Deep Down

Angel Episode Review

In which Angel comes back.

What Did I Think?

I really didn't have very high hopes for this one. In fact, of all the premieres this season, only Charmed rated lower on my interest scale, and they were turning Phoebe into a mermaid. I was just about to throw in the towel and go see if Vincent D'Onofrio had choked on any of the scenery over on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

I fully expected that Cordelia would spend the opening moments floating down from her Higher Plane and releasing Angel from his box. Then, they would go looking for Connor and pontificate him to death. Instead, we got a dream scene, followed by Fred dusting a vamp with a crossbow, followed by Wesley getting out of bed with Lilah and opening the door of his closet to reveal... Justine, bound and gagged.

Okay, this is new.

In between Angel's hallucinations of kissing Cordi, then sinking his teeth into her neck, and fighting side by side with his son before snapping Connor's neck, plenty was going on. Fred and Gunn were obviously taking on the parental roles with Connor, or trying to, as he pretended to help look for his father. I wonder why he bothered to sabotage their search; he must have had some reason for sticking around. Maybe, with Holtz gone, Connor still felt the need to have some sort of family. Or maybe he just liked messing with their heads.

Wesley's more than likely messing with Lilah's head. He asked her stay, but also made sure to find out if Wolfram and Hart knew where Angel was. And despite the fact that she told Linwood that she's not sleeping with Wesley for information, Lilah made sure to get in a few digs about Wes' estrangement from his friends before she left his apartment.

So, Wesley went and got Angel out of his box, tormenting Justine as he did. He even opened up a vein to give Angel the blood he needed to survive. He took Angel back to the hotel and handed him over to Fred and Gunn.

Then, Wesley pretty much turned around to walk out without a word. No "how's it going?" No "I want you to not hate me anymore." He's just walking out. He seemed pretty determined to cut off all contact. As if bringing Angel back was a last little loose end he needed to tie up before being through with the lot of them.

Angel seemed more concerned with what Connor had been doing than what Wesley had been doing. Their scene was fantastic, as Angel spelled out in clear simple terms what he thought of his son's actions. I was so sure that Angel would go through all that, find out that Connor had nothing to do with Cordi's disappearance, then say something lame, like, "Go to your room." Instead, I think his exact words were, "Get out of my house."

Just about every single thing Connor has done since he arrived has been a deception. I think he deserved to get thrown out on his ear. I suppose he can be forgiven eventually, but at least they'll pretend for a little while that Connor's actions will have consequences.

As far as Cordelia and Angel's grand romance is concerned, I'm still not entirely convinced. A couple of episodes before Baby Connor disappeared, there was a scene where Angel and Cordi were lying on a bed next to each other, cradling the baby and talking. I thought they were sweet together. When Groo got in the way, however, and Angel was reduced to moping, and they stopped actually having scenes together, I lost it. Why go through all the trouble of "Waiting in the Wings," proposing this unlikely relationship, only to derail it seconds later with Groo's arrival?

If a relationship has to be spelled out in teeny, tiny detail, if even the two parties involved have to be convinced that they are in love, how is the audience supposed to buy into it? They can either get it together or give up on it, but I would just like them to do something. And seeing how they handled Connor, with some adult dialogue and tight storytelling, I'm willing to wait and see what they do with this.

The kicker, of course, was Cordelia, floating up where-ever-she-was, commenting in perfect Cordi fashion, "God, I am so bored." Even more than the Angel/Cordi romance, I was having trouble with the Higher Being story. She'd grown, yes. She had new powers, but it was kind of hard get believe that they are so important when we'd only seen them twice and they were never really explained. It made for a nice image, him going down in the box and Cordi ascending to the heavens, but without any back-up, it was just a picture. There was no emotional resonance. Seeing Cordelia back in form was promising.

Naturally, a lot of this is dependent on what happens next. They could still screw it up. After last season's finale, I wouldn't have thought they could pull it off, but now, you know, they just might.