The following can be a testimony to either my gullibility or this show’s brilliance: Even though I have seen this before, the plot still manages to put me off and surprise me. Like that whole vision-dream-thing? Didn’t remember it, it came pretty much as a surprise to me. Not that I didn’t think things ended a little too rosy for this to have been a Whedon product — in other words, there were at least some alarm bells ringing — but they were faint, and mostly triggered by shadowy memories of Angelus handling the Beast on his own.

I was also a little relieved, actually, when it turned out that the Cordelia-Angel coitus was but a dream. Because seriously, it had been completely out of character for them both to have done such an irresponsible and outright stupid thing. Or, come to think of it, in light of DeKnight’s words on the “Apocalypse, Nowish” commentary, about Cordelia manipulating Angel as early as that, it could be read as Evil Cordelia attempting to create another ally for her “child”. Not that I really believe in this interpretation; I missed too much of the context of DeKnight’s manipulation comment for that.

All in all a decent episode. Possibly the weakest in the season, even though it has some nice moments. Some of these are even real.

Oh well. I’m craving better a better seat, so I’m relocating to my bed. That means goodbye speakers, hello headphones. Goodbye backache, hello tinnitus. I’ll be back with more in an hour. Angelus’y goodness! :D