Blind Date

Blind Date
Written by
Directed by

Original Airdate: May 16, 2000

Plot: Angel encounters a blind woman who can anticipate his every move in battle and is represented by Wolfram and Hart. After she is aquitted of all charges, her next assignment is to kill a group of children, causing Wolfram and Hart's Lesley to have a crisis of conscience and turn to Angel for help...

Review

Warning: The SPOILERS that are just ahead for the latest episode of Angel "Blind Date" are not encrypted in any way. If you haven't yet seen it and want to go in unaware, please turn back now.

In short: Definitely not what they advertised, but a solid effort.

I sometimes wonder if the people who make previews for episodes of television shows ever watch the shows they're previewing. Certainly by looking at how the WB previewed "Blind Date" you would come away thinking that it was an all-out action episode that dealt primarily with Angel protecting a woman who has the ability to have sight-beyond-sight (sorry to quote the Thundercats there).

No where did I ever assume that she'd be the adversary, much less the main force of evil on the show that Angel was forced to stand up against. Nor did I figure that for almost half the show, the focus would not be on her, but on our favorite lawyer from Wolfram and Hart, Lindsay.

Which is why, I think, that "Blind Date" turned out to be one of the more pleasant suprises of the season.

"Blind Date" put a great emphasis on characters and it all worked well.

Let me first of all say here that I'm not a fan of humanizing bad-guys just for the sake of garnering audience sympathy. It's been done with hit-and-miss success on the X-Files with the CSM.

However, everything that they did with Lindsay worked well here. I liked the fact that this plotline has been set-up over the course of the past few episodes, with his failure to destroy Angel using Faith and his confrontation of Angel in a suit earlier this year. (More on the continuity of that later). To see Lindsay having a series of failures at Angel's hands has been nicely handled and while there have been times that he's been a self-centered and ruthless adversary for our heroes, it was nice to see that he was willing to make the "right" choice here. I liked the fact that even as unscrupulous as Lindsay has been at times, occasionally his conscience gets a voice. Of course, that conscience gets quickly supressed as he goes back into the shadows of evil at the end, but it's nice to see it worked well for the course of this hour.

I liked the fact that while Lindsay is willing to betray Wolfram and Hart for what he feels is the right cause here, he's also willing to take up the banner and join them again, namely because he fears becoming what his father was. That works from a character stand point and while I'm certainly not in love with his character, I do find him drawn in a few more shades of gray than he was before, making it easier to both love and hate him at the same time.

And his betrayal led to some tense moments. I loved the way the entire break-in at Wolfram and Hart worked. I liked how elements from the entire season came together to make the operation run smoothly. And I also liked the fact that there were times that it seemd to not run smoothly, such as Lindsay's running into the woman in the hallway and Angel's desire to take the scrolls. Also, I liked the fact that the street-gang from last was used well and I even enjoyed the diatribe about justice that their leader gave in the lobby of Wolfram and Hart.

I found the entire sequence from the time Lindsay walked into Angel's office to the time he came back to be completely involving and full of tension. Yes, there were certainly some elements of Babylon Five involved here (the mind readers) and they worked very well. (I loved Babylon Five, so any time another show even seems a bit like it or borrows elements, it's either got to be done well or I'm gonna hate it. Thankfully they did it well here).

As for the rest of the plot, it certainly worked well enough. The blind killer was nicely done. I admit that she seemed a bit borrowed from the comic book hero, Daredevil, but she worked pretty well. I'm not sure why Angel's not moving confused her. I honestly hoped that he's go vampy and that might elude her directional sense a bit. But overall, this plotline didn't detract from the real strength--the characters.

But while I liked the story as a whole, there were some elements that bugged me.

--Angel's getting into W&H a few weeks ago seems a bit more suspect now. Unless they've tightened security since then. A few lines of dialogue might have cleared this up.

--What exactly is upstairs? I'm one of those impatient viewers who hates being teased too much. Hopefully next week we find out.

--Why was Angel so compelled to take the scrolls?

Well, that about wraps it up for now, except a few small items.

--Cordy certainly was used well, though her role has been limited. I liked her callling Willow for help decrypting the files.

--Also, Wesley was limited as well. He did have a few good moments and Alexis Denisof has really grown into the role this year. He's no Doyle, but he's doing really well.

--I wish we'd seen something of Kate. Also, how did Cordy hack into the LA PD database? Surely the police don't have that on-line for everyone to see.

All in all, an enjoyable hour. Easily one of Angel's top three of the year. And one that makes me eager for next week...

My rating: 8.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Prophecies come to life....