I've Got You Under My Skin
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Angel: Season One: I've Got You Under My Skin
Summary:
What starts out looking like a case of child abuse (if you hadn't seen the previews, that is) turns out to be a case of demonic possession. With a particularly nasty, clever demon possessing a little boy and doing a good job of slowly destroying a family's life.

Nits and Ruminations:
I am impressed. Cordelia: "I've seen the movie." Me, too, but the creators were able to take a pretty clichéd story and bring some freshness to it. Not only did the story itself take some turns (didn't see the end coming at all), but they let the characters drive the story. We're five weeks after Doyle's death and the characters are still affected by it. Proof once again that you can have stories with long-term consequences without having to commit to a Babylon 5 five-year story arc. Are you Voyager writers hearing this? Dramatic televion draws its drama from the consequences of decisions made.

Off the soapbox. What stopped the nun from performing the ceremony? I know it's not kosher, but if Wesly could do it, why couldn't she? She'd probably be a lot more qualified. She nailed Angel right off the bat--that was a nice scene in the church. And isn't there more than one priest in Los Angeles?

In the end twist: After escaping the boy, why didn't the demon inhabit someone else? Man. He let one bad experience scar him for life. Even if he was confused immediately after leaving the child, in the tunnels he had ample opportunity to jump into Wesly and suck his soul dry.

Speaking of the twist, why did the demon fight the exorcists so hard? He wanted out! He should have helped Wesly with his Latin. Maybe it's just hard to break old habits.

And a final observation: with a stable of recurring secondary characters that sometimes don't recur very often, it was a nice touch to use "Previously on Angel" as a quick reminder of who someone is. This week they effectively used it to reintroduce the love interest for those who didn't know. They also used it to give new viewers some insight into Wesly's weaknesses, which the demon used against him later on.
By Vince on Tuesday, February 15, 2000 - 11:25 pm:

Not a bad episode, but the preview kinda gave away some of the surprise. I liked the mentions of Doyle; I miss him too. It'd be great if they brought him back by next season, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

By Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, February 15, 2000 - 11:34 pm:

The bit about Wesley's dad was a little obvious and out of the blue. If it had been mentioned in a previous episode, then it would have worked better, instead it's just a convenient character flaw that they created just for this story.

So why didn't they research the exorcism ritual when they knew they were dealing with an Ethros? The scene where they find out about the dead priest, the scene with Wesley discovering that the demon seeks a new host & the scene where they find out about the Ethros Box should have been done before Angel even went to dinner. Why else cause the demon the reveal itself, unless you have everything already prepared???

By Richie Vest on Wednesday, February 16, 2000 - 6:31 am:

Cordelia seem to get her vision with a little warning a build-up if you will. Ususally with both her and Doyle the vision (and the pain) were instant.

By margie on Thursday, February 17, 2000 - 12:24 pm:

How was Angel able to enter the church? Did Wesley invite him in? Or can he enter a church without being invited?

I laughed when Wesley tossed the cross to Angel & Angel handled it like a hot potato. It really got Weslry's point across.

By Allegra on Tuesday, April 25, 2000 - 12:47 pm:

Mark, How did Doyle die? You didn't send me that ep. BTW, This was one of the better episodes. had me at the edge of my seat, sucking down a big gulp.

By Mark Morgan on Tuesday, April 25, 2000 - 7:43 pm:

I missed "Hero" when it reran; I'll try to grab it for you. He died stopping an Evil Device of Mass Destruction. It was a very touching episode, because Cordelia had just learned he was half-demon, and a relationship was on its way.

Then he died. I almost drove to California to hunt Joss Whedon down.

By allegra on Tuesday, April 25, 2000 - 11:01 pm:

thought so. I was teased by the trailer left on the tape, then I didn't get to see what happened!
and suddenly he was just gone.
and it sucked, mightily. There are so few interesting characters left to "flesh" Angel out.
and everybody interesting you meet is a proverbial "redshirt" or some sub-phylum of dork.

By Ratbat on Wednesday, May 17, 2000 - 12:42 am:

Well, there probably is more than one priest in LA, but Wesley implied that not just anyone, priest or otherwise, could do it.

By Anonymous on Monday, June 05, 2000 - 8:05 pm:

You would think Angel would find out if Willow could curse the boy with a soul.

By Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, June 06, 2000 - 1:51 am:

Who's soul would she curse him with?

The Gypsy curse restored Angel's soul that he lost when he became a vampire. If the boy didn't have one to begin with, then the spell probably wouldn't work. (I'm assuming that the spell is specifically worded to work one way.)

Also what would happen if the boy got the soul of another person? Would the boy have two personalities fighting for control of the body?

By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, June 21, 2000 - 9:09 pm:

The Ethros said the boy did not do what he did for evil. Then why did the boy do it? Curiosity? Now maybe it was simply that what the demon considered evil and what I would consider evil are 2 different things, but it seemed to me that the boy did these things because he wanted to, which seems evil to me.

Also the demon says he existed before Humans had a word for him, which implies a prehistoric origin. Also in Prodigal, Angel tells Kate that the demons preceded humans. However the exorcism calls the demon the product of Satan. Satan became the lord of Hell somewhere between the Old Testament & New Testament. (Satan in the Old Testament was a title for the angel assigned by God to be Job's adversary. In the New Testament it is the name of a fallen angel.)

On a side note. The original definition of Demon was 'that which is between Man & God', and was further divided into Cacodemon (evil spirit) & Agathodemon (good spirit).

Why did Angel call himself Angel Jones? Why not use his real last name? (I believe they did have last names in Ireland when he was born.)

By Art Vandelay on Thursday, June 22, 2000 - 12:09 am:

I think it was a play on the fact that when ever ppl give false names on TV they use the common name Jones or (Smith in England)It sounded funny here when combined with his first name, Angel.

By Ryan Whitney on Friday, February 11, 2005 - 5:35 pm:

The bit about Wesley's dad was a little obvious and out of the blue. If it had been mentioned in a previous episode, then it would have worked better, instead it's just a convenient character flaw that they created just for this story.

This pays off in season five.

By Ryan Whitney on Friday, February 11, 2005 - 5:37 pm:

How was Angel able to enter the church? Did Wesley invite him in? Or can he enter a church without being invited?

Angel can enter, without an invitation, any place where no human lives.

By Josh Gould (Jgould) on Friday, September 09, 2005 - 8:57 pm:

And I don't think either Spike or Dru had trouble entering the church in which they torture Angel is Buffy Season Two.

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