The Trial

Teleplay by Douglas Petrie and Tim Minear
Story by David Greenwalt
Directed byBruce Seth Green

Dianne's Synopsis | Lizbet's Review | SunSpeak

We open in the hotel office one night. Cordelia and Wesley are concerned about Angel -- he's been in the basement for a long time, and there's some weird "chukka-chukka" noise coming from down there. 

The debate on whether to check on him quickly segues into a litany from Cordelia on Angel's recent anti-social behavior: he barely speaks, he shares nothing, and his obsession with Darla continues to grow. Wesley's apparently been no help in the "talk to him man-to-man" department, but the building argument is interrupted when they realize the noise has stopped and they can hear Angel's tread on the stairs.

Scurrying back into nonchalant positions by the front desk, they nearly miss Angel coming up with a load of freshly laundered clothes in his arms. He's in a supiciously calm and reasonable mood: apologizing for the trouble he's put them through with Darla and explaining that he now realizes that all he can do now is be there for her if and when she wants help.

This moment of surreal rationality on his part is shattered by Gunn returning to Angel with a report on Darla's current whereabouts. [Cordelia: "You lied to us!' - Angel (without bothering to look up from the surveilance photos Gunn's handed him): "Yes, I did.... I figured you'd nag."] Cordelia is firm, she and Wesley will not enable him in his addiction, but before she finishes, Angel and Gunn are out the door without them (and obviously not missing them).

Darla's at a skid row motel. Sitting in front of the dressing mirror, she takes off the cross she's wearing and starts applying bright lipstick. But one look at it and she wipes it off with a tissue and a disgusted look. She hears the door being shoved open, sees no one in the mirror, and turns with an expectant look on her face... but it is Lindsey, standing just out of range and shoving cash in the fist of the seedy-looking hotel manager.

***
[credits]
***

Darla is in Lindsey's office, with a security guard at the door. Lindsey insists that she's not a prisoner, as does Holland as he walks into the room. She expects them to point her at Angel again, but Holland insists they are only concerned about their "moral responsibility" toward her.

He hands her a file folder, mentioning that the contents were 'initiated' in the first few weeks after she was brought back, a time she doesn't clearly remember. She is disturbed by what she sees within, and asks Lindsey if he knew about "this". He doesn't answer, and Holland promises that W&H will deal with "the situation" as she sees fit... he just thought she should know.

Back at the hotel, Angel and Gunn arrive to find her room empty, but Angel can smell that she was there recently. When he walks right in and startles Gunn, he clears up a bit of Buffyverse trivia for us by pointing out that it's a "motel, public accommodation; she doesn't live here". Gunn finds the cross and suggests she was expecting Angel. They're both unimpressed with her new digs, but Angel points out that, when you're desperate, you do what you have to....

...Flashback, France 1765
Angelus and Darla are riding double on horseback in the dark of night and duck into a stable. Apparently a lynch mob is after them. Darla points out that the horse is exhausted and suggests they rest, but Angelus is annoyed ["I hate the French. ...At least in Romania they know how to treat a creature of the night!"].

They appear to have lost their pursuers -- led by an apparently skilled vampire hunter named Holtz -- and Darla is ready to take full advantage of the forced stop for a little roll in the hay. Liam is ready and willing, but they are interrupted by a flaming arrow that lodges itself in the wall above his head.

...Back to the present
Darla is in a bar, trying desperately to act impressed by her companion -- quite possibly the geekiest member of the undead we've yet met. [Think David Nesbit, only with less intelligence, less social skill, less _clue_, no redeeming features, and a permanent case of vamp face. :-p]

Although quite obviously she'd rather stake him and put the world out of it's misery (and who wouldn't?), she manages to keep playing up to him, trying to talk him into (re-)vamping her. She's obviously desperate, and manages to match each increasingly lame and/or insulting (and always clueless) response from him ["So, what? I 'make' you... and then you'd be, like, my immortal babe? ... wait, that sounds like _committment_..."] with a calm, sincere counter.

Finally she talks him into going to the alley out back, and wastes no time getting him out there... at which point it becomes evident she'll have to talk him through it step-by step. Just as he's going for her neck, he evaporates in a surprised cloud of dust. [Hooray!] It's Angel, and Darla does _not_ appreciate the last minute 'rescue'.

Angel tries to talk her out of this plan by pointing out that if she succeeds, he'll have to stake her. (Again.) He seriously questions her choice of sire, and Darla points out that she had _wanted_ to have him do it for her. He tries to convinve her to give her new mortality a chance... then she drops the bombshell on him. She's dying. The medical reports all agree, she has 2-3 months at the most left. She walks off, leaving Angel stunned.

***

Back to the flashback...
The stable is surrounded by shouting men on horseback, all with more torches. Darla is almost in shock, insisting that she can't die like this. A quick assessment concludes that the only place to escape to would be the hills to the south, but that they'd never make it on foot before sunrise, and the horse is too exhausted to carry them both so far. 

Angelus is barring windows and announcing that, between the two of them, they can take enough of the hunters down as they die to leave a serious name for themselves. But behind his back Darla is eyeing the horse. She decks Angelus, jumps on the horse, wishes him success, and rides off alone into the night.

Back to the present...
Angel arrives back at the offices with Darla in tow, convinced that W&H are playing some mind game on her. Darla and Wesley both agree that it makes no sense, but Angel is clearly unwilling to accept her death sentence... especially from W&H. Cordy's openly less-than-thrilled to have her there, but agrees with Wesley to watch her while Angel goes out to investigate. [Angel assures Darla she's not a prisoner, then leaves. Wesley and Cordelia immediately disabuse her of _that_ notion and promise to hit her "on the head"... "with very large and heavy objects" if she tries to escape.

Lindsey, meanwhile, is at home, drinking, when Angel breaks down his door. Before Angel can even finish the "Even if I can't come in..." speech, Lindsey's invited him in-- throwing Angel not a little. Angel responds by throttling Lindsey for a moment -- just on general principle. But Lindsey's free with the info: yes, Darla is indeed dying. He hands Angel a stack of second opinions representing every W&H string he could pull -- and including one from Lindsey's own doctor -- they all agree: a terminal syphallitic heart condition. Apparently Darla was dying from this occupational hazard when she was human, and basically picked up again where she left off when she was 'reincarnated'.

A disease that could be cured fairly easily today, if caught in time, has by now progressed too far to be treated at all. When Angel wants to know why Lindsey went to all this trouble, Lindsey admits that he doesn't want Darla to die either. When Angel taunts him for that -- pointing out their 150-year history -- Lindsey calmly points out that Angel/us never loved her. Linsey points out that he would save Darla if he could, while Angel can, but will not. Angel points out that if he turned Darla, she'd more likely kill Lindsey than love him. Insisting there must be another way, Angel storms out.

Back at the hotel, Cordelia and Wesley are still not thrilled to be babysitting Darla, but they break off when Angel walks in. Obviously, his news is not good. He goes to talk to Darla. She's ready to give it up as a lost cause, unless he will vamp her. He keeps blindly insisting that there must be another way. When she admits to not being sure what she wants, he has a plan to help....

...at the bar, Darla is on stage singing something bluesy ("Ill Wind"?) while Angel is talking to the Host. Host tries to point out to him that some things can't be fixed -- after all, Darla had 400+ years, which is more than most get. Angel, however, insists that vampiric years don't count, and that -- as a human -- she never had a real chance to live.

The Host agrees to help, by sending Angel on "a bit of a quest; you'll probably die." Angel, unsurprisingly, is game to "take the plunge."

Turns out that the Host meant that literally, as Angel and Darla show up at an empty swimming pool. Darla is supicious and tells Angel not to do it, but Angel, being in full hero mode by now, dives off into concrete...

... and lands in an underground room, where he is met by a proper British butler who explains the rules: There are three trials. If he completes them all, Darla will "be made whole". But she is also his collateral -- should he fail, she will die instantly.

***

The Butler insists on taking Angel's shoes and shirt [leaving many happy fans with the prospect of endless, completely gratuitous shirtless action scenes ;-], and disappears... but not before admitting he knows nothing about the second and third tests, simply because no one's ever survived the first.

A grate lifts up and through the doorway appears a cranky-looking well-armed demon. Angel starts fighting for all he's worth.

Meanwhile, in another room, the Butler is refusing Darla's insistance that the trials be stopped. When she at least demands to see what is going on, he agrees and touches her forehead. Immediately she gets glimpses of...

...Angel getting pretty badly pummeled by the demon. But with a couple of clever moves, Angel manages to slice the demon right in half.

But the grate doesn't open for him... and then we watch the demon's torso crawl back towards its legs... and reassemble itself.

They fight again, Angel manages to slice it again, and then takes the chains it was using to wail on him, and uses them to fasten the two demon halves to opposite sides of the room. The grate opens and Angel walks through.

Darla accuses The Butler of getting off on causing torment, but he maintains he is completely impartial.

Meanwhile the grate closes behind Angel, and a skylight opens to reveal the hallway he is facing is tiled with crosses. They cover the walls, the floor, everything. Angel takes a deep breath and starts running for the door at the far end, burning at every step (and worse when he falls). He makes it, but the door at the far end is locked. Turning back, he notices a font in the middle of the hallway and runs back to it. Sure enough, the key is at the bottom of a basin of holy water. Searing his arm badly, he manages to grab it, make it back to the door, open the lock, and get out.

One more to go: As Angel walks down the hallway, chains snake out of the walls and grab him by wrists and ankles. The Butler appears, complimenting Angel on his performance and introducing the final test: a wall of sharpened stakes being cranked back into position in front of Angel.

Death itself is the final challenge, reports The Butler. One life must be exchanged for another, so for Darla to live, Angel must die.

***

Angel makes sure of the bargain: his life for Darla's. In the next room, where she is watching, Darla urges him to walk away. The Butler kindly tries to talk him out of it: after all, Angel can save so many people, while Darla may stumble herself almost immediately. But Angel insists that he will make the trade.

The Butler pulls the lever. The wall explodes, launching countless stakes at Angel. Darla screams....

And then Angel is dressed and whole and in the room with her. Turns out that it was the willingness to sacrifice himself -- not the actual sacrifice -- that was the final trial. Angel has now passed and Darla will be made whole.

The Butler steps forward and places his hands on Darla's head for a moment... then steps back in suprise. He's discomfitted himself as he explains that Darla has already been supernaturally brought back to life once before... and therefore she is already living the "second chance" Angel was fighting for. He seems genuinely sorry, but can do nothing, and (wisely) vanishes.

Angel then proceeds to take out his frustration and anger on every breakable thing in the room, then pounds his fist into the stone wall a dozen or so times before collapsing in despair.

Back at Darla's skid row motel room, both of them are sitting in the dark. Angel is grasping at straws, going so far as to throrize that, with his soul intact, maybe he can vamp her without turning her evil.... But Darla tells him to stop. She has seen how he feels, and how he cares for her more than anyone ever has... and that's enough for her. She finally convinces him to accept that this is how things are going to be. He promises to stay with her for every minute she has left, and that obviously is all she needs....

... when Lindsey breaks in with goons and a stun gun. The goons grab both Darla and Angel and hold them... while Drusilla wafts in the door. Lindsey has fetched her to re-vamp Darla, and, ignoring Darla's struggles, that's exactly what she does -- holding eye-contact with a helpless Angel the whole time.

***

Lizbet's Review

When this episode first aired, I was right in the middle of moving, mis-programmed my VCR, and missed it. Thanks to the joy and wonder of Perri (and the US Postal Service) I got to see it before the next rerun season came around. But I was not in on the initial freak, and thus managed to entertain vast amounts of SunS who gloried in tormenting me with What Was In Store.

And wow, were they right. When an episode picks you up and drops you on your head three, four, five times, you expect the unconsciousness to last longer. But no, we kept getting shots of adrenaline to counter the blows to the head, and so we remained awake, in torment and really, really freaked. And I think I'll drop the blows-to-the-head analogy before everyone gets scared and stops reading this review.

Characters: Say it with me now: who would have ever considered that they would ever feel bad for Darla? Even in her current mortal state, she's seemed to have it together. But her one hope of getting Angel to turn her again has been dashed, and everything she wanted has crumbled, bringing her back to the place she was when she was mortal; alone, selling her body to survive -- and dying of syphilis. She's not interested in a second chance at mortal life; not surprising, since her first shot wasn't exactly rosy. But what gets to her in the end is how Angel is willing to sacrifice everything for her, that she is loved, is cared for, exactly as she is. (Remember that, it will be important later, say, during Reunion.)

ANGEL!!!! *exasperated sigh* Okay, so I can totally see where he's coming from. The connections between him and Darla have always been intense and complicated. It had not been easy for him to kill her, which was evident back in the Buffy episode Angel, before we had massive amounts of backstory and before David Boreanez learned to act as well as he does now. To have Darla back, alive, enfleshed, ensouled, and in need of help, on one level is exactly, perfectly Angel's redemption in a microcosm. By making Darla "good," he can almost re-write history.

Which is the only explanation for why he would do something as risky as go through the three trials, especially the last one. Hello? Angel? Quite aside from the whole, "Can do more good as a vamp than Darla as a human, who might backslide immediately," we do have that whole End-Of-Days, warrior for the cause of good thing coming? Somebody's GOT to repair the boy's impulse control, stat.

And while we have a mechanic in, can someone check under Lindsey's hood and make sure he's still got a brain? Sweetie, you're in love with Darla... why? The heart knows no reason, yadda yadda yadda... Back in the review for To Shanshu In L.A. I wondered where Lindsey's character was going to go from here. Never in a million years would I have imagined his casual invite into his home to Angel . Which only proves that, whatever he feels for Darla, it's deeper than his hatred for the vampire that cut off his hand.

Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn exist to make snarky comments and watch Darla. Which means they're doing what they do best. *g*

Relationships: After all the various twists and turns of this episode, the only thing that can definitely be said about Angel and Darla's relationship is that they are connected, completely. Part lovers, part enemies, part savior and saved and part controller and controlled, they know each other completely.

Lindsey is in love with, or at least obsessed with, Darla. What she feels for him is unclear. She probably doesn't really feel anything about him; she's been a little over-occupied by the whole coming-back-to-life-with-a-soul-and-finding-out-you're-dying thing.

Continuity: Darla is a vampire again, now. Drusilla's in town (eeeeeek! Eeeeeek! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!) Lindsey apparently has decided he wants Darla alive -- or at least, animate -- and is willing to do anything to achieve that.

Best Moments: Angel doing his laundry, being completely sane about Darla, then dropping the act with a casual, "I lied, I'm a bad person, let's move on," when Gunn comes up with the 411. (No one can ever claim that Buffy and Angel don't have anything in common; or, it's absolutely terrifying that Angel learned how to relate to people from Buffy.)

Darla trying to, ahem, seduce the Lost Boy reject. After 400 years, to be reduced to this. *snerk*

Darla dropping the bomb; she's got three months to live. Ouch.

"Yes, but you were just souless bloodsucking demons. They're lawyers." "She's right. We were amateurs." *snicker*

"You're not a prisoner." -Angel leaves- "Let's get one thing straight: you are a prisoner."

Angel trying to intimidate Lindsey from the doorway to his home, and getting cut off with, "C'mon in." Poor boggling vampire.

" I know I'm probably going to regret this. In fact, being prescient, I'm actually sure of it...."

Angel jumping into the empty pool. They just don't let Angel have any of his dignity, do they? Not that they should...

The total, sheepish dismay that the Butler guy has when he realizes that it was all for nothing. So sad. Rather embarrassing. Much worse than if he had just been uncaring.

The whole motel room scene, as Darla gives in to her humanity -- and then promptly has it taken from her. Drusilla's entrance was... and Lindsey... and Angel just... okay, fine, months later I'm still non-verbal.

Closing credits: Drusilla -- Juliet Landau. No, really? Thanks for warning us! (Yes, I know, that was the point. No, the point is that they are evil!

Questions and Comments: So, is the Trial just for vampires? 'Cause from the crosses and holy water in the second trial and the stakes in the third, pretty much shrieks undead bloodsucking creature of the night...

Exactly how lone ranger did Lindsey go getting Drusilla to LA? And how much would I have loved to hear the conversation where they convince a powerful, insane vampire to do what they want?

Rating: Five out of five stars. Wow. Ow. Wow. Wowowowowowow.