| When last we left our hero, he was
breathing through a newly-carved second mouth on the
side of his neck as he watched the object of his affection
and the fruit of his centuries-old loins making The
Monster With Two Backs. 'Habeas Corpses'
(From Habeas Corpus -- a legal term, Latin for "You
have the body") picked up right where 'Rain
of Fire' left off. Cordy & Connor were still
a-copulatin', so Angel watched a little more before
smashing in a door and falling down a flight of stairs
(I know that's not what really happened, but watch
the scene again with that in mind for a good laugh).
Cut to morning (I LOVE the high-speed
transitional sequences between scenes on this show!),
as Cordy realizes, much to her dismay, that the world
didn't end and bedding Connor probably wasn't
the right thing to do. Ahhh, hindsight. So Mrs. Robinson
sends our little graduate packing. I almost have nothing
to say about any of this, because the whole subplot
stinks and I haven't heard from a single fan of
the show who thinks it was a good idea for M.E. to work
it in. It's boring, illogical, and slightly nauseating.
And HELLO – we're all aware that Charisma's
pregnant and will soon be showing (more), so they needed
to get Cordy bred or write her out of the show. Who
else was she going to sleep with? Gunn & Wesley
were in relationships (sort of), and if it was Angel,
she had to hope that he didn't enjoy it too much
(which is entirely possible in light of how bland and
fluffy Cordy's become over the last couple of
seasons). So who does that leave us with – LORNE?!?
The task fell to you, Connor, now be
a good little hellspawn. Get up, get dressed, and let's
NEVER speak of this again (right?!?).
If I had to rank my favourite characters
in the Buffyverse from among everyone who's alive and
currently appearing on one of the two shows, Lilah Morgan
would definitely crack the top five. She's a rich, complex
character (she's wickedly evil and likes it, but she's
also in love with one of the good guys), and Stephanie
Romanov kicks a staggering amount of ass in her portrayal
of this heartsick barracuda. Lilah gets more evil all
the time, while simultaneously showing us precious little
glimpses of her vulnerable and compassionate side. There's
no denying she's been playing Wesley for the benefit
of Wolfram & Hart, but it's also become obvious
that she's fallen in love with him. And from a fan's
standpoint, that makes for satisfying TV-time.
Their breakup certainly contained a heap
of snappy dialogue, didn't it? When she made one last
attempt to seduce him, his "don't embarrass yourself"
rang out like a shot, prompting shouts of "Oooh,
thass cold!" in living rooms all over the place.
The first time I watched this episode, I had all kinds
of issues with the unrealistic (who talks like that?!?)
noir-ish tone of their "good & evil, black
& white" exchange. But now that it's had some
time to sink in, I'm a lot more comfortable with it.
And Lilah's parting jab about Fred preferring black
was some vintage catty Morgan indeed.
Cut to Cordy's (post cradle-robbing)
return to the Hyperion. Did everyone catch Fred's line
when Cordy asked where Angel was? "He's hibernating
in his cave." Funny, coming from Cavegirl herself.
So blah blah blah, insert Three's Company-style case
of miscommunication ("I don't know – what
are YOU talking about?"), and let's get back to
Wolfram & Hart.
Poor Gavin. We hardly knew ye. It was
a good last scene for Gavin & Lilah, and I loved
him coaching her on the phone. He's been a great sideman
and foil, and I'm sorry to see him go – Along
with EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE of Wolfram & Hart.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Enter
the offspring, looking for answers about what he is
and how he's connected to the Beast. Once again, let's
hear it for Lilah. Just when I thought she was actually
offering to help Connor in his hour of need, she turned
on a dime and showed what a badass she is. "And
then we'll slice you open and start poking around!"
Didn't she just look delighted at the idea? She also
seemed to channel Jack Nicholson from The Shining, and
I'm talking about true spirit – not just in that
annoying way that Christian "Remember that guy?"
Slater does it (Ooh, I'm bitchy today).
Gotta love the way Connor took out two
W & H thugs with one snappy roundhouse punch. For
the record, I think Vincent Kartheiser is the worst
lead actor on either Buffy or Angel, but I like watching
him fight and jump onto moving busses (I guess I can
forget about ever interviewing HIM, eh?).
Lights out, everybody! The Big Bad's
here. From this point onward, I was completely engaged
in this episode. I've seen all of George Romero's zombie
flicks numerous times and I've played through Resident
Evil parts 1, 2, and 3. So if you want to plunge a fortified
office tower into darkness and fill it with hundreds
of zombies and an unstoppable super-demon, I am SO there!
Hold on, though. All kidding aside for a second, and
I mean that. Am I the only one that got extra creeped
out by the footage of all the Wolfram & Hart staffers
pushing into the stairwells in a panic, desperately
trying to call out on their cellphones? It immediately
gave me a 9/11 stomach ache. Maybe it's just because
Kit B and I had a brief email exchange about it recently,
but that's what immediately came to mind. Yikes.
Okay, where were we?
I have to hand it to Connor for his suicidal
bravery. He's already been thoroughly trounced by the
Beast, but there he was again – going after it
with a crappy little decorative short sword. Dumb as
paint, but the kid knows no fear.
And he found his target just as Lilah
finished emptying a clip into it. Too bad Wes didn't
get a chance to tell her just how effective bullets
are against this thing (see: Not At All). Following
her desperate attempt to strike the deal with the beast
that the senior partners demanded, it stretched her
out on a desk and performed a little surgery. I'm baffled
as to what it did. Did it put something in her? Did
it take something out? Was it siphoning off the essence
of her evil as it did later on to the keeper of the
White Room?
We didn't get a chance to find out, as
Connor snuck up and gave the Beast a little love tap,
which of course shattered his sword and did absolutely
nothing. When the "800 lb Gorilla" turned
around and uttered Connor's name, it seemed fairly affectionate
– which is extra creepy in combination with the
way it launched him across the room and THROUGH a concrete
column. Run, Lilah, Run!
Then suddenly, Gadget Guy (the guy with
the gadgets) was on the scene. How incredibly cool was
it to learn that Wes has had a spy at airtight Wolfram
& Hart? That little coup deserves a wave around
the stadium and some fireworks. One minute it's blades
popping out of his sleeves, and the next it's this.
He never fails to surprise me.
I also love the way the Beast could probably
run to catch people, but he prefers to take his time
(okay, maybe there's no way Vladimir Kulich could run
in those awkward goat feet). We used to have a show
about comics and sci-fi here in Canada called Prisoners
of Gravity, and on one episode, Harlan Ellison was saying
that his idea of true terror was something that moved
slowly and constantly toward you and could not be stopped.
Run all you like, but you'll have to stop some time,
and it will still be coming. Boom… Boom…
Boom… Steadily closing in. Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you our Big Bad. Scary as all get-out. Quick!
Into the toilet paper room!
Oh, speaking of which, I need to make
reference to Gavin's death scene. How funny was he when
he realized that the Beast had cornered him? Did he
panic? Did he try and escape? Did he start flinging
rolls of toilet paper at it? Nope – he assumed
the classic doe-in-the-headlights pose, took a beat,
and peeped "Hi!" before getting his neck snapped.
Hi Gav. Bye Gav.
Following Wes & Lilah's escape, their
scene in the tunnels was really touching. Just like
Buffy rescuing Spike at the end of 'Showtime', the true
power of the moment was all in the eyes. They're a complex
pair, these two. Lilah is in love with Wesley and would
like to stay with him despite her job and her evil obligations.
Wes, on the other hand, has feelings for Lilah (maybe
not as strong, but face it – the brother has some
deep intimacy issues), and he's forcing himself to put
them aside in the face of his own obligations. You almost
get the sense that Lilah would leave Wolfram & Hart
if Wesley asked her to, but it doesn't sound like he
will because he still doesn't trust her. Lilah's news
about Connor, however futile, and the faint nods they
exchanged before parting, spoke volumes. I can't wait
to see where she goes now, and I'm dying to know what
the Beast did when he poked that single finger into
her tummy and moved on. With Lilah in exile and staggering
through the sewers, don't be surprised if we next see
her as mayor of a small town in France (I'll be satisfied
if half of you get that).
And damn – that seamless transition
between water dripping in the tunnel and Gunn tapping
his pen back at the hotel was SWEET!
Lorne was pretty much useless and 'fraidy
in this episode, but he was still funny. Big high five
to Andy Hallett for fantastic delivery of the few lines
he had. The news came 'round last week that Joss has
confirmed Lorne's continuing presence as a main character
for the rest of the season, complete with upcoming inclusion
in the opening titles, and I couldn't be happier.
Happiness being a foreign concept to
the staff of Angel Investigations lately. On an interpersonal
level, is this crew a mess or what? Fred and Chuckie
G are awkward around each other, Wes feels passed over
by Fred (again), he and Gunn have a hate-on for each
other, Angel's pissed at Cordelia, and Fred didn't seem
too pleased when Angel decided the Wolfram & Hart
mission was too dangerous for Cordy but she should "get
a move on". Of course in the middle of this bad
mood maelstrom, we had good old Lorne coming to Cordy's
rescue with hugs and muffins. Our boy is a breed apart
– both literally and figuratively.
Angel's thirty metre leap up into W &
H from the sewers was cool. It's nice to see a reminder
that he's a supernatural being instead of just some
dumb guy in a sweater (see, Angel would NOT make my
top 5 favourite characters).
I enjoyed the comedic relief when he
finally found Connor. A few people have asked me if
I didn't think Connor was a little too casual after
just about being killed by the Beast and then being
introduced to his first zombies. What, are you kidding?
Before returning to LA, Connor spent 18 years in a flaming
Hell dimension populated by giant creepy crawlies, and
THEY were afraid of HIM. So no – I'm not surprised
that he barely raised an eyebrow at the concept of newly
reanimated dead people.
I did, however, think Fred was a little
too calm about leaving Gunn outside with the zombies.
And when Chuck first forced the door open and shoved
his arm in, I was POSITIVE that they were going to help
him inside only to discover that he'd already joined
the ranks of the brain-eaters. See? That's why spoilers
and wildfeed summaries suck. As someone who avoids them
whenever possible, I have no idea what might occur in
each episode and when a main character might die, and
that's really fun.
Also fun? The White Room (with black
curtains, at the station… never mind). I loved
it last season, and I love it now. What an excellent
concept! And it appears that the Beast thinks so too,
as he headed straight up there after completing his
Voodoo project with the W & H staff. I'm assuming
he just saw the Guardian as a source of power to be
absorbed, but at this point I'm open to the idea that
a lot more could be transpiring than that. Who knows
(note to the spoiler-laden: That wasn't an invitation
to TELL ME)? I also think that when she said, "The
answer is among you", she wasn't just answering
Wesley's question about how they were going to get out
of there. I think she was referring to the overall problem
of the Beast and this end-of-the-world party he's throwing.
Then, as a parting gift to the Fang Gang, she zapped
them all back home to the Hyperion, where Lorne was
enjoying a martini and the latest Enquirer (I LOVE him).
A little welcome home chit-chat, and Angel finally played
his ace. "Now take your new boyfriend, and get
the hell out of here." Ka-BOOM!!!
I grumbled a bit about this episode when
I first saw it, but after a couple more viewings it's
definitely grown on me as a checkmark in the win column.
It was fun and action-packed, and it contained a couple
of big plot developments as well as a few cryptic clues
to what's coming up.
Before I go, I'd like to raise a question
that didn't occur to me until I started writing this.
It's been stated a few times that Wolfram & Hart's
senior partners have been planning the apocalypse since
the dawn of time. With the recent news from Jordan Levin
at the WB that a Buffy/Angel crossover might not be
as impossible as we initially thought, what are the
chances that the First Evil ("… since the
dawn of time") is THE senior partner, and the lawyers
at W & H are just Harbingers in expensive suits?
Take care, everybody.
Ron
|
