Tomorrow

Tomorrow
Written by David Greenwalt
Directed by David Greenwalt

Original Airdate: May 20, 2002

Plot: Unaware of Holtz's deception, Angel is elated to have Connor back in his life in a permanent basis, not knowing his son has sworn out vengeance against him. Meanwhile, Groo and Cordelia's relationship reaches a crossroads, Lillah ups the ante in her attempt to get Wesley to join Wolfram and Hart and Lorne makes a life-changing decision....

Review

Warning: I can't make time stop to a crawl in order to prevent you from reading SPOILERS for the third season-finale of Angel, "Tomorrow." The one power I can use is to warn you that if you keep reading, you will see SPOILERS for "Tomorrow." If you've not yet seen the episode and want to go in unaware of the plot twists and turns (and this is one of those episodes where it's more fun the less you know), then I urge you turn back now...

In short: An interesting wrap-up.

A lot of people say that, as a series, Buffy has been chasing the emotional, philosophical and intellectual high that was the end of season two with "The Becoming." Certainly, it's easy to see that you could make this argument, though I'd argue that last year's "The Body" not only met the greatness that was "The Becoming" but exceeded it in many ways.

But that's another whole review.

But I do bring this up for a reason. Because I feel like as a series Angel has been chasing that sort of high point or peak the last six or so weeks. And it's interesting that just like on Buffy, where it was a two-part episode that set the standard of excellence for judging the series, it's a two-part story on Angel that is the same measuring stick that, quite frankly, the rest of the season has been judged by. Angel reached a huge high point a couple of weeks ago with "Sleep Tight" and "Forgiving." And to be honest with you, it's been chasing that high point ever since...and not really getting close to catching it.

Certainly "Tomorrow" comes close to it.

But it certainly doesn't do what I had wanted it to do--which is to take the promise of "Sleep Tight" and "Forgiving" and surpass them.

I think the biggest problem in looking back on the series the past few weeks is, quite frankly, the Connor plotline. It's been too rushed. After spending almost all of season three with Connor's birth and then his first few weeks of being a baby and that impact on Angel's life, the last few weeks have felt rushed--almost as if the crew over at Mutant Enemy realized they had to push the storyline forward and finish it since the contract with Keith Szarabajka expired at the end of season three. And that's a shame really, because it's robbed us of a lot of the power that this storyline could have had and the huge emotional impact.

It even came into play with "Tomorrow."

Just as we saw the last few weeks, Connor's character development was all over the place. One minute he's mourning for his father-figure, the next he's at the hotel bonding with Angel and in the final moments he's gone back to vengeful and bitter son who wants to destroy his father. Certainly, I can understand that with the amount of time that Connor was under Holtz's influence that he would not be likely to trust anything Angel says or does--and seeing Holtz manipulate this was superbly done at the end of last week. But, I would have been far more satisfied to see Connor spend a couple of episodes with Angel and company as a mole of sorts, learning the ins and outs of Angel and how to defeat him. And while we did get that here--certainly Connor's obsession with training with Angel, which was an all-out attempt to learn how Angel fights and his strengths and weaknesses, showed this. But I think it might have had more of an impact had we seen it develop over an episode or two. Or if you have Lorne stay around and maybe see things that Angel doesn't, but we see Angel's refusal to believe them because of being blinded by having everything in life he could possibly want. There's some potential there for some character development and growth, but it was wasted a bit. Instead, we had the same problem we've had with the past three or so new episodes--namely that the script seems to be structured to reach this "Gee, golly isn't that neat" cliffhanger moment instead of setting it up so that it's not only shocking but also has a huge emotional impact. Again, I bring up "The Becoming" or "Sleep Tight" both of which were structured to build up to a cliffhanger moment, but did so in a way that worked. Plus, they pulled out the rug in just exactly the right way to leave me wanting more.

And don't get me wrong here--I'm intrigued to sit back and ponder what will come next. But the cliffhanger involving Angel is pretty much a hollow one. We all know that he's not going to die and that he will escape that box somehow. And since vampires don't breath, his being underwater isn't such a huge deal. Emotionally, there's a lot there to wonder about--Angel's feelings toward Connor now after being betrayed should be interesting. Indeed, if we've learned nothing else that Angel isn't always so quick to forgive when he feels betrayed. (Just ask Wes). And that could set up some interesting emotional plotlines next year--because I'd be willing to bet that Angel will be willing to forgive Connor for what he's done and if he can forgive Connor, why won't he forgive Wes?

So, I guess there is some interest from me there, just not as much as I'd hoped.

Of course, this being a season-finale, there must be other long term plotlines that finally come to a full boil.

I know that a lot of you are aware of just how much I was sold on the Angel and Cordelia relationship by David Greenwalt and company early in the year. And then it all feel apart with "Waiting in the Wings" and the bringing in of the Groo. And I had hoped at some point that this plotline would rise above the sit-com/dramedy type roots that it was sewing. Unfortunately, the resolution to it didn't really. Again it took the path of predictability with Cordelia not realizing she loved Angel until Groo points it out to her and then leaves. And that's a shame really because Mark Lutz certainly had some really nice moments as the fish out of water character. But overall, looking back, it seems like the Groo was brought in just as a measure to keep Angel and Cordelia apart until the season finale. And I'm not a huge fan of that idea.

What I did like was Cordelia's driving out to meet Angel and having life come in with other plans. And we finally got some idea of what the powers was she was given and why. It was all a test to see if she could handle it. To quote Spider-Man, (which if you've not yet seen yet, run don't walk to the theater!), "With great power comes great responsibility." And we saw Cordelia has these powers and has used them to benefit others. It was a nice culmination of her character arc this year--Cordelia wants to be a part of the bigger plan and to help others. We saw her continue with the visions, despite the immense pain and the fact that it was killing her. She chose to become part demon. And now she's chosen to give up what she sees as her chance for happiness in order to continue her growth as a person and to help others. As a character Cordelia has come a long way since the selfish, self-centered cheerleader we met back in "Welcome to the Hellmouth." And I will be honest, I hope we haven't seen the last of her. That is the cliffhanger that has me the most intrigued of all of them--because honestly the few weeks without Cordelia lacked something and I hope that we don't have to find out how the series would do without Cordelia. At this point, I find her far too integral to the storyline and the zip of the show and I hope that if there are some behind the scenes things going on there (I've heard rumor) that all the parties get over it and we get the entire ensemble cast back next year, in tact.

So, while the Angel and Cordelia plotlines had their highs and lows, the on-going Wesley plotline still continued to deliver on the goods.

The best draw dropping moment of the entire episode was Wes in bed with Lillah. (OK, I admit it, the most jaw-dropping moment of the episode for me--as a guy--was the shot of naked Lillah..but that's another whole issue!). That was something that looking back you could seeing coming, but yet it came just out of left-field enough to be interesting. Alexis Denisof's performance here was, once again, the highlight of the show. From his dark menace in the bar--the line, telling Lillah he'd be glad to let her find out what having your throat slit was like ranks right up there with Dark Willow's "Bored now" line from last week in terms of chills and shock value--to his casual dismissal of Lillah after sleeping together, Denisof delivered the good yet again. I think we're slowly seeing Wes go through what Angel went through last year--a slow descent into the dark side as piece by piece, those things that are important to him are taken away. And it's interesting that a new low-point is reached for both characters by sleeping with someone they consider the enemy--for Angel, it was Darla and for Wes it's Lillah.

Certainly, I hope we see the Wes and Lillah relationship (for lack of a better word) continue to unfold next year. And I've got to wonder just how Wolfram and Hart will react to it.

It's certain that Lillah is a bit out of the loop on the plots that are going on--as we saw at the drive-in. Perhaps Wes is a weakness to her and one that Gavin will exploit.

Speaking of the drive-in, I must admit part of me enjoyed seeing the attempts at revenge on Angel, but it makes you wonder a lot of things. First of all, how did Wolfram and Hart know where they were going and when? (Yes, I know they've put the hotel under surveillance, but surely Angel and company would realize it and take counter measures). Second of all, that seems like a hell of a raid to just put together quickly. And finally, if Lillah gets blamed and chastised for not following the Wolfram and Hart game plan and abusing company resources, will we see some fallout from this action?

That's a lot of things to think about as the summer unfolds. And I'm hoping that the writers at Angel will be going through the same thought process.

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

--Poor old Fred and Gunn....not a lot to do this week.

--So, is Lorne gone for good?

--If so, that's interesting. So much of season three was about building family...and the past few weeks have been about tearing down the family and watching it scatter. Indeed, at the end, the only people left were Fred and Gunn, who are the newer members of the team. Interesting.

--So, what action movie did Angel take Connor to? And are there really any drive-ins left near L.A.?

Overall, "Tomorrow" was an interesting end to the season. It had its ups and it had its downs. Overall, it wasn't all I hoped for, but it did leave me intrigued for the start of season four....

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)

Next up: Well, a long summer of repeats....at some point, I will work on the Angel season three wrap-up review and post it. So, be on the lookout for that.

"I wasn't even thinking about you when you were here."

--Wesley