Disharmony

Disharmony
Written by David Fury
Directed by Fred Keller

Original Airdate: April 17, 2001

Plot: Harmony shows up in Los Angeles and reestablishes her friendship with Cordelia. But it's only after Cordelia mistakes Harmony's advances that she discovers the truth about her old friend from Willow. Meanwhile, the newly re-established Angel Investigations tries to track down a group of vampires who are lead by a motivational speaker...

Review

Warning: Please don't maundered my intentions here--I am about to reveal major SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "Disharmony." If you've not seen it yet and want to go in unaware of any information on what happens, you'd better turn back now....

In short: A refreshingly done comedy and a good change of pace.

There's been a whole lot of darkness this season on Angel. And certainly we've seen all of the characters take a walk on the dark side and had some nice character exploration. Yes, at times, the character and story arcs have got a bit convoluted and confusing and seemed to have virtually no direction, I'll admit that. But, with the last new episode of Angel we saw, way back in February, it looked as though Angel--both the character and the series--were ready to back out of that rut and move forward. Unfortunately, thanks to the scheduling geniuses at the WB, we had to wait seven long weeks to see if Angel's Epiphany would mark a new direction for the series.

I'm glad to report that after seven weeks of waiting, that, so far, it seems to be working.

"Disharmony" was a refreshing change of pace for Angel. It was a big lighter than usual and I've got to admit I liked that. It wasn't the laugh riot that Buffy's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" was, but it still had it's enjoyable moments and it coupled it with a reasonable plotline that held my interest. One of my biggest complaints about when a drama does a "funny" episode is that they often have to take usually three-dimensional characters and turn them into two-dimensional ones or even one-dimensional ones for the sake of the comedy and to be funny. Fortunately, Angel didn't have to do that here.

Well, maybe except Harmony. But she's never really been anything more than a one-dimensional character to start with.

I was certainly glad that we got to see an episode that focused a bit on Cordelia. If there's a character who has been underutilized this year, it's her. Yes, she's got to get in a few good jaded barbs here and there, but we've not had really any examination of her and how she's grown. But we finally got a lot of that here It was interested to hear Harmony comment on how neither of them had really arrived at the point in their lives they imagined they'd be in after they left high school. But it was interesting to note that while Cordelia doesn't have the trappings she might once have had, she admits that she is happier. She has a job she likes and she works with people she likes. Indeed, in a lot of ways, leaving Sunnydale has helped Cordelia because she's been able to grow into the person she is and wants to be rather than the person that everyone thinks she should be because she is popular. Cordelia no longer seems to be content to rely on the fact that she's beautiful and popular to get her by in the world--she 's come to rely on other things such as her own sense of self-worth and having found a place for herself.

Indeed, this is a stark contrast to Harmony, who as we've seen over the years is completely willing to sublimate her personality to those who are around her, to try and gain approval. We certainly saw this on Buffy this year when she play-acted that she was the Slayer to arose Spike and we saw it here as she tries to be a good vampire like Angel in order to fit in with Angel Investigations. And it's also interesting to see how quickly she is drawn in by Doug's motivational speeches for vampires at the end. It certainly shows the ping-pong like character that Harmony is and has been over the past couple of years.

But along the way, there are some nicely done moments with Harmony.

Cordelia's misunderstanding of Harmony's wanting her--not sexually but to feed on--was an absolute riot. As was Cordy's call to Willow and her discover of Willow's sexuality now. I loved seeing the old Cordy who could be as unsympathetic as possible without realizing she was alienating those around her. And to see her try and cover when Willow revealed her own sexuality was nicely done.

Also, seeing Cordelia being willing to forgive Harmony's "fault" of being a vampire was nicely done. I liked that Cordy was so desperate to link back to a time in her life when she was popular and had all the friends was nice. And that she would do that through Harmony was good. The scene where they were painting each other's toes was a big indication of this. It seems like a comfort zone for the two of them--something they would have done in high school at a sleepover perhaps. And something that would be easy and comfortable for the two to slip back into.

I also loved Cordelia's anger at Angel and that it continued. The line of "you're not my friend" really struck a nerve. It was nice to see that Cordelia isn't as willing to forgive Angel as others in the Angel Investigations might be. Whether it's because Gunn and Wesley realize they need Angel to help them or just that Cordy is so much better at carrying a grudge, I'm not sure. (We certainly know that her being scorned is not a good thing--just ask Xander). And to see Angel's reaction to that and his over the top attempts to win back Cordelia's friendship were nicely done. (I about fell out of my chair laughing when Wesley retorted with his line that sending flowers to Cordelia after her vision would be great--and that he should pick up the "sorry you got shot" bouquet for Wesley.)

I think it was interesting that we got the emphasis put most on the Sunnydale gang--Cordy, Angel and Harmony in the episode. And how they all reacted to events. Yes, we saw some of Wesley and Gunn but they weren't as pivotal to the entire character plotline. Indeed, I think we've seen Angel make some amount of atonement to his friends, but I'm not sure if he's truly completely forgiven yet. What he did will be too hard to just forgive and forget, I think.

At least, I hope so.

As for the plot about vampires, I liked it. Heaven help me, but the idea of a vampire pyramid scheme and a motivational speaker was so refreshingly funny and yet it seemed so obvious I'm surprised no one came up with it before. The group meetings were hysterical and I enjoyed every minute of them. I also liked the fact that we got some acknowledgement that there are some vampires out there who just don't like Angel for choosing the side he's on. That all worked.

All in all, it added up to what was one of the most enjoyable Angel episodes of the season. It got the characters right, it got the humor right and it had an inspired villain plot line.

But, there were some niggling points that bugged me.

One is that I think the detour to the Host's was totally unnecessary. The karaoke bar has become far too much of a crutch for the writers this year and it seemed that way here. I don't mind when the Host is used to actually impact the plot, but when he's just in there to have him in there, I don't like it.

--No mention of bringing Kate on board. This was one of the biggest threads left dangling and it needs to be addressed quickly.

--Harmony needs to be staked. Yes, at first I liked her. But once she again descended to being whining and annoying , I was over it. Please, please, please stake her and do it soon!

Well, that's about it for now, except a few small things...

--I loved the scene where the group from Angel Investigations is striding down the street and we see them highlighted face by face and then we see Harmony. An absolute laugh riot.

--I doubt spilling blood on a keyboard will fry a computer. It'll mess up the keyboard all the hell, but may not do much to a computer. Unless you' ve got a Mac and then who knows...

--I loved Angel's realization that he needed to give Cordy time and space..and then he buys her a new wardrobe. The look on Wesley's face in the end was a riot. As was Cordy's reaction and Angel's innocent--"Did I do that?!?" expression.

All in all, this was a nice breath of fresh air for Angel. I liked the fact that it was an episode that did the comedy well but had a compelling enough villain plot and character angle to not make it too fluffy or easy to disregard. All in all, a nice start to the final run of episodes for season two--and possibly all time for the show if you believe the rumors that have surfaced about Angel's future on the WB...

My rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Lindsay's got a new hand...and it's not exactly well behaved.

"And while you're at it, pick me up one of those 'Sorry you got shot in the gut' bouquets."

--Wesley