Lizbet's Summary

Out in the real world, an aw-shucks-looking demon runs from a leather-clad man on a motorcycle. Cordelia is still grieving over Doyle, and tries to bury herself in her acting career. The aw-shucks demon (named Barney, and thankfully not a purple dinosaur) bursts into Angel Investigations and asks for help. He's an empath demon, and can read peoples emotions (unfortunately coming off like a cheap telephone psychic in the process). The leather-clad guy on the bike continues to trail Barney.

At Cordelia's audition, she bursts into tears and converts her audition into something closer to performance art. When the casting people asks her to run through it again, it gets weirder -- she has a vision of a strange, amorphous mass. Realizing that a) Doyle left her with this talent and b) the last thing Doyle did before he died was kiss her, Cordelia charges into Angel Investigations, grabs Angel, and kisses him for all she's worth. Angel is ready to hide under the nearest piece of furniture and Cordelia is frustrated because it didn't work.

Angel leaves Barney at the office and goes to Barney's apartment. There, the leather-wearing man pulls a crossbow on him. The leather-clad man also sports spectacles and a British accent; it's Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. After Angel takes his crossbow away, Wesley explains to Angel that he is no longer with the Watcher Council (read: fired) he has become a demon hunter... a rogue demon hunter.

Barney offers a sympathetic ear to Cordelia to talk about Doyle, and she works out some of her frustration and grief. When Angel brings Westley to his apartment, Cordelia grabs and kisses him without realizing who it is. This kiss is better than the one they shared before facing the Mayor... at least on Westley's side. Cordelia is still just angry that she's stuck with Doyle's visions.

The research team + Westley goes into action, and Angel goes to a Korean bathhouse to track down the Kungai demon Westley was hunting. When Angel finds him, the demon is dying, his horn cut from his forehead. Cordelia confides to Barney about the visions that she just wants to get rid of, and he tells her that she should be grateful for them, that Doyle gave her the thing he valued most before he died. Barney certainly values it; he makes a private call that reveals he's the one who killed the Kungai demon for his horn and now he wants Cordelia's powers.

Westley appears at the bathhouse and tries to help Angel by translating the demon's language. But he can't translate enough to make any sense before the Kungai demon dies. Barney starts taunting Cordelia with her meaner impulses, preying on her emotions. At first she is hurt by the vicious things he is saying, but then she realizes that he's fooling her. Faking a vision, Cordelia tells him that she sees him... in... great... "Danger?" Barney sneers at her attempt to fool him. "Pain!" Cordelia shouts and tries to get away.

When Angel and Westley return, the apartment is empty except for the crumbled sketch Cordy made of her vision. Angel recognizes it as a status, and does a bit of net research to discover that it belongs to a local hotel. He and Westley appear at the hotel to discover an auction in progress. Cordelia is one of the featured items, "The Eyes of a Seer." The bidding is humiliatingly low to QueenC, who promptly tries to make it go higher (and gives Angel and Westley more time to find her). Finally, a lawyer from Wolfram and Hart jumps the price high and wins. The lawyer requests that Cordelia's eyes be extracted. While the lawyer and Barney are arguing over whether or not that should be included in the purchase price, Angel and Westley show up. Westley frees Cordelia, and then gets into a fight with Barney. Cordy picks up the Kungai horn and stabs Barney with it.

The next morning, Westley prepares to head off into the vastly dangerous land of rogue demon hunting. But he stalls leaving until Angel invites him to breakfast.

Lizbet's Review

This was not a tappy episode, unfortunately, and his extent was severely unfull.

Was it a good idea to bring Wesley in immediately following Doyle's departure? Probably not, but imagine the Cordy-and-Angel show... *shudder*. Something had to happen. "Something" happened to be Wesley.

Continuity:
Doyle's not dead, damnit! Half demons never die, they just wander into alternate realities. Angel and Cordelia are still grieving.

Cordy is still trying to make it as an actress... perhaps glaring evidence of the dangers of demon hunting have chased her back to her old ambition?

TPTB are still keeping up on the job... and Cordelia is the new recipient of Doyle's less-than-thrilling power.

Wesley was fired by the Watcher Council and obviously learned something from Buffy and co. He doesn't really get the "live outside of the rules" thing, but give him credit for trying, OK?

Relationships:
Angel and Cordy are getting closer in a strictly brother-sister sort of way. Without Doyle to be the loudmouth of their group, they are having to communicate with each other more. Occasionally, that doesn't work.

Cordelia has obviously not wasted much time on Wesley since he left Sunnydale; even in all that leather (which, as Angel probably learned in Hell, chafes in scary places.

Best Moments:
Cordelia losing it at the audition... or, rather, *not* losing it at the audition. Even in the middle of "a migrine with pictures", she knows the show must go on!

The early appearances of biker-dude. About the third time he showed up on the screen, I realized who it had to be, and completely lost it. *snicker*

Unanswered Questions:
And Angel just happened to know that statue... how? Sometime in his past he made an encyclopedic study of modern sculpture?

SunSpeak

"Loved Cordy being _so_ horrible at her audition that her vision seizure was almost unremarkable. *g* Also loved Barney taunts to Cordy, bringing out what feelings she'd normally hide & we'd only be guessing (& writing fic) about. I almost died laughing over Cordy's solution to her visions." -- Julie

"David worked his butt off learning to make the Korean sound comfortable. I'm terribly impressed. I'm going to try to find a chance to play it for our teacher from Korea and see if he was saying it *right*. Comfortable, though, has my respect--he sounded like he knew what he was doing, and that's not easy with any Asian language, even if Korea isn't a tonal language."
"I was quite impressed. It wasn't perfect, but it was a stellar performance compared to Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin and Val Kilmer's Russian in various flicks. All of it was intelligible, and some of it was remarkably well-accented. Kudos to David--well done. (I was a linguist in the military.)"
"His comfort level was impressive. I didn't care whether it was accurate or not; what was important was that it sounded real."
"I actually agree here in terms of the episode. It worked for what it was supposed to do. I'm still curious just in general about whether or not a native speaker would find that there is actual Korean and real dialogue in there (and whether it's related to the subtitles that were provided), but that's idle curiosity...spawned in part by Robin of Sherwood fandom and the really really bad Arabic Mark Ryan attempted as Nasir. In one scene he was supposed to be saying something like, 'None shall pass,' and a fan, just for kicks, had her Arabic-speaking neighbors listen. It turns out Mark had actually said something more along the lines of, 'Someone has stolen my rowboat.' Oops... So, the amusement value could be cool. :-)" --Amy, Jeff, Betsy, & Amy

"I liked that the demon-guy had the bent-over ears from the vampires in the Buffy movie. :-) I thought it was fascinating that he played on Cordelia's fears that she is a horrible actress...and am entertained that Charisma is playing her as a pretty lousy actress.(Classes might help, sweetie!)"
"But that would be admitting she needs help. Plus, to judge from the experiences of my gradstudent friend Irina who's extraed on Buffy a couple times (she was the girl at the drinking fountain in 'Earshot,' which weirded me out because the VO is *so* not her voice!), anyplace at all reputable is damned expensive. Irina shopped around quite a bit, and has still had to quit the place she finally picked. The fact that Cordy has actually managed to get an agent and get *any* auditions, however infrequent, is quite an achievement...even though it's no doubt due 85% to her looks and 15% to her poise (when not grieving)." --Amy & Val

"Love that Angel gets all domestic and fixes breakfast for everyone...what a lovely scene."
"I *adored* that! Wonder how it started? My suspicion is that it has something to do with his awareness of Cordy's circumstances (and probable tendency to spend what money she has less-than-wisely, and undoubted total lack of domestic skills)--if he can't pay her all that much, he can at least help make sure she eats right. :-)"
"I agree--thought Cordie's facial expressions were especially priceless in that scene. And I thought *I* liked eggs! *g*"
"This scene also means that Angel is keeping food--fresh food, not just boxes of stuff--in his apartment. That's a first, isn't it?"
"Bets on Doyle and Cordy bugging him into it after Sense & Sensitivity. After all, *he* may not need to eat, but they do. Besides, I think it's just sweet that he cooks for them." --Amy, Val, Jeff, Betsy, & Val again.

"Ya know, I wonder if Cordy realized that she said 'we' when talking about breakfast. Wonder if she was referring to Wesley or to Doyle? "
"Both, I think. I think it was a line of transition. It referenced tradition -- the past -- with Doyle, while serving as subtle way to include Wesley in their group. " --Val & MB

"I loved Cordy kissing everyone in sight, hoping to get rid of the visions."
"Was that not *beautiful*? So very Cordy--dealing with this incredibly weird and uncomfortable circumstance by coming up with a 'straight forward' solution, and determinedly sticking to it even when it clearly didn't work! And the reactions of her various targets were definitely among the highlights of the evening." --Amy & Val

And the great Wesley Debate

"And finally, the worst of the episode. Wesley the weasel. Pardon me while I go heave now.[*BARF*] Didn't like him last season, really can't stand him now. Why couldn't Joss have offed this dweeb rather than Doyle? Show is much, MUCH less enjoyable now. Hopefully his part will be kept to a minimum. If not, I know when I'll take my restroom breaks."
"Seconded. Sorry to say--I kinda had my hopes up for a few minutes, when he seemed at least marginally more interesting than the Wimpy Spice we all know and I personally can't stand--but I spent that whole end bit going 'Yes, bye, absolutely, see ya, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.' I *knew* it was a setup for him not leaving, and still I was reduced to saying 'Please!' every time he spouted one more delaying cliche variation on 'I'm going now.'" --Julie & Val

"I. Like. Wesley. I'm taking that stand now. So there. He's a doof, yes.But he's not evil. He's not mean or cruel. He's a guy who really wants to help fight the bad guys...who just happens to *suck* at it. And most of all, he's clearly incredibly lonely. And I feel for him. He spent most of the episode either flooring me with his behaviour and leather wearing (he scruffs up really well....*yum*) or making me *roll* on the floor by being such a doof. But in that last scene, while he was lingering on, he gained just a bit more of another dimension. And I felt for him. And I liked that Cordy and Angel just sort of knew and just sort of expected him to join in and accepted his joining. He's not a replacement for Doyle. They made that clear. And I'm not sure he's going to be a regular -- although the writers sure do love him. But he's a needed dynamic -- no matter how temporary or permanent. And I like him. So there." -- MB

"I gotta agree with you about the scruffing up part...he actually looked pretty darn good, before he opened his mouth and made a complete ass of himself. And I feel sorry for him too. But thatdoesn't stop me wishing he'd be lonely somewhere ELSE. Sorry. *shrug*"
"Yup. He makes an ass out of himself. And in so doing, he makes me laugh.And in an episode thatwould have otherwise been a complete downer as Cordy and Angel tried tocope with the loss of Doyle, I needed the laugh. I like that *they* still were sad and touchingand moving andheartbroken. But Wesley, just by being there, kept it from being too moroseand brooding. " --Val & MB

"After Doyle, Wesley is just not measuring up. Mind you, I think Wesley is *fun*, but he's kinda like Colonel Flagg from M*A*S*H - he should be an occasional visitor and provide comic relief and then GO AWAY. (Point of fact he is a *lot* like Colonel Flagg from M*A*S*H...all I could think oflast night was Flagg's monologue about how he was The Wind, and the later comment, 'I think The Wind just broke his leg...') " --Jennie
"Y'know, _this_ is why I have a problem with Wesley, I just realized - he's too broadly comic relief, at least compared to the other characters, who are *much* better realized as living, breathing, real human beings. (Yeah, yeah, I know, just a TV show, let's move on, shall we?) Last night, I thought for _just_ a moment he was going to become a real person,and then Angel knocked the crossbow out of his hands and he became a buffoon again. Ihave no problem with buffoons, but I prefer them in really small doses - that kind of awkwardness and social incompetance is simply too *painful* for me to watch for extended periods of time. And on Angel, his awkwardness stands out in even more in contrast to the people around him, because there's generally less comedy in Angel than there is in BtVS. Let's hope, if Wes is going to be anything like a regular, that the writers give him more of a chance to 'grow up' and be more of a fully-dimensional person. Otherwise, there are going to be large stretches of time when I'll beleaving the room to do other things. :)" -- Mo

"I just *miss* Doyle, dammit! *grrrrrrrr* It may sound mean, but I actually hope they take him off the opening credits soon - it's too hard to see him there unless I have *some* hope that he's returning in one way or another. You should have heard the pathetic squeak I made last night when, against my expectations, Doyle showed up in the credits. *whimper*" --Mo

"One last Wesley comment: does anyone else find it irritating that Wesley's clothes just don't seem to *fit* him properly? I want to take him out and buy him a shirt with the proper collar size! It's probably just another attempt to make him seem un-polished, butit's bloody _distracting_." --Mo

"I think I started to fear when the Cordy-kiss actually *did* work out better than last time. Which should have been a good thing. But, at this particularly juncture, most definitely was NOT. It was just jarring and *wrong*."
"But.... she didn't know it was *him*.... She saw guy. She kissed guy. She said 'damn, it didn't work.' And *then* realized it was Wesley. She wasn't into the kiss for anything but getting rid of the gift and as soon as it was over, she moved on. Wesley, yes, felt more and it did work better,but more so because they weren't trying to *kiss* -- and he was caught offguard. It didn't meana thing. At least that's how I saw it."
"Actually, I agree with all of this. It's just not a place to go right this moment, even for a not-paying-attention moment. It didn't sit right. Like I said, the fact that it seems they *can* kiss and have it seem quite natural and comfortable *should* have been a good thing--even last year on Buffy, if anything promised to make Wesley a real person, it was the connection to Cordy. It's just so the wrong time for any kind of breakthrough on that front! That's as clear as I can make it." --Val, MB & Val

"I think that Wesley has the possibility of being an interesting character... a younger, less savvy Giles. Giles was... OK, Giles was never as bad as Wesley was first season, but it was awfully close. He was focused on Watcher Rules, disapproved of Buffy's unconventianal ways of doing things, and generally was inflexable. Over the years he has loosened up considerably (and revealed that he once was *very* loose*) and has become, in many ways, a different character."
"Also, Giles didn't have the obstacle of Buffy having another authority figure backing her up whenever she rebelled regardless of what she did or said. I think Buffy might have been willing to listen to Wesley more if Giles hadn't been encouraging her with his childish pouting. (I was kinda disappointed that Giles did that. I expected him to put duty before pride.)"
"I have to disagree here -- while Giles was pouting more than a bit, he was also well aware that Wesley was and is deeply clueless as to the real world, and what has to be done in order to survive. Wesley was far more interested in exerting his authority and the Rightness of All Things Council than keeping Buffy and Faith alive. Giles' duty, after being fired by the Council, was to a) keep the world in one piece and b) keep Buffy from getting killed. Getting her to obey Wesley in damn near anything was directly contrary to both of those goals. This is in addition to the fact that Buffy knows how to do her job lots better than Wesley knew how to do his job. With Giles backing her up for the research stuff she *couldn't* do, Wesley just was not horrifically important in the grand scheme of slayage. The situation was a bit different with Faith, and if Wesley had concentrated on training Faith, who was new to the business and needed the training, instead of trying to take over both Slayers, thereby irritating Buffy the competant and alienating Faith the envious, things might have been one hell of a lot less messy. This is not to say that I dislike Wesley. I'm not exactly fond of the man, but I'm willing to give him a little time. He (and Alexis, for that matter) have *tremendous* potential, as soon as he gets *over* himself. If that doesn't happen soon, I'll lead the brigade to kill him off, since I find other people's embarrassment to be massively unfunny (Reason #1 Perri Doesn't Watch Sitcoms); I'm deeply embarassed for them and can't watch. But I'll give him a couple more eps." -- Lizbet, Betsy, & Perri

"Wesley comes from that same background *without* (presumably) the period of rebellion that Giles had to shake him. This is his first contact with real life, and he'sconfused, awkward,disorented... annoying. Playing with that could be facinating."
"Technically, what he's going through *now* would be considered his periodof rebellion. Except,as with most things, he sucks at it. He's not really rebelling so much as trying to *look* like he's rebelling because he got sacked." --Lizbet & MB

"I do have to admit, having said all of that, that last night's episode didn't move my hopes for Wesley forward very much. He hasn't *really* changed... frankly, what he's done is turn into what the Council's idea of a 'baddie' would be. He still hasn't made up his own mind what he is, and he won't be a really interesting, viable character until he does. "
"And, again, if he sticks around, that journey could be fun to watch. Cordelia herself was a one-dimensional bitca when she started out on Buffy -- and she was a regular. Watching her grow into a human being with 3 sides and everything was fun and fascinating and filled with its own fits and starts. "
"The thing that made this work for me was that Cordelia had relatively little screen time in those early epsidoes--sometimes as little as 2-3 minutes per ep or less. This allowed us to get to watch her begin to evolve in little dribs and drabs; there were plenty of other characters and foci to take the majority of the screen time and focus of each episode. The structue of Angel makes itseem terribly unlikely to me that this could be the case with Wesley. Idon't see how they can avoid making Wesley have a pretty central focus as a main character--there are just too few regulars, and too few incidentals (who've we got other than Kate?)...and as much as I totallyu nderstand how nice it is to see a one-dimensional character become intersting and multi-dimensional, I don't want it in large doses....and last season we got overload on Wesley already, and I suspect that they won't be able to avoid doing the same again--especially since Joss and Jane (at least, and probably others) think Alexis is just a gas. It's too bad that their viewership at large doesn't enjoy *watching* him as well as they clearly enjoy *working* with him." --Lizbet, MB, and Amy

"It seems like Joss and co. are giving Wesley a try-out of sorts. Put him in to mix it up, add some humor, get him to grow -- perhaps even before sending him up Sunnydale's way to help Buffy and co. fight, well, whomever exactly it is they're going to be fighting. I get that some find his antics intrusive, but I was starting to find the constant self-deprecating humor that Angel does use a bit old. Something different is kind of welcome. "
"That's interesting...because this is one of the things I love about 'Angel'--this is the thing that has really made me enjoy the character, show, and, finally, the actor. I think David does this very well, and I like his particular brand of quiet, sardonic, self-deprecating humor. I like the humor that Cordelia's existence still brings to the show--a very different brand than Angel's. And I am in the camp that finds this type of humor that we get from Wesley not only intrusive (such a good word), but also embarrassing. I *don't* enjoy humor that comes from someone behaving in a way that shows that they're stupid. I find it discomforting and embarrassing and not funny. I don't find it funny to watch Wesley make a fool out of himself--especially since he often *knows* he's making a fool out of himself and can't quite figure out how not to do that. I don't want to watch someone acting this way--it's exactly the same thing that made me *deeply* dislike Seinfeld the handful of times I saw it. Which ultimately boils down to differences in tastes--which is fine. I think we're all just trying to define what it that suits our tastes so that we each understand one another."
"I enjoy this about Angel as well. I like that they don't take themselves too seriously. But 5 episodes in a row of Batman comparisons wears thin. I love Buffy because all the characters are different and have their own senses of humor. Angel and Doyle's senses of humor were quite similar, actually. Wesley adds something new to the mix. It might work. It might not. It remains to be seen." -- MB, Amy, & MB

"Wesley has a huge void to fill. Doyle, for all that I was lukewarm to him at first, was the interpreter, if you will, through which Angel and Cordelia communicated with each other. He was the one who pointed out important ideas that they wouldn't notice. He was the one who showed both Cordy and Angel how to interact with people like normal people. He was a bridge because, as much as his life had been screwed up for a while, he grew up as a normal, well-socialized person. Wesley is just simply *not* a well-socialized person. He is not going to be able to serve the very necessary function of interpreter between Cordy and Angel--he just doesn't have the social skills needed to perform that function. I just have no faith that this will be anything other than annoying. And I just plain don't share the faith in Joss that folks herehave. Never have sharedit. I am especially leery in light of the fact that Joss thinks Alexis is hilarious...I think that Alexis is a questionable actor. This just doesn't seem to me to bode well...."
"I think my faith in Joss has pretty much taken a fall here as well. That Joss loves having Alexis on the show makes me scared that we'll be stuck with him permently like it or not. Damn."--Julie

"For me it _is_ painful to watch someone that helplessly incompetent. I've seen people much like his character in real life and have never found it a laughing matter. You have these people who have spent a considerable time in academia and little to none relating to real life. They do fantastically well in school, but eventually they have to Go Out Into theWorld. And they can't handle it because life is _never_ as nice and neat as school with littleguidelines and 'x' markingthe spot. Unexpected things happen. People they have to deal with havefree will and do theunexpected and plans change. It's little variables like such as thosethat people like Wesleydon't take into account and consequently freak or freeze when things don'tgo as planned. It'spathetic and sad and I cannot find humor in this which is why I just can'ttake Wesley for anyprolonged peroids of time. We're expected to laugh at this patheticperson, much as people oncedid taking tours through Bedlam to see the inmates. I can't do that." --Julie

"I suspect that we're all going to either be in the Love Wesley Camp or the Show Him the DoorCamp, much the same way that people either love or hate the Three Stooges.(Yep--I'm in CampHate there as well.) I prefer my humour with more wit than witless. Any moron can throw a pie or slip on a banana peel for a quick laugh. I'll take the guy who can make you laugh at the banana _before_ he eats it and tosses the peel away or to snicker at the pie as it sits on the table." --Julie

"I think I'm in the wait-and-see camp on Wesley. He *does* annoy me, but I also think he has the potential to be a real person, and thus less annoying. He _can_ be taught, he's not stupid, and he wants to help. On the other hand, that whole riff of 'it's all my fault' will get real old, real fast, if he doesn't start sucking it up sooner. He reminds me, vaguely, of a character on "Adderly" about seven or so years ago: Melville Greenspan. Fussy, twitchy, insecure, and occasionally pretentious to cover up the fact that he's scared. They gave Melville one *wonderful* episode where he got to just be himself, on his own, dealing with a crisis because he was the only one who could --- and he Indiana-Jones'd his way through it on sheer persistence. If they force Wesley to deal, he might be able to pull off the same thing, and become more like Giles. " --Kiki

"Of course, if they don't successfully integrate it or him, he could get on my nerves and I'll want him gone as much as the rest of you."
"And if they *do*, I'll want him around as much as you. :-) It remains to be seen."
"It really isn't that I *want* him around as much as it is ... well, he'sthere and he makes me laugh and I'm not going to let the fact that he's there instead of someone else affect my enjoyment of the show. I'd rather Doyle..... but I'll deal with Wesley. " --MB, Val, and MB