Angel
Unleashed
original air-date: 10-15-03
Despite
some bumps and possibly the worst ending scene in Angel
history (more on that later), this episode still manages to
entertain for the most part.
It's not
a big story, and one might wonder how Angel plans to solve
his Senior Partner issue while tackling any small job that
comes along (wouldn't it be funny if the face painted mail
cart clerk turns out to be the Senior Partner?). But at least
it gives the audience a needed break from the Angel-Spike
banter and Harmony quips (not to mention yet another Whedonism
on leprechauns).
Things
get going quickly when Angel interrupts a Fang Gang picnic/strategy
session to save a young woman, Nina, from a werewolf. Unfortunately
the woman suffers a bite and flees by the time Angel kills
her attacker with Wes' super-plot-device(tm) silver pen (now
with 20% more coincidence!). The action that shifts to Nina's
subsequent transformation and Angel's efforts to track her
down before she does any damage.
 Here
the writers play it smart: They only show the actual change
from human to monster partially or as seen on a surveillance
videotape. This technique wisely limits the risk that the
special effects might meet the budget but not fan expectations.
But perhaps in an efforts to appease the young male viewer
demographic that wants to see the full transformation, the
camera later makes it very clear that Nina's condition does
not affect her normal physiological response to the cold air
conditioning of Wolfram & Hart.
Meanwhile
Spike continues to implore Fred to help him from fading completely
into Hell. Given the severity of the situation, it really
doesn't make sense that the "new" Spike wouldn't
swallow his pride and allow Fred to tell the others. Still,
the short exchange between Spike and Fred about his history
with Wes is one of the bright spots of the episode.
Another
bright spot is the arrival of actor John Billingsley as Dr.
Evan Noyce (holy typecasting Batman!), a specialist brought
in to consult on the case. Billingsley has more recently shined
as Dr. Phlox on the hit-or-miss Enterprise (insert
gratuitous link to other Fanboy
Planet reviews here). Billingsley has a very distinct
voice and style that serves him well, at least in a doctor
role.
The ultimate
fate of Dr. Noyce raises another question about Angel's ethics
of late. Is he now operating with the policy of a minor evil
is OK in order to fight a bigger evil or save someone who's
not evil? Sure, there's often some satisfaction in seeing
people get what they deserve. But one might hope that a so-called
champion might remember the simple rule that two wrongs don't
make a right.
 Fortunately
for the show creators, several wrongs don't necessarily make
a wrong either. For example, the heavy-handed scenes foreshadowing
Gunn's alienation seem very forced. One can almost hear the
pre-clapper announcement of "Angel Gunn Alienation Scene
#1, Take 1. Action!"
Far worse
is a forced good feeling ending that even features a hokey
out-of-place song possibly left over from the defunct Dawson's
Creek. Sure the writers wanted symmetry with the opening
group scene, but, well, yikes!
Or perhaps
they just wanted to create more contrast for the preview of
the next week's episode, a creepy offering detailing Spike's
visit to Hell, for which "partial nudity" is promised
and "viewer discretion" is advised. Hmm...Seems
like they should have warned against that ending scene instead.
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