Forgiving
Written by Jeffrey Bell
Directed by Michael Grossman

Original Airdate: April 15, 2002

Plot: Angel is a vampire out for vengeance in the wake of Holtz taking Connor. As Gunn and Fred try to sort out why Wesley betrayed them and find their friend, Angel takes a different route, kidnapping a senior partner at Wolfram and Hart to get information. However, to get what he wants, Angel decides to go right to the source and conjure Sajahn up--something that involved invoking the black arts and could end up being extremely dangerous for not only Angel but the entire world. Meanwhile, Wesley lies in the park, clinging to life and Justine tries to take over leadership of the group in Holtz's absence

Review

Warning: If you're not feeling too forgiving about SPOILERS for the latest new episode of Angel, "Forgiving" you might want to turn back now. Trust me on this one--the twists and turns in this episode are best enjoyed without any previous knowledge of what happens....

In short: Stunning....shocking....everything it needed to be and then some.

TV shows going on hiatus has been on my mind a lot lately. As most of you know, we just got out of a seven month hiatus with Sci-Fi's "Farscape." Let me just say this--seven months without a new episode is a long, long time. And while the wait for new episodes seemed, at times, interminable, I can say that the five week hiatus for new episodes of Angel, at times, seemed like it was seven months long.
I'll be honest--I was really looking forward to April. To start the month, I got new Farscape. In the middle of the month, we got new Angel. At the end of the month we get new Buffy (which UPNs silly idea of having a 2-hour Buffy finale has ruined my perfect TV week--new Angel, Buffy, Farscape and Enterprise all in the same week!). And I have to say that outside of Farscape, the return I was most looking forward to was Angel. Heck, it almost made me look forward to April 15--the day taxes are due in the United States.
But, as much as I was looking forward to the newest episode of Angel, I was also sort of dreading it. There were a whole lot of balls left up in the air last time we saw Angel and company. And as much faith as I have in Angel, I'd have to say that there have been episodes that, on paper, I would enjoy but have ended up feeling a sense of disappointment when it was all said and done. And despite the fact that I knew that Forgiving would have to deal with some of the issues that were brought up in Sleep Tight, I was worried they might only deal with them superficially and not actually have the depth needed and required to suitably follow-up Sleep Tight.
Having seen Forgiving, all of my doubts are gone. To quote the old Monkees hit, "I'm a Believer"
Forgiving did absolutely everything it had to do and it did it well. After the mid-season slump Angel suffered, the last three episodes have come roaring back with a vengeance. And Forgiving may be the strongest of the last three new episodes we've seen. It may even be the strongest overall episode since season two's "Darla."
The biggest win for me was that in Forgiving, we finally got some exploration of just who Sajahn is and what his vendetta has been all year long against Angel. And I'll be honest with you--his reason for wanting to destroy Angel was nothing what I expected. The fact that Sajahn is so obsessed with stopping Angel is not out of some blood lust to kill Angel, but to save his own life from Connor was a neat twist. It also validated a lot more of the plotline this year with just why they brought Connor to the show. It's interesting to note that Sajahn failed to destroy Angel before he could father Connor and was, thus, forced to change his plan to destroy Connor.
And seeing that Sajahn is actually a very powerful, dark force was a nice twist. Seeing the explanation for why he was so hands off all year and why he didn't just destroy Angel himself was nicely done. Also, hearing his motivation--at last--was a great moment. I'd honestly thought we'd get hints of it here but I'm glad to see David Greenwalt and company went all out and gave us the full backstory and why Sajahn is obsessed. Also, to see how manipulative Sajahn was--to the point of moving back and forth in time to adjust the prophecy and lead to Wes's betrayal was a nice moment. As a character I like Sajahn and I like him as a villain--now that we've got his motivation in hand. I'm not sure we've seen the last of him but I can tell you I hope that we haven't.
The thing I liked about Sajahn's plotline--and really the rest of the episode--was how dark a turn it took. I think part of my criticism with the middle third of the season was that it got too light after the season had started off on a such a dark note. I can see now why David Greenwalt and company did this now--it doesn't make me like the episodes any more, but I can see why they did it. But I am glad to see things turn back to the dark side.
For one reason, David Boreanaz just does better playing dark and brooding than he does comedy. Yes, he can do some comedy, but I'll take performances as the dark, obsessed Angel that we got here over the silly baby faces we saw earlier this year. Boreanaz's dark intensity here was the glue that held this episode together. Seeing Angel's dark and chilly side was superb. From the torture instruments for the head of special projects at Wolfram and Hart to his the battle with Justine's group to his comments to the Host, Boreanaz worked extremely well. And there was a lot of chilling moments here--pushing the head of special projects down the stairs being an interesting one. But as great as he was all episode long, he reached new levels of intensity in the episodes final scene.
Simply put, the last scene in the hospital with Wesley was a stunner.
It was stunning because Angel didn't take the easy way out--either as a character or a show. The easy thing to do would be for Angel to understand and forgive Wesley. Sure there might be a few verbally digs here and there and an uneasy truce...but it would be very easy for things to "go back to normal" as it were. But that didn't happen. Instead, Angel attempts to kill his friend as a way to get him back for his act of betrayal. Angel even refuses to understand that Sajahn set Wesley up and that Wesley felt he was doing the right thing--in many ways, Wesley was trying to be a friend to Angel by betraying him. Wesley is saving Angel from himself.
And it's also going to be an interesting character journey for Angel. Because at this time last year, he was coming out of his dark stage, having betrayed his friends and seeking to get back into the group. It took time, but he's been accepted back. It will be interesting now to see now that the shoe is in the other foot and Angel is the one on the inside who must forgive how long that takes and if it will even happen. Certainly Wes forgave Angel...the question now is can Angel forgive Wes?
As for the rest of the story, it all hung together well. The white room at Wolfram and Hart was certainly a treat--the little girl they got to do that was really a good child actress. (Which if you've seen any episode of TNG featuring child actors, you know is a big deal!). I'd like to see more of the white room--if it works in the story. I don't want to see it just for the sake of having it around.
The plotline with Justine worked fairly well, though now with Holtz gone they're going to have to work harder to keep her on the show. My question is will she keep the crusade alive with Holtz gone or will it fall apart without him? We got hints last night that it may fall apart without him--it appears the crusaders aren't as unified without Holtz around as leader. Can Justine steep in and claim the leadership role is a question that may need to be answered by season's end. Also, does Justine love Holtz? She seemed to be pretty betrayed by him leaving her behind. I think she assumed she and Holtz would become Connor's father and mother and has now seen that ripped away. Where might this send her character--especially after the abuse she took at Holtz's hands.
The most interesting part of the story was that while Angel isn't willing to forgive, Justine is. She is the one who steps in to stop Sajahn from killing Angel. Justine can forgive and move on while Angel doesn't seem as willing to do so. Or does she simply want to save the pleasure of killing Angel for herself?
As for Wesley in the park, I realize that it created some sense of suspense and dramatic tension for the story--would Wesley die? But, I found it a bit much. From the way the Justine cut him, I'd have assumed he'd lost a lot of blood and would be very close to death if not dead. I am not a doctor, but I assumed a wound like he had would be a lot more severe than we saw. I guess my willing suspension of disbelief didn't go this far (which is ironic since I don't mind so much that dark magic powers are used to conjure up a demon...but the supporting cast getting his throat cut somehow seems odd).
So, I guess that's about it for now, except a few small things...
--The Host was utilized well. Again, Angel does better when it's dark with small moments of humor and the Host fits well when we see his dark side. His talks with Angel were right on the mark.
--Angel's refusal to call Cordy was interesting. I think his explanation was covering up that fact that he knew Cordelia would make him face up to what he was really doing.
--So the portal to the dimension Sajahn opened can only be done once? Interesting. I'll bet there's a loop hole in there somewhere...
Well, that's about it for now. Overall, Forgiving was a strong return from the hiatus and it's re-energized me for the final run of episodes this year. I only hope it gets better and better from here...

My rating: 9.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: A demon shows up to collect Gunn's soul...

Review Copyright 2002 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.

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