ANGEL
S1x10 – Parting
Gifts
Review by Terry J. Aman
The episode they should just have re-run after "You're Welcome"
I believe this is one of the last
times we see The Oracles, so I should enjoy them more. First, I wonder what
Angel brought them as a tribute. Secondly, what a bitca that boy oracle is,
huh? "Do not come to us again on so self-serving an errand." Oy.
And I really think we ought to take
our cue here on how generally point-free and not-big-picture those Visions must
in fact be. The attitude of the Oracles was way too flip about their deposition
in a self-centered womanchild who can't appreciate them, let alone carry them.
Sure, Cordy grows up a lot while carrying the Visions as she becomes St.
Cordelia of Kyrumption, but she's still only about a dozen episodes removed
from mourning her lot in life as a sales clerk.
It was a great opportunity for Cordy
to float about kissing everyone, of course, which in general was just fun.
The timeframe in which "Parting
Gifts" takes place was an odd juxtaposition of events – Doyle leaves, and
a friendly empathic demon shows up and gets all personable. Apparently pursued
by Wesley, Rogue Demon Hunter.
This is the unfortunate reality about
the life of the show. Doyle was still in the opening credits but otherwise
didn't even feature in a flashback. But it would've given far too much away to
include Alexis. Generally I think these slow burns tend to be ineffective –
misdirection is usually short-lived and pointless – but in this case it kept us
guessing – and laughing.
The Rogue Demon Hunter seemed like a
great Monster of the Week, chasing down a harmless little mouse demon who's
going to replace Doyle by being all insightful and charming. And then it turned
out to be Wesley, channeling his inner Hell's Angel and ... chafing. 
I enjoyed his moment of insight about
being fired, and sharing his Buffyside news. And I liked Angel's very mild
character development in the course of the episode – he has to work alone
because of what happened to Doyle, and by the end, he not only accepts but
admits he needs the help Wesley's offering.
As for Cordy, she's still all about
getting rid of the Visions, but she came to terms with them, because they were
a gift from Doyle, the best thing he had, his connection to the Powers That Be.
Too bad about those ice cream
headaches. Cordy's dismissal of them as "so vague they need closed
captioning" was good, and again we have the narrative problem. If the
Powers That Be had just come out and told her she was in danger, to run away
from Barney, she would never have had to be in that auction, and Angel wouldn't
have had to look up "Maiden With Jar" or whatever (side note:
Angel is a vampire who knows his art, huh?) and no one would've needed to
know demonese.
The Powers are a puzzle. Did they mean
to draw Angel and Wesley together? Barney and the Kungai demon are incidental
to that path. Wes is chasing demons because it's more interesting than serving
frogurt at TCBY. Cordelia's vision really just gives them the tools they need
to save her, so she ends up as Vision Girl and damsel-in-distress. Way to
empower the heck out of Cordy, Joss! (although to be fair, she is mostly comic
relief at this point).
When Barney shows his true colors as
to just how empathic he is, ripping into Cordy's psyche with her own guilt and
loss, it's too late. But it's a character lesson Joss has learned and used
again and again with Skip and Demon Doc and Cathy and Jasmine – evil can be
charming and even friendly.
And the woman with Wolfram & Hart,
one wonders if they were just still looking for Lilah at this point and only
knew that she wasn't her. Her "Three guesses who" is frankly silly.
Angel can hardly be on their radar. He's only done a few things and they've
only involved W&H once or twice. Surely an evil multidimensional
corporation would've had a few more nemeses than this upstart who barely has a
phone.
Unless this is the first hint of the
Prophecy, that he's going to matter to them someday in a way they know
about but he doesn't yet and neither do we. That makes a little more sense, but
without context, her bitterness just seems trite.
Well, Doyle, you may not have a
special mug. But you've got a doodle. And a tape with a cold read on some ad
copy that survives explosions and a couple of different moving days and every
possible unforeseen thing so as to make one last appearance in "You're
Welcome."
And a goofball mantle Wes seems more
than willing to pick up and shrug on.
And a place in our hearts.
Thanks for playing, and enjoy your
"Parting Gifts."
P.S. – Joss, if you're listening, this
is how you follow up the death of a character. Not "Why We Fight."
Never "Why We Fight." You might as well have flushed Cordy out an
airlock. Especially with how beautiful "You're Welcome" was, the
aftermath was a lot like the caveman funeral from "History of the World
Part 1." Feh! * swats him with a newspaper * Bad Joss. I'd give you
a pass except that "Parting Gifts" and "The Body" and
"Forever" basically proved you knew how to say goodbye to side
characters, at least, and it would've been nice to see some of that love for,
y'know, a woman who'd been with the series from Day One.
Enough of that and enough of me. Much
love for "Parting Gifts." It's interesting, especially in the
tattered gaping hole that Doyle's death leaves in the middle of everyone's
lives – so much so it barely registered with me that Wesley joined the show and
shared one of the best kisses I've seen Cordelia plant in eight seasons. Great
work, everyone. Nice.
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