Angel: You're Welcome

"She's evil, you gormless tit!"

So we finally get to say a proper goodbye to both the magnificent Cordelia Chase and the brilliant Charisma Carpenter. I will miss them both. Angel without Cordy was- perhaps is- unthinkable. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes beyond the pregnancy to enforce her departure, but I’m glad she came back for a good send-off.

And a send-off it is. We begin with Angel losing the will to continue at Wolfram & Hart and deciding to quit, despite strong opposition from a still very fulfilled Gunn, until he is interrupted by a phone call about the still comatose Cordelia, the details of which we don’t hear. And, when the gang visits her to find an awake and well and hugging Cordy we only get a quick dismissive mention of the dying woman in her room, a nice bit of misdirection.

It’s good to see all the touching reunions, but Cordy is somewhat appalled to see the deal with the devil that has taken place- I love the way that as soon as she says this a Red Devil shakes Angel’s hand and says “Racquetball Thursday?”- and perhaps even more disturbed to see an Angel who seems to be losing his Mojo. There’s a touching scene where Angel sees her watching that video Doyle made all that time ago, the “first soldier down”, she gets to apologise to Wes about Lilah, and it isn’t long before Cordy and co work out just how Spike has been used by Eve and Lindsey. The fight between Angel and Lindsey that follows is all a metaphor for Angel and his mojo; when he rediscovers it, he wins, and that’s because of Cordy.

Eve is in trouble, and I love Harmony’s cheerful offer to torture her. But as Lindsey is grabbed by the irate Senior Partners and Eve is sent away it seems that all is well for the moment, and it’s tome for the pub, the gang all in good spirits. Angel and Cordy have a quick hug before she tells him she can’t stay, and then they finally get a snog. And then the phone call happens, and she’s been dead all this time. She never woke up. Second soldier down. What an episode.