Angel's Secrets

Episode Reviews   

"Orpheus," Wednesday, March 19, 2003

by Anne

Episode Summary

Picking up where the previous episode ended, Angelus drinks from Faith when he suddenly pulls away and staggers back. In a flashback, as Angelus is distracted by shooting at Wesley, Faith injects herself with something from a syringe. Back in the present, Angelus falls, unconscious - seconds before Faith does the same. They remain so as they are taken back to the hotel. Gunn and Connor shackle Angelus and put him in the cell in the basement, as Wes, Lorne and Fred tend to Faith upstairs. Noticing the needle mark on Faith's arm, Lorne realizes that she took Orpheus, which is an enchanted drug. In Angel's mind, Angelus and Faith find themselves spectators of Angel's past. After they witness one of his good deeds, they realize that Angelus is in hell. However, after Angelus feeds from a man he wasn't able to save, the bite marks on Faith's neck start to bleed and Angelus taunts her that his hell is not private. At the hotel, Willow arrives. Fred called her, thinking that they could use a "fresh brain." A visit with Cordy gives Willow an idea of how to free Angel's soul from the jar; she hurries from the room moments before Cordy throws the large knife she'd been hiding. As the others prepare for a spell that will send a marble to shatter the jar, Cordy uses her power to send Willow flying across the room. Using her disguised voice, she basically tells Willow to give up. Willow carries on; Cordy stops the marble, but she gets distracted by Connor's sudden arrival to check on her, and the jar is broken. Willow proceeds to working on the re-ensouling spell, as Cordy convinces Connor that he must kill Angelus to stop the evil that Willow's magic is unleashing. Connor heads for the basement. In Angel's mind, Faith and Angelus watch Angel hunting rats in an alley. However, Angel turns to speak to them and they realize that Angel set up the trip down memory lane. Faith grows weaker, but Angel encourages her as he fights Angelus. He tells her that he needs for her to fight. In the present, she suddenly springs out of bed: she makes it to the basement and stops Connor, who is about to stake Angelus. Faith and Connor fight until Angel grabs Connor, telling them that it's really him. Later, after Faith and Willow say their goodbyes and depart for Sunnydale, Angel turns to address the others. However, Cordy appears, wearing a top that accentuates her pregnant stomach. She says that if he's going to say that the worst is behind them, he might want to save it for later.


Episode Review

Since the show is about Angel, was there ever a doubt that Willow would succeed at restoring Angel's soul? Plus, although Joss frequently kills off beloved characters, I wasn't too worried about Faith, nor was anyone else who had read that she would be heading next to Sunnydale. Still, this episode was not entirely predictable. For example, Cordy's outburst at Connor was a bit unexpected. I was surprised that whatever she is would lose her cool like that - it doesn't seem fitting for one as powerful as she claims to be.

Hearing the conversation between Cordy and Connor while he walked toward the basement was like seeing him struggle with his conscience. Even though he had previously been convinced that destroying Angelus was the right thing to do, his mind must have changed because Cordy had to use just about every trick in the book to persuade him.

Cordy repeatedly told Connor that they are "special" as an attempt to create a bond between them and a distance between him and the others. However, although Angel compared their similar situations, he was encouraging Faith that she wasn't alone. No doubt, he remembers how his friends are what keeps him tied to his humanity, and he recognizes that Faith needs those ties too. Faith seems to have learned the lesson well; when Connor bemoaned the mistake he made she casually dismissed it, assuring him that it just makes him one of them. Similarly, perhaps after talking to Willow, Wesley will realize that the darkness inside *can* be controlled.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* Connor "will do anything for" Cordy? Oh, yeah, that's gonna come back to haunt him.

* I assumed that doing the drug to catch Angelus was Faith's idea, but Lorne's accusations against Wesley have made me wonder.

* It sounds like Wes speaks from experience about what Orpheus does.

* The exchange between Cordy and Willow reminded me of a similar scene between Amy and Buffy: "How've you been?" "Dead. You?" "Rat."


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