Angel finds out why he's starting to get cravings for blood, Wesley makes a decision, Holtz makes his move and Lilah pursues her own agenda in regard to Connor.

It's a little difficult to decide just how good this episode is, as although it's packed full of events, it still doesn't quite get round to explaining a lot of the characters' motivations. What it does do, however, is throw every supporting character into the mix, stir them up a little and see what comes out, and the result is an almighty stand-off at the end of the episode and the possibility of a dead member of Angel Investigations.

Holtz's plan continues to puzzle me. If he just wanted to take and protect the child, you'd think he might have done something about it when he had Angel at the end of a crossbow in Dad. Instead it takes him until now to send a bunch of his soldiers in to distract Angel and company while Justine snatches Connor from Wes. So what was his plan now? Take off with Justine and try to live happily ever after? She, for a start, doesn't seem like the most trustworthy person to look after a child, and as Holtz points out, Angel would follow him wherever he went.

Next up is Lilah, who also seems to have a rather fluid agenda. She doesn't want the baby dead, but why? She agrees to help Sahjhan then betrays him and she's managed to get Angel fed the blood of his own child. Not only do all of these actions seem to contradict each other, she still doesn't seem to know what she wants by the end of this episode. It's not clear if she's under orders from Wolfram & Hart or not. I think it's time we had a bit more disclosure here on who is trying to do what to whom and why.

All that aside, this is a pacey episode that works well. Good action, a cliffhanger that leaves things so up in the air that you're gasping for oxygen and some good work for David Boreanaz and Alexis Denisof. The only real let-down is probably the demon band, who are only there to demonstrate what's happening to Angel and take up a little more of the story than they should do. Other than that, there's a lot going on, no way of predicting who will do what to who next, and a lot of questions to be answered. I have no idea where things go from here, but fancy making us viewers wait so long for the next episode after this!

****

Would you like to go to the Angel Season Three guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, read older reviews in the Reviews Archive or return to the front page?