Hello everyone. Quick note that I posted 4.12 at the bottom of the Bingo thread, which then got immediately got archived, so it's hanging around in Archive 1 or 2 at the moment. Anyway, Calvary aside, these episodes are really something a bit special for me at least. To explain, for me Faith has been one of the most valuable characters ever in elucidating Angel's journey. Her introduction at the tail-end of the Faith quadrology in 'Five by Five' and 'Sanctuary' were palpable highlights of the so-so Season One. Her sparing, beautiful use in 'Judgement' was both surprising and not gimmicky, introducing Angel to the next step in his long road to understanding himself and his mission- that he was not counting the people he saved, somehow rejoicing in each moment towards redemption and humanity. And here, Faith's introduction serves to really help expand two characters' journeys, those of Angelus, and most wonderfully, Wesley. Their conversations is 'Release' had me with my mouth hanging open in sheer reverence for the writing and acting. But before I get too carried away, let's introduce some structure to this eulogy.

4.13- 'Salvage'

Well, I still wouldn't call it an outstanding episode, but with solid and functional episodes like this and 'Showtime' over on Buffy Season Seven, David Fury has completely avoided my ire, which is a start. There are flashes of genius from Fury in this episode, mostly the wonderful conceit of Wesley's conversation with the dead Lilah, and Faith's nascent relationships with the LA set. Also, like all of this Season, the plot is hammering forward, lurching sickeningly like a fairgrond ride. And I love it. It's a style that Angel has always done well; these ill-defined plot-arcs, leaving room for growth, and unexpected victory. An episode like 'Awakening' could never have been attempted on Buffy, because the plot structure is too rigid for the First Evil to have been defeated after 10 episodes, so the trick wouldn't have fooled anyone. Angel's plot flexibility is one of its greatest strengths. Frankly at the moment I would claim to be enjoying Angel more than Buffy, which is very, very unusual. I still engage more emotionally with the Buffyverse characters, (particularly Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Willow, but I even quite like [wait for it!] Andrew and Kennedy- quit with the weird looks!), but Angel's thematic unity, brooding insecurity over the possibility of redemption and heroism, lack of the essential belief in humankind's innate goodness and marvellous writers is really a superior watch for me.

And so we see Lilah, the figment, always with the supposedly upper hand on Wesley. In the tryst they had, they could never decide whether what was between them was a 'relationship' or not, and it's still important here with Wesley denying it, and Lilah reminding him of the signed dollar bill. Did Wesley's tongue slip suggest he considered it more, or was it actually Lilah who really believed that the two could get together. The scenes here, literally and emotionally dark, scary and startling, allow Wesley to discuss his real feelings, as if in a dream, with a sounding-board. Lilah claims that, like Angel, Wesley had the tendency to believe that everyone with a soul had the possibility of redemption, even her. Wesley's loss, she tries to claim, is not in her life, but just in the destruction of one of his pet projects. What Wesley does feel for Lilah remains with enigmatic edges. He allows her to help in 'Calvary' but seems to continue to give her short shrift. He is stricken by her death, and ultimately the tragedy for him is a complex many-parted thing. It involves the opportunity of redemption being lost, just like Jonathan's zen-like calm before Andrew's murder in 'Conversations'. But it also involves lost love, a love which never quite was, but might have been. Apparently just like Jenny Calendar for Giles, this Watcher has a relationship which might have been life-chaging cut down by the cruel Angelus. In the Angelvers,e it is murkier than the exquisite gried of 'Passion', but there's that same feeling in Wesley as in Giles, as an untidy reconciliation never quite happens. Yet while Giles, his face melting like ice-cream in the fierce, meaningless sun, loses his grip entirely, needing his Slayer to save him from certain death, Wesley is more cautious. He calls his Slayer back, much to her initial bemusement. Yet Wesley and Faith's new relationship, so far from the 'Screw that!' of 'Bad Girls', turns out to be one of the most powerful depictions of the compromise of morality for the supposed cause of good ever displayed on either show.

From the start of their interrogation, it becomes clear things have changed for Wesley. For the viewer, who has seen his slow, convincing metamorphosis between 'Sanctuary' and 'Salvage' it may seem obvious, but for Faith it comes as a bit of a surprise. Just what a change has come about is underlined in a line which sent shivers up and down my spine; Wesley's 'Five by Five' after they jump through the window on to the car. What immense sorrow, pain and self-examination have gone on in his life that he can now mutter Faith's phrase sounding jagged and somehow dark, while any attempt at it in Season Three Buffy would have been another attempt for low farce from his character. How much he has developed, he has been deepened, and his actions have been compromised, in order for that simple reversal to work so powerfully, is a testament to Mutant Enemy's delicate development of their characters.

Meanwhile, we see Faith, the character already reformed by Angel's belief in her before she ever went to prison. The acceptance of the necessity of her punishment is much more important than the punishment of prison itself, in story terms, and hence I had no problem with her as a vigilante. More interesting was the reflections she cast on the other members of the Gang. Firstly, there is a clever reflection of her back in the Lilah/Wesley scene. When Lilah compares Wesley to Angel, the guy who will never give up on the redeemable, she calls to mind most readily Faith herself, who, despite pleading for death in the despairing rain of 'Five by Five' was saved by Angel by trust and by belief. Are we to believe that Wesley could have been to Lilah what Angel was to Faith? In any case, Faith's work here, despite ending up bloodied from her attempts at fighting the Beast, shows how important Angel's actions, way back in Season One of Angel, may now be to the group as a whole.

For Faith fills the hole left by Angel. She becomes the figure demonstrably stronger than all of them, disinterested in the supposed petty squabbles of Cordelia, (but how much of her evil continues under the surface), and able, better than anyone, perhaps even Angel, to control Connor by guile, belief in good, nd physical strength, combined with heaps of charisma. Connor in this episode realises that he is the Destroyer, and wonders whether this is to be the Destroyer of Angelus, but it turns out that he is never given the chance. Faith must save Angelus as Angel saved Faith- without killing her, allowing him the stepping stone back to his good, reforming character.

A few miscellaneous ponderings and 'Ha!' moments:

-I don't know quite why, but I loved Angelus' tiny little conversation with Dawn, when trying ot ascertain which Slayer was around. I would have been fascinated to see a scene between these two actors and characters, but it appears that that will never happen now. I'll have to content myself with HonorH fanfic, and hope we might just see Michelle Trachtenberg next Season on Angel, (although story-wise it seems a stretch).

-Re the anti-demon spell, 'That worked like a charm- literally'. I'm really very impressed with Fury's work on this episode in general, butthat particular line is the worst written line on either show in my memory. Other contenders welcome.

-Talking of which, the idea that Connor might be a demon seems once more to throw his identity issues into crisis. Yet just as this is happening, we get the scene between Cordelia and Connor, we she announces her pregnancy, and we see his face slowly move from anxiety to pride as Cordelia comforts him. This is after all one of the only things he has achieved in his life- one of the few things he considers able to define him- the archetypal teenager with no background. And yet, with the pupil-less, iris-less Cordelia Beast-Master lurking in the background, this surely can't be a good thing, and I trust Cordelia about as far as Giles could throw her. The 'weakness for Slayers' line about Connor and Faith was lovely, but just expanded the queasiness of what's happening between Cordelia and Angel's son. It still seems wrong on so many levels.

-Despite my underwhelmed-ness, I should [finally!] mention the major plot point of this episode, the defeat of the Beast. It seemed a little perfunctory, although I enjoyed the idea of the Beast doing the work of pummelling Faith, leaving Angelus, always the artist not the hunter, the easy, planned kill; sans sunlight at least.

Incidentally, someone (Masq, I think) claimed Fury nailed one character and didn't have a clue about another. Between Faith and Angelus, I agree entirely (embarassing if that's not who you meant!) But as soon as the lackey is disposed of, we see the master is Cordelia, and start to wonder how much more twisty this 'onion from hell' (that was Masq), can get.

Well done David Fury.

4.14- 'Release'

But, and there's always a but with praise for the old bearded one, I prefered this episode, for the masterful and edge-of-chair development between Wesley and Faith. We think back to Giles and Buffy, probably my favourite relationship on Buffy, and compare, and, more obviously contrast. Wesley, who goes so far that even Faith seems uneasy, along with Faith, into whom Wesley attempts to instil some of the callous, cool logic that he has learnt recently. Yet Faith, so often the bad girl in the past, now believes she has reformed, (indeed, really has), and so is worried to let herself go again, (this ties in to a potentially interesting parallel when Willow comes to AI next episode).

A lot of the Wesley/Faith dynamic here adds weight because of the history between the old Pierce Brosnan-y Wesley and Faith. How they must always abide by the rules, and take instinct as a seasoning to carefully considered plans. Here Wesley plans, while still excellent, are derived from the experience of hours of 'field time'. Yet his dive into murky morality from 'Loyalty (actually building right from 'Billy') through to the present adds a dangerous edge to his thoughts. He has the ability to almost kill the dead-beat junkie, as Faith would never do. And he is consistently worried about Faith's devotion to the mission.

In 'Salvage', we see Wesley testing Faith's reflexes in a very dangerous test with no safety net. Here again, there is the issue of trust paid out. Later, Faith, unable to allow Wesley's death as a quid pro quo of Angelus' capture, does not carry through her violence when Angelus can wring her Watcher's neck. Wesley is worried about this, but in some respects it parallels nicely with Willow back in 'Choices', where Buffy refused to sacrifice one person she loved as a friend for the defeat of the Mission against the Mayor. Ironically, of course, it was Wesley then who was more worried about the Box of Gavrok than Willow's safety, and only that marvellous, wordless action from Oz which settled the issue. Perhaps, despite 'how mcuh Wesley appears to have changed', there are roots in him remaining the same deep down. Is his relentless attacks on the latest mission, all be they so much less ridiculous and certified than in his Watcher days, actually so much different from the Dick Van Dyke physical comedy Wesley who bungled in 'Consequences'. Now he is adept at the issues, but is he still to willing to compromise relationships in favour of doing Good?

One thing that Wesley has not forgotten is how raw and uncontrollable Faith used to be. That disturbing torture scene in 'Five by Five' makes him all too aware of how much anger Faith used to have. But does he fully understand the way in which Angel got her to turn herself into the police? Faith, just like Willow, appears to be afraid of falling back into her old ways, of losing the ability to do good in a nihilistic despair. Perhaps she has yet to realise that it is not denial of her essential aptitude to violence, to killing evil things, that 'demon inside' which will help her, but her ability to control it like Buffy. This in turn brings its own complications- the fragmented life as Slayer, the 'Slayer is not a killer' and 'You're notthe boss of me'. That's why I'm delighted that Faith returned to Sunnydale, and has resolved some issues with Buffy, for these two's abililty to understand each other is necessarily unique.

Some interesting one liners:

-'Places to go; friends to kill', says Angelus, before hastily noting that they're not exactly his friends. This is explored further with the disembodied voice of Cordelia later.

-'I need someone I trust here' says Wesley to Gunn. Although not exactly a bouquet of flowers or a hug, this is probably one of the most hopeful lines in the once powerful Wesley-Gunn relationship in a long, long time. It seemed there almost as a throwaway, but I for one thought it important.

-'Thought you were more of a taser girl', says Connor to Fred. This once again highlights Connor's tendency to feel betrayed by everyone in whom he has trusted- Holtz' death, Justine's treachery, Fred and Gunn's loss of respect after his double-dealing, Angel's reversion to Angelus, and his lack of respect for Wesley all contribute to a vacuum in his parent figures. This is another reason why the presumably faux (on Cordelia's part) Connor-Cordelia relationship is so unnerving. It's not just being played as a romantic tryst, but with a strong element of Cordelia as Connor's mother, mixing together startlingly.

-Angel's line about screwing Faith after he's killed her brings up the cheery subject of necrophilia, which I thought I shouldn't pass over, gentle reader.

This just leaves two remaining elements of this episode. We have the Fred/Gunn mini-reconciliation. The kiss and the make-up though were achingly ambiguous. After the first kiss, they seemed at as mcuh of a distance as ever. Then there's Angelus, and the main question raised in this episode is his relation to Angel. Beastmaster Cordelia brings up the idea of the fragmented personalities, the fear in Angelus that he may one day be Angel again. This, as far as we've seen from this run or back on Buffy, is is only weakness- the idea that he could be trapped again with the soul hanging around his neck like an albatross, and it is Cordelia, who has stolen the soul ('all smoke and mirrors' says Angelus, which is presumably metanarration on the how the object itself was made), who can finally make Angelus take a side other than his own.

Cordelia's voice as the Evil is a hokey Old Testament voice, which reminded me a little of the beginning of the book of Samuel, where the young seer is called, and thinks that it must be someone around him, when in fact he is being called to by God himself. Here, Angelus is pure enough evil to be called by the Big Bad itself, but only once he has been bribed by his only fear to stop acting the anarchist. By the end of the episode where we see Angelus and Faith, we hear the old Angelus saying the exact opposite of what Angel told her in 'Sanctuary'- that she can not be redeemed, that she is still the evil out-of-control psycho who nobody wants. It appears for the moment that Angel's words are stronger to her, but I am left on an ostensible cliffhanger where she appears about to be bitten. My Buffy-spoiledness negates the excitement of this cliffhanger, but I'm most interested to see how Willow adds to the beautiful storyline about identity, relationships' effects on individuality, that the Angel writers are drawing together. This is such a beautifully thematically coherent episode addressing those issues that it almost seems impossible that it was written by three writers, (although I am counting the Craft and Fain team as two), so big kudos to DeKnight and the best regular writing duo in ME history.