Unleashed

***Kris settles into her comfy chair, ignoring the many boxes that still decorate her temporary abode…***

Well, kids, Angel's fifth season is up and going strong, based on the WB's decision to pick up the show for a full 22 shows. Tonight was a wild ride, wasn't it? You could even say it was a howling good time…

<ahem>

Let's get to the quick stuff, shall we?

Cheesy, Yet Effective Moment:

The pen is mightier than the sword? This was seeming a bit cheesy at first, but the way it was incorporated into the show later on was definitely worth it…

Someone Gives Spike as Good As They Got Moment:

"My God.. You're so full of crap!" Yay! Go Fred! It's nice to see that Spike has found an ally at W&H, especially since Angel is most definitely not in Spike's corner.

It's Like A Bad Horror Move Moment:

NO! No! Don't go up the stairs!!!!!!! Wait! No! No! Not the door!!!!! Need I say more?

Tell It Like It Is Moment:

Leave it to Lorne to force Angel to face up to facts he'd really rather ignore…

Overall comments:

This was a pretty darned good ep, if I do say so myself. Granted, it wasn't exactly what we're used to for this show, but… wasn't that what we were told would happen this season? It's nice to see the show taking risks, showing the characters in a light that's filled with a million different shades of grey. We see Spike, perfectly willing to spin a more-than-tall tale about his history with Wes to sway Fred to dropping what she's doing to help him with his not-so- fun situation. We see Angel, who is quick to condemn Spike, snapping the heads off his friends, and perfectly willing to leave his employee as a werewolf feast for the next month (well, we find out at the end that it really won't happen, but what happens to the good doctor who got in touch with his inner doggie?). Gunn and Wes are perfectly happy to go along with Angel's plans, which just drags them into the grey as well.

And then there's Fred. Fred, who's perfectly willing to help Spike, and indeed seems to be the only person who's taking his predicament seriously, is the same girl who has no issues with standing up to his bluster and telling him where to stick it. I'm looking forward to seeing Spike develop a true friendship with her – we're seeing it start already. And no, I don't think that we're going to see anything "shippy" between these two – which would be a good thing for Spike. He needs to have some true friends to lean on – even if he can't "touch" them right now.

That's about it for this ep. I was so engrossed that I barely took any notes, aside from trying to jot down as many of the great one- liners as I could. Let's jump to the quotes, shall we?

Quotes of the Night:

"So, what, you're like a Frankenstein?" Nina, possibly making a comment meant to evoke memories of "Captain Forehead?"

"A demon-hunting, helpless helping, dysfunctional, family." Fred, you just hit the nail on the head.

"Spike showing up took the Jolly out of the Rancher…" Lorne, forcing Angel to acknowledge that yes, his friends really are smart enough to know what's going on in his head…

Dear Hubby Quote of the Night:

"Okay… this is getting a little wacked, even for Angel."

Furry Spike Score:

Even though we didn't see a whole lot of Spike in tonight's ep, what we did see did advance his storyline a bit (even if it was accomplished by his forcing Angel and company to acknowledge that he's adding a bit of strife to their not-so-happy band). Spike gives it 3 paws up, with a wag of his tail.

Overall Score:

I'll give this one an 8 out of 10. I know that there are people out there who aren't very happy about the Spooky!Spike storyline, but I'm willing to go along for the ride for now… it's introducing all kinds of conflict into the show, and there's a whole question of "how in the world did this happen?" that still needs to be answered. The story was pretty strong, and everyone contributed something… so I think this one was of the good.

Until next week…

Kris

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