Angel "Soul Purpose"
Season 5, Episode 10
Tara I. – TwoCents Staff Reviewer
tara@thetwocentscorp.com
Angel Broodometer: 10
This episode had so much brooding there was barely time for anything else. It's, finally, time for Angel to start reflecting on what he's doing with his W&H life through a series of sometimes hilarious, sometimes disturbing nightmares. I never look forward to these episodes, but in this case, we were treated to many, many scenes of Spike and Lindsey (Christian Kane) together, so that made up for all the brooding.
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Angel
ReplyDelete"Soul Purpose"
Season 5, Episode 10
Tara I. – TwoCents Staff Reviewer
tara@thetwocentscorp.com
Angel Broodometer: 10
This episode had so much brooding there was barely time for anything else. It's, finally, time for Angel to start reflecting on what he's doing with his W&H life through a series of sometimes hilarious, sometimes disturbing nightmares. I never look forward to these episodes, but in this case, we were treated to many, many scenes of Spike and Lindsey (Christian Kane) together, so that made up for all the brooding.
The episode starts with Spike beating Angel again to get to the cup-o-Mountain Dew--only this time, it's not Mountain Dew. Spike drinks and instead of a sarcastic remark, he starts glowing...again...but it's Angel who ends up dust and Spike who ends up human.
So, you know immediately that this is a dream, or, more specifically, a nightmare: Angel's nightmare. Prepare yourself, there will be a lot of those in this episode and they all center around Angel and this ethics of working for W&H. He probably should have considered these things before agreeing to work for them, but I guess he was too busy brooding about other things.
Wesley and Gunn aren't helping Angel with his moral quandary. They both feel that the solution to a warlock cult leader problem is to kill the leader. Their only argument is how to do it: directly or indirectly. Angel can't focus on the problem at hand, though: he's started hallucinating. Thinking that he's suffering from lack of sleep, Team Angel sends him to bed. Unfortunately, his dreams don't get any better. He dreams of Wes staking him; Fred dissecting him while he's awake; Spike having sex with “Buffy”; and Spike saving LA from an apocalypse.
Meanwhile, in what I like to call the fun part of the episode, we're treated to a revised pilot episode starring Lindsey as Doyle and Spike as Angel. Lindsey approaches Spike on behalf of “they” aka “the powers that be”. Apparently he gets these visions...and they give him headaches...and he needs a champion to help him... Sound familiar? Well, not to Spike. Spike has no idea who Lindsey is and falls hook, line, and fang into Lindsey's scheme. I almost prefer Spike to Angel in this role, actually. Instead of getting tongue-tied with the damsel in distress, he bitches at her for being stupid enough to hang out in dark alleys alone wearing inappropriate footwear. Ha!
While Angel is losing confidence and sleep, his worst nightmare is starting to come true: Spike is gaining confidence in his role as the hero. He's so successful that Gunn and Wes get reports of Spike's vigilante activity and try to recruit him back to W&H. Spike turns them down and gives them an earful about corporate corruption.
Meanwhile, in the Lindsey den, Eve and Lindsey discuss their evil plan to convince the Senior Partners that they really want Spike on the job and not Angel. They've planted a parasite on Angel that's keeping him off balance and in Dreamland. Angel manages to kill the first parasite just as Eve arrives to plant an even bigger one on him. A weakened Angel tries to fight it off, but is eventually overwhelmed. Fortunately, Lindsey has had a “vision” that Angel's in danger, and Spike arrives to kill the parasite just in time.
Angel is shaken, but he's going to be okay. Unfortunately for Eve, he remembers seeing her bring in the second parasite. She tries to bluff it out, but Angel and the team are unconvinced. I was actually expecting Team Angel to side with Eve, since the evidence is pretty flimsy, but they stand behind their leader...at least for now. Eve leaves, but from the look on Angel's face, it's open warfare.
I liked the Lindsey and Spike parts of this episode, even if the whole evil plan was very lame. Come on Lindsey, you can do better! The Broodometer is at 10 this episode—all Angel did was brood, even while asleep.
What did you think? Was it nice to see Lindsey or would you rather have had more brooding? Was more brooding even possible in this episode? Couldn't they have found a wig that looked vaguely like Buffy's hair? Write your Two Cents below!