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I Fall to Pieces
Written by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt Directed by
Original Airdate: October 26, 1999
Plot: Angel, Doyle and Cordelia are hired by a woman to stop a stalker--who can literally take himself apart to get to her...
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Review
Warning: If reading SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "I Fall To
Pieces" will push you over the edge, please turn back now...
In short: Creepy and entertaining with only a few niggling drawbacks...
As many of you may already know, I'm an opening credits reader. I love
to watch them slowly scroll past each week, waiting in anticipation to see
who the architects of a particular episode are.
And as I read the the credits this week for Angel, I've got to admit
that my interest was peaked to see that the story was crafted by Joss Whedon
and David Greenwalt. The two of them showed off their stuff three weeks ago
with the first episode of the series and got a chance to really strut their
stuff here.
"I Fall to Pieces" was utterly and completely creepy and unnerving. It
worked on so many different levels and it did what it had to do--take the
old stalker story and give it a new and interesting twist.
There were times watching it that I found myself thinking back to Whedon
and Greenwalt's second season offering on Buffy, "Ted" and also two first
season X-Files episodes, "Squeeze" and "Tooms." And, for me, that's a good
thing as I love all three of those episodes.
But what made "I Fall to Pieces" work so well is that it was a story
that had homages to the past but was also a story uniquely told for Angel.
I seriously doubt that Buffy could have pulled off an epiosde like this as
well. That's not meant to be a criticism of Buffy, because it's still one
of the best shows on television. It's meant to be a compliment of Angel for
going out and establishing it's own identity in the past month.
Part of it is that Angel has a smaller cast and, so we get to know the
victim of the stalking a bit better. We feel a bit more sympathy toward her
plight (summed up so well, as always, by Cordelia). However, I liked the
fact that Whedon and Greenwalt didn't pull any punches. They didn't sugar
coat what Melissa was going through. And they also dealt with the issue of
Ronald's stalking on a physical and mental level. Kate's dialogue to Angel
about how Melissa was going to have to get mad to get rid of the
psychological terror Ronald had inflicted on her really worked. And it was
nice to see her go from a reasonably self-assured woman to a frightened one
in the first sequence we met her. Also, seeing her being terrified and
coming to terms with that over the course of the episode was a nicely done
effect. You've really, really got to give the producers a great deal of
credit for that.
As for Ronald, he worked well because he was a very creepy guy. To have
him in a profession that is built on a having a trust relationship
established and then seeing him take advantage of it was nice. Ronald was a
lot creepier because of just how calmly evil he could be. Yes, it's great
that he can detach body part, but to see the pyschological terror he could
inflict made him that much more effective overall. It reminded me of
Ted--who was a villain who got more sinsiter as the story went along. I can
only think that a rerpeated viewing of this story would make Ronald seem a
bit more creepy and interesting knowing his secret.
The episode, as a whole, worked better than "In the Dark" because it has
the focus we needed. There weren't any niggling subplots to slow down the
plot too much or distract us from the main interest in the episode. That
was nicely done.
However, I will admit that some things took it down for me.
One of the biggest is the ending. It felt rushed. Angel gets shot with
the drug, but yet you knew in the back of your head he'd show up at the last
minute. The fact that the posion didn't kill him took a bit too much
suspension of disbelief for me. It screamed that they needed to get Angel
out of the way long enough for Ronald to get Melissa and then have Angel
dramatically save her.
Next is the amount of time Angel works during the day. Now, I may have
missed something but I thought sunlight all around was bad (we've seen him
flinch just from the presence of sunlight in Buffy). But here he's able to
move fairly freely about in daylight. I understand the reasoning is he gets
around in the sewers..but does every building in LA have sewer access?
Unless he'd climbing up the toliets, I doubt it. That really, really bugged
me. Part of it is that Joss and his crew have been so good at keeping these
little details in mind over the course of Buffy that they really stand out
here.
And the line at the end about bursting into flames if he goes to deposit
the check only made this problem that much more apparent...
Well, I guess that's about it for now, except for a few small things...
--So, how many cards does Angel have for his different identities? And
when did this idea come up?
--Doyle's being partial attracted to Angel was an interesting bit...
--Doyle and Cordy seemed less forced than the past two weeks. Not sure
what it is.
--You've got to wonder how Ronald's hand got in the apartment to unlock
the door. I thought they'd secured it fairly well.
Well, that about wraps it for now. So far, Angel is four for four.
I've got to admit, I'm hooked for the long haul....
My rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Rent control takes on a whole new meaning for Cordy...
Review Copyright 1999 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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