Angel S02 E04 – Advanced Placement Creep

Previously: Cordelia made protecting Gunn her mission all while Angel was busy with some wet dreams.
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Untouched

Sweeney: The episode begins with Lilah snooping around Lindsey’s office. Darla appears and creeps about how powerful it feels to rummage through other people’s shit. Darla’s playing with some bright purple powder that Lilah assumes is how she keeps Angel asleep.

Kirsti: Either that, or Darla’s been raiding Cordy’s eyeshadow collection. 

Lorraine: 1430.

Sweeney: I’m trying to decide on the proper verb for Darla’s dialogue because my instinct is to keep going with creep, because she’s #creepyasshit, but she’s also really awesome and compelling while being a giant creep.

Lor: Agreed! She’s like an advanced placement creep. It helps that she really is very pretty, too.

Sweeney: I feel like this AP Creep thing has boundless potential. Anyway, she continues to AP Creep, adding that the best things are in dreams. Angel’s dreams are filled with horrors.

An exhausted looking Angel comes down to the new-old magic hotel Brooding HQ lobby where Wesley and Cordelia are bickering. It’s just a lot of insult-trading, but I love when Cordelia defends herself by pointing out that she was in the top 10% of her class at Sunnydale. Granted, the mortality rate probably helped a lot, but it was always sort of an established thing that Cordelia was a lot smarter than she came across. It’s one of the reasons it was super annoying when they overplayed the Cordelia’s-a-ditz card for the sake of plots/laughs on Buffy — it was so inconsistent. (Or, flipped, you could argue that smart!Cordelia was the problem. Either way.)

K: Truth. Although given that Cordy’s worst nightmare (as established back in Buffy season 1) is being a nerd and getting dragged into a chess club meeting, part of me suspects that a lot of it was her voluntarily playing the ditz because it came with a side of popularity.

Sweeney: Agreed; Cordelia actively played the ditz card. They tell Angel that the initial point of the argument was whether or not they should offer to pay Gunn. Cordelia’s for it, what with all he’s done, but Wesley thinks that Gunn would take offense. Hey, if he’s too proud to take your money bags, we will! These characters need to recognize that we are broke and blogging for free and stop being so cavalier about the fruit of their money trees.

K: A+. Although it would be appreciated if they wait for the Australian dollar to drop a little more before they pay me so I can take maximum advantage of the exchange rates. Mwahahaha.

Lor: It’s super cute how much thought you’ve put into this TV money we’re never getting.

Sweeney: Cordelia tells Angel that paying Gunn is “an order” and he’s all, “Uh, I’m the boss!” but then she says he can’t fire her because she’s vision girl. Even extra grumpy tired/sexually frustrated Angel is softened by her preciousness. He’ll pay Gunn on a case by case basis.

Angel wants coffee but it’s 10pm, so there’s none left. Angel admits that he’s been sleeping weird. That’s one way to describe it. Wesley points out that Angel’s problems — sleeping more but being generally less rested — have been going on for a while. This is interrupted by Cordelia going into vision mode. The guys run to catch her. The visions have changed some, in that she’s explaining the content of the vision as she’s having it. It used to be all, “AGONY. COLLAPSE. Gasp out details during recovery.”

K: How thoughtful of the Powers That Be (Contriving)! Also, I’m impressed by Cordy’s ability to identify a specific alley in downtown LA. Also also, Wesley has new glasses! This isn’t relevant. But I noticed it, and feel the need to share. 

Lor: As we’re noting things, Cordy’s hair looks super long. Has it always been this long?

Sweeney: She’s clearly been growing her hair out as we’ve been watching. Cordelia gets out an address and Angel takes off running, while Wesley stays to comfort her. Just after Angel leaves, Cordelia says he’ll be too late. This cuts us to the girl in question, running down an alley. Two guys are discussing who gets noms first when a big dumpster crushes them both against the wall. The girl cries and the electric cellos swell.

After the credits, Angel fakes his way onto the crime scene, bossing around an inept police officer who puts up very little pretense of being any good at his job. Inept Cop explains the smashed-against-the-wall thing to the Angel, adding that blood splattered several feet away. We get another new detail for Angel’s blood sniffing skillz in that he bends down and quickly realizes that this is not their blood. So, in the 8 seconds he’s been there he picked up the blood smell of the two victims and differentiated it from this? Never mind, I don’t want to think about this.

K: Probably for the best. Because EW. 

Sweeney: Angel asks if Inept Cop has seen a girl, but he has not. Angel wanders off and finds her right away. BECAUSE HE FOLLOWED THE BLOOD SMELL? Telekenesismurder Ginger is freaking out and wants Angel to GTFO and then a metal rod of some sort flies through his chest. She freaks and goes to leave, but Angel gets up and tells her to stay because he’s there to help. She laments that stabbing Angels is definitely going to get her Heaven ticket revoked.

K: I feel like “Angel gets impaled by things” should be added to the drinking game. Because I can think of half a dozen occasions just off the top of my head.

Sweeney: I fully support this. As there seems to have been a drop off in references to his hotness, we need alternative drinking prompts. This is a good one.

Telekenesismurder Ginger is still really suspicious of him, and his creepy, “You’re not from around here and you’re all alone!” chat probably doesn’t help. He offers her one of those sweet business cards, in case she needs a place to stay or someone to talk to. She accepts and runs off, and Angel collapses due to his still needing time to heal from that epic stab wound.

We see her scramble to open an apartment before the door opens and the “friend” she is staying with is none other than Lilah. After a Not Commercial Break we learn that Lilah went to this girl’s high school and invited Telekenesismurder Ginger to look her up if she came to LA because she has “a power about her.” Oof. STRANGER DANGER, girl. She scurries off to bed and the zoomy cameraman and ominous sound effects guy both agree that Lilah is up to evil stuff.

K: Also, Lilah’s “let’s have a slumber party and talk about boys!” attitude totally reminds me of this: 

 

Sweeney: Back at the Brooding Hotel, Cordelia and Wesley are patching Angel up. Cordelia tells him to stop flexing his manly boob muscles and gives him a hard time for failing to get the girl’s name, forcing me to continue to use this unreasonably long nickname. He tries to blame it on the injury and asks her if she knows how hard it is to think with a rebar through your torso. “Actually, I do; benefits of a Sunnydale education.” LOVE. Sorry I’m not even sorry for quoting everything Cordelia says in this episode. She’s getting some A+ lines today.

K: My notes are literally 50% Cordelia quotes. She’s on fire in this episode.

Sweeney: Feeling outdone, Wesley gets his turn being delightfully quotable when Angel asks what he knows about telekensis, since Angel’s certain the girl’s just a girl and not a demon. “Ah yes, the power of moving things with one’s mind. That’s pretty much it, the power of… I’m better with demons, really.”

Gunn shows up with a shiny new axe that his vampire hunting gang members put together for him, ready to slay things. Unfortunately, Angel only called him there to help find a girl, which puts a downer on this opportunity to play with his new toy. He makes a workman’s comp joke as he leaves (he needs to call Claudia Kishi and explain the concept to her) which makes Cordelia go all, “SEE. PAY HIM.”

K: It’s a pretty sweet axe, considering it seems to have been kludged together out of wheels and hubcaps. I’d want to play with it too, if I were in the demon hunting line of work.

Lor: I loved all of this whole scene. The dialogue was great, the character interactions are perfect. I just love the Fang Gang, you guys. I just do.

Sweeney: ME TOO. The hardest part of recapping was trying to focus on the plot when all I really want to do is sit around and discuss their excellence.

Angel says he’s going to bed because it has been a long day, but Cordy points out that he’s been up for three hours. Having your autonomy sucked away while you sleep can really take a lot out of you.

Speaking of creepy dream snatchers, Telekenesismurder Ginger is tossing and turning in her sleep at Lilah’s. Lilah comes in to watch her sleep like a fucking lunatic. TG dreams of herself as a little girl. A man is trying to make her go somewhere and everything is shaking, both in the dream and in Lilah’s apartment. The lamp on the nightstand in Lilah’s apartment flies off and clocks Lilah IN THE FACE. That’s the best punishment for creepy bedroom lurkers ever.

K: A+. Twilight would have been a much shorter book if Bella had telekenisismurdered Edward with a lamp when he was hanging around watching her sleep. Plus, the world would have been spared 50 Shades of Misogyny. Dammit.

Lor: And an A+ to you, Kirsti, with the assist.

Sweeney: Anyway, since Telekenesismurder Ginger didn’t mean to dispense this well deserved punishment, she freaks out and runs away.

Angel’s having a sexytimes dream about being with Darla the night they murdered the Gypsy girl. I was about to comment on how awesome Darla’s epic sexhair wig is, but then she vamps out and the scene continues with their vamp grills on and it’s far less attractive. We also see Darla actually in Angel’s bed, feeding him these memories/dreams. She’s gone when we see Angel wake up.

Lor: Guys, alarm system: learn about it.

Sweeney: The next day, Cordelia isn’t having any luck finding TG, but Wesley has added to his knowledge of teleknesis and can now inform Angel that it occurs in periods of extreme emotional distress. Cordelia says she thinks she might have a lead as she gestures to Telekenesismurder Ginger entering the Brooding Hotel lobby. She came to ask Angel for help, though she’s still a bit suspicious of the billowy coat man who turned up out of nowhere in the abandoned-warehouse-looking place where they met.

At Wolfram & Hart, Lilah’s being semi reprimanded for losing the girl, but then Telekenesismurder Ginger calls and all is well for Lilah.

Back at the hotel, she and Angel have a chat. She doesn’t really want to chat about herself, but she does say she wants the power gone. Inside, Cordelia is watching and telling Wesley that she’s getting a bad vibe from the girl who impaled Angel with her mind. I added that last part. But, basically.

Angel is trying to get at what causes her to accidentally murder/maim people with her mind, but she keeps going on these annoying rants about not wanting to answer questions. Wesley comes out and says, “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t help her then,” and although Angel tries to get him to stop, he keeps going, rephrasing that idea in a number of ways designed to set her off. He succeeds when he suggests that they send her back to her father. With that, both Angel and Wesley fly off — Wes into a wall and Angel out into the sunny courtyard, but he scurries into the shade. Whatever, show. Fuck you and your sunlight bullshit that’s going to make me angry all the time for the next year-ish that we’ll be at this.

K: Yup. Just when we thought we were done with sunshine related nonsense. WHEDOOOOOOOON!! !*shakes fist* 

Sweeney: Inside, Cordelia’s giving Wes shit for being so harsh in his approach, but he was just trying to hurry things along, because we’re at that point in the episode. He explains a series of random comments (Cordelia’s sexual vibe observation, “family business”) that led him to guess that her father was responsible for her serious childhood trauma. Cordelia, ever the speaker of our thoughts, responds, “There’s not enough yuck in the world.”

K: Exactly. EW PARENTAL INCEST ABUSE RAPE GROSSNESS. That’s enough to make anyone squish people with a dumpster.

Lor: You forgot pedophilia! Just, you know, in case it wasn’t enough ew.

Sweeney: Incest, rape, and pedophilia? It’s like the Traumaland Trifecta. Add in a substantial helping of criminally abusive parenting and Father Rape sounds like a character tailor-made for Traumaland.

Angel comes in and tells Wesley to GTFO. Cordelia freaks out and says Angel can’t fire him. It’s cute. But Angel only meant that he needs to go because she’s not going to be as trusting with Wesley around. As Wesley leaves Angel assures him that it does help that they know the source.

Angel finds TG in an upper room of the hotel, hiding out because she’s embarrassed. She says that after all the accidental murders, it’s a little ridiculous to let embarrassment be her top priority. Well, at least you recognize it. Angel talks about seeing people try to change and she says he sounds like an old guy, which makes Angel laugh.

We jump back and forth between Angel’s vampire sexy dream and TG roaming the halls in her pajamas. She enters Angel’s room because she heard voices. He says he was having a nightmare as he awkwardly adjusts the covers. Just in case you weren’t sure if you were imagining that, TG responds that it looked like a pretty happy dream, but could just be rumpled covers.

K: File under: “Things no one wanted to think about ever.” Thanks, Whedon.

Sweeney: She hits on Angel, and when he grabs her hand to stop her from feeling him up, everything in the room shakes. We get another har-har-Angel’s-old joke when he says something about making love and she asks if he’s from the 18th century. Then she goes on to give a heartbreaking little speech about what a big slut she is, but how when she’s with a guy she’s like a chamber maid and just leaves. She makes up the room, shows them in, and once they’re on her, she leaves before coming back to clean up the mess.

TG mocks the idea that Angel loves people, what with his 100 rooms to be alone in. Angel tells her to get some sleep. She asks who Darla is before she goes, but Angel doesn’t answer. As she leaves we see that Darla heard the whole conversation.

Lilah’s being reprimanded for realsies this time, because TG is fucking up Lindsey’s genius plan and Lilah needs to get her out of there ASAP or suffer some srsbsns Wolfram & Hart punishment.

The next day, Angel successfully gets TG to move an innocent scarf with her mind. Cordelia sends Angel off to meet Gunn, promising to take TG shopping in his absence.

At the residence of one of the men maimed by TG, Angel and Gunn are chatting about the episode so far. Angel awkwardly tries to introduce the idea of paying Gunn. Gunn’s all, “Yeah, paychecks are cool,” and that’s that. Angel is leaning on the magical vampire-resistant forcefield and falls through, informing us that the guy has been taken off the critical list. Angel picks up the phone and dials *69 (WHO WAS ON THE LINE? DIAL STAR SIXTY-NINE!) and gets Wolfram & Hart. Ominous music. Not commercial Break.

Cordelia and TG are at the mall and Cordelia tells her not to bone her boss. TG’s all, “Say whaaa?” and Cordelia goes on to say that Angel sees her as a damsel in distress and it’s not that simple; she thinks TG is dangerous. Cordelia explains the vision and how she felt everything that she felt in that alley. She says that while those men sucked, the fact remains that TG could have done any number of things and the fact that TG made that choice makes Cordelia afraid for her friends and herself. Cordelia assures her that she does like her, though, and it ends up being more heart-to-heart than spat.

TG asks if Cordelia is sleeping with Angel. “No. I like my men a little less broody and a little more spendy.” I don’t know the future, but I do know that the DVDs for seasons 1-4 are just Angel and Cordelia, so it seems like a pretty inevitable bet that this is going to change.

Lor: If Angel keeps coming across bags-o-money, I’m sure Cordy will reconsider.

Sweeney: A handy Cordelia-wooing skill. Anyway, some guy walks by and jabs something into TG’s neck. She starts to get woozy and two more men casually push Cordelia out of the way and start to usher TG off somewhere. Cordelia manages to distract them and toss what I assume is coffee in their eyes.

K: I loved the coffee throwing. Sunnydale Cordelia would have screamed for someone to help. Los Angeles Cordelia is a BAMF-y self rescuing princess who carries an axe and throws coffee in attackers’ faces.

Sweeney: She tries to take her away, but a van screeches around the corner and they grab TG and drive off. Thanks to TV perfect timing, Angel rolls up with Gunn and Cordelia points after the van. “Tan van! Fetch!”

They chase the van down a busy street. They manage to make a completely seamless driver swap so that Angel can jump onto the hood of the car. LOL, K. It’s not quite as ridic as the super jump, but it’s up there. He jumps on the back of the car and gets TG free.

We see Lilah doing her menacing phone call thing. She’s mad about all the excuses, but then says that if Angel wants to play with “Little Miss Time Bomb” then they’ll let him. She orders whoever is on the other end of the line to “pull the trigger.”

Lor: There she goes again with the failure plans but A+ threatening phone calls. Stick to your strengths, girl!

Sweeney: Back at the hotel, TG is flipping the fuck out over the fact that Lilah is a lying liar who lies. TG doesn’t believe it, she says, and in her hysteria she’s making the whole room rattle. Cordelia’s understandably terrified and Angel is trying to calm TG down. After TG calms a bit, she goes to leave the room and opens the door to see the man from the dream, who I assume is her rapist father. We cut to an outside shot of the hotel and all of the top floor windows shattering.

K: Can they send her a glazier’s bill if she’s a vision-rescue-person? Because that shit’s expensive.

Sweeney: After a Not Commercial Break, he tells her that he was so worried and that her friend Lilah only wants to help her. Angel and Cordelia are slowly getting up after having been knocked aside. Everything is still rattling, though and a nail flies out and stabs Cordelia in the arm. Sucks to be right, girl.

Father Rape goes on about how they can be a family again and it’ll be just like it was before (K: EW with a side of NOPE). Angel starts to go to her, but she telekensis pins him to the wall. As Father Rape tries to get her to go downstairs, she releases Angel and lifts Father Rape up and starts choking him with her mind. Angel tells her that she’s got the power and should finish it and we see Cordelia’s eyes contribute a, “WHAT THE FUCK?” to the scene. TG sends Father Rape flying through the window, but stops him before he actually hits the ground.

Lor: Wow. Good thing you didn’t sneeze mid-telekinesis, Ginger.

Sweeney: They all exchange deep meaningful looks before we cut to TG packing up her shit at Lilah’s apartment. Lilah tries desperately to convince her to stay, to no avail. TG’s not a fan of people who hire potential rapists, it seems. Angel is waiting for her outside Lilah’s door. (“Did I tell you you’re not invited in?“) Her last ditch effort is to tell TG that Angel is a vampire. TG looks at Angel and only says, “Weird,” before she walks off.

Angel says she’ll have to find someone else’s brain to play with, but they already have someone in mind. She steps out into the hall to watch them leave and offer a brief villain soliloquy of, “Sweet dreams,” before we roll end credits.

I liked this episode. I’m a fan of potential rapists getting smashed to bits and a lot of it was sort of like, “What if you could use audience telekenesis on all the horrible characters ever?” I especially appreciated the roles that Cordelia and Wesley played in helping her. Cordelia’s line, in particular, about making choices, is huge and relevant to the larger show theme. TG’s story isn’t a redemption one because she’s a victim (a murderer too) but the idea that you always get to make the choice of what to do next is a big part of that redemption theme. It’s another example of the Buffyverse Special, in which complicated things are explored with demons and monsters and somehow feeling all the more real and honest for it. I approve, episode. I approve.

 

Next time of Angel: Darla tries to get Angel over to the dark side (again) in S02 E05 – Dear Boy.