Angel S4-08: The Short Review

'Habeas Corpses'

Written by Jeffrey Bell

Directed by Skip Schoolnik

I'm sure everyone's noticed that I've been slipping somewhat with the regularity of my reviews; in fact, I'm now even behind the UK TV airings, never mind the US. I will review everything in the end, though, and I will try to keep my reviews spoiler and metaspoiler free. The upside is I can get a different perspective than I might normally. Case in point: 'Habeas Corpses'.

Jeff Bell's latest is this season's 'Quickening'. It's a bridging episode in a larger arc. It doesn't have much in the way of big revelations or key moments itself, but it's fun, and pacy, and generally an anjoyable way to spend forty-five minutes. Like 'Quickening', it didn't go over well in the alt.tv.angel polls, coming out with a meagre 3.28. But also like 'Quickening', it has polled well in umta. Best of the season well, in fact, with a 4.202.

Part of the dichotomy, I'm sure, is down to the ongoing Cordy/Connor situation. umta has relatively few posters proclaiming the wrongness of this development, whereas in ata at the time of airing, there were dozens. I still think it's a disconcerting pairing, but given that it's happened, I think the writers are playing it right. Angel does his best to put his feelings aside when there's a job that needs doing, even going so far as to order Cordelia to stay at the Hyperion so that her presence won't distract him. This approach makes him more sympathetic - and more interesting - than he would be if he merely relapsed into brood mode.

Connor is also pleasingly pro-active. He wants to find out more about himself: He heads for the people he knows can tell him. Wesley decides it's time to take sides, so he breaks things off with Lilah. It's nice that his reason is not reconciliation with Angel Investigations, but a more abstract desire to fight the good fight. Lilah's black/white/grey metaphor is apt, though; Wesley may have chosen the good fight, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll return to good methods, even if he wants to. In fact, the only character who appears to be having difficulty prioritising right now is Gunn, still taking every opportunity to have a dig at Wesley. Even here, though, there is some nice characterisation to balance the pettiness - a sense of honour that comes through in his attitude to zombification in general, and Gavin in particular.

(I mourn for Gavin. I may be the only person in fandom to think we never saw enough of him; I liked Daniel Dae Kim's performance, and I think he could have gone far.)

The massacre of Wolfram and Hart is an event that impresses more in execution than in concept. It's canon that the evil lawyers will always be with us; the death of every mortal (and, after an initial mis-targeting of Lilah, one supernatural) employee in their LA branch is a setback, not their end. Yet it serves to emphatically underline the Beast's power and the threat he poses, not least because the piles of bodies were on-screen for a large chunk of the episode. We haven't seen this much wholesale carnage since 'Redefinition'.

So I tend to side with umta over ata: 'Habeas Corpses' is a strong episode, although perhaps not the best of the season. It's a fun homage to the zombie films of old, with some great dialogue - standout exchange, the Angel/Connor 'like you!' conversation. It works for me because Connor doesn't seem nasty; he sounds genuinely pleased to have worked something out. And if nothing else, well, corporate zombies? Worth a grin.

The Council of Watchers rating: