Angel S1-02: The Short Review

'Lonely Heart'

Written by David Fury

Directed by James A. Contner

"It'll be out there. It's got to keep trying to make a connection. Because that's what lonely people do" - Angel.

I have, I think, an unjustified fondness for 'Lonely Heart'. Objectively, I can see that there are a number of things wrong with the episode, and that overall it is clumsy and heavy-handed; but, dammit, it's fun.

The most important thing 'City Of…' had to do was to introduce us to the characters and the setting of the series. 'Lonely Heart' tells us a little bit more about what Angel is like; it introduces us to another character, Kate; and it starts filling us in on the crucial bits of vampire lore all viewers need to know. So, we get extraordinarily obvious info-dumps on the nature of the curse from Cordelia (with emphasis on the importance of sex), and on invitations from Doyle. The least obvious method of killing a vampire, fire, is also highlighted.

Kate, like Doyle, is almost a walking stereotype, in this case, the lonely, emotionally detached female cop who has trust issues. She seems to find common ground with Angel in their mutual social ineptness early in the episode, which I think makes her discovery that he is apparently a serial killer something of a personal affront, as well as a moral one. She appears to have a strong sense of right and wrong, setting up interesting potential for later conflict with Angel who, as Doyle accurately points out, needs to operate below the detection threshold of police radar. Combined with the fact that Doyle's status is also somewhat ambiguous - how much demon does a half-demon have in him? Does Doyle have a soul? - it seems that 'Angel' has the potential to delve into gray areas that 'Buffy' shies away from. How far it takes advantage of this potential remains to be seen at this point.

As I acknowledged above, the theme of loneliness and the difficulty of making a connection is overplayed. Indeed, it seemed that every ten minutes someone had to point out that no, it isn't high school any more and that yes, it is different. However, the fact that it's clumsy doesn't make the theme inappropriate; there is still something about it that feels right for an episode of 'Angel', and the episode traces a neat full circle, with the closing scene echoing the opening scene. There isn't an answer to the problem; it's just something that people have to learn to deal with, and when Angel says he has something in common with Tahlmer, it's obvious that he's not just talking about their mutual fear of combustion.

I also like a lot of the character interaction. Some of the humour misses the mark - notably the execrable calling-card jokes - but for the most part, there's a real sense of warmth between the characters, and that's no small achievement for a series on its second episode. There are the seemingly obligatory batman and gay jokes, but also the first of many nice Cordelia/Doyle scenes ("If that was my gift, I'd return it" - oh, the irony). Ultimately, none of it really means anything, but then, it doesn't have to at this stage. The plotting is more than adequate - indeed, in what rapidly becomes an 'Angel' trademark, the writer goes out of his way to mislead us quite comprehensively - and it's enough to provide an entertaining hour of television that lets us get to know the characters, and on that front 'Lonely Heart' delivers.

Oh, and that song? 'Touched', by Vast. Just for reference.