Judgment
Written by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Teleplay by David Greenwalt
Directed by
Original Airdate: September 26, 2000
Plot: The second season premiere finds Angel, Wesley and Cordelia striving to fight demons to help Angel win his humanity back. But along the way, Cordy receives a vision of a woman in trouble, leading Angel to kill the demon following her. Only problem--it was her protector and now Angel must step in to save her...
Review
Warning: If you are seeking protection for yourself or anyone else from SPOILERS for the second season premiere of Angel, "Judgment" please turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead.
In short: A nice kick-off.
When we last saw Angel, there were a lot of plot threads left hanging. In true season-cliffhanger form, Joss and company gave us an episode that set-up a lot of expectations for season two and provided some sense of direction as to where the new season would go in the first few episodes. (Which I sorely thing the show needs as it lacked a sense of direction until let in the game last year). There were a few interesting plot threads left open from last year--namely the thought that Angel could achieve his redemption and get what he wanted most--to become human again and that one hurdle in his way would be his old foe, Darla. We also had Wolfram and Hart stepping up their campaign to remove Angel as a thorn in their side.
This all provides season two with a lot of momentum and should give us some interesting episodes down the road. It also sets in motion a long-term story arc of sorts that I think the last season of Angel really lacked--and really needs.
At this point, Angel has become a very goal oriented show--namely we have seen the prize offered to Angel (his humanity back). Now we get to watch as he sets out to achieve that goal.
In many ways I'm reminded of the classic series "The Fugitive" Each of the leads had a quest--Richard Kimble to find the one armed man and Angel's got a quest to find his own humanity again.
So, there was a lot of direction put into the show. Now comes the time to see just if and how it will pay off.
So far, I've got to say it did pretty well.
"Judgment" was an enjoyable enough season opener and while it won't go down as my all-time favorite Angel episode, it did some things really, really well.
First of all, I liked the character arc that Angel had. He's basically had the carrot dangled in front of him. And to see him take off in a direction of "if I save x number of people I'll be saved" was nicely realized. I liked the white board in Cordy's apartment where the Angel, Cordy and Wes were keeping score of how many people they'd saved. I also liked seeing Angel's desperation for Cordy to have a vision so he can go out and save another person and, thus, get closer to his goal. That all worked for me. What also really worked was his attempts to save the mother and her unborn child and be their protector, but yet blowing it at every turn. It might have been interesting to see Angel fail in his task and come to terms with that. But then again, I'm not sure that this is something we should see right off the bat. However, I do feel that eventually we do need to see Angel fail or get set back from his goal and see how he reacts to that. Certainly, here it would have been devastating to him and his cause.
But what I liked best about the journey was where it eventually took us--namely that Angel and company realized that quality counts more than quantity. Angel needs to invest the time in having a personal stake (no pun intended) in the saving of the souls he is helping. That's why I thought the coda was so utterly perfect. Seeing him reach out to Faith to be her support structure was a nicely done touch and really caught me by surprise. It's rare that a show can catch me by surprise these days and it was nice of the producers to do just that. (In many ways Faith's appearance had overtones of George Cooney's surprise visit to ER last year...both of them were nicely done and added to the episodes and both were kept under wraps extremely well).
Certainly it will be interesting to see just where this plotline takes us from here.
This was certainly the best plotline of the show and where a great deal of the emphasis was.
I wish I could say that the rest thrilled me as much as this part did.
Quite frankly, the biggest drawback to the character arc was the fact that the plot that got us there was a bit on the weak side. It's been a year now and, quite frankly, we've seen the misunderstood demon plotline a bit too many times. It worked really well in "I've Got You Under My Skin" for example. (It certainly put a twist on the demon possession storyline that has become a bit of a standard clichéd of late). So, the fact that Angel killed the demon who was the protector of the woman and her child wasn't exactly earth-shattering news. In fact, it was fairly predictable. And that really detracted a great deal from the show.
That coupled with the fact that we had virtually no idea why this child was so darn important. I kept having flashes of Star Wars with the child bringing "balance to the Force." If we see just why the kid is so important later and why the tribunal went to such lengths to protect her, I'll be a lot happier with the episode. For now, it just brought up too many questions and didn't give us enough answers--or hints of answers. That's one thing such shows as Buffy or Babylon Five are so good at--putting the pieces out there but not giving you the diagram on how they fit together until much, much later. I am hoping Angel will do this.
As for the rest, I found it hit or miss.
I liked seeing Gunn and he seems a welcome addition to the cast. Certainly he can add a much more rogue element to it and that works well. Personally, I've got to admit that I want to see the supporting cast expand this year. You've got a lot of potential here, so let's use it!
Seeing Darla was a bit of a hit and a miss. I liked the fact that her return was touched on. Also, her liking of the music was nicely done. (I think someone out there mentioned that the song Leslie played for her was used by Barry Mannilow in a song, thus giving it a bit of symmetry). And while her appearance was nice, it felt more like a standard "we must give Darla a scene" scene. Seeing her acting out of her head also reminded me of Dru, which brought up some interesting questions--namely did Dru's state of mind come about because she was raised from the dead?
Finally, I found the idea of the karaoke bar to be both hit and miss. I liked it because it provided a place for Wesley to make contacts with the demon underworld. And I did enjoy Angel's singing of "Mandy" as well as his reason for choosing to use that song. But I didn't quite buy into it that there's a bar tender with all the answers. This locale could prove of great interest in the upcoming weeks. I hope that it's not a one-time and then forgotten point. To see Angel mingling with other demons might prove interesting.
I am hoping, deep in the back of my mind, that this episode proves to be like Buffy's second season premiere "When She Was Bad" was--namely that it got better once you've experienced all of the season. Certainly this is one that I will look forward to rewatching once I've seen how all of the second season of Angel has played out.
So, that's about it for now except a few small things...
--I didn't notice Leslie's hand or arm. Hopefully they haven't forgotten Angel chopped it off.
--I don't think I'll ever quite think of "I'll Survive" in quite the same way again.
--Cordy and Wes really deserve some development.
--I loved the opening with Angel and company stalking into the gym. Probably the best part of the entire show for me.
Well, that's it for now. All in all, a solid opening to the season. Not the best episode ever but not the worst. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0) Solid, but not spectacular.
Next up: An old mystery haunts Angel. It's got potential.
"There are three things I don't do--tan, date and sing in public."
--Angel
Review Copyright 2000 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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