Angel S4-09: The Short Review

'Long Day's Journey'

Written by Mere Smith

Directed by Terrence O'Hara

I think it's time to face facts: The metaphor has left the building.

'Long Day's Journey' is not deep. The sun is blotted out, and it means just that: the sun is blotted out. There's no 'college boy speak', as Manny would say, and given the symbolic potency of the events in the episode, that's almost impressive. Angel has been heading in this direction for a while now, but it's just become impossible to ignore. 'Long Day's Journey' - a key, defining arc episode this season - just isn't about anything.

This is not to say that the show is without merit. The loss of metaphor does not mean the loss of intelligence, or entertainment value. This was a good episode, with an overly talky middle but an excellent ending. The plotting is intelligent; characters think things through, and make smart choices. The attempt to portal away the Beast is one such example; Lorne's note to Angel that 'you don't get personal days' is another. It's also extremely satisfying (if peversely so) to watch the bad guys winning; Angel Investigations is getting beaten, and beaten badly. The Beast has a plan - there was a reason for him to kill the White Room Girl - and it's going about carrying it out, one step at a time.

If anything makes this episode, it's the guest stars. Gwen didn't do a lot for me in 'Ground State', but this time around I thought she was much more entertaining. That's partly due to the fact that she got to interact more with AI - particularly Cordelia. It was fun to watch them bounce off one another. Then there's Manny, the latest in what is becoming a long line of powerful yet strangely mundane beings. If it was perhaps driven home a little too emphatically that he was a regular guy because he represented balance, and potential, then I find it forgiveable because as a character he was so entertaining.

The main interest now lies in finding out what happens next. Is Angelus the answer that is among them - perhaps operating as a sleeper agent, similarly to Spike over on Buffy? Or is it a double-bluff, with Connor the answer after all? Or - is the answer neither? We don't know, and whilst the evidence seems weighted in favour of Angelus, I find myself reluctant to accept that obvious conclusion. I was, however, pleased that it was Wes who made the call to bring Angelus back. It makes perfect sense in terms of his characterisation to date (and besides, I'm cynical enough to think that if any character less beloved by fandom at large dared make that suggestion, the outcry would be deafening).

'Long Day's Journey' is, for the most part, solid. It hits all the right notes, if not with quite enough emphasis in some points. And if Angel has moved away from metaphor, well, I can still hope for theme; the plotting is good enough that I can still hope that the season as a whole will make a statement about something. It's just a question of working out what that something might be.

The Council of Watchers rating: