Blade 1.09: Angels and Demons review

AIR-DATE: 23/8/2006

Written by: Adam Targum

Directed by: Felix Enriquez Alcala

Starring: Larry Poindexter, Emily Hirst, Brent Stait

Synopsis
Blade discovers the
true nature of Marcus’s virus – it’s
designed to only kill purebloods.
Shen thinks that he should be
happy that Marcus is doing their
work for them, but Blade is
characteristically grumpy about
this state of affairs.

Krista is drinking herself into
oblivion after the death of her
mother. Marcus uses his psychic
link with her (formed when he
sired her) to show her visions of
his past. She sees him in his prevampire
days, in Detroit in 1899.
He and his wife, Isabelle, are
setting up a business when
Damek and his heavies muscle in,
demanding payment for a
protection scheme. Marcus
refuses, and so he and his wife
are both vampirised in the most
brutal of ways.

In the present Damek visits
Marcus with new demands.
Instead, Marcus kills him in
revenge for what he did to
Isabelle. A disorientated Krista
shags Marcus while Blade (the
perv) watches from a rooftop
across the way.

Agent Collins discovers that
his boss is a vampire familiar.
Escaping him, he later learns
about the existence of Blade.
Charlotte, suspicious of
Marcus, orders the kidnapping
of Chase.

Review
It’s just like watching
Angel. Minus the wit. The
charisma. The inventive plotting…
Marcus even has a dodgy pony
tail in the flashbacks (though
thankfully no dodgy Irish accent).
These scenes are a welcome
change of pace for this show;
they’re beautifully shot and it’s
great to be see some locations
other than grimy streets,
warehouse interiors and Marcus’s
HQ. Unfortunately, the flashbacks
aren’t particularly insightful or
shocking. Bloody, yes. Brutal, yes.
But not shocking in the sense that
it shows you anything that makes
you go, “Oh my God!” Marcus’s
backstory is remarkably mundane,
in fact, when you compare it to,
say, Spike’s freaky origin story
(just thinking about his
vampirised mother still gives me
the willies). This is pretty standard
vampire-turning territory, really.

The fight between Marcus and
Damek is excellent, though, as is
the bitter moment when Damek
reveals – just before he’s dusted
– that he doesn’t even remember
Isabelle. But if offing Damek was
that easy, why didn’t Marcus do it
sooner? On the other hand, it
seems a stupidly rash thing to do
– surely Damek’s House is going
to be severely pissed off and
demand some kind of
retribution? (Flash forward –
I’ve now seen to the end of the
season and no, there are no
repercussions, which seems
very unlikely).

Oh yeah, and some black guy
who’s wearing big boots wanders
in occasionally.

Blade screen time: 6.5 mins (it’s an all-time record low!)

Dialogue
Shen: “I guess the
enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Blade: “I don’t have a problem
killing my friends either.”

Dave Golder