Five by Five

Five by Five
Written by
Directed by James A. Contner

Original Airdate: April 25, 2000

Plot: Faith arrives in LA and is hired by Wolfram and Hart to take care of a thorn in their side--Angel.

Review

Warning: If reading SPOILER for the latest episode of Angel will make you not feel "Five by Five" I suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead.....

In short: So far, so good.

All season long, Angel has sought to establish its own unique identity and voice in the vast TV universe. And, at times, it's done a remarkably great job of doing that.

But it's ironic that two of the stronger episodes of the year feature nods to the show's roots--namely by bringing over characters from Buffy for guest appearances on Angel. First we got Spike who made his visit to LA and now we've had Faith settle in for what appears to be a longer stay than our favorite villainous vamp.

It's nice to see that Angel can remember its roots and work with the characters. In addition, it can carry over continuity and character growth from Buffy and spin it off in very different and interesting ways.

Namely, in this case, with such an interesting character study into Faith.

I've liked Faith since the beginning and really have enjoyed Eliza Dushku's marvelous work on Buffy and now Angel at creating a character that is so deeply steeped in shades of gray that it's hard to decide whether you really hate her or feel a bit of pity for her. In the end, I always find myself coming away as a bit of both. And certainly, Faith as a character adds tension and much-needed drama to every scene she's in. Just like Spike, every time Faith appears on-screen the tension gets ratcheted just a notch.

If you're not a fan of Buffy, then a lot of the development we saw last night may have been lost on you. Certainly the clips they showed were well and good, but to really understand the journey Faith has been on the past season and a half, you really have to have been along for the ride. And it's an interesting ride that I am really, really interested to see how it plays out.

Certainly if you've read my reviews since last year's "Consequences" you know that I have always felt that Faith wasn't completely beyond redemption. Indeed, we saw that in "Consequences" and to a lesser extent in "Choices" and "Who Am I?" Indeed, "Who Am I" set up the events we saw here. We see that Faith embraced her evil side, but at what cost. As Angel has told her in the past, the choices she's made will come back to haunt her and lead to a break-down.

Indeed, that was superbly shown in the flashbacks to Angel's being cursed with a soul and his having to face the overwhelming guilt at the number of people he'd killed over his 140 years as a vampire with Darla. Those scenes worked well enough as a counter point and set up the eventual break down Faith has in the waning moment of the episode. I've got to admit that at first I wondered what the point of these scenes was, other than to have some flashbacks and a couple of lines for Julie Benz. But, in the overall scheme, these worked out well in the end. Especially seeing Angel's initial desparation attempt to feed after being cursed with his soul.

Seeing Faith's dark side and her breakdown worked extremely well and has been coming for a long time. It all started back in February on Buffy and it carried over to this episode. We have seen that when her back is against the wall, Faith will do the right thing. And to see it come down to the realization that she is a danger to everyone, including herself is nicely done. I loved how subconsiously she took the job as a suicide assignment to either kill Angel, the one person who had tried to save her, or to kill herself. It's amazing how much texture there was to the final battle and how much great subtext they put into the final battle between Faith and Angel.

Indeed, Faith's references to "the game" throughout the episode took on a more chilling effect, namely because it seems as if Faith is playing the game with herself and not just with Angel.

But, on the way, there were some really great moments. Angel has now upped the anty with the Wolfram and Hart firm. It's interesting to see how adverserial the two have become over the course of the year. How all this will play out in the final run of episodes will be interesting. I suspect we haven't really seen all of the evil that Wolfram and Hart is up to of yet, nor do I think we will this year. I have a feeling that parts of this plotline will be left unresolved and dealt with next year.

I loved the confrontation done by Angel at the offices with Lindsay. I also wonder if Lindsay was bluffing when he stated that they had monster-proofed the offices. Obviously not well enough.

Also, I've got to admit that I loved seeing Wesley's character growth. For the first time since he came to the show, Wesley was totally integral to the plot. I loved seeing him captured by Faith and tortured. It reminded me in many ways of the way that Angelus tortured Giles in season two's "The Becoming." Also, to see Wesley as resolute and angry at Faith as he was worked well. In many ways, it's because of Faith that Wesley has reached this point as a character. It will be interesting to see just how forgiving he is to her beyond the initial dropping of the knife during her breakdown. Or to see if Wesley believes that it's a ruse by Faith to get Angel's trust so she can slay him. Alexis Densiof really delievered in all counts here--espeically his defiance of Faith while being tortured. That really, really worked and those scenes were among the strongest in an all-around strong episode.

But, it's hard to deliver praise too highly or judge the episode too harshly because , quite frankly, we've got to see how it all plays out. I have a feeling that we've just scratched the surface of what's to come and that next week promises even more twists and turns. I can only hope that it's as interesting as the set-up and that Joss and company deliver the goods. (They usually have on Buffy...)

But, I will point a few things that struck me as odd.

--While I loved the first confrontation between Angel and Faith in which he cuaght the stake, I'm not sure exactly how he knew Faith was there. Angel has been compared to Batman all year, but I got a sense of Spiderman and his spidersense here from Angel. It might be interesting to see how this plays out in future episodes or it was a one time thing just for dramatic effect.

--I know it all has to do with Juliet Landau's schedule, but really, at the piont in which Angel was souled, Spike and Dru should've been around in some way. It would have been great for James Marsters to cameo as Spike in the flashbacks at the very least.

--I also wonder why Kate wasn't here. After all, Kate could have been a great source of information on Faith and the police records.

--So it's only been a week since Faith left Sunnydale? Interesting. I thought more time would have passed than that. Makes you wonder if the WB is airing episodes out of production order or if this one was moved back so that the one-off "Eternity" could air mid-repeats and leave a final run of five to end the year.

--Angel is obviously pulling a Roswell here...we've got a lot of plot threads coming together in new and exciting ways to end the season and generate excitment. Of course, Angel has been renewed with Roswell hasn't....

Well, that's about it for now. Overall, there's a lot to really, really sink your teeth into in "Five by Five" and it will be even more interesting to see how it all pays off over the coming weeks.

My rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Buffy comes to LA looking for Faith...