Who are the stonecutters?

The Masons! The Secret Masters of the World!

I thought the X-Box/Playstation thing wasn't even a nitpick ... didn't someone say there were cross-platform versions?

"Off to save the bloody world again; it's what I do."

Don't forget -- he needs to die each time, poor dear.

Cindy: It's a Simpsons thing.

And I have their song in my head.

Every ages-old demonic entity needs a Spike as a pet.

I could use one myself.

Finally saw the episode, now off to read the last few hundred posts in thread #4 before commenting, much. Maybe it will help my grumpiness.

Wish he had shipped Nina off a while back, yawn.

Wow, Marcus beating up Illyria was really ouchy. Ouch.

Well, I got to the end of the thread finally, delayed by having to sleep and an 8:30 am conference call with stupid stupid stupid people.

Micole speaks for me, particularly with regard to the importance of an ending being both surprising and inevitable. Which this? Not so much. I don't mind, but I'm not compelled. I'm seeing the hand of the writers too clearly here.

I'm also rather disturbed about the killing of Drogyn. First, do we know that was actually him? I rewound and still couldn't recognize him. Wondered if maybe Angel pulled a switcheroo. Not that killing a complete outsider would be an improvement.

Second, he killed a good guy! A complete innocent! (Okay, possibly not innocent, but not deserving of death at the moment.) Um, repercussions? Or at least recognition? The hell?

I suspect Hamilton is suspicious.

I hate the WB promo people with a cold and furious rage.

The Masons! The Secret Masters of the World!

Heh, Victor funny. Give cookie. (Where'd I leave my dad's Masonic apron, anyhow?)

Cindy: It's a Simpsons thing.

Thank you, Plei.

And I have their song in my head.

I have the Franklin theme song in my head, which is problematic, because I only remember the first line of the first verse, and then about 5 words rather scattered throughout.

I thought this was a good episode. I see the asspull. I am ignoring the asspull. I have only an hour left in the 'verse I love beyond all 'verses--a 'verse always complicated by pacing problems. In fact, I'm tempted to go all meta, and write some big thesis on the pacing problems of BtVS and A:ts arcs, and then fanwank it as a part of the mythology of the 'verse.

Wesley made me cry when he raised his hand. Spike did, too. I can't figure out Lindsey at all. I don't care. I just wish he'd get a new hairdo. I can't make Angel killing the Drogyn fit at all. That's okay, too.

Second, he killed a good guy! A complete innocent! (Okay, possibly not innocent, but not deserving of death at the moment.) Um, repercussions? Or at least recognition? The hell?

Yeah, I don't know what's up with that, and I think it's unlikely it'll be covered next week (unless Drogyn's alive or is revealed to have agreed to act as a sacrifice).

Doesn't Shanshu mean some sort of combo of living and dying, which the MoG simply assumed meant "becoming mortal/human?"

As I recall, Wesley said the word can mean either "live" or "die" depending on the context surrounding it. I'd have to check my DVDs.

I thought the X-Box/Playstation thing wasn't even a nitpick ... didn't someone say there were cross-platform versions?

Me, over here. *wave* I linked to the Amazon page for X-Box Crash Bandicoot at the start of this thread.

Random and possibly repetitive continuity porn notes

• The biggie is the kiss, obviously: brings in Cordelia, brings in Doyle, brings in dying a hero and passing the mission on. Brings in death as victory and not defeat.

I've always thought that Angel could work as a tragedy, as long as it was a heroic tragedy and not a nihilistic one, although I'm still not sure if that's how they're going.

• If you slo-mo Angel's vision, you see the bloodied corpses of Evil Pricks (TM KristinT) flung around in a circle, blood smeared on the wall, which reminded me both of the cellar post-Dru-and-Darla snackage and of the Beast constructing a beacon to destroy W&H and call down Jasmine. (Is it possible Angel's trap is only him trapping himself, creating Armaggedon by making the first blow? That is, the Beast did destroy W&H--only to usher in something worse. And W&H didn't even stay down that long.)

• The bronze masks the Evil Pricks wore were like the bronze mask on Voca's face in "To Shanshu in LA," the episode where W&H set the season-spanning Angel-entrapment arc in motion. (And by extension Voca now is associated with Jasmine, because Angel tore off his mask to show a decaying maggot face like Jasmine's true face.)

• The "Collect the whole set of S5 villains!" theme of the Prick Party.

• "Power Play" opens with flashback of Angel biting someone, like "Shroud of Rahman." In "Shroud," Angel was also faking his own fall to the dark side as a ploy to save someone/do good.

• Angel in bed in the sunlight, with a girl on his side, is like "Soul Purpose"; Fred peered in his chest with a stethoscope to find nothing but oddities there, and Nina pecks at his heart with questions, and finds determinations, darknesses, plans.

• Angel on humans as ants is like Illyria in "Shells," and Wes talking to Illyria in "Shells." (And Illyria on the game is a reprise of Angel's epiphany in "Epiphany." Only less goofy and more glum.)

• Angel talking about "setting the course" is a reminder of Lawson. (In the episode where Illyria discovers why we fight, where Angel reminds the rest of them of the same.)

• The circular staging of a lot of the confrontation scenes was an echo of "A Hole in the World," only Knox's presence as a secret enemy has turned into Angel's presence as a secret ally.

• Angel shutting the doors in Wes' face (and apparently in the face of his humanity) echoes Angel shutting the doors on Holland's wine cellar in "Reunion."

• Wes with his memories back faces Angel's possible betrayal with the determination to get the hero Angel back, the way he responded to Lilah's death apparently at Angelus' hands by going for Faith. Rescue, not revenge.

I was so happy to see broken Wes determined on mercy and not justice. Because it's mercy he needs.

What Plei and Victor said -- they're the Freemasons of the Simpsonsverse.

It's just a minor nitpick - much like the Italian from last week.

I don't consider the Italian grammatical errors a nitpick, considering that the characters were supposed to be native Italians, in Italy.