Wesley attempts to discover what is ahead for Angel's son while Holtz continues to investigate Angel and his team in the hope of besting them.

There's a lot going on here, with alliances formed and broken, shifts in loyalty and closer inspection of the main characters. Cordelia's absence actually helps here, as it allows more attention to be given to Gunn, Fred and Wesley, with Angel also more background as he looks after his son. For possibly the first time, here J August Richards is given some good material to work with, allowed to add some dimension to Gunn's character; it's even starting to make the Gunn/Fred relationship seem like a better idea than it did at first. By making them realize that they still have to do their job, it shows that they do have some sense and know what is required of them; hopefully now their lovey-dovey looks at each other will fade down a little.

The episode is called Loyalty for a reason, of course, and for a moment you really think that Wes will throw in with Holtz and his group to help protect Angel's son; not yet, but you feel maybe it's coming. Instead his encounter with Holtz is pure class, Wes in full-on sarcastic tough guy mode, something he's started to carry off expertly, and managing to encounter Holtz on his turf. Both sides seem to learn where the other is coming from, and it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

The world of Angel has been more concerned with prophecies than Buffy ever was, even in its heyday, and this is a very portentous episode. The main players decide where they stand and we learn that the day of Angel killing his son is coming soon (and a little side-note here: Wesley's encounter with the Loa is absolutely superb with an astonishingly accomplished CGI effect). Now all that remains is to see how everything plays out. Will the prophecy come true next episode, or are things building towards the season finale? We'll just have to wait and see, but from this evidence, it seems things are getting more taut again writing-wise and there's a sense that things have been planned out, something that's been missing from the last couple of episodes. I'm excited about what comes next again.

****

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