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| Max bodyguards Bruno Anselmo, not knowing that her charge is setting her up to betray her to an elite South African goon squad. |
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Initial Observation
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Closer Look
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Expletives
9 (2 damn, 2 hell, |
Violence very extreme |
Audience
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| Initial Observations | Nitpicks | Analysis | ||||
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I caught it in reruns: hadn't seen the Pilot (still haven't), but had seen Rising. It's humorous, and it isn't a bad episode... It just lacks a certain spark. Still, the fact that Red introduced a group of ex-cons who were trying to get Max (and were capable of leveling the playing field) was an interesting addition. Fans who said they wanted more of same got it in the second season: the Familiars are just as strong as Max and they don't feel pain (just like the Reds)... the only difference is that Familiars are selectively bred that way (instead of revved up), and for some reason those same fans (the majority of them, anyway) didn't seem to like it. I sometimes wonder why people who find so much to dislike about Dark Angel claim to like it at all. I found the Reds kinda corny. The Familiars? They're corny too; but they certainly have a better backstory. The truth is they both have an important place in Dark Angel's plotline, and when it comes to what i like on Dark Angel, nine times out of ten it's all good. |
Does Max only take a bath once a week? Of course, they do have a shower (see Meow)... Why was that bar called the Steel Pole? I don't recall seeing any poles, just chain link fence. When Max and Bruno were on the way to their room, Bruno commented that it was too bad that the Honeymoon Suite wasn't available. Later, Max lamented the fact that they had gotten the last room in the hotel and that it only had one bed. So when the Reds stride into the hotel, why does the guy behind the desk ask them if they want a room? When Logan gets the security video, it's on a disk instead of on a video. Okay, i can live with that (though it seems odd that it would come on a floppy disk instead of a CD), but why didn't it come inside a package? Did UPS, or Jam Pony, or some bellboy from the hotel deliver it without even an envelope? And how could Logan access two seperate videos at the same time and run them simultaneously if the data was on a floppy disk? If Logan had heard of the Reds, why didn't he remember them when he saw the video? Why did he have to go see Sebastian (other than so the guy could figure out that Max is an X-5 in Rising)? When Max and Bruno enter the parking garage, she says she's not surprised that he knows his way around courthouses: shouldn't he only know his way around the one? Most courthouses are pretty unique... |
Okay, so it's a bit better than i remembered. Bruno and Max's verbal sparring is perfectly orchestrated, as is Logan's conversations with Bling and OC. And i must admit that Bruno's wanting to do something good for his daughter was touching, but the guy is still a perverted jerk. He only thinks with the lower half of his body, that is, his wallet and his crotch (the latter more than the former). I could have lived without his goodbye to Max: but then, Bruno put it best when he said: "I'm a bad guy doing what comes naturally." As far as the plotline goes, i can understand why this episode was necessary. It paved the way for Rising, and so it helped pave the way for AJBAC. I'll admit, Red was humorous, and it even had a deep Logan moment... I just wish Bruno hadn't been quite so lewd. As it is, watching this episode may have been what paved the way for my watching American Pie and American Pie 2. There was a time when i wouldn't have even considered viewing them, or this (much too blatant about casual sex: very offensive), let alone considered them humorous. Sometimes my callousness, even appreciation of such humor, amazes me, but that's what happens when you go to three years of public high school. To quote Guinan, "How the mighty have fallen." | ||||
| On the Screen | Interesting Revelations... | |||||
 "You don't have to tell me to be afraid: I'm already there." |
Red is the color of courage. Red is the color of love. Red is the color of blood. But that's really a subject for Rising. "Men always have to stop and talk," cuddle, be told they're doing a good job... whatever. Sounds like Max has it a little backwards to me. Looks like Max uses baby oil in her bath: no wonder her skin always looks so soft. Max's pager! Why?!? WHY?!? Bruno's daughter (Anabelle) is so cute! Logan and OC's conversation over the phone is so funny ("We already did that")! I love her shirt, too. The Reds are from South Africa: who knew that during a worldwide depression they'd turn out to have such advanced technology? | |||||
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Top Five Lines in "Red" | Angelic Aptitude | |||||
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Well i have to start with the obvious thing... Bruno's promiscuity. One of the ten commandments is "do not committ adultery" (that's sex with a person you're not married to, for those of you who don't know) and the Bible says whoever lusts in their heart actually committs adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). Bruno's got a major sin problem: it's like he's addicted to sex. Makes for funny banter but isn't really funny as is the kind of stuff that ends up on Law & Order - SVU. That said, back to what i really want to talk about...
Logan has proven to sometimes be one track minded when it comes to his causes: the mission is all that matters. Hard to think that that could be bad really, but it is, and it can cause more harm than good. There were a couple of times that he's really pissed Max off because he saw the mission as more important than her feelings. That's what she was hoping to get away from when she left Manticore, not find it in the guy she's falling for. When it came to my mission, i used to totally disassociate myself with anything that might be considered... racy, i guess. I don't know, i guess that i fell into the old church trap that Satan sets when he tells us that anything "new" or "fun" is evil: it isn't true. He also tells us that we have to totally cut ourselves off from the world, be in it but not involved in it at all. This is also a lie: the Bible teaches us to be in the world, not of it (focus on the in). There are actually people who believe that contemporary Christian music--Christian Rock, Pop, Rap, Heavy Metal, Jazz, "New Age" (for lack of a better term), even Praise and Worship music--is sinful! There are also entire groups of people who have remained secluded from American society, cloistered within their own seperate communities that do not include technology or contact with people who live differently. As Bunty said in Chicken Run, "What a load of tripe!" As Christians our only reason for living is to go into the world and tell others about God's love and the gift He gave us in His Son Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). Max's getting p.o.ed is completely natural, because Logan had the tendency to only understand his point of view, not anyone else's. He didn't love her or treat her with compassion: he expected her to see things his own way, even judged her. That's not what we're supposed to do, yet i used to have the same problem. Whoever guessed that Dark Angel would improve my ability to witness? To my fellow Christians: the Bible teaches us to "judge not, lest you be judged." We need to remember that. We can't force our beliefs on people, completely separate ourselves from them and put on airs, and then expect people to line up and accept Jesus. They can be treated like that by other people in the world, what we need to do is show them love, compassion, and acceptance. The only way that will work is if we're humble and don't see ourselves as "too good" to associate with them in any way. Not many people decide to just walk in a church one day and get saved (it happens, but not as a norm). I totally agree with Logan's observation that we need to attack the disease, not the symptom. If we showed people like Bruno love (real love... Jesus' love) then they will know that we have something different and want it, too. You talk about "bad" "trashy" music, television, movies, politicians (the list goes on) and say "How can we change this? We need to regulate the amount of violence, consider sex taboo, condemn abortion" bip, bip, bip. No! We need to attack the disease not the symptoms. If we stop judging people and are actually humble enough to take the time to help them, to listen to them and love them, then people will come to God in droves and all of that will be irrelevant because the disease will be gone and the symptoms will be a memory that fades away forgotten. And that is what Logan is saying. Like i said: who would have thought that my witness would improve watching a show like this? Has to be a God-thing...
btw, in my house, i'm the remote woman. You touch that remote, you better be ready to defend yourself...
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| "Out" | « gotta blaze » | "Art Attack" | ||||
 | rewind and play (worth watching again and again) play (worth watching once, maybe twice) stop and rewind (don't make yourself suffer through it!) |
the High Place luinel_anduril@yahoo.com
Fire Angel's Star in Void page
RePlay ~ on fire ~ unique ~ Area 47
AIM ScreenName: starinvoid
creator of Christian Freaks
Dark Angel, Max, Logan, Jam Pony, and all the X-5s and Freaks
are the property of ce (Cameron/Eglee) Productions and 20th Century Fox.
Episode Log Lines are from Dark Angel - The Official Website.
Pictures are used courtesy of Manticore Kid Caps.
Title font is inspired by the font on the cover of
Bantam Doubleday Dell's Yearling Book
Alien Secrets by Annette Curtis Klause
and was created by Kristine Senko (a.k.a. Fire Angel).
06/17/02
