Cordelia awakens to discover she is pregnant, nine months pregnant to be exact, and Wesley and Angel try to find out what manner of creature is growing within her.
This episode isn't as bad as you might expect (pardon the pun), and oddly it's not Charisma Carpenter that steals the limelight, despite this being essentially her episode. It's the rapidly-developing dynamic between Angel and Wesley that really keeps the story moving, while Charisma's main function is to look sexy at the beginning, enjoy a few steamy moments, then get irritable and possessed. Having said this, her scenes in her flat with her ghost trying to interfere in her love life are priceless.
When Angel began, we were told that Doyle would provide the comic relief, which never really materialized beyond a few sarcastic one-liners. With Wesley, the elements are in place to allow him some humorous moments whilst also letting him be of use to the team. All Doyle brought were a few visions and a desire to stay out of the fighting where possible. Wesley is keen to join in, but disturbingly inept when he does, although the attack he and Angel make on a demon's nest shows him actually putting his new axe to good work.
It's Wesley who brings the story up; the whole plot is simple with no real twists, but Wesley's superb fall when he pulls his axe out of the wall, his and Angel's bursting into the wrong house for some demon-killing and his final face-off against the demon who has impregnated Cordelia are all priceless comedy moments, as is his suggestion that she and Angel play him at word puzzles at the start of the episode.
This could finally be the signs of a show starting to take off. The chemistry between Boreanaz, Carpenter and Denisof is much better, with both men coming across as particularly caring when it comes to Cordelia. By the end of the story, there's a new closeness between the cast as if the bickering is finally over and things can settle down and develop. Let's hope Angel can build from this template.
***
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