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Sanctuary
Written By: Tim Minear and Joss Whedon
ReviewWebster's Dictionary defines sanctuary as a "a refuge for wildlife where predators are controlled and hunting is illegal". In this episode Angel provides a sanctuary to the rogue slayer Faith after last week's dramatic events. What makes this episode so great is the different emotions and relationships between the characters which are examined.First, let me say that I was a bit disappointed that they got rid of Cordelia so quickly in the beginning of the episode. Cordelia never really has had a relationship with Faith other than Cordelia getting beat up. Despite Cordelia's exit early in the show she continues to provide comic relief and makes the most out of her one scene. It is such classic Cordelia to get Angel to give her a paid vacation when she realizes that Angel intends to keep Faith in his apartment. Now let me examine the relationships one at a time. First we have Angel and Faith. Their relationship has always been one of teacher and student, even when she was trying to "kill" him. Angel puts it best when he's talking to Cordelia and says that they should not be able to pick and choose which innocents they should save. From Buffy to Angel, Angel has always understood where Faith is coming from. As we all know, in Angel's past he was a murderer of the innocent, so he understands the power of evil. Although their relationship is not all too deep, Angel wants to help Faith and bring her back to the side of good, or at least make her realize the attrocities she has caused and help her to move past them. Secondly, we have the relationship between Angel and Wesley. As we have already seen in past episodes, such as Eternity, we know that Wesley is at the ready to confront Angel should he lose his soul once again, but we also know that he trust's Angel with his life. The confrontation in the beginning of this episode gives a slight glimpse of Wesley's distrust of Angel. He is blatantly against Angel re-habilitating Faith, although this is mostly due to his fresh memories and injuries from being tortured in last week's episode. Wesley is also confronted with the opportunity to put last year's tragedies behind him when three Watcher's Council assassins return to get Wesley to assist them in capturing Faith. They present him with re-instation to the Watcher's Council for his assistance. Before he accepts though, Wesley has a demand of his own, the safety of Angel. Despite his earlier argument with Angel, Wesley obviously wants to return to his former position as a Watcher and is willing to allow the Council to try and re-habilitate Faith even though he did not want Angel to. I was really surprised that Wesley would take the deal and we the viewers are made to believe that he is willing to betray Angel. In the end though, Wesley is loyal to Angel and informs Angel, Buffy and Faith of the Council's plan. This just shows how much Wesley is beginning to trust in Angel even more, despite his disagreement with Angel's plan to re-habilite Faith. Last, but certainly not least we have the complex relationship between the Slayer herself, Buffy and our hero Angel. After all that Faith has put Buffy through, she certainly has a right to be angry with Faith. This is one of the strength's of Joss Whedon's characterizations. He is willing to allow his characters to be flawed. In the Buffy episode airing just before Sanctuary, Buffy was upset with Riley for commenting on Willow's relationship with Oz. Now we have the reverse situation where Buffy is in the position of Riley and she is upset over Angel and Faith's relationship even though she is not aware of all the intracacies of their relationship. Angel is willing to take the risk of helping Faith, but Buffy totally disagrees with him, as Wesley had. Unlike Wesley, Buffy in the end leaves Los Angeles still upset with Angel's decision to protect Faith. Angel's relationship with Buffy is further strained when Faith let's it slip that Buffy has a new boyfriend. In the end when Buffy leaves, their argument over Faith seems to become an argument over Buffy and her new relationship with Riley, when Angel declares that at least she can move on, but he lives in fear everyday that if he love's again, he may become evil once again. At the beginning I put the definition of sanctuary. In the end, Angel's trust in Faith comes to fruition when Faith turns herself into the police so that Angel is not arrested and she does not have to feel responsible for his arrest. It is ironic that for Faith, what she was continually running away from, ended up being her sanctuary, i.e. prison. She realizes in the end, she must attone for her past indescretions by not doing what Angel does, but by doing it in her own way. Overall a good episode, although Faith's transition from evil slayer to person who wants to repent for her mistakes and then to a person who check's herself into prison was a bit too fast. A- |