Angel: Expecting Rewatch

September 3, 2015 6:49 AM - Season 1, Episode 12

Cordelia has a fast-rising bun (or seven) in the oven. Of course it's because of a demon. Phantom Dennis is protective. Wesley starts down the gunpowder road.

CORDELIA: "I learned, um, men are evil? Oh wait, I knew that. I learned that L.A.'s full of self-serving phonies? Nope, had that one down, too. Uh, sex is bad?"

ANGEL: "We all knew that."

posted by Etrigan (4 comments total)

This is the first of at least three forced impregnations for Cordelia, the third of which will kill her. I’m really not a fan of the show going to this well again and again, especially because two other female characters (and it’s not like this show has a lot of them) will basically die to give birth. I mean I guess you could make an analogue between that and the demon that invaded Angel (and all vampires), but it still makes me irritated that a supposedly feminist show would keep doing this over and over.

Wesley really gets to do all the physical comedy in this one. He’s so desperate to join the team. I do appreciate his conversation with Angel right after they kill the demon baby. They’ve got a surprisingly good rapport compared to their interaction on Buffy.

Wesley: “You don’t think sticking the axe in the wall put them off?”
Angel: “That was charming.”
Wesley: “What about the fact that they thought we were gay?”
Angel: “Adds mystery.”

At least at the end, Cordelia skewers all the “lessons” this episode is supposed to teach us.
posted by ilana at 1:15 PM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah this kind of plotline is why I don't consider Angel to be very successful as a feminist show, especially compared to Buffy where in seven seasons no one got pregnant!
posted by chaiminda at 9:09 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

In my personal head canon, Ken Marino's character is the pathetic 20-years-later version of Victor from Wet Hot American Summer. Think about it.
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:43 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was just looking at the beginning of this episode again and realized I owned the exact same purse that one of Cordelia's friends who are going to the club was waving around (silver with embroidery flowers) and remembered that this had amsued me greatly when I first saw it.
posted by ilana at 1:07 PM on September 14, 2015