Fred's parents arrive and Fred makes a run for it. But why? And can she be found and make things right with her parents?

I'm trying to think of the rest of the plot to this story, but there simply isn't anything. There's a lot of talking, no major revelations (the non-revelation being that Fred's parents are normal) and a spot of demon killing. There's also precious little humour after the first few minutes, where Cordelia and Wesley do a passable imitation of the Buffy/Angel romance to bring Fred up to speed.

While I quite like Fred as a character, this story exists solely to bring her out of herself and find a space for her in the Angel Investigations team, something brought home when she can describe what each of the group brings to the business but can't think of anything for herself. While this is needed for her progression as a character, you can't help but feel that way too much time is spent on her running away and re-bonding with her parents. The running away is inexplicable as her parents are fine and she has nothing to fear from them, so why spend so long on this tack? There is an early hint that they may be demons or evil or something, but it's all a pointless red herring, rendering at least the first 20 minutes pretty disposable.

It seems as though Fred is really going to leave Angel and company as well, and it's only a feeble last-minute need to run back and help them with a problem only she's solved that keeps her around. With a lot of time spent talking about Fred and no one doing much, it's a bit of a non-episode, which is a shame.

**

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