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5.1 Conviction

Angel: "There's something else you should know about me. I have no problem spanking men."

How do you fight evil when you're a part of it?

It certainly won't be easy for Angel, whose own employees are monitoring his every move, following up and getting releases from the people he saves, and even trying to kill him.

Houser, head of the wet work unit, spelled out the chief difficulty -- that evil people have the strength of their convictions (hence the title), but Angel's people are going to be constantly conflicted. It's certainly frustrating that Angel and the L.A. Scoobs can't get rid of turkeys like Corbin Fries above board any more; they have to find a devious way to do it. But at the same time, it adds an interesting layer of complexity to the series.

Gunn's surprising new arena is the law, making him a major player and possibly this season's biggest question mark. The character he used to be would have been lost in this new situation. Instead, the Senior Partners have chosen him, bribed him with a mystical law education in that freaky, dark, and painful looking office, and transformed him into a legal shark in a three-piece suit who knows Gilbert and Sullivan. Gunn "spoke with the conduit himself." What exactly happened with the big cat in the white room? (That sounds like a children's book.)

Fred the Head is finding management stressful ("Now focus, people! Work the damn problem!"). Her lab was the only individual space in W&H we saw this week, other than Angel's office. And all of her scenes in the lab were with Knox, the wonderful actor from "Conversations with Dead People." He's a great character for Fred to interact with. But "Knoxie?" Uh, no.

Lorne is doing the agent thing and seems to be adapting well, but he adapts well to everything. I really liked him feeling out the evilest employees, and sitting in the courtroom incognito.

Wesley seems to be Angel's vice president as well as head of research and magic. He picked Harmony out of the steno pool, and she's a good choice. Her office skills are probably deplorable, but she's a known quantity -- she doesn't have the smarts to spy effectively on them. And she's a character we all love, anyway, as well as being a sort of anti-Fred.

Frankly, as far as liaisons to the Senior Partners go, I vastly prefer Lilah to Eve... but it's early yet for me to start making judgments. Eve is hard to read; we have no idea where she's coming from or what her motivations are, and that isn't true of Lilah. Eve hinted that she is not what she appears to be. She tossed Angel an apple, and he ate it. And then there was, "And what would you like passing through my lips?" She came on to Angel -- twice.

The new sets are cool. And vampires in daylight are shiny and new. I bet the actors are thrilled to be able to film during the day. It's interesting, though, how dark Angel's new office is, even in the daytime.

Dan and I both expected Spike to return at the end of the episode, so it wasn't a surprise. (Wesley: "Spike?" Angel: "Spike." Harmony: "Blondie bear?") It certainly looks like Spike has been returned courtesy of his Elizabeth Taylor pendant, at the moment of his death on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

The address on the envelope that contained Spike was: "Angel, c/o Wolfram & Hart, 1127 Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90008." Spike's ashes and his fabulous accessory were in the Hellmouth under the ruins of Sunnydale last May. Who sent Spike to Angel? And how?

Bits and pieces:

-- The cast credits have changed. James Marsters has second billing, while Charisma Carpenter and Vincent Kartheiser have departed.

-- The initial scene was a parody of the first scene of the series, four years ago. Was it the same alley? I bet it was.

-- There's a little Joss-y clue about the bad guy at the beginning school scene, where the kid Matt says that his dad won't let him read "Punisher," and the other kid says, "He kills everyone."

-- Wesley: "Actually, in this place, feng shui will probably have enormous significance. I'll align my furniture the wrong way and suddenly catch fire or turn into a pudding."

-- "You have reached ritual sacrifice! For goats, press one, or just say 'goats.' To sacrifice a loved one or pet, press the pound key."

-- Cordelia is mentioned briefly; she is still in a coma. Eve also mentioned Connor briefly and managed to piss off Angel.

-- The form Lorne was using to "sound out" the Wolfram & Hart employees had five columns: Okay, On the Bubble, Evil, To Be Fired, and Yikes!

-- Fred put up a Dixie Chicks poster in her office. Very cool, and I'm speaking politically here.

-- Lorne: "But lunch with Mary-Kate! She was going to tell me about Ashley's new piercing."

-- Loved the scene with Angel and the cars. ("Oh god, they're so beautiful!") And a helicopter? How cool. FYI, in the street scene right after the garage scene, you can see the Hollywood sign on the hills in the background if you look for it.

-- I could see Joss Whedon's fine hand in that hilarious scene with Angel and Spanky, the free-lance mystic.

-- Lorne called Angel, "Angel Toes."

-- Dan really loved the wooden knives and the holy water canteen.

-- Poster on the wall at the school, at the end of the episode: "Respect: Learn it. Know it. Show it."

-- In this week's hair report, Gunn's has moved from his chin to his head, while Angel's big black pompadour may be a sign that he's starting to channel Elvis.

Very interesting and complex episode, a Joss Whedon tour-de-force. Four out of four stakes,

Billie





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