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“Dead End”

 

Episode 18 of Season 2

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“The key to Wolfram & Hart: Don't let them make you play their game. You gotta make them play yours.”

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Original US airdate: April 24th, 2001 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Intervention")

Rewatched: February 17th, 2023

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• Writer: David Greenwalt

• Director: James A. Contner

• Guests: Christian Kane, Stephanie Romanov, Andy Hallett, Gerry Becker, Michael Dempsey, Mik Scriba

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This is a fairly standard episode of Angel. Angel Investigations continues to find their new footing, investigating a vision Cordy has. Without leads, they head out to visit Lorne, where they see Lindsey playing the guitar and singing (a song Christian Kane wrote – why wasn’t this a part of every single Angel episode ever?). Lindsey has a new hand, and Lorne tells them, team Angel and Lindsey, that they need to work together. Of course, they don’t, not at first, but in the end, Angel and Lindsey team up to destroy Wolfram & Hart’s organ harvesting ring. Lindsey leaves town, with Angel telling him not to return and Lindsey telling Angel not to play Wolfram & Hart’s game. “You gotta make them play yours.” Angel will not head this advice well and in season 5, he’ll join Wolfram & Hart, which he will later come to regret.

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Lindsey’s new hand is part of what was supposed to be his promotion over Lilah to head Special Projects. However, Lindsey decides instead to leave Wolfram & Hart. After learning the full truth behind his hand, Lindsey has decided he wants no more. He resigns in a blaze of glory, riffing on his evil hand and even shooting the security guard in the foot, but he does talk up Lilah as well, telling them they would be stupid to overlook her. With Lindsey gone, Lilah is indeed promoted and will continue to play a key role in coming episodes.

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Finally, Cordy’s visions are starting to take a toll on her. As Wesley mentions to Gunn, Doyle was half-demon and Cordy might not be cut out to withstand her visions. So far, Cordy is nonchalant, viewing this as the price of fighting the good fight.  In season 3’s “Birthday”, the full consequences of the visions will become clear to everyone at Angel Investigations.

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The overall theme of this episode is sacrifice. Lindsey sacrificed a hand (and his guitar hobby) for his job. Others sacrificed organs so the golden boys of Wolfram & Hart could be whole. Cordy is sacrificing her health for her visions. Lindsey decides the price of evil is too high. Cordy is still willing to pay the price to help others. Everything has its consequences, the question is whether you can live with them.

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“Belonging”

 

Episode 19 of Season 2

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“Can you imagine living in a place like that?”

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Original US airdate: May 1st, 2001 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Tough Love")

Rewatched: February 24th, 2023

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• Writer: Shawn Ryan

• Director: Turi Meyer

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Amy Acker, Jarrod Crawford, Darris Love, Brody Hutzler

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This week, Angel Investigation asks themselves where they belong.

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Cordy has a role in a commercial that she is very excited about, although she does know as long as she has the visions, she can’t fully leave the good fight for acting. Also, the shoot is not as fun as Cordy hoped, as the director is a demanding, belittling man. Cordy is feeling conflicted about her dreams and goals.

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Wesley is still nominally the leader of the team, but it’s not going great. Angel has tendencies of taking over and Wesley struggles to fully feel like a leader. He also calls his father, who reminds Wesley of all his failings. So, while Wesley has no doubt about being part of the fight against evil, he is doubting his leadership role.

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Gunn is feeling like he abandoned his friends again. George and Rondell show up, not because they need Gunn, but because they need his truck. They’ve moved on. Gunn is not ready for that. They have a vampire problem to address, but Gunn asks them to wait for him. They don’t, and George is killed. Gunn feels both left out of his gang and a bit responsible. If he hadn’t left them for Angel, George may have survived.

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Angel seems more secure in his place than the humans in his life, but when Lorne describes his home dimension, he seems kind of interested in going there:

A world of only good and evil, black and white. No gray, no music, no art, just champions roaming the countryside fighting for justice. Boring. You got a problem, solve it with a sword. No one ever admits to having actual feelings and emotions, let alone talks about ‘em.

Angel is tired of the gray areas.

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Finally, the only person who knows he’s found his place in this world is Lorne. This is the episode we finally learn his name (Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, or Lorne for short) and he’s never been happier. The best thing that ever happened was the portal opening and taking him to earth. He’s never questioned why it happened, and when a portal opens at Caritas and spits out a Drokken beast from his home dimension, Lorne’s only thought is killing it (or rather, getting Angel to do so). When Cordy has a vision that sends them looking for a young woman at the library who may be in danger of opening a portal, Lorne is not happy. However, they go and learn they are too late to save Fred, as the young woman is called. She disappeared from the library five years ago. They do find the book she read from, and when Cordy reads from it, a portal opens. This time, it spits out Lorne’s cousin Landok.

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Landok and Angel, with Wesley’s help, kill the Drokken. Cordy has figured out that reading the book at specific places will open the portal. She’s not sure how she knows, but she’s sure. So the gang takes Landok to Caritas and opens a portal for him. Unfortunately, it takes Cordy to Lorne’s home dimension as well.

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In the end, the question of where we belong in the world is one of the big adult questions. Things change, we change, we move on, we leave things and people behind, and we have to question whether we have made the right choices.

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“Over the Rainbow”

 

Episode 20 of Season 2

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“All my life I thought I was crazy, that I had ghosts in my head or something...”

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Original US airdate: May 8th, 2001 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "Spiral")

Rewatched: March 5th, 2023

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• Writer: Mere Smith

• Director: Fred Keller

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Amy Acker, Susan Blommaert, Persia White, Daniel Dae Kim, Michael Phenicie

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On Earth, Gunn is mourning the loss of one of his crew and wondering if he’s doing the right thing by joining Angel Investigations. Wesley and Angel are desperately searching for a way into Pylea, Lorne’s world, to save Cordelia, but the book no longer opens a portal at Caritas. When Wesley finally figures everything out, Gunn says he can’t go. He needs to stay in LA. However, after Angel leaves a voice message, basically leaving Gunn in charge should they not return, Gunn decides to go after all. The four head off through a portal to rescue Cordelia.

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Cordelia has been captured, sold as a slave, made first contact with Fred (although Cordy doesn’t realize it’s the woman from her vision), and learned that Fred is an escaped slave. However, when Cordy has a vision, the Pyleans call her cursed. They test her (torture her) to discover whether she really does have visions, and then make her queen. It’s a bit of a wild ride for her.

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While, basically, everyone has adventures in a new world, it’s clear the theme is still about belonging, like in the last episode. Angel is still infatuated with Lorne’s world, even more so because he can be in the sun in this dimension. Cordy is at first very unhappy, but being made queen makes her enjoy her role in Pylea. Wesley is starting to feel more like a leader, taking charge on researching portals and getting them there in one piece. When the guys are captured (and taken to the queen), Wesley even gets Gunn to stop antagonizing their captors, showing he can be Gunn’s buddy, he can be the geeky research guy, but he can be a leader.

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Gunn is still torn between his old life and his new life, perhaps a feeling made stronger by race. Gunn has turned his back on his old inner-city neighborhood and his multi-racial, but still fairly POC, gang to join a group of white guys operating out of a swanky hotel. Is Gunn just turning his back on his old gang, or also on his roots? Gunn’s conflicted feelings are an obstacle to him fully embracing Angel Investigations as his family, which will have consequences in season 5.

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Lorne knows where he belongs and it’s not Pylea. He is not happy about being back. Although Lorne’s sexuality is never discussed, and while he has made admiring comments of women, he is clearly not fully straight. His love of Earth is about him embracing his freedom of choice; his ability to choose who he wants to be. He can’t do that on Pylea. As Lorne says, “They have no music there, it doesn’t exist … All my life I thought I was crazy, that I had ghosts in my head or something, simply because I could hear music. Of course, I didn’t know it was music, all I knew was that it was something beautiful and painful and right, and I was the only one who could hear it.” Yet, despite knowing he belongs on Earth, Lorne has to take one more trip back home, to say goodbye and close the circle.

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Finally, Fred is very sure she doesn’t belong on Pylea. She’s smart. She's also slightly crazed from being alone for so long. She was able to disable her slave collar and flee, and she tells Cordy she’s been doing the math, but she can’t find a way out. Still, five years on, she's still trying to find a way out. 

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This episode leaves us wondering whether Cordy and Angel belong on Pylea. Will Lorne and Fred ever make it back to Earth (and Wesley and Gunn)? Will Wesley continue to grow into his role as a leader? How can Gunn navigate is old and new ties? We have to wait for the answers, with this episode leaving things in flux.

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In a final fun fact, this is the first episode with Gavin Park, a real estate lawyer from Wolfram & Hart, who has decided to get Angel evicted from the hotel. Wolfram & Hart have not given up yet.

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“Through the Looking Glass”

 

Episode 21 of Season 2

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“Nice to be seen as a hero without all the pesky little moral ambiguities you get back home, isn’t it?”

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Original US airdate: May 15th, 2001 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "The Weight of the World")

Rewatched: March 10th, 2023

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• Writer: Tim Minear

• Director: Tim Minear

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Amy Acker, Brody Hutzler, Tom McCleister, Mark Lutz, Michael Phenicie

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Angel Investigations continues their Pylean adventure with the gang finally reunited. They then decide to split up, with Angel and Lorne visiting his family to find intel on portals and Wes and Gunn staying with Cordy to do research.

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In their research, Wesley figures out the three holy books on Pylea have a picture of a wolf, a ram and a hart on them, indicating a wider reach of Wolfram & Hart (and the Senior Partners) than previously thought and indicating that the priests cannot be trusted. Indeed, the priests want Cordelia to “com-shuk” with the Groosalugg. Based on this, Cordy, Wes and Gunn decide to get out of the castle, but only Wes and Gunn make it out. Cordy meets the Groosalugg, who ends up being handsome and brave and Cordy kind of gets a crush. But later, the priests decide Cordy is trying to exert too much power (she has pardoned her friends and is talking to Groo instead of "com-shukking", and then she calls for paper to make proclamations). The priests tell her that both she and the Groosalugg are tools and that she will do as she is told. They then reveal Lorne’s severed head, a message to get her to cooperate. This is the cliff-hanger ending to this episode, but also reveals the ultimate conflict for Cordy, a similar one she faced when filming the ad on Earth. Cordy is not willing to be told what to do. She’s come a long way and matured a lot. Presented with being a princess, she wants to change Pylea for the better and is not satisfied being a pretty puppet for the priests. Cordy realizes her role is not to play princess in Pylea.

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Gunn and Wesley escape the castle but are first attacked by Angel (more on this later) and then captured by rebels. Things are not looking up, since Wesley and Gunn cannot convince the rebels they aren’t spies. Wesley tries to convince them that they know the princess, and once the rebels believe them, the rebels decide severed heads would send a good message. It’s not looking bright for these two.

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Finally, Angel is enjoying being a hero on Pylea. Lorne’s family celebrates him and wants to hear stories of his deeds. It is only when Angel is asked to kill Fred do things go south. Angel rescues Fred and they find refuge in her cave, where Angel convinces her to come with him to find his friedndss and a way out of Pylea. However, they are attacked by guards on their way back and Angel has to vamp out to save them. However, he turns into an ugly green demon. As Wesley later realizes (after Angel attacks them), in this dimension, his demon and human self are fully separate. Fred is not afraid of demon Angel and manages to lure him back to her cave, where he finally turns back into his human self. He’s ashamed that Gunn and Wes saw the true monster in him and is worried he can never go back to them. More importantly, however, is that Angel finally sees the downsides of Pylea. He can’t be a hero here if people are enslaved and slaughtered. It’s also not great that his demon side can take full control.

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This episode is, like the last ones, still a look at where everyone belongs, but shows that there are no easy answers. Life in complicated and finding where you belong is not always simple.

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“There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb”

 

Episode 22 of Season 2

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“We all got our demons.”

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Original US airdate: May 22nd, 2001 (aired directly after the Buffy episode "The Gift")

Rewatched: March 17th, 2023

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• Writer: David Greenwalt

• Director: David Greenwalt

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Amy Acker, Brody Hutzler,  Mark Lutz, Michael Phenicie, Tom McCleister, Lee Reherman

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In this episode, everyone in the gang figures out they belong in LA.

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Cordelia is very distraught about Lorne, until his head speaks. It turns out members of the Deathwok clan aren’t dead until their bodies are dismembered. This allows Lorne to be returned to his body, which was not dismembered. Cordy has learned the priests are not to be trusted and her position in Pylea is not one of power. In addition to this, Gru telling her that when they “com-shuk”, her visions will pass to him also helps Cordy realize Pylea is not her paradise. While Gru is correct that Cordy, as a human, is not meant to have the visions, she is not willing to give them up. They are a part of who she is. Cordy’s decision to keep her visions and return to LA shows how much she has changed and how important helping people has become to her.

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Next, Angel is afraid of the demon he turns into while in Pylea. As he tells Fred, “They saw what I turned into. Back in LA it’s bad, but here it’s…” Angel is afraid he’ll turn into the beast and not come back. Later, when Wesley asks him to challenge Gru so the rebels can get into the castle and they can free Cordelia, Angel tells Wes “I do this, you know I won’t come back from it”, but Wes assures him that he will, and in the end, Angel does. While fighting Gru as the beast, he is able to turn back into Angel and make the decision not to kill Gru. His struggle in Pylea is hard, but Angel does realize that he can choose who is he, and once back in LA he can continue to choose to be good and continue to choose to fight the good fight, even if he went dark for awhile.

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Finally, Wes is chosen to lead the rebels. Before the rebels can decapitate Wes and Gunn for being spies, their camp is attacked by castle guards. Wes and Gunn help fight them off and are freed, with Wes being made leader. They make a plan to storm the castle. Gunn is not happy with the plan, noting that some people are basically being sacrificed, but Wesley notes that if you try not to get anybody killed, you wind up getting everybody killed. Later, in the exchange with Angel about his fears of turning into the beast forever, Gunn asks Wes if he really believes Angel will come back. Wes replies, “I need him to think it.” Wesley is able to show that he can be a leader, and is also able to show Gunn that leading well doesn’t mean there are no losses. Leaders are there to make hard choices. The trip to Pylea has helped Wesley come to terms with his new role as leader, and helped Gunn come to terms with how his friend died. Gunn is starting to accept that he can’t save everyone.

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The castle is stormed, the priests are dead, the slaves are freed and Gru is the new leader. All’s well in Pylea. The six (Angel, Cordy, Gunn, Wes, Fred and Lorne) all head back to LA (and destroy Lorne’s bar with Angel’s car). They’ve had their adventure in another place and are sure there’s no place like home. They belong there because nobody belongs there, as Lorne tells Angel earlier in the episode.

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But, back at the hotel, Willow is waiting with the news about Buffy. Just because you belong somewhere, doesn’t mean nothing bad happens.

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