Perri's Review

Yay! Finally we get backstory on Doyle!

Plot
We open on Angel spending another exciting, free-wheeling Friday night in L.A. -- sitting in his office, reading. This, of course, appalls Doyle, who desperately wants out of that office before Cordy's latest rich-guy date shows up to pick her up. Cordy, however, is looking forward to her evening -- he's got money and multiple homes, she's got a strapless dress and life is looking up. The boys, naturally, do their best to embarrass her by interrogating Pierce, her date, before she manages to escape. Once out of sight, Dyole collapses, bummed that no, Cordelia is not going to pay any attention to a sincere, yet poor, guy like him. As he leafs in depression though Angel's book, a picture of a certain blonde Slayer falls out. It's the first time Doyle has seen a picture of her; he's trying to be sympathetic when he gets hit with a vision of a boy downtown in a nest of vampires, about to be eaten. "Everyone's got dinner plans but us," Doyle complains as he follows Angel out the door.

Cordelia is rapidly coming to the conclusion that she's rather have followed Angel's lead and stayed home. Pierce may be rich, but he's also deadly dull; he considers a play-by-play of his day trading on the market to be fascinating dinnertime conversation. As the boys neatly deal with the nest of vampires, Cordy struggles to stay awake. Everyone heads home, with Angel asking Doyle why he won't go and stay demon during fights, even though it would make him stronger. Doyle just says it's not his style, then shrugs it off -- as a bigugly with fangs follows them.

Cordy, for her part, gratefully escapes from Pierce at the office -- then has to try to escape from bigugly when he jumps the pair on the sidewalk. Pierce proves to be a true loser, jumping into his car and screeching off without a single look back at Cordelia, who is fighting for her life with the vamp. Salvation comes from a completely unexpected quarter, as Doyle levels a crossbow at the vamp. A quarrel in the foot frees Cordy, but leaves Doyle struggling hand-to-hand and getting the snot kicked out of himself until he manages to stake the vamp with the crossbow bolt. Cordelia is, to say the least, deeply impressed.

The next morning, Cordy relates the story to an impassive Angel, as is forced to conlude that maybe rich and charming isn't enough in a guy anymore -- her standards have been raised to include brave and competant. Those qualifications which are currently, hard as it is for her to accept, met much more closely by the poor and fashionably impaired Doyle. Which is bringing back bad flashbacks to Xander... and she has to buy him a drink for saving her life. Leaving Angel to watch the phones, she hustles off to fulfill her debt -- and finds Doyle reliving his moment of herodom the night before. Doyle recovers quickly from utter mortification but Cordy's invitation (and Doyle's dreams coming true) is interrupted by a new arrival. A blonde woman comes into the room and greets a shocked Doyle as 'Francis'; Allen Francis Doyle returns the greeting to 'Harry', then introduces her to Cordelia. As his wife.

After Angel is introduced (and lets Doyle lie about owning Angel Investigations), we find out Harry and Doyle got married pretty young, and have been estranged for somthing like three years; the parting was not amicable. But Harry wants to keep things friendly, since she needs something from Doyle. To be precise, she needs him to sign divorce papers so she can marry her fiance, the Dweeb of the Northwest, Richard. A nice enough fellow, if you like overly friendly and sickeningly sincere puppy dogs. ("Hun bun"? < shudder >) Doyle is heartbroken, to say the least, and stalls on signing the papers. Harry accepts that and leaves quietly.

Doyle heads for Angel's apartment and, for once, turns down a drink, too busy brooding. Doyle tells Angel it was the discovery of his half-demonhood when he was 21 that broke up the marriage, that neither of them could deal with that surprise. Doyle is still trying to cinvince himself it was all for the best.. and failing miserably. He asks Angel to follow Richard, to find out some reason why Harry shouldn't marry him. Angel agrees, and Doyle downs the whiskey.

Followig Richard is no big trick; Angel's trench coat billows nicely as he jumps from rooftop to rooftops. Turns out the family owns several restaurants; Richard stops to accept a package from someone in a car, then meets Harry in one of said restaurants. As Harry shows off the fruits of a shopping trip, Richard heads deeper into the kitchen for a bottle of wine.. and a knife. A big sharp one, pointed threateningly in Haryr's direction, as his face turns red and misshapen. Bland Boy is also Demon Boy, it seems; as he advances on Harry, Angel dives through the window to rescue her.

And gets yelled at by the seriously not-threatened or endangered Harry, who knows all about Demon Boy; he's an Ano-Movic demon, a complete non-human-eater, whom she met while doing fieldwork in demonology. She says it was Doyle who freaked about being a demon, not her; when he was too far into denial and refused to mingle with other demons and explore the other side of his heritage, she started studying it for herself. Angel is, to say the least, stunned, but accepts Harry's decision, heading off to break the news to Doyle.

Doyle is bummed again, realizing that he was probably the major force behind the destruction of his marriage. Deeply depressed, he signs the divorce papers. Both Harry and Richard the Tactless are thrilled; Richard takes the opportunity to go all out and invite Doyle to his bachelor party; he and his family want Doyle's blessing before the wedding. Doyle reluctantly accepts, as Cordelia agrees to go to Harry's bridal shower.

At dinner that night, Richard's family plans the two parties, including the stripper for the bachelor's night. Greetings, drinks, food, drinking, stripper, darts, ritual eating of first husband's brains, charades... Sounds like a party to me.

Dyole arrives at the bachelor party with Angel in tow, which is not really appreciated by Richard or his two brothers. Meanwhile, Harry fills Cordelia in on Doyle's past -- as a third-grade teacher and food bank volunteer, to Cordelia's shock. While the ladies play pronographic Pictionary, the guys party down and Richard corrals Doyle at the bar, asking for his blessing on the marriage. An embarrassed Richard is dragged off for the stripper before Doyle can say yay or nay, and an uneasy Angel takes the opportunity to do a little more investigating. Upstairs, he catches Richard's father performing a ceremony -- a blood ritual, to be exact, involving chanting and smoke and other Bad Things. Angel calls Harry to give him a quick translation of the chant, and Harry and Cordy obligingly hit the books...

... As Richard's brothers start hitting Angel. The trumped-up fight quickly goes against our boy, who gets thrown, unconscious, out a window into the alley two stories below. Downstairs, an oblivious and defenseless Doyle finally, and only for Harry's happiness, agrees and gives Richard his blessing. Which was all Richard was waiting for; Doyle is almost immediately slammed into a case from which only his head extends. A knife is produced and the ritual begins, as a panicked Doyle realizes what he's gotten himself into.

Across town, the girls finish translating the chant, and Harry demands answers from her soon-to-be inlaws. The whole 'eating the brain' thing comes out fairly quickly and Harry and Cordy race out to the rescue. Simultaneously, Richard assures Doyle that Harry will understand this particular cultural imperative and rejects the shrimp fork for a soup spoon. Doyle tries to withdraw his blessing, but the demons are having none of it; the ritual is necessary to make Richard and Harry's marriage successful, even though they can't quite remember all of the fine points, since it's been so long since they actually performed it. In the alley, Angel wakes up and once again crashes into the restaurant, just as the ritual begins. Instead, the fight begins, with Angel hopelessly outnumbered by demons. Doyle manages to free himself and jumps into the fight, demonface and all, but the fight still finds our boys on the losing end -- until Harry arrives.

Fights screeches to a halt as Harry confronts her fiance. lightly derailed by the mention of the stripped, Harry manages to stay on the topic of brain eating (as Cordy bashes the hell out of a nearby demon, not realizing it's Doyle. Angel stops her, Doyle reverts, and Cordy fusses over him, oblivious), and Richard and company try to defend their 'ancient beliefs'. Harry shoots them down nicely and, when faced with the choice between Doyle buffet and no marriage, takes Richard's hands... then gives him his ring back and walks away.

A depressed, and divorced, Doyle mopes around the office as Angel and Cordy watch in concern. Cordy takes on the job of cheering him up, beginning with, "Are you going to become loser pining-guy full-time now? 'Cause, you know, we already have one of those around the office." Angel and Doyle both object to this characterization, but a not-inconsiderable string of Cordy-speak still leaves Doyle marginally cheered up. Just in time to have a vision. A slight figure wrestles in the darkness with something big and evil -- the light reveals the face of Buffy Summers. Doyle returns Angel and Cordelia's concerned looks, trying to figure out how to tell them about this one....

Continuity:
Doyle was once married, a third-grade teacher, and a food bank volunteer. His demonness asserted itself when he was 21, and all of the above fell apart. Doyle is now divorced.

Relationships:
Cordelia is finally really catching the clue that rich and handsome does not equal good or happy. She's also being forced to look at Doyle with slightly more mature eyes, which bodes well for Doyle's chances.

Unfortunately, Doyle is more than moderately messed up realizing he's still hung up on his ex. Not a happy demon. Oh, and his full name is Allen Francis Doyle. Just in case there was any doubt of his Irishness.

Characters:
Doyle, a third-grade teacher? Oddly enough, math aside, I can see this. The kids would have adored him and every little girl would have had a crush on him instantly. But i can also see him freaking when he finds out about the demon thing; he apparently instantly started running; his feet didn't follow until a little while later, but he was running all the same, and hasn't stopped. Doesn't want to meet up with himself, I suppose. But he comes through in a big way here; while obviously still in love with Harry, he does everything he can to make her happy, to give her what she thinks will make her happy -- a stable marriage to a guy who's nuts about her, and even his blessing on them, to get rid of any guilt. Cordelia's right -- beneath anything else he might be, Doyle is a Nice Guy.

Harry looks to be an okay chick, if a bit overenthusiastic in her embracing of all things demon. She certainly seems to have dealt with "I married a demon" much better than Doyle did at the time. But she managed to break the first rule of anthropology (demonology?): never go native. She fell so in love with her subject matter that she decided she was in love with one of the subjects, without bothering to check any of the little details involved with him. < rolling eyes > But she learns fast, she makes the right choice without flinching when she gives Richard back his ring, and she slaps Doyle down without missing a beat while making a dignified exit. I like her.

Aww, poor Cordelia. More of those growing up and discovering maturity pangs. < g > I do feel for Angel, having to be her sounding board as she figures these thing sout -- it must be incredibly hard to a) look so nonjudgmentally attentive and b) keep from laughing his ass off as she states the incredibly obvious like it's a revelation. Which it is, to her, and she wins big points for being able to change her worldview (i.e., big house is more important than guts, brains, etc.) to something slightly closer to her reality (i.e., what's the use of a big house if owner will leave you to be vamp food when his own hide is in trouble). Part of this is obviously years of the Slayerettes finally rubbing off; she's long since learned that there are sometimes more important things than shoes, like saving the world. And part of it is, as she says, being around Angel and Doyle so much. When your life focuses around two people, it's hard not to compare everything else in your world to them. And in Cordelia's case, the rest of the world comes off pretty damn shabby when she's hanging around two, albeit reluctant, heros. At least Cordy is consistent in one thing -- she won't lie to anyone else and she will damned rarely lie to herself. She'll avoid the truth like all hell for as long as possible, but when she has to face it, she does. Loudly and with much complaining, but she does.

Angel doesn't exactly get any big revelations here, but he's comes off well supporting the other two. Like I said, he's very nonjudgmental listening to Cordelia; he takes her seriously when she talking about serious things, which is good for her (and he teases the hell out of her in front of her yuppie date, which is also good for her). And he doesn't blink when presented with Doyle's wife, nor does he quibble with Doyle's assertation of ownership of the angency. He's backup dude this time aroun, getting done whatever has to be done, and doing it quietly and well, without stealing the stage from Doyle.

Was anyone else hideously amused by the demons? (Well, the first time around. By the third time through, I just wanted all of them dead before they could reproduce.) These nice, suburban demons, trying to keep their culture alive in the modern world... and losing the battle to strippers and ESPN. < snickering > Geez.... And I'm sorry, Richard may be the most annoying person on the face of the planet. While I like Harry, her taste in men (with the obvious exception of Doyle) sucks.

Best Moments:
Angel interrogating Cordy's date. < snicker > Just couldn't resist, could you?

Doyle and the crossbow! Wheee! Our hero!

Doyle with the crossbow, reprise. < giggle > Awful to be caught reenacting your moment of manly glory, so embarrassing...

Doyle talking to Harry. All of their scenes together were just outstanding, with incredible little bits of business, like Doyle pulling away from Harry's hand. Tense, chemistry flying everywhere -- a really wonderful job by Glenn Quinn and the guest actress.

Angel keeping a leash on Cordy throughout the aforementioned scenes. < giggle >

Angel and Doyle drinking together. Glenn's delivery throughout this scene is heartwrenchingly well done.

Doyle sighing the divorce papers. Have I mentioned that Glenn Quinn did an outstanding job this entire ep?

Planning the bachelor party. Okay, so the "Charades?" routine was a little predictable, but the timing was there, and it was giggleworthy.

"Their ways are not our ways." < snicker >

Harry rescuing Doyle. The potshots of "Rascist" and ESPN were too funny -- I swear I've been in some variation of that conversation before.

And, of course, Harry's lovely, "One word, Francis, and I'll eat your brains!" was just the perfect exit.

Cordelia cheering Doyle up. "Are you going to become loser pining-guy full time? 'Cause, you know, we're already got one of those around the office." That classic line alone would have been funny enough, but the near simultaneous objections from Angel and Doyle lift it to all new heights. That single bit was worth the price of admission.

Questions and Comments:
The SunS have held a long debate regarding whether Doyle, given the math of four years married to Harry and married before they were 20, could possibly have finished his schooling and been teaching. Consensus is, possibly, given what we know of the U.K. school system (courtesy of our Aussie member), but wow, is it a stretch. Particularly if he was working in the States when he met Harry. But, they're writers, not mathematicians.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. A few really classic moments and a stand-out performance from Glenn Quinn, but not an episode to rewatch over and over. The demons are seriously annoying.

SunSpeak

"I'm really liking this show the more I watch it. I like seeing Angel as a person, rather than as just Buffy's love interest. I'm really starting to like Doyle. I like how Cordy is growing and changing, maturing." -- Judy

"As for Doyle - I really loved hearing all that background stuff. I wasn't as surprised as Cody was cause I can see him doing all that." --Judy

"Harry was a little too perky for me. Richard/Robert (whatever the demon groom's name was) was too bland, which immediately told me that something wasn't right. I thought that she was gonna kill him, but didn't know why." -- Judy

"Cordy realizing that her guy needs more than just a pretty face and money to truly make her happy. I loved watching the scene when she was telling Angel about her date, because of her realization, and because of Angel's grin and reaction." -- Judy

"I did like Cordy's date running off like that and showing his true colors. Bet he needed a clean pair of shorts;) Doyle being worried about Cordy over himself was sweet." -- Judy

"Well, plotwise it was .... bizarre. Not bad. Just..... bizarre. Funny. An interesting twist, the demons who are *basically* good just inept at trying to be demons. But.... I could see most of it coming. "
"They were geek demons! Geek demons, I tell you!" -- MB & Tina

"Characterwise, it was brilliant. Well, except for flaws like, Doyle was a teacher before he was 20.... Ooookay. Loved Doyle saving Cordy and Cordy realizing she's gaining depth and Doyle embarassingly rehashing his saving of Cordy. And loved Doyle and Angel bonding. And found the theme of "letting go of the past" interesting (if a little disturbing for this diehard B/A fan who's definitely dying hard. *sigh*) And the ending was just... just.... just.... MEAN!! ::whimper::" -- MB

"Francis was so...sorry, I mean DOYLE!!! He is sooooooo cute. When he was rehashing his rescue of Cordy I thought I'd never seen anything cuter ever...and then Cordy arrived to ask him if he wanted to go for coffee. THAT was cute. " -- Deb

"Angel, get a real bookmark."
"Hey! I thought it was touching...and an obvious segue to next week. Not to mention setting it up so Doyle would have a name to go with his vision." --Deb & Julie

"Angel questioning Cordy's date - FABULOUS!"
"Oh, yeah. And you know it was strictly to irk Cordy...who says he has no social skills? ;-)"
"ROTF. I loved it. Every so often he just has enough of her & a bit of non-NancyBoy comes out to play. *g*" -- Deb, Val, and Julie

"So, Doyle started teaching when...when he was in high school?"
"Yeah, this has been bugging me too. It'll fly if he, say, graduated from HS at 14 or 15...he would at least have been a legal adult when he got his teaching certificate and started working, so it's not like we have a Doogie Howser on our hands. But still weird."
"I agree. This was pretty much the path my thinking followed...and I just didn't quite buy it. I don't think what we know about Doyle supports his having finished high school and college by the time he was 18 or 19. I think that they basicially a) didn't think, and b) didn't keep close track of the numbers they were giving in the various parts of the ep and compare to make sure they all worked. (Sorta like that whole "Battle of Hastings" thing where I'm sure their brains registered "Old battle--Nick is old. That'll work." Oops...) -- Deb, Val, & Amy

"Leese... only son of single mother (presumably she didn't have any other children) who probably ended up being the "man of the house" at a young age. I don't know anything about education in Ireland, but it's possible he did graduate early and young. Maybe a scholarship to an American college, out in 3-4 years... barely, barely see it happening.
So (extrapolating a *LOT*) we have sweet, play-by-the-rules, help-others-whenever-possible Francis, with a stern but loving mother (presumably she'd worry about him 'acting out'), falls in love, gets married, and has a bit of a sneeze one day... oh, yeah, I can see how he'd freak and turn into Slacker Boy.
Now, the 'we all have things to atone for' is *not* covered in all of this (while he might have broken Harry's heart, he didn't severely damage her otherwise), so I *still* want to know what happened between leaving Harry and meeting Angel." --Lizbet, on Doyle, getting all time-liney on us

"On rewatching last night, I got a sudden image of Doyle, during his really depressed over the state of marriage stage, drunk and standing outside his his wife's window/door/whatever 'singing'..... 'Harriet. Sweet Harriet. Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis. So know-ing. So lov-ing.....' It's scary what parallels your brain will draw at 3 in the morning." -- MB

"After this ep I like Doyle even more. I did find myself uttering - I hate Joss (then muttering that he'd take that as a compliment) and that Joss was Evil. I'm not sure if knowing Doyle's fate is good because I'll be somewhat prepared or if not knowing and then watching him be murdered would be easier. After typing that I've decided knowing is best because you can prepare yourself." -- Judy