Angel 5x03

NortheastOfMostOfYa · 10-16-2003, 05:16 PM

Did any of you see Angel last night? The featured guest star was none other than John "Dr. Phlox" Billingsley. As seems to be the usual with him, he stole just about every scene he was in, playing one of the W&H lab geeks who winds up having ulterior motives.

Sadly, his character will not be a recurring one, as he was last seen being hauled off for dinner (in a literal sense).

Otherwise, I found the episode a bit of a letdown, as (for the most part) it was back to featuring just the Angel Investigations principles in a fairly routine story about helping a woman bitten by a werewolf (who becomes one herself). The W&H angle was mostly just used as an investigative tool. In the past, this work would have been done by Fred surfing the web or Wesley looking through his books. There were lost opportunities to refer to past Buffy/Angel history that featured Oz. In fact, when Angel was fighting the first werewolf at the beginning, I couldn't help but wonder why Angel wouldn't have worried that it could have been Oz he was knocking off (though you knew it wouldn't be since Seth Green won't go within 10 miles of a Joss Whedon set anymore). And couldn't the bad guy's SWAT team have been that fired W&H team, cropping up to cause problems again? And letting the Billingsley character be hauled off to become a meal - granted, he was a bad guy, but does he deserve to become a main course for it? Finally, not much Spike - just a few bits that bridge his story over the episode, no real involvement.

Next week's episode actually has a parental advisory for graphic violence attached to it as apparently we get to go and explore Hell itself. Nothing gets folks to watch like a good parental advisory, eh?

Brikar · 10-17-2003, 07:49 PM

I thought it was pretty good, but seemed to serve more as an introduction for what might become a recurring character. That was the sense I got from it, and if she doesn't come back, then my opinion might be lowered.

Why won't Seth Green come back? I must've missed something...

As for Angel letting Phlox get eaten... he seems to be a bit darker this season so far. A lot of people have been asking which character Wolfram and Hart will get to first, and I'm seriously thinking: What if it's Angel?

NortheastOfMostOfYa · 10-17-2003, 08:15 PM

The gist of it is that Seth's character OZ was supposed to continue to have a role in the series, but Seth either got too busy or became too big a star (either to himself, his agent, or Joss) to keep doing it. The specifics vary depending on who you ask but it apparently adds up to Seth not doing Angel or Buffy after BVS season 4 (or was it 5?).

Brikar · 10-19-2003, 01:45 AM

The impression I got from the interviews on the Season 4 DVDs was that they just didn't know what to do with the character after a certain point, so they got rid of him instead of having him stick around and be incredibly pointless.

10-16-2003, 05:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
NortheastOfMostOfYa Senior Member Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: New Hamster Posts: 162	Did any of you see Angel last night? The featured guest star was none other than John "Dr. Phlox" Billingsley. As seems to be the usual with him, he stole just about every scene he was in, playing one of the W&H lab geeks who winds up having ulterior motives. Sadly, his character will not be a recurring one, as he was last seen being hauled off for dinner (in a literal sense). Otherwise, I found the episode a bit of a letdown, as (for the most part) it was back to featuring just the Angel Investigations principles in a fairly routine story about helping a woman bitten by a werewolf (who becomes one herself). The W&H angle was mostly just used as an investigative tool. In the past, this work would have been done by Fred surfing the web or Wesley looking through his books. There were lost opportunities to refer to past Buffy/Angel history that featured Oz. In fact, when Angel was fighting the first werewolf at the beginning, I couldn't help but wonder why Angel wouldn't have worried that it could have been Oz he was knocking off (though you knew it wouldn't be since Seth Green won't go within 10 miles of a Joss Whedon set anymore). And couldn't the bad guy's SWAT team have been that fired W&H team, cropping up to cause problems again? And letting the Billingsley character be hauled off to become a meal - granted, he was a bad guy, but does he deserve to become a main course for it? Finally, not much Spike - just a few bits that bridge his story over the episode, no real involvement. Next week's episode actually has a parental advisory for graphic violence attached to it as apparently we get to go and explore Hell itself. Nothing gets folks to watch like a good parental advisory, eh? __________________ From the state where death is mentioned on its license plate "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"

10-17-2003, 07:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	I thought it was pretty good, but seemed to serve more as an introduction for what might become a recurring character. That was the sense I got from it, and if she doesn't come back, then my opinion might be lowered. Why won't Seth Green come back? I must've missed something... As for Angel letting Phlox get eaten... he seems to be a bit darker this season so far. A lot of people have been asking which character Wolfram and Hart will get to first, and I'm seriously thinking: What if it's Angel? __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

10-17-2003, 08:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
NortheastOfMostOfYa Senior Member Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: New Hamster Posts: 162	The gist of it is that Seth's character OZ was supposed to continue to have a role in the series, but Seth either got too busy or became too big a star (either to himself, his agent, or Joss) to keep doing it. The specifics vary depending on who you ask but it apparently adds up to Seth not doing Angel or Buffy after BVS season 4 (or was it 5?). __________________ From the state where death is mentioned on its license plate "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!"

10-19-2003, 01:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	The impression I got from the interviews on the Season 4 DVDs was that they just didn't know what to do with the character after a certain point, so they got rid of him instead of having him stick around and be incredibly pointless. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

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