Season Two

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Regular cast: David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, J. August Richards

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Angel is moving out of the shadow of Buffy (with fewer cross-overs). Gunn slowly becomes the new member of Angel Investigations, they find a new home in an old hotel, and new help from the Host (Lorne) who can read people when they sign. But Wolfram & Hart will turn Angel bad (not evil, just angry and vengeful), throwing Angel off his road to redemption for a bit. He will eventually return to the right path, and the season ends with a three-episode trip to another dimension. 

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“Judgment”

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Episode 1 of Season 2

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“One soul at a time.”

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Original US airdate: September 26th, 2000 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Buffy vs. Dracula")

Rewatched: October 8th, 2022

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• Writer: Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt

• Director: Michael Lange

• Guests: Christian Kane, Stephanie Romanov, Andy Hallett, Justina Machado, Julie Benz

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After the events of last season, Angel Investigations is running like a well-oiled machine (from Cordelia’s apartment), setting up the demons and knocking them out, until Angel kills the wrong demon. As Angel says, “I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. That someday I might become human. That light was so bright, I though I was already out.” So, the team scraps the white board and decides to focus on one soul at a time. Angel will eventually reach the final battle and they’ll eventually figure out what Wolfram & Hart raised, they don’t need to go so fast they keep killing the wrong people.

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The demon Angel killed was the champion of the pregnant woman, whose unborn daughter is supposed to be some power for the good and is therefore being hunted. Angel is fed false intel by a new demon source Wesley is using named Merl. Once Angel realizes his mistake, he steps up to be the champion. Of course, he is not really welcomed with open arms and after several other missteps, finally is able to be her champion, jousting with another demon and killing him. The Tribunal grants the woman and her daughter asylum. So, Angel is redeemed, sort of. The events (and missteps) lead him to visit Faith, where the two commiserate on how hard the road to redemption is.

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Darla is at Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey is working on Darla, trying to get her ready to exact revenge on Angel. Lilah is attempting to help, but Lindsey seems most connected to Darla. Angel still doesn’t know Darla is back, but Darla can feel Angel is close.

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Angel also meets the Host (Lorne) at his bar. The Host can see into the spirit of those who sing for him at his karaoke bar and can give them guidance about their destiny. Angel refuses to sing for him but eventually does come back and sing “Mandy” by Barry Manilow. The Host will continue to play a large role for the rest of the series and his ability to advise them in the fight is evident here. While the final season saw Lorne’s role change to something that didn’t quite work, his role as an advisor to the gang for the next few seasons is a very important one and he is a character I always enjoy. I’d also like to note that although Angel seems to have been a fan of “Mandy” before he meet Buffy, as we will see in the season 4 episode “Orpheus”, the lyrics describe Angel’s time with Buffy:

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I remember all my life
Raining down as cold as ice
Shadows of a man
A face through a window
Crying in the night
The night goes into morning

 

Just another day
Happy people pass my way
Looking in their eyes
I see a memory
I never realized
How happy you made me, oh Mandy

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These two verses seem to describe Angel before he met Buffy. He was a shadow of a man, living homeless on the streets, looking in at life through windows. Seeing happy people, but unable to be happy or be part of the world until he met Buffy.

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Well you came and you gave without taking
But I sent you away, oh Mandy
Well you kissed me and stopped me from shaking
And I need you today, oh Mandy

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This verse underline how Buffy saved him. She gave him her love, but he left her, even though he does still love her and need her at times.

I′m standing on the edge of time
I've walked away when love was mine
Caught up in a world of uphill climbing
The tears are in my mind
And nothing is rhyming, oh Mandy

 

This verse underlining how Angel walked away from love, similar to the chorus.

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Yesterday′s a dream I face the morning
Crying on a breeze
The pain is calling, oh Mandy

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The song ends by underlining how Sunnydale seems far away and his life in LA is perhaps not as easy as life was there.

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Finally, Gunn meets Cordy and Wes officially. He saw them in the hospital (but they didn’t see him) and now they meet in person. Gunn is now a series regular, but not quite yet an Angel Investigations member. Also, while running away from demons with the pregnant woman, Angel has a moment where he seems to remember the way to go and they end up in an old, abandoned hotel which Angel seems to remember. This will become the new home of Angel Investigations this season. But this does always raise the question for me, where has Angel been sleeping all summer? They’re working out of Cordy’s house, but is he sleeping there, too?

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On a final note, the opening scene shows Cordy doing well in her acting class and getting ample praise before being paged away to fight the good fight. Wes is also a bit less uptight (and wearing more casual clothes) as he flirts and plays darts (well) at a bar before being paged by Angel. The two have grown up quite a bit over the summer.

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So this episode is a bit of the normal monster of the week, but does introduce some key characters and elements of the coming season.

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In the fun facts categories, many of the demons see in Caritas (the Host’s bar) have been seen on Buffy and Angel previously.

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“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been”

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Episode 2 of Season 2

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"It's kind of like a puzzle. The 'who died horribly cause Angel screwed up 50 years ago' game.”

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Original US airdate: October 3rd, 2000 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Real Me")

Rewatched: October 16th, 2022

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• Writer: Tim Minear

• Director: David Semel

• Guests: Melissa Marsala, John Kapelos, Tommy Hinkley, Brett Rickaby, Scott Thompson Baker, J.P. Manoux

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Enter the Hyperion Hotel, seen briefly in the last episode and which Angel asks the team to investigate this episode. It soon becomes clear that Angel was living there in 1952 in room 217. The hotel is 68 rooms of seediness (and racism), and Angel was laying low, not getting involved, until Judy asked for his help. Angel got involved and it didn’t end well, as the other guests hung him in the lobby.

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The long story is that Judy was fired for being colored. She was passing for white but her secret came out. She stole money from the bank she had been working for and wanted Angel’s help to get the PI hired by the bank off her trail. At the same time, other strange things happen, like a salesman killing himself and being hidden in the hotel’s meat locker, causing other guests to assume he’d been murdered. They think Judy murdered him, but she lays the blame on Angel and the guests, in an act of mob violence, hang Angel. His good deed was indeed punished.

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However, the guests were influenced by a Thesulac demon, who feeds on paranoia (and the 50s were a time of great paranoia!). The demon manifests after Angel is hanged and Angel leaves the hotel to him, knowing he’ll feed off the guests.

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Thesulac: “God, I love people, don’t you? They feed me the worst and I kind of serve it right back to ‘em. And the fear and prejudice turns to certainty and hate and I take another bite… You got your feelings hurt, didn’t you? See now what happens when you stick your neck out for ‘em, they throw a rope around it. And you thought you’d made a friend… you reached her, buddy, restored her faith in people… Hey, you know what? There’s an entire hotel here just full of tortured souls who could really use your help. What do you say?

Angel: “Take ‘em all.”

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In the present, Angel, while at the hotel finding the stolen money he helped Judy hide long ago, discovers the demon is still there. He remembers how to kill the demon from his attempts in 1952 and calls in the team and Gunn to assist. They kill the demon and Angel discovers that Judy has been living in the hotel the whole time. Judy tells Angel he looks the same and he says he’s not the same. Angel forgives Judy and she dies. Angel decides to move in again and make the hotel a good place:

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Wesley: “This is a house of evil.”

Angel: “Not anymore.”

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This is the first episode to indicate that Angel did not spend the whole time after he regained his soul homeless but did in fact live with one foot in the world. However, it is clear in this episode that he hadn’t found his place, and still didn’t really view humanity fondly. He is more like Angelus than Angel. This hints at the darkness Angel will experience later this season. Although Judy in 1952 says “I mean, there is such a thing as forgiveness, right?”, reminding us that redemption is possible, this episode underscores how hard it is and how long Angel spent ignoring the opportunity to help.

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In fun facts, in 1952 Angel gets help from a bookstore owner named Denver, who will return as an old man in “Reprise”. Also, this episode leaves several open questions. How did Judy survive all alone in the hotel without leaving her room? What happened to the money? (Minear claims Angel sent is back to the bank… but did he use it to buy the hotel?)

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“First Impressions”

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Episode 3 of Season 2

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"I can’t take it easy. I can never take it easy. Not for a second.”

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Original US airdate: October 10th, 2000 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "The Replacement")

Rewatched: October 22nd, 2022

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• Writer: Shawn Ryan

• Director: James A. Contner

• Guests: David Herman, Andy Hallett, Chris Babers, Cedrick Terrell, Julie Benz

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This episode is a bit of a mixed bag. There are two main plot lines, one of which is quite interesting and the other a bit less so.

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In the more interesting one, Angel is having vivid dreams featuring Darla. They are positive dreams, in which they seem to be in a relationship. This is an interesting way to introduce Darla back into Angel’s life as Darla in a way represents what Angel wants (he wants forgiveness, love and a place in the world), but Darla is not Angel’s way to get what he wants. She is an illusion, just like the dreams she’s in. More immediately, however, Angel is having trouble being awake when needed and is off his game. Finally, at the end of the episode, we learn Darla is actually in the room with Angel while he is sleeping, and none of this seems to bode well.

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The less interesting plot line involves Gunn. He’s upset that Angel isn’t really backing him up with a demon who’s moved into his neighborhood, but also gets violent with an informant, which Angel is very against. Through the events in the episode, it is clear that Gunn has never really processed his sister Alonna’s death and feels an immense sense of responsibility for those who depend on him, saying he can’t ever stop or take a break. The weight of his world rests heavy on his shoulders.  However, it is interesting to note that Gunn will (fairly easily) leave is crew behind to join Angel Investigations this season. 

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After Gunn and the Angel Investigations team fail to find the demon they were hunting, they all call it a day and later Cordelia has a vision of Gunn fighting for his life. Unable to wake Angel or find Wesley, she goes to save Gunn herself. Only she interrupts his gang’s training, has Angel’s car stolen and makes a bad impression at a party Gunn takes her to in hopes of tracking down the people who stole the car. Gunn is not impressed with Cordelia (earlier he called her stick-figure Barbie and Wesley C-3PO). However, his impression changes when she saves his friend Veronica after vampires attack the party, and generally shows an ability to take control when stuff hits the fan. Later, they find the demon by accident and face him together. The arrival of Wesley and Angel enables them to win against the demon and his minions.

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Cordelia tells Gunn at the end of the episode that he’s the danger she saw in her vision, not the demon. She claims Gunn doesn’t just face danger, he creates it, and she vows to help him get off his self-destruct mission. This is similar to what Alonna told Gunn once she was turned. And Gunn does seem overly caught up in the fight against evil, but I do have my issues with Cordelia being the one to save him. While this is perhaps supposed to show the two getting to know each other and getting past their stereotypes, it does feel overly paternalistic for the formerly rich white woman to save the lower-class black man. Gunn has his issues, but he may not need a savior, he may only need a friend who accepts him as he is. I think this episode was an attempt to start integrating Gunn into the team, but that never seemed to actually work well, with Gunn remaining a bit of an outsider until the end of the series and interesting aspects, like his crew and his sister's death, seldomly raised. 

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In fun facts, this episode marks David Nabbit’s last appearance. It was equally as pointless as the 2nd appearance. Angel rides with Wesley on his motorcycle and has to wear the pink helmet. You think someone as old as Angel would be beyond that macho ‘guys can’t wear pink’ thing, but he isn’t. Angel Investigations has moved into the hotel. I do always question why they didn’t do anything with the other rooms (and restaurant and pool). Why didn’t the whole team move in (I mean, yeah, odd to live together, but with 68 rooms, they could have space and save money), or why didn’t Angel turn the other rooms into apartments and rent them out? A lot of space for one office in the lobby and one suite for Angel to live in.

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“Untouched”

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Episode 4 of Season 2

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"There’s nothing so lovely as dreams. Everything’s in them, everything hidden. Open those chambers and you can truly understand someone and control them.”

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Original US airdate: October 17th, 2000 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Out of my Mind")

Rewatched: October 28th, 2022

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• Writer: Mere Smith

• Director: Joss Whedon

• Guests: Stephanie Romanov, Sam Anderson, Daisy McCracken, Gareth Williams, Julie Benz

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The main story is pretty run of the mill (and not my favorite). Sexually abused by her father, Bethany has developed telekinesis, which she can’t really control. Lilah, or rather Wolfram & Hart, are trying to recruit Bethany, perhaps as some sort of assassin, but Cordy’s vision sends in Angel to save Bethany from her father and Wolfram & Hart and teach her how to control her power. Lilah is put out, Bethany is never seen again, and life is good.

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The more interesting aspects of this episode is small scenes. Angel, still without a police contact, has to impersonate (wonderfully) a detective to get the details at the scene of a crime where Bethany crushed two attackers with a dumpster. Later, when Gunn and Angel search one of the men’s apartments (who is still on life support), Angel leans on the force field that keeps him out of apartment without an invitation while Gunn searches the apartment. The moment the attacker dies, Angel falls into the apartment. Additionally, Angel expresses his love of people. When Bethany says she doesn’t like them, Angel says that he likes them because they try. “I see ‘em try to be better.” Which really encapsulates the whole Angel philosophy. No one is perfect; all that matters is trying to be better each and every day.

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Then there is Gunn. There is reference to Cordy’s goal of saving Gunn from himself. The first appearance of Gunn’s homemade hubcap axe, which is a great weapon. Then Cordelia tells Angel (and Wes) that it’s time to pay Gunn. Both are kind of reticent, but Angel finally offers and Gunn accepts, meaning Gunn is now a full member of Angel Investigations.

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Finally, there is Cordelia. Two scenes stick out. Like in the last episode, when Wolfram & Hart try to kidnap Bethany, Cordelia springs into action, showing amazing ability to think and act under pressure. She also quips to Angel in this episode that he can’t fire her because “I’m vision girl”. Unfortunately, this will prove to be wrong, as Angel will end up firing the entire Angel Investigations team later this season.

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Which is related to the final important point. Darla is still visiting Angel in his dreams, this time showing him a dream version of killing the Romani girl. Angel Investigations does not know she’s back yet.

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