Angel S3-10: The Short Review

'Dad'

Written by David H Goodman

Directed by Fred Keller

"Look at him. He's more than a mission, bro. Look at him - The Host.

Whoops, there goes the format again...

Whether you love him or loathe him, it is rapidly becoming clear that the addition of Connor to the show constitutes a change in the series that is at least as radical and dramatic as Angel's descent into Beigeness last season. It may or may not be a success - personally, I'm going in with slightly lower expectations than I had at this point last season, although that may not be a bad thing - but I have to at least give the writers credit for being willing to shake things up in such a big way again. And hey, if it turns out to suck, we probably only have to wait for 15/16 for the next big change.

'Dad', however, is not the flying start to this period in the show's life that I might have hoped for. The first half of the episode is too slow, with the eventual payoff (Connor being quieted by Angel's game face), although nicely creepy, being a tad too obvious to be really effective. Indeed, there's probably a good argument to be made that the initial faces Angel makes are significantly more unsettling, for the audience if not the child. There is also a lack of tension during the siege; no real feeling that everything is being laid on the line. Instead, it's just another battle (although Wesley did finally get out the flamethrower, which is a plus).

For me, the thing that saves the episode is the twist, which I thought was very impressively executed. Everything you needed to work out what was going on was there in the open - The hum; Lorne passing Angel the note and mentioning the janitor's closet; Angel telling Cordelia that he heard what she told him; the fact that the bundled baby starts looking unnaturally stiff right about the time Angel leaves the hotel; the fact that Angel 'sneaks out' by driving past the front of the Hyperion. And the fact that it was only Angel and Lorne that really knew what was going on means that the tensions that come out as Angel leaves are not meaningless acting; the characters - notably Gunn - are expressing their real emotions.

In fact, the character work is generally another place where 'Dad' succeeds. Unsurprisingly, Angel gets the most, and I felt that the change in his attitude from obsessive single-mindedness to recognising that he needs help with this responsibility was well handled. Meanwhile, Cordelia is rapidly becoming my favourite character; her talk with Angel, explaining that he can't do everything for the baby, is possibly my favourite scene from the episode. Elsewhere, Holtz has decided that he'll do better without the soulless Grapplar demons backing him up, and started searching out warriors who will die for his cause. I have to admit that I'm intrigued by the relationship developing between him and Justine; it seems that Holtz has a helping of Watcher-type instincts to go with his Gunn-like history and Beige-Angel-like commitment to vengeance.

In plot terms, 'Dad' (much like 'Redefinition' last year) had to attain a new status quo, to allow the major plot developments to be delayed until the next sweeps period (he said cynically). On balance, I think it was successful. Of the groups on AI's initial list, the vampcult seem to have been basically eliminated as a threat, since their leader was roasted by Wesley, and most of the rest were disintegrated by Angel. Frank's boys, and the Lilliad demons, likewise; as Linwood commented, the herd has been thinned out a little, and the immediate threats have been dealt with. At the same time, Angel's appointment of Linwood as godfather should ensure that the number of new enemies arriving to take out the baby should be significantly reduced - at least, for as long as Linwood can keep his actions quiet; whilst I can certainly believe that his instinct for self-preservation would lead him to protect the baby, I suspect that if word of his actions got back to the senior partners, they would not be impressed. Holtz, meanwhile, is going to be kept busy building up his new crew; and I can't help wondering whether that is going to involve tracking down Gunn, or Gunn's crew. They seem like the sort of people who would fit his profile.

Overall, I would file 'Dad' under 'mostly harmless'; it did what it had to do, and did it competently, but wasn't anything special. There were some nice touches, such as the nod to the Scourge and the 'Demons, Demons, Demons' database, but also some disappointing flaws; I find it hard, for instance, to believe that Lilah would not know how Files and Records worked. Still, 'learning how to be a good father' is an interesting spin on 'learning how to be a good man' and (with a few reservations), I'm interested in seeing where they take it from here; having put all the pieces in place, I think the second half of the season has a great deal of potential. And you never know; we might even get to see Angel Investigations dealing with an Actual Client at some point...