Angel: Five by Five

"So, to make a long story less long… if a service is rendered, we can get you off."

"Do you know how many men have promised me that?"

"You certainly won't be disappointed in our performance!"

I've commented before about my unease at the number of Buffy crossovers during Angel's first season. They don't help at all with establishing the show's own identity, and just make it look dependent on the parent show. And those criticisms still stand, and apply to this instance just as they did before. But there's no denying that this is a superb piece of television.

Of course, this is about Faith, and there's a real character arc throughout the episode. At first it seems she's completely unredeemed and unaffected by her recent experiences in Sunnydale; the first this we see her do upon leaving the bus (very Welcome to the Jungle!) is rob a man, in an inversion of the usual trope of women being vulnerable to strange men. Later we see her in a rock club (although people are dressed rather oddly for such a place!) where she alternates bouts of violence with dancing to Rob Zombie's rather splendid, and highly appropriate, Living Dead Girl. In fact, the choice of song is a rather clever pointer towards Faith's nihilism and death wish. The final few minutes, with Faith breaking down in the rain, and begging Angel to kill her, doesn't exactly come out of the blue. Faith's character is extremely nuanced and, in hindsight, has been very well handled by the writers on both shows. And there's plenty of humour on show in spite of the darkness.

The flashbacks with Angel just before and after the gypsy curse are supposed to contrast with Faith in the present day, I suppose, what with both characters being tormented by guilt. I'm not sure the contrast is all that strong, but it's nice to see the flashbacks.

Another thing I liked was how Wesley's previous sins with Faith are not just brushed under the carpet- there are harsh words and awkwardness between him and Angel, which had to happen; the viewers would not have accepted it if things were different. Of course, narratively, this means that Wesley has to be tortured to ensure that we're fully on his side: the simple scene of Faith, looking out of the window with the shard of glass she was holding earlier, but bloodied, is horrible effective. And it's the most explicit acknowledgement yet, by comparing the Wesley of today with his slightly younger self, of how much he's changed.

Story arc-wise, though, this is when Wolfram and Hart really hit the foreground, and the double act between Lilah and Lindsey (who hasn't appeared since the first episode!!!) begins. And all of these extensive sets of the interior of the offices just cry out to be used again and again. At last we get a proper sense of the internal machinations and office politics inside the firm, and it's as deliciously evil as we might expect.