Angel

Herc’s Seen ANGEL 5.2 ! ! I am - Hercules ! !

What we said about this one back on July 30 :

* Spike’s a dang ghost ! Well… A major character in the episode will refer to Spike as "a ghost — close enough, anyhow." Cleavers pass right through Spike, as do doors and walls. He mocks Angel incessantly, and Angel has no means to escape the ghostly taunting !

* And check it out. Spike is somehow "stuck" to Angel ! Another reason for blondie not to look up a key slayer pal !

* But don’t worry, girls ! Unlike Cordy’s longtime roomie Dennis, Spike can be seen. Well, he kind of blurs in and out, and even disappears at times. Ghost-style. If you will.

* For the second time in two episodes, Angel will badly ruffle the feathers of his new Wolfram & Hart underlings.

* For the second time in two episodes, Angel will rankle a key Wolfram & Hart client. This week’s disgruntled ? One Magnus Hainsley. No relation to "West Wing’s" hot red hot and blonde Republican Ainsley Hayes. One presumes.

* Hainsley, a telekinetic, runs what Angel terms a "body shop" and has uses for the recently deceased. He services an inhuman clientele. If you’re thinking snacks ? You’d be wrong. (Herc affixes a finger-and-thumb "L" to his forehead.)

* Hainsley stops short of dusting Angel, noting that the senior pardners still have plans for the series’ title character.

* Angel pulls an "Eliot Ness" on Hainsley. Which Spike mocks as well.

* Hainsley hints that Spike’s ghostly status could be temporary - if Spike teams with Hainsley against Angel.

* But it turns out the flesh Hainsley initially promises Spike won’t look very Spike-like. But will nonetheless be very Buffy-boyfriend-like. IF you know what we mean.

* Spike intimates that he likes Winifred Burkle in a more-than-brotherly fashion !

"Angel" returns to the WB Oct. 1. "Angel" 5.2 airs Oct. 8.

The biggest news, one supposes, is that Spike is not so much stuck to Angel as he is to Wolfram & Hart, which owns the amulet. Elvis can leave the building, but he gets yanked back to the firm every time he hits the city limit. So no visits to Europe to visit ol’ cookie dough, the fabulous Buffy Summers.

Oh, and get this : as "Just Rewards" opens, it’s only been 19 days since Spike and Buffy held hands for the last time !

It’s written by David Fury and Ben Edlund, and worthy of those writers. The funnest parts, as one might gather, involve Spike catching up with Angel and Harmony and filling the rest of Team Angel in on that soul he acquired at the end of season six. (Angel’s tales of Sunnydale apparently didn’t include word of Spike turning good.)

The fellow who plays Hainsley is built like Danny DeVito, but has a really cool evil Vincent Price-type voice.

Herc’s rating for "Angel" 5.2 ?

***1/2

The Hercules T. Strong Rating System :

***** better than we deserve

**** better than most motion pictures

*** actually worth your valuable time

** as horrible as most stuff on TV

* makes you quietly pray for bulletins

9 p.m. Wednesday. The WB.