In The Dark

Written By: Douglas Petrie
Directed By: Bruce Seth Green
Guest Stars: Seth Green, James Marsters, Kevin West and Malia Mathis
Original Air Date : Tuesday, October 19th, 1999
Neilson Rating : 6.0/9

Quick Summary

Review

By far, this has been my favourite episode of Angel so far and it has all to do with Spike. I mean, right from the beginning we had Spike watching Angel from above. And because Spike is an already established villain, his mocking of Angel was that much funnier.

In general though, the episode rocked. Why? Well, since it was a continuation from Buffy, we didn't have to have scenes wasted on explaining the backstory of the Gem of Ammara (sp?).

Right from the beginning the sense of urgency and excitement was there. We knew what the ring meant and how powerful and invincible it would make its owner. Buffy gave the ring to Angel even though Giles had wanted the ring destroyed. Obviously Buffy still loves Angel and she wanted to protect him. But, Angel's dilemma of whether he should use the ring or destroy it was justified. As a society, we see the problems of everyday life, but often we forget that the end of the day is just the beginning of the trouble for many people. Angel realizes this, because at one point in his life, he was the one inflicting the pain on people.

In the end though, I was glad Angel destroyed the ring. Simply for the fact that I thought that Joss had concoted this "Gem of Ammara" to get around the fact that his hero was limited to the night and to allow Angel to walk in the daylight. But once again, Joss proved me wrong by making it about more, adding another level of complexity to why the ring was introduced.

The use of Cordelia and Doyle in this episode also felt right. Especially in the case of Doyle, I think this episode was the first one where Doyle really wasn't just the new guy anymore, but was part of this unbeatable team that the three seem to form. Too bad they're planning to kill him off in episode 9!

Cordelia as usual was her hilariously sarcastic self. But once again we see her slowly stripping away her nasty exterior and showing off her caring side. When Doyle and her catch Spike trashing the place, she truly fears for the safety of Angel and will do anything to get him back! She even pulls the cross-bow on Spike and threatens him, even though we can tell she's scared senseless!

Last but not least, the use of Oz was all but pointless. Yeah they needed him to the the messenger guy who brings Angel the ring but they didn't really use him effectively. Don't get me wrong, Oz is really funny and he did his moments, like him and Cordy talking how things are in Sunnydale, but other than that he was a bit wasted.

Overall, the best episode so far. Hopefully it can only get better. A

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