Angel: Ground State

Gwen: "I don't usually enjoy the hand-to-hand this much."
Angel: "Maybe you haven't been doing it right."

The Angel Powers That Be, or what's left of them, just introduced a new love interest for Angel. Romantic sparks flew, pun intended.

I liked Miss Defibrillator-Hands; I really, really did. That whole isolated-childhood struck-by-lightning-fourteen-times Rogue freak thing was intended to make us like her, and it worked for me. Angel certainly liked her; they were tongue-locked after knowing each other for what, five minutes? She was instantly ready to jump his bones, and even showed jealousy toward the still-absent Cordelia. Let's see... if electricity shoots out of her body, wouldn't she be, ah, untouched? (Unless she uses extremely large prophylactics, anyway.) Angel, being dead boy, would be the only man she's ever met who can touch her without expiring. Intriguing, if this is indeed the case.

Angel finally thanked Wesley and made an attempt to reconcile with him. It was certainly overdue. Angel may have been ready to take Wesley back, but Wesley wasn't ready to be taken; he already had his own highly organized agency (with Jones? Hawkins? Diana?). Go, Wesley.

We got yet another extremely hot Wesley/Lilah sex scene. Wesley was acting like he wasn't interested in what Lilah was doing at work, but I think he was in fact extremely interested. I bet he was also truly enjoying his voluntary undercover work. I also liked the way Angel picked up on that affair.

Poor Connor was homeless. Oh, darn. I bet Angel won't let that situation go on for long, being such a wuss where Connor is concerned. It will be interesting to see what they do to redeem Connor, if they decide to redeem him at all. It would take quite a bit for me to actually like him now. Maybe they'll paralyze him and have him slowly eaten alive by a monster. No, wait...

The Fred and Gunn show was injected with a little depth. Fred actually broke down from the pressure of carrying the agency and the stress of seeing Gunn die, even for a moment. I must still care a lot about Gunn, because I did not like seeing him dead on the floor -- even for a moment.

So now we have a new love interest for Angel – hey, a possible love triangle when Cordelia gets her butt back in this dimension; Gunn and Fred were acting a lot more like a real couple and not the Angel Investigations Bobbsey twins; and Wesley and Lilah were having passionate sex all over the place. Quite a change. A year ago, no one on this show was even close to getting laid. I like it.

I have one unanswered question. Did Angel's heart keep beating?

Bits and pieces:

— Cordelia's wonderful, rent-controlled apartment is now gone. And what happened to poor Phantom Dennis? Couldn't they move Dennis to the hotel? Don't all old hotels need a ghost in residence?

— Who was that woman (Nick?) who handed Gwen the lipstick? A servant? Part of her office staff?

— Gwen, upon seeing Gunn for the first time, "Hey there, Denzel."

—- Gwen has a serious thing for the color red. Red parka, red nipple-coverer, red drink, red lipstick, red streak in her hair...

— Elliot was actually a fairly cool villain. It would be fine with me if they brought him back. Wolfram & Hart must have some openings.

— What the hell does "ground state" mean? I assume it has something to do with electricity.

Quotes:

Fred: "You should have seen the size of the dust bunnies under Cordy's bed. More like dust sperm whales."

Angel: "I know why I wasn't there."
Fred: "Sure. Banished to the ocean depths by your ungrateful snot of a son."
Gunn: "Not that she's bitter."
Angel: "I appreciate you guys looking out for Connor all summer. It's just that he's confused. He needs time. That's all."
Fred: "Right. Time, and some corporal punishment with a large, heavy mallet. Not that I'm bitter."

Wesley: "Just beware. Dinza isn't remotely trustworthy."
Angel: "What should I do then? Send her a gift? Sacrifice? Unholy fruit basket?"

Dinza: "I know all the lost things."
Angel: "Really? City of Atlantis? Holy Grail? Jimmy Hoffa?"

Elliot: "I thought I said discreet."
Gwen: "What? Do you see a nipple?"

Elliot: "The axis is merely a mystical object. It has no inherent monetary value."
Gwen: "Blah, blah, polysyllabic blah."

Elliot: "Gwen, that is a twelve thousand dollar watch."
Gwen: "And now it's surrealism."

Gunn: "If it's an auction house, can't we just, you know, eBay it?"
Fred and Angel: "Thirty three million dollars."
Gunn: (choking) "I think my lungs have coffee."

Fred: "I'm still working on a plan, but so far it involves being sent to prison and becoming somebody's bitch."

Gunn: "That's my girl, large and in charge. Okay, teensy-weensy and in charge."

Gunn (climbing a wall): "Damn. This is so much harder than it looks on Batman."

Fred: "Please let my cellmate be gentle."

Angel: "Miss me?"
Lilah: "Only in the sense of... no."

Lilah: "Look, Angel, I know you've been out of the loop for a while, but I'm still evil. I don't do errands unless they're evil errands."

Gwen: "I don't usually enjoy the hand-to-hand this much."
Angel: "Maybe you haven't been doing it right."

Gwen: "Is he one of yours?"
Elliot: "No. I thought he was yours, what with the tonguing."

Witty script, sparkling dialogue, great story, Angel is two for oh. Four out of four stakes,

Billie
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Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.

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