Wherein it is revealed that
being a Higher Power is not all it's said to be in the brochure.
The Powers might have all sorts of things
to say, but they've accidentally forgotten to open another window after closing
the Cordy door. And the Oracles (who, for all I know, may have been in charge
of that) are too busy being dead to make that change, so ...
Someone should really be saying something. After all, things are pretty
bleak here and they have been for the past three months.
Whatever leads Gunn and Fred and -- oh, let's pretend because it's fun: Connor
-- have been following, they haven't been nearly as much fun as what's playing
out in Angel's head.
Let's start there, shall we?
Dream sequences in the Jossverse are rarely without significance, and much like
the first four episodes of S3 reintroduced the major players, Angel's
hallucinations are how we're going to do that this season.
ANGEL: An elegant dinner party where everyone's getting along so well -- that
seemed to highlight Angel and set the stage, reminding people of where we left
off. This is his fondest wish -- getting couple-y with Cordelia, reconciliation
with Wes and everyone getting along, including his well-adjusted son. Freeze
the moment. It's impossible to completely ignore the scene at the very end of
S4, with Connor together with a family and Angel looking in from the outside,
just as distant as he feels at the end of this sequence. Wild.
CORDELIA: A scene on the beach. The alternate ending to S3, with a twist.
Angel, mad with hunger, is no longer the victim in these fantasies. He can't
maintain composure even within himself. And at the end of S4, Cordy is
comatose, a victim perhaps of her own egomania, which is another fatal flaw for
this character.
CONNOR: Angel envisions fighting alongside his son, and winning, and then, in
his ultimate horror, eating him -- a reminder of S3, where W&H laced his
butcher's blood with some of Connor's.
This stepped nicely into Lilah ascending the power structure of W&H, a very
pleasant subtheme running through this episode -- W&H, what do they want,
what are they doing to get it -- Lilah's treachery and Wesley's darkness.
There was almost no time to ignore the girl in the closet. What an excellent
find she was. And I loved how there was a use for her. When we find him, you
go down and get him.
LORNE: A cameo appearance. Angel's still raving, but there needs to be
something humanizing for him (since Justine and Wes together right now
barely qualify), and wouldn't you know it'd be our singing demon? The closest
access to the Powers and he's trapped in Vegas, although that's just a hint.
For right now, "I'd help if I wasn't just a crappy hallucination" --
Lorne's looking at a bad, bad season, so it's nice for him to have a reasonably
pleasant start -- as far as we know.
Fred and Gunn make cameo appearances in the opening sequence, but since the
story follows them about on their last useless venture, there's no need for
Fred to talk about caves or for Gunn to talk about the mission. The alpha wave
coming off this man is smooth, but talk about characters flung together. If I
was building a story I wouldn't want just Gunn, Fred and Connor.
Show us what we're missing.
Wes, a dark lord of action, an "I'll take away your bucket" badass
who trusts no one and runs his own missions. It's hard to believe W&H have
no idea what's going on with his late night ocean tours, but there is
that insufficiently bright corner of the sky we're about to rectify.
Incidentally, Lilah telling Gavin to clear away Linwood's head was nice payback
for "Billy." And this is the first and last instance, I believe, of a
Senior Partner being named.
If it was gonna happen in any season ...
This ended very well. Months of searching coming to an end. Wes coming forth
and helping out. Angel confronting Connor about what he'd done. All's right
with the world ...
Well no, actually. Wes, still pretty dark, slinks off. Gunn and Fred are both
still a little messed up from Connor attacking them and they're reeling
from months of his lies. Angel's still deep in recovery mode, Connor is
banished (better than he deserves. Oh, incidentally, world's strongest boy +
world's most rickety chair = not restrained). Lorne is exiled, and Cordy ...
Well ...
As for Cordy ...
"I am so bored."
JASMINE WATCH: I don't believe she's latched onto Cordy as yet. That seemed
like Cordy up there -- 9/10 certainty.