Angel's Secrets

Episode Reviews   

"Sleep Tight," Monday, March 4, 2002

by Anne

Episode Summary

Angel is acting strangely hyperactive, then violent; a shocking outburst leads the gang to suspect that someone has spiked Angel’s drink. Tests confirm that to be true, and Angel knows that it’s Connor’s blood. Wesley is still torn over what to do about the prophecy; he visits Holtz who gives him one day to get Connor. Wesley manages to leave the hotel with Connor; Holtz’s gang shows up and sees that Connor is gone, but attacks anyway to buy time. Justine sneakily attacks Wesley and takes the baby. She meets up with Holtz, who plans to take Connor away and raise him; Angel joins Wolfram & Hart’s squadron of soldiers tracking Holtz. Soon, Holtz is trapped and there’s a standoff: Lilah wants the baby, and Holtz threatens to kill the baby if he isn’t allowed to leave with him. Sahjhan appears; he opens a portal into the "darkest of the dark worlds" and threatens to trap them all in it if they don’t kill the child. Holtz escapes into the portal with Connor; Angel tries to follow but is zapped back by a bolt of lightning, and the portal closes. Pleased, Sahjhan leaves after telling Angel to have a good summer. Lilah and her flunkies leave Angel to suffer; he lies on the ground, staring in anguish at where the portal was. He calls Connor’s name.


Episode Review

Spoilers can really wreck a review. I knew what happens in this ep long before I saw it and I know most of what happens in the following ones. So it’s tough for me to discuss the plot from the standpoint of this episode only. Therefore, I’m limited to standard review fare: likes and dislikes.

I liked Wesley’s role in this episode so much. I already found him attractive; I mean, he’s tall, smart, and has a British accent. What’s not to like? This time, we were shown just how capable and confident he’s become. He was trying to reason with Holtz and his gang, but when Justine threatened him, he turned the tables on her quickly in a way that reminded me of Angel. Then he got into a fight with Lorne ... yes, I *really* like a confident, violent Wesley.

I liked the exchange between Angel and Lilah about the game face, but didn’t Angel’s mood change quickly when Sahjhan showed up? One minute, he was oozing with untold rage at Lilah and threatening her, which I also liked. But the next minute they’re sitting there and he’s having a drink - on her - and Sahjhan appears. Suddenly, Angel is in casual banter mode: "Have we met? Because I don’t remember swearing." It’s a good line, but what happened to the threatening rage?

I know I said there wasn’t much for me to say about the plot, but there was one twist that I didn’t expect: Angel does not know Sahjhan. Very interesting since Sahjhan is the one who suddenly has his undies in a bunch over Holtz’s lack of progress. This is consistent with the previous episode where people were asking Sahjhan’s reasons for wanting Angel to suffer. I’m hoping a future episode explains this, and I hope the payoff is worth this build-up.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* Did Holtz really think Angel would never try to find him when he left with Connor?

* Given Justine's previous "revenge is all I've got" attitude, I doubt she'd regret hurting non-vampires for a second.

* When trying to leave the hotel with Connor, Wesley said he'd take Connor to the park or beach: places Angel can only go at night.

* Wesley has a gun? When did Wesley get a gun?


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