Review of Episode 16, Season 3

"Sleep Tight"


What a mind-blowing episode! Hats off to David Greenwalt and Terrence O’Hara for doing such an excellent job. Finally, things are starting to come full circle as loyalties are defined, hidden agendas are revealed, and betrayal begets betrayal.

Angel got a little Angelus on everybody’s ass this episode. The fighting scenes were well choreographed thanks in great measures to the supervision of stunt coordinator Mike Massa as we watched our hero brutally beat those demons and Holtz’s (Keith Szarabajka) flunkies. I was shocked when I found out the pig’s blood he was drinking was spiked with Connor’s blood. I knew Wolfram & Hart was low but not low enough to hurt Angel’s baby in order to strike at him. Boreanaz really gets to stretch his acting legs, playing the careless, out of control monster to the brooding hero struggling to control the raging demon within him to the wronged father seething in rage to the tormented tragic hero as he helplessly watched his son taken before his very eyes.

While we are no closer to learning Sahjhan’s (Jack Conley) vendetta against Angel, he at least revealed himself to him. It seems Angel’s just in the dark as everyone else. Things definitely aren’t what they appear to be. When Wesley took Connor, he never revealed where this “safe place” was, nor did the Host specifically say he was (or wasn’t) in cahoots with Holtz in regards to giving him the baby. Lilah (Stephanie Romanov) allegedly wanting Connor alive, never mind she told Sahjhan otherwise. Holtz wanting Connor alive, then threatening to kill him, and then jumping into the demon dimension with him. Justine Cooper (Laurel Holloman) seems to be the wild card in all this, her loyalties changing on a dime (like everyone else’s). Talk about screw and counter-screw.

Other things worth mentioning are the little things that contributed to making this episode great. It was so sickeningly sweet to see Gunn and Fred talk on cell phones within the same room that I got a cavity. I laughed at Angel talking about the Richard Nixon/Britney Spears nightmare (disturbing visual, that), and laughed harder at the Host telling Connor the Rat Pack story. The episode ends with Angel too beaten, numbed, and helpless to pursue his enemies, his thoughts flashing to his son whom he was powerless to save. “Let him suffer!” Lilah said. We definitely share in that torment since it’ll be five weeks before the next episode airs. Talk about cruel and unusual.

Fun Fact:
This episode also features another song-writing talent of David Greenwalt. The tune Marina Benedict (Kim) sings in the courtyard of the Hyperion was penned by Greenwalt and entitled, Back in the Blue. Very well done, indeed.

I give it...

Written by CoA Staff member, Ned Flanders

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!


Wesley: I didn’t sleep very well.
Angel: Yeah, and you look like hell. Not the fun one where they burn you with hot pokers for all eternity, but the hard core one. You know, Nixon and Britney Spears.

Gunn: (about Wraithers) I wonder why they would want to look like musicians?
Angel: For the chicks. Musicians get the chicks. What, they’re going to appear as dentists? Let’s take them out. Where are they?

Wesley: (to Justine) You lost family. I’m sorry. Angel and the people I work with are my family, and when I say I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, (grabs Justine and puts her own knife to her throat) I mostly mean them. But I don’t stab people in the back.
Holtz: You’re an honest man. I trust you.

Gunn: (to Angel) You were all hyped up this morning, then you went all Tyson on those demons, then you kind of crashed. Had another drink, then you started throwing things.
Fred: Uh, huh. Just like my Aunt Viola and her Southern Comfort.
Angel: Hey, vampire. Need to drink something red. It doesn’t make me a bloodaholic.

Wesley: Oh for God’s sake. I know you’re better at following people than this. So what’s the play?
Justine: I just need to talk to you. I’m alone. He doesn’t know that I’m… I want to talk to you about him.
Wesley: Holtz? Great guy. Not overly tall. (condescendingly) Is this the part where you offer to help me behind his back?
Justine: Do you believe in anything? Or is it all just a big scam to you?
Wesley: You’re a soldier, fight to the death kind. I respect that. You work for a man that you think is noble and good. I respect that. Trouble is, he’s not.
Justine: You work with a vampire.
Wesley: Who, in fact, is noble and good. Quirky, but there it is. Holtz talks about justice, and it’s stirring, but what he wants is revenge. He’s driven by it, blinded by it, and if you, me, or anybody else gets in his way, he’ll kill for it.
Justine: You’re wrong. You don’t know him. Everything he’s done for me, for all of us.
Wesley: It sounds like a nice cult.
Justine: He gave you his word. He’ll keep it. You’re the one who’s blind.
Wesley: How so?
Justine: What you’re about to do to your friend. I imagine it’s easier to hate Holtz than yourself.
Wesley: There’s enough to go around for both him and me. Be careful.

Lilah: How did you find me?
Angel: Your assistant.
Lilah: I’ll have his arms broken.
Angel: Already taken care of.

Holtz: (to Connor) Hello son. I’m your father. And that strong lady with the black eye is your mother. Your name is Steven Franklin Thomas, and you’re going to grow up with me on a little ranch in the middle of nowhere.

Lilah: (incredulously about Connor) You’d rather see the lunatic with the baby than us?

Angel: They want the baby alive.
Holtz: Something we all have in common.
Sahjhan: Not all of us. You do not want the child alive. You want the child dead. That was our arrangement.
Lilah: (sarcastically) Yeah, I’m a lawyer. Have you met me? We have a new arrangement. I’m keeping the baby.
Sahjhan: You can’t do that.
Lilah: Ignore the loudmouth with the bad skin. He’s impotent in this dimension.

Soldier: Should we do something about… (gestures toward Angel)
Lilah: Yes we should. We should let him suffer.


Quotes by Council member, Seeker