DR. BELCH
10-16-2001, 01:45 PM
For those of you who have read Anne Rice, was anyone else thinking of The Body Thief during this episode?
Strange deaths are happening in L.A.--guys are inexplicably falling apart. Literally--they flop down to the floor as a loose pudding of flesh.
Angel and company discover that all the victims were the members of a certain health club and investigate the connection. While Cordy slavers over the hunks, Angel investigates the retirement home across the street after seeing something suspicious in a window. He discovers an old man, Morris, who likes peering at the gym through binoculars. It seems Morris also has an ancient urn, which he uses to possess the bodies of young men. A few words of Latin are uttered, and Angel and Morris' spirit switch bodies.
This leads to some pretty funny stuff: Morris/Angel thinks his new host body is gay after Cordy tells him he needs to talk to Fred about their "date" the other night, and, assuming Fred is a guy and that Wes is Fred, this paves the way for a very awkward conversation (with homophobic overtones--note how "Angel" pulls away from Wes when he gets too close...and his proper British mannerisms don't help any.). Morris/Angel discovers that he's possessed a vampire after he picks up some dame and almost rips her throat out, then realizes he can't see his face in a mirror. Unfortunately there were a couple of good jokes missed--imagine our unwitting vamp trying to step out in broad daylight and getting baked, or Cordy setting a big tall frosty glass of pig blood down in front of him for lunch. Yummy.
Meantime, Angel/Morris is trapped in the old-folks' home and trying to get out, but between a fat surly orderly and a bum ticker he's pretty much trapped. Morris/Angel comes to him, however, because he wants to know more about what he's gotten himself into--big mistake. By now Gunn, Wes, Fred, and Cordy have figured out what's going on, and trailed the old man--young man--whatever. Another great scene where Fred gets a little overexhuberant while keeping Morris/Angel in check and clocks him a good one on the head with a stick. Eventually everyone gets back into the bodies where they should be...and Morris suffers his fifth heart attack. We don't know if he lives or not, but...all things considered, if he dies, it's his own darn fault for scheming to live off of borrowed time.
Angel learns in the end that Buffy is alive again...which may or may not mean an appearance on the show. I mean, you drop a bombshell on a guy that his lover is dead, then another that she's up and around again, you can't very well not follow it up, right?
Also, this raises an interesting question: "Angel" is shown eating a breakfast burrito...which means he is able to take food, after all. I thought his body couldn't digest it, but here he consumes food and wine with no ill effects. So Angel is able to eat normally if he needs to...he just doesn't have the hunger.
All in all, a much lighter and faster-paced ep than last week's, which was actually almost painful to watch, what with both Gunn and his old friend struggling with internal demons...and a couple of external ones. Also nice to see a little of what's going on with the new blood (so to speak) at Wolfram and Hart...and still waiting to see the Darla pregancy followed up on....
Strange deaths are happening in L.A.--guys are inexplicably falling apart. Literally--they flop down to the floor as a loose pudding of flesh.
Angel and company discover that all the victims were the members of a certain health club and investigate the connection. While Cordy slavers over the hunks, Angel investigates the retirement home across the street after seeing something suspicious in a window. He discovers an old man, Morris, who likes peering at the gym through binoculars. It seems Morris also has an ancient urn, which he uses to possess the bodies of young men. A few words of Latin are uttered, and Angel and Morris' spirit switch bodies.
This leads to some pretty funny stuff: Morris/Angel thinks his new host body is gay after Cordy tells him he needs to talk to Fred about their "date" the other night, and, assuming Fred is a guy and that Wes is Fred, this paves the way for a very awkward conversation (with homophobic overtones--note how "Angel" pulls away from Wes when he gets too close...and his proper British mannerisms don't help any.). Morris/Angel discovers that he's possessed a vampire after he picks up some dame and almost rips her throat out, then realizes he can't see his face in a mirror. Unfortunately there were a couple of good jokes missed--imagine our unwitting vamp trying to step out in broad daylight and getting baked, or Cordy setting a big tall frosty glass of pig blood down in front of him for lunch. Yummy.
Meantime, Angel/Morris is trapped in the old-folks' home and trying to get out, but between a fat surly orderly and a bum ticker he's pretty much trapped. Morris/Angel comes to him, however, because he wants to know more about what he's gotten himself into--big mistake. By now Gunn, Wes, Fred, and Cordy have figured out what's going on, and trailed the old man--young man--whatever. Another great scene where Fred gets a little overexhuberant while keeping Morris/Angel in check and clocks him a good one on the head with a stick. Eventually everyone gets back into the bodies where they should be...and Morris suffers his fifth heart attack. We don't know if he lives or not, but...all things considered, if he dies, it's his own darn fault for scheming to live off of borrowed time.
Angel learns in the end that Buffy is alive again...which may or may not mean an appearance on the show. I mean, you drop a bombshell on a guy that his lover is dead, then another that she's up and around again, you can't very well not follow it up, right?
Also, this raises an interesting question: "Angel" is shown eating a breakfast burrito...which means he is able to take food, after all. I thought his body couldn't digest it, but here he consumes food and wine with no ill effects. So Angel is able to eat normally if he needs to...he just doesn't have the hunger.
All in all, a much lighter and faster-paced ep than last week's, which was actually almost painful to watch, what with both Gunn and his old friend struggling with internal demons...and a couple of external ones. Also nice to see a little of what's going on with the new blood (so to speak) at Wolfram and Hart...and still waiting to see the Darla pregancy followed up on....