Angel

ANGEL: One of the best fourth season episodes of BtVS involved a despondent Willow inadvertently raising havoc with her friends as her will becomes reality (she tells Giles he "can’t see" her problems and he goes blind; she tells Xander he’s a demon magnet and, lo and behold, demons come after him from everywhere; Spike and Buffy become engaged which, after season 6, doesn’t quite have the shock value it did then.) The circumstances are very different this go-around as Lorne’s sleep deprivation results in his casual thoughts empathically projecting onto his friends, but the result is pretty much the same: Insanity ensues until the person starting it gets it sorted out. So there’s a certain inescapable been-there, done-that feeling to it. Actually, the Lorne-centric episodes seem to suffer from that (the last one, involving memory loss, evoked "Tabula Rasa.") On the other hand, points for the behavior being even more insane than on BtVS. The high point had to be Gunn’s escalating chagrin over Lorne’s suggestion that he should "stake out his territory" compelling him to urinate on anything upon which he’s remotely interested in staking a claim (the punchline being his warning to Angel not to sit in his office chair.) The watchword for the season seems to be lighter episodes combined with Angel and the Fang Gang constantly being concerned over running a law firm where all the clients are evil. Here’s a thought: Get some clients who AREN’T evil. There has to be SOMEone in Los Angeles who isn’t evil. Then again, maybe not. Gotta say, it was one thing watching Wesley lose Fred to Gunn last season. But now he’s playing second fiddle to some techno guy? Wes...get off the pot, man. I know in real life, you got Ally Hannigan, but c’mon! Where’s your pride? You can handle them both. Next week: Mexican wrestlers? Oooookay.