Angel
"Untouched"

Airdate: October 17, 2000

The episode opens with Wolfram & Hart staff femme fatale Lilah Morgan snooping through Lindsay's office, and getting caught by Darla, who gives Lilah a few tips on how to be sneaky. She should know -- she's been sneaking in and out of Angel's boudoir for weeks now, keeping him knocked out with magic purple plot device powder.

Angel gets up on the wrong side of the bed yet again, and snaps at Wes and Cordy who are squabbling like siblings in the Hyperion Lobby. Seems Cordy wants Gunn to be on salary, pronto. When Angel points out that he's the boss and she works for him and threatens to fire her, she sticks her tongue out and says "You can't fire me -- I'm Vision Girl." She then lives up to her name, and Angel's off and running to try and save a young redhead from being raped in an alley in Hollywood. However, as the baddies close in on her, the sobbing girl glances at a two ton dumpster which suddenly hurtles toward the assailants at breakneck speed. The girl can tune.

Angel finds her hiding in one of those convenient abandoned warehouses near the crime scene. He tries to talk to her, but gets a re-bar through his torso for his trouble. However, much to the girl's surprise, Angel pulls the three foot length of steel out of his shoulder, and tells her that if she needs a friend, it can't hurt to give him a call. Back at the office, Angel gets patched up and has Wes and Cordy start trying to find out who his mystery runaway is. Turns out her name is Bethany, and the friend she's staying with is Lilah Morgan. Lilah's got big plans for Bethany -- since losing the Evil Blind Chick, W&H want to replace her with Psychotic Telekinetic Chick as their staff assassin. However, Lilah's not doing to great a job of controlling Bethany, who flips out and flees when she accidentally nails Lilah with a lamp after waking up from a nightmare of her childhood. Bethany shows up at the Hyperion, and with Wesley's help Angel learns that her powers stem from childhood abuse by her father. Angel vows to help teach her to control her powers, instead of allowing them to control her.

Bethany comes into Angel's bedroom just as he's dreaming of a corset-clad Darla. He wakes, the dream and reality doing a little shifting for a moment, and Bethany comes on to him. Angel's feeling a bit vulnerable -- mainly because Darla's little succubus routine has him a little too obviously "happy" -- but tries to gently let her know that he's not the type. Bethany insists she is the type -- and he points out the irony of someone who can't stand to be touched wanting to "make love," an irony not lost on her even as she laughs at his old-fashioned romantic ideas about sex. For her, sex isn't anything even close to making love. Angel is disturbed by how thoroughly she has been abused, and it only strengthens his resolve to help her.

Meanwhile, Darla is lurking in Angel's room, and not pleased at being interrupted.

W&H head honcho Holland tells Lilah that her pet project is threatening Lindsay's pet project and to get a handle on it fast. Meanwhile, Angel and Gunn discover the connection between the pureed rapists and W&H thanks to the wonders of speed-dial. They rush to find Bethany just as she and Cordy are attacked mid-girl talk by yet more W&H goons. Angel saves the day, and after the botched kidnapping attempt, Lilah decides it's time to "pull the trigger."

In the explosive -- and I do mean explosive -- finale, Bethany's father appears at the Hyperion, putting her newfound control to the test. However, rather than murdering him in cold blood as W&H expected, Bethany instead -- with Angel and Cordy's help chooses to let him live -- though he'll probably need new shorts. Bethany heads back to Lilah's to pick up her stuff, while a sputtering Lilah insists that Bethany needs her. Angel watches on from the doorway amused, but Lilah gets in one last parting shot of "sweet dreams" as Angel escorts Bethany to the first day of the rest of her life.

There are not words for how much I loved this episode. All of the regulars had fantastic scenes, and the guest role was an incredible well-written part deftly performed by Daisy McCrackin. We get a great sneak peek into Wesley's mind as only he of the three could read Bethany well enough to know what button to push, and the Cordy/Gunn interaction in this episode was light-years beyond "First Impressions". The "Still saving my life?" "Every minute," exchange was a great moment of character continuity, and this was the Charles Gunn I met and liked in "Warzone". While I'd rather see them as friends than lovers ('cause I stubbornly believe Cordy's still carrying a torch for dear departed Doyle) this was definitely a nice show of affection on both their parts, and I wouldn't mind more of the same in the future. Stephanie Romanov as Lilah reminds fans that Lindsay McDonald isn't the only reason to keep W&H arc's going. But the core of the episode are the Angel/Bethany scenes, which were powerful and excellent scripted and brought to life by Boreanaz and McCrackin. Particularly the chilling "chambermaid" scene in Angel's bedroom, as well as their first meeting in the warehouse. What could have been a Mary-Sue From Hell to the tune of "She", the fantastic first script from new Angel writer Mere Smith (skillfully brought to life by director Joss Whedon) instead yielded one of the most enjoyable and well-produced Angel episodes to date.

-- Tara O'Shea

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

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