Expecting works far better as a character piece than as a Rosemary's Baby-style 'evil pregnancy' story. In some ways it works as a sequel to Rm w/a Vu, evolving Cordelia's character, bringing back Phantom Dennis and allowing some discussion of where Cordelia is going as a person. Likewise, just as in Rm w/a Vu, Cordelia immediately assumes that she is being punished, a deserving karmic side-effect of her high school cruelty and her casually vacuous behavior. It again reflects her growth as a character, and Charisma Carpenter is wonderful in the scenes where Cordelia really feels as if her life has come to a standstill.The demon plot itself is a little uninspired. There are two annoying 'friends' of Cordelia's who are never mentioned again, a drool-y demon, a bunch of women in birthing dresses standing in a giant pool of goo. There's nothing explicitly new on offer, and that's a little underwhelming for the Whedonverse, which usually takes standard fantasy ideas and runs with them into new and exciting avenues of storytelling.
Nonetheless, the chemistry between the three protagonists is firing on all cylinders again, and I liked their mutual bonding over Cordelia's pregnancy. Wesley, too, is finding his niche. Expecting works in some areas, but it's pretty filler-ish. Nice character work, though. C+
Credits
Guest stars Daphnee Duplaix (Serena); Ken Marino (Wilson Christopher); Josh Randall (Bartender)
Writer Howard Gordon Director David Semel
No comments:
Post a Comment