Judging by the episode's rating and the other reviews, I'm in a very very small minority here, but "I Will Remember You" ranks as the worst episode of Angel so far for me. The whole premise of teasing the tortured Angel/Buffy relationship is beyond redundant at this point, a dead horse that had already been flogged for seasons 1-3 of Buffy. They can't be together and it's sad; I get it. My investment in their romance is beyond spent at this point.
Maybe I would have loved this episode if I had ever been a "Bangel"(?) shipper to begin with, but to me it always felt incredibly hollow. Buffy was young and immature and spent way too much time pining after the dark, handsome, brooding older man she could never be with. (Echoes of a distant, neglectful father?) As far as I could tell, that's all it was. They never seemed to experience those little moments that speak to why couples gel, rebuild and reinforce their relationship. Oz and Willow got a lot of those moments, where you saw them supporting each other, taking care of each other, in small but meaningful ways. Even Cordelia and Xander's relationship had more depth. But with Buffy and Angel, it was always drama and torment; when the storms were past and they were allowed to just be, quietly, all the chemistry was sucked out of their pairing.
When Buffy was in high school I was able to accept the dynamic on its own terms. Who loves anybody for the "right" (non-hormonal) reasons in adolescence? Once you graduate and look back at those turbulent affairs with that special person without whom you never thought you could even breathe, it all seems pretty silly and melodramatic. But in the moment you're living it, it's the most important thing in the world, and the show did a good job previously of capturing that subjective reality.
Yet college-age Buffy sees Angel once and immediately melts back into that helpless puddle who can neither control herself nor resist the temptation of his dangerous allure. I think the writers did a real disservice to the character by having her regress so easily to a state of utter emotional helplessness. Now that she's an adult it just makes her look pathetic. And that's not counting all the whining she does in this episode every time Angel points out (rightfully) that they don't work together, they never will work together, and heading down that road is just going to end in heartache. Again. It's the first time I ever wanted to shout at the screen, "For God's sake, Buffy, grow up!" Hell, even vamp-Harmony had the willpower and self-respect to turn Spike away on "Pangs", the prior Buffy episode that leads into this storyline.
On a more positive note, Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance is spot-on, particularly at the climactic moment when she's despairing of their last minute together before everything is wiped away. Her sorrow and desperation is so believable it almost made me care in spite of myself.
I wouldn't be surprised if "I Will Remember You" was the result of a note from the network telling Whedon to tie the shows together for a ratings boost. David Greenwalt's heart just didn't seem in it, teleplay-wise; it felt very rushed and obligatory. Even the interactions between the Angel regulars was uninspired. I am glad, given the hints of the other reviews, that the Buffy/Angel relationship will apparently no longer be seriously revisited in the future. It brings out the worst in Buffy.
Maybe I would have loved this episode if I had ever been a "Bangel"(?) shipper to begin with, but to me it always felt incredibly hollow. Buffy was young and immature and spent way too much time pining after the dark, handsome, brooding older man she could never be with. (Echoes of a distant, neglectful father?) As far as I could tell, that's all it was. They never seemed to experience those little moments that speak to why couples gel, rebuild and reinforce their relationship. Oz and Willow got a lot of those moments, where you saw them supporting each other, taking care of each other, in small but meaningful ways. Even Cordelia and Xander's relationship had more depth. But with Buffy and Angel, it was always drama and torment; when the storms were past and they were allowed to just be, quietly, all the chemistry was sucked out of their pairing.
When Buffy was in high school I was able to accept the dynamic on its own terms. Who loves anybody for the "right" (non-hormonal) reasons in adolescence? Once you graduate and look back at those turbulent affairs with that special person without whom you never thought you could even breathe, it all seems pretty silly and melodramatic. But in the moment you're living it, it's the most important thing in the world, and the show did a good job previously of capturing that subjective reality.
Yet college-age Buffy sees Angel once and immediately melts back into that helpless puddle who can neither control herself nor resist the temptation of his dangerous allure. I think the writers did a real disservice to the character by having her regress so easily to a state of utter emotional helplessness. Now that she's an adult it just makes her look pathetic. And that's not counting all the whining she does in this episode every time Angel points out (rightfully) that they don't work together, they never will work together, and heading down that road is just going to end in heartache. Again. It's the first time I ever wanted to shout at the screen, "For God's sake, Buffy, grow up!" Hell, even vamp-Harmony had the willpower and self-respect to turn Spike away on "Pangs", the prior Buffy episode that leads into this storyline.
On a more positive note, Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance is spot-on, particularly at the climactic moment when she's despairing of their last minute together before everything is wiped away. Her sorrow and desperation is so believable it almost made me care in spite of myself.
I wouldn't be surprised if "I Will Remember You" was the result of a note from the network telling Whedon to tie the shows together for a ratings boost. David Greenwalt's heart just didn't seem in it, teleplay-wise; it felt very rushed and obligatory. Even the interactions between the Angel regulars was uninspired. I am glad, given the hints of the other reviews, that the Buffy/Angel relationship will apparently no longer be seriously revisited in the future. It brings out the worst in Buffy.