Episode Reviews   

"Calvary," Wednesday, February 12, 2003

by Anne

Episode Summary

Connor, Cordy, and Wesley go to the shaman for help in finding Angel's soul; he tells them that he doesn't know where it is, but it is still in the container. Meanwhile back at the hotel, Lilah sneaks into the basement through a hidden tunnel with the intent of freeing Angelus from his cage; she admits that she's been living in the sewers and she wants his help to destroy The Beast. Upstairs, Fred and Gunn's discussion of Angel's missing soul leads to the topic of their strained relationship. Gunn says that he would do anything for her, but it's never enough. He tells her that he can't do it any more as the others return. As Connor tells what they found, Gunn sees on the monitor that Lilah is in the basement. He rushes downstairs with the others close behind; he shoots Angelus with a tranquilizer and Wesley runs into the tunnel after Lilah. Wes catches up with her in a men's restroom, where she's apparently been living. He sees her copy of Rhineheart's Companion. Wes flips through the pages; just as he comments that there's no info on TB in that book, he finds a page that contains a drawing of the monster. Lilah explains that hers is a black market copy, and Wes wonders what other references have had info about TB removed. He returns with Lilah to the hotel, where the others have realized – with the help of Angelus - that TB is a minion, working for something bigger and badder. When Wesley explains about the missing pages from his copy of Rhineheart's Companion, Gunn theorizes that whoever removed those pages also erased Angel's memory of TB. Soon, Lorne returns, having found nothing from his contacts. Lilah scoffs, saying that the answer to their problems is downstairs in a cage. When Cordy accuses Lilah of being too scared to hope, Lilah replies angrily that no one will be able to save them from the thing that's coming: not Angel and not the cavalry. At this point, Cordy's eyes go white as she announces that she knows how to bring Angel back. Fred goes downstairs to tell Wesley, and Angelus takes the opportunity to reveal that Wes and Lilah have been messing around for the past six months. The gang performs the ritual from Cordy's vision and it appears to work, but Angel(?) opts to stay in the cage. The others leave to follow his instructions; Cordy, stays behind, encouraging him to come out of the cage. He finally agrees and she unlocks it, but he vamps out, revealing that he's still Angelus. She manages to get free from his grip and lock herself in the cage; he reaches through and jerks her head into the bars, knocking her out. Returning to his normal face, he goes upstairs. He brushes past the others and heads to the front door, saying that he has to go "save the world." He leaves and the others soon notice on the monitor that Cordy is lying on the floor of the cage. Later Cordy sits, holding an icepack to her head, as Gunn, Connor, Fred and Wesley load up on weapons to go after Angelus, agreeing that capturing him is not an option. Out in the dark streets, vampires seem to be everywhere: Angelus can't find a single fresh victim. He returns to the hotel; Lilah unloads the contents of her gun at him, but it doesn't even slow him down. Cordy fires a crossbow, but he catches the arrow and hurls it back, impaling her in the leg. He tells her to stay down and chases after Lilah, sportingly giving her a head start. In the streets following the trail, the gang realizes that Angelus has gone back to the hotel, and they quickly retreat. At the hotel, Lilah is hiding from Angelus, but he surprises her. She manages to send him flying down the stairs, and turns to flee. As she runs down the corridor, a hand suddenly grabs her by the throat. It's Cordy. Lilah says that Angelus is going to kill them, and Cordy replies that she knows. Pulling out a large dagger, she stabs Lilah in the neck. Lilah falls to the floor, dead, and Cordy adds, "Why do you think I let him out?"

Episode Review

The ending of this episode was voted the Winner of the "Excuse Me, What the Heck Just Happened?" category in the 2003 Amy Awards. I think that win was very well deserved. After the shock wears off, it makes so much sense that Cordy was the one doing the dirty work for TB. She was the perfect choice too – for example, when she and Angel were drugged during their watch, everyone was quick to accuse Angel, but no one even considered that Cordy might be the culprit. If you re-watch the previous episodes knowing that she's the minion, you wonder why you didn't notice it earlier: the way she steers conversations, the way her "visions" conveniently arrive to direct the gang's actions, and the way she used reverse psychology to get Angel to agree to lose his soul. And let's not forget her little tryst with Connor; if that doesn't indicate a complete lack of free will, nothing does.

The big question is: how long has this been going on? Was it TB's boss that returned Cordy to the gang with no memory? Did she really even have amnesia? If so, was restoring her memory what triggered TB's control over her? She did see him first when she got her memory back . . .

If I had to guess, I'd say that starting at her return, everything has been planned by TB. Even this latest move of killing Lilah. :sniffle: With her gone, all of Wolfram and Hart has now been wiped out. Plus, when Angelus finds out that Cordy's killed Lilah, he'll know something is definitely different with her, and he'll probably listen to what she has to say. No doubt, she'll encourage him to join with TB, pool their strengths, blah, blah, blah. Then again, he may already know she hasn't been herself; his acting like Angel after the black magic ritual certainly suggests that she and he are working together.

I missed the first third of this episode: my source must not have realized that there were technical difficulties while he was taping. (He probably won't see this but: Source, if that happens again "there's gonna be a conversation.") At least it was the first part, and not the last. I filled in the details for the recap using my on-line resources, so please let me know if I've included something that isn't quite right.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* Wesley should have known that Angelus was setting him up. D'oh!

* Did Lilah *really* think a gun would do anything to stop Angelus?

* If Angelus and Cordy were working together, why didn't she just let him kill Lilah?

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