It seems David Boreanez is a director now.
Cast and Crew
David
Boreanez as
Angel
Alexis
Denisof as
Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
J.
August Richards
as Charles Gunn
Amy
Acker as Fred
Burkle
Andy
Hallett as
Lorne
James
Marsters as
Spike
Written by Brent Fletcher.
Directed by David Boreanez.
Original Airdate
Soul Surprise originally aired on Wednesday,
January 21, 2004.
Synopsis
Angel has to deal with some personal nastiness while
Spike begins to
act as a champion.
High Point
Spike’s first meeting with his benefactor.
Low Point
Who decided to play those segments for comedy? They
should have been
surreal and disturbing, not marginally comedic.
The Review
The originality of this episode isn’t that
great. We’ve seen
the “new champion” when the new slayer showed up on
Buffy, and we’ve
seen the rest back on Star Trek: The Next
Generation.
Spike’s reaction to the cryptic information was fresh
and priceless,
though. I give it 4 out of 6.
The effects were minimal, but they were
effective. The little
robot deals looked like little robots, though. (The
camera angles
seemed to imply hydraulic controls off-screen.) I
give it
4 out of 6.
The story was interesting. The ideas were
excellent, except
for the inappropriate comedic stuff. I give it 4 out
of 6.
The acting from most of the cast was pretty
good. The
in-character moments were generally good,
particularly for Spike.
David Boreanez’ work was weaker than usual. I don’t
think he should
be directing himself. I give it 4 out of 6.
The emotional response was, again, mixed.
The Peppermint
Stick and apartment scenes worked very well, as did
the homage to the
pilot. The scenes about Angel were bland and
irritating. I give it 4
out of 6.
The production was weak. David Boreanez,
sadly, should stick
to acting. The direction wasn’t horrible, but there
was nothing
particularly interesting in the first, say, 58
minutes. (The aura was
a nice touch, admittedly. It was a neat visual, but
I’m still not
sure what it was meant to accomplish.) I give it 3
out of 6.
Overall, it’s an important episode for fans
to watch, but it
only stands out as a piece of the puzzle. I give it
4 out of 6.
In total, Soul Purpose receives 27 out of
42.
I’m hungry.
Goldfish… raisins… man, now I’m hungry. And not even for blood.
(That’s about all I saw, since the office called. But I was highly amused.)
Oh!
And when he cuts the cake, but the cake is really Troi, and she’s
screaming out in pain…man, that was awsome! ;-)
Re: Oh!
My brother and I said, at some point during the episode:
“Cellular peptide cake.”
“With mint frosting.”
Still, I was more engaged with this episode than I was with “Harm’s Way”. But, I’m sick of not seeing Lorne for more than 30 seconds. They need to either use him, or get rid of him. At this point we’ve seen much more of Harmony.
Re: Oh!
Errr…. wasn’t that really when Tom Petty cut into the cake that was really
Alice?
Stinker
I don’t think i’ve ever said this but this one was a stinker. I almost fell asleep it just did nothing for me.
hmm…
Still bored, but not quite so much as with last week’s episode.
Lindsey is intriguing, and my ears really perked up when he said
“Call me Doyle.” I’m not sure I like where this plot is going, but that is
probably just because Spike is sucking the life out of everything. Still, I’m
intrigued enough to stick around a while longer.
That creature thing was just bad. Like “Bad Eggs”-creature bad.
Agree about the comedic slant to the hallucinations. That was just
weird.
I want to see an episode dealing with Bear, however. He was the
most interesting thing about tonight’s ep.
Next week’s episode looks interesting…
Re: hmm…
At least “Bad Eggs” had a pretty compelling story (and wicked ending) to make up for the cheesy “facehugger” effects.
High Point
My High Point: Spike Yelling At The Victim.
Re: High Point
Hehe, that was nice.
I also liked the very disturbing scene in Angel’s bed featuring Spike and
fake-Buffy.
Re: High Point
I was too distracted by the obviousness of them hiding the girl’s face
and the weird sound of Buffy’s voice. Although the latter could be
excused because it was a dream/hallucination. I suppose the former
could too, but it seems more likely that Angel would see her
face or that he would see a woman with a blank face. The whole thing
yanked me out of the narrative as I thought “Hmm,
they couldn’t get SMG.” Too jarring.
Re: High Point
The hidden face was bloody obvious. The
oddness in the voice was because they used sound bites
from old Buffy episodes, so the intonation was intended
for entirely different situations.
Re: High Point
Then again, its a nightmarish thing to be next to someone you know and
recognise but you can’t see their face, same goes for weird voices. But
yeah, it was weak, though its definatly something I can live with. SMG is a
big shot star now who has other thing to do than come back for a sex
cameo. So faking her is acceptable, and like someone else pointed out,
the story called for Buffy to show up in Angel’s nightmares.
Re: High Point
The Point Was Less That The Face Was Hidden, More Than It Was A Poorly Done ‘We Don’t have Her for A Cameo, Lets Fake It!’
Re: High Point
Unfortunately, they couldn’t very well do an episode about Angel’s dreams/nightmares without including Buffy. I suspect she stars in them frequently even when he doesn’t have a weird little creature stuck to his abdomen, not to mention the issues he’s got to have knowing that Spike “had her” many times while all he could do was fire away his soul the one time.
Re: High Point
That Was My Reaction, Too. That’s Probably My Low Point. They could Have At Least Used A Digital Image, Or One OF The Thousands Of People Who Look Kinda Similar, Or Even Just Kept The Person Off Screen. Not To Mentions, There’s Plenty Of Sounds Of Buffy And Spike Being Bouncy, I’m Sure Some Of Those Would Have Fit Better.
Would Have Been Hillarious If They’d Used Harmony In The Blonde Wig, From When Spike Realizes He Loves Buffy.
Re: High Point
Why would Angel dream about that? He doesn’t even know about that…
ZZZZZZz
Mostly boring, unimaginative and unenganging. Except Spike really. I wouldn’t mind if they fired the lot and turned it into the Spike show from here on – or get better writers/directors.