This episode opens with the television announcing that meteorologists are investigating the black out of the sun over LA. Meteorologists? The guys who play with little happy face sun and blowing cloud placards? What about NASA or the military? Hmmm...

The Fang Gang, sans Wesley, set about solving the problem by putting a new spin on an old proverb: "Set a demon to catch a demon." Despite the lack of compelling evidence (not to mention common sense), everyone except Angel agrees that releasing Angelus is the only way to fight The Beast at this point. Worse, there is some ham fisted exposition by Cordelia to recap the Angel gypsy curse rules for those viewers new to the show. Ugh!

Meanwhile, Wesley is one step ahead by finding Woo Pang, a "Dark Mystic" shaman with an expertise at moving souls in and out of beings (stay tuned for Woo Pang's spin-off, coming-of-age shaman movie, "Dark Mystic Pizza").

After some words with Cordelia, Angel finally agrees to the idea. Gee, hasn't anyone noticed that "she with the bad haircut" is the other common link with the Beast's activities? Certainly Wesley should be smart enough to at least consider that Cordelia might not quite be herself.

At this point the episode really comes off the tracks. Instead of just getting on with the release of Angelus, the writers create a whole "dream" sequence to justify Angel experiencing the so-called happy moment needed to drive out his soul. Angel - Cordelia shippers might enjoy seeing them more than kiss. But by the end of the episode, most viewers will likely think it was just a waste of time.

Nothing in the dream sequence is particularly new, interesting, or well done (except a fun play on a well known Indiana Jones quip). Because everything keeps working out for the better, any viewer with an IQ above a Labrador retriever will suspect the truth. And it is very difficult to believe that Angel would be stupid and careless enough to repeat the mistake he made with Buffy.

When done well, "what if" plot devices can be a lot of fun. Just a day before, FX reran the classic Buffy episode in which Anyanka (later Anya) granted Cordelia's wish that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. But here the device fails.

Last week the writers promised the audience Angelus. Get on with it!

Chris Crotty