Angel S04 E01 – Sociopaths

Previously: Season 3. Weird shit. Darla got pregnant, the baby was born and then abducted to a hell dimension but he emerged a few days later a teenage boy who hates Angel. Cordelia became a demon with weird glowy powers and increasingly terrible hair and then she was called to a higher plane where people don’t judge you for having mom hair and also the teenage baby sank Angel to the bottom of the ocean. Oh, and Wesley and Lorne both left the band, on different terms. Fred and Gunn are all like, “WTF, mate?”
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Deep Down

Sweeney: We begin with something that is obviously some sort of dream sequence because everything is so happy and good and not broken but I don’t even care, I’m fucking enjoying it. The whole Fang Gang, plus Connor, are sitting at a fancy table in the Hyperion lobby eating what appears to be Thanksgiving dinner and they’re all laughing and happy and toasting to family and Wesley is there and Cordelia’s hair isn’t too awful and THEN THAT’S THE EPISODE! THE END! THANKS FOR COMING.

 

Kirsti: A+. Everyone go home. Nothing to see here. 

Lorraine: I don’t know about you, but I feel satisfied.

Sweeney: Not-real!Angel suddenly starts panicking a bit about the fact that nobody’s passing him a plate, and this is when the magic is about to end. He grabs a tray and it’s empty. Then he knocks over a glass of water and looks back up to find only Connor, now back to looking very murdery. His face starts looking all cracked and old and then suddenly we see that he’s still chilling in that coffin at the bottom of the ocean.

Roll electric cellos, featuring new scenes! The only one that I have to note is this incredibly weird zoomy shot of Angel standing alone on top of a building. It made me giggle.

After the credits and back in actual Los Angeles, Fred and Gunn are running to his truck, very afraid and definitely not OK.

K: I’m not okay either, because LOOK. IT’S THE ENTIRE FANG GANG.

Sweeney: OMG WHY WOULD YOU POINT THAT OUT TO ME? BRB, SOBBING.

They speed off and a vampire jumps on their hood. They end up in a showdown with several vampires who have a fancy red convertible because all vampires in Los Angeles seem to have a foolish and inappropriate infatuation with cars-most-likely-to-kill-them. (Though I guess motorcycles aren’t much of an improvement. Vampires need to work on their vehicle choices.) These vampires are in a gang and Fred and Gunn were tracking them so that they could talk to a girl. The Vampire Gang make some cracks about Angel disappearing before saying she’s in the top of some building and then deciding to attack anyway. Fred awesomely kills one with Angel’s sleeve-stakes. Things get ugly for our pair, but Connor appears to save them, just in time.

He’s really excited about his entrance. He gives off major sociopath vibes here. I thought he was unlikable because Buffyverse fans like to hate on late-addition angsty teenanger and I was prepared to take up that cause. I’m not sure I can wave the banner for someone who, in 15 seconds of screen time, managed to ooze SOCIOPATH.

K: This is why vampires can’t (usually) procreate. 

Lor: And why you shouldn’t visit a hell dimension. Like, if you had a choice, don’t.

Sweeney: More life saving advice from The Snark Squad. You’re all welcome.

Seizure cut to them arriving back at the Hyperion. Gunn lectures Connor about dividing their strength and running off, before begrudgingly agreeing that his ax trick was cool.

In the ever-changing-main-office-that-belongs-to-whoever-feels-like-sticking-around-for-this-thankless-murdery-job, Fred is sitting at the desk and Gunn enters so they can have a conversation that’s mostly for our benefit: they’ve spent the last three months looking for Angel and Cordelia, always chasing dead ends. Lorne is (to the best of their knowledge) living it up on Las Vegas and doesn’t have time for their calls. “He’s lost the mission, bro,” says Fred. Gunn says that they are probably going to get evicted soon and also that Fred can’t say, “bro,” but I disagree with that last part.

 

K: I’ve got your back on that, Sweeney, because when I was in New Zealand, I started saying “bro” at the end of almost every sentence. And if I can say it, Fred can say it.

Sweeney: Fred talks about finding this Marissa girl that they’re looking for and then Connor gets his mega fucking creep on and appears at the door asking, “Find who?”

It’s kind of like the reverse of the Toby Edit. Like, we – the audience – got actual confirmation of shady ass behavior and are now witnessing him say and do ostensibly normal things but in a way that screams, “I’m going to murder you in your sleep and then wear your skin.”

Lor: Vincent Kartheiser gives really good, “I’m going to wear your skin.”

Sweeney: I had originally written, “That was an interesting acting choice,” at the end of that paragraph, but then dropped it, because it wasn’t quite what I wanted to say and didn’t care enough to think about it more. This, though, is what I was going for. Thanks for that unintended assist!

Angel’s in another dream thing, this time at the spot where he was supposed to meet Cordelia. He turns around and sees her and it’s a sweet little scene, but he keeps having flashes of the actual thing that happened. He says that this isn’t how it happened, but Cordelia says that she likes this version better, before saying that she’s in love with him. They make out and then Angel vamps out, bites her, apologizes, and wakes up at the bottom of the ocean.

Hyperion. Fred and Gunn are explaining that Marissa might have seen something but they’re not really sure, which is why they didn’t tell him. Connor insists on coming with but Gunn says no. Connor he pulls this, “BUT MY DADDY!” routine, so Fred relents. He runs off to get his weapons. Gunn suggests that Connor is too much of a blunt object for the finesse job of talking to a potential witness. (Funny that when said witness is a vampire Gunn is now the one capable. Not surprising, per se, because he’s had to adapt, but the Gunn we first met would absolutely fall into the “blunt object” category. Also funny because obviously sociopath Connor is playing them like fiddles.) Fred tries to bring up going to Wolfram & Hart, which Gunn shoots down. She also brings up Wesley, but he shoots that down too, saying that Wesley’s made his choice.

Gunn storms out and we segue magic over to Wesley making the choice to be all up in Lilah Morgan. They’re all sweaty and post coital and exchanging their post hate-sex banter. Lilah gets dressed and tries to fish for information. Wesley jokes that he didn’t expect kidnapping Angel’s son would be so damaging to their friendship, but cuts Lilah off, telling her he doesn’t know where Angel is and gives no fucks. Sorry, guys, but is this what I’m supposed to be fangirling over? Because, um, nope. We can go round-and-round about whether the others should have handled things differently (as Gunn and Fred just did – Fred asking if they’ve given Wesley any real reason to care about them) but I’m not sure what Wes expected from Angel in this whole mess. I don’t think refusing to own his part in the dissolution of that friendship makes him a BAMF; I think it makes him an asshole. Lilah doesn’t really care much about this distinction, though and thinks this means progress is being made. They kiss and she leaves.

BUT THEN I SPOKE WAY TOO FUCKING SOON BECAUSE I MISREAD ALL THE THINGS. Wesley unlocks his closet to reveal a certain throat-slicing ginger bound and gagged. DAFUQ? “It’s time. Let’s go for a boat ride.”

I kind of want to go take back the other thing I said, but where’s the Snow-recapping fun in that? So laugh and enjoy. Except not really, because I’m just taking it back to restate: this is less BAMF than horrifying and sociopathic.

IS EVERYONE A SOCIOPATH NOW? IS THAT THE SHOW NOW?

K: Pretty much, yes. I hate this Wesley is a torture-y asshole plotline, because remember last season when we had to sit through that fucking terrible “every man is secretly a misogynist” episode? And Wes was HORRIFIED to find that inside himself and cried at the end, and refused to come back to work because he was so ashamed of his behaviour? Yeah, apparently in the past nine months or so, he’s just gone “Welp, I guess that’s what I really am, so I may as well give into it, treat women like shit and manipulate everyone around me!” NOPE TIMES INFINITY.

Lor: It’s hard not to jump the gun here because it’s such a big WTF moment. I’ll reserve my judgement but I will say that I guess arguments could be made that keeping a guilty woman in your closet is bad ass, but also, this is weird, and please don’t tell me that keeping a human in your closet is not weird.

Sweeney: Anyway, out on the boat, Wesley and Justine, uber sociopath is tormenting Wesley about what a waste of time this all is. “Everything changes,” he says and my heart melts a little because I remember how much I miss him. Can I go back to that Thanksgiving dinner scene now? Wesley knows his manipulation game, though, and turns it on Justine, reminding her of what a sociopath she is. Their banter also helpfully fills us all in on the events of the final few episodes of S3. Normally I’d declare this clunky exposition, but this show is such a plot twisty shit show that this seems necessary. Also, we get more broody Wesley: “We all get what we deserve.” I’m including this just so you all know that I recognize that I misread and that Wesley seems to get that he had a hand in everything.

Justine gets her hand on a weapon and starts to go after Wesley, but he threatens to take away her crap bucket and she gives up. Well that’s…creeptacular.

K: Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth. He probably should too, given that she’s living in his closet.

Lor: And someone is emptying her bucket…

Sweeney: EW.

Speaking of reasons to dust off our creepcabulary, Fred, Gunn, and Connor – the Junior Fang Gang if you will – have arrived at Marissa’s hideout. They interrogate her and Connor holds her, but he lets up after it’s clear that she saw Angel’s disappearance. She knocks him back and jumps out the window. Connor goes after her and confronts her on the roof. He kills her and cuts himself to make it seem like he was attacked before Fred and Gunn arrive. Gunn gets mad at Connor for blowing this lead and Connor runs off, jumping off the building. Why don’t they explain whatever his weirdness is? Gunn addresses this too, when Fred gets mad at him for not being sympathetic – he’s pretty sure the kid who jumped off a six story building isn’t “just a boy” and was nicknamed “The Destroyer” in a hell dimension. Fred says all that matters is that he’s Angel’s son and now it’s her turn to storm off. Work it out, you two, because I’m over this.

Lor: I’m over the being bamboozled thing. I’m oddly in like with Mama Fred and Papa Gunn.

Sweeney: Oh, yes. I dig Mama Fred / Papa Gunn. I’m just over all this HERE’S WHY I’M RIGHT, NOW WATCH ME STORM OFF that they’re doing, because it was starting to feel like a trend in the episode. (Thankfully it does stop around here.)

Connor is sitting on the roof of a building, looking out at Los Angeles when Angel arrives to reveal another dream sequence. He says something about how he’s not going anywhere and then some vampires show up and +1 that sentiment. Angel and Connor kill them all. Angel thanks Connor and then twists his head off, before waking up screaming.

In Las Vegas, Lorne is wearing an amazing blue furry pimp jacket when a big body guard gives him a phone. It’s Fred, but Lorne’s lead hasn’t heard anything and also he doesn’t have time for this and has to go. He says to make sure Fluffy’s getting enough love and hangs up. Fred is confused as to who “Fluffy” is supposed to be. Fred consoles Gunn and says that “Angel and Cordy are out there somewhere and no matter what The Powers That Screw You throw at us we’re going to find them.”

K: The Powers That Screw You is a FAR more accurate name for them. Well done, Fred.

Lor: Also, WTF Lorne. I mean, sure, you take care of you, but this that was pretty cold.

Sweeney: I’m 99% positive that we don’t have all the information on Lorne. This just doesn’t feel like Lorne to me. I’m waiting for the big psychotic reveal, like he’s being held prisoner by the demon that controls perfomers in Las Vegas or something (because, like, OBVS Vegas is run by some tacky ass demons.)

At Wolfram & Hart, DDK and Linwood are updating Lilah on the psychics’ latest breakthrough which is that they still don’t know much of anything, except that Angel is safe and immobilized. They’re content with this information, but Lilah points out that they’re setting themselves up to get caught unawares. Linwood goes on to say that DDK also deduced that Lilah’s fucking Wesley. She says she’s not sleeping with Wesley for information and even if she were, he doesn’t know anything and that there’s nothing to take advantage of. “Except you,” Linwood offers. Also, he fails to appreciate how fuck-worthy Wesley’s chiseled jaw is. That’s not a joke, sir. That’s just one of many valid reasons – each sufficient on their own – to sleep with Wesley, sociopath or not.

Lor: Lilah gave it a big lick in that earlier scene. Accurate.

Sweeney: Speaking of your favorite morally ambiguous character, he’s getting his rescue on! We see Justine down in the bottom of the ocean, attaching the crane to Angel’s coffin. She gets back on the boat and they pull him up. (K: Things I will never understand – why Justine didn’t just lie about what she found down there. It’s not like Wes is going to let her go once they find Angel. And it’s not like he’s going to go down there and check.) As soon as Wesley opens the box, Angel tries to choke him, but Wesley easily and gently removes Angel’s hand from his throat. Downstairs, Wesley helpfully explains the weird Frankenstein skin by dropping some new vamp lore on Justine/us: vampires can survive indefinitely without feeding but prolonged food deprivation can cause severe, irreversible brain damage. All right. Sure.

While Wesley feeds Angel, Justine taunts him with admonitions that Angel and everyone else hate him for the rest of forever.

Hyperion. Connor returns to see Gunn and Fred waiting up for him. They say that they were just worried, not angry. Things seem amiable until Gunn says something about Connor being just like Angel and Connor gets all temper tantrumy so Fred sends him to his room to wash up. Up to this point, I got Fred’s obliviousness, but the defensive reaction to being told he’s like the father he keeps swearing he loves so much should have at least raised a miniature red flag. Fred and Gunn are too busy making out for that, though.

They are interrupted by a phone call.

We cut to Angel lying on the boat, still all crackly, but Lorne is there and nobody else, so it’s definitely more dream sequence. Angel wants to know why everything’s so terrible, but Lorne’s got nothing. He suggests bitchslapping Connor to start making things better, though, but says hallucinations can’t do much about that. Wesley comes downstairs and Justine complains that Angel won’t shut up. Lorne starts singing and then he turns into Connor. Angel says that he should have killed him, only poor Wesley thinks he’s talking to him. FUCK. Tra-la-la-la-Thanksgiving-sceeeeene.

K: Damn those ill-timed hallucinations.

Lor: They’ll get you ever time.

Sweeney: Wesley, though, says that Angel needs more substantial nourishment. Justine thinks he means her, but he says her blood is too thin (probably due to all the torture) so he slices his own arm and offers it up to Angel. Damn. That’s legit brotherhood.

Lor: Also, Wesley is confusing my feelings.

Sweeney: Word.

Wolfram & Hart. Linwood has convened a meeting to talk about Lilah’s failures and DDK is gloating, suggesting she be shipped off to a third world dimension. Lilah apologizes and then goes on to say that she’s made mistakes, but fear was never one of her problems, unlike Linwood who has been stalling in a state of inaction because of his fear of Angel and Connor. She’s holding a little PDA looking thing as she goes on to mention that she spoke to a senior partner who agreed. Linwood’s outraged that she went over his head and she taps a button which causes a knife to fly out from his chair and chop his head off. Welp. Everyone in the room now reports to her and they are dismissed, though she makes DDK linger to clean up Linwood’s head. Bitch is fierce. FUCKING EVIL, but fierce.

 

Lor: Reason #597466254 I would never work at Wolfram & Hart: Murdery Office Furniture.

Sweeney: Pretty much any time we jump to Wolfram & Hart you can open up the document where you keep the list and get ready to add new items.

Upstairs, Connor is lying in bed playing with a Gameboy Color (HECK YEAH) when Fred arrives with a snack. Connor says he’s not hungry, but she calls bullshit. They have a little bonding moment over whether Gunn is still mad. Fred says that she knows Connor’s hurting, but she promises it’s not nearly as much as he’ll hurt for what he did to his father AND THEN SHE SHOCKS HIM.

I feel like this whole episode just required a series of, “OH, SHIT!” gifs. I could have dropped a few of those in here and called it a post. Saved everyone a lot of that pesky reading.

Down in the office, Fred’s circling him and asking if he thinks that’s how Angel felt. Gunn fills Connor in on their recent call from Wesley. Fred gets ever more ragey and emotional as she continues that Connor has known all this time, even as they took him in. She asks how he could do that and shocks him again.

Back at shore, Wesley is putting Angel in a car. Justine is handcuffed to the boat, shouting that Angel will turn on him because that’s just what he is. Wesley drops the key out the window, offering sage advice about ditching her slave life, and drives off.

K: Okay, fine. Maybe Wes WAS going to let her go once he found Angel. But she had no way of knowing that, so I stand by my earlier comment. Also, I remember the “Justine locked in the closet” storyline lasting WAY longer…

Lor: Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that sticks with you, probably.

Sweeney: Hyperion. Gunn tries to console Fred and Connor shouts shit about how she can keep hurting him and he gives no fucks because Angel got what he deserved. “How soon until we deserved it?” Fred asks. Connor looks really sad and feelsy at that.

The moment is interrupted by the arrival of Wesley, with Angel. “I believe you’re looking for this.” Fred and Gunn rush to help Angel and Wesley goes to leave. Fred asks where he’s going and also how could he wait so long to tell them if he knew what Connor might do to them. Wesley says that Connor wouldn’t hurt them because they’re human and he thought it was safer, but that with this, he’s done. “You really don’t care any more, do you?” Wesley answers that Angel will need more blood because he’s fresh out and leaves. Point made.

I’M SO SICK OF THIS “USE YOUR WORDS” BULLSHIT. ALL OF YOU NEED TO SIT THE FUCK DOWN IN A BIG COUNSELING SESSION AND USE ALL YOUR DAMN WORDS AND GET OVER ALL YOUR SHIT. AND MAKE THAT DAMN THANKSGIVING HALLUCINATION SEQUENCE A REALITY.

K: A+ and 1430, Sweeney. 

Sweeney: Fred and Gunn don’t get too long to process all of this before they hear Connor making noise in the office. They go in to detain him, but he takes them both out and shocks Fred in the neck. Angel appears in the doorway, though, and orders him to sit the fuck down. Connor says he’s too weak to take him, but Angel asks if he’s sure and Connor makes the smart play to at least take a beat and try to find out.

Connor sits and Angel sits in a chair across from him. “So. How was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw a some fish, went mad with hunger, hallucinated a whole bunch.” We hate on DB’s acting a lot, but he’s pretty on point throughout this entire scene. Well done, sir. Connor says he deserves worse. Angel fills him in on what actually happened with Justine and Holtz. Connor gets a little shifty eyed and says that even if that’s true, he still deserved it, but with a little less conviction.

Angel says that what he deserves is up for debate, but there’s a big difference between wishing vengeance on someone and taking it. The real question is what Connor deserves. Connor tries to escape and Angel knocks him into the wall. He asks if he did anything to Cordelia and he swears he knows nothing. Fred and Gunn think he’s lying, but Angel says he’s listened to enough of Connor’s nasally lying to know the much better sound to his voice when he’s telling the truth.

Angel tells Connor to get up and says that this was unbelievable, but having once been sent to a hell dimension for 100 years by his girlfriend, 3 months in the ocean just gave him perspective. He says that he got a chance to think about how nothing in the world is the way it ought to be – it’s harsh and cruel. He says that people like them are supposed to live as though the world were as it should be, to show them what it can be. Connor’s not yet a part of that, but hopes he will be. “I love you Connor. Now get out of my house.”

Lor: This scene. I loved everything about crackled skin Angel.

Sweeney: Aside from the actual crackled skin, YES. This scene was fantastic.

Connor runs off and Angel collapses. Fred says he needs to rest, but Angel just wants Cordelia, because they need to find out what she’s going through.

With that, we get some weird glowy gradient zoomy nonsense, that finally ends on Cordelia. “God, I am so bored.” End credits. Lolz.

K: Oh, Cordy. You really should have seen that coming, hon.

Sweeney: This fucking show. I can’t even with this shit. It’s just weird. I love the big redemption turn that Wesley took, though I’m not sure how I feel about locking Justine up in his closet. S3 was a string of weirdness and yet everyone keeps telling me that we haven’t really seen weird yet. If this episode was any indication, I believe you. Lots of epic twists and turns. I’m intrigued to see what happens with Lilah’s W&H promotion. I kind of don’t care at all about Cordelia’s weird demon plot, but her closing line reminded me of how much I miss her, the snarky girl who named our blog. It’s weird, too, because a lot of the stuff that happened gave me weird character nostalgia and it’s not that any of these characters have actually been absent, but they’ve all been sent down these crazy ass paths and I’m still not sure if I approve.

This show definitely knows how to keep it interesting. Or at least weird. Really fucking weird.

K: You have no idea how weird. Over here on Team I Know All The Things, I’m dreading it.

Lor: I feel like I’ve been preparing myself for this. I’ve strapped into the weird roller coaster is what I’m saying. It should be fun! Hopefully no one pukes.

Next time: Angel tries to steal an artifact that will help him find Cordelia, but apparently, there is a market for this artifact. Find out who else is after in in Angel S04 E02 – Ground State.