lunas_borednow

A girl is murdered by a vampire during the early morning hours. Later that day, Wesley notices an article about the murder in the newspaper and leaves immediately. Angel pays a visit to Kate about some other business, but while he is there, he observes the crime scene photos on her desk. He recognizes the modus operandi, and immediately realizes that there is a connection between his recent nightmares and the murders. Meanwhile, Wesley returns to Angel Investigations and clues Cordelia in on the situation at hand. He tells her in the past, Angelus marked his victims' left cheek with a cross. That night, Angel has a dream. He realizes one of his sires named Ben is responsible for the current murders. That afternoon, Angel brings a drawing of Ben to Kate and instructs her to stake out an area. Later that day, Ben strikes, but before he can complete the kill, the police arrive. Ben escapes in a nearby abandoned building. Kate comes in after him and soon finds Angel at the scene. He dons his vampire face and the two begin to fight. After learning Angel's true identity, Kate initially freaks out, but then hits the library to learn more about vampires. She discovers that Ben struck two times in LA earlier that century, in 1928 and 1963. Wesley and Angel figure out where he resides and pay a visit to his apartment. Meanwhile, Ben pays a surprise visit to the police department. Angel catches wind of the situation climbs down into the tunnels and gets into a big brawl with Ben. However, it's Kate who saves the day when she locates a wood scrap and stakes Angel and Ben. Due to her great aim, only Ben is dusted.

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From Buffyworld.com

saturn5

Somnambulist

The Good;

Very good ep, we geninely suspect that Angel might be going bad, Penn gives a real sense of menace and some lovely stuff with Kate

The Bad;

Penn's haircut but apart from that not much. Would the police really let Kate go in by herself?

Best line:

Penn; "You know you'll never get to it the exit before I..."

Cordy (opening blinds letting the daylight pour in) "...go up like a match?"

(nothing more satisfying than seeing arrogance shot down)

Jeez, how did they get away with that?

Penn kills his sister and presumably goes on to massacre his family as Angelus did

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Cliches

Damsel in distress; nope, 2.

Inverting the Hollywood cliche;

In disguise; 3

DB get's his shirt off; 3

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; 2

Fang Gang in bondage: Angel
Cordy: 5
Angel: 5
Wes: 1

Fang gang knocked out:
Cordy: 8
Angel: 7
Wes: 1
Doyle; 1


Kills:
Cordy: 3 vamps, � a demon from her time in Sunnydale
Angel: 8 vamps, 4 demons, 2 humans.
Doyle; 1 vamp

Kate; 1 vamp


Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 1
Angel: 1

Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 5

Characters killed: Penn's victims

20

Recurring characters killed;

1;


Total number of Angel Investigations:
2, Angel and Cordy

Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 5,

Packing heat;

Doyle; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 1?
Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky:

Cordy comments that she makes the coffee and gets to chain the boss to the bed. The everyday life of a Hollywood assistant.

Captain Subtext;

Angel(us) is obviously Penn's father figure. Angel(us) is also obsessed with his father

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages;

3, once again, Angel and Wes just seem to be able to drive into the police station.

Guantanamo Bay;

Buffy characters appearing in Angel; (unless someone can correct me no original Angel character ever appears on Buffy?)

6; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes

Questions and observations;

Very nice reminder from Angel(us) past and the beginning of the real tension between Kate and Angel. Another hint that vamps share some link with those they sired. Love Kate's white sweater. Wes is now in the title sequence. Angel Investigations has a runaway case so they're obviously taking ordinary PI cases in addition to their Supernatural work. Does Angel figure out Penn's plan because he knows him? Or is he heading to the police station to speak to Kate over the school bus plan? Or do Wes and he just overhear what's going on at the station with their police scanner? Penn in some ways is reminiscent of Scorpio in Dirty Harry (who also hijacks a school bus).

Met Jeremy Renner at a convention and a fascinating guy, plays in a band, old friend of DB's from their acting school, went on to star in 28 Weeks Later (as a character called Doyle?), SWAT and Jesse James with Brad Pitt

Marks out of 10; 9/10 would be 10/10 if it had more arc.

Crystal Clear

Jeremy Renner is SO, so good in this episode. It feels good to know that many of us saw his talent in this long before he became famous for superhero movies of the 21st century.

He had great chemistry with David and I wish he had been given longer than just one episode. His character deserved more expansion. Their history together was fascinating; the references to religious symbols and how they perverted them for their twisted pleasure was terrifying

The tension between Kate and Angel after she discovers his vampire identity is also gripping stuff. This is the beginning of her making herself his enemy -- the final straw being when her father is killed and she unfairly holds Angel responsible.

I love the scene where Cordelia figures out who Penn is; we see little by little in this show how her intuition about good vs bad guys is really getting good.

Wesley is great as part of the group and I like that he's naturally obliged to investigate Angel based on his research of Angelus' old tricks. Plus, the conflict between him and Cordelia when she strongly defends Angel against the accusations is top-notch stuff

One of my favorite episodes of the show, without a doubt. I think it deserves 10/10.

Wow I didn't know that! So Jeremy and Christian Kane were both acquainted with David before the show. Very cool.

livstevi21

Good episode. Kate finding out about Angel was inevitable. I hope she'll be able to come to terms with it and accept him as the person is he now rather than who he was. Cordy sticking up for Angel was really sweet. She's becoming more wise beyond her years. I loved the end scene with her telling Angel that people can change and for the better. Though she would kill him if he changes back to evil again "what are friends for" aww I'm warming to Wesley. I never really liked him in Buffy but he's actually a fun addition to this show.

sum1

Excellent episode. It shows Jeremy Renner used to be a good actor.

eternalfate

Well Liv, without spoiling I'll say you will appreciate him more on this show I believe but you will wait and see his journey on this show.

When it comes to Wes, I didn't enjoy him on Buffy until the rewatches.

Were you shipping the idea of Angel and Kate at this time?

wickedrum

Can’t wait to see him back to acting! I think an accident and recovery like what he’s been through probably deepens his experience with different feelings. All the best to him and amazing man.

sum1

How much did he recover? I got the impression he was torn to pieces by the snowplow.

livstevi21

I'm already liking him a whole lot more now. He's so goofy but loveable. Looking forward to seeing where his journey takes him. I've yet to do a Buffy re-watch as it's only been recent, but I might end up feeling the same.

Angel and Kate? Kind of....they did have a good rapport with each other for a bit there, but as for shipping them I don't know. I think I like them as friends only.

wickedrum

he recovered really well. There was an interview with him recently, he was walking with crutches.