posted by [identity profile] gobi-rex.livejournal.com at 08:55pm on 22/01/2004
After only one viewing, my predominant thought was that this episode may be another Restless. Actually it's kind of a pity we don't have more time to analyze it until the next installment airs.

You've made some very interesting points, RevDorothy. I'm too burnt out to formulate any coherent reactions right now, which is a pity.

Yet I can't resist and comment on your A.I. reference.

The blue fairy thing kind of set my teeth on edge, but that maybe been because it reminded me of "A.I.", a movie which pissed me off through shameless manipulation and hollowness.

So true. I had great expectations for that film, but Mr. Spielberg did something very hideous to it. I was ready to leave the theater about two thirds through and stayed only because of my friend. Among other things, the story dragged on for too long and the whole aliens and frozen in ice bit was atrociously saccharine. (Its only redeeming quality was the Jude Law eye candy.)
 
posted by [identity profile] revdorothyl.livejournal.com at 07:34pm on 23/01/2004
As I was walking to campus today, I realized that the word I SHOULD have used to describe "A.I." was 'soul-less', because it settled for shallow sentimentality and shameless manipulation again and again. (Though Jude Law WAS very pretty!)

I've been conversing with some fellow fans in Real Life, and now I'm tending toward the belief (or hope, anyway) that Lindsey is really GOOD and is just using these Machiavellian tactics (and the truly evil and therefore expendable Eve) in order to "wean" Angel and Co. from the "corporate teat" by 'souring the milk', as it were (making the Senior Partners think maybe they shouldn't try to hold on to Angel, 'cause he's not who they thought he was after all, and holding up new-heroic-model Spike as a mirror and reminder of who they all used to be, before their pact with the devil). I like that better than the idea that Lindsey is really evil, anyway.

Furthermore, a friend suggested that the whole "Buffy-goldfish-quote-soul" connection was actually all about the original context for Buffy's remark -- comparing goldfish to children (sort of). Therefore, what it really means in Angel's vision is that his soul is dead (and flushable) because he has symbolically killed his own child (having taken away Connor's original identity and memories in order to create a "better" but false identity and life for his son, and having also taken away the memory of who Connor had been from his own closest "family" members). He's empty, therefore, because of the whole memory-wipe decision he made at the end of last season, and nothing will be truly right with him again until he at least reverses the memory wipe as far as Wes, Fred, and Gunn are concerned. Interesting, no?
 
posted by [identity profile] gobi-rex.livejournal.com at 06:55pm on 24/01/2004
Hmmm. Your Lindsey theory is intriguing. I still wonder about his motivations and especially about what happened after he took off in Season 2. I agree that Lindsey being 'good' or at least not truly evil is more interesting. The bed scene in the last episode makes me more convinced that Eve is not the main player here. I really hope that Lindsey is using her and it's not the other way around.

Re: the goldfish remark. Season 3 is probably the only season that I don't have firmly committed to memory (well, along with Season 1). I looked it up in Vrya's dialogue database and suddenly the goldfish analogy makes sense in relation to Angel and the mind wipe(the initial analogy, mentioned by Fred (I think) was goldfish=soul). I really hope this means the writers will follow through on the mind wipe issue.

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