As everyone closes in on Angel's child, Holtz returns to torture Angel and discovers just what has really changed in his absence. How will he react and will Angel's child be born, and if so, what will be the cost?

While it chucks in a couple of neat surprises along the way, this episode still lacks something of a sense of urgency and you feel that this storyline maybe could have been wound up an episode earlier. There's also the fact that I hate babies being introduced into series as it's almost impossible to find a decent way to write them in around the characters without boring the audience to tears. I suppose I'll just have to have faith and see what happens.

Over the course of the last few episodes, the character of Holtz has been building nicely and becoming more rounded. Here he's much better, driven, vicious, looks cool and we discover the pain Angel and Darla put him through and see just why he has such a grudge against them. We know exactly what has happened to his daughter before he throws her into the bright sunlight, but the fact that he allows her to sleep the night under his watchful eye makes the whole experience that much more creepy.

There are some good moments between the main team, even if they're not heavily featured here, and Wolfram & Hart get a little lost in the shuffle, there more to fill in the blanks and hint at what's to come than serve much purpose as part of the plot. Somewhere along the line Lilah has become a little less threatening as well, with her volunteering to shoot people coming across as an idle threat as she's done it once too often lately.

The Darla story provides some good material, particularly for Julie Benz and David Boreanaz, the highlight being a sequence on a rooftop where Darla admits that she is no good for the child within her. She can't give it life when she can only offer death. It's touching and well-played by Benz as she says farewell once more to the Buffy/Angel universe, Darla dying to give her baby life. It's a bit of a shock when she stakes herself, but somehow not completely surprising and it does bring her story to a close at last just before it started to drag a little. What surprised me more was that Angel didn't give Holtz his child to make up for his loss or that the child died. I was expecting more somehow, yet I suspect it's coming.

Once again, however, like Buffy, we're left wondering what happens now, especially with Holtz promising to show no mercy again to Angel. And I'm sure there are still surprises in store.

***

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