ANGEL
S3x07 –
Offspring
Review by Terry J. Aman
I had to watch "Offspring" twice in order to even try this, there
was so much good in it.
Let's get Holtz out of the way first.
Our reintroduction to Holtz was paired beautifully with a new window on Angelus
and his relationship with Darla. We all remember Darla abandoning Angelus in a
fiery French barn (at least, I think we remember that – if that's still coming
up let me know, but I thought we'd seen that bit of business already in S2).
Now, in Rome, Darla swoops in to save him.
Clearly she's motivated, or she'd never have made the attempt at high noon.
The Darla-Angelus relationship gets a new wrinkle and we get more backstory on
Holtz.
I wish he'd made some kind of escape or been pulled against his will into
hiding, because the justification for not killing him – especially since he was
working his way through the five elements of torture against a perfectly evil
vampire – was more than a little lame. "He's like family."
He's like family? Hell, Darla, he could be family with a bite here and
there.
It's not like murdering someone's entire family and then siring the last crazy
person who remains is new to you at all.
Well, maybe in 1771 that particular M.O. hadn't occurred to them yet.
I thought the opening sequence with Holtz was actually a little indulgent –
especially with everything they had going on in this eppy. Until I got to the
Sahjahn sequence at the end, where Holtz and Angel's paths are about to join up
again, and realized that that was some nice exposition.
But our introduction to Sahjahn also leaves something to be desired. He's
manipulating all sorts of things – the bag of sand, the cigarette – which was tres
cool, by the way – and yet a huge part of what it means to be Sahjahn is that
he's incorporeal. You can't honestly tell me that his lack of physical presence
hadn't occured to Joss at the point of his introduction. The second he
introduced Sahjahn, he'd already pretty much mapped out the entire Connor arc –
and I'd go so far as to suggest he already had the kind of confrontation he
presented in "Origin" in mind.
Hell, some of it had to be in the back of his mind during Angel's S2 comshak
with Darla, which felt a little forced on a couple of levels.
Which brings us nicely to Cordy and her plastic plants.
"Anything real would die down here." Well said. The suggestion –
quite apart from the plants – that no real relationship can exist between Angel
and Cordy – should've tipped us off for "Awakening" anyway. But the
writing was always edging it there – Cordy growing up, building an evermore
complicated relationship with Angel, suffering loss together, suffering attacks
together, falling out, reuniting, a whole new wardrobe, and just when she
starts to feel she can trust him, in walks a very pregnant wrecking ball.
It's like Joss is saying, We're going to start this on a level playing field.
You guys can try to make a go of it, but there are not going to be lies on this
order of magnitude waiting to be discovered.
Not, mind you, that sex with Darla was anything new. Hell, Cordy had to know
that in four centuries ...
It's not all about holding hands.
So the sting of realization was probably short-lived, and all the easier to put
aside after her high-handed moral indignation put her alone in a room with a
vampire.
I swear to G-d, Cordy is a solidly intelligent young woman most of the time,
but I could not get my head around this. I knew she was trying to be supportive
– "You went male" was a great line – but quite apart from being a
physiological impossibility, a vampire mom is going to be unpredictable on a
scale that would make Richter blanch.
So she makes this mistake, and she pays for it, and Angel once again has to
face a screaming, angry woman attempting to commit suicide by vampire. Anyone
else reminded of that scene in "Five by Five" where Faith is begging
Angel to kill her? Meh, maybe it's just me.
There was only one other writing problem I noticed in this one, and that was
the simple way Wes gave the writers an out. After that perfectly brilliant
piece of research – * picks up random book from counter * "Oh, here
it is: It says 'I have no idea what's going on here." – he reacts to the
living, breathing, ensouled being growing inside the dead shell of a vampire by
saying to Angel: "You have a soul. It makes sense – as much as anything
can make sense in this situation."
Not, mind you, that I expected anyone to be able to make any of that make sense
– some sired version of C. Everett Koop to swoop in and say "Ah yes, of
course, zere is perfectly rrrational ekschplanation for all of zis" – but
that felt, somehow, unworthy of this show.
Nice to see Lorne again, still apparently in the experimental phases of his
makeup, and, of course, the Furies – and it's truly sad that Team Angel can't
set foot in his establishment without they destroy things. He's just gotta stop
letting them in.
Anyway, welcome to Season 3. Kick your shoes off – relax, sample a white zin
and make yourself at home.
Darla. CYNTHIA! Sahjahn. Holtz. Wes and his Naiazean Prophecy.
Connor.
The adventure is officially under way.
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