Oz takes the gem of Amora to Angel for safe-keeping and to use, but unfortunately Spike has followed too and is happy to have Angel tortured to regain the power of the gem.

The Buffy/Angel crossover continues with Oz and Spike popping to LA to make a house call. It's not really much of a crossover outside of this, as the episode is fairly self-contained. As long as you know what the gem is, there's not really much else to pick up. It's also not quite right having Oz be the main character guesting in Angel as being the one most removed from Angel and Cordelia of all the Scooby gang, there's not a lot of interacting that can be done. Admittedly his arrival allows for a fantastic Cordy moment, but he doesn't appear for most of the rest of the time.

It also feels a little early for a crossover of this kind, but the reintroduction of Spike is worth it. One of the stars below is given purely for the opening of the story in which Spike narrates Angel and a recently-saved girl's dialogue for them, possibly the funniest thing that will be seen on Angel this season. Any other humour is usually connected to Angel's pain as Spike has the vampire viciously tortured to reveal the gem's location. This sequence amply demonstrates the differences between Buffy and its spin-off with this torture scene particularly unpleasant and graphic. You may not see the holes and wounds, but watching hot pokers being stuck into Angel is very unsettling. Despite some problems defining what type of daylight will or won't kill vampires, this episode works well, and although you know Angel makes the right choice at the end, you can't help but wish he'd kept the ring to use in opening up more story possibilities.

****

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