The Beast has to be stopped, and the sun restored, but the only plan is to return Angelus to the world in order to uncover how he is connected to The Beast. However, when a priest Wesley finds tries to kill Angel, a means is found to destroy The Beast forever.

On the one hand, this episode leaves you shouting 'How dare you!' but you have to admire the ingenuity of the writers to so completely hoodwink an audience. It all starts perfectly well, then the loss of Angel's soul goes wrong and things head towards a happy ending. It's as we arrive at this happy ending that I was crying out 'No! What are you thinking? Stop it! Oh.' The last of these was on realizing I'd been completely tricked. Not only does it continue the most ambitious and clever Angel storyline thus far, it returns a wonderfully evil character to the fold just when you least expect it.

When Enterprise recently did an episode where 'it was all a dream', I hated it. Here, it's so expertly done that aside from a brief irritation at being had, it works like a charm. While there are little aspects that don't entirely make sense, it's the fact that things do happen so conveniently that suggest things aren't as real as they should be. It makes sense that everything in Angel's life would have to be sorted out and put in order so that the curse would break itself and his soul could be removed. To go ahead and use the opportunity to bring the whole cast back together, mould them back into a cohesive unit, and then rip away everything that's happened in an instant is simple but effective and will mean a lot more intriguing developments to come. The only problem is likely to be the writers remembering exactly what has happened and what was imagined.

Especially satisfying are the Angel/Cordelia scenes, which build in a beautiful tenderness between the pair that's been bubbling beneath the surface for so long. Boreanaz and Carpenter give it everything they've got, making it all utterly believable as Cordy explains that her night with Connor was a mistake that must never be repeated, and she really wants Angel. It's just a shame that his 'moment of happiness' still comes when he does during sex, rather than through a job well done, the love of Cordelia, and a sense of understanding between him and his son. Away from this central pairing, the Angel/Cordy/Wesley triumvirate, missing for too long, is restored here, and in the pre-dream sequence, Wes's tough, take no prisoners attitude is out in force once again, and absolutely convincing thanks to years of development from Alexis Denisof. While it knocks Gunn, Fred and Lorne back down to more of a supporting role, it's still the group I want to see more of.

I've been worried since this storyline started that everything would be wrapped up and sorted out rather than played through properly; this episode proves me wrong, and I'm absolutely delighted about that.

****

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