The Thin Dead Line

The Thin Dead Line
Written by Jim Kouf & Shawn Ryan
Directed by Scott McGinnis

Original Airdate: February 13, 2001

Plot: After several of her kids complain about brutal attacks by the police, Anne turns to Gunn for help. Meanwhile, Angel begins to investigate the complains of police brutality, leading him to cross paths with his former employees. Review

Warning: If avoiding SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "The Thin Dead Line" will make you rest in peace, then I suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead....

In short: A lot of interesting points, some other points left me cold.

Guilt is a powerful emotion. And an even more powerful motive.

Instead of killing the vampire Angelus, gypsies decided to do something worse. Give the killer a soul and allow the guilt of his actions as a soulless vampire to catch up with him. And it's worked....

In the past, we've seen guilt lead Angel to give up his relatively pointless life and go to Sunnydale to help the Slayer fight the forces of evil. Earlier this season, we saw guilt over his past actions led Angel to go back to an old hotel and confront the evil that lives within, putting his past to rights and, perhaps, giving his conscience a bit of a rest.

We even see Angel motivated by guilt here in "The Thin Red Line." But this time's it's not a altruistic as his previous actions of going to help Buffy or returning to hotel to help the tortured soul who is still trapped there. This time, Angel is motivated purely out of guilt, placed upon him by his infromant, Merl the demon. A comment from Merl makes Angel realize, just for a moment, what a complete bastard he's been the past couple of weeks by turning his back on the three people who were standing between him and his descent into darkness. And so, he sets out to help them...and maybe get his conscience to shut up a bit.

You've got to get the feeling that deep down inside, some part of Angel, the Angel we've come to know and love over the past five years, is still in there. And that Angel still wants to help people. And he does that here--taking on the zombies that are terrorizing one small corner of the city of Angels. But while Angel is willing to go out and help his friends, he's still not willing to confront them or speak to them. We see this as Angel helps from afar--from following Gunn by using the rooftops to defeating the zombies by destroying their idol in the police captain's office. It's only when Angel learns of the direct consequences of his actions that the guilt overwhelms him enough to consider that he might be on the wrong path and he needs to reach out to those who want to help him.

Unfortunately, as far as that gang in concerned, it's too late.

And by going to them, Angel might finally have been given what his tortured soul needs the most--his freedom to spiral into the darkness. His confrontation with Cordelia in the hospital was superbly done by both. Notice how in the scene, Cordelia lays into Angel, expressing several weeks worth of frustration at him and his actions. Never does Angel volunteer that he's helped or might have saved them from the army of zombies. He stands there and takes her abuse in restrained silence. We then see him observe the family that has become what's left of Angel investigations gather together over Wesley. And then in what could be potentially the most interesting scene of the episode, we see Angel walk off. His body language says it all--he's been released from his guilt. He helped his friends and has been told he's no longer needed by them. The last barrier between Angel and his descent into darkness is gone. You can see by the calm, almost relieved way the vampire carries himself that he's ready to go out and take on Darla. And this time, it's no holds barred.

If I were Darla, I'd pull a Druscilla and get the hell out of Dodge.

But I doubt that she will. For one thing, it's not in her nature. And for another, it would deny us the showdown that has been coming all season.

The most interesting part of this character arc for Angel is that while it's an important and potentially character changing one, it's not the main focus of the episode. Yes, Angel's helping to defeat the police zombies is important. But it's only part of a fairly complex and interesting main storyline.

But there was also guilt to go around in other areas. We saw that Kate still feels some burden of guilt at her father's death. Imagine if that was coupled with the fact that her father had been raised from the dead to continue his policing from beyond the grave. This poor girl would be seriously warped.

And we also saw some sembalances of guilt from one of Gunn's associates, the former drug dealer. We saw what happens after guilt catches up him and he is makes the hard choice to put his life in line. And to see some of the consequences begin to catch up with him. Indeed, the scene were he is confronted by Jackson is nicely done, as is his trembling at facing him. It's hard to face up to the deeds of your past--sometimes it inspires fear in you. I can only wonder if this will be paralled soon in Angel when he wakes up and realizes how far down the path of destruction he's gone and how there may not be any way for him to easily get off it. With the young kid, it was a choice to not sell drugs. With Angel, he may set things in motion that he has no control over and, therefore, cannot easily get out of.

Indeed, the main storyline of the zombie policemen did raise a lot of interesting questions and served as a reflection of what the main storyline has been on Angel all season long.

Indeed, the zombie patrol raised the question--do the ends justify the means? As Kate pointed out to Angel in the episodes waning moments, the crime rate in the neighborhoods dropped significantly with their patrol. Of course, the trade-off was that any person out on the street--innocent or not was going to be terrorized. Indeed, we even see this directly through the character of Jackson who thanks Gunn at the episodes conclusion for making his job easier now. Safety is the issue that is concerning a lot of people these days. But it's a personal safety thing. Jackson turned to Gunn and company when he no longer felt safe selling drugs. And Anne turned to the crew when she felt the safety of her people was being violated by the extreme tactics used by the police. But if you'd asked some of the people in the neighborhoods that weren't attacked by the police and their strong-arm tactics, I'd be willing to bet they'd say things were never better and that the ends did justify the means.

The question of "do the ends justify the means" has been one that's followed Angel all year. We've seen him slowly descend into darkness. He wants to destroy Darla. And he's willing to do whatever it takes. But do the ends justify the means? If you asked Angel, he'd probably say yes. Indeed, in a scene with Kate where he admits that he set Darla and Dru on fire, he shows no remorse. But if you asked the rest of Angel Investigations, you might get an entirely different answer. I can't help but think Cordelia most of all would not want to see Angelus return as he old, evil self. She's experienced first-hand the horror he can inflict upon his victims.

In the end, we're left with the conclusion that the ends don't justify the means. Indeed, while the zombie cops made things safer, they pretty much brutalized everyone they came across.

The issue raised by the zombie cops was also one that is fairly prevelant today--that of racial profiling. And I have to agree with the slant given here--that just by assuming someone is a certain way based on skin color, dress, etc. is wrong. It was interesting the way in which Angel got us to consider this issue without being too heavy-handed about it. And while there was a lot to like and recommend about this episode, there were still some rather niggling details that drug it down a bit.

Namely, my biggest complaint is that whenever anyone from Gunn's community, outside of Gunn himself, is shown on screen, the characterization gets incredibly one-dimensional. I understand that in the area of Los Angeles that Gunn hails from there are likely to be some angry young men, like the ones seen here. But the ones seen here are so one note. The way the acted--and most distressingly-- the dialogue they speak is just one-dimensional. Indeed, the former drug dealer who constantly called Gunn, "G" was the most annoying. It seemed as if the writers felt like we'd feel like we were inside the mind of this character by hearing this lingo. For me, it really did the opposite. It made me less receptive to the character.

My other complaint to the storyline was the lack of screentime for Virginia. This not only stems from the fact that I like the character and find the actress to be good at the role, but also from the fact that the script just screamed out for her to be there. Please don't get me wrong here, but while it was moving to see Gunn sitting with his friend, Wesley, as he wakes up, there is also a compelling reason for Virginia to be there as well. If Wesley and Virginia are in a relationship and care about each other, I would think she would want to be there in Wes's time of need. Even if she'd just had a cameo at the end. I'd have even accepted it if Cordelia had said something about having called her to Gunn in the final scene with Wesley. Or that she was on her way.

And while these things were relatively small, they had a big effect on the epiosde. It made it feel a bit less than it could have been. A bit less whole. And in the long run, that takes what could have been a great epiosde and makes it just merely a good one.

Well, that about wraps it up for now except a few small things...

--Kate's horror at thinking her father might be a zombie was nicely done.

--I'm glad to see Merl was considering moving. Poor guy. He's been pretty abused the past couple of episodes.

--The idea that you can't turn to the police--those who you've been told since you were a kid are there to help you--in a time of need was unnerving. The scenes with the patrol cars blocking the ambulance's way were chilling.

--I liked seeing Anne again. And I liked that she had a connection with Gunn.

--Will we ever find out if the third eye girl gets healed?

--On that note, will Virginia be upset with Wesley for dropping that case to help out Gunn? Especially since those were supposed to be paying clients?

All in all, there were a lot of good elements in this episode. But there were some major glaring problems that detracted from it. It's not nearly the disjointed muddle that "Blood Money" was but it's not the great episode that "Redefinition" was. For now, it falls somewhere in between.

My rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: One of the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart is in town...and Angel is on a suicide mission.