Angel is forced to confront his actions when his delving into dark magicks leads to the hotel being overrun by transparent insect creatures that inhabit humans and drain them of water unless they keep drinking. Meanwhile, Lilah is caught on the hop by Gavin.

I can't really claim that this is that great an episode, but there is a lot going on and some nice little touches that raise it up from being a simple monster runaround. Lucky really, as we've already pretty much had that this season thanks to Fredless. The monsters themselves are wonderfully creepy CGI creations, demonstrating that Angel has a far better grasp of when to use the technology than its sister show has lately. Their quest for water is a simple but effective ploy, giving us a wonderful death when a would-be client shatters on the floor of the hotel and later putting Fred in really quite horrific jeopardy helped by some nasty make-up effects.

Adding to the drama is Angel's sense of remorse that he has brought such a problem on himself and his friends, plus a demonstration of Cordy's new demon powers, the building of the Groo/Cordelia/Angel love triangle and a fiery and powerful encounter between Gunn and Wesley when the former desperately seeks help from the disgraced latter. The unshaven nature of Wes and the still-obvious dark wound on his neck reminds that things are far from being sorted out with him, and I have high hopes for where things go from here.

I have a feeling, however, that Wolfram & Hart may be reaching the end of their usefulness. Although for the first time I find myself liking Gavin and his manipulations in this episode, there is only so much mileage you can get from having Lilah constantly on her toes as she tries to keep in with the ultimate bosses. Maybe it's time to bring this little arc to something of a conclusion. Speaking of which, the ending of this episode is simply fantastic and a big surprise. It may not come in the most wonderful of stories, but I'm interested to see where things go from here.

***

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