Eternity

Eternity
Written by
Directed by

Original Airdate: April 4, 2000

Plot: Angel saves a former TV star, Rebecca, who hires him to be a bodyguard. However, Rebecca soon decides that she wants more from Angel than just his protection--she wants enternal youth...

Review

Warning: If reading SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel will unleash your dark side, please turn back now. There are major SPOILER just ahead for "Eternity."

In short: A nice walk on the dark-side.

It's been a long wait for a new episode of Angel--too long in fact, especially since the last new episode left a bad taste.

Angel has been on a rebuilding path with me, of late. It had some great momentum during the middle part of the February sweeps, much of which I think it lost with "The Ring." So, again "Eternity" has high expectations placed on it for me. Namely because just as with "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Eternity" was a pivotal episode for me. It had to come back to the plate and, if not at least hit a home run, be a solid hit that showed the show was still up to the potential it has displayed over the course of the season.

Needless to say, anytime you want help at the plate, you can't really go wrong with asking David Boreanez to bring out the Angelus character.

Of course, I've got some problems with it from an execution stand-point.

Namely, while I liked what having Angelus come out brought to the show, I'm not certain the progression made that much sense. On "Buffy" we saw Angelus emerge because Angel had found perfect contentment and happiness because of his love for Buffy. Hence, he lost his soul, thus reverting him back to his evil former self. Only be re-cursing him with a soul did the old Angel return. Yes, Angel has channeled Angelus before in "Enemies" but he didn't actually become evil Angelus.

I'm not sure if I buy the theory that the drug suppressed his soul enough to bring out Angelus. Namely because when Angel has lost his soul before it's been a fairly painful transformation for him.

However, while I didn't like the way we got there, I did like the results. Namely seeing Angelus's scathing verbal attacks on Wesley and Cordelia. Certainly his comments to Wesley about being a bit of weakling hit dead on and worked well enough. But it was really his comments to Cordelia that hit the closest to home. Having Angel, who has a long-standing friendship with Cordelia, take down everything that Cordy holds dear was nicely done. And even more nicely done was her reaction to his comments. I loved the fact that she said she lived in fear of this day and the holy water and stake in the desk comments. Those worked and Charisma Carpenter delivered them with such a dark, dynamic flair that really stood up to the darkness that David Boreanaz was projecting as Angelus.

Needless to say, that part, for the most part worked.

Other parts of this plotline worked as well, even if they were telegraphed a bit in advance. Rebecca's need to look young and wanting to revive her sagging career certainly seemed to work. Overall, I enjoyed seeing her and enjoyed the situation she had been forced into from a character stand-point. Yes, on some levels, the situation presented here was similar to the one in "Lie to Me" in which a mortal wishes to become an immortal at whatever cost. In both, each party had a reason to want to be immortal--Ford to save his life and Rebecca to capture her youth forever.

What I did like, though, was how this plot could have only been told on Angel. It revolved around an actress and her insecurities about getting older. Also, the parallels between Cordy and Rebecca as two actresses struggling to get their careers on the fast track was nicely done.

I also liked the character of Rebecca. Her being so drawn to Angel, namely because he had no idea who she was at first, was nicely done. It's easy to imagine some of today's TV stars being the same way--drawn to those who do nice things for them just becasue they are a fellow human being and not because they are a famous star.

It was the dichotmy of Rebecca and Cordy that drove this plotline so well. In Cordy you had one side of the coin and with Rebecca you had the person who'd had the fame and fortune and was now (in her eyes at least) on the decline. It certainly helped to drive along much of the show and give it an interesting edge.

As for the rest of the plot with Rebecca's alleged stalker, it worked for the most part. I think part of it was that it seemed a bit obvious as a publicity stunt to get her the new show. I think it might have been a bit more interesting to raise the stakes and show that there was a second, real stalker in the mix. Or that her agent wasn't quite as nice as he appeared and had actually had a more devious purpose in mind.

But, I've got to admit I liked Rebecca. I liked the tension she brought and I enjoyed the character enough that I think it'd be fun to see her on-screen again in the future.

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

--Charisma Carpenter continues to amaze. Her scenes of acting as badly as she was making Cordelia act were a riot. And her scene of the fake vision was inspired.

--Does Cordy really have a stake in her desk drawer? It's an interesting proposition to consider.

--Wesley didn't get a lot to do, but there was so much time spent developing Rebecca and Cordy that it didn't really distract from the plot too much.

So, overall, there was a lot to like about this episode and a few things that detracted from it.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Two weeks of repeats and then Faith visits L.A.