Derek’s Review – 3.08 “Quickening”

The Good:

I really do enjoy when a story is able to create organized chaos, where absolutely insane things are happening but there feels like there is a purpose behind the madness. The last ten minutes of “Quickening” certainly delivered on that front. After “Offspring” treated Darla’s pregnancy with a rather laissez faire nature this is what I excepted. It’s already been established that Angelus, Angel and Darla are already rather famous in the vampire community so it makes sense that their child would attract such attention, especially when the “miracle” angle is considered. Even though almost all of the factions were introduced in this episode it made sense that all these separate groups were pursing Darla for different reasons.

This was still mostly set up but it wasn’t the nondescript, not sure where this all going set up of “Offspring”. “Quickening” kept a brisk pace throughout and when it was done I wanted to watch the next episode. I feel a lot more confident about where the Darla, Holtz and baby stories are going now. I still had fond memories of this story but I was unclear on the specifics. “Quickening” had a singular purpose and it served it well.

The Bad:

I did have some problems though. Everyone in Angel Investigations wanting to abort the baby but Angel was awkward. I’ll agree that Angel’s leap that the baby has a hearbeat therefore it has a soul was some seriously faulty logic. No one disagreed with him in “Offspring” about it. There wasn’t even a hint of that to my memory but here there all ready to kill the baby until they can prove it’s human. It’s probably a good plan but it didn’t fit with the end of “Offspring”.

It was ridiculous but ultimately inoffensive that Wesley could expertly read an ultrasound. I’m not sure how he could possibly know it’s a boy and human but I’m willing to go with it.

The Unknown:

The prophecy stuff is skating on some pretty thin ice. I’m fine for now with Wesley and Fred coming in and telling everyone they interpreted it wrong. A single person isn’t coming to end the world but a series of events started by one person. It was cheap way to get out of Holtz being the bringer of doom because he seemed far from evil in this introduction. The problem is that I’m worried the prophecy will become this fluid document.

I’m not a big fan of prophecies in my storytelling but I’d prefer them to be set. This is the standard translation, it’s vague and can be interpreted in different ways but it’s set. Angel has not done that so far, the prophecies change to suit the story’s needs. I love magic and the mystical but there needs to be rules. Otherwise there is no point to paying attention to the mystical mumbo jumbo if it can all change on a whim.

Favorite Moment:

The vampire cult interrupting the ultrasound spawned a lot of great little character moments. Whether it was Darla ready to switch sides or Fred’s “threat”, there were just a lot of little things that made it work. It all ending in a pretty cool action scene was the icing on top.

Bottom Line:

I’m very optimistic for how this is all going to play out in the next episode but it’s still very much set up. My opinion about this storyline is not nearly formed yet. I’m very much in the same headspace watching this episode as I was watching “Offspring”. I need to see more but I’m enjoying what I’m watching.

61 out of 100