Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

General discussion about the nineteen episodes of "My So-Called Life". Note: Our episode guide can be found here.
shorty

Post by shorty » Apr 26th 2003, 1:20 pm

I just realised the thing next to Jordan's candle is a bottle of drink! I must have been watching from a distance, silly me!! :oops: :lol:

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Post by likelife » May 21st 2003, 5:08 pm

just a note about julianna hatfield's angel character.... i thought that the best part of this episode was that it dealt with a lot of serious issues (religion, faith, homelessness, abuse) without being heavy handed about it. others have said this as well.
the angel character is interesting because i think that there are several different ways for us as an audience to "read" her. we COULD see her purely as a spirit, someone who is not real and who helps to teach characters certain things and to bring them together. another way to see her is as a homeless young woman who WILL die, because of how life has treated her thus far. when she speaks to patty at the end, they are speaking of things yet to come. and yet another way is to see her as a completely real human being - she was in the music room at school, angela did give her winter boots, etc. - and patty's vision of her at the end is purely something that patty sees, as a part of her imagination/spiritual journey.
i'm sure there are other interpretations.
i just wanted to mention that even in the case ofthe angel character, BF leaves a lot up to our interpretation. and i like it that way.

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Post by lizardcub » Jun 19th 2003, 1:03 am

lifelike, I could totally fanwank that the girl's not really an Angel, Patty's hallucinating, whatever, were it not for that damn wing scene at the end. It's not from any character's perspective, so I can only think of it as the objective truth.

And that's why, as much as I love love love a great many things about SCA (in fact, everything else), I can't count this among my favorite episodes. Angels? Don't belong in my MSCL. I care about the show so much because I buy it as a piece of the world I live in. And my world is angel-free!

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Post by maddymay » Aug 18th 2003, 4:17 pm

I was watching this episode last night, and Brian said something that struck me as very odd.
"What is this big thing about Christmas? Everyone talks about it like it's the Second Coming, or something."
If Brian is Jewish, why would he refer to it as the second coming. I mean correct me if I am wrong, but Jewish people believe that Christ has yet to come, so in his opinion wouldn't it be a first coming?
Just a thought
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Post by svenkid » Sep 25th 2006, 1:58 pm

maddymay wrote:I was watching this episode last night, and Brian said something that struck me as very odd.
"What is this big thing about Christmas? Everyone talks about it like it's the Second Coming, or something."
If Brian is Jewish, why would he refer to it as the second coming. I mean correct me if I am wrong, but Jewish people believe that Christ has yet to come, so in his opinion wouldn't it be a first coming?
Just a thought
lol, the second coming FOR christians. great episode, even reading the word essay brought a tear to my eye.
the episode so-called angels, does it to me every time!

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Post by SanDeE* » Sep 26th 2006, 8:57 pm

I think Brian is just a teenage boy annoyed with the holidays, and he said something to reflect that. Lots of kids say things they may not fully understand the background of. But, Brian is booksmart... maybe not religion smart! He's just annoyed here.
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choir

Post by caveman » Nov 21st 2006, 1:32 pm

Hi folks! Nice to see like minded peepz who still love MSCL :D

I was wondering if anyone knew what the song was at the end of So-called Angels in the church. I think it was sung by the Inner Voices choir, but I would love a copy of the track as it makes me cry everytime and it just feels soooo Christmasy :angel:

thanks!

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Post by stburr91 » Dec 24th 2006, 10:39 am

The name of the song is "Feel like going home".

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Post by caveman » Jan 3rd 2007, 11:38 am

Thanks mate, I'll look it up :go:

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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Bacchante » Sep 19th 2010, 8:36 pm

I loved this episode. This was the second episode that had a scene that made me cry (the first one, interestingly, being Rickie's crazy dancing at the World Happiness Dance).

My boyfriend raised an interesting point about Jordan's living situation-- is this an attic or something, in the scene where he lights a candle? And how come he has a CAR but not a decent ROOM?
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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Sep 20th 2010, 5:55 am

I would guess it's because buying a car only requires you to save up the exact amount that the car costs. In Pressure, we see Jordan working on his car in the garage so it's likely that he bought a clunker for pretty cheap and has been fixing it up himself.

Getting an apartment, on the other hand, requires first and last month's rent plus security deposit, which can be an OBSCENE amount of money. In addition, any legit place would have him fill out a rental application which would reveal that he is not of legal age and therefore unable to legally sign a lease agreement on his own. He would need an adult to sign the lease (or at the very least cosign). Even if he had just turned 18, as a high school student who (hopefully) has no credit history, he wouldn't qualify after the credit check.

Realistically, he could just rent a room in a house/apartment or find a sublet, but how many people would be willing to take a chance on a high school kid paying his rent every month?
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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Bacchante » Sep 20th 2010, 6:30 pm

Hm, so do you think this attic that he lives in is his own, or is it in his parents' house? I thought he lived with his parents, since when talking to Rickie about how his father used to beat him up, he never mentioned leaving home. And, you know, I thought his parents might not be rich, but would still be able to provide a normal room for their son to live in. But his family seems/sounds kind of messed up, so who knows.
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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Jody Barsch* » Feb 7th 2011, 10:13 pm

Bacchante wrote:My boyfriend raised an interesting point about Jordan's living situation-- is this an attic or something, in the scene where he lights a candle? And how come he has a CAR but not a decent ROOM?
I always took it to be some nook in the loft, not his actual room in his family's house.
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Also, after multiple V. Mars reiterations, and finally a Deadwood movie, still wishing for some continuation of The Riches !

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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Browland » Feb 7th 2011, 11:49 pm

I sure hope so! Although we really know next to nothing about Jordan's family life, except that his dad used to hit him.

One thing I loved about the Angela's World analysis was how Jordan was lighting a candle in response to the conversation he had with Rickie about lighting candles--that it couldn't hurt to pray. I totally missed that the first time I watched the episode.

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Re: Discussion for Episode 15: So-Called Angels

Post by Bacchante » Feb 8th 2011, 4:31 am

Jody Barsch* wrote:I always took it to be some nook in the loft, not his actual room in his family's house.
I also initially thought it wasn't an actual room, but then the boyfriend got me doubting myself. You're probably right though... Yet he does seem rather comfortable there, as if it's his own personal space.
Browland wrote:I sure hope so! Although we really know next to nothing about Jordan's family life, except that his dad used to hit him.
Do we also know that his mother died, or is this someone's interpretation?
Browland wrote:One thing I loved about the Angela's World analysis was how Jordan was lighting a candle in response to the conversation he had with Rickie about lighting candles--that it couldn't hurt to pray. I totally missed that the first time I watched the episode.
You clearly aren't obsessed with Jordan Catalano enough so you weren't paying attention... Just kidding :)
On a more serious note, this is why I love this show so much-- everyone (well, the important characters anyway) seems to have potential to become a better person (if we see praying, in this case, as a symbol of that). It's also why I don't think Jordan is a particularly bad person-- he is willing to overcome his ego and change, even if he doesn't openly admit it. (That's also why I like him more than, say, Daniel from Freaks and Geeks-- I like Daniel too, but we don't see indications that he might be capable of change until the last episode.)
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