There are two good reasons to watch this season premiere (even if late due to VCR malfunctions that sometimes plague reviewers among others).

First, David Boreanaz does some of his best work ever. He portrays an impressive range of emotions during four hallucination scenes that are very well done. And thankfully, his little seabed vacation has mellowed Angel out and restored his sense of humor.

Second, the continued evolution of Wesley is highly entertaining. After what he’s been through, it’s nice to see him have both power and a little fun, even if that fun is romping around with Lilah. His treatment of Justine may disturb some. But hey, she helped cause this mess and slit Wesley’s throat. So get over it people! Wesley may be the ultimate double agent or perhaps really has become a “rogue demon hunter” at last.

J. August Richards also does very solid work as Gunn. With Fred, the two have their hands full acting as surrogate parents to Connor. Unfortunately, the running joke about Fred trying to use hip, black slang falls flat.

The plot is secondary to character development in this episode. Even a sudden management change at Wolfram and Hart is less about schemes and more about Lilah’s continued progression.

Unfortunately this character development doesn’t extend to Connor, who remains on the dull side. It also was very unbelievable that he would not have tried to fight for an escape at the end. In fact, the whole “Am I weak or not” gambit by Angel was too much like a bad rip-off from the end of “The Princess Bride.”

The episode served an important function: Get Angel’s rescue out the way so we can get to the good stuff this season. That good stuff better include something better with Cordelia. Because frankly when it comes to her, “we’re so bored” too!

Chris Crotty