Angel
"The Prodigal"

Airdate: February 22, 2000

Angel remembers his traumatic past, and can't escape the memory of his silly haircut and bad accent.

Hot on the trail of a demon drug ring, Angel discovers that Kate's father is not only involved, but in serious danger. Although he tries to protect Kate from this knowledge, the truth, as always, must out. With her father dead Kate must face her demons and open her eyes to the dark side of Los Angeles that the Police Academy didn't prepare her for.

While it was nice to see Kate (Elisabeth Rohm) appear onscreen for more than one scene and a pleasant surprise to note that writer Tim Minear remembered that as a trained police officer she's capable of kicking ass, her story still seemed a bit flat. In fact, her predicament played a lot like that of a one shot guest star whose story ends when the credits roll. Couple this with the flashbacks that were supposed to tie it in with Angel's relationship with his father, and one can only conclude that Minear recently got the Sci Fi Channel on his extended cable package and has become overly enamored of the Highlander and Forever Knight episode formats.

This does not bode well for Angel, for while both of those shows had admirable traits, they aren't and were never meant to be Angel. At least not according to the first handful of episodes that set the original direction of the show.

Although I understand that the show is in fact titled Angel, to force a parallel with a character we haven't seen for more than two minutes since the last episode centered on her seems like a clumsy attempt to both reintroduce Kate and yet still keep the focus on Angel. And it this last part which really bothers me.

Kate loses her father to vampires... will this change her relationship with Angel, yet again?

The early episodes concentrated on the entire cast helping with Angel's mission; his continual search for redemption in the noir-ish, seedy underbelly of the dark hours of Los Angeles. Despite the title, this used to be an ensemble show with everyone working towards the same goal. Even blocking out the intergalactic princess episode (which is something I recommend for everyone), what we've been given of late is reminiscent of standard TV detective shows like Vegas or The Rockford Files or Simon and Simon where the hero finds the bad guys and kicks their asses every week. The only difference with Angel is that all the bad guys are demons.

Ho hum.

The makers of Angel needs to return to what made the show different (read: good). The show should once again examine the nature of redemption and Angel's need for it. Cordelia should once again act like she is starting to want to do the right thing just because it is the right thing to do. Doyle should return, realize that his sacrifice was only the first step towards making up for not helping out earlier, and bring back some of that Sam Spade-ish vibe to the office. The mysterious Wolfram and Hart should begin wrecking a bit more destruction and bump heads with Angel Investigations once again.

As to Wesley? Well, it would be fun to see him and Doyle vie for the position of bestest drinkin' buddy, now wouldn't it?

-- Linda M. Najera

Angel airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST on the WB.

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