Angel: Release

Angelus: "Hey, you're preaching to the guy who ate the choir."

Wesley was teaching Faith to be ruthless. Ironic, wouldn't you say?

The shower scene at the beginning was powerful, as was the beating she took at the end. Faith was clearly being punished for what she did, and we were probably meant to forgive her and sympathize with her again. Wesley was emotionally focused on Faith all through this episode, and it was fascinating – especially that scene near the end when he brought up details of how she tortured him three years ago. The question of what was really going on inside her came up several times, but we didn't get an answer. Is she really good now, as she says? Or is she indeed a murderer who enjoys it, as Angelus told her, meaning she is lying to herself?

The Cordelia/Beastmaster thing was not doing it for me in a big way. It was like I didn't know how to put it in perspective. The Beastmaster's voice was so fruity and overbearing that I almost expected him to tell Angelus to choose between door number two and what was behind the curtain. Charisma suddenly looked very real life pregnant, too, which didn't contribute to scary.

My bitching last week about a baby plot was probably off base because now I think we're not going to get a baby after all. The sanctuary spell clued us in that Connor isn't human (which we sort of already knew) and since Cordelia is also demonic as well as possessed or whatever, the implication this time was that the "baby" is a monster of some sort. (One more thing: Cordelia mentioned her "very corporeal hands," which made me think of the First.)

The climax was yet more huge battles among scaffolding; shades of Ubervamp Thunderdome, although the leaping about here was interesting and new. Will Angelus be able to turn Faith before Wesley or someone else stops him? I don't think it will happen, but I've always been fascinated by the idea of a Slayer turned into a vampire. Would she have Slayer powers, vampire powers, or both? Would she be twice as strong?

Except for the closing battle, I didn't care much for the Angelus scenes. The bar scene I actually found annoying; it was like he was too sarcastic. Back in Buffy second season, Angelus was less manic, more focused inward, more thoughtful and subtle about the damage he did. The part where Cordelia/Beastmaster was talking about Angelus being trapped inside Angel's head rather fascinating, but how can Cordelia/Beastmaster, who apparently has Cordelia's memories, believe that she can get Angelus to do what she wants? Cordelia knows very well that Angelus is uncontrollable.

I think I've had enough. I'm ready for Angel to come back now.

Bits and pieces:

— Lorne finally got a hot pink opening credit! Congratulations to Andy Hallett! It was way, way overdue.

— Because I obsess about small details... Angel's credit is pale blue, Cordelia's is green, Gunn red, Fred purple, Connor deep blue, and Wesley amber.

— Last week, I was carrying on about the second annual pregnancy plot. Actually, it's the third. Cordelia got knocked up with demon spawn in season one.

— Loved Angelus wearing reading glasses. Even the bad guys need to do research, huh?

— Also loved Connor in the bathroom making demon faces in the mirror.

— Fred and Gunn may be reconciling. Buffyverse lovers who reconcile near the end of a season are usually in trouble, though, so one of them will probably die or turn evil.

Quotes:

Angelus: "Oh, come on. Why the stall, huh? You whipped up a rain of fire, blotted out the sun, earthquakes, all to maneuver the Brady Bunch into releasing Angel's inner me. Don't you want to kick the tires?"

Gunn: "If super-bad shows up, the sanctuary spell should keep us safe, but..."
Fred: "But? There's always a 'but.' When this is over, can we have a big 'but' moratorium?"

Lorne: "Did I mention the only shots I'm good at involve tequila?"

Gunn: "Connor's better off playing nursemaid, or whatever he's doing with Cordy that I really don't want to know about."

Fred: "If I were a runic transcription guide, I would be... shelved wrong."

Gunn: "All I'm saying is he tries dancing in here and pulling a Dark Shadows again, he's going to get a dart up his evil ass."

Fred: "Supergirl wouldn't have fallen for a cheap hunk of crap like this."

Fred: "I am so, so beyond sorry."
Lorne: "Oh, go on. It's the first good nap I've had since the apocalypse started."

Lorne: "He had mojo?"
Fred: "No-jo. He waved this piece of junk in my face and I went all spinal paralysis."
Lorne: "Put the blame stick down, peaches. Maury's been peddling these to tourists since LA had cable cars, honey. It fools the Bermuda shorts off them every single time."

Four for Wesley and Faith, and two for Angel and Cordelia. That averages out to three 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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