After watching this rather witty and excellent episode, it’s
easy to see Angel’s recent character development as a metaphor for addiction.
This is the episode where he hits rock bottom. It’s not just Angel, though.
Kate gets fired from the job that is her life and, devastated, overdoses on
pills. Meanwhile, Wesley, Cordy and Gunn realise that life without Angel is not
so easy as a fraudulent client refuses to pay. Compared to these genuine
misfortunes, Angel’s “hitting rock bottom” is somewhat more abstract. The
climax, however, hints that his resulting relapse may have devastating
consequences. Oh, and this is one of the episodes that I vividly remember from
my original, blog-free marathon of Buffy and
Angel, a very scary ten years ago.
It’s not just Angel and his erstwhile friends who have
problems this episode; Wolfram and Hart has it’s highly plot-convenient
seventy-five year review, which is causing the most fear amongst its employees
since the “purge of ‘68”. Do you think that Lilah and Lindsay might feel a
little bit worried?
Kate, too, has consequences to face up to, as her employers finally
want to know why she is spending all her time at work pursuing her own
hobbyhorses at the expense of her job. What’s tragic here is, although Kate’s
superiors are wrong to assume that the supernatural does not exist in LA, this
doesn’t really matter. Kate really is losing it in exactly the way they
suggest, as she goes to prove in the most tragic way possible. Tragically, I
genuinely can’t remember whether she lives or not.
One thing with watching Buffy and Angel back to back is that
one notices those little awkwardnesses of continuity. For example, why should
Darla be so much more affected by Angel’s little bit of pyrotechnics than
Drusilla? Nevertheless, I’m not sure it’s wise of Lindsay to be illegitimately sheltering
her at a time like this. W&H employees are cacking themselves about the
review to the extent that the Host’s karaoke bar is absolutely full of people
in suits. It’s a depressing time for everyone.
Wesley, himself at a low point, is dumped by Virginia. It’s
clear that the business that he, Cordelia and Gunn have set up is not working
without Angel as its focal point. Angel is too interested in his own obsessive
pursuit of Wolfram and Hart, which reaches a climax this episode. Angel gets
the guided tour from none other than the late Holland Manners, whose contract
seems to extend beyond death. The big reveal here is that the senior partners
are in fact humanity itself, or rather the evil that lies within. As a concept,
this isn’t anywhere near as deep as it seems to think it is, but as a character
point it works brilliantly. Angel is convinced by this that there is no point
to anything and he might as well just shag his brains out with Darla. As we
know, however, there are consequences to this sort of thing.
Angel, awakening from his night of meaningless sex, feels
himself changing. Oh dear…