Episode Review A:TS 4.01

[kangeiko]

So, selenak sent me the entirety of Angel Season 4 on DVD. Just 'cause. 1) She is officially a goddess, and 2) I'm going to sit down and do a series of 'first reaction'-type reviews as I watch each episode. I technically know what happens in the season because I read the outlines etc when it was being aired, but I haven't actually watched it. And, erm, it was about three years ago that I read them, so I'm going with this being a first viewing.


OMG, Wesley, I lub you!! *squees*

*cough*

Things I liked:
1) Wesley.
Wesley Wesley Wesley. Mmmmm, Wesley. He looks scrumptious, especially when he's post-coital. All glowy and enigmatic mmmmmmm. Aherm. Although I knew that he was keeping Justine in his closet, I sort of pictured something a little bit squallid and not the shiny-metal-chains-bucket thing he had going on. That really rocked, 'cause it had such an air of permanency about it. It didn't shout 'short term scare tactic'; it was all rather pratical, like her existence - and he fear - was almost irrelevant. All he really wanted the information, and he had this lab set up to contain the thing that housed the info, like he'd set up a CD case to house a CD. All very clinical and deeply scary.

Then, of course, there was the whole Lilah thing happening, and how messy the post-coital-ness looked. Not remotely like the previous bits of sex we've seen on the Angel-verse and Buffy-verse. The sheets were messed up, they were all sweaty, and Lilah's hair was a mess, and Wesley clearly wearing only jeans when going to the closet afterwards? What, you mean he was naked when having sex? Perish the thought. *grin* I love how he's not really using Lilah that I could see, but keeping her on a back-burner. He's not shagging her for info on Angel, he's just shagging her. The lack of reasons for it makes it very interesting.

Moving on to the boat scene, with Justine trying to hit him with the wrench - "I'll take away your bucket." *shiver* Eeeeevil!Wesley!

Rescuing Angel - I loved how gently Wesley removed Angel's hand from his throat. He didn't panic, he didn't clutch. He just eased him down, completely in control. Afterwards, when he decides to feed Angel human blood, and you think he's going to feed him Justine - when you're wishing he'd feed him Justine - and he doesn't, it really hits quite hard just how messed up Wesley really is. Or, how messed up the viewer is, maybe, because you're hoping that he'd kill this woman in retribution. Now, as someone dead set again capital punishment it really struck me that I was rooting for Justien to get eaten, and - why? because it would be justice. Only it wouldn't, would it? It would be revenge. Justine hurt someone I care about, and in my head, she's disposable. So, Wesley not killing her really made me pause. Like - it wasn't acceptable. And - well, it made his actions a lot more real than they would otherwise have been. I mean, take a slave girl, kill her, kill vampires, save the world - all very par for the course in the TV- or computer game-world. But Wesley doesn't want to do things that are morally objectionable unless he feels that they are necessary, and he feels responsible for them (otherwise why not feed Justine to Angel), so the fact that he kept Justine chained up for the summer is going to come back and bite his conscience.

Oh, and he's sleeping with Lilah. So, like I said, messed up. *hugs him*

In conclusion, "he'll need more blood. I'm fresh out." = best exit line ever. Uber-sacrificial!Wesley. *pets*

2) Angel and Connor
"Daddy's not finished talking" - Seeing as how I spent the episode thinking, "Connor, you judgemental, self-centred little piece of shit, you need to be told what's what" - and then Angel does, I practically died from the squee. I loved that whole conversation, especially the bit where Angel asks what Connor deserves - and telling him to sit down! I didn't really see any evidence of parenting skills displayed by Angel in S3, so this was a nice surprise. Actually, no - it would be the same tone he took with William and with Drusilla when he wanted them to behave, and it's the same tone the Master takes. So, there's more of a threat to it than a purely parental tone, but, then, seeing as how Angel has no parental tone (and n0 16+ years of enforcing it), that's to be expected. He can't command Connor as a father, so he has to dominate him. Which is dirty and wrong, yeah, but I still squealed.

3) Lilah
She rocks. 'Nuff said. The whole conference room scene was amazing, and the decapitation-by-palmpilot? I want one!!

Things I didn't like:
1) Gunn and Fred
OMG, please stop smooching it's making me sick. In fact, if Fred could stop grinning mindlessly and playing the helpless maiden the entire time I'd really appreciate it. It set my teeth on edge

2)Gunn and Fred as clueless parents
Just as annoying as the smooching was the utter inability to see that Connor was pulling the wool over their eyes. Gunn was just crap, period, and Fred was twice as wet. Bleargh.

3) Cordelia
Or, rather, Angel's obsession with her. Ick. That's his kill-or-not question for Connor? That's what he needs? Ick. Still not an Angel/Cordy shipper. The lovey-dovey smoochies during Angel's hallucination just made it all worse.

An overall rating for the episode: 7/10 and a general thumbs up.


In other news, I spent Easter with my parents and it was generally lovely. I am full of cake and chocolate. *floats away, a la Aunt Marge*

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

See, I thought you might like Deep Down.*g* It's my favourite season opener of AtS.

Wesley and Justine: to me, the fact he kept her chained up like that for months was far darker than if he had killed her. (Though I should say in advance that as opposed to yourself, I like Justine. Liked her then, too. Justine and Holtz were one of the few things about season 3 I really loved.) It's essentially Abu Ghraib style torture, you know. And no, he doesn't kid himself about it.

Wesley and Lilah: yep, it's a fascinating relationship.

Wes feeding Angel: as if he'd let anyone else do it. Both because of his martyr complex and his feelings for Angel.*g* Okay, seriously now, karabair pointed out to me recently that Wesley's life contains a series of attempts to save people which nearly all fail. Early on in s3 of BTVS, he tries to play the hero saving the damsel for Cordelia in Doppelgangerland and that fails, naturally, he does save Virginia but then she wants him to quit the business, so that doesn't work out, he can't save Fred later on, and then there is the Connor kidnapping aka Wesley fucks up everyone's lives (most of all Connor's, Angel's and his own) with another rescue attempt. The one time it does work, with Angel in Deep Down, Wesley doesn't quite know how to handle success and hence... well, you'll see.

Angel and Connor: I love the "Daddy has not finished talking" scene, too. However, re: Connor, well, for starters, he didn't sink Angel into the oceon in a bout of teenage angst, he did it because he thought Angel had murdered Holtz and because he had been conditioned through his entire existence to think of Angel as the Antichrist. That's not something that's going away due overnight. Re: Angel's tone, yes, that's definitely the one the Master used, and the one he used on William and Drusilla. Also, you have precedence of Connor reacting to said tone and physical domination in "A New World" (during their second encounter, when Angel finds Connor with the girl who has just drugged herself to death and hence starts with domination tone and to the wall pressing, which means Connor doesn't run like the first time but stays). Which, you know, given that he was raised by Daniel Holtz, he who taught Justine patience by putting a knife through her hand, isn't that surprising.

Gunn and Fred: are due to dark times very soon. However, I think you're unfair to Fred. She's definitely not a helpless maiden when she tasers Connor (twice).

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Hey, Selena pointed me over here . . .

First, great post, and heads-up on noticing Wes going straight from skin to jeans (he has to be -- he doesn't take enough steps to be putting underwear on too -- Wesley who probably never used a public restroom until he got fired by the council; he's come a long way baby. And this comparison: he had this lab set up to contain the thing that housed the info, like he'd set up a CD case to house a CD. . .oooh. spuffyduds has a great fic re: Wes & Justine and this point (with smidgens of Lilah) which I'll link when I'm on my own computer.

Re: Wesley's life as failed rescue fantasy -- yes, that's it exactly; you've already seen how that plays out with Fred in S5, and there's a lot more to ponder re: other characters later in 4. But the Angel scenario is scripted out PERFECTLY and -- I don't know if he doesn't know how to handle it when it works out and Angel tries to forgive him, or just if he's decided to quit while he's ahead.

Another way to look at Wesley's motivations, I think, is that he's willing to sacrifice but unwilling to risk -- pretty much all of the boneheaded things he does come from trying to choose what he thinks is the safer option -- and which WOULD be the safer option, if he had all the facts in front of him (if he had factored in the possibility of the prophecy being false; other examples from later in season 4). This makes him a particularly interesting matchup with Lilah, who's willing to take risks -- her various power-plays at the office -- but unwilling to sacrifice -- devoting a lot of energy to not being blamed for her own screwups (like Wesley, she cuts her own wrist at one point -- the spell in "Forgiving -- but clearly after weighing the advantages and disadvantages; in fact the two scenes highlight the difference between them pretty well).

[kangeiko]

First, great post, and heads-up on noticing Wes going straight from skin to jeans (he has to be -- he doesn't take enough steps to be putting underwear on too

Yep, exactly. Also, being the dedicated, I mean truly dedicated viewer that I am, I forced myself to watch that walk across the room several times. It was hard, but someone had to do it. *nods* Yup.

-- Wesley who probably never used a public restroom until he got fired by the council; he's come a long way baby. And this comparison: he had this lab set up to contain the thing that housed the info, like he'd set up a CD case to house a CD. . .oooh. spuffyduds has a great fic re: Wes & Justine and this point (with smidgens of Lilah) which I'll link when I'm on my own computer.

W00t! Yay!

Re: Wesley's life as failed rescue fantasy -- yes, that's it exactly; you've already seen how that plays out with Fred in S5, and there's a lot more to ponder re: other characters later in 4. But the Angel scenario is scripted out PERFECTLY and -- I don't know if he doesn't know how to handle it when it works out and Angel tries to forgive him, or just if he's decided to quit while he's ahead.

Well, back when Fred makes an overture to him in, oh, was it S3 (it's been years since I saw it) and he rebuffs her - I think he's pretty much decided to close the book on that part of his life. I mean, he still has a great deal invested emotionally in them all, but he's trying to ease himself out of it by tying up the loose ends. I do think that he views what happened to Angel and Cordelia as still somehow his fault, and is trying to fix it. The whole thing strikes me as deeply worrying, actually, as he's firmly fixed on a path of self-destruction and making everything right - I don't know. It smacks to a lead-up to a fight he knows he can't win, a heroic death, everyone he loves is safe, he's atoned, blah blah blah.

He needs a hug, basically. Or a really hard smack around the head.

So, um, yeah. I'm going with the 'clinical depression' route, and I'm gonna argue that Wesley doesn't want to be forgiven, because he doesn't think that he should be. He doesn't think himself worthy of it, and is busy spilling himself - in blood, in tears, in semen, even - bit by bit, trying to lose everything that makes him human and alive.

*pause*

A really big hug. Or a really hard smack.

Another way to look at Wesley's motivations, I think, is that he's willing to sacrifice but unwilling to risk

Yes! Exactly!

This makes him a particularly interesting matchup with Lilah, who's willing to take risks -- her various power-plays at the office -- but unwilling to sacrifice -- devoting a lot of energy to not being blamed for her own screwups

I dunno. I think that Lilah has sacrificed quite a bit already. I do wonder what her life was like before Wolfram & Hart, or before we met her in S1, anyway. But I see your point - maybe she's reached a point where she doesn't see enough benefit in sacrificing anymore? Hmmm.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Well, back when Fred makes an overture to him in, oh, was it S3 (it's been years since I saw it) and he rebuffs her - I think he's pretty much decided to close the book on that part of his life.

I think you're remembering his scene with Gunn -- the Fred scene actually ends with her telling him not to come back. If it had been Fred who asked him back, I think he might have behaved differently -- but honestly, that wasn't going to happen.

He needs a hug, basically. Or a really hard smack around the head.

Umm, yes. I recently argued that any fic in which you don't want to both hug Wesley, and to smack him, at some point, is probably OOC. That's my boy.

So, um, yeah. I'm going with the 'clinical depression' route, and I'm gonna argue that Wesley doesn't want to be forgiven, because he doesn't think that he should be.

Hmm, you have seen season 5 right? I have a comment on that but don't want to spoil you. I'm not sure about depression, as far as season 4 goes -- in the end of 3, before Lilah shows up, maybe. But depression to me implies that he's passively waiting for death. Wesley isn't just giving up his old life; he's actively building another one -- as in, building a new Wesley. He's gotten rid of all the parts that didn't function so well in the old one -- particularly telling the way he uses Justine, because it was his moment of softness/sentiment/rescuing a damsel in distress, and so he's harsh on her partly to punish the part of himself that let her deceive him. Plus, well, when he's with Lilah, he's actually having a good time -- and not just in a sexual sense. That's not to see he doesn't have a death wish in the "blaze of glory" sense, but I'm not sure depression quite covers it.

[kangeiko]

First off, many apologies for being lame and really really late in replying - real life etc etc, also, there was salmon and it got really ugly. Anyhoo.

Umm, yes. I recently argued that any fic in which you don't want to both hug Wesley, and to smack him, at some point, is probably OOC. That's my boy.

Hee. Yes!

Hmm, you have seen season 5 right?

Yep, I've seen all of S5 - comment away!

depression to me implies that he's passively waiting for death.

I wouldn't necessarily opt for that interpretation of it. I'd chalk up 'death wish' as depression just as much as 'give-up-itis' - actively taking risks and doing things that are Bad for you (as opposed to just 'bad' for you) indicates some depression-related problem. Or, well, one that requires counselling of some sort.

*has horrible image of Wes & the rest in a therapist's office, a la Alias. Um.*

Wesley isn't just giving up his old life; he's actively building another one -- as in, building a new Wesley.

See, in my view, he's actively building a shorter-lifespan Wesley - one who isn't really expecting to live out the year. And he doesn't, in a way, what with the S5 mind-wipe. Maybe later in the season he gets on with it a little better, but in the first few episodes, I firmly believe that he's tying up loose ends rather than rebuilding his life and starting anew.

Plus, well, when he's with Lilah, he's actually having a good time -- and not just in a sexual sense.

Hmmm. I'm not arguing that he can't enjoy things if he's depressed, but that the things he enjoys wouldn't necessarily be things that he would otherwise - being in his right mind - enjoy. A drinking binge and going around breaking up all your friendships might feel bloody good at the time, but the source of that isn't likely to be happiness, but deep depression. So, I'm not saying that he isn't having a good time with Lilah, but that it's part and parcel of this 'shoter lifespan' Wesley he's created.

That's not to see he doesn't have a death wish in the "blaze of glory" sense, but I'm not sure depression quite covers it.

*g* Ah, see, to me, it comes under 'depression's' broad remit. But I suspect that it's more of semantic difference than anything at this point...

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Re: Lilah -- oh yes; not that she's never given anything up in the past, but she made those sacrifices and compromises already (as she pretty much explains to Angel in S3 "Loyalty," I think it is).

I do wonder what her life was like before Wolfram & Hart, or before we met her in S1, anyway.

*cough* Well, you're talking to the author of lotsa Lilah backstory fic (http://karabair.livejournal.com/478313.html). But it's true canon doesn't give us very much, and what we have is pretty much from Lilah's mouth, so who knows what to believe? I'm actually rather glad that there wasn't more attempt to "explain" her; essentially she seems to be somebody who weighed her options and decided evil paid better.

[kangeiko]

*cough* Well, you're talking to the author of lotsa Lilah backstory fic.

w00t! Thank you for the fic, I shall take my time perusing the Lilah goodies!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Re: the Justine story I mentioned, here's the rec (http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/1575840.html) I wrote a while ago, with a link to the story.

[kangeiko]

Thanks!

[kangeiko]

See, I thought you might like Deep Down.*g* It's my favourite season opener of AtS.

Hmmm, now that's a thought. What other season openers do we have? seeing as I only remember seasons 1 and 5, I'd have to agree with you there.

Wesley and Justine: to me, the fact he kept her chained up like that for months was far darker than if he had killed her.

Yes, totally, it's a recurring theme in the jossverse. Angelus torturing Giles vs killing Jenny; Faith torturing Wesley vs killing loads of other people; the torture of Warren as much more shocking than his actual murder - or that could be because, as a viewer, I find it more shocking. I don't know. Death is dealt with pretty lightly in the jossverse (well, when Fred dies and they are more surprised that they can't bring her back) so...

(Though I should say in advance that as opposed to yourself, I like Justine. Liked her then, too. Justine and Holtz were one of the few things about season 3 I really loved.)

*g* Yeah, I couldn't stand either of them...

It's essentially Abu Ghraib style torture, you know. And no, he doesn't kid himself about it.

queenspanky, I think it was, was talking about how interesting it was to see Willow and Wesley's different approaches to the horrible things they've done - I'm really looking forward to that scene!

Wes feeding Angel: as if he'd let anyone else do it.

Hee!

Both because of his martyr complex and his feelings for Angel.*g*

Oh, yeah, definitely. The slasher in me is squeeing happily, btw. :)

Okay, seriously now, karabair pointed out to me recently that Wesley's life contains a series of attempts to save people which nearly all fail.

That's a good point. Well, he does save Fred from his fake!father in S5, but even that's... complicated.

Angel and Connor: I love the "Daddy has not finished talking" scene, too. However, re: Connor, well, for starters, he didn't sink Angel into the oceon in a bout of teenage angst, he did it because he thought Angel had murdered Holtz and because he had been conditioned through his entire existence to think of Angel as the Antichrist.

True, but... meh, I just find him annoying. *g* OK, that's completely a gut reaction. But when he says "you deserved it" - and Angel asks what Connor deserves - it makes me wonder if he's actually thought about what he's doing, or if it's a spur of the moment 'this would be a really cool revenge' sort of thing. I mean, ok, he's shattered by grief over Holtz, but it smacks a little too much of Willow's casual torture of Warren, and how justified she felt. And that pissed me off too.

Which, you know, given that he was raised by Daniel Holtz, he who taught Justine patience by putting a knife through her hand, isn't that surprising.

Hey, that never even occured to me!

Gunn and Fred: are due to dark times very soon. However, I think you're unfair to Fred. She's definitely not a helpless maiden when she tasers Connor (twice).

Meh. She kept moping. It's only ok later, when you see her at the end of her tether. Going straight into "massively stressed out Fred" just made her come across as all whiny.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

it makes me wonder if he's actually thought about what he's doing, or if it's a spur of the moment 'this would be a really cool revenge' sort of thing. I mean, ok, he's shattered by grief over Holtz, but it smacks a little too much of Willow's casual torture of Warren, and how justified she felt. And that pissed me off too.

Ohhhh, very different thing entirely, the way it's written and the way it's played. For starters, Willow had no other feelings about Warren that did not relate to him having killed Tara. Connor, on the other hand, had just started to respond to Angel positively (and had been observed by Holtz doing so, and been told late just that) and feels massively guilty because he felt something other than hatred towards the man he was raised to hate utterly and completely. And yes, he knows what he's doing. He's never more the son of his parents, all three of them, than in those scenes (the only good ones about "Tomorrow" with the exception of the two Wesley and Lilah scenes) in the season 3 finale. There is nothing casual about it at all. To refresh your memory about the most important ones:


(Resume from the end of Benediction. Connor is holding Holtz' body cradled against him, crying.)

JUSTINE: This didn't have to happen. Your father was gonna leave. He just wanted to talk to Angelus.

CONNOR: Leave?

JUSTINE: Angelus won. He could have just walked away.

CONNOR: It's my fault. He'll pay.

JUSTINE: I'll help you kill him.

CONNOR (slowly): No.

JUSTINE: You don't wanna kill him? After what he did? What do you wanna do?

and:

(Night, a pickup truck pulls into a deserted meadow and comes to a stop under some trees. Justine and Connor get out and walk around to the back of the truck. )

CONNOR: No white cliffs?

JUSTINE: Not in this neck of the woods. Sorry. Still looks like where he came from though.

CONNOR: Eng-land? Maybe it's like the ranch.

JUSTINE: The ranch?

CONNOR: Where I was supposed to grow up - in Utah.

JUSTINE: (smiles) He told you about that? That was our dream.

CONNOR: He always told it, before sleep. Him and me, where no one else could ever find us.

JUSTINE: (hurt that she wasn't in the story) Yeah. We should - we need to bury him.

CONNOR: No.

JUSTINE: I'll do it.

CONNOR: No. He was bitten by the beast. He may rise again.

(Justine looks at the two neck wounds and we get flashbacks of her killing Holtz. )

HOLTZ: You said you'd do anything for me.

(Connor leans in to Holtz's body)

CONNOR: I will do as you taught me. I will cling to the good - and I will lay waste to the evil. Sleep now, father - and forgive me.

(Connor throws Holtz's body to the ground, and swings an ax down towards the neck. Justine turns away)

(...)

(Connor and Justine watch over the flaming byre they've built to consume Holtz's body)

and:


ANGEL: Connor.

CONNOR: Dad.

ANGEL: What are you doing here?

CONNOR: We're family. And I wanna show you how I feel about that.

(With that Connor launches himself at Angel and they both tumble over the edge, down the side of the cliff and onto the beach below. Cut to commercial and resume)

ANGEL: Connor. Connor.

(Connor attacks Angel, who fends off his blows.)

CONNOR: It's all about balance. You lose it (Tosses Angel onto the sand) you lose.

(...)

(Angel wakes to the sound of a drill. He is lying on his back inside a metal casket. Connor is tightening the screws on it. Thick steel cables are wrapped over Angel's ankles, thighs, abdomen and chest, confining his arms at his sides and holding him motionless. )

ANGEL: Connor. - Why are you doing this?

CONNOR: You murdered my father.

ANGEL: No. I didn't. I swear.

JUSTINE: He's lying.

ANGEL: I'm not lying. And she knows it.

CONNOR: You're the prince of lies.

ANGEL: That's why you wouldn't let them kill me at the drive-in. So you could.

CONNOR: Killing is to good for you. You don't get to die. You get to live - forever.

P.S.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: as evidence for "son of his parents" - Angel does exactly the same thing to Pervaine in s5 Hellbound (i.e. lock someone immortal up for eternity), and the scene I didn't quote earlier, when Connor after burning Holtz comes back to the Hyperion and tells Angel he'll live him (and asks Angel to practice sparring, which of course enables him to get the drop on Angel later on) and says "let's give it a try", the smile is a Darla smile.

Incidentally, it says something about Justine that this entire thing wasn't her idea - she (and presumably Holtz, though one can't be sure about that) thought the set up would just make Connor go for the kill. But Connor does have the capacity for that kind of cruelty. Though we don't see it towards anyone but Angel, which brings to mind Darla's remark to Angelus after she rescued him from Holtz, and Angelus asks her whether they shouldn't kill Holtz now - Darla says Holtz is too much fun to torment, and now that he's tortured Angelus, he's "like family". Oh, those screwed up Aurelians. And wait till you see Connor with the soulless version of his father. It's an all time classic scene (with a spectacular Bad Wrong vibe); the reason I'm alluding to it now is that Connor says something that for me goes back to why he picked out the sinking in the sea thing, and what he thinks that says about him.

And lastly, because I can't resist fanfic recs, two interestingly different takes on Connor around "Deep Down", both very well written:


How I Spent My Summer Vacation (http://www.obsessivetendencies.net/am/connor.html)

True Faces (http://www.geocities.com/guerdemuirth/faces.html)

Re: P.S.

[kangeiko]

Re: as evidence for "son of his parents" - Angel does exactly the same thing to Pervaine in s5 Hellbound (i.e. lock someone immortal up for eternity),

No, that's very different. It's not that Pervaine can't be killed, it's that if he's killed he becomes even more dangerous. He's actively going around killing lots and lots of people, and they have no other way of containing him. Angel can be killed, but Connor doesn't want him to die. He wants him to suffer. Forever.

(This sort of reminds me of Londo's speech in A Tragedy of Telepaths, actually - the princess, and the flower, and the guards, and "long after the reason was gone". If Connor had had his way, long after he was dead and dust in the ground, Angel would have continued suffering. Hundreds of years down the line, if Angel didn't manage to kill himself in his prison, he would have continued suffering - long after Connor, and Holtz, and Justine, and all of LA, perhaps, was dead and buried.

the smile is a Darla smile.

I'm getting a lot more respect for the actor, it has to be said. Although I didn't like Connor to begin with, his moods were, er, mercurial, which is always difficult to get across.

And wait till you see Connor with the soulless version of his father.

Have just done so, and am too busy going "OMG that's just Bad and Wrong and SO HOT" to manage anything more coherent right now...

And lastly, because I can't resist fanfic recs, two interestingly different takes on Connor around "Deep Down", both very well written:

I'll check them out, thanks. :)

Re: P.S.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I'm getting a lot more respect for the actor, it has to be said. Although I didn't like Connor to begin with, his moods were, er, mercurial, which is always difficult to get across.

I shall try to keep my fangirling to a limit, but yes, he's very good. Just one tiny tiny rave - in the climax of Origin, he has to convey Connor going from Mindwiped!Connor to Remembering!Connor in a heartbeat and entirely by body language, and he pulls that off. There was a lot of debate post-Origin and pre-Not Fade Away whether or not Connor remembered, and whether that last line of his was deliberate, but I never had any doubt simply because of the way it was played.

Have just done so, and am too busy going "OMG that's just Bad and Wrong and SO HOT" to manage anything more coherent right now...

You realize this is making me chew on my fingernails ever more waiting for your review of that particular episode.*g* (Trivia alert: it was directed by Sean Astin, aka Sam Gamgee.) Also, once you've seen Calvary, the next episode, I'll link you to a little something I wrote.

[kangeiko]

YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN! YOU'RE USING TRUTH AND LOGIC TO COUNTERACT MY COMPLETELY VALID IRRATIONAL POINT! aaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhh! How can I work under these conditions?! *pouts*

*pause*

That didn't work, did it? You're still right, aren't you? *sigh* OK, so he's not a complete berk. Can I still hit him with sticks occasionally?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That's okay. He bruises prettily, and heals fast.*g*