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Angel
Episode 3.16 "Sleep Tight"
Written by David Greenwalt
Directed by Terrence O'Hara
Cliffhangers are great. It's really that simple. While I would have liked more of a resolution to Angel's snack line, there is just a lot to love about this week. If you saw the episode you know what I'm talking about. If not, let's just say it's something big.
Cordelia and the Groosulugg are still making the beast with two backs (and since they're both part demon it could be a lot more literal than that old euphemism). Since they're still MIA this week, we're instead given a little more Lorne. He's seeing a client, a woman with a great singing voice. She just has a tiny problem when she hits that high note: she turns into a demon.
The Avengers assemble as Gunn and Fred walk in flirting over their cell phones. I'm such a sucker and this is still cute. How else would we learn that apparently Texas loves the black man? Angel drinks more blood and is acting all high as he babbles on about dentists, flying nuns, and singing demons. Wesley is consoling the damsel in distress as Fred finds out the girl was infected with a demon virus because her bandmates are evil demon musicians. They're bumpy, slimy, oozing pus and still have two hot groupies. I gotta learn how to play guitar.
The crew saddles up and Angel goes totally Terminator on these guys. He takes them on alone and rips them to shreds, literally. The gang is visibly freaked by Angel's weird behavior. Except for Wesley, who has gone back to the HoltzCave for another meeting with Holtz. He and Holtz stare down again and Wesley even holds a knife to Justine's throat after she tries to stab him. Holtz gives him one day to get the baby out of harm's way or he plans to storm the hotel with his army.
The gang rides back to the hotel and Angel goes straight for his blood. Then he flips out when Connor starts crying. Oh my god, it's Angelus! Not really, but even for that split second, David Boreanez shows just how cool a character he makes as Angelus. Angel snaps back to normal and says that he's not a bloodaholic. This is my formal plea to The Powers That Be: please let that be a throwaway line and not some future storyline. I'm begging you. Mrs. Wizard does the voodoo that she does so well and figures out Angel's regular supply of pig's blood is being spiked with human blood, and not just any human, but Connor. Cue the ominous music and Angel goes after Lilah.
We enter the bar with lots of mirrors as Lilah makes a crack about how she can't ever see Angel sneaking up on her. I just realized something with that joke. Angel always sneaks up on Lilah when she's looking in a mirror. Always. I can't think of one time she's not looking into a mirror when he shows up. Anyway, Angel and Lilah talk in that nice filler confrontation way that Angel perfected with Lindsey. Lilah basically says she is an irredeemable soul and tells Angel she'll torment him forever, but the sparks really start to fly when the time demon shows up. Sahjhan the time demon, meet Angel. Angel, meet Sahjhan the time demon. Angel has no idea who Sahjhan is and has no idea why they're sworn enemies. It's actually pretty funny as Sahjhan reveals his whole plan to Angel. And Lilah makes another crack about helping Sahjhan just because he wants to kill Angel. Forget all the gloom and doom big girl talk, Lilah is so much cooler as a smarmy villain.
Meanwhile, Wesley realizes he is running out of time on Holtz's ultimatum and starts to take Connor. Lorne walks in and questions him. Wesley convinces him Angel is cool with it, but then Connor starts crying. Wesley hums a little tune and then there's this great little awkward pause as Wesley realizes what he's done. Lorne reads him, finds out what's going down and Wesley has to knock him out. Poor Lorne, he's gotten the crap kicked out of him in almost every episode this year. Just for one more "what now?" moment, Angel, Fred, and Gunn walk in and ask Wes where he's going. He mumbles something about taking the kid to the park in the morning and they let him go. Angel also asks Wesley what the nearest emergency room is to his place. This is key, trust me.
Just for good measure, Holtz walks in seconds later with his army. The four remaining Avengers whoop up on Holtz's army pretty quickly actually. Even Fred kicks some ass. This rumble was great. It was an all-out brawl, and it was over quick, but you could tell that the gang had to hold back because they didn't want to kill Holtz's army. They are human after all. Holtz doesn't stick around with his lackeys though and takes off.
Wes is ready to head for the hills with Connor as Justine stumbles towards him. She tells a tale of Holtz double-crossing her and leaving her for dead when he went after the baby. Wesley is leery, but he keeps moving closer to her. And then she slashes his throat! Wesley drops to the ground with blood gushing out of his neck as Justine kidnaps the kid and takes off in Wesley's van. Wesley is dead! Maybe. He was still twitching when the camera pulled away. I don't know though, a slash across your throat isn't exactly a flesh wound. Wesley may not be long for this world.
Lorne comes to and tells Angel everything he learned when he read Wesley. Angel is livid and starts throwing Holtz's minions around the room. After some big talk about "I'd rather die than help a vampire," one of the minions cracks. I tell you, it's so hard to find good minions these days. And just to show Gunn still doesn't "trust" Angel, he gets in a fight with Angel over what they should do next. It's a throwaway moment and it really wasn't necessary. The gang splits up. Angel goes after Holtz. Fred and Gunn go to Wesley's place. And Lorne gives the equivalent of Xander's "no more butt monkey" speech to Holtz's minions. Way to intimidate the unconscious guys.
Outside we see Lilah has ordered another one of those Wolfram and Hart commando squads. Justine picks up Holtz in Wesley's van and they tell the kid his new name is Steven, they're his parents, and they're moving to Utah. Wow, trapped in Mormon country with two psychos as mom and dad. At least it's not a hell dimension.
After a little fancy driving we get a four-way standoff between Angel, the commandos, Holtz, and Sahjhan, who portaled in for the big finish. No one wants to kill the baby, which is what Sahjhan wants, but Lilah points out in smarmy villain fashion, "he's impotent in this dimension." Holtz tries to leave with the baby, as it's the only way everyone will live. Sahjhan doesn't like this one bit and finally shows some cajones and opens a big portal to hell and threatens and suck everyone in unless they kill the kid. Like any good psycho Holtz props Connor under his arm and makes a mad break for the portal. The ten, the five, touchdown! Holtz chooses a hell dimension over Utah. He disappears into the portal and Sahjhan says "Wow - didn't count on that. Kinda takes care of my problem" and teleports away. The commandos leave, Justine leaves, and Angel is left on the ground crying in bitter agony.
And that's all folks. No more Angel for six weeks. Truly an epic episode of Angel. There was a lack of real answers for my taste, though. Why did Holtz jump into the hell dimension? Why does Sahjhan want Angel and Angel's kid dead? Why doesn't Angel tell Wesley about the blood thing? But Wesley might be dead and I think his impending throat slash was the only reason Angel asked Wes what the nearest emergency room was to his place. And Gunn and Fred are on the way. But I don't know how the gang can get back to normal after this. Letting your boss' son get kidnapped into a hell dimension is not something you can just forgive and forget.
And what about the prophecy? The hamburger shrine said "the vampire will devour his child", which technically did happen. So where do we go from here? Well I'll see you April 15 when Angel returns and we get all new episodes until the season finale.
Episode Rating: 9 out of 10
John the Slacker is spending the next six weeks in the hell dimension known as Academia.
