Angel S3-09: The Short Review

'Lullaby'

Written and Directed by Tim Minear

"I want to say I'm sorry. I want to say it and mean it but - I can't." - Darla

You know what I said last week, about Jeff Bell almost being the new Tim Minear? Screw that. We don't need a new Tim Minear. We still have the old one.

For anyone just tuning in: This is why we love the guy. He'll give the fans what they want - but in a way that is (a) unexpected, (b) Real Damn Cool, and (c) likely to be frustrating. I'm willing to bet that there are some vehement campaigners for Darla-stakage out there who are seriously upset that she got to die a quasi-noble death. And really, all you can say is: Kudos, Mr Minear.

It just strikes me as a brave decision, more than anything. Darla, or rather, the Angel/Darla dynamic, has been a pivotal part of the show for a substantial period now, and Darla is (with many people) a very popular character. I think, however, that the plausible plot possibilities for her character will have been more or less used up after this arc - and I'm glad to see that the writers agree. I would much rather see a new dynamic develop than see the old one dragged out unnecessarily (although I'm sure she'll pop up now and again in flashbacks).

And in Holtz, I think we have a worthy new antagonist for Angel. He's a real threat because he isn't out to kill Angel, he's out to make Angel suffer - and that may well mean going after the people Angel cares about. To me, his closing remark about mercy indicated that he would be going after the baby (and possibly Fred) - but at the same time, I think he still knows that that would be very wrong. I'm extremely interested to see how this conflict is developed, and what Angel does about it; because surely, if ever there was a soul that needed saving, it is Holtz. Angel can credibly try to save Holtz, because Angel has been there last season, and he knows where this sort of obsession leads. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that this time, he may fail in his mission.

(The nature of Holtz' self-imposed mission contrasted with his original mission and Angel's current mission also puts me in mind of the clash between Gunn's gang and AI in 'That Old Gang Of Mine'. Gotta love the thematic setup; and maybe we'll be seeing a larger role for Gunn in the second half of this season as a result of it?)

So, the episode has a cool ending. But that's not the only reason I like it as much as I do; I like it because it is simply a good story, told well. It fixed pretty much every worry I had about the direction of this arc (so Angelus and Darla were really quite brutal after all...and does anyone else think that we're going to get a flashback showing what they did to that baby at some point?), gave us more depth on Holtz, and set up an interesting new direction for the story - and it does all this with the metaphorical edge we've come to know and appreciate. The idea that the baby's soul causes Darla to feel love for the very first time (the clearest statement yet that although vampires may claim they can love, they can't actually feel 'true love' without a soul), and that she worries that after she's given birth she will no longer be able to love it, is just something I find extremely satisfying. It could also concievably turn out that Darla has fulfilled the Shanshu prophecy and, well, that would just be the icing on the cake, because it would be such a wonderful irony. The whole affair also gets me thinking about the role of the PTB; is it possible that they chose Darla as a vessel because they knew it could kill two birds with one stone? That imposing this on her would mean that she would eventually have to face all that she'd done, and that that would lead to her death. Of course, it could just be that they like the irony of vampire-Darla getting the death human-Darla deserved (and vice-versa) as much as I do.

Stepping back from details of the story a minute, I think I may be starting to see some structural similarities to last season that may constitute a sort of general 'Angel formula'. Buffy, of course, has 'big bads', but Angel has never had that. S2 and S3 do seem to have some similarities, however, in that both have used the first half of the season to introduce and explore a character from Angel's past who then changes Angel's present. Both have altered the series setup quite dramatically around mid-season (I think the addition of a baby qualifies as a dramatic change). If these parallels continue, I would expect episodes 15 and 16 to see some major resolution to the 'Holtz arc', with the last six episodes taking a new direction again, as they did last year. In this case, I'm guessing the resolution will involve the baby (who I really hope is going to be called Francis). I can't see the show turning into 'Angel and son', so one way or another, I expect Junior to be gone by the end of the season. Whether he'll die, or be adopted by Holtz, or whether something else entirely will happen, I couldn't say.

I have no real criticisms of this episode. About the only thing I can think of would be to have a shot of the baby as Holtz says "...and I won't" to make his intentions clear, since a couple of people I know couldn't work out why he said he wasn't going to show any mercy after apparently showing mercy. As Angelus said: "Killing is so merciful in the end, isn't it? The pain is ended". However, for me this was compelling right the way through, whilst still managing to work in some brilliant flashes of humour ("Is it working yet?", "I have a gun") and destroy Caritas again. I don't think you can ask for much more than that.