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: Forgiving

"Oh. There is no happy for you."

And so we have the aftermath.

Connor and Holtz are gone, it seems for good: Quor-Toth is unreachable. Angel must deal with his loss, and he does so by getting back at those who dd this to him-making very clear from the start that this includes Wesley. But first, the puppet master: Sahjahn. plot-wise, this episode is primarily about Angel trapping Sahjahn in a jar, either for all eternity or until the writers want to bring him back. But the episode is, of course, about much, much more.

Fortunately, we also have Fred and Gunn, who manage to piece together why Wesley did what he did, and the terrible moral dilemma he laboured under- but Wesley, it seems, is dying or dead. We are shown this clearly as the camera dwells on him. We therefore know, from the laws of television drama, that he'll be fine.

The creepy little girl in the "White Room" at Wolfram and Hart is a nice touch, as is Lilah's keeping her cool. But best of all is the killer reveal; Sahjhan falsified the prophecy, moving back and forth in time to do so. It was in fact Connor who had been destined to kill him, and he wanted the baby dead.

The final twist in a horrifyingly gripping episode, though, comes at the end, between Angel and Wesley, good friends until so very recently. Angel understands, he genuinely does- and yet he wants Wesley dead, and has to be prised off him...

Angel: Sleep Tight

"It sounds like a nice cult..."

Well then; there's a twist and then some. Everything has changed.

Wesley's agonising dilemma comes to an end as he finally betrays his friend, but by the end of the episode he has himself been betrayed, stabbed by Justine, and lies possibly dying as Holtz and Justine take Connor away to raise as their own at a ranch in Utah, although how they intend to  support themselves I've no idea. And yet... this is in itself a betrayal of Sahjahn, who has his own mysterious grudge against Angel. But the final twist is courtesy of Holtz, who runs with Connor right through the portal into Quor-Toth, the worst of all Hell dimensions.

A lot else happens, though. We have an ominous beginning, with Angel all cheery as he always is when something bad is about to happen, while the very stressed Wesley continues to be a dick about the lovey-doveyness between Fred and Gunn. It's noticeable, though, that Gunn is suddenly part of the gang here, in full. I suspect we'll suddenly see him now living at the hotel rather than just always visiting. Cordy and Groo are still off gallivanting.

We learn that devious old Holtz gets one thing right; he can't stand tea in styrofoam cups. But would he have much of a taste for Indian tea anyway, being a mid-eighteenth century chap? If Angel can wonder about whether the Flying Nun  can fly then I feel this is a legitimate question...

It's also an interesting chat between Angel and Lilah, who has had to be twice as good at as any man at Wolfram and Hart, is definitely evil and lives "dangerously and quite comfortably". There's a surprising amount of subtle and wellwritten character stuff in what is a pivotal and gripping episode. This makes you desperate to see what happens next. But I shall be patient...

Angel: Loyalty

"Simple mortal, your pain is just beginning!"

Wow. Who thought a statue of a cartoon hamburger could be so scary?

This is both a superb piece of writing and a superb performance from Alexis Denisof as poor Wesley is driven to the end of his tether by the most agonising moral dilemma at a time when he's just had his heart broken anyway and, deep down, beneath appearances, he isn't so mature as he appears to be.

We begin with nice scenes of lovely doting father Angel, fitting in with the young mothers in the waiting room and being touchingly anxious at Connor's medical check up. But we soon meet a client who is soon revealed to be reconnoitring the team for Holtz and his ever-expanding squad of badass(ish) underlings. They lure Fred and Gunninto a trap just to test them and certainly have plans.

This isn't proceeding quickly enough for our old friend Sahjahn, though. So, with a little freelance help from Lilah- seen on the phone with her dementia-suffering mother in a tragic human touch- he sets a trap for Wesley, arranging the prophecy of "earthquake, fire and blood" that Wesley is told about in that incredible, perfect, inspired scene that changes everything. It seems the father will indeed kill the son, and Wesley can't bear the pressure.

Wesley, already a little distanced from Gunn last episode, manages to alienate Fred a little, too; he's not very good at hiding his jealousy, while both Gunn and Fred manage to be both decent and gracious. Even at a deserted pier, at night, surrounded by vampires, which says a lot.

There's an interesting chat between Wesley and Holtz piling up the pressure, too. And it seems that Holtz knows about the gypsy curse. He just doesn't care.

Wesley ends up hysterical near the end, but then it happens; earthquake, fire, blood. What's a chap to do? This is a brilliant character piece, as well as a straightforwardly gripping bit of telly, that is surely one of the finest episodes of Angel.

Angel: Dad

"You don't have a woman's touch. Whatever your taste in clothing may indicate."

On the surface this is s light episode having some fun with Angel's utter obsession with his baby- and I completely understand, having become a father this year myself! Fun is had with Angel's newbieness, but the threat is serious: so many demons and forces wants the prophecies baby for their own nefarious purposes that the hotel is under siege and our heroes are all, it seems, doomed. Except a bit of clever resourcefulness on the part of Lorne and Angel not only saves the day but puts the baby- Connor- under Wolfram and Hart's reluctant protection.

It's also, of course, the episode where Lorne, what with Caritas having been destroyed again, moves in to live with Angel and co. At last he's a guaranteed cast member every week. The gang is growing.

It's a fairly frothy episode, yes, an episode in which Angel's vampire face calms the baby(!), but behind it all lurks Holtz, revenge served cold, and a plan to make Angel really suffer. It's an enjoyable, frothy episode, but I'm sure that more serious fare is to come.

Angel: Lullaby

"There will be no birth. Only death!"

An interesting episode this, with very lasting effects which pull Angel very nicely away from Buffy and into being its own thing. On the one level, Angel is now father to a baby boy and Darla is dead, fulfilling the above prophecy. But most interesting is the reaction of Holtz to all this, now knowing (courtesy of Lilah and a little light torture) that Angel has a soul. He may rave at Sahjahn for his Satanic layers of duplicity but, it seems, Holtz will not kill Angel but still has every intention of exacting his revenge through more insidious and psychological means.

It's all very well structured dramatically, with the revelation in flashback that Holtz,  back in the age of wigs and sentimentality, had to kill his own vampire daughter by means of sunlight. This sort of thing makes the episode impressive enough to outweigh the suspiciously TV nature of Darla's labour, which bears very little relation to Mrs Llamastrangler's experiences in February this year. Still,it's moving to realise how her love for the baby, her new-found behaviour, all stem from the baby "infecting" her. She's terrified that, after the birth, she will no longer love the baby and will want to drink it's blood. It's a stark reminder of what vampirism means. Her staking herself to save the baby us a fitting resolution.

In short... Angel: still on fire.