
without
relying solely on Gunn’s services as a translator--apparently knowledge
of
several demon languages was a part of Gunn’s brain boost. Angel still
bears the
marks of his losing all-out fight with Spike over which of them would
be the
souled vamp who drank from the Cup of Perpetual Mountain Dew, er,
Torment. And
he has no satisfaction at getting rid of Spike because, after a couple
days’
bender to celebrate his corporeality, Spike announces his intention of
seeking
out Buffy in the south of France.
Perhaps couple of footnotes are in order here. Harmony’s nattering on
about her
wish to be taken to France was the final straw when Spike staked her,
and they
broke up, in Buffy
the Vampire
Slayer. So there’s a certain
irony in his intending to meet Buffy there. And per Angel, long ago,
vamps
don’t like air travel because it’s nearly impossible to protect
themselves from
daylight on a plane. So Spike has tickets on a liner--a ship. Get it?
Fans
invested in a particular relationship, in a series, are called
‘Shippers. So
Spike is to embark on a ship for France, to see Buffy. Be patient: this
has a
point.
The immediate cause of Harmony’s distress, however, is finding in her
bed a guy
she picked up in a bar. She can’t remember his name and believes he
told her he
was an astronaut. He’s dead…of a vampire bite. The rest of the story
follows Harmony’s
attempts both to evade the consequences of killing the guy and to find
out more
about the manner of his death. Her distress becomes acute when she
finds the
guy was Tobias Dupree--the demon activist--who’s being autopsied by
Fred in the
Science Lab (Wolfram & Hart apparently owns the L.A.P.D.).
Fred, who was doing the gal bonding thing with Harmony when Harmony
noticed and
picked up Dupree, soon knows and suspects too much. Harmony slugs her
and
stuffs her in a closet—the previous fate, for similar reasons, of Rudy,
the
blood tester, and Lorne. Though frantic, Harmony is surprisingly
resourceful:
she notices that the wound would have to have been inflicted by a
“right
biting” vampire (she’s a leftie) and soon realizes that her testing
positive for
ingestion of human blood means that her thermos of animal blood in the
break
room fridge was adulterated. It’s a frame! She accuses Lorne’s aide,
more or
less at random, until the actual culprit speaks up: Tamika, her former
neighbor
in the steno/typing pool, whom Harmony bumped into in the break room in
the
opening of the episode. Naturally, Harmony doesn’t even remember her
name.
Envious of Harmony’s rise in the grand scheme of things, Tamika is also
a vamp
and has set out to undermine her and get her job. They fight…with
chopsticks.
Fun. Harmony dusts Tamika in the middle of the summit and is then
required to
explain herself to Angel and the decloseted three.
The real point of these gyrations is not the murder, but identifying
who and
what is “in,” and therefore who and what is “out.” Spike, having won
all the
marbles, has declared himself “out” and left, willingly relinquishing
the
spoils--the Shanshu--to Angel, to pursue the one contested prize he
wants:
Buffy. Harmony, who believes herself to have been popular in high
school, and
is seen in “all the important meetings,” is nevertheless the outest of
the out,
desperately clinging to her job and its status, seeking approval and
validation
from those around her, because everything else she’s tried has failed.
Angel,
here viewed as the pinnacle of the corporate status ladder, is besieged
and
beset even if it doesn’t look that way from Harmony’s perspective. Not
understanding a word of what’s going on, he’s dependent on Gunn’s
brain-boost
translations--not all of them complimentary to Angel--and Harmony’s
vamp
catfight with Tamika, to resolve the deadlocked screaming demon summit
(having
had a blood sacrifice, they’re happy, even though they don’t know
dusted Tamika
was in fact the guilty party whose death they demanded).
Rather a failure as a murder mystery, the episode is a shrewd
examination of
corporate mores and folkways, the “dress for success” subculture, with
its
designer shoes and non-tacky perfume, strict hierarchies, real and
perceived
inequalities, backbiting and gossip, dubious morals (Angel is hosting
the demon
summit not to end the hostilities but for the prestige), and
self-promotion
(vide the video), with “the littlest vampire” (as Spike once termed
her) as the
oddly innocent and unicorn-loving center of it all.
Angel contends Harmony should have come to him. Suuure, after the
beheading of
Eli, the failed blood test, the Zero tolerance policy, and the body
inexplicably in her bed. Suuure, she would. Harmony admits making
mistakes but
protests that it’s not as if she had a soul--she has to try a lot
harder. She
offers to go clean out her desk; Angel merely tells her to bring them
all some
coffee. Nobody is smiling here.
The ending of this episode is decidedly odd. Returning to the same bar
as
before, one frequented (Fred has said) by many W&H people,
Harmony’s
one-woman pity party is interrupted by Spike, of all people. He’s
clearly come
looking for her, so the presumption is that someone--probably Fred--has
told
him the whole story and told him where to look for her. And instead of
being
typically “paralyzed by not caring very much,” Spike has come to listen
to her
story and console her. The reason he gives for not leaving, as planned,
is that
“Life’s an ever-lovin’ bitch, innit?” and continues, “I was on my way.
Had a
boat ticket, an’ all. Then I put a little thinking into it. A man can’t
go out
in a bloody blaze of glory, saving the world, and then show up three
months
later tumbling off a cruise ship in the south of France. I mean I’d
love to,
don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to top an exit like that…. I expect
Buffy’d
be happy enough to see me…I gave up my life for her and the world. And
if I
show up now, flesh and bone, my grand finale won’t hold much weight.
All of it
won’t matter.” Harmony says she understands about not mattering. Spike
insists
she matters to someone and, when Harmony responds hopefully, contends
she
mattered to Tamika…who hated her. Thus reassured, she and Spike
cheerfully
raise their glasses and drink.
It would seem that ‘ship has sailed.
Nan Dibble
1/15/04
Acknowledgement: As always, I am indebted for the gladly shared
insights, wit,
and general snarkiness of my fellow S’cubies: the members of the
Soulful Spike
Society.
MEMORABLE LINES:
Angel: If you don’t kill, we won’t kill you (nervous smile).
Announcer (over picture of blazing pyre): No more employee sacrifices!
Secretary 1 (of her boss): So then, 2 a.m., my boss calls me, wants me
to
search her car for--and get this--a stray Vicodin.
Secretary 2 (incredulously): Shut up!
Secretary 1: I mean, making me drop off her stool sample was one thing.
But
this! I am so asking for a raise!
Spike: Here’s the thing: I could use a little walking around money--How
‘bout a
few hundred?
Angel: How about NO?
Spike: Typical. You cheap sod.
Spike: Any message for Buffy?
Angel: Tell her you’re a moron.
Spike (to Fred): I want you to know…. I mean, all the work you put in,
trying
to cure me of the ghosties--
Fred: I didn’t do anything.
Spike: Oh, you did! You believed in…. You tried. I won’t forget that.
(It was
Buffy who said she believed in him; Spike apparently still reserves
that line
strictly for her.)
Fred: You’re welcome.
Harmony: Oh, what--I don’t get a goodbye just because I went crazy and
tried to
rip your throat out while we were having sex?
Spike: Keep it simple, Harm. It suits you.
Harmony (to Fred): I just wish I were more like you! Except for, you
know, the
part about being all into science…and not having a lot up front.
Harmony (to Fred): We’re totally bonding! We’re like gal pals, this is
awesome!
You can teach me about life, and I can teach you how to dress better!
Gunn: (to Vinje leader on speakerphone, in Vinje): All is well, O
powerful one.
The summit can proceed.
Vinje leader: Killer must be found! Killer must be punished!
Gunn: You have our oath.
Angel (trying to speak Vinje): Be disemboweled.
Vinje leader (shouting): Filthy man whore! How dare you! You--
Gunn: He meant, Be patient. The whore man is a novice in your tongue
and makes
foolish errors. We make fun of him, yes?
Tamika (to Harmony): You want to know the first thing I’m going to do
when I
get your desk? Smash all those stupid, ugly-ass unicorns!
Hmmm moments:
Harmony never noticed, in five weeks (OK, 4 ½ ) that her neighbor in
the
steno/typing pool was also a vamp. Tamika ascribes this to the “tacky”
perfume
Harmony wears. With a vamp’s excellent sense of smell and considering
how
crucial it is for vamps to be able to tell who’s human (food) and who’s
not, I
find this a bit…odiferous.
Tamika’s revealing the details of her nefarious plot as she and Harmony
fight.
A Dr.
No
moment perhaps. Not terribly convincing.
Harmony accuses Tamika not merely of adulterating her thermos but
“filling” it
with human blood. Wouldn’t a vamp taste the difference immediately?
Hmmm.
Spike’s reasons for failing to go to France seem particularly lame. He
knows,
in closing the Hellmouth, he’s performed the best deed of his unlife.
So he
apparently rationalizes that anything after would be anti-climax. Just
showing
up on Buffy’s doorstep, again undead flesh and bone, would diminish the
impact
of his heroic death and make it no longer matter. So he prefers the
impact of
his sacrifice to his love for Buffy? Huh? This is marginally persuasive
only if
one assumes Spike believes that Buffy truly doesn’t love him in a way,
or to a
degree, he considers meaningful. Then why was he so eager to go in the
first
place? Major hmmm here.
Miscellaneous:
There’s been some question whether Rudy, with his blood testing cart,
is played
by the same actor as Numero Cinco, the mail cart guy. Apparently not:
Rudy was
played by Christopher Gehrmane; Cinco was played by Danny Mora.
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