Episode Reviews   

"Loyalty," Monday, February 25, 2002

by Anne

Episode Summary

Wesley seeks answers to his haunting questions regarding the prophecy about Angel and his son. Wesley and Angel take Connor to the doctor for a checkup; after they are gone, another of the doctor's patients swiped the sample of Connor's blood. Holtz sends a "victim" into Angel Investigations to gather information about the group; her story leads Gunn and Fred into a trap. Angel realizes that their client was sent by Holtz because if he was in her situation - where something happened to his son - he would also seek revenge. Unsatisfied with Holtz's progress, Sahjhan seeks Lilah's help in destroying Angel, and although Wolfram & Hart wants Angel alive for now, Lilah lets Sahjhan know he can count her in. As Wesley decides that the prophecy is false, the signs that he was told to watch for suddenly come to pass: earthquake, fire, and blood. In the hallway after the earthquake, Angel tells Wesley he was afraid they'd be trapped; looking at Connor, Angel adds, "At least I would have had something to snack on."

Episode Review

Loyalty isn't a new theme for TV shows, probably because in real life we can be loyal to many things - family, friends, job, sports teams, etc. - and sometimes we have to pick one thing over another. In this episode we saw the characters in various conflicts of loyalty.

The primary case of this involves Wesley and his search for answers to the prophecy. He watches Angel with Connor and sees a loving father. Plus he knows that Angel is a "good man" now; Wesley even tried to explain that to Holtz. However, the prophecy has Wesley looking at Angel in a new light.

The word good was used in this episode at least four times. Gunn described Wesley the same way Wesley described Angel: "a good man." Angel told Wesley, "You're a good friend." Angel said that Holtz was one of the good guys. These so-called good things are clashing with one another. Wesley's friendship with Angel is in opposition with the side of Wesley that wants to protect the child from what is foretold. Angel admits that Holtz has the right to hate him, but he vows to kill Holtz or anyone who tries to harm his friends or his son.

Lilah had more than one conflict of loyalty, but the choices seemed easy for her. The first one was when she abruptly ended the phone call with her crying mother to attend to the demon materializing in her office. Clearly, family takes second place to the company in Lilah's book. (Is anyone surprised by this?) However, when Sahjhan told her about wanting help in destroying Angel, she said that the company wanted Angel alive for now, although she signaled to Sahjhan that he could count her in. Revenge is more important to Lilah than her employer; this is exactly why Holtz wants people who are loyal to the cause rather than ones who are merely paid to fight with him.

Why is Sahjhan suddenly so impatient? Wasn't he the one preaching to Holtz about timetables and rules? Twice in this episode, people questioned Sahjhan's role/reasons for wanting Angel dead. I'm very curious to hear the answer to that as well.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* How is Sahjhan - who is supposedly immaterial in this dimension - able to sit on a stool at the bar with Lilah?

* Is it customary for doctors to leave blood samples lying on a counter?

* Do Holtz and Sahjhan look different and definitely not in a good way?

* That was a great smile on Wesley's face as he started to laugh because "life is funny."

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