Angel

Conviction means two things in this episode. The first is the legal definition as it is used with Fries impending conviction in a criminal court. The second is the strong belief of Agent Hauser (Initiative Reject that he is. It’s the Anti-Riley. I was sorry to see him go. I wanted to see Riley kick his ass, not Angel). This way also plays out in the beliefs of the gang plus Knoxy (how many episodes before I can include him as a member of the gang ?) What I am going to talk about ties these things together. When you are convicted of a crime, you serve time. When you believe in something, you give it your time. For me the interesting part of Joss’ season premier was how time was used.

I’m sure the second way is going to be discussed and I will join in those threads. I did want to add one thing about that before moving onto how Joss used time in this episode. Fred and the Dixie Chick poster from their album "Home." It isn’t a slam on the current administration, so much as it says what Fred’s role will be this season. Spike in all his snarkiness is still (as James Marsters himself said at DragonCon) a major asshole. Fred is the one who will play the role of Natalie Maines and be the one to speak out because of her beliefs/conviction. They even beautifully pose her next to the poster and dress her similarly. Fred is the one that so bluntly summed up their current situation AND even called Wesley on being patronizing. Go Fred ! ! ! ! ! The Queen is dead (or in this case in a coma). All hail the new Queen. Long may she live.

What I wanted to discuss was how important time was in this episode. What got me thinking about this was asking myself what was the strongest metaphor. There was Eve’s obvious apple, knowledge, but that played out two other places. There was Fries Jr’s school and Gunn’s instant education complete with false degrees. By gaining the firm, Angel is gaining knowledge. That knowledge is contained in those files that they now have to go laboriously through. There is a play of time there. He is instantly given the resources of the firm, but it will take time to utilize that. Time is important in almost every scene, so I will go scene by scene and show how it is used and then what overall statements Joss is making with it. (I hope someone else will go into the relationship between knowledge and both types of conviction. If not, I’ll do it tomorrow)

(A very quick aside to all of this, time also played a role in Dark Willow season 6. I want it all, I want it all, I want it all and I want it now seems to be the surest path to evil in the Buffyverse. Gunn’s ethics are in some serious trouble.)

One way time manifests itself greatly in the episode is a return to its roots, but that is constantly intruded on by the new order. This is seen best in the teaser. When is the last time we have seen Angel actually save someone, and with such flair ? A blond lost in a dark alley, looking for something. I felt that way this summer. The first lines we hear are spoken by the blond in the alley, SCREAM ! ! ! "Please, you don’t have to do this." How many of us feel that way about the changes that are happening to our favorite (or at least now favorite since our favorite is no longer on the air) show ? "I can get you money." We did, by watching it. It wasn’t enough and we were attacked. Joss, I mean Angel, to the rescue. As the pabulum that passes for entertainment tries to feed on me, in comes my savior from above packing his metaphors and metanarration that can save me from losing my soul.

Angel gets in his first quip of the season, "Doesn’t sound like the lady is interested. Maybe you’re coming off as too needy." Does Joss know me or what ? I like being called a lady (whether I am one is debatable) and I’m definitely not interested in the garbage that is on TV. It is too needy. Joss, I mean Angel, takes on the bad guy with me, I mean some blond, looking on. Angel is back, bye-bye bad TV. "Just get yourself home and stay out of dark alleys," namely NBC, ABC, CBS, UPN, most of FOX’s stuff, most of WB’s stuff. The nice sunlit world of Angel is where I am safe. "Who are you ?" "Doesn’t matter." The show does, not Joss. If I say that enough times, I’ll believe it.

This wonderful trip down memory lane in which I’m saved from bad TV is interrupted by what is screwing with my show, namely ratings and slimy geek TV executives. Everyone go GRRRR with me. Angel’s operation team wants to make sure that Angel is safe, but we know what happens at the end. Angel has this deer caught in the headlights look as he sees evidence of how upside down his world is now. In enters some geek boy telling Angel how things should go, but "that is your decision sir." How did geek boy know where Angel was ? There is a "tracking monitor in your lapel" that allows them to monitor his movement. That is those boxes that allow the Neilson people to track just what people are watching.

The vampire that Angel killed works for one of Wolfram and Hart’s clients. Like I said, most of WB’s stuff is bad TV and Angel has rescued me from it. The slimy geek lawyer guy talks like slimy geek network executive and thinks that Angel sees that he made a mistake in killing a vampire that works for one of Wolfram and Hart’s clients. HA ! ! ! Slay away Angel. Rescued victim is asked to sign all these papers and she gets upset that is all about publicity. How did the WB’s publicity make you feel ? How about how they manipulate us and disregard our safety/entertainment ? Joss doesn’t like this any more than we do. He begrudgingly admits that he heads the firm. In this teaser we get an encapsulation of Joss’ relationship with the network and how he feels about this. This sets up an episode where Joss asks himself if he has sold his soul to the devil to keep Angel on the air. Will he be able to handle the conditions the network has imposed on him and still deliver the show he wants to ?

Time is first brought up in this teaser by slimy geek boy lawyer. "Really would prefer it if you wouldn’t leave a rescue scenario UNTIL we have a chance to control the scene." Wolfram and Hart are trying to dictate to Angel the timing of things. Angel is used to his own timing. He does things how he wants, when he wants. Wolfram and Hart want to control things, though. Slimy geek boy mentions that the tracking monitor in his lapel is "a timesaver" and looks at his watch. Time is money after all and we know what slimy geek boy is after. Eve even tells the gang what is really important, namely "the bottom line."

First act doesn’t start with the gang. It starts in an elementary school hallway. They are talking about comics. Matthew’s dad won’t let him read "Punisher." His friend says that he can borrow his. The teacher compliments him on a paper he has done and wants to talk about it after class. In the metanarration, Matt is the show itself. The teacher represents the critical acclaim the show has been getting lately. Matt isn’t a very young child, but he still has a lot to learn and grow up before he is an adult, just like the show itself. The friend could be Greenwalt or someone else behind the scenes that encourages the show.

Cut to mail being delivered at Wolfram and Hart. I love that elevator. It makes for some great shots, plus the symbolism is great. The mechanical rising device is separated from the labor intensive stairs by the lobby. Fred takes those stairs rather than the elevator to get to her office. Fred’s office is upstairs. Wesley and Gunn’s are on this main level (which is pretty high up), as is Angel’s. In this scene time is brought up by Fred with the speed they accepted Wolfram and Hart’s offer. "...and we all said yes in like three minutes." Wesley’s response also has a time component because run-on sentences are to speed things up. He remarks that they have gotten better, and if I didn’t already love Fred, her response would have made me. More time with Knox when she tells him to call her Fred and he responds "Any minute now, I’m going to start." Wesley asks Knox "how long have you been evil ?" More time. Knox says how things have changed "Now that I am taking orders from..." Knox’s time references tend to be about the future. This scene is a good summary of the time line that led up to this moment. It is important exposition, but just as important is the speed in which the changes occur. People are still trying to figure things out, especially Wesley. I wonder how the guys over at ME feel about their new direction ?

We hear Gunn’s voice and "Think fast" as a basketball comes directly as Wesley. Fred just laid out how fast things have changed and Gunn will take that one step further by saying "You gotta move faster than that in this place." Gunn’s strategy to not be destroyed by Wolfram and Hart is to be too fast for them. This desire for speed will probably lead to his ultimate undoing. We get a mention of the future when Wesley says sarcastically to Gunn that Knoxy will probably take care of Fred. In this opening sequence we set up Fred, Wesley and Gunn’s roles. Fred will be the one that can clearly see and express things (like Natalie Maines). Wesley is the cynic and Gunn will be the one to jump in with both feet to try and stay ahead of the game. Gunn mentioned kicking over the board and starting a new game in "Inside Out," but here he is the one ready to play the game as he picks his office and worries about such things as Feng Shui. Wesley isn’t kicking over the board, but he isn’t sure what to do. He mocks Feng Shui, but then admits in a place like this it may be important.

As Gunn and Wesley are talking in the doorway to Wesley’s office, the mail guy walks in front of them. On top of his mail cart is the envelop that is addressed to Angel and contains Spike. The EXACT line that is said as the cart passes in front of them "You got the mystical creds. I just hit stuff." The mail guy stops on Gunn’s side and picks up this envelop. "It’s going to be a long, long while before any of us feel comfortable here." Cut to Lorne, a demon, being rather comfortable. So the scene is Wesley and Gunn in a doorway, pan over to Lorne wheeling and dealing on the phone with Spike in the middle of this. If you doubt this, ask why would the sequence start with the envelop and why would the mail guy even be in the shot. The time element in this scene is about the speed in which the characters become comfortable with their new situations. Wesley is on one extreme and Lorne is on the other. Spike and Gunn are in the middle.

Angel comes up through that amazing elevator. The cut is from Lorne’s’ comfort to Angel who obviously isn’t. The order in which the men walk is significant. Wesley and Gunn don’t just flank Angel. Gunn is further back and is playing with the ball. He is ready to play the game. Wesley is holding coffee, possibly symbolic of needing to wake up. Gunn first talks to and approaches Angel. More time stuff as Angel relates what happened in the alley. Now we get another mention of the future. "They are going to find out." Angel is pissed and that anger motivates him. He takes that anger and goes through the door quickly. He isn’t tentatively waiting in the threshold like Gunn and Wesley did. Angel is ready for action. This allows Gunn and Wesley to cross the threshold as well. The hesitation of Wesley and Gunn has been changed into at least the desire for action.

That is interrupted by Eve. Prior to this, the play has been between past leading into the future and reservations about what that future may hold. Now Eve will lay that future out for them. When Angel tells her that this is supposed to be his office, her reply is "Never happen again," but as we know it does. Eve’s first lie is about the future. Wesley remarks that she is a young woman. Eve questions "How exactly can you be sure I am either of those things." Wesley’s talent isn’t just mystical, but knowing the past. He is into prophecies and history and that sort of thing. Eve has just called his judgment about this into question.

Eve lays out how the game is played. Joss has his show now, and he could just go back to running it the way he used to. If he does that, the show isn’t going to last. If he wants to tell his story, he has to keep the show on the air. He is only going to be able to do that by keeping the clients, or at least some of them, happy. The situation that Angel is facing faces most of us in some form or another. To explore what Angel is going through, he has to look no further than the deal with the devil, I mean network, that he had to make.

Cut to the gang going through the client files. Time plays a role here because it takes time to do this. It is a monumental task and Joss, I mean Angel, asks "How are we even supposed to start making things right ?" Gunn, the one that is ready to play ball is the one that comes up with their starting point. Joss, the feminist who started the Buffyverse to empower the blond attacked in a dark alley, opened the show with a blond attacked in a dark alley. Angel saved that girl, but the girl was confused by everything. The slimeball that will be the show’s first little bad is on trial for smuggling in Asian girls for cheap labor and prostitution. Look how the scene opens, with that nice shot of Fred’s legs. How do you think the WB wants Joss to run his show ? Joss is going to turn that around and use it not to show flesh, but to make a statement. It is up to us to see that statement and write about it. You have to love the shot of Fred as she says, "You know we are going to have to check the whole staff. Make sure we don’t have any diehard evil doers plotting against us."

Time rears its head again as Lorne says he is tired. Even his horns are tired. He’ll continue tomorrow. Fatigue is a very real problem that faces Joss, especially now that he has to get Firefly the Movie ready. Having three shows was just too much for him last season. Those mountains of client files could be seen to be analogous to this. Angel knows that he has to find a starting point. He can’t do everything at once. Angel lets everyone go so they can get some rest, but he stays behind and continues to go through files. The man never sleeps.

Eve pops out in Gunn’s office next. She asks him if he is having second thoughts. I particularly liked Gunn’s line about her not having an office of her own. The network executives play god with the shows, but they really don’t create anything. What is the next step. The Buffyverse has been a cult hit for quite a while, but until Angel was on the bubble, it didn’t get a whole lot of mainstream press. Now it has the potential to take that step, especially with Smallville as the lead in. Is Joss ready to do what that will require ? Part of him says yes. The rest isn’t too happy about what Gunn will do, so I would venture that he isn’t completely on board with the idea yet. "Feel like a new man." There is time again. "Tailor. Guess I’m not dressed for success." The show definitely has received a visual makeover to dress for success. It would take more than that to take that next step.

It’s a new day. Angel is still going over files when he comes across the envelop, which he just puts aside. Instead we get a bit of Joss’ trademark humor and Harmony. The bit about "This is Angel" is great. The show/Joss is trying so hard to be itself under its new parameters. It feels like itself "less and less" though. Ritual sacrifices starts out with goats, which we saw back in Season 2 and ends with "a loved one or pet," namely is Joss willing to sacrifice his loved one, the show. Every single line, even seemingly throw aways and jokes are important is a Joss Whedon penned script. Every line reveals multiple layers that are just there for us to devour. It is in these layers that Joss will maintain his integrity.

As Harmony shows up, the line is Wesley’s "Can I stop by ? We may have a situation." Angel calls Harmony his secretary, a big no-no for feminists. Harmony corrects him with "Hello, assistant." He asks her why he shouldn’t kill her. Harmony represent almost a Sex in the City type of gal, what the networks want for the show. She mentions all the good things about working at Wolfram and Hart. Then she mentions all the good things about herself. Angel is reluctant to accept her. This scene is Angel representing the old show and Harmony representing a possibly new show and the conflict is the reluctance to see that change as a good thing. Harmony is the perfect character to represent this. Greenwalt brought Cordy over to AtS because he referred to her as "Big Smile Girl." Harmony plays this role even better. The networks wants a lighter show. Who better to represent that than Harmony, Queen of Fluff ? It is that fluff that Joss is reluctant to embrace. The extra ingredient is otter, those funny clowns of the water.

Harmony brings Angel not coffee, like Wesley was drinking earlier, but blood. Angel doesn’t need to wake up, he needs what he needs. The otter blood updates things a bit, just a bit and Angel actually likes it. Change isn’t automatically bad. Who doesn’t like the necro-tempered glass ? A healthy show that isn’t in danger of cancelation will be a much welcome change. Harmony’s comic relief will make the show faster and stronger and even better written. Wesley is the one that picked Harmony out of the steno pool to give Angel something familiar. The network wants the show to be lighter. By bringing in a character from Buffy who even appeared on Angel, ME is giving the network their otter, but using something they are familiar with.

"We’re going to get along great, boss, the whole gang." Then the show brings up the first of the C words. Since no one can say Cordy around Angel, does that mean they can now say Buffy ? Are they going to have to post a list of names that can’t be said around him somewhere ? Maybe they can write it in mystical ink so everyone, but Angel can see it. Or maybe they can cast a spell on Angel so that he can’t hear it if anyone says her name. Angel’s look says it all about how Joss feels to lose this character. Even Harmony is temporarily upset by it. Angel doesn’t know if Cordy is going to be OK. Harmony’s reaction shows how the show will move on without Queen C because of Harmony. Wesley sends Harmony out of the office, which means that the show won’t always be light and funny. "If there is a way to bring Charisma back, we will find it" or something to that effect.

Transition to the shows first little bad of the season. Corbin Fries. Biggest piece of pond scum that Wesley has met in hours. This is the person that tries to bluntly order Angel around. Such people are fodder for a writers most vile characters. How many villains have we seen with not a single good point ? This guy is human, not a demon, and he acts worse than pretty much any demon we have seen. Since this guy is so vile, let’s take a look at what he says, minus what Angel and Wesley interject, and translate it.

(quick aside. Could someone else do how Angel’s jacket is used in the episode. Notice when he puts it on to play lawyer guy and when he isn’t wearing it)

"Oh, yeah. Let’s all chit chat and have tea and crumpets because I’ve got so much time. Here’s the skinny. Tomorrow the DA puts my tit in a wringer for good and that does not stand with me. Butt-munch here, he got his law degree at dog training school and the prosecution has everything they ever dreamed of....Course I’m guilty. What the hell are you changing the subject for. The point is, when Holland manners ran this place this never would have got to trial. Now I bring a lot of money to the firm, more than most and I don’t do that so I can be handed over to the frickin’ law. You have gotta get me off...You think I give a ferret’s anus about your new regime here ? Yeah, I know who you are and I care to the sum of zero. You’re my lawyers and if you don’t do every last thing to keep me out of jail, you will regret it."

Exchange about how things have to be won of the merits of the case. That is how ME sees things. It is the merits of the show that should bring viewers in. However, this case isn’t delayed on its own merits, but the connection the judge has to the defendant’s company.

"They were doing jack. I’m not going to be made an example of. Either you get me off...The Hell with calm down. Either you get me off, or I drop the bomb...Let me put it this way, they bring in a conviction, bye-bye California. I say the magic word, the only people left standing are going to be the ones that are already dead."

Harmony’s reaction is great. Funny doesn’t understand the implications of that statement and is only concerned about itself.

Now for the translation. The law in America is written by We the People. The ones that have the real power are the viewers. We are both the blond victims that bad TV attacks and the ones that are the customers that advertisers are trying to reach. The judge holds stock in Oriental Trading Companies. It is the advertisers that dictate what is on TV and they do so based on what we are willing to watch. Fries is the ultimate slimy TV executive that wants to bring in massive advertising dollars at any cost. Entertainment is a fast game. If the big dollars aren’t brought in, someone will be brought in that can do that. Doesn’t matter if the show is any good. That isn’t the point. What matters is what matters to the Senior Partners, the bottom line. The WB was willing to pay to bring Angel to life and now they feel they own it. They don’t give a damn about the show itself. It is just a vehicle to bring in viewers and thus advertising dollars. Joss had better be willing to do everything possible to bring in those viewers and thus money or else the bomb will be dropped.

Thus closes Act 1. Joss, I mean Angel, is in a horrible position and has to figure out what to do.

Act 2 opens with Lorne trying to see which employees can be trusted. Cut to Knox talking to Fred about Lorne’s talent, for those who didn’t know. Exposition is great, but Joss doesn’t just tell us things. He uses the exposition for characters to bond. I want Fred and Knoxy bonding, a lot. More time talk about the future. Knox wants Fred to be comfortable and she says she never will be. Fred still sees herself as the "running away from things type." I am most looking forward to Fred discovering how amazing she is this season. She doesn’t need to be corrupted. Her storyline of self-discovery is wonderful unto itself. I’ve already said one thing about the poster, but they could have used any poster of the Dixie Chicks for the statement of Fred as Natalie Maines. That particular one is from the Dixie Chick’s album "Home." It is called this because the album is not the Country Rock that made the Dixie Chicks famous. Instead it is a return to a more Blue Grass sound. The reviews from that album state a lot about the direction Joss would like to take his show. Prior to Fries showing up, we see a tentativeness about the direction things are going (as happens with all change), but Harmony shows that they are workable and the gang isn’t being forced into horrible things. Fries changes all of that. Where the show wants to go is where the album "Home" went.

From Stephen Thomas Erelwine at All Music Guide (the reviews all pretty much say the same thing) :

Dixie Chicks always had deep country roots, but it was entirely conceivable that they could have chosen the pop route, since it’s always the safest bet for established stars to follow the mainstream — especially after they have been away for a while. Fortunately, one thing this trio has never been is predictable, and they were emboldened by their successful battle with the label, along with the O Brother, leading to the stunner that is Home, their sixth album. There may be a Stevie Nicks cover here, but there are no concessions to pop anywhere ; there are hardly any electric guitars, actually. This is a pure country album, loaded with fiddles, acoustic guitars, and close harmonies, but retaining the Chicks’ signature flair, sense of humor, and personality. It’s a vibrant, quirky, heartfelt record that finds the group investing as much in a funny, rollicking number like "White Trash Wedding" or something as sadly sweet as "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)." But the key to the album is that, as they so brilliantly put it on the wonderful opener "Long Time Gone," they recognize many modern country singers "sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard," and "have money but they don’t have Cash" — and this is a sentiment that doesn’t just apply to those riding the charts, but to the po-faced alt-country contenders who are too serious to have fun. They deftly balance modern attitudes with classic instrumentation, all built on terrific song writing, winding up with an album that feels purer than anything on the charts, yet much livelier and genuine than alt-country. This is what country music in 2002 should sound like. With Home, Dixie Chicks illustrate that country music should be simple but adventurous, sincere but fun. In doing so, they’ve delivered not just their best album, but what’s arguably the best country album yet released in the 2000s. Needless to say, an instant classic.

I can’t think of a better comparison to how Joss hopes to revamp the series.

Fred isn’t quite sure of how to answer the phone yet, but one thing she is sure about "how can I help you." She ends up just using her name, which ultimately will be the thing to save her. If she can remember that she is Fred and not Head of Practical Science, she will come out of the season okay.

I love the interaction of the gang, minus Gunn, as they try to figure out what to do. "What I’m not allowed to hit people ?" Wonder what in real life triggered this scene ? "Those are exactly the types of people I should be allowed to hit." We want to see you hit them, Joss, but Wes is right. Lorne brings up time by brining things "back to the here and now, chickadees." A plan is hatched. The problem is dealt with based on each person’s strength. It isn’t Angel that tells people what to do. It is Wesley. Angel still wants to hit the genocidal maniac and is worried that this stuff came from his own firm.

"Can you get there by sewer" Fred asks Angel. That is how he used to get around. "Not this time." He has 12 automobiles that are all tricked out with necro-tempered glass. Classic muscle cars, just like Angel. They are so beautiful, just like Angel. Angel has an updated mode of transportation, but that isn’t with modern cars. That is how Joss will create beauty with his series still. He will use older things to update his show. No Sex in the City. Instead we get shots of Fred’s beautiful legs with subtext. Subtext, that wonderful word that keeps us all talking for days. So let’s talk.

Operations led by Hauser shows up. Ominous music plays as the two men feel each other out with their words. "Traditionally my unit handles all of the wet work." Angel doesn’t want to resort to wet work. He is more into field work and if things are going to be new, they are going to be new his way. "Later on you can tell me all about tradition." Time for the new order. If Angel can’t do things his old way, he isn’t going to be doing them someone else’s. The gang just has to figure out what this new way is that will keep their clients happy enough and allow them to maintain their integrity.

Spanky. A reference to an old TV show with a modern twist to it. Angel wants to know about an old job, but Spanky "don’t discuss my old jobs." This doesn’t sit well with Angel, who is going to know "now or very soon from now." Spanky and Angel’s banter about his windpipe involves "now." There is a time element that drives this whole scene. Spanky’s job for Fries was in the past. Their banter is about the present. Angel is concerned about the future.

Cut to Gunn’s instant law education. The magazines are out of date and he has been kept waiting for 5 hours. The doctor wants to talk about Gunn’s past experience in the White Room, but Gunn doesn’t wantto. He is more interested in what they are going to do. Later Gunn will bring up this past to tell the gang why he isn’t worried about what they did to him.

Next up Fred and Knox working together. Past employment records. The guy that was set on fire was working with a cult, the Black Tomorrow. The specialize in quick fire disease scenarios. Which Fred is wary of because Wolfram and Hart built these in the past. She says this backing up so that she is in a similar pose as the Dixie Chicks (though Natalie Maines is the blond in the middle. The others not only supported her right to say what she did, but publicly agreed with her). Knox tries to reassure her, "Hey, no. We’ve contained more plague than we’ve ever designed." Knox is the one that Natalie, I mean Fred, will be showing the truth to this season.

Angel finds out where the bomb is, inside Matthew Fries that boy that Act 1 opened with. "Do you want to spend the rest of this class in the corner ?" Angel misbehaves, and the critics will withdraw their suport. The bomb is from the camera zoom by the child’s heart. Act 1 opens with him and Act 2 closes. So now we know what is at stake.

Act 2 opens with Gunn’s education. "Ah-ah-ah slowly, slowly" the mad doctor says to Gunn as he drinks. What a beautiful contradiction to what is going on with Gunn as he is quickly given an education. It is obviously painful, but Gunn doesn’t want to stop until it is finished. He even hurries the mad doctor back to finish things, "Then shut up and do it."

Fred and Wesley give exposition on how far they have gotten in solving the problem, but there is an intense urgency to their words that gives the scene in the darkened lobby more energy. Their concern about the problem turns to concern about Angel, who "seems to be taking it rather personally." Neither of them know why he is. This next scene is just for you Masq.

Angel is having a tough time because Fries took a lethal virus and stuck in inside his son. Eve tries to make Angel feel better about losing his son, but his reaction shows how Joss really feels about the loss of this character. Angel gave him up to save him. If Joss had kept Connor around, what could he have done with the character ? The only way he knew to save him was to do what he did. If he kept him around, he would have done more and more evil. Joss killed him off to prevent this. Joss doesn’t want the networks mentioning Connor. God only knows what they would want to do with his character. Joss redeemed him the best way he knew and only he can talk about him. Eve tries to get sexy, but as Angel tells her "News flash. You’re not cute when I’m angry." If the networks try to touch Connor, they had better be prepared for an angry Joss and they won’t get anything out of angry Joss.

So how will Joss "play it." "Isolate the boy, if it come to that. Stop if from spreading" The Buffyverse is still a -verse and he does have the Serenity to get off the ground. He’s not going to let what he has to do to keep Angel on the air affect his other projects. He doesn’t want to sacrifice Angel, but will if he has to.

Then Angel finds his fire. "If every case hits you this hard, you aren’t going to last a week." This is a turning point on the episode. Angel starts giving orders rather than just try to figure things out. He becomes the boss, boss Joss. Eve gets a little gray when she hints that maybe she is trying to help out. Fries is the asshole. We don’t know Eve’s motives yet. Maybe she is just trying to keep Angel on the air so that Joss can tell his story. He might have to compromise to do that, but to Eve that may be worth it. Is she Gail Berman, perhaps ?

Cut to lots of gory pictures, which I’m sure the network loved. Didn’t really interfere with the story. Could be one of those ways that Eve is trying to help. Knox tells Fred that they are looking at a retrovirus. This is how Joss sees his show being threatened, by something insidious that integrates itself into the hosts chromosomes to replicate itself. It has no real function other than to make more of itself. It is spread by touch, in this case, which makes it highly contagious. Now we see Fred in a rush. "Don’t get someone on it. HAVE someone on it." Fred gives a very good description of what is going to happen and then plays Natalie Maines by blaming the scientists for this.

Next comes court. I agree with people on the net that say I hope the scenes in the court are limited and rare. I don’t want to see The Practice with demons. This scene makes things more urgent. Lorne recommends that Angel get the kid into isolation "pronto." The defense is trying to draw things out, but things are inevitably coming to a head. Operations is going to "show the new boss how a threat is contained." They are into overkill, to put it mildly.

Thus ends the third act.

Wesley explains to Angel that it will take days for Fred’s technicians and his own team to come up with a solution. Can they suspend the trial ? Not going to happen. Things are happening NOW. Not since Darla’s rising has there been such an urgency present. (Jasmine’s birth is close, but they didn’t know what threat they were facing then) Harmony explains why things are even more urgent because the Operations team left 10 minutes ago. Angel will never beat them in the streets, but he has to try. Harmony is the one with the solution.

Nice edits between school and courtroom. The school, a place where over the course of years we get an education. This is the normal and relatively non-evil way to get it. The degrees we attain are real and show not only that we know something, but that we gave it our time, effort and energy. He learn a bit more than just the subject we learn. Gunn’s false degrees and rapid education don’t show this. The education that children receive make us who we are. Gunn’s education is so empty that he needs Gilbert and Sullivan for elocution. Slow, draw out education = good. Fast, instant one = bad. Fast saved the day, but for how long ? Can it be trusted ?

Operations team rush up the stairs. They find Angel sitting in an empty classroom, books still on the desk. Harmony’s solution, "So it turns out with this new deal and everything, I own a helicopter." The operations team "just missed everybody." Now Hauser is going to show Angel how tradition works. What a beautiful shot of Angel in the students desk as he is about to get his lesson on tradition. The main fight happens next to the teacher’s desk, by the flag no less.

Gunn enters the courtroom and saves the day. "The defense requests one more minute to confer." Gunn will successfully get the case stalled by having a mistrial declared. He will draw out the case for months. The guy isn’t getting off. The gang is just delaying things until they can nail him safely. Maybe they will find a few weasels to eat him. Angel’s strategy is to play things until the Senior Partners tip their hand. They can use time to their advantage. Not necessarily a win, but not a loss either.

Angel’s final showdown with Hauser shows how he is going to play it from now on. Earlier we saw Eve fire Angel up by saying that he wasn’t going to last. Hauser shows Angel how to play and win the game, by mercy. "What happened to mercy ?" "You just saw the last of it." Not that Angel is giving up on mercy. He will maintain it, and therefore his integrity and sense of self. He showed it to the poor guy in the hallway, by not killing him. Now that guy has a choice to make. Operations has a choice to make. Showing mercy to this man allows Angel to remain Angel. That doesn’t mean the guy gets it again, though. By not killing this man, Angel makes a powerful statement, a statement that will help to convert the opportunists at his firm.

But there is one more thing they have to deal with, Spike. "We’ll do the work our way, one thing at a time..." cut to the amulet falling "we’ll deal with whatever come next" as Angel is backing away from it. Gotta love Joss’ edits. Harmony’s reaction shows exactly what they will do with this character. The episode looks like it was a nice quick jab. The case was wrapped up rather nicely in one episode, just like the network wanted. The backstory was given succinctly and the season laid out nicely. But Spike’s appearance changes this. The most startling thing happened at the very end. Three little words, "To be continued." Last season was one big gigantic run-on and the words didn’t appear once. Those three little words were the biggest statement of the whole episode. It ranks up there with when the Grr Arg monster was replaced by the Trio singing "We are Gods" in "Storyteller" or Angelus’ evil laugh extending through the blank screen followed by Joss Whedon’s name in "Awakening."

How was time used this episode ? The WB wants to force Angel into going more episodic, fine. They can hold Joss’ child hostage, plant a bomb near his heart. That bomb explodes with nothing more than a magick word and it kills all of us diehard fans in a horrible way. Joss isn’t going to let that happen. He won’t let the child or the world be harmed. He’ll take to the air with his metaphors and metanarration and beat the bad guys, all of them (ratings/Agent Hauser and those that would change or cancel his show/Fries). Joss Whedon is the one with conviction. They want episodic television ? He’s got three words for them "to be continued." Only thing missing was Angelus’ laugh.