Angel
"Reunion"

Airdate: December 19, 2000

Drusilla's back, but... what's this? Not even a mention of poor ol' Spike-y? For shame!

Ah, Angel. You are so disturbing right now, and I just love it. Your show, too. Is disturbing, and I love. And, you know, I'd love it even more if you'd stop that Cordelia from wearing clothes that belong, frankly, in a house of fashion horrors. She was such the well-dressed gal back in the Sunnydale days of her youth... and there does exist a little thing called "style on a budget," you know. Also, your show's hit-and-miss hairdresser? I'm thinking "fired" wouldn't be the worst word in the world there at some point very soon.

But, hey, great work on the plot front, so who am I to quibble? Oh, that's right, I'm a reviewer. Quibbling is what we reviewers do. So... hmmm.

When last we saw Angel and his cohorts, Drusilla had swept majestically in and re-vamped Darla, just as she was about to blessedly die and put us all out of our misery. (Yet another reason to hate Drusilla. Just 'cause you killed Kendra for me, don't think you can keep getting away with these kinds of shenanigans, Dru.) When Angel tells the rest of the Investigations brood of this hell-spawned event, they must then divine what hallowed place Dru would have chosen for her Grandmother-daughter's Third Coming. (Is anyone else thinking of that creepy X-Files episode "Home" now, too?) Of course, they figure it out (yay them!), and Angel rightly goes to put a stop to it in a very have-stake-will-dust kind of way. He doesn't succeed for two very good reasons. One: he's suddenly the "Before" advertisement for some form of infomercial martial arts course, and two: newborn Darla is Supervamp.

Cut to Bad-Hair Lawyer-Guy Holland, congratulating Formerly-Bad-Hair Lawyer-Guy Lindsey on his work with D&D (he got to fourth level mage -- heh), and making sure to mention a little get-together planned for that evening at his house. Drusilla's there too, and then Darla, who viciously shoves poor Lindsey aside in order to begin kicking her granddaughter-mother's gorgeously-begowned ass all over Los Angeles.

And then along comes Angel. Too late. Again. Though he does smash another pane of Wolfram and Hart's glass. (Perhaps that's his big plan -- take them down through a hideously large glazier's bill.) Holland has the poor, quite ineffectual, dear arrested, which would have been a great move had Kate not been around to free him in order to stop the D&D chaos happening in downtown LA. (Yep, the trolls got free and attempted to overthrow the elven king... oh, I am never going to get tired if this Dungeons and Dragons motif.)

Oh yeah, and Darla's still here. Still.

It's chaos, of course, because... Evil Darla is back! And she's not happy. Watching her at work, you begin to get the sneaking suspicion that you have never seen even a tenth of that this chick is capable of. We've seen her kill. We've seen her feed. We've seen her seduce, and threaten, and torture. But Darla's menace, her passion for murder and disaster and death, we had to see to believe.

We see it now. Darla, with crazy Dru, crashes Holland's little soiree (which he only mentioned, oh, six or seven hundred times), and promises the massacre he had always wanted. Gazing at Lindsey with her sultry I-could-bite-you demon eyes, Darla (leather pants are a go!) holds court, bent on proving once and for all that revenge is the best revenge, and that perms are never a good idea.

But, oh, what's this? Angel, come to save the day, despite a lame vision-attempt by the Powers That Be to delay him? Uh... no. And, okay, sure, you see someone who's soul you thought you had saved made into a vampire by a lunatic you yourself created, you're bound to be a little dazed and confused. Add your conflicted feelings for the parties of the first and second part, your new ability to suck at fighting, and your general hatred toward those who engineered this little fucked-up family get-together, and issues are understandable. But that is no reason, friends, to allow the lovely Lindsey McDonald to get killed, or worse, just when he had finally gotten an almost decent hairstyle.

It sure was cool the way he did it, though. Not that Cordelia, Wesley or Gunn (oh, hi guys! Nice to see ya!) felt the same way. They all made their feelings pretty clear on the matter, expecting, no doubt, a heavy bout of brooding and introspection brought on by their disapproval. But, nope. Not on this show, bub. 'Cause Angel, before even nickname-proficient Bronzers were able to dub the crew of Angel Investigations as anything other than... well, the crew of Angel Investigations, went and broke up their happy hotel without so much as a by your leave. (And since you're so good at firing, Angel, that hairdresser, if you please!)

So, is Angel all psycho, now, I wonder? Did Darla's dream-playtime tampering cause this? Has he been replaced by a bad-robot-Angel, or perhaps a pod-vampire? Are things being set up for Faith to come and show him the error of his ways? Or Buffy? Or -- heh -- Riley? I mean, what is going on with him? What?

I have no idea whatsoever. But I cannot wait to find out.

-- Rachel Hyland

Angel airs at 9/8c, Tuesdays on the WB.

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