Here’s a little tip for Jeffrey Bell, the writer of this week’s episode: Don’t compare your plot in jest to “the movie of the week” when the first half of your episode is actually less interesting than “the movie of the week.”

Specifically, the handling of Cordelia’s amnesia was far too drawn out. To paraphrase Buffy once summarizing that a long-winded baddie was, in fact, evil: “OK, so you’re amnesiac. We get it.”

Another tip: Skip (the verb, not the amiable demon) the ”here’s what’s happening” dialogue when the actions and expressions clearly show the story. Case in point: The audience gets to savor Lorne’s subtle facial ministrations during Cordy’s song. There is even nice uncertainty as to whether or not he’s reacting to her song choice, her future, or both.

But then Fred clubs the audience over the head with a “hey, there’s something wrong with Lorne” quip (one of several Fred misfires during the hour). One almost expects Fred (the ascot-ed cartoon character, not the ex-Pylea-cave-dwelling nerdlette) and the Scooby Gang (again cartoons, not Buffyverse) to drive up in the Mystery Machine next with a “Well, here we are at the hotel where the vampire with a soul lives.”

To his credit, Mr. Bell salvages an otherwise weak episode with a much stronger second half. Once again the scenes with Wesley captivate. Watching he and Lilah try to outmaneuver one another proves to be more interesting than the once fun, now disturbing, sex scenes. Again, though, one has to question his continued refusal to reconcile with Angel. And what happened to his feelings for Fred?

Bell also does a nice job with Connor. Thankfully there is nothing sexual about his relationship with Cordelia. Let’s hope the other members of the creative team stick to that policy. The only problem with Connor in this episode is that it is hard to see him fighting. The battle with the W&H extraction squad is shot too dark. Hey, if Lilah can get a nice camera to watch the fun clearly, why can’t the audience?

There are also a few plot problems. First, Cordelia’s decision to leave the hotel was not very plausible. She was much too judgmental of her fellow Fang Gangers trying to ease her back into their unusual environment. After what Cordelia observed and being told her life story, it should have made sense that her friends would be concerned that the immediate truth would have upset and scared her. Gunn was right: “It wouldn’t have worked.”

Second, why didn’t Angel use the Axis of Pythia to find Cordelia? If it can find her on a so-called higher plane, surely it can find her in an abandoned building across town?

Still, these minor flaws were more than made up for the nice twist involving Lilah and Wesley. Hopefully upcoming episodes will continue to keep the audience guessing.

Which brings up one final point: What is this new trend of upcoming episode previews that don’t actually show any footage from the upcoming episode? First Buffy did it last week. Now Angel. Granted, no one wants those horrid, long movie trailers that spoil major plot points. But it would be nice to have a few choice scenes to whet the appetite.

Chris Crotty