This episode, Fred attempts to re-enter the academic world. You might think she’d know better, given that her last school project sent her on a five year Pylean not-so-pleasure cruise.

Still, with the support of uber-boyfriend Gunn and former mentor Professor Seidel, Fred proceeds with a lecture on supersymmetry, string theory, and WIMPS (no, she doesn’t mean the original incarnation of Wesley on BTVS). But given that the lecture hall even has upholstery that looks like a hell dimension, one knows something is bound to go amiss.

Also attending the lecture separately from the Fang Gang and each other are Wes and Lilah who, gasp, actually seems to have serious feelings for him (Historic battle gear: When you care to send the very best!). Wes, however, apparently still pines for Fred. At least enough to read “Physics Illustrated” on a regular basis on the off chance she happens to publish an article. OK, so maybe Wes has been keeping tabs on Fred and only bought that issue because he knew she had published.

But given recent events, would Wes be stupid enough to leave Lilah alone in his apartment? That slip-up may have dire consequences now that Lilah knows that there’s another hen in the rooster house. The audience, though, is likely to benefit.

The only thing cooler than a Lilah - Fred catfight would be them making up afterwards. In the words of Friends hunk Joey Tribiani, “How would that go?”

Actually Wesley shouldn’t worry about Lilah hurting Fred or even going Justine on his neck. The real horror would be a jilted Lilah launching a civil suit against him for mental cruelty and emotional distress, with Justine offering damaging testimony of how he kept her locked in a closet.

In the third, unconnected storyline, Cordelia comes to grips with what Connor would like to come to grips. At this point the writers really should address Cordelia’s return sooner than later. Can someone also please explain when exactly she became a super-fighter? Before ascending to the so-called higher plan, she was still training. And where are The Visions? Wasn’t the whole point that the PTB provided someone with The Visions to guide Angel? His chance for shan-su has gone shan-see-ya.

Kudos, though, to the writers for keeping the audience guessing about Professor Seidel and blonde assistant Lori. Viewers still don’t really know with any certainty who the baddie was. That may cause additional indigestion later on for Fred and Gunn.

The special effects team also deserves credit for a really cool scene when Angel recreates the lecture in his mind. This work made up for some rather cheesy tentacles earlier. The quality of the Vorlock demon, though acceptable, didn’t really matter because it was just so much fun watching Angel’s reactions. The “C’mon, I’m holding your head” line is one of the best ever.

Speaking of demon slayage, the episode does raise an interesting question: How come it is OK (moral) to kill evil demons but not evil humans? Is it the soul issue?

In any case, don’t expect next week’s episode to deal with that or any other weighty issues. Instead, we get some fun looking filler. The group amnesia bit worked well on BTVS, so maybe it will play here too.

Chris Crotty