Dianne's Synopsis

We open on an evening party -- it's Cordelia's apartment and the place is rockin'. Wesley's in attendance and... um... 'dancing' (read: attempting geeky spasms to music). Angel is also present, standing uncomfortably by the snack table, where Wesley eventually joins him. To Wesley's credit, he's giving all his effort to enjoying the party (with fairly disastrous results). To Angel's credit, he's not embarrassing anyone, including himself (although the few seconds he spends considering a request to dance -- complete with his own projection of how he would look doing so -- is priceless). Bored and uncomfortable, Angel retreats to the kitchen, when Phantom Dennis offers him a chair and a beer, and we have a few sweet moments of dead guy bonding. :)

Cut to a watchman/goon at a cold-storage warehouse, also bored and having a beer. Until he hears a loud strange groaning noise coming from the large box he's keeping an eye on, which is labeled "Danger: Hazardous Materials -- Don't Open, You Moron!" (o.k., I elaborate a little ;). So, of course, he immediately grabs a crowbar and opens the box. As light and dry ice fumes radiate from the box onto the shocked look on his face, he mutters, "Oh, my God!"....and we cut to credits.

***

We're back and it's the next morning. Cordelia rags Angel for being such a downer at the party. Wesley, for his part, congratulates Cordy on her success... and starts subtly scrounging for leftovers. Angel realizes Wesley's out of cash and offers him a job. As soon as Cordelia establishes that it won't mean a paycut for her, she's happy they'll be a real team. Wesley, for his part, is embarrassingly overcome with gratitude. Cordelia -- oddly -- seems to be following suit when it quickly becomes evident that her request of "Hold me!" is not sentimental, but practical... as she collapses under another mind-wrenching vision.

We see with her in Doyle-o-vision the warehouse guy as he starts screaming and his whole head begins to _melt_. (I'm with Cordy: *Ick!* :p) The guys leave her to recover and head for the Jericho Ice Factory in a severely-tinted-window sedan. Angel leaves Wesley behind the wheel and goes in to investigate, finding a lot of broken glass and the charred corpse. He also finds the box, open but empty of anything save a hefty load of ice cubes. Hearing a noise, he catches a mildly demon-esque guy, who admits both to the name Tay and to being from another dimension. When he sees burns on Tay's arm, Angel realizes that he's not responsible for the crispy corpse in the next room. Tay claims to be in our dimension hunting 'the bringer of chaos, a vessel of pure rage' that has nearly destroyed his world and is now loose in ours. Angel lets him leave as Tay warns that the creature he hunts is too dangerous for one man to fight alone.

Back at the office, this is all discussed. (Wesley seems fairly blase about dimensional portals, but I have to admit to being with Cordy again: "There are *portals* now? When did they put in portals?") The victim turns out to have been private security, so Angel heads out to check out his office and see who hired him. (He accomplishes said breaking-and-entering via cool Bat/Spidey Tools that having him walking up walls. I *want* his toys!) He's finding little more than a wad of twenties and a shipping order for the warehouse, when he's suddenly thrown across the room, his arm smoking. In the doorway stands a very stern looking young Asian woman with a face tattoo.

***

Revealing-leather Anime Chick accuses Angel of working 'for them', asking how much they pay him 'to hunt us down'. Angel insists he's working alone and looking for the murderer. She throws him on his ass across the room, then pauses to take a call on her cell phone. (As she heads down the alley to her car, we get a better look at her outfit and realizes that she's apparently also fond of latex and faux-fur.) Angel follows in his car, having to fight with his own recalcitrant cell-phone before he can contact Cordy and Wesley at the office. She informs him that there have been four similar deaths in the past year -- all guys, all charred 'from the inside out'. Before the cell phone cuts out entirely, Angel describes Anime Chick to them and tells them to find Tay and get more info from him.

She leads Angel into an art gallery, and promptly sics the helpful security guard on her 'stalker'. Angel finally has to pose as an impromptu docent to avoid being stopped by them; as Anime Chick ducks into a back storeroom. Angel completes his quick lecture on a work by Manet (with commentary that sounds suspiciously like a first-hand account), while back at the office Wesley discovers a reference citation on the demons: The women of the Oden Tal live enslaved to the men, fierce warriors who eat half their weight in rotting vegetation each day. Back in the gallery storeroom, Angel has caught up with Anime Chick, who recognizes him as a vampire, but warns him off. Before she can convince him to go, a dimensional portal opens right in front of them, dropping a naked young woman (well, 'demon') into her arms. As she again tries to get Angel to leave, Tay and a group of his friends arrive, insisting on taking 'the traitor' back. Between Angel's fighting and Anime Chick's ability to effortlessly throw guys across the room, they manage to escape, but the new arrival is captured and whisked away. When Angel asks what will happen to her, Anime Chick tells him "she will be unmade".

Meanwhile the captive is dragged through a floral warehouse, begging and pleading for mercy. Tay ignores her and makes a point of referring to his captive as "It". The others help hold her as a wicked looking surgical/torture device is applied to the back of her neck. They assure her that she will feel 'so much better' after this. We go to commercial as she screams.

***

Back in the loft, Anime Chick and Angel are having lots of meaningful tension. She finally gives us some information: the girl was a runaway, and she was aiding her escape from their homeland. Apparently all personality and passion in these demons sits in the spiny ridge at the nape of the neck. When the women reach maturity, this is cut in order to keep them mindless and docile. Her name is Jhiera, she is a princess of Oden Tal, and she was the first to escape. Although her family claims she's dead, the women apparently pass word among themselves about her underground railroad.

When they first arrive in our dimension, however, they are fevered and overwhelmed by hormones. Jhiera discovered that keeping them on ice -- literally -- for a few months gave them time to learn to control their powers. The guard's death was an accident, as were the deaths of the other four men. Jhiera argues that if a few men die by accident during the course of her crusade, it is outweighed by the good she is doing for the women of her world. Angel objects in the name of the men being killed in his world. During the course of this whole discussion they're busy working up serious sexual tension, which comes to a climax as she storms out of the apartment.

Wesley and Cordelia have found the flower mart and are heading for the compost heap when they overhear Tay giving orders to his buddies about returning "It" through the portal. The newly de-backboned woman is vacantly happy to comply. Meanwhile Jhiera shows up at a desert spa, where the new-age-y manager is keeping several of her scantily-clad runaways on ice (again, literally). She announces they will have to be moved before Tay and his group catch up with her, and the guy offers to take them all to his shaman's place.

At the flower mart, Wesley and Cordelia are unable to raise Angel on the cell phone and are about to leave when they overhear a messenger arrive with news for Tay -- he's just tracked a two-ton-per-week standing ice shipment to a certain spa. Rushing back to base, Cordelia and Wesley find Angel just getting out of the (presumably cold) shower. They relate their news, Angel puts it together with the warehouse invoice he found at the first victim's office for an address to the spa, and the team heads out.

***

It's night when they arrive at the spa. Angel leaves the other two with the car to give warning when the demons arrive, and bullies the manager into letting him see Jhiera. As Angel comes in the room to tell her the demons are coming that night, Cordelia and Wesley arrive on his heels to announce that they are already there. The manager is sent to stall, Cordelia and Wesley are assigned to help the refugees out, and Angel and Jhiera wait to face off with the bad guys. Big Fight ensues (mostly in the dark), meanwhile Wesley is ridiculously unable to keep from trying to hit on each of the barely-clad beauties he's attempting to rescue. Cordelia manages to keep him from frying himself and they get the girls into ice-filled boxes like the one in the teaser.

Once that's done they return to help with the fight... just in time to be taken as hostages. Tay insists on getting Jhiera and the runaways, or Wesley and Cordelia die. Jhiera shrugs them off as casualties of war and leaves, disconcerting the captors enough that our team is actually able to rescue themselves. Jhiera meanwhile is jumped outside by Tay and a goon and is within seconds of being 'unmade' when Angel comes to the rescue, grabs Tay in a headlock, and forces the goon to let Jhiera go. She drives off in the truck with the refugees' boxes in back, while Angel warns Tay off his turf.

The next morning Wesley shows up, raising groveling to an art form as he begs not to be fired for his incompetence in the fight. Angel reassures him just as Jhiera arrives, and they go back to Angel's office for a chat. She assures him the refugees are safe, and he calls her on leaving Wesley and Cordelia to die -- as a self-proclaimed protector of the innocent she should have protected them as well. She isn't convinced. Angel supports her fight, but also promises to be there when she crosses the line again. They leave it at a stalemate, and she walks off, her neck ridge glowing with sexual tension.

Lizbet's Review

The biggest saving grace in the episode is that everyone played it straight. If even one of them had smirked at what they were being asked to play, it would have been so much worse than it already was. Kudos, especially, to Charisma and David, who had the lion's share of straightfaces in this episode. Alas, Alexis got the shortshrift again. (OK, excuse me, but who on the Angel writing staff thought it was a *good* idea to make Wesley look stupider than normal? Did we even want to *imagine* stupider-than-normal Wesley?)

Bai Ling, more than anyone, had to play straight with this, and Jhiera had to be totally devoted to the rescue of her sisteren (what's the feminine of brethern?), and she did and she was. Many (many, many) people have pointed out to me that she turned in a fantastic performance with shoddy material. I present their opinion because I think it needs to be in the review, but for me, I couldn't tell half of what she was saying, so I can't judge her acting skills. The breathy tone of voice obliterated most of what she was saying, and so I was left with Angel reacting off of lines I couldn't hear.

And as for Jhiera, let's review, shall we?

• She has magical powers
• She comes from a "mysterious place"
• In that "mysterious place" she is a princess
• As soon as she shows up, the hero is strangely attracted to her

  And, the clincher:

• She has odd-colored eyes (if these turn out to be a plot point, it will be just belaboring the obvious)

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Mary Sue. Or, rather, the characteristics that make Mary Sues annoying. It isn't the fact that the writer is inserting herself (or himself, there are Bobby Stu's in the world) that makes a Mary Sue annoying. (Particularly in this case, since I don't believe Jhiera is supposed to *be* anyone on the writing staff... unless Jane Eperson has some interesting fantasies... *g*) It is the insistance that this character be instantly regarded as seriously cool. Oz is probably the best example of a character that was left alone to grow properly (plenty of water and a little sunlight and...). Kate's growth was a little accelerated, but still, we saw her a few times before we got serious information on her. Since Jhiera is reputed to be a recurring character, David G. et al would have been better served letting her be the "mystery woman" for awhile, making us *want* to know what was up with her. Ahem. I will climb off my soapbox now.

Continuity:
Wesley is broke and in desperate need of a job, Angel gives him one. Nothing appreciably changes except for the color of Wesley's nose.

Cordy is still having visions on a regular basis. She seems to work through them faster than Doyle did.

Dennis (thank you Dennis!) is still in Cordy's apartment. He's hanging out in the kitchen while she has her party.

Kate is apparently cataloging the Evidence Room at the LAPD for all we've seen of her.

Relationships:
There has been no hint of a resumption of Cordy's, ah, appreciation of Wesley, nor his drooling over her. Thank you, God.

Angel has been sufficiently brought out into dealing with the world that he'll actually attend Cordelia's parties and *notice* that Wesley needs a job.

The best bonding moment, however, is definitely between the two dead guys: Angel and Dennis. Love you, Dennis!

Best moments:
Angel's fugue state into wondering what his dancing style would be like. As out-of-place as it seemed in the episode, it fooled you into thinking that Angel would make a fool of himself in public, and then snapped back to, "I don't dance."

Cordelia's quiet, bitter, "Thank you, Doyle," after one of the visions. She loved him, or was beginning to love him, and not only did his hero-suicide end that, it left her in a position she does not want to deal with. (He's not dead, damnit.)

Angel's "I have two modes: bite and avoid." ROTFL!

Questions and Comments:
I'll restrain myself to, why make this episode to begin with, and why make Wesley the stupid prat-falling idiot?

Rating: I am congenitally incapable of giving any production of Mutant Enemy one star. So therefore She gets two out of five stars, one each for David Boreanez not reducing himself to smirking at the world, and Charisma Carpenter, for standing as far away from the plot as she could and giving us a few shining moments of fresh air. Am I mad? You bet.

SunSpeak

"Except for the goofy grin, Angel's imaginary dancing was actually quite good, if a little overly for a living-room setting. At least he didn't trip over his own *($&*% feet. *grump*" -- Val

"Jira: utterly, incredibly awesome. And has definite lessons to learn. Nice playing of the freedom fighter/refugee mentality. Absolutely, positively must be seen again." --Val

"Angel and Wesley dancing can now be counted among the funniest moments of both series. Damn I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when that happened. And I had been prepared for the credit montage, but still was left gasping for air by the end. Thank goodness the WB did something right for once." --MB

"Liked seeing Angel still being bad at the socializing. And LOVED the Dennis moment. Phantom Dennis rocks. I want more Phantom Dennis. He should get a regular role and a credit shot -- which would be a blank screen of course. . . . Hee!" --MB

"Wesley. . . . was goofy. And pathetic. I like him and even I was annoyed. This is not the way to win fans and influence people. *sigh*"

"Angel. In the museum. Awesome scene -- I like history guy a lot. He can make even the simplest things seem fascinating and sexy. And I definitely got the feeling that he was the vampire referred to in the poem." --MB

"Jhiera -- I don't know what to think of her. She was kind of cheesy and kind of a good mix of vulnerable/tough. But . . . .also . . . Bai Ling mumbled and all the breathy "sexual tension" just got on my nerves. She was not nearly as horrible as I expected her to be. I didn't hate her with a white hot passion, but I also don't particularly care if she ever shows up on the show again." -- MB

"I get the feeling they were trying to say something deep and introspective about female genital mutilation and when we can dictate what another culture should and shouldn't do. But it felt kind of sloppy and rushed. I commend them for trying, but wish they'd done a better job of it." --MB

"Angel. The least said the better. Sorry to people who liked it, but I was actually fast-forwarding through some sections. :(" -- Dawn

"Wasn't paying as close attention to this, partly because I had to keep muting it to stop myself from screaming about Wesley. I can't--- I really can't --- pin down why he ignites this reaction in me. I just can't stand him sometimes. I wince, I cringe, I mute. But the setup with his whiter-than-white-boy dancing was *wonderful* when they had that little bit of Angel imagining what would happen if he danced. Too, too funny." --Kiki

"I should also say that any time Cordy was dealing with Wesley, I could stand him better. Perhaps because she was saying exactly what I was thinking, and not hitting him, as I would be forced to. :>"--Kiki

"Liked Bai Ling --- and this wasn't as weird and outer-space as the teasers made it sound. I hope they bring her back, but I might be the only one. :> She's really got to work on that moral sense, or rather, the total lack of it --- but she did seem to respond at least a little to Cordy's cut at her." -- Kiki

"The plot, of course, is a flinch-inducer--- women being lobotomized for the safety of their men. Gahhhh. Get me outta here *now*." -- Kiki