Fred is asked to give a lecture about a physics paper she's written, but when a portal opens above her during her lecture, she discovers that being sent to Pylea was no accident.

It's episode five of the season, it must be a Fred story. Increasingly this show is outdoing many other genre efforts simply because of its characters taking on shades of grey. There are few people left among the main cast who could be considered out and out heroes; we already know Angel's past all too well, but Wesley is hardly blameless these days, even if he does seem to be playing for the goodies to some extent, and now Gunn and Fred are put through the Angel grinder. Fred has been taking on dangerous characteristics since early last season, but in this year's opener we saw just what she was capable of. Now, when she discovers it was her old professor who sent her to Pylea, her thoughts are purely for revenge, and you know she'll get it given the chance.

What's especially interesting is the way she approaches Wesley because she believes he'll help her; yet while he does agree to assist, he says exactly what Gunn and Angel have to her about how revenge will change you. You can see in his eyes that he understands her bitterness and sense of betrayal, and also his ongoing affection for her that he still hasn't let go. It's a strong dynamic that we need to see more of, especially as he doesn't know how things turn out here.

If there's anything that lets things down here, it's the Cordelia sub-plot, as she tries to rebuild her life and recover her memories. It seems at least a partial attempt to recreate an earlier version of Cordy, which I don't entirely believe is the way forward and her reaction towards Connor is obvious and a little pointless, as it merely accomplishes sending her back to the hotel. Mainly, though, I'm tired of amnesia plotlines and wish this was over fast.

It's not a perfect episode on this basis, and once Fred decides on vengeance there's little more to do except watch her succeed or fail. What we do get is a superb ending which comes completely out of the blue and isn't how you expect it to go down at all. It's going to cause some major ructions in the episodes to come, and is one of the most shocking moments Angel has ever featured. For this it scores well, but it needs a little more meat to the story.

***

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