Smallville: "Exile"
Angel: "Conviction"



Smallville

Lex and Lewis? Lewis and Clark? At the beginning of the episode I was like: "Hmm, I bet there's already Lex/Lewis slash written on the East Coast." And then they gave us the big reveal, which I'm sucker enough not to have guessed--Crazy!Lex. Imaginary!Lewis.

Hmm, I bet there's already Lex/Lewis slash on the East Coast....

Clark & Lex: both of a hotness so hot I am still peeling a layer of blistered scar tissue off my corneas.

Clark & Lana: I don't often notice how short she is comparison to him. Usually because I have my brain shut. But it's pretty adorable.

Am fascinated and trying to decide if Lionel is self-deluded, always "on," or if he maybe exists in some bubble of alternate reality in which his crocodile tears of grief for Lex were *not* hypocritical.

Jonathan: still the best dad ever.

Angel

Sorry. My brain went offline at "I have no problem spanking men" and I couldn't reboot in time to have any other thoughts about the show.

Well, okay. The line about Angel being a little fairy--and only half denying it? The *little* half? Spike saying, "I'm his date"? Angel's SEE-THROUGH BLACK SHIRT?

Man, that was gay. I've got a contact high of gay. The sound I made at "I'm his date" was a sound never before uttered in nature and at the same time I levitated six inches off the couch and twisted into a balloon-animal shape rather like a goosed cat. Sadly, no one was around to tape this for "Funniest Home Videos." At the noise I made the neighbors all started banging on the walls simultaneously, the police came, and I had to gesture to them in tearful sign language because I'd been rendered speechless.

Of the good--I liked the feel of the whole thing, the ensemble and the office atmosphere and the sense of focus the show is already establishing; there was exposition and there was ground-laying but it wasn't a bad start. All the characters were doing their stuff. The teaser was hysterical. Knox was cute--though I didn't recognize him for a while, for lack of close-up, and wondered if they'd gotten a different actor.

Of the bad--Angel's neck was rather chunky and his jackets too tight, and those Matrix-style fight moves were hard to watch without sighs of pain. Harmony looks old. I don't like the shots of Spike used in the credits. Bad, bad, bad. I'm mean and picky, I know. But I don't want my vamps to age.

I thought the classroom climax was forced. And there other off notes here and there. Eve is annoying; she also suffers in comparison to Lilah.

Of the confusing--I can't tell how much anyone remembers, how much of people's memories have been rewritten. I bet that's going to be one of the big conflicts of the season; it'll come out and they're going to be *majorly pissed* at what Angel did. As they should be. Fucking with people's heads like that? That's in the league of Bad Willow and he'd better be called on it.

I am also unsure how much time is supposed to have passed.

How did Wes know Spike on sight? Huh.

Spike popped right out of the necklace thingy just as he did in post-Chosen fan-fiction! And I want to reference a particular Spike/Xander WIP, which I thought I had bookmarked but now can't find. Anyway, this amused me. And I am also worried about the potential implications if the thingy is W&H's property. Spike doesn't look very "ghostly", I have to say, but maybe he's linked to the artifact in some way. Is Angel going to imprison him in the necklace at whim or if he acts up? I'd dislike that. I'm curious to see how much Angel acts as Spike's keeper & minder & more.

Hmm, I bet there's already Angel/Spike spanking slash on the East Coast....

I wasn't at all surprised Spike was relegated to the last two minutes; it became clear as the first half progressed that that would be the case, just as it was clear that SV would be a two-parter.

I am pleased and anticipatory and still unable to speak and so will be taking up a career in mime. Wish me luck.

thebratqueen wrote a good review of the ep in far more detail.