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City Of
Written By: Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt
Quick SummaryThe episode starts off with Angel already in Los Angeles where he is getting drunk at a bar. After noticing some vampires leaving the bar with a girls, he decides to follow them. Angel saves the girls in a dark alley where they are being attacked. Angel goes back to his new place, a basement apartment. There he finds Doyle, a demon who is sent by "The Powers That Be" to help Angel in his crimefighting. Doyle discusses Angel's past and that Angel needs someone to help him when he begins to have cravings for human blood. Doyle explains that they all have "demons" from their past and Doyle is no different. This is why he is helping. Doyle also reveals that he doesn't actually speak with TPTB, but in fact receives premonitions from them. His first premonition is for Angel to help someone named Tina.Angel goes to the coffee bar where Tina works and starts talking to her, although very awkwardly. After talking for a bit, she decides to go out with Angel after work. Upon leaving work, Angel who is waiting outside for her, notices she is dressed up. As she approaches she pulls out pepper spray and tells him she knows who he is and to tell Russell to stop harassing her. Angel speaks with her saying he doesn't know who Russell is and after some convincing he brings her to the party she was attending. The party Tina is attending, is an actors party where Angel is asked to become an actor by some agent. Angel finds Cordelia there and she explains that she started acting as a way of gaining some simple money but now she's fully into the biz. Tina is confronted by some of Russell's cronies who want to take her to see Russell. Not wanting to go, Tina asks Angel to take her home. As they enter the parking garage, they are attacked but manage to escape. Angel brings Tina back to his place and comforts her once again. She explains to Angel that she cannot trust Russell, especially after one of her friends disappeared. Angel tells her that she is safe and that she will have a safe place to stay while they figure things out. Through the night, Angel goes to a local library and researches the disappearance of Tina's friend. He finds out that she was murdered and he believes it may be vampire related. The next morning, he explains to Tina that he believes that her friend was murdered. Following this revelation, Tina sees the piece of paper with her name on it which Doyle had given to Angel to find Tina in the first place. She then goes paranoid believing that Angel is working for Russell. She tells Angel to stay away from her and starts running away. Angel gives chase, but gets burned by the sun and changes to his vampire form, scaring Tina even more. Back at her place, Tina starts packing her belongings only to have Russell show up. Russell then feeds on Tina and leaves, leaving Angel to find her dead. In the meantime, Russell decides he needs more "food" and watching the video tape of the party, he chooses his next victim to be Cordelia. Cordelia sitting in her room, meditating to take her thoughts away from her hunger, gets a phone call inviting her to Russell's mansion. Stricken with grief by Tina's death, Angel decides to go pay Russell a visit and tells Doyle to drive him there. Meanwhile, at the mansion, Russell is showing Cordelia around. Cordelia notices the beautiful drapes and starts discussing her situation and subsequently begins to cry. She then realizes that Russell is a vampire, because of her experiences in Sunnydale, and confronts him before realizing that it is a big mistake. Cordelia then starts running away with Russell giving chase. Angel then shows up to save Cordelia but not before Russell's security shoots him. The next day, we see Russell in a board meeting discussing Angel. His attorney, from Wolfram & Hart, has hired the top private investigators to find out who Angel is. Just then, Angel bursts in and interrupts. After the attorney speaks to Angel, Angel confronts Russell and subsequently pushes him through a window, causing him to burn up into dust. Angel leaves and the attorney makes a call to the firm explaining that there is a new player in town, namely Angel. The episode ends off with Angel, Cordelia and Doyle deciding to open up a detective agency to pay the bills, deciding only to charge those who have deep pockets.
ReviewWell, after watching the season premiere of Buffy, I was really excited to see Angel. Perhaps my opinion is biased because of this. I absolutely LOVED the Buffy season premiere and after being so satisfied, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the premiere of Angel. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good episode, but not great.First off, as a devoted watcher of Buffy, we already new the backstory of Angel. So, the parts explaining Angel and his past were a bit boring and redundant. I know that they had to include this to try to get some new viewers but... The beginning of this episode was actually quite hilarious, especially since we're not really used to seeing Angel's humorous side, so seeing him drunk in a bar was really funny. I'm not too sure, but I don't really have to say much about this episode. I mean, I thought that this episode had all the ingredients of a series premiere. It introduced us to the main characters, provided us with the necessary back story while planting the seeds for things to come. Perhaps its because I thought that Russell wasn't that great of a villain that I didn't enjoy this episode too much. Ooh, he attacked the innocent who didn't have any family. Didn't this guy already die in the Buffy episode, "Anne"? I guess what I'm saying is that there was too much stuff to juggle in this episode. On a positive note, I thought that this episode had its really funny moments, like the bar scene mentioned earlier, every Cordelia scene and Doyle who is already eying (sp?) our Cordy, as Xander would say. Some final comments: The episode did have a huge batman feel to it, from Angel's "batmobile" car, to Angel standing over the city looking into the night. B+
Random Quotes"It has a nice batcave air to it" - Doyle, commenting on Angel's apartment.
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