Damage

Angel Episode Review

In which Spike is a hero of the people now.

What Happened

Angel and Spike both show up to retrieve an escaped mental patient. Spike assumes that she's possessed by a demon and goes looking for her on his own, but Angel hangs out a little longer and learns Dana has been crazy for a long time.

Oh, and she's a Vampire Slayer.

Andrew, the new Watchers Council "top man," arrives at Wolfram and Hart, ready to tell everyone about Slayers and how they work and how Buffy made lots more of them at the end of last season.

Dana goes to the basement of a building, where she was brutally tortured by the man who killed her family. Spike finds her and tries to explain to her what is going on. Dana's too busy "remembering" the Slayers Spike has killed in the past, with a few moments of her own torture thrown in for good measure.

She chains him up and starts cutting off body parts. Spike swears that for all the pain he's done, he never hurt her. Dana's explaining how it doesn't matter when Angel arrives. He tells Dana that the man who killed her family was shot by the police five years ago. She's still in the mood to Slay someone, so she picks a fight with Angel. He holds her off long enough for a Wolfram and Hart team to tranquilize her.

Fred hustles Spike away to have his hands reattached, but Andrew insists on taking Dana to the Watchers. He's brought back-up, in the form of a dozen Slayers, sent by Buffy to make sure Wolfram and Hart doesn't do Dana any harm.

No one on our side trust you anymore, he tells Angel.

What We Learned

• When confronted with a psycho killer, it is a very good idea to get out of her way.
• Angel liked Gunn better when all he wanted to do was hit people.
• Rational thought, it's an acquired taste.
• If a person in a hospital gown is standing in the aisle of a drug store, it's a safe bet she should not be approached.
• Andrew still annoys me. Bad enough he was picking on Star Wars, now he's sucking the life out Lord of the Rings.
• Andrew is eighty-two percent more manly than the last time.
• Xander's in Africa. Willow and Kennedy are in Brazil. Buffy and Dawn are in Rome.
• They don't know Spike is alive. Andrew would have heard about it; there would have been a conference call.
• Don't follow people into basements. Whatever is going on can wait until they come outside again.
• Now, they're just reusing all the "crazy" dialogue they had left over from River over on Firefly.
• Spike is physically incapable of saying that Angel is right.

Best Lines

Spike: "What he said, but with a bit more of a threat at the end."

Spike: "Didn't you get the memo? Hero of the people now?"
Angel: "Why don't you go annoy them?"

Angel: "Is pathological idiot an actual condition?"

Andrew: "I've got twelve vampire slayers behind me and not one of them has dated you."

Spike: "I'd give you the finger, but apparently, I won't have the motor skills until the drugs wear off."

What Did I Think?

Spike and Angel's banter gave us some great lines. Andrew bugged during the exposition scene, but Wesley's reactions to his patronizing were so priceless it almost made up for it. I think that Dana's story worked better than the werewolf girl's at the beginning of the season because it wasn't just about her, but also about how her presence affected Spike and Angel.

By the way, let's hear it for coherent character development. Spike has actually had to grapple with the consequences of having a soul and being a hero; he wasn't just given a free pass on this. Having him around, meanwhile, is a constant source of reasons for Angel to examine his own life, giving David Boreanaz something new to do.

The only complaint is that Gunn appears, as usual, to be getting the short end of the story stick. They have been dropping hints about him with the ever-present references to his Wolfram and Hart brain dump, so I hope this means they have something planned.