Written and Directed by David Greenwalt

Lizbet's Synopsis | Lizbet's Review | SunSpeak

After 13 weeks of mourning, Angel came back from Sri Lanka (and a monastery full of demon monks) to give hugs and presents to the crew of Angel Investigations, coax Fred out of her room, answer several probing questions from Cordelia about his level of really-all-rightness, and be blissfully unaware that Darla is Really Really Big With Child down in South America somewhere. Oh, and there was a plot no one cared about in there about Angel accidentally killing the female half of a vampire pair he and Darla used to hang out with back in his Angelus days (and now you realize why they didn't stake Dru and Spike... they were actually less annoying!) and the male half of the vampire pair going after Angel to avenge his beloved's death.

Please forgive me my levity in the synopsis, but I refuse to take the main plot seriously if the writer isn't going to. There are plot-driven episodes, episodes where the plot is an afterthought, plot-what-plot episodes, but this one was a plot painfully shoehorned in. James and Elisabeth were a painfully dull pair to stand in for Spike and Drusilla, and I really couldn't care one way or another about them.

Characters: Okay, I'm going to come down on the side of thank JOSS that they didn't have Angel moping all over the place. Yes, I'm a Buffy/Angel shipper. Yes, I wrote gleefully angsty fic about Angel mourning Buffy. But the biggest complaint I hear from a lot of people is that Angel spends way, way, way, WAY too much time brooding.

Realistically, yes, he's still mourning Buffy. He always will be (or, at least, until someone from the Sunnydale crew clue him into the events of Bargaining). But he left Sunnydale two years before -- willingly -- and ended their relationship. He probably was hoping that once he Shansued and became mortal he could go back to her and they could be together, but it wasn't the same as the everyone in Sunnydale fighting with Buffy against Glory and watching her die.

If they could have found a non-broody way of having Angel constantly mourn Buffy, I would applaud them. However Buffy is no longer (and has not been for a long time) his sole emotional support system. Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, the Host, and now Fred are there to keep him in touch with reality.

Thus endeth the rant.

Cordelia, once again, has come so far from when she was in Sunnydale. She is always the one to make Angel open up and talk (to wit, forcing Angel to mourn Doyle in I've Got You Under My Skin), and even when it concerns Angel's One True Love, she's not afraid to tackle the difficult questions. Part of it, of course, is that if Angel goes off the deep end again, she's in the line of fire. But she really loves Angel and wants him to be okay.

Her comment that she "misses Buffy too" is interesting, and exciting a lot of comment. We've never seen Cordelia and Buffy be close, and to all accounts she has not set foot in Sunnydale since Graduation 2. (Please insert rant about how a crossover with Cordelia back in Sunnydale, say, perhaps, during the time when she was very, very gone during Sanctuary would have been an excellent way to point up how mature she's gotten -- particularly in contrast to how immature the Slayerettes had gotten by the end of season four. End of rant.) But it wouldn't surprise me if Cordelia couldn't appreciate Buffy's position and problems better now that she herself is, in a certain way, a Chosen One as well. Cordelia in Sunnydale tended to have conversations with Buffy that amounted to, "Why don't you do this? Why didn't you do that? Why did you do that?!?!?!" She might understand Buffy's options -- and lack of same -- better now. So the comment might be more that she's commiserating with Angel, and that she's aware that she's missed her opportunity to really get to know her.

Wesley remains in charge of the agency, and supremely suited for the job. It probably helped that Angel was so willing to give over reins after Epiphany, and then left Los Angeles for an extended period. I don't think they will ever go back to Angel being in charge. And that's the way it should be; Wesley has come into his own, and become the person that he was trying to be in Sunnydale -- a capable, intelligent leader. Go, Wes!

Poor Fred. She latched onto Angel as a security blanket, and then he disappeared on her. Locking herself in her room seemed to be her best option (Heavens knows I've done that!) And the attempt to understand her reality(ies) via complicated equations on the walls of her room is absolutely fascinating; it gives this universe a scientific basis that continues from Happy Anniversary. Supernatural = natural we just haven't figured out yet. (Okay, since that's my pet theory of the world I'm gleeful about it.)

Hi, Gunn. Betcha wish you could get a life, huh? <sigh> Please, please we have an exceedingly cool character that is very different from most of what we see on TV (what TV show has a street-smart punk as a hero who *isn't* somehow a cop?), can't we do something with him? I adore Christian Kane and Lindsey, but I'm getting the exact same vibe I did in second and third season Buffy, when Xander's character development got sacrificed to develop Angel. So much of last season had to do with Wolfram and Hart and Darla, that the character that connects better to the vamp-on-the-street activity had nothing to do. And that's a cryin' shame.

Once again, there's nothing to do about Darla but squawk and go, "WHHHHAAAAT?" Not necessarily in a bad way; we'll see how it goes.

Continuity: Buffy's been dead three months. Angel's been gone almost that long, Wes and Gunn have been holding down the demon-fighting fort, and Fred has been in her room for most of that time.

Lilah is still head of Special Projects, but she's getting crowded by a new lawyer (played by Daniel Dae Kim, probably best known from being the first officer on Crusade, and in my personal opinion a severe yum-yum.)

Darla's still running around out there, and she's really out to THERE. <boggle>

Questions and Comments: I know I did the whole "defending Angel's right to be 'over' Buffy" above, but I'm going to switch sides now and go... huh? Is he really that adjusted to his new life? Are Cordelia and Wesley and Gunn (and Loren and Fred, now) really that able to be his emotional support?

What the hezmana frelling frack dren is DARLA DOING PREGNANT??? Didn't we have a whole conversation about the lack of perkiness of Angel's little swimmers back in Bad Eggs? I am so afraid of this. In a good way, as usual, but still, much fear.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Not steller, and wow, did the main plot reek, but the character interactions were beautiful. I watched Welcome to the Hellmouth on fX a couple hours before Heartthrob came on, and more kudos for the work David has done to develop his acting ability.

Comments to angel@rhiannon.dreamhost.com.
This page last updated October 8, 2001.

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