Well, the stated goal for the Powers
That Be is to get Angel to forge connections in his life. I don't know if the
Powers were the ones who led them into the sewer to slay that snake thing
(maybe, maybe not -- if they did it's hard to track the significance of the
slaying, what greater good it promoted, what greater evil it prevented -- or,
as seems to be the nature, what oblique tangent it drew Angel toward in his
personal development).
But whatever took them down there -- it seemed, from Angel's attitude, to be
cleanup on an earlier job that got botched somehow -- that he wasn't making
these connections. That he was just doing the tasks that got presented to him
and not caring about them very much.
So we have the theme for the show, "Sense and Sensitivity," a
light-hearted romp exploring the chaos in human relationships when those
interpersonal boundaries come down and inappropriate emotions start getting
shared.
"Can you say 'clueless'?"
Cordy's commentary at the cleanup scene with the not-entirely-slain snake demon
is even more ironic than she doesn't realize. Doyle is fighting with the
ominous tentacle just a few feet away, but even if she was paying attention to
what was going on, she remains blissfully oblivious/indifferent to the fact
that he wants her.
Nope, Angel doesn't appreciate them beyond their immediate usefulness in
cleanup jobs. I ... can't imagine anyone is paying Cordelia enough to
scrape demon guts off of herself, but who told her to wear something
dryclean-only into a sewer to fight a demon in the first place?
Kate Lockley isn't quite up to Kyra Sedgewick standards as an interrogator, but
what she lacks in finesse she seems to make up for in tenacity. She probably
needs that blunted lack of empathy to survive a life growing up with that
emotionally absent father and her lack of strong mother figures.
If the theme of the show is emotional distance, then naturally ...
This really has got to be the lamest, least-assured tactic W&H has.
"We have to get a mob figure out of prison. Call in Allen Lloyd for a
group hug!" Hard to picture him on their speed dial.
The problem is that even if some of the cops were infected with
hyper-empathy, most of them weren't. And there's no guarantee anyone's
going to get out of prison in that situation.
However, that //is// the situation we're presented with. After handling the
talking stick (Cordy: "There's a stick that talks?") the cops are all
chaotic, emotional misfires that can't even address a simple mugging
("You're really not listening to your mugger's feelings on this.")
And the cop at the door when they went into lockdown: "It's always 'Find
this,' 'Rescue that' with you people. See how you like it!"
Wild.
David Boreanaz got to do some seriously fun things in this episode. It's just
incredible that Angel is ready, at the drop of a hat, to become "Herb
Saunders from Baltimore." We did not get to see enough of him. And
after handling the talking stick, that psychobabble he was spouting was just
fun. He was horrified at having threatened physical violence against Allen
Lloyd (meaning he probably didn't kill him. How did Angel get into his
home? Oops.) And he feels judged by Cordy and Doyle when he vamps out.
He was worried about the vandalism in breaking into the police station, and his
dialogue with Kate was just amusing throughout:
Kate: "That gun really makes you come off as hostile."
Angel: "Not to mention your body language."
Kate: (after shooting someone in the head) "And how do you think
that makes me feel?"
Angel: "Anthony! You can be a rainbow. And not a painbow!"
Kate: "Some people just really need to live in the problem."
Just ... mad, mad fun.
Kate's honest reactions to Angel, with her own emotions so on the surface, were
wonderful, although it's just as well they don't hook up, since Elizabeth Rohm
is about to go to New York and long-distance relationships are hard.
It is too bad that everyone resolved to pretend nothing had ever
happened. I'm guessing Kate and that guy at the next desk who'd been pining for
her for two years could've maybe hooked up and been happy together.
The emotional strength Kate was calling upon for her reactions was well anchored
in her interactions with her father. Even after collaring a big-time mob
figure, her dad buys her a drink and immediately lets her know that she's just
going to screw it up somehow. And his assumption that she was gay was really
sensitive on his part -- what a great dad.
And all of the stuff he put her through while he was grieving his late wife was
just evil and wrong. I know people aren't Superman, and I know they can't
always be there for everyone else when they've suffered a loss. But little Katie
was so alone when her mother died, and her father couldn't be even a little bit
comforting? That's so ... terrifically sad.
And that curt dismissal at the end. Yee-ouch. Family relationships in the
Joss'verse, huh?
So no, ultimately, nothing really happened. The whammy wears off and everyone
feels embarrassed. W&H loses a client through the client's own stupidity.
Angel got a little more prominent on W&H's radar (not that he was
completely unknown before -- killing Russell Winters kind of put them on
notice). Angel's regard for his subordinates is tolerant at best. And we learn
that emotions are dangerous, dangerous things and must be locked away and never
acknowledged because otherwise we risk doing things that make us look foolish.
But at least Angelus didn't pop out in a fit of drug-induced euphoria and then
go away again for no reason whatsoever. Also, the absence of a crazy-making
death shroud also sets this one above ... certain other later episodes.
Not the best, but still "Angel," and therefore ... quite enjoyable.