Angel: Harm's Way

"Once again keeping corporate America safe from evil..."

It’s good that we get a Harmony episode; the character would be sort of wasted otherwise. And it’s a superbly crafted farce where Harmony, who has gone a whole eight months without killing anyone, finds herself waking up with no memory of the hours before bedside and with a dead man in her bed who has been vamped to death. Oops.

It’s interesting to see how sad Harmony’s life is, though- unable to hack it as an evil vampire gang leader, she now struggles in a corporate nine-to-five existence where she is friendless and unappreciated, until being nearly framed and killed by a jealous colleagues makes her realise she means something, sort of. It may not be deep stuff but then neither is Harmony, and her sudden demotion from popular to friendless is almost sad, but Harmony has always been the kind of comedy character who is given lines like “You can teach me about life, and I can teach you to dress better.”

The background of the easily offended feuding demons is also funny, but also further cements our impression of lawyered up Gunn as highly efficient and fulfilled professional. And Spike, newly corporeal, realises he can’t actually bugger off to Buffy so soon after his sacrifice without rendering his sacrifice meaningless. There’s a mild whiff of plot convenience to this, but it makes sense.

I like these fluffy episodes. And I’m conscious there are only so many left...