Ground State
| Okay, before I start the episode guide, let me preface with this- I LOVE
Michael Grossman. He directed several episodes of a now-defunct series that I loved (the
series AND the eps), and every ep I've seen of his from "Angel" has been
wonderful. (The very first ep of "Angel" that I saw in it's entirety was his-
"Birthday".) So I may be a bit biased in my opinion. But hey- if COA wanted
unbiased ep reviews, I wouldn't be doing this, so there! Now onto the good stuff! Previously on Angel: Basically a quick recap of "Tomorrow" and "Deep Down", nothing astonishing, wrapping up with Angel saying how he needs Cordy and they have to find her, and the final shot of Cordy in the Higher Realm saying "GOD- I am SO BORED." Segue directly into the teaser. The colors are washed out, everything looks too bright- you immediately know you're watching something that is not part of the immediate "Angel" universe (nice effect, Mike), even before you see the "Gills Rock, Wisconsin, October 28, 1985" text on the bottom of the screen. (Hmm, I need to find a map- where the heck is Gills Rock? Is there even such a place? I mean, I've lived next door to Wisconsin half my life!) What follows is an odd scene of parents dropping off their little girl at what appears to be a boarding school of sorts. The little girl is swathed in bright red parka and snow pants and mittens, even though it's only October and none of the adults are dressed as warmly. It's obvious the little girl- Gwen Raiden- is different; an allusion to her "special needs" is made, and she is told to stay away from the other children. Her parents never touch her, and when she reaches for the hand of her new headmistress she is told firmly "No, Gwen." At one point she's trying to eat her lunch beneath a tree as other children play on a playground. She struggles with what looks to be a cup of pudding or yogurt, and finally takes off her mitten. A boy zooms over from the playground and talks to her; when he offers her his car she reaches out for it with her bare hand. From the perspective of the headmistress there is a bright flash and the little boy goes flying back about 10 feet to land motionless on the ground; the car is a molten, twisted, smoking mess on the ground. Opening credits- some new bits, including scenes from "Deep Down". Vincent Kartheiser (yay! Another Minnesotan! GO VINCENT!) has been added to the cast. Angel and Fred are in Cordy's apartment, looking- okay, smelling- for clues. At one point Angel suddenly thinks of Phantom Dennis, but Fred says Dennis is just mad they haven't brought Cordy back yet. When Angel says that they will, soon (not as assuredly as he'd like to), Fred sort of blanches a bit and half-heartedly agrees with him. Gunn is fiddling with a tv and manages to zap his finger; while they talk about how they've not gotten any info from Lorne and how the police have been no help, Angel sorts through a box of things Fred and Gunn found on the table the night Cordy disappeared. When Fred makes a bile-filled comment about Angel "being banished to the depths of the ocean by your ungrateful snot of a son" its obvious she is in no way feeling any sort of forgiveness toward Connor. She puts some books in a box (saying that Connor needs some "corporal punishment with a large heavy mallet"- bitter much?) and turns- and the books are back on the shelf. Frustrated, she drops the box and snaps "Dammit Dennis, she's not coming back!" At Angel and Gunn's looks she tries to cover but fails; Angel brushes it off and makes it no big deal. Wesley and two men are fighting a demon in what looks to be a factory. Angel shows up and offers to help, just as Wes slices the demon in half. He's very efficient and self-assured. Angel tells him thank you for finding him, and that they're okay again; Wes hands him a folder, full of recon about Cordelia's disappearance. Wes tells Angel his theory that Cordelia is in another dimension and where to find the dark demi-goddess of the lost, Dinza- whose lair only the dead can enter. She's not trustworthy, Wes warns, and may try to trap Angel; as Angel ponders the information in the folder he wonders aloud what he should do: "Send her a gift, a sacrifice..." He looks up and Wes is gone. "...Unholy fruit basket?" Angel is walking though a tunnel and enters Dinza's lair. The door vanishes behind him. It's a creepy place, all dark and full of whispers and flutters of bat-like wings. Dinza toys with Angel a bit, sneaking up behind him and touching him and vanishing; when he remarks that she's going to make him sea-sick, Dinza finally comes to rest on a ledge above him and purrs "I doubt it- I think it would have happened before now." Obviously, being the demi-goddess of the lost, she knew who Angel was, since he was lost for three months. Dinza is grotesque, with tattered bat-like wings and decaying flesh; her face and shoulders are partially covered with a filmy veil that looks suspiciously like cobwebs. She flits from place to place, disorienting Angel, who has to keep turning to see her. She knows what Angel is looking for- "lost love"- and tells him that what he seeks is in the Axis of Pythia. When he asks why he should trust her, Dinza grabs him from behind by the throat and hisses "Because I'd love to keep you- but you have so much more to lose." (Now if that statement isn't forshadowing I don't know what is.) Cut to classy businessman type bar- marble floors, fancy chairs, etc. A relatively stiff-looking man is sitting at a table waiting, and what he's waiting for is obvious as the camera pans up from the floor past clunky shoes, a pair of red leather pants, a bare belly, black-gloved arms and a low cut tank that looks suspiciously like latex. The color gives it away- this is Gwen, the little girl from the teaser, all grown up (I'm guessing about 23 years old now?), with long light brown hair and pouty red lips. As she strolls by, the men along either side of the aisle stare. The stiff-looking fellow shakes his head slightly- "I thought I said discreet." Gwen looks down, all innocence. "What, do you see nipple?" They trade barbs about something she is supposed to be stealing- the just-mentioned Axis of Pythia. (Okay, my favorite line of all time? "Blah, blah- polysyllabic blah.") At one point Gwen reaches out to touch the man- Elliot- and he jerks back, terrified. She looks through a folder of information and when he makes a comment about her professionalism, she stands up holding his watch in her bare hand. He groans silently. "That is a twelve thousand dollar watch." With a smile, she closes her hand around it. There's a blue flash of electricity and she drops the watch, now a melted hunk of metal, on the table. "Now it's surrealism." Cut to a close up of Cordy's face in the Higher Realm, then zoom from space to L.A. to the Hyperion, where Fred is giving a little presentation on the Axis, complete with flip-chart, card notes, and marker illustrations. Angel unwittingly shows her up with several drawings- one of the Axis, one of Cordy. Gunn is impressed, then has to assure Fred he liked her line drawings. She glares at him. "I haven't slept, Charles." She goes over the auction house security and says she's working on a plan, "but so far it involves going to prison and becoming somebody's b****." Angel insists he can do it, despite previous slightly botched plans, and as Fred goes off to come up with something Gunn and Angel start making a list of everything they'll need. As they muse over their requirements we see interspersed flashes of said items, finally cutting permanently to Gwen getting ready for her infiltration into the auction house. (Okay, hello- low cut v-neck? Honey, if you're trying to steal something I'd think you'd want to cover up that big ol' triangle of white flesh there- it shows up like nobody's business in the dark.) Her final preparation is lipstick. (Yeesh. Give me a break. Cool effect on the computer LCD turning to a mirror, though.) 19:40 Abrupt segue to Lilah and Wesley. They're making out AGAIN. Lilah reveals that she heard about how Wes was holding Justine and how he let her go. She teases him about his performance: "Wesley's so apathetic, Wesley doesn't care"; Wes reveals that his reasoning for raising Angel is for "fighting people like you." Lilah shares how Angel kicked Connor out of the hotel and suggests that it may work to her advantage, that he'll be looking for someone to trust- a big sister, maybe even a "Mrs. Robinson". (SHUDDER. Oh ew- that's just so wrong.) Cut to the roof of a building. Gwen shimmies up the fence, shorts out a few wires, zaps the security device, and is in. Cut back to the fence as Angel climbs up easily, Fred and Gunn struggling after. Angel looks at the wires for a moment, then gives up and rips them all out. Fred uses a decoder and they're in the building. They double check the plan and split up, unaware that Gwen has re-activated the security camera above them. Fred sneaks into the security center and removes the cover to something. "Please let my cellmate be gentle!" she whispers. (SNORT! I love Fred in this ep!) Gunn takes out a security guard. Angel stands at the entrance to the vault and is about to go in when the door of heavy metal bars slams down. Angel tries to lift them and gets zapped for his trouble; Gwen pops through a hole in the ceiling, upside down, and looks at him coolly. "You know, I put that down for a reason." Fred realizes the electrical system is down already and realizes they're not alone. Gunn finds more security guards tied and gagged and realizes they're not alone. I don't usually like to quote entire conversations, but this one just made me laugh. Angel: Who're you? Gwen: Who're you? Angel: I asked you first. Gwen: What are you, seven? Angel: Tell me you're not here for the Axis. Gwen: I'm not here for the Axis. Angel: You're lying. Gwen: I'm fibbing. It's lying, only classier. (She's still hanging upside down from the ceiling. I feel bad for the actress- it LOOKS great, but filming it must have been a b****.) Gwen does something to the laser beams and they bend up toward the ceiling out of the way, and she drops down to her feet on the floor. Angel is understandably confused as Gwen gives her explanation and thus gives us the title of the ep, something about exciting the sub atomic paticles before they reach ground stats. When Angel asks what she is, she replies she's a freak. As he watches her pick up the Axis he gets desperate and starts babbling while he attempts AGAIN to lift the barred gate. Gunn shows up saying there's a bogey; Angel informs him she's in the vault getting the Axis. Gunn is amazed that a "she" took out all the security guards. Gwen emerges from the vault and goes to leave; Angel practically begs her for the Axis. (He is SO SWEET here...) Gwen finally sees Gunn. "Hey there Denzel!" (Okay, for a thief to be that unobservant- not much a thief. HELLO! Gunn has got to be like 6'4"! How could you NOT see him the instant you turn around?) The alarms go off and Gwen beats a hasty retreat; Angel lifts the gate and Gunn scurries under and grabs Gwen. Trying to escape, she zaps him. Angel comes rushing in, knocking Gwen to the floor. Gunn collapses as Fred comes rushing in. (Ouch. Every time I see J. August Richards hit the floor like that I wince.) Angel checks Gunn and looks up at Fred. "He's dead." After the commercials we come back; Fred is distraught and sobbing over Gunn. Gwen is having flashbacks to the little boy at the school; she zaps Angel, kicks Fred out of the way, and gives Gunn enough of a shock to revive him. Angel hauls Gwen off Gunn and they skirmish; in the interest of getting Gunn to the hospital Angel lets Gwen escape. Connor is walking along a chain link fence in the dark. He joins the homeless gathered in the gully as Lilah watches. Angel sneaks up behind her and they trade standard repartee about Wolfram & Hart, Lilah's motives, Angel's punishment of Connor- "this is the "guilt is its own punishment" thing, right?" Angel informs Lilah he's not there to watch Connor, he's there because of her. He tells her about the Pythia and the "specialized" thief, and that he thinks a client of Wolfram & Hart's contracted the job. Lilah tries to bluff her way out of revealing the name, but Angel threatens her. "Just this once I'll ignore the fact that you're within 50 yards of my son. Just this once." When Lilah throws his moral ambiguity in his face, saying it's "interesting", Angel retorts with how he finds it interesting that he can smell Wesley and Lilah all over each other. Lilah looks taken aback. Angel gives her an hour. Back at the hotel, Gunn is wondering over his cardiogram. Fred is quiet but still obviously upset. They have one of those conversations that starts one place (what would have happened if Fred hadn't been there and Angel had to take revenge on the woman that killed Gunn) and ends up somewhere totally else (she's terrified that Gunn would have died and she would be all alone). She totally breaks down, hysterical, and Gunn gets up and holds her. Quiet segue to Gwen walking through toward an elevator. She's wearing the same outfit as the beginning of the ep- red leather and latex- and is carrying a bag (Axis of Pythia). She checks her lipstick in the mirrored surface and Angel compliments her on the color. She looks up- nothing in the mirror. She turns- Angel is standing behind her. She looks back at the mirror and his lack of reflection. "Okay, after I kick your ass I'm going to ask about that." She tosses the bag inside the elevator and advances on Angel. They fight, electrical zaps audible every time she connects with Angel. (This fight scene is SO well choreographed- again, tipping my hat to Mike Grossman, he's awesome at filming stuff like this!) At one point Gwen has Angel pinned against the wall, his arm twisted behind him, her energy literally crackling- "WHY are you not TOAST?" Gwen takes off her gloves and gets serious; they end up inside the elevator, Gwen straddling Angel, giving him both barrels, so to speak- she rips open his shirt and places her bare hands on his chest, administering such a jolt of electricity that his heart starts beating. Angel abruptly sits up and he and Gwen kiss. (I still am ambiguous as to the motivation behind that. I... DON'T... GET... IT. Okay, so his heart hasn't beaten in almost 200 plus years- why the sexual arousal? *beats plot bunny with large rubber mallet*) Gwen and Angel are still kissing when bars close them into the elevator. Startled, Gwen jumps off Angel with the realization that his heart doesn't normally beat. Angel seems to come to his senses and a single word comes out of his mouth- "Cordelia." He scrambles away from Gwen like she's poison. "I gotta get outta here." Gwen finally realizes they're trapped (again- NOT GOOD OBSERVATION POWERS). Eliot shows up and basically dresses Gwen down for her performance on the job, calling her a freak. The elevator has been "retro-fitted", taking all electrical sources out of Gwen's reach, and Eliot turns on the poison gas inside the elevator and closes the door. Angel frantically starts looking for some way to escape, pushing Gwen down on the floor to avoid some of the gas. He asks her about a utility panel and starts bashing in the wall. He breaks through the Lucite and grabs some wires; Gwen reaches up from the floor, grabbing Angel's bloody-knuckled hand. Electricity runs through him and the wires spark, the bell dings and the doors open. Eliot is startled as Angel emerges, carrying Gwen. (The Axis is still in the bag inside the elevator, you can see it- yay for continuity!) He puts her down and fights off Eliot's goons with relative ease, turning to find Gwen on her feet and advancing on Eliot, retribution obvious in her eyes. Angel warns her to think about what she's doing, standing by until she reaches out a hand to zap Eliot, then he speaks up. "So you're a freak, boo hoo, so what. I think you've already figured out I'm not exactly the poster boy for normal. Sometimes- you gotta let go." He roundhouses Eliot, who drops like a rock. Gwen is indignant. "HEY! I wanted to do that!" "You were going to fry him." "Was not." "Don't fib." "Lie." She pauses. "Did you at least break his nose?" She reaches down and Angel grabs her arm, electricity sizzling. They stare each other down. Gwen concedes- both the fight and the Axis. She walks away, leaving Angel with the Axis. Fade to the hotel, Gunn and Fred standing outside a door with golden light streaming from underneath. The light goes out. Fred looks up at Gunn and wonders if he found her; Angel emerges and silently goes by, and Gunn looks inside the room at the Axis. "Yeah." The trio are sitting in the lobby, all with thoughtful expressions. Angel describes what he saw, and how he now thinks Cordy is where she belongs. Zoom out, past the city, into space, into the Higher Realm, Cordelia bare-shouldered and surrounded by light, her expression incredulous. "What are you, deficient? GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Cut to credits. |
| Rating and Comments: |
| There are so many things in this ep that remind me of work that Michael
Grossman did on "The Invisible Man"- camera angles, music, effects- that it was
hard at times for me to remember this was "Angel". (Gwen could easily be a
Chrysalis experiment, but I digress.) Overall, I liked it very much except for the
Gwen/Angel kiss. IMHO it wasn't necessary to the story at ALL. The tension between them
was fine as an undercurrent- I don't think it was necessary to beat us over the head with
it. Come on, Angel is still a guy, and Gwen is a girl- we've all had those inexplicable
physical pulls toward someone who wasn't our significant other. You don't ACT on those
impulses! (Well- most of the time you don't.) I don't begrudge Angel that kiss, I haven't
lost any respect for him, I just think it was a bit of not-quite-up-to-par writing.
Although I should talk, I think I've beaten you all up with my gushing over Michael
Grossman... Gwen as a character was good, although IMHO she's a total rip-off of Rogue from X-Men. Hmm.... Rogue and Angel. That could be an interesting crossover... |
| Rating: 6/10 |
| Written By: Staff Writer - Shelbel |