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: 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.

Angel: Quickening

"Manifest destiny, the Beach Boys..."

Well, that's me up to date with blogging all the episodes of Angel I've seen so far. Nearly there with Buffy, Cucumber, Grimm and one outstanding film, but im proud of this Angel post. Mainly because I'm writing it with my baby daughter in my arms and feeding her. Anyway...

Angel shows no signs that it's going to stop being first class telly any time soon. We begin with a flashback to York in 1764 although, of course, this being an American programne, no one seems to have a Yorkshire accent. Cue Holtz's family getting mercilessly slaughtered by Angelus. Naturally, Sahjahn chooses this very moment to transport him 237 years forward in time, sworn to kill Angel with his inhuman underlings. And all this at a time when rather a lot is going on. And, into this, plus Darla being up the duff with Angel's child, a possible antichrist, we can also add Wolfram and Hart.

Our evil legal firm are somewhat behind the curve in the whole Darla-being-with-child stakes, although Lilah continues to run rings round the ambitious yet rather stupid Gavin, however much short term advantage he may have at any one time.

Into all this we have the bombshell that is Darla's waters breaking, after having those TV style contractions that only last a couple of hours. Birth and pregnancy on telly are so very neat, and not at all like it was for Mrs Llamastrangler last months. Believe you me, contractions can last muuuuch longer. And the waters breaking us only a vague sign. But, anyway... it's a human. A boy!

What's truly impressive in this episode is the confluence of events to set up so many different things for next episode, which is obviously a big one. There's a real sense of fast-moving excitement here, and yet there's still time for character moments and Wolfram & Hart terminating its psychics' employment contracts with extreme prejudice.

Angel continues to be excellent. I'm genuinely excited about the next episode.