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Angel: 4x3 Full Reaction

"The House Always Wins"

Angel: 4x3 Full Reaction

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I'm 100% with you on dark Wesley at this point in the series, though I've never been a big Wesley stan to begin with. Tbh, Wesley has always lowkey given creeper vibes lol, even back in Buffy.

Dante

I go to Vegas a lot so it’s fun watching this again and seeing all the changes from over the years! The Tropicana was imploded last year to make way for the new baseball stadium. The Mirage and its volcano are no more. It’s being remodeled into the Hard Rock. So many other places have changed too. Fremont Street is fun. I’ve done the zipline there. In real life, Fremont is downtown in the older Vegas section, whereas the Tropicana was on the furthest end of the strip near the airport. To see the characters run outside from the police onto Fremont is funny since it’s no where near the Tropicana. It’s always cool to see them film on location for a change. This season is definitely an interesting one. Some parts I love, some I don’t. I think a lot of stuff was happening behind the scenes during this season. Look forward to your reactions!

Whitney Mercer

As someone how is big time team dark Wesley, I have no idea if I was yet at this point in the season first time around. Maybe not, it was a long time ago. But I gotta say: I think Angel's olive branch an episode or two back was a lie. Angel wanted Cordelia back and he knew only Wes could help him, so he swallowed the fact that he hated Wesley's fucking guts in order to get what he needed. Angel hasn't forgiven Wesley at all, he just loves Cordelia more than he hates Wes. And Wes knew Angel's olive branch wasn't sincere, which is why he ignored it. For my money, anyways, YMMV.

Arlo Murphy

Also, so much of the buffyverse fandom tends to hold bias in favor of the flawed "exiled protector/fallen hero" adjacent archetypes. That or the "outsider" or " lone wolf" with a touch of "the wounded idealist" thrown in. Whichever archetype it is, these are the kinds of tragic hero/antiheros that tend to poll well with the buffyverse faithful. And Wesley had touches of them all.

Brandon Scott

I think you're misreading Wesleys gripe a little. If you'll remember, the only visit he got after Angel tried to kill him was Fred telling him in a less-than-empathetic way that the prophesy was fake as well as to never come back to the hotel again....the next was gun showing up when he needed help saving Fred (not being all that kind about it), and then we know they went to him to try to get his help when angel and cordy disappeared. They show up, ask for help, then disappear. I don't think for a second he was being cocky about saving angel. He did it because it needed to be done and he was the only one involved who could do it. We all have our biases and you're certainly entitled to yours. But that's the upshot of where I think Wesley is coming from. If it changes nothing for you that's totally valid and this disparity isn't hindering my enjoyment in watching your content in the least. You're awesome. I like hearing your perspectives especially when they conflict with mine. Keep being true to you and how you feel about things and the real ones here in the fandom will give you that space and continue to enjoy this ride with you.

Brandon Scott

Maybe you'd get the Wesley thing better on a second watch, i think it just has a lot to do with the character development and how amazing it's been (imo) even though it's now for the worse in a way. Also i think most of us who love this.. just find him hot lol which helps.

Billy Kearney

Guess Who's Back? Angel Investigations, that's who! Everyone's back in the city, back to take on the next big scary. They set out on a quest to find their path, and managed to put a whole bunch of people back on theirs, after having been taken off it by magic. Cool. It had to be an offense to the Powers That Be for that guy to hijack futures like that. Hey what about the A-holes that bought stolen destinies and were using them? They must be in bad shape right now. boo-fricken-hoo.

spikeysnack

I loooove Lilah too but not bc she's a "girlboss lawyer" like I feel like you are rooting for her kicking ass at her job as if that was a feminist move but it's really not. Feminism's goal is not to have women doing as many evil things as men do. Like I get it, rooting for the only woman in the workplace, I swear I get it. But you're not really supposed to earnestly root for her, like not to the point where you really don't like her having a relationship that might distract her from her EVIL work. You know what I mean? Like yes rooting for her is fun, but you're acting like it's a bad thing that she's distracted by this man when its really not in the grand scheme of things bc she does EVIL things and also it keeps things interesting bc if she just keeps climbing the corporate ladder with nothing in her way to slow her down it's gonna become old very soon.

madfem

Wesley of often considered one of the best character development in TV EVER so you're definitely on your own there

madfem

I'm always baffled when watching most American reactors at the number of references they don't understand, when I, as a non-American (and not English or Australian either) get most of them... (we're the same age) Plus you guys are college educated (I'm not), I can't even imagine if you weren't.

madfem

This season is a mystery to solve, which works seeing as they are a fighting crime detective agency. It's all in the details. Just go over the facts. All I can say.

Morgan Williams

He's still Wes, no matter how he's acting. I understand his mind set given what he's been through. He was treated like a villian by his friends, after having a near death experience by way of throat being slashed, and right after he was out of the woods Angel started it off by trying to kill him. He experienced a trauma that made him turn inside out...he's only human, it happens. He needs whatever he needs to do right now. Furthermore I think both Wesley and Lilah needed to let go as you said, and that's what they have found in each other, a release.

Morgan Williams

Imagine playing the destiny stock market.

Test User

You're right that Bugsy Siegel was a mobster, but more specifically for this episode he is the guy that is regarded as "making" Las Vegas. That's an exaggeration of course, but he did strongly influence the city's growth as a center for gambling in the mid-20th century. So Angel is essentially saying that he's been part of Las Vegas all along (Supported by all the other stories he tells about knowing people there). This was filmed at the real Tropicana casino. According to the rumor-mill, the casino let them use their real name and location despite being the villain because they figured that any publicity was good publicity. The Blue Man Group is a performance art group who do shows in full-body blue makeup. I've seen them live, it's An Experience. Here they're joking that two of them are demons instead of being in makeup, comparing it to Lorne pretending to be a person in makeup as well. The thing with the slot machine is a perfect example of the way that the Powers That Be are always shown working in "mysterious ways". Can't interfere too much, just gotta nudge the scales a little bit. The characters are almost always furious that the PTB don't do more, and wonder if they're even doing anything at all. This is just one of the first times that we actually see it happen.

JBK405

Totally agree on your rankings

Neill Shaughness

I don't think Wesley feels underappreciated or anything like that, he's the same Wesley as always, he is doing what he thinks it's right (which may not be the right thing always), he kidnapped Connor because he thought he was right, same in buffy when he wanted to take Faith to the council when she killed a man, he did not save Angel because he wants credit, he did it because he thinks that's the right thing to do. I think he just feels abandoned (by everyone, not just by Angel), and accepted Angel's forgiveness and understands he did wrong, but he hasn't been asked in back to the group, Cordelia didn't even check on him when she came back from her vacation with Groo, so I think he feels he doesn't owe the group anything and wants to fight the good fight, but in his own terms. I'm not saying that is the correct approach, but I certainly empathize a lot with how he's feeling.

Ernesto Viana

You should definitely check out the Blue Man group. They're a lot of fun.

Rod B

I wouldn't stress too much about not vibing with this season so far; my personal ranking is 5-3-2-4-1 and I don't think it's an uncommon one? It's not bad, but I'd say it's about on par with Buffy 4 for me. Gets good, some great stuff coming, [other things positive and negative I won't say to avoid colouring perception].

Jon D Arthur

Wesley was raised to be a Watcher by a father who would never praise or accept him. He immediately failed and had to reinvent himself as a "Rogue Demon Hunter"...which wasn't real for him. He started developing a sense of self but there was always his childhood and his own failures telling him it can't be that good. He can't be appreciated, he can't be loved. When he had finally thrown off those shackles, he took the brave step to save Connor; and not only did he fail at it, but the prophesy was entirely made up in the first place and he was fooled. His friends abandoned him because he was fooled by Sahjan. In his mind, it's his fault and he's not worthy of actual friends or actual love; he's not smart enough or strong enough or good enough. In a way this reflects Buffy in Season 6. Lilah is Wesley's Spike. He is wrapped up in emotional self harm as he tries to embrace an image of himself that was every negative thing his father and by now his own demons are telling him that he is or deserves.

Keith Jones

I definitely get being annoyed with dark Wes because he's so different from the Wes we've known. But I love him because it's all coming from a place of hurt and suffering, he's very much overcompensating and playing the villain ala Richard III now. He's always had a complex about failure and letting down his friends/family (daddy issues galore) and now he doesn't know how to forgive himself, even if Angel can.

jenny from thebes

Angel went down, Lorne went East, Cordelia went Up and Wesley went dark. I feel like these were all mostly bad moves, consequentially. I wonder what will happen next...

The Testimony of Mushroom

I'm a big Vegas geek so I adore this one. But also just a solid episode on its own merits.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth

A fun episode. This does seem like the writers didn’t think that the Angel S3 episode (‘Double or Nothing’) wasn’t the best story that could be made with the concept of a person gambling their future away.

James Smith


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