Guise Will Be Guise

Guise Will Be Guise
Written by Jane Esponsen
Directed by Krishan Rao

Original Airdate: November 7, 2000

Plot:Still angered by Darla's return and her plots to mess with head, Angel seeks help from a swami. While he is out of town, a client demands Angel's services at the point of a gun, causing Wesley to step in and impersonate the vampire. The assignment: protect a mob bosses' daughter from being kidnapped by a rival boss. Review

Warning: The SPOILERS that are just ahead are not impersonating anything other than SPOILERS. If you are looking for a way to avoid SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "Guise Will Be Guise" I strongly suggest you turn back now....

In short: Pleasantly surprising.

My first reaction when I saw the preview for this episode and heard rumors about it in various places in the on-line community was, "It's about dang time they got around to having an episode that gives Wesley something more to do." If there is any character this year that has received the short-end of the stick in terms of screen-time and character development, it has to be our favorite "rogue demon hunter" Wesley Wendham Price. Which is a shame really because last year we opened up some extremely interesting new doors on his character and took the character that, honestly I thought would once be the death of the show, and made him interesting, compelling and a bit more rounded. But really since last year's "Sanctuary" in which we got to see Wesley's anger at Faith for betraying him and costing him his job as Watcher and how he dealt with it, Wesley has been resigned to being research guy for Angel and occasionally trading barbs with Cordelia. And for the most part, it's been well done, but it's always left me wondering just when, if ever, they'd get around to doing something more with Wesley than just making him the librarian and research guy for the Scrappy gang.

Which is why I went into this episode with some really high hopes.

And, for the most part, "Guise Will Be Guise" delivered the goods, at least with Wesley's character.

As many of you know from my Buffy reviews, I'm not a huge fan of Jane Esponsen's work. Personally, I think "Earshot" is overrated and that most of her other offerings are a bit lacking in focus at times. Part of it is that while Esponsen can really nail one character down to a tee, there are times when other characters will suffer and not get the focus they really deserve.

That wasn't the case here. I was pleasantly impressed by the way that not only the main plotline intriguing enough to be compelling but also that all of the other plotlines hung together so well. The theme of the episode--being one of things not always being what they seem really worked well. I liked the fact that each of the major characters involved with the storyline was hiding something from everyone else.

First up, we had Angel, who was obviously trying to hide from not only himself but all those around him. Seeing his early, attempted assault on Wolfram and Hart to try and destroy Darla was nicely done. Also, seeing Angel attempt to hide from his rage and embracing the demon half of his persona was nicely done. I liked the fact that he is afraid to lose control because the last time he gave and lost control, he lost his soul and went back to the dark side. It's really in keeping with the theme that has been developing this year of Angel's desperation to re-gain his redemption. Part of that could be because he has tasted the pleasure of being fully human again--from his eating food to being able to be in a stable relationship with Buffy--and has had to give that up. And while I am not the biggest fan of IWRY (namely because I still think it stinks of a huge reset button ending), I like the fact that it has led to some character growth in Angel.

And to see Darla come back and to force Angel to face up to the fact of what he really was is nicely done. I sense that part of Angel's desperation to save her is because he may feel that if he can redeem her, he'll earn major brownie points from the powers that be. Of course, as we saw in "Dear Boy" Darla has virtually no interest in redemption--indeed she wants to continue her evil ways. It seems that she almost revels in them. That should be a source of constant frustration for our favorite brooding vampire as the season progresses.

And while I've got to admit that on paper, I found it a bit cheesy that Angel would go to some mystic to find some peace with his demons, it worked well in the execution. Angel's confessions to the mystic swami worked well and rang true, especially based on the character we've seen growing this year. I liked that Angel experiences frustration at not being able to really channel a source of strength--namely his vampire side. If you remember way back into the early years of Buffy, Angel did use this as a source of strength and power at times....but it was at times when he let his emotions completely rule the day. The biggest example of this is from "Reptile Boy" when Angel goes vampire face in his fury and desperation to save Buffy from the frat guys. I think that we've seen that Angel can use his bad side to achieve good goals. The question that we move forward with from this point is will he chose to do so? I think he's begun to discover that he can use his demon side as a source of strength and he shouldn't have to run from it. How long it takes him to actually began to embrace that and use it to his advantage remains to be seen.

About the only part of this storyline that bothered me is that the swami isn't what he appears to be. The fact that it turns out to be the a lackee sent by the rival mob boss to keep Angel out of the way while he kidnaps Virginia was certainly interesting. But if this is just some random guy that was sent, why was he able to find that connection Angel needed. I got the feeling from the scenes in the karaoke bar that the swami was mystical and had some special powers to be able to tune into the emotions of those he was helping. If that's true, then how was the replacement so able to key in to what Angel needed? Also, if I were Angel, I'd be a bit worried that much of my life and supposedly secret identity and story was out there for others to know.

So, while I liked where the storyline took the character, there were a few things along the way that were questionable.

And it was also interesting that in the scheme of things, Angel's journey was the B-plot to what turned out to be a rather interesting and compelling A-plot.

As I've said before, I liked the fact that Wesley finally got something a bit more interesting to do. I've enjoyed the team spirit that's built up this year between the team members. And I've enjoyed the bickering almost brother/sister type relationship that Cordy and Wesley have built up. And we saw examples of that again in "Guise Will Be Guise." Namely, in the opening scenes when Wesley steps in and impersonates Angel in an attempt to keep Cordy from coming to harm at the hands of the mob boss's lackey. Of course, it was just simply the beginning of a trip down the slippery path that ends with Wesley being forced to finally take Angel's place and protect Virginia.

Alexis Denisof did a great job with the role he was given this week. I loved seeing Wesley posturing and pretending to be an authority was nicely done. Wesley's false bravado that seemed so transparent to the viewing audience, was nicely done because it allowed us to be in on the joke and it also allowed us to see how easily Wesley could slip into the role of Angel if needed. And, of course, along the way, we got to see some nice moments of unease on Wesley's part--from being presented with the chance to drink blood to his posturing at the curse not being as bad as it had been made out to be.

I also liked the interplay that Wesley had with Virginia. And while it was a bit obvious from the beginning that the relationship between the two would end up as being more than just bodyguard and the one being protected, it was nicely done. I liked the fact that we got to see Wesley actually connect with a woman and to see her connect back with him. I only hope that this isn't the last time we see Virginia as I really liked the character. Also, the reaction that Cordy had to both she and Wesley being an item and being happy was nicely done. I think that if anything, at the very least, somebody on the show deserves to be in a stable, happy relationship.

And we finally got to see Wesley being a bit more tough. His taking out the two demons to protect Virginia was nicely done. As was his new found self-assurance at leading the team in to save her at the end. I only hope that it's not just because of his being forced to portray himself as Angel, but that it's because Wesley is finally gaining back some of his self-confidence. He used to be a self-righteous, smarmy character that I enjoyed not liking. And to see him finally have to step up and be his own person was nicely done and has been one of the things that Angel has done so well. I only hope that we get to see it continue.

As for the plotline of Virginia being protected by her father in order to be sacrificed, I found it interesting. It certainly created some of the bigger laughs of the episode--namely Angel's horror at being referred to as a eunuch. And while in retrospect, I can sit here and say that it seems a bit obvious based on the references to the demon worship that Virginia threw in early and her dad's obsession with it, I didn't figure out until the same time as the characters did that she would be a sacrifice for her dad's ascent. (Overtones of the Mayor here anyone?). And I liked that. The only part that I predicted once that came up was that she would come up lacking since the joke of her the demon only accepted a "pure" sacrifice was a bit too obvious to not be played. But I do like the fact that we found out that hadn't been "pure" for quite a while--even though her father had tried to keep her that way.

And to see that there were lies within lies on all parts was nicely done. No one in the entire episode came out as really squeaky clean or beyond reproach--with the exception of Gunn, who was never in on any of the lies to start with.

Speaking of Gunn, I liked him here. He served as good comic relief. From his lines in the elevator about Angel's plan being "to walk really fast" to his horror that Angel would have to sing in order to have his soul read, Gunn hit all the right notes. I think Gunn works better when he's allowed to be a character and not stereotyped into a narrow view of how a character from his background should be such as in "War Zone."

But, speaking of the karaoke bar, I've got to admit that if anything marred my enjoyment of this episode, it was this.

At first this year, I enjoyed the karaoke bar. It was nice and it's always funny to see David Boreanaz get a chance to poke fun at both himself and Angel. But I think the joke has worn thin of late. The bar has featured into the plotline of four of the first six episodes and it's rapidly feeling like a crutch. It's a bit too easy for the writers to send Angel to the bar to get him from point A to point B without actually showing us how he got there. It's a similar situation as to what happened on Doctor Who in the late 70's with K-9. Basically, K-9 was a robotic dog that had a laser beam for a nose. In the 70's the writers became heavily reliant on using K-9 as a crutch to get the Doctor into or out of trouble. You set the Doctor up in a situation and then if you couldn't find a creative way to get out of it, you had K-9 either rescue you or give you a nugget of information to keep the plot moving. It worked once or twice but after a while it got old.

That's what I see happening to the karaoke bar. It's interesting, yes. And it was funny the first two or three times. But now it's worn a bit thin. The writers need to stay away from it. I had a feeling Angel would only want to use it as a last resort. But now it's becoming too much of a crutch. Yes, I understand that here you needed the barkeeper to get Angel to the swami. But it seemed a bit too contrived. There had to be a better way to get from point A to point B. I really do hope that David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon will clamp down on the use of the karaoke bar in the near future.

Also, I've got to admit that I am surprised that Angel didn't set off Wolfram and Hart's vampire detectors. And also that Cordy, Wes and Gunn go out so easily. I can only hope we see some reference to his intrusion on them in a future episode.

So, I guess that's about it for now. Except for a few small things...

--While Cordy's role was limited, Charisma Carpenter did a nice job here. Her confronting Angel about not getting killed and taking on Wolfram and Hart was a nice touch.

--I liked seeing Wesley grow from in the beginning being a bit klutzy to being more confident as the episode went along.

--I liked the actress who played Virginia a great deal. She brought the right marks to the role. Again, I want to see her again in the future.

Anyone else find it ironic that the girl's name was 'Virgin'ia?

Well, that's about it for now. All in all, this episode really shone on a character level, but had so a few mistakes that took it down from the ranks of perfection.

My rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: It's November and that can only mean one thing--it's crossover time! This sweep's crossover even features Angel, Spike, Darla, Dru and the Master from their early days. It's got major potential.

"I decided to give you a break, the patrons a break and Barry a break."

--Karaoke guy