Angel - 1x16 "The Ring" FULL REACTION

I watched Angel long after Buffy. When I watched this episode I had just seen the similar episode in season 1 of Torchwood. Both well executed but not particularly engaging.

Steve Maxey

oh joy, it's the obligatory "Look how awesome our protagonist is!" episode. These ep are almost never done well, and it feels like the writers couldn't think of anything, so they just decided to whack us over the head with a clunky story which is designed to remind us what an awesome dude Angel is. For me, it has the exact opposite effect. If I wanted to watch Spartacus: Blood and Sand, I'd watch that. I came here for Whedon, and except for the awesomeness that is Lilah Morgan, a few sweet/funny/awesome Wesley moments, and the collective "Oh crap, did we do more harm than good?" moment at the end, this one just seems like a waste of time. It's marginally better than "She," but not by much, and skipping it on re-watches is a good life-choice. This is our Praying Mantis, our Puppet show.

Jean Olenick

Despite the hacky forced-to-fight trope (complete with the Big Bully who takes the Little Guy's food, and there Hero Who Won't Kill) I still like this one some because it pushes the Wolfram & Hart plot a little, and because I think of it as a Wesley and Cordy episode. They're charming together.

Rob Z

Jack: "I remember when you learnt to fight. It was between recess ... and lunch." Angel [Grabs jack by the throat]: "Applesauce, bitch!"

Moon Logic

This one isn't a fan favorite but I've always thoroughly enjoyed it.

Arianne Kay

Passion of the Nerd calls this one a candy episode. Like Band Candy, it isn't a great episode by any means, but enough entertaining stuff happens that it exists as like a "guilty pleasure" episode. I mostly agree with that. Also, another Wesley competence moment! They are happening more often now!

Second_Strike

Weird! I never liked this episode when it piloted but watching it today I really liked it and don't know why I hated it before 🤣

The slave fighting episode in genre TV goes back at least to original 60s Star Trek (The Gamesters of Triskelion) and before that for all I know. But the Buffyverse always makes tropes interesting. Was NOT expecting the brother on brother kill. I think Wolfram & Hart were here to show that even though we have this badass dude who would kill his own brother, he’s not willing to stand up to Wolfram & Hart. That subtly says something. I’m very much looking forward to the next one, but never assume something is great because I love it (hence no spoilers) because I love ‘Go Fish’.

Richard Lucas

This is one of my favorites, for several reasons. “Something’s going down tonight; something with the man.” Wesley proves his slickness when extracting information from underworld lowlifes. The slave fighting scenario has been used in several TV shows, including one that joins Angel amongst my big four favorite fantasy/action programs, HTLJ. So it’s a classic scenario here and one I personally really like.

Koz

I really like this episode and as you said, it's nice to see Angel being the one that needs saving for a change. I thought all 3 characters were great in this. Glad you enjoyed it.

Donna

Feels like most genre shows has to do a fight club/gladiator game episode at some point, and it's almost never interesting to me.

Thomas Hansen

my thoughts on this one is basically...meh

Elisa H.