Would this have been better than what we got? Well, we would have gotten twice as much Doyle-age -- and made it that much more painful when he died. We would have avoided the mid-season slump, when Wesley's character was dropped abruptly in and we all (OK, maybe not all, but a lot of people) wanted to strangle him.

All of this contributes to what I feel was missing in To Shanshu in LA -- there was an odd sense of a fragmented picture. All of the characters were well-written and acted, and the harrowing moments were honest and real. But I felt I wasn't making as deep an emotional connection as I could have.

Considering how deep an emotional connection I did make, losing Doyle in this episode (rather than Hero) might have just killed me. Between Cordelia's suffering, Wesley being slightly scuffed by a bomb, the death of the Oracles (yes, I miss them. The female Oracle was nicely snarky there are the end, I'll miss her) and, of course, of course Lindsey's final choice and the price he paid (lose a hand, lose a soul), one more thing might have just sent me to the funny farm. (Yes, I'm leaving something out of the list of OHMYGODS this episode produced. Hush, I'll get to that later.)

There was a nice kind of symmetry with the first Buffy season closer, Prophecy Girl. Both Angel and Buffy are told that they are going to die; indeed, that it is fated that they will die. Their reactions point up the differences between them -- Buffy denies her fate, faces it, then is saved by the friends she has made in spite of her Slayerdom. Angel seems to barely care one way or another, and while he is genuinely happy to discover that "shanshu" means that he will both live and die as a human, he is aware of the tremendous but involved -- he will be human if he survives the coming End of Days that he first heard about in I Will Remember You.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Did I mention ow? Cordelia's incredibly painful empathy session had me suffering -- pretty good for a character that I never really cared much for. Her growth and change in the past year (particularly with losing Doyle and receiving his visions) have been much more interesting to watch than I anticipated (although I share with Perri the annoyance of the fact that she and Wesley seem to race for the brain every morning in the office, 'cause only one of them can have it at a time). And this is nicely set up for more change and growth next season; having forcibly been shown how much others suffer and how much she is needed, helping people is no longer something she feels she should be doing (because it's right, because she can, because she can get Angel to pay her...) but is now something that she must be doing.

Aw. I have always been pulling for Wesley to be an enjoyable character, not the tweed-clad idiot or the Joxer-alike. While large parts of his character arc resemble Giles, something about this episode made it clear that he is fifteen or so years younger than Giles, and less brutalized by life (despite his father). The sheer glee that bubbles out of him when he realizes that the prophecy means that Angel gets to be human is a joy to watch. Say anything about Wesley that you like (and many have, and many will) give him credit: when he gives his loyalty, it is absolute. He showed that in Sanctuary, facing down the Watcher Council guys, and he shows it again here.

Quick bits with Kate are also fascinating, particularly in the tidy way they echo Angel's face-off with Buffy in LA. Kate's had a lousy year, and she's coping by blaming it all on Angel. She's not right, but it's understandable. And Angel is sick of taking all the blame from the blondes in his life, and is pushing it right back on her. Lovely. When they introduced Kate as "love interest for Angel" I was cautious but not optimistic. I've heard that Elisabeth Rohm has a series job now (what is it and where is it so I can watch it, because Elisabeth Rohm rocks) that keeps her from being a constant presence on Angel, and while I have actually gotten to the point of missing her when she's not around, I like that she only pops up now and again. I'd rather miss her than have to say, "How can I miss you when you're never gone?"

Like my esteemed co-webmistresses, when Blind Date aired, I was floored by Lindsey and Christian Kane. Bad guys reluctantly doing good things have always intrigued me (what do you think drew me to the character of Angel to begin with?) and it was a good step to put a human face on the largely faceless law office of Wolfram & Hart. After Blind Date there was endless speculation. Would Lindsey be a bad guy? A good guy? A bad guy and become a good guy? Would he feed Angel information about Wolfram & Hart from the inside? Would be pretend to still be having a crisis of conscience and feed Angel incorrect information?

After To Shanshu some of those are unlikely. I do not quibble at all with Angel's choice (or, rather, gut-level reaction) to save Cordelia at the cost of Lindsey's hand. (I'm amazed he restrained himself from killing Lindsey, although he was probably operating on, "Scroll. Fire. Hand. Separate three.") But it is going to make things veeeeeery interesting in the year(s) to come. In the character of Lindsey, I believe, we have the first true David Greenwalt character, not one either created or heavily influenced by Joss. Which means that I have no idea which way Lindsey will jump.

Oh. My. God. earpiercing scream of amazement. What? What?!?!?!?!? For all time secrets kept, Darla's appearance at the end of To Shanshu has to take the cake. Am I angry about the highhanded way that the character was summarily dropped into the show. Not yet. Right now I'm enjoying the evilness of the very thought of Darla coming back to wreak havoc on Angel's life. She has always known how to push Angel's buttons. The question remains: can we stand week after week of that breathy little-girl voice.

Rating: I think that Angel's first season suffered by losing Doyle (perhaps) faster than anticipated. However, if that is the case, this episode did a marvelous job of getting its feet under itself and carrying on. I'll give it four stars out of five, because I can only see the show getting better in its second season.

SunSpeak