Double or Nothing

Double or Nothing
Written by David H. Goodman
Directed by David Grossman

Original Airdate: April 22, 2002

Plot:Seven years ago, Gunn traded his soul to a demon and now the demon shows up to collect. Meanwhile, Cordelia returns and tries to help the grieving Angel. Fred tells Wesley the prophecies were false and urges him to stay away from Angel.

Review

Warning: All bets are off. If you don't want to see SPOILERS for the latest episode of Angel, "Double Or Nothing" I strongly suggest you turn back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead.

In short: Angel stumbles a bit...

As irritated as I was with the WB for ending on a massive cliffhanger at the end of February sweeps and making us wait until April to see how it all played out, after seeing Double or Nothing, I can see, perhaps, why they did it. Coming out of a hiatus is an iffy thing and you want to come back with a strong episode--which, let's face it, "Forgiving" was one of the stronger episodes we've seen out of David Greenwalt and company this year. It set the bar really, really high for the rest of the season and made me anxious to see more of Angel.

It was a strong note to return on.

And let's face it--"Double or Nothing" would not have been as strong a note to return on.

Maybe it's just that the past three new episodes have been, overall, extremely strong and that makes "Double or Nothing" pale by comparison. I found myself at times wondering if you took this episode and put it down in the middle third of this season, if it might not seem better by comparison.

But the more that I thought about it, the more I came to realize that Double or Nothing was just a pretty much blasé effort. It wasn't really great, but it wasn't really horrible either. It was just sort of there. I spent an hour of my life watching it and I don't have any real strong feelings about it either way. I don't love it, I don't hate.

I was pretty much uninvolved with most of the storyline and even the parts I did care deeply about weren't strong enough to truly sustain my interest.

I guess that part of me hoped for so much more. I hate to say it, but the past three weeks set the bar for the show so high that it was inevitable that at some point we'd get an episode that was just OK.

Not that there weren't parts I liked. Seeing Cordelia come back and begin to help Angel deal with his grief at losing Connor was nicely done. I am glad that the producers took a moment to step back and allow Angel to deal with the issue on an emotional level. There was a lot of nice work done there--from the scenes of Angel just sitting and bleakly staring at the crib to Cordelia and Angel's discussions of the pain he's feeling. Honestly, the strongest scene of the show was between Angel and Cordelia as he discusses that he's used to people dying around him while he continues to live, but how losing Connor was different. I don't have children, so I can't really address this issue very well. However, I found myself moved by Angel's words and I did get a lump in my throat at the end as Angel took down the most visible reminder of Connor's being gone with the crib. Part of me wondered as Angel stood there if he might not smash the crib into pieces in anger and rage, but seeing him silently take it down and disassemble it was profoundly more moving. Emotionally, each of these moments hit all the right notes.

The other plotline that hit the right notes was Wesley's predicament. The gang's refusal to mention his name on the off-chance it might set Angel off was interesting. But the real heart of this was Wes in the hospital. If I've not said it enough already, Alexis Denisof deserve an Emmy nod for his superlative work he's done all year with Wesley. From his suffering in silence as Fred chose Gunn over him to his latest performance here, he's been nothing short of superb. Denisof had no spoken lines in "Double or Nothing" but yet he managed to convey the pain, misery, sorrow, despair and hurt that Wesley is going through. The scene in the hospital as the doctor asks Wes if there's a friend or a family member he wants to call when he gets out was particularly well done as was Wes's return home to his empty apartment. It will be interesting to see how Wes continues to deal with the knowledge that his was duped by the prophecy and even though he tried to make the right choices, he ultimately failed. There's some real potential for this story-line on a long-term basis and I have a feeling this is going to come back to haunt Wes a good deal.

But as for the main plotline of Gunn selling his soul seven years ago to a shady person, overall this one left me cold. This being the Buffy and Angel universe, I had a feeling when we saw the scene with Gunn seven years before that he wasn't selling his soul for something that we'd normally assume you'd sell your soul for--wealth, power or love. And when they made such a big deal out of us not seeing the picture, I sarcastically said--"Well, I guess he wants a car." Needless to say, I wasn't too far off on my big prediction--he sold his soul for a truck and not even one with AC (as Fred points out in the final moments).

As for Gunn's soul-selling and how that affected his newfound relationship with Fred, I just found it a bit tedious and predictable. Gunn will try to have one perfect day with Fred and not tell her...check. Gunn will be forced to break-up with Fred, thinking he's saving her from unnecessary pain..check. Fred will figure out something is wrong...check. Fred will call Angel into help...check.

There wasn't much excitement here and I honestly didn't find myself caring much about the plot as it developed. I had the idea that Angel would somehow or other figure out a way to save Gunn from his past mistakes.

The point at which the two plots dovetailed was a bit forced. I admit that I liked Angel's speech about not losing another member of his family--which is a great reminder of the theme of family that has developed all year long. And seeing Gunn's needing help as the reason that Angel came out of his grieving was nicely done. And that was about the only time I sat up and had any real involvement in the plot.

And the ending...well, it certainly tried to be surprising. In a lot of ways, Angel's solution reminded me of an old episode of TNG where Picard tells an alien that he can say more by a look and body language than by just what he says. And seeing that Cordelia picked up on what Angel was doing, not by his telling her but by how he was acting was nicely done. But again, it was something I expected.

And if the casino boss can't be killed easily, then won't he be coming back again to collect? Because technically now Angel and Gunn both owe him their souls. (This is one of those things that I doubt will happen. I suspect the casino boss's resurrection was more intended to be a funny moment than a serious long-term plot development moment.)

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

--Groo's comments about leaving little rectangles around was nicely done. The Groo worked here in limited doses.

--Interesting that the Host is now doing home visits for readings. How much longer until he sets up his own 900 number? ;-)

And that's about it. Overall, "Double or Nothing" won't stand up as my favorite episode of Angel of all time. But again, it wasn't horribly bad. There were some bright spots, but some spots that dragged as well. Here's hoping this is just a minor hiccup in the final six of season three and we'll get back to the levels we saw in "Sleep Tight" and "Forgiveness" with next week's episode.

My rating: 5.0 (out of 10.0)

Next up: The fall-out from the spell to call up Sajahn begins....

"We're not losing another member of this family."

--Angel