Angel S1-17: The Short Review

'Eternity'

Written by Tracy Stern

Directed by Regis B Kimble

In my experience, this is an episode that tends to polarise opinion. Some can't stand the apparently contrived nature of the central plot device; others just think that it's always, always a pleasure to see David Boreanaz let loose with Angelus, and that the episode should be given credit for that reason alone. I have to admit, I fall into the latter camp.

For several reasons, this was an episode that was inevitable. It is a bad idea for a spin-off to rely on viewers' knowledge of its parent show to understand its characters; it is equally true - as I have said before - that show can be far more effective than tell when it comes to television. The upshot is that to really understand it, we had to be shown how much of a threat Angelus is, and how the curse works. I would have preferred this to be done via flashbacks, since the alternative is, as exemplified here, to bring back Angelus for one night only. However, for whatever reason, the Angelus of the flashbacks is not the same creature of the Angelus of the present - he is less callous, less cutting, and less cruel - so we end up with a standalone showcase.

That being the case, I think they do rather a good job of it; linking the return of Angelus to an actress' desire to live forever (another plotline which was inevitably going to turn up sooner or later) has produced a memorable episode. The drug seems to me to be a more-or-less believable plot device. The original curse was intended as a punishment; to make Angelus feel the guilt and pain associated with his crimes. If he were to ever attain true happiness, then the curse would become more of a blessing than a, well, curse, and it would be broken. So far, so good. We also know - or, at least, it has been strongly implied - that just because a soul is present, it does not mean the demon is absent. We have seen Angel struggling against the darker side of his nature more than once; and my take on the drug is that it simply removed the soul's control over the demon - Angelus tells Rebecca, 'you freed me'. When the effects of the drug wore off, the soul regained its pre-eminence.

Speaking of Rebecca, I was impressed by the extent to which I could believe in her character. She came across as more than two-dimensional; her loneliness and frustration were convincingly portrayed, and the counterpoint to Angel's existence worked well. This is the first reminder we have had for a while that Angel exists in the world but can never be of it; his is the role of the eternal outsider. It seems only natural that he would be drawn to someone who appears to him to be caught in a similar trap, and crucially - and unlike, say, the situation in 'She' - there actually is some on-screen chemistry with the co-star.

In summary then, this was a highly functional episode, but that doesn't make it a bad one. There were several nice touches, such as bringing back the character of Oliver Simon, rather than inventing an entirely new agent, that help to give the series a cohesive feel. It may have been aimed at new viewers, to establish the threat posed by Angelus, and lend some insight into the nature of the curse, but it also managed to provide a highly memorable last fifteen minutes. And, of course, there's the message. Drugs are as good as sex? You wouldn't see that on 'Buffy'…