Angel: Epiphany

“So what? You just wake up and bang?”

“It was sort of the other way around.”

So, Angel did the deed with Darla, and we’re all expecting it to turn out as it did when he shagged Buffy! After all, there was a cliffhanger and everything. But no: the famous Whedon misdirection strikes again. No Angelus. It wasn’t a moment of true happiness, but just a bit of meaningless sex. Darla is deflated, but Angel has a new lease of life. His cynicism has gone and been replaced with a pragmatic heroism. It doesn’t matter that doing good is pointless; the act of doing good has value in itself. So that’s all right then.

Thing is, though, Angel can’t just slot back in when he feels like it. Too many bridges have been burned. But at least he makes a start. He begins by saving Kate’s life, so presumably she can bugger off and be annoying in some other TV show. I always found the character annoying. Still, she illustrates that nice Angel is back, and the fact that Angel is able to save her without even being invited in may suggest the existence of a god in this, a universe created by arch-atheist Joss Whedon.

But the episode is basically about Angel kissing the arses of Wesley and co., agreeing to work for them as coffee maker and general dogsbody, and make rather comical attempts at complimenting them. There is, a demon type threat to give us a bit of plot, but this episode is about Angel getting to know his old friends again. He has to adjust to this new world where Gunn and Wesley have bonded to form a great comedy double act and, as eloquently described in a speech by Wesley which is the height of the episode, has to face the fact that Cordelia has changed from a shallow, status-obsessed, spoiled air head, to a shallow, status obsessed, spoiled saint who has become a deeply tragic and deeply caring figure, caring as much about the pain suffered by her fellow human beings as she does about shoes.

The episode ends predictably, with Angel being hired. But it will take a while for the wounds to heal, and trust to be regained.

Angel: Reprise

"You know... I've... Well, I really couldn't help but notice the goats. Yeah, a lot of goats. Goats, many. Those are goats, guys!"

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…

 

Angel: The Thin Dead Line

“Is this morphine?... Well it’s bloody lovely!”

It had to happen: zombie cops. This is an excellent episode, full of social commentary and character development. Wesley takes a bullet while trying to help Gunn and his friends, thus creating a much stronger bond between these unlikely friends from such different backgrounds.

The staff of Angel Investigations (not including Angel these days) deal with two cases. It is initially Gunn, who is working class and black, who deals with the zombie cops and their attacks on homeless kids, while Wesley and Cordelia, both from much more affluent backgrounds, work for a rich client sourced from Wesley’s rich girlfriend. There’s very much a class divide. But Wesley, significantly, makes a personal sacrifice while helping those less fortunate than himself. He shows that, although he’s a klutz, he is nevertheless a hero with integrity.

We meet Anne again, after only a couple of episodes, it is significant that Gunn seems to know her well. Gunn knows a lot of people well throughout the shelter. There is a nice scene between Gunn and thuggish and menacing Jackson. Gunn’s line- “a thug with a gun, keeping the cycle going” is a telling and eloquent piece of social commentary. Gunn, in fact, is promoted to the main character for this episode, and fills the role well.

Angel is also investigating this case, but on the margins. It is he who investigates the police and de-voodoos the precinct in question. Still, when he finally turns up at the hospital, Cordy is dead right that “it takes a gunshot wound to make (him) give a crap.” Angel seems to have repented his behaviour a little, but it’s too late. It now seems to be time for the story arc to take a new turn. There aren’t many episodes left this season. Something big is going to happen, I know it.

Angel: Reunion

“Spank us till Tuesday, we promise to be bad if you do!”

I had the same thought Gunn did. Drusilla is now her own grandmother’s mother. That’s a bit weird. And it gets weirder. Angel firing Cordy, Wes and Gunn is a shock, as much to us as to them. The bulk of the episode revolves, of course, around the wonderful Drusilla and Darla, who are great together. Is it me, or is Drusilla not far, far more entertaining here than she ever was in Buffy? I’m just loving her.

The main shocking event, of course, is the massacre in which Holland Manners and all of his underlings, seemingly, snuff it at the hands of our two vampirettes. This is, at the same time, a bit of a shock and predictable in hindsight. One can’t help thinking, of course, that this may have been part of Wolfram and Hart’s plans all along.

The most shocking fact about the massacre, though, is that Angel just stands by and lets it happen. He cynically spits Manners’ words back at him, saying that he “just can’t seem to care”. As Wesley says at the end, he’s in danger of “real darkness”. He’s very, very alone right now, and that does not seem a safe place for him to be.

Suddenly, all the certainties are gone. It feels as though anything could happen.

Angel: The Shroud of Rahmon

“Au contraire. His day is packed: Brood about Darla, brood about Darla, lunch, followed by a little Darla brooding.”

I feel a bit guilty for not liking this episode more. The structure, with its misleading opening of Wesley seemingly in a lot of trouble, and it’s often repeated brief clip of Angel seemingly killing Kate, is a genuinely clever piece of misdirection. The problem is that an overly abrupt ending comes as a disappointment after the promises made earlier in the episode. Still, this is a promising debut from new writer Jim Kouf (co-creator of Grimm). He can handle structure well; with more experience I good things from him.

This is a Kate episode. Meh. Kate is one of those characters that exist purely to annoy and frustrate the viewer; the authority figure who stubbornly refuses to believe the hero under any circumstances. Worse, her dislike of Angel, however realistically developed over the last season or so, is, essentially, racism. I find it hard to sympathise with her. Still, I agree with her about Darla. She’s mortal, conscience-stricken and lost, but there’s no reason why she should not have to face justice for her crimes. All should be equal before the law.

This episode’s McGuffin, the shroud itself, causes our series regulars to behave rather differently. Cordelia provides the comic relief (and, as usual, all the best lines; I love her nicely metatextual bit of feminism about the sacrificing of virgins), but it is also interesting to see the conflict between Angel and Gunn. We’re left to wonder how much of this is genuine, if normally suppressed.

A few mentions of Darla aside, this is an episode of the week, without much arc stuff going on; a rarity these days. You just know that the next episode will be arc-heavy.