Episode Reviews   

"There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb," Tuesday, May 22, 2001

by Anne

My initial impression of this episode was that there was a lot (maybe too much?) going on, and the writers included some very gratuitous close calls. I also felt a little cheated by the quickie endings to some of the plots. The Host is not only okay but his head is reattached. Gunn and Wes are not beheaded then instantly accepted by the rebels. The evil priests are overthrown. Cordy frees the slaves. Groo is appointed the new leader. Fred does have the answer on how to get home – was anyone surprised?

Don’t get me wrong; I was *very* glad that the writers didn't leave us with the obvious cliffhanger where Angel is still a beast and everyone is still stuck in Pylea. I’m also glad that Lorne is okay, and I appreciated that the bad guys knew they had to mutilate Lorne’s body to kill him.

I was wondering why there was such an emphasis on beheading in Pylea. (In the larger sense, perhaps it was symbolic of overthrowing the government?) I was amused that the slave girl cited a lack of entertainment to explain the excessive mutilation.

Losing one’s head could also be symbolic for losing one's mind. I liked the scene where Angel apologized to Gunn. Gunn dismissed it saying that it's a crazy place, then Fred started talking crazy and Angel explained, "she's been here for a while."

In this episode, everyone seemed to be struggling with personal issues. Of course, Angel feared losing control to his actual inner demon. Fred was afraid that Angel would leave and she would be alone again. Wes was appointed to lead and worked to conquer his self-doubt. Gunn tried to protect the rebels to make up for not being there for his crew. Cordy had an opportunity to get rid of the visions, but she knew that she needs them to help people. Groo had to overcome what he'd always been told: that he was worthless. Lorne - ever the twist on the theme - went back to his family to try to work things out and discovered that he didn’t need to make peace with them to know where he belongs.

Fred tells Angel, "We've all got demons." This is important for Angel because he needs to know that he's not alone. Similarly, Lorne told Angel that LA is perfect for both of them.

I especially did not like Cordy swearing at Angel while professing her love for Groo. Not long ago she told Angel that she loved him; here she acted as though it was ridiculous for him to even suggest that. This is a slap in the face to Angel who just had a personal victory over his own monster and was nobly not going to fight Groo anymore.

As I write this, I still haven’t had time to watch my taped Buffy season finale. As you can imagine, after the ending to this Angel episode, I’m itching to see what happened! Since they are tying the shows together now, I take this as an assurance that there will still be crossovers. I’ll be counting the days until the new season …

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