There's No Place Like Pirtz Glrd

There's No Place Like Pirtz Glrd
Written and Directed by David Greenwalt

Original Airdate: May 22, 2001

Plot: Cordelia discovers that secret as to why the priests elevated her to princess, Angel struggles with his demon half and Wesley and Gunn join forces with a band of rebels who want to overthrow the priests....

Review

Warning: If you've not yet seen the second season finale of Angel "There's No Place Like Prtiz Glrd" then I strongly suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the latest episode of Angel.....

In short: It had its moments.

If you've been following my reviews for the past several weeks, most of you know that I felt this whole "Let's go to Pylea" idea was one that seemed good on paper, but wasn't as well executed as I'd hoped it would or could be. For one thing, it seemed a major side-step for the series that had explored all year long, Angel's walk on the dark side and his relationship with Dru and Darla. And honestly, as the final six episodes of season two came into play, I'd hoped we might get more of that exploration.

And while one of my two wishes wasn't granted--we didn't get a lot of resolution to the entire Darla being back arc, in the final episode of the season ended quartet, we did get at least some acknowledgement and resolution to the Angel goes to the dark side arc. On the whole, I'm not sure if this really redeemed the entire month-long journey to Pylea for me, but it did leave me with a bit better feeling coming out of this episode and the entire season as a whole.

I will admit the most interesting plotline of the entire story was the Angel's struggling with the fact that now both halves of him exist separately and how he must try and find the balance between then. We saw literally in the last two episodes exactly what Angel has being dealing with under the surface all year long. And it was nice to see our hero struggle with the fact that he's a human who carries a demon inside that he is ashamed to see when it comes out into the harsh light of day. What I liked was David Borenaz's portrayal of this--the worry and concern that we saw carried through Angel in not only what he said, but also his body language. And then to see Wesley tell Angel that he's a man with a demon inside not a demon with a man inside really hit home and made perfect sense. I certainly hope that that conversation finished a lot of the Angel has gone to the dark side arc. Because while it was interesting at times, it's one that could get old quickly were it to be repeated again. And while I think that Angel has learned he has to channel both his humanity and his demon in order to fight the evil that he does and that he should continue to struggle with that dichotomy as the series progresses, I was pleased to see that season-long storyline come to a satisfying end.

Also, it was nice to see Wesley and Gunn get some resolution to the issues that were brought up four weeks ago. Namely, we got to see Wesley finally stand up as the leader. I really liked the scene where he wanted to turn over command to Angel once he'd reappeared but Angel refused. Indeed, we've seen that Wesley has what it takes to lead, but sometimes he needs a good push in the right direction in order to do it. And he certainly got that push here.

And while I was glad to see there was some mention of Gunn's arc and that his friend being killed by vampires wasn't just something done for shock value, I still admit I didn't really buy his arc. I guess because of the four main characters on the show, his arc was probably the most obvious, simply because it's been done before. And I'll admit that it's been done better. Which is a shame really as Gunn has some huge potential as a character and I think a lot of that has gone unused over the course of this year. I also worry about his character next season. I like Fred and I've enjoyed the past four episodes with her character and I think she's gone some potential. But, I worry that next year she may get screen time and character development over Gunn because she's the new kid on the block. And part of me feels that would be a real shame since Gunn has some great potential. I'd hate to see it go unused.

Speaking of Fred, I've not really mentioned her much in my reviews. And I'll be the first to go out and say I like her. She reminds me in some ways of Agent Reyes on the X-Files--in that it's a character coming in late to a show that has some huge potential. I certainly liked how flighty Fred was. She reminded me a lot of the character Gracie Allen played as Gracie Allen. She had her own system of logic that made sense to her, even if it seemed a bit strange to everyone else. A good example of this is in an old radio show, Gracie is trying to convince Mickey Rooney to come and be her and George's adopted son. She tells Mickey how she'll make sure he goes to school and gets a good education, etc. Well, Mickey is arguing that he's been to school and he studied geometry and Gracie tells him to say something in geometry. Mickey says, "Pie R square" and Gracie laughs and says, "You've not been to school. Everyone knows Pie Are Round!" I can sort of see this becoming a possible trait for Fred--as a character who has her own logic and that maybe everyone else just doesn't quite get. And I am certainly hopeful that she will develop beyond being a bit off as she was in this set of episodes. I wonder how much of it's Pylea and how much of it's Fred and who she is. We'll have to wait and see what happens, I guess.

One thing I found interesting is that Fred seems very accepting of Angel's dark half.

Indeed, last week she was the one who brought him back to his human side. I wonder how this might come into play next year.

But I've got to say that the real star of this episode was Cordelia. Seeing her struggle against the priests and get to fall in love with the champion was nicely done. Indeed, this sort of seemed like the fairy tale type of life she might have dreamed off as a little girl. And it was nice to see that she got to actually be an actress (wearing a skimpy outfit, no less...shades of her commercial) and say lines. However, here she got to change a way of life by playing out her role. And I found that whole character arc, when I finally saw what they were doing, to be wholly satisfying. I also found it satisfying that Cordelia doesn't want to give up her visions and that she wants to return home and help fight the good fight. It showed some amazing growth for her this year and it's one of the things that I'm looking forward to seeing jump out at me when I sit down to watch season two again here in a few weeks.

And while I liked all of this character development, I found the action that went with it a bit off.

I've probably been spoiled by Farscape. They do trilogies better than just about anybody else out there on TV. And they have been able to pack in tight, plot drive multi-part stories that have some great character development on the way. And that's what I found myself yearning for here at times. My major complaint over the last four episodes has been that it's seemed as though there were enough plot for two episodes but it's been spread to four. And there were lapses when the episode seemed to come to a screeching halt and that's a shame. The pacing of this last set of episodes has been off and that bothers me. Sure, seeing what they're doing made the wrap-up seem worth it, but I wish they'd gone for three parts instead of four. Or maybe two really taut episodes.

And let me say again--if you've not seen Farscape yet, you've got a chance Friday night. There's a catch-up episode followed by a four episode marathon. Do yourself a favor and give it a try. It'll help with Buffy and Angel withdrawals since there will be new Farscape episodes this summer.

Anyway, back to Angel...

All in all, I found "There's No Place Like Pirtz Glrd" to be a decent season-ender. It's set up some stuff for next year that should be interesting. And there were some small things that were nicely done...

--Angel's thinking Cordy loved him was a riot. I am sure there are some who think he hoped it was romantic...but I see it as a bit more than that. All year, Angel has treated Cordy and the rest of the gang like dirt..and he's only now winning back their trust and friendship. We saw Angel try to buy Cordy back with clothes and so for her to shout out that she loved him would achieve in some way what he wanted--to be back to his old self and part of the team. And I see Angel and Cordy as more a big-brother/little-sister type of relationship, which would make sense in the context...

--The dance of sorrow comment...oh I wish we'd seen it. I about fell on the floor laughing just thinking about it. And after the trauma of Buffy, I needed a good laugh...

--Willow's showing up at the end. Does it set up a possible season beginning cross-over?!? I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Well, that's it for now. Overall, the episode did some nice things. But it had some drawbacks that kept it from the realms of greatness. But it did do some nice things to end season two and have me looking forward to season three....

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Repeats...and lots of them. I am going to work on a season wrap-up review for Angel, which means re-watching this entire season. So, look for that in mid to late June or early July. Until then, I'll see y'all around the newsgroups!

"Numfar, do the dance of shame."

--Lorne's mother.