Angel
Conviction
original air-date: 10-01-03
The opening
scene of the Season Five premiere gives the audience the good,
the bad, and the ugly. The good is seeing Angel out trying
to save people again instead of focusing on his own problems.
The bad is the cheesy effects showing Angel flying through
the air (any more roundabout, and that vamp would be sipping
a hemoglobin smoothie by the time our hero showed up) and
dispatching a micro-baddie that had way too many cool moves
for a typical street vamp. The directors should have learned
by now that the slow motion sequences don't work on this show.
The ugly? Seeing Wolfram & Hart in full action, and realizing
the Fang Gang may have bitten off more than they can chew
(or suck, as it were).
It was
also during this scene that the writers treated the audience
to the first of many small touches that helped save an episode
that risked being too long on talk and too short on character
development. In this particular case, the viewers had to wonder
just what might happen to a would-be-victim strong armed into
initialing the standard release form section covering the
immortal soul. Other well done details included the W&H
phone system, a creepy "tailor," Lorne's "are-they-evil?"
checklist, and a mystic with a particularly well-suited name.
Character
development, on the other hand, was mixed. As with Gwen, Senior
Partner liaison Eve will clearly be a polarizing character
among fans. Her sense of playfulness worked well, but her
attempts to be seductive failed clumsily. Fortunately, the
other "new" female character, Harmony, hit big.
She stole her scenes with very well executed humor. Hopefully
the writers will limit her role before the shtick wears thin.
And on
the subject of thin, poor Fred really needs to eat something!
Getting even closer in physique to the aliens from Close Encounters,
low blood sugar is apparently affecting her mind as well.
Fred has always been a little scattered and flighty. But given
her enhanced ditziness here and the penchant for the Whedonites
to change hair styles, it's small wonder she didn't show as
the stereotypical bleach blonde.
 Instead,
the show creators opted to give Angel a new coif that looks
just fine from the front but horribly sculpted from the sides.
On a more positive note, Angel seems properly focused on saving
people, re-tooling the firm to do good, and figuring out what
the Senior Partners are really up to. He learns quickly the
complexities of those tasks.
The writers
smartly leave the Connor and Cordy stories alone for the most
part. But they missed a great opportunity for a spit gag when
Angel first sees his new secretary.
One of
the biggest obstacles to Angel's goals is that many of the
firms clients contribute to the continued operation of the
firm and/or have the means to extort support. Here a problematic
client, Corbin Fryes (presumably no relation to the electronics
chain, though that would go a long way to explain their customer
service) wants to escape being found guilty lest he activate
a magical vessel that would release widespread death in the
form of a W&H engineered virus (or a golden retriever).
Another
impediment is an old school employee named Hauser, who heads
up the black garbed wet work team that used to pal around
Lilah back in the day. Unfortunately, the Hauser character
is much too cliche and one-dimensional. He's boring. So whereas
Angel's "firing" of Hauser might have had moral
and/or character implications, it is likely to generate only
a shrug among most viewers.
Another
character that doesn't work so far is Knox, Fred's lab manager.
There is no chemistry between the two (no pun intended), and
Knox basically serves as the witless practice dummy to Fred's
mood swings (which are weakly portrayed).
 And
while it's fun to see Gunn smart and in a suit, the writers
would be wise to avoid showing courtroom scenes ever again.
Several specific weak episodes from earlier seasons should
have taught them that the intrusion of real horrors --- guns,
gangs, courts --- does not mix well with mystical horrors.
Besides, the last thing television needs is any more lawyer
shows.
Unfortunately,
the one character who's asking all the right questions (Why
did they all say yes so quickly? Are they doing the right
thing?) gets the least to do. Wes has always been book smart.
But no doubt his time as a real rogue demon hunter as well
as his stint as Lilah's boyfriend have taught him street smarts
as well. So while Angel sees the trees and heads out to save
humanity soul at a time, Wes is keeping his eye on the big
picture, the steel and glass dark forest known as Wolfram
& Hart.
The episode
ends with an unexpected arrival (most fans know already).
One intriguing question related to that event: Just who sent
the package?
Well,
while the audience waits for the that answer, they can look
forward to some fun moments next week (if the preview is to
be trusted) when everyone gets to see just how this new arrival
gets along with the Fang Gang.
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