I'm less than one episode away from completing Angel Season Two (I've been watching episodes piecemeal during Cort and Fatboy's show), and appreciating that this show could both go to really, really dark places, story-wise (like in the middle of Season 2, for example, with that Angel-closing-the-doors moment or the, um, burninating) and also go to goofier places, story-wise. I doubt Buffy the Vampire Slayer could've done anything like Lorne's home dimension, with that dog and the bearded mom and with Charisma Carpenter almost looking like Wonder Woman at one point and with calling humans "cows" and with yes, oh yes, Numfar doing the dance of joy. Makes me appreciate even more the balancing act the Buffy/Angel producers did, making one show lighter if the other show was darker; after all, on Buffy at the same time the world was about to end.

Continued rest-in-peace thoughts, Andy Hallett (who played Lorne the demon on Angel). I hope Joss Whedon dedicated tomorrow night's episode of Dollhouse to you.

Leering Alert: I think I wibbled a little bit at Amy Acker's legs.

Good season, overall. The dialogue, to me, still too often seems to be trying too hard to be clever, but I know that's part of its style. It still sometimes seemed less natural than on Buffy, even though the language on Buffy is just as stylized in its own way. I can't fully explain dialogue, and not even Stephen King can, either. Quote, why not? From On Writing:

It's hard to say what's wrong with [H.P.] Lovecraft's dialogue, other than the obvious: it's stilted and lifeless, brimming with country cornpone... When dialogue is right, we know. When it's wrong we also know -- it jags on the ear like a badly tuned musical instrument.

Thank goodness that even at less than its best, the Angel dialogue ain't nearly that bad. Maybe it's more a showing-off quality that's rubbing me the wrong way. It's possible for dialogue to have flair and also be direct. It doesn't have to be, as Dorothy Parker said about wisecracking, "calisthenics with words."

I'm being too harsh (I can be the same way about how I speak!). Again, Angel's a good show, getting better (and clearly doing its thing with more of a budget than Season 1 had).

Speaking of TV, look out (maybe): soon I'll finally take a look at Season 1 of Lost and see if I react favorably to it. DVDs are waiting for borrow-age. *thumbs up*