Chief Seattle review of "Reunion"
Linda
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I know I am very late with this. My only excuse is an extended and very
enjoyable Christmas break with my parents.
The Trials of a Soul
It was, perhaps, inevitable from the very beginning of ANGEL as a
series that the writers should explore the way in which our hero might
be drawn from the path of good and onto the path of evil. The duality
of his nature, a single body inhabited both by a human soul and a
demon, made this plotline a natural. The human within Angel had to
continually fight to keep control. It was, therefore, clear that
circumstances could be created in which this control was jeopardized.
In fact this was such an obvious source of material that, when in the
season 1 finale we discovered that Wolfram and Hart intended to raise
some new evil -
"to bring this creature down to us - tear him from the Powers That Be"
it created particular expectations as to how this plotline would
proceed. And the early stages of season 2 seemed to conform to these
entirely conventional expectations. As I have previously observed
in "First Impressions", "Untouched" and "Dear Boy" the emphasis seemed
to be on weakening Angel's conscious self control, his ability to
restrain the demon within him. The expectation was, therefore, that
the writers were working their way towards the return of Angelus. But
from the final confrontation between Angel and Darla in "Dear Boy"
onwards the true intent of the writers has become increasingly clear.
And the return of Angelus was not part of their plans.
Rather than dealing with the conflict between a demon, whose sole
instinct was to hunt and kill, and human soul they seemed intent on
looking at the conflict within the soul itself. Angel's obsession with
Darla was never the result of a sexual attraction and there is
certainly never the suggestion that, as a human, he regarded her as his
One True Love. Rather her return as a human and her unhappiness with
that condition reawakened in Angel old uncertainties about who he was
and what he really wanted. And the desire to kill, to take pleasure in
another's suffering was never part of the conflict within Angel over
his identity. It was, I think, made clear in "Five by Five" that
Angel's humanity could never stomach that sort of life and this was
further reinforced by the way he was forced to abandon Darla and the
vampire life in "Darla". Rather, as I suggested in my review of "The
Trial", the nature of Angel's ambivalence towards life as a Vampire lay
in the extent to which he felt more comfortable with its narrow,
selfish certainties as opposed to the need to make a messy and
difficult connection with others. But making that connection was what
his mission was all about. In this context I quoted the following in
my review of "the Trial" and I make no apologies for doing so again now
because I think it is vital to our understanding of the crisis that
Angel went through in "Reunion":
"It's about reaching out to people, showing them that there's love and
hope still left in the world. It's about letting them into your heart.
It's not about saving lives; it's about saving souls. Hey, possibly
your own in the process."
Making a connection and thereby showing there was still hope was how
Angel managed to turn Faith's life around in "Sanctuary", the episode
that for me most clearly demonstrated how Angel had established his
sense of mission. It was also, for example, how he helped Bethany
in "Untouched". But most triumphantly of all it was the means whereby
he helped Darla in "The Trial" to accept her own humanity and her fate
as a mortal and thereby started her on the road to her own redemption.
The way he helped all of them was, therefore, the way that Angel
cemented his own grasp on humanity. It was truly his own road to
redemption.
And then came Lindsey and Drusilla.
And this was the importance of the way "the Trial" ended. This was not
merely shock or the sake of it. The way Drusilla made Darla, as a
horrified Angel looked on, helpless to intervene, became the nexus
around which this developing tragedy now turns. But before I look at
this further it is, I think, appropriate to say a few words about the
unfolding plan through which Wolfram and Hart brought about these
developments.
Wheels within wheels
It is the working out of the Wolfram and Hart master plan that gives
the Darla arc its essential unity and direction. It is this plan that
is intended to bring Angel over to the dark side. Angel's progress in
this respect must, therefore, be related to the various stages of the
plan. It cannot be simply the result of a collection of haphazard
events. And I think that it is greatly to the credit of the writers
that you can see a pattern of cause and effect in the progression of
events over the season. As I noted in my review of "Darla" [partly
written but not yet published - you're just going to have to trust me
on this one] the great thing about the way the Darla arc has been
written is that we the viewers haven't been given an overview denied to
Angel or even Darla for that matter. Rather we have seen the layers of
the Wolfram and Hart plan peeled away layer by layer like an onion.
And with each successive layer we can see a bit more, not enough to
enable us to predict with certainly what was in store or even to fully
understand what was happening at the time. But always there was just
enough to draw us along with the story and more importantly to look
back on past events and make sense of them in retrospect. From the
episode "Darla" onwards it was clear that Darla was being used by the
lawyers. Everything that she had done for them -the dreams, the
nocturnal visits, the appearance as a human, even the murder of the
unfortunate actor - was simply an elaborate ruse to bring her together
with Angel. But why? The answer was provided in the sequence of
events that we saw in that episode when Holland first of all provoked a
crisis that seemed to spell the end for Darla in the clear expectation
that Angel would rescue her. As he subsequently explains to an
incredulous Lindsey:
Lindsey: "You think now that you've driven her back to him she's gonna
give him that perfect moment of happiness? He's gonna come on our
side? Won't happen. He's noble. He'll never take advantage of her -
not in this state, not now."
Holland: "Lindsey, you don't understand our friend at all. We know
there is no prospect for physical intimacy here. So you needn't torture
yourself."
Lindsey: "Then what do you expect him to do?"
Holland: "What he will do. What he must do. Save her soul."
The Wolfram and Hart plan therefore depended on Angel reaching out to
Darla, on his getting into her life as he was supposed to do with those
he was intended to help. And just to add a little more spice to the
mix they chose shortly afterwards to reveal to Darla something that had
not only long been aware of but probably planned on in the first place -
the fact that she was dying. For someone like Darla nothing was more
calculated to make the job of redeeming her more difficult. This was
because it essentially meant Angel had to persuade her that she had to
give up her one last chance for life.
As Wolfram and Hart anticipated this was what Angel did. And, as I
tried to explain in my review of "The Trial", he did it because of the
strength of the personal commitment he had to her - a quite unselfish
commitment in which he was prepared to give up everything and ask for
nothing in return. Saving Darla meant more to him than anything else
he had ever done in the course of his mission. It was probably more
difficult than anything else he had tried. And he gave it quite
literally everything he had. And he did all of this only to see it
destroyed coldly and quite deliberately before his very eyes. And
there was nothing he could do about it.
"Reunion" is essentially about the reaction that that event brought
about in Angel. It also raises questions as to the extent that Wolfram
and Hart planned that reaction.
Losing touch with humanity
In view of the events at the end of "Reunion", it is I think important
to understand that Angel did not go "evil" in the conventional sense in
this episode. The moral compass that was restored to him when he got
his soul back continues to operate. He understands "right"
and "wrong". Just as in Bursa in 1898 and in China in 1901 he cannot
do something he believes to be intrinsically evil just because it meets
his own selfish needs. That remains the difference between himself on
the one hand and Darla and Drusilla on the other. More importantly he
continues to believe that it is his duty to fight for the innocent
against those who have no such qualms about destroying them for their
own selfish reasons. That is why his first instinct was to make good
the promise he made in "The Trial" and prevent Darla from rising the
only way left open to him - with a stake. And throughout the episode
this remains his priority:
Angel: "Drusilla's insane, deadly, not in a good mood. Darla - she
needs to feed soon, okay? And once she does she's gonna be that much
stronger. Now we got two options: either we go back to the people who
brought them both here in the first place or we sit around waiting for
the bodies to start piling up. I decided not to wait.
As this quote suggests it remains his priority because he realizes the
cost in innocent human lives of leaving these two to roam free. And
this is because he does care about protecting the innocent. Holland
understands this:
Angel: "I can crush the life out of you before they even lift a
finger."
Holland: "Oh, I'm sure you can. Just as sure as I am that you won't."
Angel: "Won't I?"
Holland: "You don't kill humans."
Angel: "You don't qualify. You set things in motion, play your little
games up here in your glass and chrome tower, and people die - innocent
people."
Holland: "And yet I just can't seem to care. But you do. And while
you're making threats, wasting time, crashing through windows, your
girls are out painting the town red, red, red."
The fact that Angel does continue to care is, I think, amply
demonstrated by the sympathetic way that he treats the injured survivor
of Darla and Drusilla's little shopping expedition.
But something has changed, something important. Angel is not perfect,
never has been. Angel has always been capable of great anger. The
source of this anger is not hard to guess at. Partly no doubt it is
dues to his resentment and frustration and the hand he has been dealt
with in his unlife. Partly it is not doubt due to the influence of the
demon within. Because he knows it is so dangerous he has tried,
usually successfully, to keep it under control. For example in "Guise
will be Guise" Angel and the faux Tish Megev are staff fighting on a
covered bridge.
Magev: "You're holding back. What are you afraid off?"
Angel: "Nothing."
Magev: "You're wimping. This isn't River Dance. Fight!"
Angel: "I am fighting!"
Magev: "Yourself. You're fighting yourself. Fight me! Why are you
holding back? Why can't you let go?"
Angel: "Because."
Magev: "Why?"
Angel: "If I let it, it'll kill you."
Magev: "It?"
Angel: "The demon."
Magev: "Ha! But the demon is you!"
Angel: "No."
Magev: "Yes! That's the thing you spend so much energy trying to
conceal!"
Angel: "No, I just - I can't let it control me."
Magev: "Ah. I see. You *don't* think it controls you?" But it does."
And on occasion the anger does boil over. It did when Tina was
murdered in "City of..", when Trevor Lockley was killed in "The
Prodigal" and when Angel himself killed Baker in "the Ring". Heck it
does so every time he sees Lindsey McDonald.
But ultimately however Angel felt personally about someone was not
allowed to warp his mission. And here I turn back to the events
of "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary". After Faith's initial attempt to
kill him Angel wasn't exactly in a forgiving mood, especially after
learning of what she had done in Sunnydale:
Wesley: "Seems you're taking this personally."
Angel: "Well, you know, she tried to shoot my own personal back, so
yeah."
Wesley: "Did she do something to Buffy?"
Angel: "Giles just said it was rough."
Wesley: "I'm sorry. But if you let emotion control you right now, one
of you will certainly end up dead."
Angel: "Yeah, that's what the lady wants."
But in the end he set aside his anger. He reached out to her and
helped her. And he did so expressly on the grounds that she had a soul
he could save. To Wesley he said:
"She's a person. In case you've forgotten. We're not in the business
of giving up on people."
To Cordelia he said:
"We can't just arbitrarily decide whose soul is worth saving and whose
isn't."
In these episodes, in "Untouched" and most of all in "the Trial" Angel
made it his business to seek a personal connection with someone in
trouble or who had lost their way and, as Doyle had suggested so long
ago, by doing so he was not only saving their soul but his own in the
process.
It is this that has now gone by the board. And the most startling
demonstration of this is the way he treated to would be suicide.
Cordelia begins by cautioning him about how carefully he has to act:
"Easy, Boss. This kid's ready to snap, crackle *and* pop. I felt it
in my vision. We've really got to handle this one with care. You
know, delicately."
Instead he throws the boom box at the wall, twists the gun out of the
suicide's hand and deals with him in the most cursory fashion:
Angel: "Listen I'm not here to hurt you, kid, okay? And Morgog's not
the way. Morgog couldn't find his way to his hairy spine-hump without
a roadmap! So, don't go killing yourself, he's not worth it. And
you've got, you know a million reasons to live I bet. Okay? Got it?
Good."
Wesley: "Angel, we're not done here."
Angel: "I am."
Wesley: "The Powers That Be must have had a good reason for sending us
here."
Angel: "I don't have time to figure that out."
Gunn: "Maybe that's the plan. Maybe they're trying to keep you from
going on this mission."
Wesley: "In any case *that* young man still clearly needs our help!"
Angel: "Go help him. I got more important things to do, okay?"
Making a connection, helping people now no longer features on Angel's
personal radar screen. His real mission has now become to kill those
who would threaten the innocent and to punish to wicked. This is a
very different mission definition to that Doyle gave him and which he
has followed to date. And the reason for this new sense of priority is
to be found in his anger at what happened to Darla.
I have already dealt extensively with the degree of personal commitment
that Angel brought to saving her and the consequent sense of defeat he
must have experienced. The anger and the bitterness this caused can
only be imagined. And at whom would this anger and bitterness be
directed? Not at Darla whom Angel would conceive of as the victim of
the conspiracy. Not even at Drusilla who was too mad to plan things
out in this sort of detail. No, the masterminds behind Darla's fate
were the lawyers in Wolfram and Hart and they were the ones Angel's
special hatred was reserved for. And it was a hatred of a particularly
deadly kind, one fuelled not by personal spite (like Lindsey) but
rather by a burning self-righteousness, a sense in Angel of being the
hand of God sent to smite the evildoer.
And it was with this mindset that Angel arrived in Holland's wine
cellar hard on the heels of Darla and Drusilla. The choice he made
here is the focal point of the whole episode and indeed probably of the
whole Darla arc. So it is important that we understand a few things.
First and foremost Angel did not just leave Holland and the others to
the tender mercies of Darla and Drusilla. By locking the door he made
sure no-one could escape. He, therefore, actively participated in the
massacre. Secondly this was not a decision that could be in any sense
described as irrational or the product of blind rage. He had a lot of
time to think about what he would do when he found his two girls with
the lawyers. And watching the scene I was struck by the complete lack
of emotion, the flat calm so eerily reminiscent of Holland's own
demeanor. It was precipitated by anger certainly but this was indeed a
decision taken in as cold and calculated a fashion as any made by
Wolfram and Hart. And finally it must be stressed that locking that
door on Holland and the others was not a justifiable decision. After
all the whole point of was that Angel should go too far. Indeed just
in case we missed the point the triumvirate of Wesley, Gunn and
Cordelia at the very end was intended to dive the point home. Ad he
was wrong for precisely the same reason that he was right in his
treatment of Faith. The victims in that room were human beings and he
did arbitrarily decide that none of them had souls that were worth
saving. This, even more than his cavalier treatment of the would be
suicide, was the ultimate repudiation of the mission that the Powers
that Be had given him. And this message was driven home by the
reaction of Drusilla to the arrival of her sire. At first she hisses:
"It's not Daddy. It's never Daddy. It's the Angel-beast."
But when he walks out on Holland and the others she says just one word -
"Daddy". I do not think the writers here meant to convey the idea
that Angel had reverted to his demon identity. Rather it was their way
of showing that Drusilla recognized that Angel was not acting out of a
sense of justice but out of hatred, the worst of human motives rather
than the best.
But what makes this such a nicely nuanced and sophisticated treatment
of Angel's turn is that he himself is quite convinced that his is
righteous anger aimed at destroying evil and protecting the innocent.
He believes in his own mind that he is on the right path. He has
redefined himself as Angel Warrior Vampire. He is no longer concerned
with touchy feely nonsense about saving souls. He wants a fight. And
that is why he fired Wesley, Cordelia and Gunn. He did so in response
to Cordelia and Wesley's impassioned plea:
Cordelia: "You have to change the way you've been doing things. Don't
you see where this is taking you?"
Wesley: "Listen to her! Right now the three of us are all that's
standing between you and real darkness."
He doesn't try to argue with them, he doesn't try to justify what he
has done, even though he is clearly very comfortable with it. The
three of them have now proved themselves a liability to him, obstacles
in his path. So, he coldly gets rid of them. In this context Drusilla
utters the most ominous line. In the wine cellar she says of Angel
"He's soul-sick. Not even thinking about his own family. Only thinking
about them."
This could of course be a reference to his Vampire family and how in
his desire to see Wolfram and Hart punished he ignored Darla and
Drusilla. But it can also be taken to be a reference to his
other "family" - Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn. They too are no longer
uppermost in his thoughts as all he can think about is killing the
enemy.
And in this context I would like to mention what may perhaps be the
greatest irony of all in "Reunion". Ever since "the Prodigal" Kate's
concern about Angel has been the fact that he acts outside the law. It
was because she finally came to accept her own limitations (and by
implication those of the LAPD) in dealing with the threat of Vampires
that she felt able to turn to Angel, trusting him to stop the killing.
Holland and the others at his party may have been evil but they were
entitled to Kate's protection and the protection of the law. The fact
that Angel used the freedom Kate had given him to doom them rather than
save them would I think be regarded by her as a betrayal of her trust
and a vindication of her previous suspicions. I will be interested to
see where this one goes but it occurs to me that there has been some
comment to the effect that Kate was beginning to sound a little
crazed. It may well be that this was the writers giving her a good,
solid reason for renewing her distrust of Angel.
To me the way Angel's descent into darkness has been handled is
character writing at its very best. We have seen the way the ANGEL
writers have taken poorly drawn characters from Buffy and skillfully
progressed them as characters. This is true of all three principals in
the series. But in drama as in real life there must be character
regression as well. And this poses perhaps even more problems because
it is so easy to ignore the inconvenient character development that had
taken place and just pull the idiot Jeb out of the hat every time the
plot calls for him. Those who have followed Xander's treatment in
seasons 3 and 4 of BUFFY will not, I think, need and explanation of
this reference. But Angel's regression in stark contrast shows every
sign of careful planning. Not only have the writers cleverly and
believably designed a cause to bring about the change but more
importantly there is the nature of the change itself. The
characteristics that Wolfram and Hart exploited were always there
within Angel, both the anger and (for want of a better term) the
arrogance, the idea that he has all the answers and that he doesn't
need to learn from anyone. The writers have shown in a very coherent
and convincing way not only how the events at the end of "The Trial"
can trigger a change but also why it triggered that particular change.
Indeed both in AYNOHYEB and at the end of "Dear Boy" there are a
wonderful pieces of foreshadowing. In the former, after Angel had
tried to reach out to Judy only to have her betray him he coldly
invites the fear demon to take all the residents of the hotel. This
not only highlights the counterpoint between the good that can happen
when individuals can connect with and help one another and the evil
that occurs when fear and hatred and unleashed. It also shows how hard
Angel is capable of being when his anger is aroused. But perhaps even
more pointedly in the final scene in "Dear Boy" we find Angel sitting
in a chair in his dimly lit room, staring straight ahead. When Wesley
warns him:
"There's going to be trouble."
Angel's response is almost brutal:
"Yeah. There's gonna be a lot of trouble. And I say bring it on."
In the Angel spoiling for a fight here the one we see at the end
of "Reunion" is , I think, unmistakably glimpsed.
Not least of the advantages of this particular approach is that the
Angel we now see is a far richer, more complex and downright more
interesting character than if the writers had simply done the easy
thing and looked for a way to bring Angelus back. But that isn't all
in this episode that is deserving of admiration. Making Angel actually
do something as terrible and unjustifiable as we saw in "Reunion"
requires enormous courage. Off hand I cannot think of another show
that would have tried something like this (and I include BUFFY in
this). This season time after time the writers have chosen to do the
hard thing and in terms of drama it has produced a very rich reward by
making for compelling viewing. In the classic tradition the highest
form of tragedy is where a good and noble man willingly chooses the
wrong path. Essentially this is what we have here. Before Angel could
justly be described as the victim of circumstances beyond his control.
But here his fate and those of the Wolfram and Hart lawyers (to a
degree at least) were under his control and he chose to damn them. And
now he must clearly take the responsibility for his actions. This is
powerful and gripping drama.
But of course in following this approach the writers are walking a very
fine line. You cannot go too far with a hero without destroying his
character altogether and thereby jeopardizing the whole show. That is
why there is the very careful balance we find in the set up for the
massacre. I think this was intended to be a meeting of people with
blood on their hands, people who knew in detail the nature of the
special operation involving Darla. Hence the general self
congratulatory tone of what Holland was saying to them:
"And the Senior Partners have informed me that they are very, very
pleased - with the work our division has been doing. Things have been
progressing nicely - and ahead of schedule - I might add. I would be
remiss without extending well-earned praise to the two members of our
team who have made it possible: Lilah Morgan and Lindsey McDonald."
Further details were not needed because they were known to everyone
present. And because their own handiwork returned to (literally) bite
them they were indeed authors of their own misfortune. And there is a
sort of poetic justice in that. Indeed it would be easy to understand
a sense of satisfaction at their fate. I for one would confess to
greatly enjoying the irony of their having succeeded in their plan so
well that it doomed them. For the reasons I have already given this
does not make what Angel did any less wrong. But it does make his
actions deeply human rather than inhumanly evil. And I think that this
is particularly true when you understand just what Angel suffered to
save Darla and the casual and cold blooded way in which Wolfram and
Hart snatched away her chance of redemption. For these reasons those
same actions were, therefore, understandable and ultimately
forgivable. And I think that this is important. It will, however, be
equally important that the forgiveness is earned, and not cheaply
either. I have more than enough trust in the evil natures of our
writers that I have no fear on this particular score.
The payoff of the Plan
But all of this, of course begs, the question - was the creation of
this mindset in Angel part of the Wolfram and Hart plan. I think the
answer to this is "yes". As we have seen from the very beginning it
was necessary for their plan to make Angel dark that he should try to
save Darla's soul. Drusilla's arrival to turn her just at the right
moment was also clearly pre-planned. The rest is a simple matter of
cause and effect. The advantage to them of an Angel who was motivated
solely by anger and hatred are obvious. I have already described how
it had the effect of turning him from the path intended for him. This
was indeed tearing him away from the Powers that Be. His mission was
no longer to help people but to destroy evil and how discriminating
would he now be in his choice of target? If for example Kate or even
Gunn, Wesley or Cordelia got between him and his intended target what
would he do? Would they become collateral damage? Such an Angel could
be as dangerous to the forces of good as to the forces of evil.
Of course by making themselves the key targets for Angel Holland and
the others were running something of a risk. But they had evidently
taken very serious precautions to protect their own headquarters. More
importantly they had the ultimate diversion for Angel - Darla and
Drusilla. Holland allows them to leave the building without incident
and then specifically rings Drusilla up with a little suggestion:
"Holland: "Darla. Feeling better I trust?"
Darla: "Like my old self again."
Holland: "Splendid. I understand you girls have been on a little
spree."
Darla: "Hmm, is that a problem?"
Holland: "Oh, on the contrary. As a matter of fact, I was just
thinking.
Why settle for a spree, when you could have a, say, a massacre?"
Darla: "A massacre?"
Drusilla: "Ooh, I like the sound of that."
Holland: "Now, of course you'd have the full weight and support of
Wolfram and Hart squarely behind you."
Darla: "I appreciate that Holland."
Holland: "Oh, not at all, Darla. That's what we're here for."
The purpose of this suggestion is clear:
Lilah: "Those two should keep Angel busy for some time."
Lindsey: "Yeah, until he kills them."
Holland: "Oh, I think he'll find that course of action more difficult
than even *he* realizes. Regardless, Lilah's correct. We won't have to
worry about Angel anymore."
And just to make sure Angel gets the message Holland spells it out for
him:
Holland: "And while you're making threats, wasting time, crashing
through windows, your girls are out painting the town red, red, red."
Angel: "Where?"
Holland: "Well, that would be telling. In any case you may want to
hurry. So many lives hanging in the balance, waiting for their
champion to save them."
He doesn't of course give him any help in this. He just makes sure
that Angel will have his attention elsewhere instead of threatening
anyone at Wolfram and Hart.
The problem with this plan is that it fails to take into account the
unpredictability of Darla and Drusilla. Wolfram and Hart are hardly to
be blamed for that. They are after all rational creatures. They have
evidently had a long association with Vampires like Russell Winters on
the basis that they were more useful to them as living functioning
lawyers than as lunch. It probably would not have occurred to them
that they themselves could have been in any danger.
The Plot
The plot in "Reunion" has a number of strengths. If we take "the
Trial" as an example everything in that episode led up to the two
climactic moments at the end. Angel tries and fails to save Darla's
life but does succeed in guiding her towards redemption, only to have
that taken away at the last moment. But until the start of the trials
themselves nothing very much actually happens in terms of story. Here
similarly everything leads up to the climactic confrontation in the
wine cellar. But on the way to that we have a strong self-contained
storyline to keep our attention fixed, namely Angel's attempts first of
all to prevent Darla's raising and then find and stop her and Drusilla
killing a lot of people.
The first was, I think, in particular very effectively handled. We had
a fixed timeframe to work against and therefore a real sense of the
clock ticking away. This is always one of the best ways to convey a
sense of tension. Then the trip to Lindsey's apartment also served a
very useful purpose. Insofar as Angel failed to find either Lindsey or
Darla it contributed to the sense of losing time. But it also provided
useful clues which the members of the Fang Gang put together to produce
a real piece of logical deduction which in turn enabled Angel to find
Drusilla's nursery. I thought that was very clever. And then of
course there were the shifting fortunes of the three handed battle
between Drusilla, Darla and Angel leading the escape of the two women
and the second problem for Angel.
Up to this point Angel's actions and motivations appeared normal. We
were almost allowed to forget the whole purpose of the Darla arc and we
certainly had no sense of just how close Wolfram and Hart were to their
goal. But it is from this point onwards that Angel's own state of mind
intrudes more and more into the plot. In particular his insistence on
making a frontal attack on Wolfram and Hart seemed suicidal. I mean it
wasn't as if they had any idea that Darla and Drusilla were even
there. As Cordelia put it:
"Hitting the pause button. Wolfram and Hart, as in vampire detectors,
crack security system and armed guards? Nice plan, General Custer."
It is from this point onwards that we get a sense that Angel's agenda
is not the simple one it appeared at the start and we can focus more
and more on those elements which lead directly to the denouement.
First we have Darla and Drusilla, perhaps as effective a pair of
villains as we have seen in the entire Whedonverse. Not only are they
physically enormously powerful (as was made clear by the fight with
Angel in the nursery) they are also wildly unpredictable and utterly
ruthless. The scene of the pair of them shopping for clothes in the
boutique was especially successful in this respect. The juxtaposition
of the seemingly normal preoccupations of young women out shopping and
the brutal contempt with which they treated their victims was utterly
chilling. And it made all the sense in the world for them to show
Wolfram and Hart that they were not puppets whose string could be
pulled as the lawyers saw fit but were indeed "superior beings" before
which mortals trembled.
And in the middle of all of this we have various combinations of
Holland, Lindsey and Lilah appearing in different scenes. They are
there partly to remind the viewer of the role that they have played in
bringing Angel to his present state of mind, thus helping to remind the
audience of the reason for the choice Angel makes at the end. But
their presence also serves to help forward the plot by providing the
nexus around which the story would now turn. Angel went after Lindsey
and the others ostensibly to help him locate Darla and Drusilla.
Holland set the latter off on a hunt as a way of distracting Angel.
And Drusilla and Darla in turn led Angel straight to Holland's party.
In this way the three strands of story - Darla and Drusilla, Angel and
Wolfram and Hart - are pulled together to the fated meeting place. I
thought that this was a neat and elegant piece of plotting. But best
of all it was never predictable. At least I for one didn't imagine
that Darla and Drusilla would turn up at Holland's party to massacre
the very people who had driven the series arc. And notwithstanding
Angel's very odd behavior to that point did I imagine he would ever
lock the door and leave the lawyers to their fate. And there was one
tremendous detail that I must mention. As Angel walked down stairs
the "heroic" music they use from time to time swelled up. Everything
about that moment cried out - here comes the cavalry. And then he
turned his back on those who needed his help. Shocking, and exciting
this scene left me breathless in a such a way that I cannot recall a
similar experience watching television.
Of course it must be admitted that the plotting did creak more than a
little here and there. Angel finding the woman whom both Drusilla
and Darla on the one hand and the police had missed was convenient. So
too was the fact that Mrs. Manners invited two strangers into the house
when her husband made such an obvious point of making it clear that
Angel wasn't invited. And finally the fact that Darla and Drusilla
actually left her alive to invite Angel in was stretching things a
bit. But I suppose these are the shortcuts that writers must sometimes
take and certainly the pace at which things moved throughout this
episode more than justified taking these shortcuts.
A (9.5/10). Not a perfect episode but in an exceptionally strong
series this is a standout. I say this for a number of reasons but
principally because the writers have done something that is hard, brave
and very interesting. Throughout this episode there was a continually
changing dynamic between the three principal protagonists: the vampire
girls, the Wolfram and Hart lawyers who seemed for so long to be in
control and the Angel. We were never entirely sure until the very end
how this dynamic was going to resolve itself. This was interesting
enough but when the dust finally settled it appeared that evil has
succeeded in a way that I would never have predicted. Angel has more
than flirted with darkness. He has now quite voluntarily severed his
connection not only with the Powers that Be but his own closest
friends. And the shock and surprise of his actions here are what
really makes this episode. On the other hand he is not simply gone
back to being a killer Vampire. No, the Angel we now have occupies
morally very ambiguous grounds in which he thinks he is doing the right
thing but actually isn't. But while this episode is a genuine turning
point it also seems to be setting things up for future developments.
The other great change is the emergence of two new villains who can be
expected to play a full part in future developments. Darla for the
first time has emerged as a genuine force in her own right instead of
merely as a tool used to explore Angel's dilemma. She and Drusilla not
only make very considerable opponents for Angel but they also
contribute some deliciously black humor as they play off one another.
And then there is Wolfram and Hart. Holland appears to be doomed. But
what about Lindsey and Lilah? Lindsey in particular becomes more and
more intriguing. For someone whose only interest seemed to be in
serving his own ends he looked remarkably calm in the face of death.
And what was behind that sardonic little smile he gave as Angel closed
the doors on them? "Reunion" doesn't therefore complete the arc in any
sense but rather acts as a bridge to all sorts of intriguing future
developments. This arc just gets more and more interesting.