Angel

(S01E19) Sanctuary, on a personal level, is where we perform the job of taking care of our soul. — Christopher Forrest McDowell

The consequences of Faith’s actions during the last episode are coming to fruition, and there are a number of people who aren’t happy with her. Let’s take a look at who wants a piece of the slightly insane slayer.

1. Wolfram & Hart — Considering the fact that the law firm hired Faith to get rid of Angel, they’re a bit miffed at her not fulfilling the contract. So, they hire another assassin to eliminate both Angel and Faith at the same time. Unfortunately, the assassin who was hired to kill the assassin who was hired to kill Angel failed at his task as well.

2. Detective Kate Lockley — Even though it’s not her case, Kate begins to take a serious interest in capturing Faith for a number of crimes she committed since arriving in Los Angeles. She knows that Angel has something to do with it. And, since her father’s death at the hands of vampires, she isn’t too happy with our hero. So, she eventually throws in with Wolfram & Hart in order to capture Faith, and perhaps Angel as well.

3. The Council — You remember them, don’t you? They’re the group that, among other things, oversees slayers such as Faith and Buffy. Well, they aren’t too pleased with events as they have happened. In fact, it’s a pretty big blemish on the work they do. So, they send three of their best killers to L.A. to capture her and take her back to their headquarters in jolly old England. To do this they recruit Wesley, who was Faith’s former watcher and was recently tortured by her former charge. All they want him to do is drug her up so she can be taken back. Wesley says he’ll do it, but doesn’t, and the killers have that same feeling as well. So, they take matters into their own hands, locate Faith at Angel’s apartment, and try to take her in dead rather than alive. But, that all falls apart thanks to Wesley, Angel, and the next person on the list . . .

4. Buffy — Oh yeah, she’s big time pissed at Faith. I mean, back in Sunnydale she took over Buffy’s body and proceeded to have relations with her new boyfriend. So, she comes to Los Angeles with the excuse that she was concerned for Angel’s safety. However, she’s really there to give Faith a piece of her mind. In the end, though, she actually saves Faith’s life after members of The Council try to kill her.

What happens in the end? Faith turns herself into the police and makes a full confession. Sometimes a person has to be attacked from four different directions in order to get it into her brain that she did something wrong.

This was a solid episode with plenty of character development, particularly with Faith. You could actually see her transforming from the almost-feral being she had become last episode to a normal human being (for a slayer, that is). This was also a turning point for Wesley, who actually becomes a more hardened individual after his torture.

The biggest character development actually came from Angel during his final confrontation with Buffy. I don’t know why, but the writers of this episode really showed Buffy in a different light than on her show. She was jealous, petty, and self-centered. She told Angel she was now in a relationship where she could actually trust the person she slept with. Angel took her to task on all of this, and basically told her that he was the hero of Los Angeles and she had no reason to be there. By doing this he broke the final romantic ties he had with the slayer. Good riddance, I say.

Next time: a future member of Angel Investigations is introduced.