Although not on par with the last couple of episodes, there’s no denying that this, too, is very good television. There’s a lot of dialogue, and not all that much action to speak of (with the notable exceptions of Uzi Insanity and the Chain Gang Demon), something which it seems like the writers and Joss are careful not to do too often, but doesn’t bother me much. Which could be because they are so restrictive with the long, verbose scenes.

Anyway, the main thread of the episode, if such a thing exists, is the Angelettes’ search for answers. The questions they want answered are mainly related to whatever plans the Senior Partners might have, and the fact that our heroes don’t know squat about these. Their quest for answers leads them to Eve, and to the discovery that agents of the SPs are pursuing her. She doesn’t know much more than they do, however, but she knows of someone who does: Lindsey.

Angel stirs Gunn from the deepest pits of self-pity and -loathing, using a rather touching little speech (basically saying that “Gunn, you’re gonna feel like crap because of your involvement with what happened to Fred, but you’ll do this because you’re a good man. And you’ll atone for what you’ve done,” ), and so off they go to a W&H holding dimension. Once there, they free Lindsey from a spell, immediately causing every other human inhabitant of this dimension to come at them, Uzis ablazin’. Gunn sacrifices himself, as was his plan from the beginning, to save the others, and they escape just in time to foil that of Eve and Lorne (who, by the way, had a wonderful monologue just after the opening credits). The latter two’s pursuer — Marcus Hamilton, new liaison to the Senior Partners (well played by Adam Baldwin, who, apparently, was told that Hamilton was “the anti-Jayne” ) — then catches up with them, and it turns out that he wasn’t sent to kill Eve, he was just there to reclaim her W&H perks, like her immortality.

Aside from that, there’s some wonderful Wesley-Illyria scenes here, where she continues to enquire into about the human psyche. Fun stuff. There’s also a rather nice dream, in which Wesley dreams of Fred:

Fred: Tell me a joke.
Wes: Two men walk into a bar. The first one orders a Scotch and soda. The second man remembers something he’s forgotten, and it doubles him over with pain. He falls to the floor shaking, and then through the floor and into the earth. He looks up at the first man, but he doesn’t call out to him. They’re not that close.

(Also, the latter part of this post was written three hours after the first part, with everything that implies.)