Review of Episode 15, Season 3

"Loyalty"


Last season, we were treated to watching Angel revert back into his darker recesses in order to accomplish his task ahead. This season, it has become increasingly clear that Wesley will be heading down a similar deadly path. Wesley Wyndam Pryce is no longer the bumbling, inept, fresh-to-the-field Watcher; he has fulfilled his own foretelling of becoming the rogue demon hunter. These are two totally distinct individuals, yet still with the same singular course: do whatever is necessary to save the innocent. Wesley and Angel have other similarities as well, they both struggle to keep these torturous secrets within them, choosing to fight alone rather then endanger the ones around them. It is their sole burden to bear no matter what the repercussions.

Right off the bat, writer Mere Smith sets the stage by showing us in the teaser that this is not going to be a quite ride through Loyalty. She is really coming into her own this season as she continues to interlace the story threads so succinctly with twists and turns that if you’re not paying close attention you might miss the genuine subtlety of her writing. We’re treated to Mere’s sense of humor that will never allow any of us to go through a fast food drive-in again without an awkward glance at the ordering speaker system. She adds just the right amount of levity to offset the drama as we watch Angel in fathely)
It’s interesting that Loyalty also establishes Lilah with mother issues, yet the firm always comes first, behind Lilah of course. When Sahjhan mentions that he is familiar with the workings of W&H here as well as in ‘other dimensions’, this may be a reference to Pylea or perhaps their tendrils reach even farther. Gunn and Fred establish their loyalties as well. And even in the Holtz camp, loyalties are drawn and fortified. Holtz reemerges and we see another bit of his plan, although we’re still not being let in on the main objective. Although we may think it’s quite clear what the prophecy holds for Angel, that he will kill his son, this could be a cryptic mislead. ‘Child’ taken literally as in Connor or figuratively as in those Angel has sired. There is still debate whether Connor is Angel’s son and more hints are dropped with W&H making tests of the baby’s blood, yet what have they missed?

Enough cannot be said about the acting ability of Alexis Denisof as the producers of Angel allow him this opportunity. Ever challenging, ever reaching inside the actor’s potential – he plays such a wide range of emotions so well, it’s simply ‘enjoyable’ to watch him. The guy kicks it! Certainly Angel has the more dynamic character developments over a shorter period of time in comparison to those on Buffy, but the directions they’ve allowed the actors to cultivate makes for exciting viewing. Loyalty leaves us where it started, on a literally bloody, questioning and shocking edge wondering just how far Wesley will go to protect Angel’s son as Angel holds Connor in his arms. I really dug this episode, as I do most of Mere’s scripts, because she comes at you on a more cerebral level and I like being challenged. But with Mere’s own words, “After my episode don’t plan on taking a breath anytime soon!”

I give it...

Review by CoA Council member, Swoop



CoA Stakes Rating Guide
= Disappointing, stake it, bury it!
= Not too bad, Lacking a few graves.
= Typical Dark Avenger saves the day Saga.
= Better still, Quality Headstones.
= Outstanding! Reward it with mortality!


Angel: (giving advice to a mother) Have you tried the vacuum? Sometimes the white noise from the motor will put a colicky baby right to sleep.
Mrs. Ferguson: You know, I’ve read about that. Problem is, my older one. I can’t run the vacuum while he’s sleeping.
Angel: You could try taping it. The sound. Just leave it playing by the crib kind of low.
Mrs. Ferguson: Oh, I should have thought of that! (smiling) Mr. Dad to the rescue.
Angel: (to Wesley gleefully) “Mr. Dad”. Check me out. I’m Mr. Dad.

Angel: (holding up a tiny hockey shirt with Connor’s name on back) Check this out. How cute is this? Huh? Seriously.
Gunn: Seriously, I’d say you’ve got way too much time on your hands.
Fred: Come on, you think it’s adorable.
Gunn: Well, yeah, but at least I’m manly enough to deny it.

Angel: (trying to get his mind off Cordelia) You know, hockey’s a great sport.
Gunn: You realize this is the whitest sport known to man?
Angel: True. But the games are indoors, and they usually play at night.
Gunn: Gotcha.
Angel: Okay, I know it’s a little bit too early to be thinking about stuff like this, but I can’t wait to watch him, you know, grow up. For him to lose his first tooth. Learn how to ride a bike. (laughs) I want to help him pick out a tux for his senior prom. I just can’t wait to see who he’s going to be. I know that it’s mushy, but he just, he makes me so happy.

Angel: (to Aubrey) When somebody becomes a vampire, there’s no turning back. No matter how much you want to believe there’s some part of them you can save, all that’s left is an evil thing.

Justine: I don’t understand. How can these people work for a vampire?
Holtz: I once made a pact with a demon.
Justine: So you could get to Angelus. So you could kill a vampire.
Holtz: I’m sure they believe their reasons are good, however misguided. Things aren’t always black and white, Justine. Good and evil.
Justine: What about Angelus?
Holtz: He’s evil.

Wesley: Fred, we’re not here to date, we’re here to do a job.

Lilah: (as Sahjhan appears out of thin air) You don’t have an appointment.
Sahjhan: That’s it? No, “Wow, how’d he do that?”. No screaming in terror? You 21st century types are so jaded.

Lilah: My company rocks.
Sahjhan: Yes, I’m familiar with your firm, in this and other dimensions.
Lilah: Great, let’s short hand. You’re a time-shifter. You recruited Holtz in the 18th century, put him on ice for a couple hundred years so he could pop up and stake Angel when he’s least expecting it. But considering I have yet to put on my boogie shoes and dance on Angel’s pile of dust, I’m imagining that Holtz isn’t working fast enough for you. Which leads me to believe, you think my firm could expedite the process.
Sahjhan: More or less.
Lilah: I hat to disappoint you, but Wolfram & Hart’s official policy is to let Angel live until he becomes useful. I’m sworn to obey that policy. (holds up a “Count me in” sign) Is there some other way we can help you?
Sahjhan: (clears throat) I have a plan. But for it to work, I require a very rare and valuable ingredient. Getting it will be difficult, if not impossible. I need the blood of Angel’s son.
Lilah: (immediately) Got it.
Sahjhan: (incredulous) Got it? What do you mean, got it? How’d you get it?
Lilah: Swiped it from his doctor’s office. I don’t know what good it’ll do you though. The boys in the lab looked it over, said it was utterly run of the mill. Completely normal.
Sahjhan: That’s because they’re looking for the wrong thing.

The Loa: That the vampire will devour his child is certain. The dark question you harbor is only when?
Wesley: No, the dark question I harbor is how do I stop it?
The Loa: It cannot be stopped.
Wesley: It has to be stopped. There must be a way … (gets knocked over by the Loa’s power)
The Loa: Your insolence is disappointing.
Wesley: (muttering) Try chatting with a cranky hamburger.

Angel: (to Aubrey) You’re right to protect him. Holtz is one of the good guys. He has every right to hate me, (pauses) and if he ever comes close to any of my people ever again or tries to touch a hair on my son’s head, I’ll kill him. And anyone who gets in the way. You might want to mention that.

Wesley: (to Holtz) This isn’t war. It’s revenge.
Justine: What’s wrong with revenge. It’s all some of us have left.
Wesley: Look. I can’t know what it’s been like for any of you.
Holtz: You might soon enough. (long pause) When I put my son’s body into the ground, I had to open the coffin just to know that he really was in there. You also may discover that a child’s coffin, Mr. Wyndam-Price, weighs nothing.

Gunn: (to Fred) Wesley’s a good man. He’ll do the right thing. He always does.

Angel: I love my son.
Wesley: Love can be a terrible thing.
Angel: I used to think that. I thought love was something that swallowed you whole, ripped you up inside. But you know, what I feel for Connor, even that fear, it’s (pauses) it’s not terrible. It’s beautiful.


Quotes by Council member, Seeker