Mary Beth's Synopsis

In a dark alley, a sleazy looking guy is on the run. A mysterious, fleet-footed blonde woman with ponytail is after him. He makes it to his car but before he can get in, the figure comes sailing at him from behind with a dazzling flying kick to his back. Is Buffy Summers in town? Nope. It's none other than Detective Kate. She takes down the perp and shoves him up against the car. She is not someone you want to piss off. And apparently this guy did. He was supposed to meet her at the station to answer some questions but stood her up. Fed up with "playing nice" she cuffs him and reads him his rights.

Back at the station, Kate's on an interrogative roll. While her colleagues look on through the one-way, she questions the guy about someone named Little Tony Papasian, whom she suspects is involved in the murder of a County Supervisor. The suspect plays dumb -- not so hard to do -- in spite of evidence that he should have some answers. He maintains that the Supervisor killed himself, despite the fact that he was found shot in the head, wrapped in plastic, in his own car trunk. Kate's been at this a while, apparently, and her fellow detectives are in awe of her stamina. In fact, one begins to wonder if this Supervisor guy was someone close to her. She's ready to keep riding the suspect for as long and as rough as it takes (and that didn't come out quite like I meant it....). Soon, the guy gets insulting, Kate gets rough, and they have to step in and yank her off him.

In the hall, colleague calms her and they discuss the need to find Little Tony. If they don't find him soon, he'll disappear. And he just doesn't know who can. Kate has her own idea.

Her idea, meanwhile, is busy somewhere under the city battling a really ugly goopy thing with lots of tentacles. It seems to be lodged in the ceiling above the sewer system and Angel is doing his best to fight off the things tentacles, mostly with a pipe. It's not very effective. Finally, Doyle and Cordelia rush to the rescue with some kind of enchanted sword -- apparently not many enchanted sword smiths work on Sundays in L.A. Go figure. Once he's got the sword, though, Angel makes quick work of the Icky Thing, slicing off a tentacle and stabbing it through the goopy underbelly. His task finished, Angel tosses the sword to Doyle, barks some orders to Cordy and Doyle (to chop it up and bury the parts separately so it stays dead this time), and heads off on his own to clean out it's nest.

He's not big on sentimentality, it seems. And Cordy says as much after he's left, complaining to Doyle -- who, incidently and without her notice, is busy being strangled by one of the monster's spare tentacles -- that Angel needs to learn some respect.

~*~*~*~

Cordelia and Doyle return to the office looking like they've.... well, like they've just finished dismembering a large goopy tentacled creature. Angel, who barely notices their disheveled state, starts to tell Cordelia something, but she has had enough. She doesn't care how urgent or evil whatever he wants is, she won't hear it until he asks them how it went. She finishes venting and Angel finishes his own statement: Her mother called.

He's perplexed by her behavior though, even after Cordelia explains that it's not that things didn't go well, she just wants him to start showing appreciation for the things they do. Doyle half-heartedly supports Cordelia.

Kate interrupts the discussion when she arrives to talk to Angel. She fills him in on the situation with Little Tony. Turns out they do have an indictment on him for the murder of the Supervisor, but they can't find him. She hires Angel -- money and everything! -- to look into the situation for her and to keep a low profile. Just find the guy and call her, she tells him.

Later, after several hours of research, Doyle has found lots information on Papasian, but nothing that the cops would have found. Cordelia has been reading scores of coroner's reports -- for which Angel tries awkwardly and rather lamely to thank her -- and has discovered only that Little Tony is not someone she ever wants to meet. His victims and their parts have been washing up all over the So Cal coast -- fact that draws Angel's attention. He asks Doyle to pull up tidal information and look for a place where he might be dropping bodies -- some place Little Tony might feel safe.

Back at the police station, Kate runs into her father, a uniformed Sergeant whose days away from retirement. It's instantly obvious that their relationship is strained. They barely speak; their words are clipped and carefully chosen. He can barely look her in the eye. Something as simple as Kate speaking at his retirement party leads to discomfort for them both. Before either has to really confront the situation, Kate is gets a phone call.

It's Angel, and he's got a location down on the docks for her. Little Tony and some of his muscle are hanging out. She takes down the address and tells Angel to leave. She's on her way. Before Angel can even start his car, though, he hears a boat engine. Little Tony's about to make his escape. Angel is forced to take action.

Little Tony and his thugs are waiting on the docks when they're joined by an obnoxious tourist who's obviously lost. Oh wait, that's Angel. In a horrific shirt that Doyle must have left in his car and a hat to match. He's "Herb Saunders for Baltimore" and he could have sworn this was where the boats to Catalina were leaving from. Little Tony and his boys aren't buying it, though, and Angel is forced to resort to his usual means to keep them at bay -- violence. They're joined quickly by the cops and Kate, though. And she finally gets her man. She's not to happy with Angel, though, for exposing himself and jeopardizing not only himself but her and her job. She tells him to beat it and she'll figure something out. Their exchange doesn't go unnoticed by Little Tony either.

Back at the station, Kate sends Little Tony but not before they exchange a few barbs and we learn that she's been after him a long time. And there's no love lost between them. When Papasian gets his phone call, he contacts his lawyers -- none other than the esteemed firm of Wolfram & Hart. They promise to take care of Papasian's problem, that would be Kate, permanently.

~*~*~*~

At the station, Little Tony's smarmy lawyer hands over a petition to have Papasian moved to another precinct, for his own safety, of course. Even as Papasian threatens Kate, the lawyer insists Tony is under stress after being assaulted by Kate and an "unknown assailant" that Tony saw her with at the docks. They manage to rile Kate up enough that the lawyer, calm and calculating, threatens to bring the precinct under public scrutiny for brutality charges that will make Mark Fuhrman look like Gentle Ben. Kate is less than pleased.

Back at the office, Cordelia is finishing up the paperwork on their simple case, but Angel isn't so sure it's over yet. There's something about Little Tony that bugs him. Cordelia is more concerned with the fact that Angel, who is so observant when it comes to demons and evil, hasn't noticed her new shoes. Angel doesn't see this is a bad thing. Doyle arrives, noticing immediately Cordelia's new shoes, and tells Angel that he's heard word from his sources that Papasian's "planning something."

At the Blue Boy bar, Kate arrives to several congratulatory words from her peers for her successful bust of Papasian. Her father even buys her a beer. She finds him in a booth in the back, doing some paperwork, and joins him. He's heard about Little Tony, but does he congratulate her? Tell her he's proud of her? Nope. He just hopes the bust doesn't fall apart before it goes to court. Deflated, Kate just sips her beer. One of her coworkers -- a guy who obviously has a bit of a crush on Detective Lockley -- shows up and tosses a memorandum in front of her. The PD is making them all take sensitivity training as a result of her actions with Papasian. Her father just scoffs. In his day, he says, they didn't need sensitivity.

The next day, Kate and her colleagues sit stiffly in a squad room listening to some consultant -- Allen Lloyd -- tell them that he's going to give them some tools to help them deal with their emotions on the job. Pretty much no one wants to be there (Kate especially), but he's undeterred. One of his tools is a "talking stick" -- a big, well, stick that the officers can pass around and while they hold it, they're allowed to express themselves freely without judgment or repercussions. Reluctant at first, the officers eventually relent. While one officer talks about his family and his mother, Kate looks on, clearly uncomfortable with the level of intimacy. She cracks a joke and draws Lloyd's attention. He challenges her until she, too, takes the stick. He calls her on her use of anger and aggression to cover her fear of opening up and getting hurt. She listens.

Meanwhile, Doyle and Angel are questioning one of Doyle's sources for information about Papasian. He's pretty much a font of nothing. He doesn't really know what Little Tony is planning, but he did overhear some of his guys talking about the fact that Tony wasn't going to let Kate get away with bringing him down.

Later that night, at the precinct, Angel shows up to let her know she's in danger. Kate, however, is apologetic for being so harsh the other night. And she asks him if he'd accompany her to her father's retirement party. She wants the support. Angel wants to keep her safe so he agrees. He tries to warn Kate about Little Tony, but she's oddly unaffected. She even expresses concern over the amount of rage Papasian must feel to go after her like that. Needless to say, Angel is perplexed.

In a mysterious mansion somewhere, meanwhile, Lloyd is confronting Papasian's smarmy lawyer. Turns out Wolfram & Hart have gone to great expense to hire this... man... to solve LT's problem with Kate and the police. Lloyd, who has a living room not-so-conventionally decorated with an alter, promises that by tomorrow, they'll have their results. Incredible results.

At the Blue Bar, Sgt. Lockley's retirement party is in full swing. Kate arrives with Angel in tow, and she's nervous. Angel's mind is on protecting her from Little Tony's people, but Kate is more worried about making her speech. Angel tells her to picture her audience naked, and Kate, quickly glancing Angel up and down, tells him she's way ahead of him.

When Kate takes Angel to meet her dad, he's as gruff as ever. He doesn't seem to think his retirement is much of an accomplishment. Kate asks him why he pretends important things don't matter, but her father ignores her and asks Angel how long he's been seeing Kate. Angel and Kate both tell him they've just met and are only friends. No matter, dad tells them, he's just happy to see Kate with a guy. He was starting to think she "leaned in another direction all together." No one really knows what to say to that.

Thankfully, Kate is called upon to make her speech. She begins fine, calling this an "end of an era" and saying that her father might like to pretend that it doesn't matter, but she knows different. However, her speech quickly deteriorates into something much more personal, much more painful, as she takes her father to task for forgetting over the years how to be anything but a cop (which is probably why she became a cop, too). She talks about how after her mother died, he shut down and shut Kate out, in part because she reminded him of her mother. He never offered comfort to the little girl who had lost her mother. Kate breaks into tears as she tells him how much she's longed for his friendship or fatherly pride over the years. How she's wished he'd treat her like he does the rest of the boys, even. Angel looks on in discomfort as Kate's dad wonders what they did to her in that sensitivity class. And Kate remembers how she always wished that one of her friend's mother was her own because at least she showed her love and comfort. Her father, she says, has never once told her she's pretty.

As Kate breaks down, the officers around her join in, egging her on, arguing over what she's said. Their emotions come pouring out and several fights break out. Angel grabs Kate and drags her out, leaving the officers fighting and sobbing behind them.

At the office, Cordelia arrives none to happy that she's been dragged into the office late at night. She discovers Doyle and Angel -- and a loopy Kate. Cordelia assumes she's drunk, but Doyle and Angel fill her in on the fact that the sensitivity training has done something to her. Kate diagnoses Angel's intense eyes, which she thinks belie and old soul. She's not wrong. And she tells Cordy that Doyle's got a crush on her. She tries to tell Cordelia to be open to new possibilities -- and idea Doyle thinks sounds good -- but Cordy isn't having any of it. Angel, thankfully, interrupts. Using the memo Kate had received, he's found an address for the sensitivity consultant. He's going to check it out and tells Doyle and Cordy to keep an eye on Kate, whose emotions are running rampant.

At Lloyd's home/office/place of worship, Angel walks right in (Hmmm.....) and finds the alter. He starts to pick up the "talking stick" but is stopped when Allen catches him.

Meanwhile, Kate decides she has to go find her daddy to talk things out. When Cordelia and Doyle try to stop her, she pulls a gun on them, apologizing but threatening to shoot them if they get in her way. They don't.

Angel and Allen are having a little chat. Allen tries to analyze Angel, even as Angel is threatening him. As Allen asks Angel what his parents were like, he grabs the talking stick and smacks Angel in the head with it. "My parent's were great," Angel says as he vamps out and fights back. "Tasted a lot like chicken." Clearly, Allen wasn't expecting a vampire. Angel wrests the stick away from Allen and smashes him up against the wall, choking the guy with the stick as he tells him "Why don't you talk."

At the precinct, it's mayhem mayhem mayhem as the officers are fighting with each other. One guy goes to lock-up, complaining that it's just not right to lock the poor guys up. He opens all the cells -- including Papasian's -- and then gets trampled for this troubles.

Kate arrives in search of her father to find officers in tears and perps looking very confused. In the street's one officer refuses to listen to the troubles of two auto accident victims, instead filling them in on his own problems. And as Angel runs toward the precinct, he passes another cop telling a woman that she's just not considering her mugger's feelings either.

Angel arrives at the precinct to find Doyle and Cordy, who followed Kate there. They fill him in on how bad things have gotten. "Okay," Angel responds, "I think someone needs a hug." And our bad-ass vampire hero pulls his pals into a loving embrace.

~*~*~*~

As a result of his fight with Lloyd, Angel has become "Mr. Sensitivity," and Cordelia is learning that she needs to be more careful what she wishes for. He tells them that Lloyd talked after he was forced to resort to violence -- that the talking stick was cursed and Wolfram & Hart had hired him to help so that Little Tony could kill Kate himself. He tells them the "whammie" will wear off. Soon, Cordy hopes. Cordy and Doyle try to convince Angel that now is not the time, and he needs to go all vampy and help Kate. He refuses, though. He thinks they judge him when he vamps out, and being close to them is more important to him right now. Frustrated, Doyle tries to get into the precinct himself, but the cops have closed it. They're tired of helping an ungrateful society.

Inside, cops are apologizing to various escaped prisoners for the way they've treated them. One even recites a poem he's written for the occasion. Kate's friend berates her for ignoring his desire for her and rejecting him. And Little Tony is gathering some thugs and arming himself so he can find Kate and take her out.

Behind the precinct, Angel is arguing as Cordy and Doyle attempt to break in through a back window. He doesn't think this is right. It's the only way in, they tell him. And after Doyle fails a couple of times, Cordy nails the window and the gang climbs in.

Once in, Angel says they should leave a note for their vandalism. Cordy and Doyle are losing patience and tell him to just leave it, but Angel insists on consideracy from his coworkers. He wants "the magic word." Cordy's had it but manages in her anger to say "Oh, please!" -- which appeases Angel and they move on.

Little Tony finally finds Kate in the squad room and holds a gun on her. He calls her a bitch, which she argues. "I'm protected!" she yells back. Before Papasian can hurt her though, Angel and company show up. Unfortunately, Angel still isn't up to his old fighting self. "I'm feeling some serious negative energy in this room." Papasian is just as happy to see him, too.

Kate and Angel trade analytical thoughts -- the gun comes off as hostile and his body language is closed. Cordy and Doyle want him to fight, but Angel tries to get them to sit and talk. Papasian is highly amused at his handiwork. And he calls Angel a Nancy-boy. Finally that does it. Angel grabs a chair and knocks Papasian down, while Kate grabs her gun and shoots one of the thugs. Doyle and Cordy join the action, taking out another thug.

Angel and Kate take out their anger over not being heard or appreciated by Tony and his thugs. Finally, Angel takes out Tony, telling him he could "be a rainbow, and not a pain-bow" before knocking him cold. Angel and Kate exchange a sickeningly emotional hug to celebrate.

The next day, Papasian tries to get his lawyer to get him out, but Wolfram & Hart doesn't want anything more to do with him. They gave him an opening, but he used it to publically shoot up a precinct. He's a liability.... and he's on his own. Besides, they've got problems of their own to deal with. The lawyer is referring to some video footage from the precinct, on which they've captured the image of Angel.

Meanwhile, at the precinct, things are back to normal as cops barely speak to or acknowledge one another. Kate and Angel talk awkwardly about events. She tells him they're thinking the punch at the Blue Bar was spiked and are investigating. Neither says they remember much from the night before. Angel heads out, but turns when he hears Kate's father approach. He stops to listen.

Sgt. Lockley tells Kate that he got her frantic, emotional phone messages from the night before. She tries to explain, but he cuts her off. "You make idiot of yourself and embarrass me in front of the guys," he says. "Don't bring that up ever again." As far as he's concerned, it never happened. He turns and leaves a stung Kate alone at her desk. Quietly, Angel turns and heads home.

Mary Beth's Review

Well, after the heart wrenching Buffy episode that came before it, this episode was a, mostly, lighthearted romp. It didn't do a whole lot to alleviate pain, however, because I went from heartache to a bellyache from laughter. From the opening teaser when Cordy is to preoccupied to notice Doyle struggling to survive, to Angel in that awful "Herb Saunders" outfit, to the kinder, gentler vampire in the climax, this episode left me in stitches. But it was hardly all fluff and no substance. This episode provides some real insight into Kate, as we finally learn more about her and what makes her tick, and serves to strengthen the bond between our three heroes.

Characters
Obviously this episode deals mostly with Kate. The amount of attention payed to introducing her to us, in detail, signals that this character is here to stay. For a while at least. We really see how layered she is -- a tough as nails cop whose got one large wall built up around a pretty vulnerable inside. The sensitivity training gone awry really lets us see that she's been deeply affect not only by the death of her mother, but also by the lack of attention her father has shown her since then. She's doing everything she can to make him proud, and has even surpassed him on the force, making Detective to his Sargent. Does this make him proud? Hardly. Her resemblance to her mother along with her success has made him quite bitter toward her. The ending of the episode strikes a powerful chord as Kate is left alone and stunned by her father's rebuff in the face of her emotional confrontation the night before. A moment that could have been terribly cliche is instead a staggering glimpse at a painful reality. Sometimes we just can't connect with our parents -- and there's nothing we can do about it.

We also learn that Sensitive Kate is a truly intuitive person, able to sense Angel's old soul and the fact that he's keeping secrets and that Doyle has a crush on Cordelia. I really like the Kate we get a glimpse of. It's obvious that her walls aren't going to come crashing down anytime soon. But she's a strong, intelligent woman who'll be fun to get to know. And it'll be really fun to see her reality get knocked of its rocker as she gets dragged more into Angel's world.

Kate's not the only one who's vulnerabilities are exposed as a result of the whammie. Angel, whose sappiness is mostly played for laughs, does reveal a still burning resentment for his parents and a real need not to alienate the people he's come to care about.

Cordelia and Doyle really serve as peripheral characters in this one. Aside from Cordelia's insistence that Angel start paying her more respect.... which just isn't anything new for Cordy.

Relationships
Cordelia still seems quite averse to -- though not entirely unaware of -- Doyle's attraction to her. And Doyle is still acting the puppy dog.

Kate and Angel show a growing friendship. She seems a bit more open to getting to know him -- at least in her more sensitive state -- while he's still all business.

The Lockley's have one of the chilliest father/daughter relationships I've ever seen.

Continuity
Cordelia's mother calls. So, her parents are out there somewhere. And aware of her whereabouts.

Everyone's secrets are still intact, although Cordy needs to learn to look before she speaks. She almost blows Angel's vampiness to Kate at the office.

Best Moments
* The SportsNight like moment between Angel and Doyle when they decide that "Papasian's up to something."

* Kate calling Doyle on his crush in front of Cordelia, as well as her "you have an old soul" comment to Angel.

* Angel as Mr. Sensitivity. Don't anyone ever tell me David doesn't have range. The looks on his face when he's "emoting" are priceless. The group hug, and Cordelia's baffling (to me) "Ew!" was perfect.

* "My parents were great. Tasted a lot like chicken."

* Angel in that god awful outfit. Not really a "best," but definitely one I'll never forget! (I can only hope he burns that hat....)

* "You can be a rainbow. Nota painbow." *SNORT*

Rating
A fun, funny episode. Some may not like the focus on Kate, but I welcomed the chance to get to know her better. And the kinder, gentler Angel is worth a high rating alone. 4 giggles out of 5.

SunSpeak

"Oh my gosh! Dianne! It's the Shillelagh of Death, cleverly disguised as a talking stick!"
"Oh, God, it wasn't just me! We spent the evening shouting at the television, 'Get your gooky emotions off my/her Shillelagh!!!'" -- Deb & Lizbet

"Happily, almost this entire episodes takes place in the dark. So that leaves me free to wonder - once again, Angel wanders into a place of habitation uninvited. OK, so what was the exception this time - they guy hadn't been there long enough to 'imprint' it so to speak? It was a big house and he's just one guy so he hadn't finished "imprinting" it?"
"This bugs me too. All I can think of is that the guy didn't actually live there--Angel found it from the letterhead, right? So it's probably just his office. Another possibility is that he was a demon, and we just never saw him...um..."go deem"?" -- Deb & Val

"Angel should never appear in that get up ever again. I practically spewed soda all over my couch. I will see Herb Saunders from Baltimore in my nightmares."
"I recognize Angel from his shoes and in really bad Hawaiian shirts. I need to have my head examined (to see if the brain is still there)." -- Deb & Lizbet

"Don't you just love how Angel just *drops* himself into roles like this? His whole body language changes. It's so coooool... oh, quit it with the butterfly nets, OK? I'll stop being drool fangirl...
OK. I actually have an insightful character comment to make: He pretty much loves being anyone but himself. He's an inveterate actor. Anytime he can play the role of someone else (drunk boy at bar, grieving powerful husband, color-blind tourist) he does." -- Lizbet

"Someone just posted a fabulous theory to the board about how Angel was probably mistreated -- not abused but... kept down and turned from a sensitive artist guy into a drunken layabout -- by his family, and dad in particular. How the demon then took advantage of the thing that Angel had kept most repressed as a person -- hatred for his family and all families -- so that he killed them, and Dru's... and went after Buffy's.. and others -- the guy who found his kids laid out, the maid and her child. And then in this episode as soon as the guy brought up the parents, Angel vamped and pounded the heck out of him. It's a theory anyway... and interesting. And cool. And not mine. Darnit. :-)" -- MB wishing she had thought of that.

"OK, David once again has me howling. 'Mr. Sensitive' was brilliant. When he refused to vamp out because 'closeness is too important to me right now,' I think I actually stopped breathing. I may not have resumed normal intake of breath until after 'You!' 'No, you.' Even then I was feeling a bit light-headed." -- Deb

"I knew I loved Doyle. He's the kind of guy who notices new shoes."
"Especially when they're on the feet of someone he has crushies for.... Think he'd notice Kate's new shoes? Nope." -- Deb & MB

"Tim Minear. He's cool." --MB

"By the end of Wild at Heart, I didn't think anything could make me stop crying. This episode was so beautifully and brutally painful. Alyson and Seth were amazing in this episode, and when Oz nearly lost it in the van, I stopped breathing. This episode hurt...REALLY HURT.
Then, Mr. Sensitive shows up, and a laughed myself silly through Angel. I almost didn't recognize Angel in disguise. I just couldn't believe he was wearing that shirt or that hat. Too funny. Now, someone burn them please. :)"-- Leslie

"Am I the only one who got to the 'There's always time to be courteous...' bit and finally had it click? Angel's become Benton Fraser!"
" Who knew? Under that angsty-vamp exterior, there beats the heart of a Mountie. < ggg >"
"Thank you. I now have the image of David Boreanaz in a red Mountie suit. I didn't need that. I'm going to go play in traffic now. Bye!" -- Dianne, Mo, & Lizbet