Angel and company make their escape from the hotel and head underground, an army of followers in hot pursuit. There they meet a group of kids who've been fighting a monster that's reducing their number, a monster that holds the key to the world's salvation.

Yes, and that's exactly the problem. While I appreciate that there always has to be some kind of solution to stopping the reign of terror of the latest monster to grace the series, this really is unusually lazy for a series that's been taking chances all season. It's all way too convenient. Angel and chums head into the exact sewers in the exact place where the one demon in this dimension familiar with Jasmine is hiding out? What were the chances? Okay, so someone does describe it as 'finally catching a break', but that's simply not good enough. It may be near-impossible to discover Jasmine's true name and use it against her if you're just doing a spot of research, but you'd expect the team to have to work a little bit harder.

There are some great bits, as per usual, such as the escape from the hotel, including Connor's rapid descent from a high window to the bonnet of Angel's car in an attempt to keep him out of their way, and Gunn's wry 'Time for the big fight scene'. The points where Angel holds the line against Jasmine's followers and the others do the same for him at the end is good to see as a real bonding experience, showing that they're all back together fighting the good fight after all they've been through.

Aside from the convenience of finding the right person at the right time, though, it's also a bit of an odd idea for an episode. The world is being placed under the control of an other-dimensional being and the plan is to hide in a sewer? For how long? Why? And when they meet a group of kids down there as well, what's with the sudden desire to help them out? There's a whole damn world going to pot up above them! It's hardly the time to go chasing about after a sewer creature. Indeed, how come Jasmine can't find them? Hiding in the sewers is the oldest trick in the book, and if she can see everyone on street level, why doesn't she make the obvious connection? It's not like Angel can stand about in the sun anyway.

The kids are okay, but they fall into the age old trap of being mildly irritating, especially the kid who's so sweet and shouldn't be living this kind of nasty life underneath the ground. It's pretty obvious that he's been infected with Jasmine-love once he gets above ground, and pretty creepy when he speaks with her voice. Indeed, that's one of the upsides of the whole episode: it does keep the creepiness factor going rather nicely throughout, especially when everyone falls under Jasmine's influence and the team realize they've got a fight they can't win on their hands. The shot at the end of Jasmine laughing as cuts open all over her body is really very sinister. So basically it's a bit of a mixed bag again. I don't think this is really up to the standard of the episodes that set it all up, although there are certainly enough good points and exciting sequences to hold the interest, as it's taking a thankfully less talky approach than Buffy has been recently. Now it's just a matter of seeing where it goes and if the end result is worth it.

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