Angel's Secrets

Episode Reviews   

"Salvage," Wednesday, March 5, 2003

by Anne

Episode Summary

Upstairs in the Hyperion, Wes and Gunn find Angelus feeding on Lilah's body, but he escapes out a nearby window. Connor, Fred, and Lorne are in the lobby with Cordelia. Connor pulls the arrow from Cordy's leg as Gunn arrives downstairs to tell them that Angelus killed Lilah. As the others react, Cordy whispers under her breath, "It's started." Gathered around Lilah's body, Connor wants to go after Angelus, but Wesley says there's no need: Angelus will be back. Connor declares that Lilah's body must be destroyed, since they don't know if she was turned. Gunn starts to argue that there wasn't time, but Wesley agrees with Connor and says that he will take care of it. A bit later, Lorne is on the phone with The Furies, who tell him how to perform the sanctuary spell. Wesley is in the basement with Lilah's body; in his mind (?) she's there, talking to him. She says that she knows why he is having a hard time cutting off her head: he feels bad that he wasn't able to save her from her evil ways. She says that must be Angel's influence on him, not giving up on people no matter how far they've fallen. At her urging, he steps toward the body with his axe. Across town at a warehouse, Angelus finds TB, who lured him there with the scent of Lilah's blood. Angelus wants to meet TB's master, but TB refuses, announcing that Angelus will take his orders through him. Angelus has a problem with that; he angers TB by calling him a lackey, but when TB tries to attack, Angelus dodges every blow. He says that when TB's master wants to talk, he can let him know. Angelus leaves and Cordy appears, scolding TB for his "petty jealousy." She says that Angelus is crucial to her plan, and she seems confident that he will come around to her side. At the hotel, Lorne performs the sanctuary spell and it works. At this point, Wesley appears from the basement saying that there's a change in plan: they're going to bring Angelus in alive. Wes goes to see Faith in prison and tells her that Angelus is back. She escapes with Wes. However, she says that she won't kill Angelus because Angel is the one person who has never given up on her; Wes says he knows, and that's why he asked her for help. At the hotel, she wastes no time giving orders and reminding everyone that it's a salvage mission, not search and destroy. Connor challenges her, but she quickly puts him in his place. Connor tracks Angelus, leading Wesley, Faith, and Gunn, but when she realizes he'll attack Angelus first chance he gets, she orders one of the others to take him home. He fights with her a bit, before she points her crossbow at him, saying if it's a choice between him and Angelus, she's got no reason to take his side. He concedes defeat and leaves with Gunn. Faith and Wesley split up; Faith finds Angelus – and TB. Angelus tells TB that Faith could seriously mess up his Master's plans, and TB moves to attack Faith. She attempts to fight, but he easily gets the upper hand. After smacking her around, he flings her across the room. He taunts her, saying that's she weak and that his master has power she can't even imagine. Angelus appears to stand beside TB; he agrees that TB is very strong and the only thing that could hurt him is himself. Using the dagger that was forged from TB's bones, Angelus stabs TB in the back. He starts to disintegrate and light shoots out of him to the heavens, which frees the sun from its dark shell. Angelus turns his attention to Faith, who manages to shove a winch toward him. He dodges it but it shatters the window behind him and sunlight streams in. Angelus hurries into the shade and turns to leave, saying with a wink that he'll catch her later. As Gunn and Connor return to the hotel, Fred and Lorne are outside, soaking up the sun. Lorne realizes TB must be dead, and Connor is confident that Faith is the one who did it. He goes to Cordy's room, still gushing about how amazing Faith is. Cordy wants to talk to him: she tells him they're going to have a baby. She folds her shirt up to reveal her swollen belly. Telling him that they are forever connected, she kisses him.


Episode Review

"It's started"? WHAT has started? There were a lot of things of things happening in this episode, so it's anyone's guess what Cordy - or the evil entity presenting itself as Cordy - was referring to. Given the scene in which she uttered that line, perhaps the stage is set for her to separate Connor from the group. Apparently she needs him for something, since she was telling him they're now connected "forever" and messing around with him again. (By the way: eww!) Her scene with TB provided another - somewhat disgusting - parallel between TB and Connor: she told TB to "give mama some sugar," Angelus said that she was like Connor's mother, and she was messing around with both of them.

It's a bit ironic that Lilah's death helped Wesley change his mind about killing Angelus; it seems more logical that such a thing would've sent Wesley seeking vengeance against him. Then again, maybe in some way Wes felt like her death was payback for his part in Angel's losing Connor to Holtz. His failure to save Lilah must have strengthened his resolve to bring Angel back.

Wesley's conversation with Lilah must have reminded him of another one that was seeking redemption: Faith. It's great to see her again. She has really matured and learned how to control her power. She acknowledges the mistake she made, but she doesn't dwell on it: she goes on, doing what needs to be done.

Finally - the sun is back. (Great! Hopefully this means we won't hear the phrase "permanent midnight" again for a long, long time.) It makes sense that the gang would think that it was Faith who killed TB, but it made the fact that she was actually lucky to save herself a bit sad. Who would've thought that Angelus would be the one to bring back the sun? He just can't help being the hero.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* Why did Angelus feel compelled to explain that "this isn't what it looks like"? He was going to kill Lilah, so why did he want the others to know that he didn't?

* What was the point of the scene with Angelus dusting the annoying girl vamp?

* When Lorne tried to hit Connor, I think Connor's reflexes would've kicked in to protect him before the sanctuary spell did.


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