Angel

(S01E02) Cordelia: I guess the single life is particularly tough on you.

Angel: Why?

Cordelia: Well, a couple hundred years ago, the only thing you had to worry about was a hangover. Today, because of your curse thingy, you can’t sleep with anyone or else you might feel a moment of true happiness and lose your soul, become evil — again — and kill everyone.

Angel: Thanks Cordelia. I always appreciate your perspective.

Loneliness sucks. I remember the time before I met my lovely wife how I’d spend countless days and nights alone, never going out, never talking to anyone. Now that I’ve been married seven years, and have four beautiful children (two of them just born this past April). I’m never lonely. And, Lord, how I miss it! I need the loneliness like a man needs water. Just five minutes of solitude. Just five minutes. And, would you stop jumping on the sofa, for Pete’s sake!

Ahem. Bit of a nervous breakdown there. Sorry about that.

Where were we? Oh, yes, loneliness. While most of us dread the feeling that there is no one out there for us Angel (David Boreanaz) certainly doesn’t. And, that’s where we find him at the beginning of this episode: sitting in the dark, by himself. However, Doyle (Glenn Quinn) wants nothing like that. He wants to get out and go have some fun to break up all of the death and mayhem. So, its convenient that he has a vision about something dark and sinister going on at a bar. However, since there’s no image of a victim that appears the Angel Investigations team heads down to the bar to, um, investigate.

When they get to the bar all they find is plenty of nothing. The only significant event that occurs is that Angel meets Detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Rohm) who becomes a recurring character in the first few seasons of the series. Angel tries to strike up some form of conversation with her, but his inter-personal skills are a bit lacking and the spark that they had between them in the beginning fizzles out quickly.

Since they didn’t see anything going on at the bar the question still remains why Doyle had the vision in the first place? Searching the glorious Internet they find two unusual happenings that occurred near the bar: one person missing and one dying of evisceration. Sensing that the evisceration was the reason for the vision, Angel enlists Doyle and Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) to research eviscerating demons while he went back to the bar. While speaking with the bartender he overhears a conversation about a missing regular at the hangout and how he was seen leaving with a leggy blond the night before. He finds out the name and address of the mystery woman and rushes to save the man from a potential untimely death.

Unfortunately, our hero is too late as, moments before, a demon known as a Burrower bursts from the blonde’s chest and makes its temporary home inside the man’s back while they snuggle in bed. Like many of the people at the bar, this demon is also looking for the right person, and will jump from body to body until it finds the right one. Angel and the demon fight, but the Burrower gets away. Angel is unable to catch up to him because Kate walks in, gun and badge in hand, to arrest our friendly vampire.

Angel tries to convince her that he’s not the murderer, but she’s not having any of it. So, our hero uses brute force to incapacitate her and rushes out the window to try and find the demon. Alas, no luck, for it seems that the Burrower is moving a bit more quickly through bodies. Running out of options Angel contacts Kate and asks for her assistance, who agrees to meet him at the bar. While waiting a shady looking gentleman tries to pick her up. We, the collective audience, think that this is the Burrower. But, it’s not for, you see, the demon has entered the body of the bartender.

The bartender convinces Kate that Angel is hanging out in the alley. But, as Kate ventures out, the bartender assaults her and attempts to invade her space, so to speak. Luckily, Angel is right there to prevent this from occurring and present the Burrower with a 2-liter bottle of demon whoop-ass. Again, the demon escapes, but Angel and Kate are hot on his trail and meet him outside where he is trying to find another host. After being doused in fire, and receiving a few well-placed bullets to the chest, the demon finally meets its maker. As the authorities clean up the mess Kate and Angel agree to work with each other should the opportunity arise. As the show ends Angel confirms that’s he’s really not ready to go out and socialize just yet, and spends a pleasant evening sitting alone in the darkness.

Overall, this was a good episode. Although it was a bit chatty during the first half, the energy really picked up in the second. And, while this was pretty much an Angel-centric episode, both Doyle and Cordelia had some good lines interspersed. I also like the direction of this episode: the first scene where the Burrower comes crashing out of the girl’s body was unexpected.