Harry: Roger's hair and skin are the same color.
Pete: Not really.

Final Thoughts on Video Game Pete Campbell

So, I finished the Video Game Pete Campbell Show the other morning. Because I watched it all out of order, the last episode I watched was the season three finale which led me to ponder the question, didn't Connor smell like Holtz after hugging him and decapitating him and stuff, and if Angel is always able to snarkily announce that people are having sex with each other, shouldn't he have been able to realize that Connor was lying when he said he hadn't seen Holtz. WHATEVER ANGEL YOU ARE TIRESOME.

All-in-all, I enjoyed VGPCS. Angel was obviously beginning to fall into the slump that Joss Whedon lets everything fall into when he gets distracted by something else, but it's not like later seasons of Buffy or anything like that. It's certainly enjoyable to watch.

On Basket of Kisses, the very best Mad Men website, they once had a post that was like "how can Vincent Kartheiser have been so incredibly terrible as Connor/Video Game Pete Campbell, and yet be so delightful as Regular Pete Campbell?" Okay. I take issue with this. I enjoy VGPC but he has to be the most repetitive, underdeveloped character in the history of the world. I think VK at least makes him interesting to watch. On Basket of Kisses, someone was like "I didn't think Connor acted like he was in pain." Well, what would that even mean? I'm sure he wasn't raised to go around crying all the time. The way VK moves and talks on Angel is so odd and that alone gets across the pain for me; like, the way he reacts when people touch him, and just his general quality of not really being there in the same way as everyone else.

I sort of think VGPC should have surprised everyone with his goodness at the end of season four, which has nothing to do with me being attached to him. In fact, when I watched the Jasmine episodes (remember I was watching the show out of order), I was like "oh, this is so cool, everyone thought that Angel's crazy son was okay now, but he's actually still pretty unbalanced in a way that no one suspected, and now he's all of the sudden their enemy because he thinks that Gina Torres eating people is a good time. Oh wow, Angel's going to have to kill him because he's crazy, this is so sad."

But then when I went back and watched more season four episodes, I was like wait, this is what his character was like for the whole season. He was just like "I'M CRAZY AND I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR ATTENTION." It got to the point that when Cordelia would be like "Of course I love you and think you're special, now go kill a baby" I would just start laughing because it was like "Oh Connor, there you go again." Like, when Connor totally goes along with all her evil plans, are you supposed to be surprised, because I can't imagine being surprised the way he's characterized the whole season. I just think it's unfortunate. I was so excited to watch the Video Game Pete Campbell show, but it turned out to be one episode repeated 26 times.

"I've seen his true face and he's tasted blood. There's no going back now [whaaat? as if this is the first time Angelus ever ate anyone?]. He has to be destroyed, and I'm the Destroyer."--Video Game Pete Campbell

This morning I watched some episodes at the end of the season where VGPC cries a lot and tries to blow up some people in a mall. It was pretty good. But this is good too. Sometimes when he's talking, I just start laughing.

I know this is weird, but because I've been on my own a lot lately, I've started sort of thinking of Pete Campbell/Video Game Pete Campbell as a real person, and I think I want to marry him. I guess I'll just have to marry someone else who likes Pete Campbell and then we can roleplay.

ETA:

Faith: (calls VGPC "kid")
VGPC: The kid has a name.
Faith: [Video Game Pete Campbell].
VGPC: (looks like he's having an orgasm all over the place)

VGPC: (is annoying)
Faith: (pins him against a wall)
VGPC: (is really mad and starts awkwardly kicking her in the shins)
Faith: (crossbow)
VGPC: (embarrassed that he met someone who's more like a video game character than he is)

The Joy of Video Game Pete Campbell

I'm watching Angel. Or, as I call it, The Pete Campbell Acts Like a Video Game Character Show. I'm only watching the episodes that relate to this theme.

Video Game Pete Campbell: (about a spoon) Oh, I know this. It's a tool. For eating.

Girl: They should give people a test before they have kids, and if they're drunks, or evil, they should be sterilized.
Video Game Pete Campbell: They should be killed.

This is only the most fantastic television viewing experience of my life!

ETA: I skipped ahead a season and found some more gems:

Video Game Pete Campbell sleeps with Cordelia Chase.

Cordelia Chase: You're very special, and what happened last night was something we both needed, but it came out of unusual circumstances. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Video Game Pete Campbell: (beatific smile) You think I'm special.

Video Game Pete Campbell and Angel get attacked by a zombie.

Angel: It's a zombie.
Video Game Pete Campbell: (in a bored voice) What's a zombie?

I'm actually surprised by how bad this show is aside from VGPC. I really loved Buffy when I was a kid, like, more than anything. When things got really bad at school, I'd pretend to be sick and stay home and watch my favorite episodes while I ate ice cream mixed with brown sugar. I watched a bit of season one with Clayton a year ago, and it was good in a cheesy way (except Clayton kept making fun of it as if he doesn't like incredibly cheesy things himself). I never thought season one was as good as two and three anyway, but now I wonder if any of it was good, because Angel is not impressing me at all.