Angel: Not Fade Away

"Good night, folks."

This is it, then. The end. And, my God, that was magnificent.

The plot of the episode could be reduced to “the gang kill every single member of the Circle of the Black Thorn, and some of them die” but, of course, the plot is not the point. This final episode lives and breathes character, feeling, and the positively existential message that yes, doing good may make no difference in the long run in a world that will always be corrupt and unjust, but we do it anyway, with joyous defiance, as something much bigger than our lives. That message lies beneath everything in this final episode.

Angel must keep up appearances, of course, and early on he is made to sign away the Shanshu Prophecy. But then he is, of course, a hero. Heroes do good because of who they are and not because of any reward, just as one does not need to believe in a Heaven to be moral. Neither does Angel, and neither do any of his friends.

But it isn’t all grim; the gang get to spend one last day doing what they love before they probably die that night. So Lorne sings. Angel spends time with Connor, and sees what a well-adjusted and happy young man he is. Spike gets drunk and performs at a poetry slam. Gunn, wonderfully, does charity work with our old friend Annie who, as much as anyone, articulates what the episode is about- if there are, indeed, corrupt forces ensuring that there will never be justice or an end to suffering, the proper response is to get to work and comfort the suffering. Hopelessness achieves nothing, however justified. We do good regardless.

Wesley, tragically, has no possible perfect days; spending it with the god king inhabiting Fred’s body is the best he can do. There is no joy for him, only grim determination and, anyway “I don’t actually intend to die tonight.” Like Hamilton later, this is something he probably shouldn’t have said.

The Circle are all killed, but not without cost. Wesley dies in Illyria’s arms as she lies to him, his last words being to tell Fred that he loved her. Alexis Denisof is simply magnificent in portraying a character who has had a rich and deep arc, and the same must be said for J August Richards, as Gunn’s arc this season has been deeply satisfying. We are shocked to see a dejected Lorne murder Lindsey before walking away forever. We are less shocked to see Harmony betray her boss and then ask for a reference, but that kind of juxtaposition is something I’ll miss enormously.

And so the survivors gather to face the consequences, with no hope of survival but happy against the odds. And then it ends. Has any season finale ever been better than this?

RIP Angel. RIP Buffyverse. You were loved.

Angel: Power Play

“You’re my hero.”

“I may not always be.”

The penultimate episode. We’re scarily close to the end.

This is an episode of set-up for the grand finale, yes, but it’s also a suspenseful piece of self-contained drama in its own right as we wonder whether Angel truly has been reduced by the dark side, by a taste for power. Only with Nina, in hindsight, is he truly honest, if oblique, about his desires and feelings, and the way he dumps her is even more heartbreaking once we realise why. But much of the episode shows him indifferent to the suffering of the little people, agreeing to destroy the opponent of an evil senator, and generally doing things that seem to be evil in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Circle of the Black Thorn.  Only at the end so we discover his true purpose- to strike a blow against evil which will not stop it, or apocalypse, in the long run but will be a worthwhile gesture, from which there is no coming back. And Wesley, Gunn and Spike are all with him.

It’s worth comparing Angel’s earlier speech about power to what he says here. Yes, the world will always be controlled by the powerful. Yes, evil can not be stopped and fighting it is in a sense futile. But that’s not the point. One can choose to be good as a glorious gesture, and give one’s life meaning. This is not a religious argument for morality but almost an existential one. And it’s glorious.

The Circle of the Black Thorn includes many people we have met before- the Duke of Sebassis, Cyvus Vale, that devil bloke that Angel plays squash with, a useful shortcut for the viewer. We also see Illyria being subtly humanised a little. Various characters play Crash Bandicoot, which Mrs Llamastrangler introduced me to a few years ago, and Illyria sees it as a metaphor for life- annoying but addictive. There’s still room for humour, and humanity. An epic episode, as ever for Angel, is leavened with humanity. That’s a big reason why I’m going to miss this programme.

But it’s time to look forward, nervously. Forty-odd minutes to go...

Angel: The Girl in Question

"How did she ever fall for a centuries-old guy with a dark past who may or may not be evil?"

This is the last ever fluffy episode of the entire Buffyverse and it’s utterly hilarious, as well as giving us what are probably last flashbacks of Darla and Drew- and also Andrew, and sort of Buffy. It may not get the praise that the serious episodes around it may do, but it’s equally brilliant in its own way.

There are three things going on here. One is the conceit that the Immortal, who is very big in Rome, is constantly seducing and, er, satisfying any woman he wants, frequently including Angel’s and Spike’s desired, both in the present and in flashback, and it’s all comedy gold. I especially loved Darla’s glowing little monologue. (“Oh, darling! It was just fornication. Really great fornication...”)

The second is the surprise arrival of Fred’s parents, and Illyria’s unexpected ability to impersonate Fred perfectly, something which freaks Wesley out deeply, and makes him tell her in no uncertain terms never to do it again- but we can tell, in spite of her defensive arrogance, that Illyria likes him.

But the third thing is essentially to transport the whole concept of the programme to an Italian (and to a limited sense European as a whole) context, complete with Vespas everywhere and an identical Wolfram & Hart office with Angel’s very Italian counterpart, Ilona, with her casual racism against gypsies prefiguring Italy’s current openly Fascist government. There’s a bit of social commentary here- Angel and Spike want to use violence to get the MacGuffin of the week, where their Italian counterparts resort immediately to bribery. “Oh, look,” says an Italian demon, “the Americans are relying on violence to solve their problems. What a surprise!”

There’s a lot going on here, I think. This is 2004, after all, the time of Afghanistan, Iraq, wars on abstract nouns and the re-election of an American president who we all thought at the time would be the worst ever. So there is, I think, an implied self-criticism of American war willingness, but also an implication that violence has integrity, that diplomacy is corrupt and appeasing. It’s not necessarily the self-effacing joke it may first seem.

The ending is perfect- a sulking Angel and Spike hearing words of wisdom from Andrew, who then reveals himself to have been changing into a fix and proceeds to go out with two gorgeous women. It’s a wonderful and fun episode. We shall never see its like again.

Angel: Time Bomb

”She still thinks she’s the god-king of the universe.”

“So, she’s like a TV star.”

“No, nothing that bad.”

In a way this episode is a way to get from A to B- Illyria is clearly too powerful to have around so her powers have to be sharply reduced for the final few episodes so the upcoming apocalypse can have some sense of threat. But not before she uses said powers to rescue Gunn, of course. He made it quite clear last episode he’d repented and there’s no narrative need to keep him in that rather unpleasant basement when he has far more interesting things to be doing as a key member of the cast.

We also start getting comments- especially in the rather interesting conversation between Gunn and Lorne- about how Wesley is coming across as increasingly unhinged and obsessive, something portrayed superbly by Alexis Denisof. Lorne, meanwhile, seems to be departing from his entertainment brief to revert to his old role as Greek Chorus-cum-comic relief. And Spike, despite the jokes at his expense, is increasingly being accepted as one of the gang. Oh, and Mercedes McNab finally makes the titles.

There’s an interesting early scene where Marcus castigates the gang for blowing so much money on Gunn’s rescue and obliterating their previously huge profits- “It’s business, boys, not a Batcave”- which makes an interesting contrast with Angel’s later decision, to Gunn’s horror, to allow a baby to be given to a bunch of demons for eventual sacrifice. We’re left to wonder whether Angel is indeed starting to be corrupted, and what this has to do with the apparently ongoing apocalypse.

Of course, the bulk of the episode focuses on Illyria speechifying at Wesley and various others as her human frame struggles to hold her power, and only after a load of very weird timey-wimey stuff does Wesley cure her. As Angel hints towards the end she may now be ready for the team, if she can dial back the conquering urge a bit.

Again, superb stuff. The timey-wimey stuff is a bit bizarre, though.

Angel: Origin

"In gratitude, I grant you three wishes."

"Really?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you."

Connor, inevitably, is back for an episode. This shouldn’t surprise us. What does come as a pleasant surprise, though, is how well it’s done, and how the fact that Angel altered reality and everybody’s memories acts to drive a wedge between him and Wesley in particular.

Connor’s life may be a lie, and his memories false, but these lies have made him into a healthy, pleasant, well-adjusted young man with a strong relationship with his family and a place at Stanford. He still has superhuman endurance, though, which brings him to the attention of Wolfram and Hart, and although Angel initially, to the gang’s confusion, runs away from the problem, he can’t keep himself away. He soon learns from Marcus that the Senior Partners have nothing to do with putting Connor back in his life- instead Cyvus Vail, the demon who changed Connor’s memories, no wants to use Connor to kill Sahjahn as is, of course, prophesied. Although why Vail didn’t try to do this earlier I have no idea.

I like Cyvus Vail. He’s a witty, likeable character as is Sahjahn. It’s a shame that one of them has to die, and so Sahjahn adds to this season’s growing body count. It’s a fun and entertaining set of scenes, paralleled with the horrifying Wesley discovering the truth about the reality shift, and restoring everyone’s memories.

This will, I suspect, affect Wesley’s trust for Angel, especially as early dialogue to Illyria highlighted how much he trusts his boss at that point. But the interesting effect on Connor; at first he seems to become his old, wild self and kills Sahjahn, only to return to his well-adjusted self. And the final scenes hint that, although he has his old memories back and knows the truth, he remains the man his new memories made him and chooses his current life- a mature, healthy response.

Meanwhile, Gunn is being regularly tortured in the cellar in a quest for redemption. So keen is he to redeem himself that he turns down an offer of release from Marcus- no more deals with the devil for him, no matter what the cost. This scene is here to show he’s learned his lesson; I suspect his days in Hell are numbered.

Another great episode, then. But aren’t they all at the moment?

Angel: Underneath

"This isn't Hell. It's the 'burbs."

This is an excellent finely crafted piece of television drama. The script is superb; I feel I haven’t praised Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft highly enough so here’s me doing it now. They are brilliant, whether it’s characterisation or plot, and their dialogue may not have the playfulness of a Joss Whedon but has a delightfully wry wit. I’ll miss them, and am puzzled at how little else they seem to have written.

This is a pivotal arc episode, of course; Lindsey is rescued so he can tell Angel what the Senior Partners are up to, namely corrupting him and his friends to keep the distracted from “the” Apocalypse, which is apparently the actual one and not one of those common or garden apocalypses that happen at the end of most Buffyverse seasons. It also sees Eve sign away her job, and her immortality, to a new liaison from the Senior Partners played by none other than Adam Baldwin, another Firefly alumnus. It’s cleverly done how he’s presented as an unstoppable threat who arrives implacably in front of Eve and produces... a pen.

Lindsey’s “holding dimension” is fascinating, reached by a magical car that evokes KITT from Knight Rider- we are primed to expect a Hell yet our first sight of him he looks very post-coital with his beautiful wife. Lindsey has a beautiful family in an enormous picket fence house but he seems to be afraid of the cellar. Only later do we find that he’s tortured there daily.

And here, of course, lies Gunn’s redemption. I love Angel’s pep talk to him as one who should know- yes, Gunn will forever be tormented by what he has done and yes, he should be. But he’s a good man and needs to atone. And that’s what he does- by taking Lindsey’s place in full knowledge that means daily torture. Redemption indeed.

But Lorne is headed in no such direction. Having run away unable to face Fred’s death he’s been drinking himself silly, depressed and disillusioned. He may have decided to  return and pretend to be functioning but he’s clearly shocked to see Angel and Spike without Gunn.

All this and we get done nicely scripted interplay between a very grim Wesley and an Illyria horrified at her relative weakness. We still don’t like her yet, but the script is gamely trying.

Absolutely first class telly.

Angel: Shells

"My world is gone."

"Now you know how I feel..."

Killing Fred was a brave move and a huge one. She was a hugely likeable and universally adored character, killed much as Tara had been in Buffy- Wes, like Willow, had only just got together with the love of his life before her cruel and pointless death the following episode. So far, so structurally similar. But Wes is now a harder character, not in a dark Willow sense but in the sense that something inside him has died. Worse, Fred may be dead but her body is now occupied by Illyria, an Old One seemly fond of the east coast of the Adriatic. And, just to rub it in this new character is played with chilling effect by Amy Acker, showing her phenomenal range as an actress.

Illyria is, of course, a baddie, and naturally she has an evil plan which this episode consists of her trying to execute. But, of course, her kingdom and her army have long gone, and she has no purpose. Her resurrection, and Fred's death, were both meaningless, much like Knox's life, shaped by his empty faith that brings him nothing. It's all very bleak. But, bravely, the episode ends by trying to get us to emphasise with Illyria along with Wesley, who has as much reason to hate her as anyone.

It's certainly courageous to make such a bold move as killing Fred and then tr y to get us to emphasise with her killer, who is played by the same actress. Certainly the main cast are devastated. Lorne can't deal with it at all. Wesley is changed, cold-hearted in a world without Fred, shooting Knox dead and stabbing Gunn when he finds out the truth. As for poor Gunn... this is where his betrayal is exposed, and he's devastated.

This isn't an episode to like, but one to hugely admire. Extraordinary television.

Angel: A Hole in the World

"I am not gonna be cut down by some monster flu! I'm better than that!"

I haven't felt like this since Tara died. Whedon, you magnificent bastard.

The unfair thing, and of course the point, is that poor Fred doesn't even get a heroic death. She just gets ill and dies. No miracle cure. Just death and heartbreak. But then isn't that how most of us will die?

There are two things from the beginning that make us fear something bad. The first is that we begin with a flashback to teenage Fred, just a handful of years ago. The other is the caption "written and directed by Joss Whedon", which always leads to an episode which invariably is bloody good and usually is significant. This episode is both, of course, with sparkling dialogue and richly textured character moments interwoven with masterful storytelling. Hence Knox was the evil Illyria acolyte all along, who chose Fred as host body for his god because he loved her. Hence the mummy got through customs because of a legal document Gunn signed in order to be lawyered up again last episode- Wolfram and Hart is indeed corrupting them all. Hence the whole cavemen vs. astronauts thing permeating the episode, and the splendid Angel/Spike double act. Hence Gunn being well and truly told that the Senior Partners are not his friends to call upon for favours. This script is a cut above.

As with his other episode this season, Conviction, the title is a glorious pun, But no one is laughing. This is a brutal assault on the heartstrings that draws out the heartbreak, for us and for Wesley and, indeed, for everyone, as cruelly as possible. Fred's last moments are extraordinary. So is the whole thing. Dammit, I am not ok after watching this...

Angel: Smile Time

"You're a wee little puppet man!"

This is obviously the best episode ever. Let’s get that right out there. I mean, what’s not to adore? A bunch of evil Sesame Street puppets plotting to steal the life force of innocent kids for to sell to Hell for a massive profit; puppets controlling the puppeteer, played by David Fury himself... oh, and of course there’s little puppet Angel. And the trying-not-to-laugh reactions of the hand. And Spike’s reaction. Especially Spike’s reaction.

But that’s not all. There’s an interesting scene where the puppeteer skews Gunn and Lorne (finally getting a decent role) for working for an organisation that gets guilty people off and is, shall we say, somewhat lacking in ethics. We have Gunn continuing to have his legal upgrade fade away, taking away his purpose in life and leading to, as it gets called, Flowers for Algernon syndrome. He gets offered a deal with the devil for a permanent upgrade and next time we see him he seems to be lawyered up again- what happened?

Then there’s Nina, back again as it’s that time of the month, and besotted with Angel, whose awkward handling of this is quite hilarious, as is the scene where Wes tells him like it is, while himself completely failing to notice that Fred has now dumped Knox and is blatantly signalling at him. So it’s heartearming to see Angel and Nina finally agreeing to a date, and the punch the air moment that is that kiss between Fred and Wes.

Now, Mr. Whedon... I can’t help remembering what you did after Willow and Rara got back together so joyously in Buffy. You’re not about to do anything, well, evil are you?

Angel: Why We Fight

"You're a Nazi!"

"What? Oh, no, I just ate one."

Meh. Well, there had to be an episode that failed to impress at some point during this otherwise excellent season. This episode, well it's just dull filler.

Submarines can be the scene of taut, exciting thrillers, but not here. I'm not sure whether it's the script or the direction, but the location is not so much atmospherically claustrophobic as limited, grey and dull. And, much as I love flashbacks, what's the relevance of all this? Yes, it's fun to see Spike interrogating Nazis. It's fun to see an old, supposedly powerful vampire who looks just like Nosferatu, an obvious reference. But none of this needs a whole episode.

Worse, the present day sequences, with Lawson taking Angel's mates hostage in a half-hearted sort of way before an obligatory so-so fight at the end, is token in the extreme. So what's the point of all this? Oh, it's to show that Angel once sired someone, in extreme circumstances, after regaining his soul. That's it. It has no wider relevance to anything lse and no doubt will never be referred to again.

So is there anything we can salvage? Well, it's confirmed Eve is gone, and the White Room liaison to the Senior Partners has indeed vanished too. And what's that lapse of memory from Gunn? Is his lawyer brain beginning to fade now the Senior Partners are cut off...? Interesting, but all this just reiterates stuff currently happening. There can be no episode duller and more skippable than this.

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.

Angel: Damage

"Danny, we're gonna need a whip..."

A Spike episode, then, sort of, after an unusual beginning with a super-strong disturbed woman escaping from a mental institution, but also one that packs a powerful punch in showing us just how Angel and his gang are now perceived with all the moral compromises they have to make. Plus we have the revelation that the still very fulfilled Gunn plays golf with lots of district attorneys these days.

Dana is not possessed as the gang first theorise but is, cleverly, a slayer, just one who experienced the murder of her family and horrible torture as a child so she’s both dangerously insane and super strong. In a clever piece of misdirection we are shown in flashback that the perpetrator was Spike but, although we know Spike will have committed atrocities in the past, it has to be shown here that these are just fake memories, mixed with memories of the two slayers he killed. We can’t actually look too closely at the reality of such atrocities once perpetrated by a character we've come to like. Yet it’s a nice touch that Spike should acknowledge, after his rescue, that he deserved what he got. He may not have committed this terrible crime but he committed plenty of others. It’s also interesting to see how he reflects on the morality of his actions- to him, killing and cruelty was just for thrills and he didn’t think much about the human cost, while for the chillingly sadistic Angelus the human cost was the very attraction. Brr.

All very good character stuff, then. But I do find it a little disturbing that Angel can raise themes of child abuse and murder and not really do much with them, using such themes as part of the character development of a reformed villain and not focusing much on the victim. I’m not sure I like that.

There’s a comedy contrast in the form of someone sent by Giles as soon as it’s realised they’re dealing with a Slayer... Andrew. In all his comedy glory, and he even gets one of his highly amusing mansplaining scenes. He’s amazed to see Spike alive, something which will certainly be related to Buffy, and spends most of the episode as comedy sidekick. Except, at the end, he and his Slayer army seize Dana by force, saying “Think we’re just gonna let you take her back to your evil stronghold?” and that “Nobody in our camp trusts you any more.” It’s a brutal blow. And yet another superb episode if not for the iffy treatment of the theme.

Angel: Soul Purpose

"No offence, Mr.Vader, but I've got no itch to join the evil empire."

An interesting episode, this; directed by David Boreanaz while also being very much an episode about Angel himself, his new insecurities about the Shanshu Prophecy and Spike, and his ethical problems with the power he now wields. I love the dream sequences, and the opening is clever, reconstructing the scene with the cup of suffering from a couple of episodes ago but then diverging from it in dreamlike fashion.

Meanwhile there’s an interesting B plot in which Lindsey approaches Spike, who doesn’t know him, pretending to be called “Doyle” and to have visions of people needing help, slowly pushing Spike into the role Angel has now left but while maintaining a subtle control over him, all simultaneously with pushing Angel down. It seems his intention is to trick the Senior Partners into thinking Spike and not Angel is indeed the prophesied one- and those tattoos which the horny Eve finds so sexy are magically preventing them from seeing him. This is a nice little twist, especially with the ironic use of the show’s tropes.

Wesley and Gunn are in their element with theirs Machiavellian plans and plots, but I think their tendency to act outside Angel’s authority is something very much not confined to just this episode. And certainly the whole team just allows themselves to be distracted by their roles, manipulated by Eve, allowing the parasite to feed on Angel. It was Lindsay who sent Spike both the amulet and the parcel, and he and Eve appear to be successfully manipulating everyone- except Spike. Ever the rebel, it is he who rescues Angel and I think his speech to Gunn and Wesley carries a lot of weight; he’s the hero here, and in D&D language he’s very much changed from chaotic evil to chaotic good. He doesn’t like Wolfram and Hart with it’s lawful evil ways. Spike is being treated as the actual hero even by the narrative.

We end with Eve under suspicion but perhaps succeeding in fomenting discord. A superb episode and, perhaps, a pivotal one.

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...

Angel: Lineage

"Sex with robots is more common than people think."

So it’s a proper Wesley episode, we get to meet Wesley’s overbearing dad, sort of, and he’s played by the actual dad of Betty from Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. Life can be delightfully random sometimes.

It’s clear, seeing how flustered and klutzy Wes gets with his dad around that his upbringing has a lot to do with how awkward he was when we first met him but, as the pre-titles clearly shows, he’s slowly but surely become increasingly badass. Until his Dad turns up. And turns out to be an evil robot, so the fact that Wes ends up killing him is a cheat, sort of. But that’s fine, I think; we’ve only just met Roger Wyndham-Price. It’s not as though a regular character has died and been brought back. And the episode does it’s job of fleshing our Wesley more, and successfully, while further developing the love triangle between him, Fred and Knox.

There’s also suspicious behaviour from Eve; Spike has her number, and she blatantly tries to turn Angel against Wes to the point of bringing up a certain baby stealing incident, but this backfired with Angel coming to appreciate how Wes will do the right thing no matter what the cost, a quality he admires.

A nice, slow character episode then, if a rather deep one. I suspect fireworks next...

Angel: The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco

"Hermanos! The Devil has built a robot!"

This is, I suppose, as bog standard and disposable as episodes of Angel get. It certainly feels that way. And yet it’s still bloody good telly and masterful in its use of character. As I’ve become fond of saying, if this is a disposable episode then colour me impressed.

The tale of Number Five is heartwarming enough, entertaining, fun, and a good hook for an episode. I’m a little puzzled as to why Holland Manners would headhunt him personally and then have him spend fifty years in a menial job, but meh. And what are these menial internal nail jobs anyway? You see them everywhere in American films and telly but they must surely have been rendered extinct by email. Perhaps even in 2003 they would surely be well on the way out?

Anyway, all the stuff with the wrestlers and Aztec demon is fun, even for those of us who do t live on a country bordering Mexico and who don’t necessarily know much about the culture. It works as an A story. But I think the story is really about Angel and his motivation to keep being a hero. At the start we see him disengaged, a contrast to Gunn who loves getting up in the morning now he can use his lawyer superpowers to do good and make a difference. The problem is, of course, that he’s lost faith in the Shanshu prophecy, but the events of the episode cause him to perhaps rekindle that faith. All this Shanshu stuff is going to be important soon then. And it must apply to Angel, apparently, as Spike is a ghost...

This is perhaps my least favourite episode of the season so far. And it’s still bloody excellent.

Angel: Life of the Party

"Charles, you just peed on my shoes..."

After Lorne’s relatively low profile, especially last episode, at last he gets forty-odd minutes as the main event, in an episode which continues the solid run while not necessarily competing to be a highlight of the season.

Lorne has found himself so colossally overworked that he has, in an apparently standard Wolfram & Hart procedure, had his sleep removed. The conceit here, of course, is that this is not an awfully wise move for an empath demon as reality can be affected. All this centres around the apparently fabled Wolfram and Hart Halloween party, an important event for schmoozing.

It’s a good episode for Lorne, and he gets a nice little speech to Angel that he’s not a fighter, and no good with matters scientific or mystical, but the entertainment side is something he can do. This adds a bit of depth to him as a character. There’s also lots of amusing comedy as his words affect reality, with Gunn pissing everywhere, Fred and Wes getting pissed without drinking, and Angel and Eve shagging like rabbits- although she dies begin a meeting earlier by talking about wanking...

We’re also introduced to the influential demon Archduke Sebassis, fully equipped with a little gimp demon, and he has “returning character” written all over him. We also see Fred and Knox seeming to get together on an impromptu date. Yet again, there’s no sign of this season justifying its apparent “story of the week” reputation.

Angel: Hell-Bound

"I liked your poems."

"You like Barry Manilow."

So an arc episode, then, and a pretty good one, although the thread about Spike being dragged down to Hell comes to an abrupt end here. It’s a particularly well-directed episode, in many ways shot like a horror film, which so far seems to be a stylistic quirk of the season.

It’s a terrifying concept here, I assume, for those who believe in Hell. There are no ghosts in Wolfram & Hart’s LA office because, for centuries, a sadistic murdering bastard has been sending them all to Hell so he can stay out. Brr. Plus we get loads of cool Ghostbusters type stuff and a good episode for a rather competent, and heroic, Fred.

Perhaps more subtly we see the possible beginnings of a rapprochement between Angel and Spike, who banter well together. Wes and Gunn are, by now, firmly mates again. Lorne, oddly, only gets a brief scene where he doesn’t interact with anybody. And there's a very interesting exchange between Angel and Spike where we establish they're both certain that the sheer weight of their past sins mean they can never hope to avoid Hell, yet they choose to do the right thing anyway. But then the thought that humans are so morally weak that we require the hope of a nice afterlife to behave morally was always a horribly bleak one anyway. We do the right thing because it's the right thing.

As an episode this one feels very different but, while not reaching the heights of the first few episodes, it nevertheless continues an impressive run of quality.

Angel: Unleashed

"That something you English eat with your beans on toast?"

Three episodes in and the season still hasn’t settled into the story-of-the-week formula. Yes, there’s a surface plot about Nina, a woman who is bitten by a werewolf and has to learn to cope with the consequences, but it seems very much as if there’s a satisfying prospect of loads of arc stuff ahead of us at this point.

Not that the werewolf plot should be dismissed: it’s great. The scenes of Nina turning into a wolf are shot like a horror film, and Nina as a character is well-realised, with a life to return to and a realistic reaction. She also seems to be getting on rather well with Angel, and there are hints that they may sort of fancy each other. Hmm. The concept of a society of monster munching gourmands is a good one though. And I’ve also not failed to notice that this is a story about a woman who turns into a metaphorical monster every 28 days; this is basically an episode about periods.

But there’s plenty of arc stuff- the episode is bookended with scenes of the gang eating Chinese together and being both friends and, of course, trying to plot against the evil organisation that they’re running. But the ending scene is far more relaxed than the opening scene, and the suspicion of what’s been done to Gunn is fading away.

Also fading away, though, and being dragged down to Hell, is Spike, and for rather silly reasons he’s confided only in Fred. Things seem to be coming to a head; is there any hope for Soike...?

Angel: Just Rewards

"Wisecracking ghost sidekick? No bloody thanks!"

So far this season is pretty much as good as telly gets, with the second episode managing to pretty much equal the first without Joss even writing or directing.

A lot of this, of course, is down to the premise: after a few clips of the end of the last episode of Buffy it's established that Spike is now, barring the technical details, a ghost, and the premise looks like it's going to be as per the quote above. And it's enormous fun to see Spike interacting with all these characters, including of course Angel, his rival of old and with whom he has a great sparring chemistry, and naturally Harmony, the comedy ex. All the fun is in the characterisation, as it should be. Oh, there's a threat- a necromancer- but that isn't the point; the point is Spike. He's irreverent, he loves to get under Angel's skin- and hit him when given a rare chance- but he's essentially a goody these days. He's just a bit, well, punk in how he does it. And therefore the first to call Angel a sellout, something he probably needs to hear on a regular basis. He may essentially be, with his lack of corporeality, essentially just a Greek chorus with an acquaintance with the fourth wall, but it's good to have him.

But there's depth, and we find unexpected pathos in the final scene as he admits to Fred that he feels himself slowly slipping down to Hell, and he's scared.

Elsewhere it's still fascinating to see the newly lawyered-up Gunn, and Angel's constant moral dilemmas are fascinating. I'm loving the set-up for this season but, more importantly, how much thought has been given to the characters.