You didn't think my hell was private, did you? ~Angelus
The Players:
Just go see the previous two Angel reviews things.
Previously on Angel: Complicated lives get more so. Except for maybe Faith whose life seems to be simplifying drop by drop as we merge seamlessly into currently on Angel Angelus pushes Faith away from him and both pass out. Music and credits.
The Dark Cordy and Connor Plot: Dark Cordy gets all jealous over Connor's Slayer Princess Haze. She plays on his protectiveness, bad mouths Angel's fathering skills and generally manipulates Connor into attempting to kill Angelus before he gets resouled into Angel. No kissing, thank God.
The Psycho Flashback Plot: Unable to actually be chronological and maintain suspense the writers cleverly use a flashback to show how Faith shot herself up just prior to the last battle with Angelus so that when he fed on her he was poisoned. They lock up Angelus who is in a coma and take Faith to one of the rooms where Lorne spends most of the episode acting all pensive and worried.
As well he should. The drug was a form of mystical opium called Orpheus for obviously literary reasons. When used in large does it kills the human and incapacitates the vampire. It takes them, Wesley colourfully says, to hell and leaves them there.
And what is hell to Angelus? It's apparently reliving each and every one of Angel's good deeds and resistance of temptation while Faith mocks him. Angelus, though, gets stronger and stronger and then we're treated to two horrible Angel memories: getting down to Barry Manilow and drinking from a dead donut cashier. This causes the dream Faith to pass out and regain consciousness in an alley. Angel joins in the discussion that, as usual, breaks down into an alter-ego fight. Faith is useless, giving up the fight because she did her job, until Angel pokes her with the Xena Schtick (redemption...yada yada...long road...yada yada...never over) and then she pops up and delays Angelus from killing Angel long enough for the Willow plot to kick in and then she regains consciousness just in time to stop Connor from staking his dad.
The Willow Plot: Willow arrives to resoul Angel with the only sticking problem being that the soul is protected by the jar. She chats with Dark Cordy who inadvertently gives her the answer to the problem and avoids getting killed by Dark Cordy. Willow, with Fred's help, does a spell designed to break the jar that will release the soul and allow them to then do the resoul spell. Willow makes a magic marble to go break the jar and, although Dark Cordy tries to stop it, it does. Willow does the resoul spell just in time.
The Denoument Thing: Everyone is up and on their feet and avoiding hugging each other. Gunn and Faith bond a little more at Connor's expense. Willow and Fred bond a little more over magic and Latin. Faith decides to return to Sunnydale with Willow and they exit stage right.
It's now time for the speech (and, honestly, gentle readers, these teamwork speeches of his tend to get a little long). But we're all saved by a very obviously pregnant Dark Cordy coming down the stairs in a fetching black outfit to tell them that the Yay Us! speech is a little premature.
Fade to stunned black.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
You know, all it would have taken was for Willow to have forgotten her car keys and Dark Cordy would be in big trouble.
Orpheus. Vampires. That 70s wig. And the Xena references just keep on coming. Betchya Dark Cordy's going to give birth to a hedgehog.
Speaking of Orpheus, the legend is thus for those unfamiliar with the Greek legend, Xena's Girls Just Want to Have Fun backstory or the Sandman comic book by Neil Gaiman: Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope, had a magic lute and hung out with Jason and the Argonauts. He fell in love with Eurydice but being a Greek legend these things rarely end well and there was a jealous rival and bees and she died of a snake bite. Orpheus conned his Uncle Hades to let him get Eurydice from the Underworld and Hades agreed that if Orpheus could find her she could follow him out. The only catch was that if Orpheus looked back to make sure she was still following him he would lose Eurydice forever. Orpheus, of course, looked back and Eurydice, of course, went poof. Like I said, Greek legends rarely end well. Despondent and a bit of a git Orpheus wandered into enemy territory and they tore him limb from limb, tossing his still singing head (shades of Lorne in his home dimension) into a river where it floated, still singing, to form the island of Lesbos, later home of the poet Sappho. Zeus, having a fondness for sad stories, turned Orpheus' lute into a constellation. See, these review-things aren't a complete waste of time.
This was a very quotable show. Lots and lots. And lots.
I hate flashbacks. I don't know which I hate worse: the flashback of the plot device they deliberately left out because they needed a cliffhanger or the bad hair historical flashbacks. Actually, the historical ones are a lot more fun with Faith in them but that's usually the way.
Not up on drugs but I'm fairly impressed that Faith hit a vein through denim at that angle. Personally I'd have thought she'd just jammed it into the elbow joint.
Wesley and Willow trying to define "the darkness within" and determining that flaying a guy alive beats keeping a woman locked up in your closet.
Wesley's little double take when Willow asks about Fred.
Willow's little desperate look when Fred flirty-babbles at her.
Apparently "last" means something different in the Buffy-verse and the "last" Orb of Thesulah they used in Becoming wasn't. Guess some of those old paperweights showed up in yardsales. Edited: Okay, my memory sucks. They didn't say specifically that it was the last one in the universe, just the last one in the shop.
RANDOM QUOTES
Wesley: "You alright?"
Faith: "I kicked his ass." [faints]
Angel: "You alright?"
Faith: "I feel like I just did mushrooms and then got eaten by the bear."
Dark Cordy: "A coma?"
Connor: "Yeah. That's what it looked like when Wesley brought her in."
Dark Cordy: "Like she hasn't pulled that one before."
Faith: "You tell me. It's your flashback."
Angelus: "This sucks. Why do you get to be Marley's ghost?"
Faith: "Because I'm dying, dumbass."
Faith: "Then I'm dust in the wind. Candle... in the wind. There'll be a general wind theme."
Faith: "Dude! You just rescued a puppy."
Connor: "We need to put Angelus down."
Willow: "I don't think so. I think you need a witch." [after commercials] "Did I come at a bad time?"
Connor: "So she's a witch?"
Willow: "Yes. You must be Angel's handsome yet androgynous son."
Connor: "It's Connor."
Willow: "And the sneer is genetic. Who knew?"
Willow: "How've you been?"
Dark Cordy: "Higher power. You?"
Willow: "Ultimate evil. But I got better."
Dark Cordy: "Hear about Faith?"
Willow: "Coma. Again."
Wesley: "You seem exactly like you where when I left. No more major changes I'm not up on?"
Willow: "Just little things. Sooo, Fred. What's her story?"
Fred: "Babble babble babble and it's probably funnier in Latin. You know how that is."
Willow: "I'm seeing someone."