Dawn's Review

Synopsis:
The show opens with a green-skinned, red horned, blond demon wearing a white suit singing "I Will Survive". It's a very "Angel" moment; not something that would be seen on "Buffy". After all, there's so many demons in "variety show of L.A." that they all have to get along....

Pans to... a guy breaking up with Cordy? She seems heartbroken, and everything's slightly off -- until she puts her own "addition" into the scene, slaps the guy and we draw back to see it's an acting class. Cordelia has improved since last year's wooden-like delivery. The teacher's complimentary, but it's 911 beeper time and she heads off.

At a nameless bar, Wesley's showing his accuracy at shooting darts, and eyeing a pretty young thing, when his beeper goes off. His last, blind shot goes somewhat awry...

It's gym time! The gang storms in, and despite the protects of the young man at the desk, heads straight into the weight room. There's a sacrifice to stop! Angel breaks down one of the mirrors and reveals a small room where demons are sacrificing several young people. A brief fight later, they're out of there like a well-oiled machine.

Intro: Some shots the same as last year, some new. Gunn's character (J. August Richards) is added to the lineup of Angel, Cordelia and Weslie and Kate's off the credits.

At Cordie's apartment, they're discussing they're progress and going over their latest cases at detailed on a whiteboard -- and fighting over which demon was the one that Wolfram and Hart summuned up at the season finale some months ago. There's no consensus before Cordie get's another vision... It's a NDUO (nasty demon, unknown origin).

Wolfram & Hart: Lindsey's having trouble using his prosthetic hand to open up the CD's... and Darla's looking fine physically -- but mentally she's not all there. She's now recovered enough to feel that Angel's in town, and remember that he killed her. She looks quite happy at the thought of seeing him again... I wonder how Angel will feel? :)

Back at the apartment, they're trying to figure out what the demon is. Dennis helps out by levitating a book (and also hitting Wesley with it quite hard), and Cordelia spots the demon in her vision on one of the pages. It's a "Preomoto", reputed to be nasty, vicious, with a tendency to maim and massacre. They're on the hunt, and Wesley reveals he's been trying to build more contact in the demon community and suggests they meet a possible snitch at a demon sanctuary... aka a Kareoke bar where demon's sing and "bare their souls" so the owner can read their psychic auras and give them the information they need.

At the bar, they meet Merl, a parasite demon. After demanding more money because the demon they're looking for is so nasty, he gives them the a general location. On the way out, they meet up with the owner, who not only love's Angel's coat, but wants hime to sing at the bar. Angel flatly refuses.

Owner "I know you're feeling smooth, in the groove -- isn't that the thing that comes before a fall?"

But to Angel, singing in public is one of the three things he doesn't do... and since the others are dating and tanning (and we've seen both), you can guess where this is headed.

So Angel, still going full blast in his quest to fight evil and become human, goes after the Preomoto demon. What he finds is a frightened, and very pregnant woman, hurrying along a dark street with the demon close behind. When it attacks him, Angel fight's back and kills it... to the pregnant's woman's dismay. The Preomoto was her protector from other demons -- a "good" demon. She staggers off and Angel heads to...

Cordelia's apartment, where he's clearly deep in guilt mode and the others are stunned as well. Cordelia mentions that she didn't feel any "fear" from the demon in the vision and blames the death squarely on a vague message from TPTB. All Angel knows is that he's killed another "innocent being", and this time, he can't blame it on Angelus.

He goes after Merl, the parasite demon who sold them the bad information, and forces a more detailed location for where the Preomoto demon was probably hiding out. Apparently there's a high price out for the death of the woman and her child -- who is destined to be a "powerful, benevolent..." something. The Preomoto was protecting them, and Merl used Angel to get rid of him.

Since the demon's hideout in Gunn's territory, we catch up with him and his gang -- who are in the process of dusting a vamp who's after a stranded motorist. After the motorist runs off without even saying thanks, Gunn sends his gang back to their place and heads off with Angel. They're heading through some deep tunnels, and just after Angel confesses that he killed a "good" demon, Gunn spots a fake vent that hides a small bedroom. It's the Preomoto's.

They check the place out: books, mattress on the floor, two samuri swords... it's spartan, gray, and probably reminds Angel of some of the places he's stayed in. (That or they used an old Highlander set...) Angel finds a secret compartment in a small chest, and a large, round amulet falls out. They don't know what it is, but it could be important, so Angel asks Gunn to take it to Wesley and Cordelia while he stays behind and steeps in his guilt.

After replacing and almost burnt out candle in front of a buddha-like figure with a new one... in comes the pregnat woman. She isn't exactly crazy to see him there. She reveals that the Preomoto (aka Kamal), was going to help her with a mysterious Tribunal that could protect her and her unborn daughter from the demons that wanted to kill it. Now Kamal is deal and she doesn't know what to do. Angel starts to convince her that he can help and she tells him they need to find a large round token to give to the Tribunal: a coat of arms. The one he just sent away.

She's not happy. She's really not happy. She start to leave but there are demons at the door. Angel has a hard time protecting her and killing the demons at the same time. In between fights they start running.

"Who's there?" "Gunn." "Maybe it's a demon with a gun?" (paraphrase)

Gunn get's an uncertain welcome at first but after he clarifies that it's Charles Gunn (two "n"s)... there's a general round of introductions, some teasing on Gunn's side and he hands over the coat of arms.

Meanwhile, Angel and the pregnant woman (aka TPW since we never learn her name -- not to be confused with PW, Peter Wingfield) are still on the run. She reveals that she's not sure quite what the Tribunal is supposed to do, but Kamal was to be her champion. All she knows is she can't fight all the demons that are after her and without Kamal or the coat of arms, she can't go to the Tribunal. She decides to skip town just before another wave of demons hit and Angel yells at her to go to Cordelia's apartment.

But she doesn't.

When Angel gets there, shirt ragged and exhausted. Angel knows he's messed this one up bad. TPW's not there and they have no way of finding her... or do they?

It's Kareoke time! A trembling Angel manages to get through a whole rendition of Barry Manilow's "Mandy", even if the owner does have to pry it from his cold, shellshocked (dead) fingers at the end. But it's worth it (maybe). The owner reveals that the Tribunal with show up wherever TPW is, but demands to know why "Mandy" before he'll give out her location.

"I know the words... I kinda think it's pretty."

TPW is running down the middle of an almost empty street (not good for self-preservation), when ZOOM! ... up comes a new building facade with three demons (that looks suspiciously like the type Giles introduced to a wife in a previous "Buffy" ep) sitting up high. The Tribunal has started. When TPW confesses that her champion is dead and she has no token, they declare her life forfeit...

But then Angel throws down the token and the fight to the death starts. Unfortunately the first part of the fight is a joust -- something before his time. He does well and rocks the other demon back on the first pass, only to be knocked off his horse on the second one. Now it's more what he's used to. Grabbing the sword tied to his horse's saddle he knock's the other demon off his horse and the fight goes on. Angel goes down after he's skewered, but recovers just in time to behead the other demon and save TPW.

The Tribunal is over. Angel has one and now the Tribunal demons will protect TPW and the child until it's of age. A pretty good deal for one fight.

Back at Cordelia's apartment, Angel gets rid of the whiteboard. He's still committed to fighting evil and reaching his goal of becoming human, but knows it isn't a race and he's got other things to do -- like visit Faith in a great scene that I'm not going to spoil... except to say to read Christina Kamnikar's fic (that should be up on the site soon) to get an idea.

Review:
Rating 3/5 to 4/5 in spots

This was a nice, solid episode that served as a good introduction to the characters. Cordelia get's her acting class, Wesley gets to be both suave and silly at the bar, Angel is Angel, and Gunn dusts a vamp. Even Leslie and Darla get some character info.

SunSpeak

"Scarred for life. SCARRED. FOR. LIFE!!! And I love Gunn. And I love Cordy. And I love Faith. And I love Wesley -- but not in that yellow shirt. Lindsey? Yum. But the guy's bitter. *sigh* Darla? Well, she didn't annoy me as much as she has, but the scene was short. I love the IDEA of her, but. . . well, we'll see. And Angel? I've missed him. Oh so much. But I'm scarred. for. life." --MB, the giddy bibbling fool

"Okay. . . . in one of the Alexis Denisof credit shots -- why is Wesley holding something that looks suspiciously like a bright, glowing Orb of Thessulah? And Cordy and Angel are in the background *behind* him, so . . . . . I suppose it could be something else, but hmmmmm. . . . . ." --MB, using those eagle eyes

"I just realized what Angel's little white board markup 'who have we saved today' reminded me of. Homicide, yes (although I never watched that so I don't have as strong a reaction). But somehow, Angel's 'Let's tally up the souls to see how soon I become human' reminded me of Trevor's bead-tally of how many couples he got together. Oh, dear... *g*" --Lizbet

"Oh, God. HOW many bad songs did they pull out? God oh god. I'm from Denver, we're still bearing the scars of 'Achey Breaky' here. This was just *cruel*. But not as cruel as making David sing like that. OW! OW! OW! And the end credits... man, the oxygen in the room got used up fast." -- Kiki

"The conversation with Faith at the end."
"I *not-bounced* when I realized where he was headed. (Authorly Glee! I wrote a story that Joss didn't joss, but it still kinda works!) Plus, I really did want to see how she was doing. Not a lot of conditioner in prison, hunh? But she's actually sounding like she's still dealing pretty well, all things considered. No blame for anyone else, resignation that she's going to take some blame and hits for stuff she didn't cause now, just because of her rep; it sucks, but there's nothing to be done about it, and she's not bitter." -- Dawn, Kiki

"...The snitch conversation in amongst all the other demons. Why would they trust him if they know he's associating with the 'good guys.'?"
"With this kind of thing, 'trust' is probably an exaggeration. When you're paying good money and can beat the crap out of the guy, it's more like 'have no cause to actively doubt his story.' WHich is no longer the case, clearly. " -- Dawn, Kiki

"...The whole thing with Darla, it's too much like rewriting her character back story -- unless she changed character in dealing with the Master, all the Angel stuff... sigh. I suppose Buffy POV and all that."
"Partly; and then again... I was thinking, she's been in some demon-Hell *how* long? If that's where they pulled her back from, she bit it three and a half years ago -- ten times as long as Angel spent down there between 2nd & 3rd Season, and he was a mess when he got back. They've probably just managed to get her back up to coherent and verbal over the last couple months. Which is a good excuse to do whatever they want with her, really." --Dawn, Kiki

"The judges on the Chair of Judgment bore a strong family resemblance to that guy that was supposed to rip out Angel's soul at the Mayor's behest 3rd Season. The one Giles did the favor for, introducing him to his future wife. No guarantee that they're at all connected, but I thought it was cool." --Kiki

"I think Angel's already made a huge difference in whatever End Battles are coming; between saving those three baby Seers last season, and now this baby-leader-to-be, that's a lot of evil to have thwarted in advance. Very cool." -- Kiki

"Wesley throwing those darts, oh so cool, almost flirting with the blonde (I was yelling, "Wes! Get her number before you leave, dude!")... and then screwing it up with the clumsy throw. Nice to see that he only loses it when he's rattled. But we *still* need to get this guy some smoochies. Badly. Really. A lot." -- Kiki

"Gunn rocked. And half the time, when he was talking, I was like, 'Oh yeah. Him and Cordy. And their kids will either rule the universe... or spend their entire elementary school lives in Time-Out for being smartasses.'" -- Kiki

"It may not be about keeping score, but still... I thought it was cool to have the HOMICIDE-esque whiteboard. Gives them confidence to keep going, too. But hey, the point is made: no more board." --Kiki

"I don't know why I was so sure Angel would be Perspective Guy about his prophecy. It makes sense that someone so stuck in the dark would cling to a shred of hope. I loved, loved LOVED his line about that light at the end of the tunnel being so brought, he thought he was almost out. So heartbreaking, and such a perfect way to talk about false hopes. That he and the gang were working so hard, and so organized and so focused that they hadn't even had a time to find an office was so telling. He really did have blinders on. Which makes me wonder that the vague vision Cordy got wasn't vague on purpose. Was it a wake-up call from TPTB?" -- MB

"And I loved the Cordy talk. And her statement that she'd be with him to the end. A good way to touch on the familial bond forged in To Shanshu. Speaking of Cordy. . . . how neat is it that her acting is so much improved now that she's had a bit of deep end dug in her pool of layers. A brush with death, an eye-opening view of all the trouble in the world, and suddenly, she's finding her motivation . . . . and it's not quite so important to her anymore. Neat touch." -- MB

"Wes was great. . . not much new or old. But I loved his opening scene -- off in his pub, playing his darts, still not quite as cool as he wants to be (especially in that shirt. *g*)" --MB

"The main story . . . the damsel in distress, the court, the judgment -- it was good. not great. . . served its purpose to snap Angel out of his one-track state of mind and remember the reason he's doing this is them, not himself." --MB

"And Faith. Oh, wow, that moment was brilliance. I was so touched that they seemed so comfortable with each other. . . . this wasn't his first visit, I'm pretty sure. And while Cordy is the knowing family member, Faith is the kindred spirit. It warms my heart that they've formed a relationship that lets each of them have someone to be there for the other . . . . to talk to, not just about the rocky road to redemption, but about Barry Manilow and bad cafeteria food, too. I hope we get more moments like that--not necessarily exactly like that, because the convention could come, well, conventional. But just hints. . . glimpses that there's progress. Although. . . . forming a friendship with Faith could lead to very very bad things if anything should go wrong." --MB

"But did anyone else wonder if this child -- the seer or whatever -- is just another random child? I got this funny, wild speculative feeling that we may see that child again. . . . maybe even grown up. This being a mystical world and all that; no reason she can't age quickly."
"We actually kept saying, 'I wonder what it is he's protecting?' ...We were never convinced that he was really protecting something good. I mean, they know nearly *nothing*...it could be Rosemary's baby for all we know. Just a dark and uncomfortable niggle amongst the ambiguity."
"I was wondering about that, too. They jumped to the conclusion that the demon protecting the woman was evil before they knew he was her protector, then they assumed because he was protecting her, he had to be good. But my thought was an evil demon could be protecting a woman about to give birth to the savior of evil just like Rosemary's baby." --MB, Amy, Karen "Angel admitting he liked 'Mandy'"
"This was nearly the final nail in my coffin last night. I don't know how I survived the actual singing without passing out, but I came even closer when he whisper 'And I think it's pretty.'"
"David's singing was so funny. He looked so terrified, which made it funnier. Mandy? Of all the song choices, that had to be one of the funniest ones. Please tell me David sings better than that. I must've watched that scene at least three or four times. At least two or three before watching the rest of the ep, and then coming back to the song again. I loved Cordy and Wesley's reactions to the song." -- Dawn, MB, Judy

"Okay, now I understand why everyone's brain was broken. *twitch* *twitch* Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a better execution of the 'you must play a bad singer with severe stage fright' concept. I think if you took a sample of his voice that was less than a second, there would still be a shake in it. And the proprietor demon having to pry the microphone out of his semi-catatonic hand was just too priceless."
"I have to agree! Watching Wesley and Cordy was almost as much fun as watching Angel. The end credit outtakes were a lot of fun to watch. It takes an actor (male or female) who's sure of themselves to be able to pull that off. In order to poke fun at yourself, you have to be at ease with yourself." -- Val, Judy

"Darla is even scarier when she's not all there. No wonder Lindsey seems a bit the worse for wear--not only the whole hand thing (exaggerating the doubts I'm sure he already had about the course he's chosen), but babysitting her. I wonder when he's going to realize that there *is* no easy choice now--he's going to keep getting tested no matter what he does." -- Val

"Gotta wonder what the protector demon guy's story was. I know there's ample mythic precedent in some cultures for demons getting religion--Arabic fairy tales, f'rinstance, are full of Djinn who've embraced Islam, and I believe gained souls by it. Don't know enough about Buddhism to know if it happens much there." -- Val

"And it finally occurred to Cordy to take a *class*! And she's getting GOOD! And I really really really hope the instructor doesn't hold her demanding day-, um, night-job against her. That would suck more than a little. Love the scene partner getting all indignant over her hitting him, and the instructor being completely unconcerned (in large measure because she wasn't paying any real attention to him at all). Didn't see enough to know whether it was because she's excited about Cordy's progress (both in skill and self-confidence I'll bet) since she first walked through the door, or if she's just shining her light on the one who's already shiny. I've had classes with both types, that's for sure." -- Val

"Go, Wes, kicking a little demon ass in the teaser! And getting at least one admiring look from the female quarter. I think one could probably tell by the end of last season that he was no longer annoying me, but now I've officially reached 'happy to have him around'. And, imagine that, it's because the writers stopped treating him like a literal and figurative punching bag! (Now it's Xander's turn...)" -- Val

"Favorite moment by far: Cordy assuring Angel that she'll always be there, despite her inevitable stardom. Just so incredibly sweet on both sides. She still has the mouth, she's still our Queen C in the important ways, but you *can* see the change in her. And it comes so much from being assured of her worth and purpose. Wow. Major wow. We talk a lot about how much David has grown as an actor, but Charisma is right up there with him." --Val

"And how on the mark was Kiki with that prison-visit fic??? Though I still feel a little cheated that we didn't get at least a passing reference to her court dates. That was such a wonderful dialogue. And she still seems so...balanced. Centered. I know she said she'd had a hard time not killing the chick who picked a fight with her, but I suspect it was easier than she could have imagined a few months ago. Eliza, as usual, was faboo, this time in a lovely quiet way that we haven't gotten to see much of."
"I did like the prison scene. They both are going through the same thing, in a way..... both looking for redemption. I think that gives them a lot of common ground/understanding. Somehow she looked quite different and not quite like herself. I did like how she didn't kill, and seemed proud of it. It was good progress. I wonder if she's getting counseling?" -- Val, Judy

"I like seeing Cordy grown and change. She's truly becoming a happier person as she finds what she's good at. (And when she can afford food and rent.) She likes knowing she's important to someone for more than her looks or money. That her contributions really do count. I think she was lacking that most of her life as no one really expected much out of her. Her Queen C attitude was just her way of coping with her unhappiness, trying to convince herself, and everyone else, that she was happy when she was really quite miserable." -- Judy