Episode Reviews   

"Tomorrow," Monday, May 20, 2002

by Anne

Episode Summary

Angel returns to the Hyperion and announces that he didn’t kill Holtz and that Holtz said Connor can live with Angel. Near Holtz’ motel room, Connor holds the lifeless body and cries. Justine says she’ll help him kill Angel, but Connor doesn’t want that. At the hotel, Angel looks at rooms with Cordy trying to find just the right one for his son. Lorne finds them and announces that he’s going to Vegas where his friend has a club; he also says he wouldn’t turn his back on Connor any time soon. Later Connor arrives at the hotel and says that he will give living there a chance; the next morning Angel eagerly suggests things they could do. Connor says that he wants Angel to teach him how to fight. Elsewhere Cordelia returns to her apartment and finds Groo standing and looking a bit dazed. At the same time at the hotel, Lorne goes to Angel’s room to say goodbye. The viewers see both conversations as Groo tells Cordy and Lorne tells Angel that Cordy is in love with Angel. Cordy can’t deny this to Groo and he leaves. Angel and Connor go to the drive-in with Fred and Gunn where a squad of Wolfram & Hart flunkies attacks. The A-team succeeds in driving the attackers away, and Angel goes to fling open the doors of a nearby van to grab Linwood who was watching the whole thing. Linwood tries to weasel out of a beating, then Connor angrily shoves Linwood back into the van. Linwood says, "We can help you, Steven." Connor declares, "My name is Connor," and he and the others leave. At Cordy’s place, she is trying to digest the news that she loves Angel. She has a vision of herself, but she doesn’t recognize it as a vision. She only hears part of the responses which appear to be answers to the questions she’s been asking. She calls Angel and asks him to meet her. Elsewhere, we see Wesley in bed with Lilah. He tells her to get out; Lilah notes the irony that Angel has a soul and Wes is losing his. On the way to meet Angel, Cordy starts to glow. She stops her jeep and finds that all the traffic on the freeway with her has frozen in its tracks as well. She gets out and finds Skip who tells her that she’s now a "higher being" and is needed on another plane. She doesn’t want to leave, but finally agrees to go and she rises up into a bright spot in the night sky. At the meeting spot on the beach, Connor arrives. He attacks Angel and wins using the fighting skills Angel taught him and a tazer. Connor signals to Justine who is on the water. They seal Angel into a metal box and drop the box into the ocean.

Episode Review

Throughout this season we've seen several repeated themes: family, vengeance, betrayal, deception, sacrifice. As is often the case on more interesting shows, no one attribute can be assigned to a particular character. Instead, their roles and situations change as the show continues.

Starting with the simultaneously shown conversations about their feelings for each other, Angel's and Cordy's lives seemed to move in the same direction, as both acted the same way. Then Skip appeared to change Cordelia's path (so-to-speak), and Connor showed up with evil intentions towards Angel. From there, Angel and Cordy were headed in distinctly opposite directions. Cordelia was destined for a "higher plane," while Angel was set to be imprisoned in the deep. The last scene was a nice contrast with Cordy surrounded in light going up, up, up, while Angel plunged into murky darkness.

The coincident conversation also emphasized the similarities between Groo and Lorne. The most obvious connection between the two is that they are both from Pylea. They both also saw what was happening between Angel and Cordy. Lorne has known for a while, and Groo's been noticing something for the last few episodes. Finally, they both couldn't or wouldn't stay; Lorne left for Vegas while Groo's destination - like Cordy's - is unknown.

This episode gave us several comparisons between Angel and Wesley. Wes is mirroring Angel's former broody ways. This episode left them both rapidly dropping into darkness. (Wesley even mentioned a "sinking feeling.") Both had sex during a particularly low moment with the first available evil thing then told her to get out. But sleeping with Lilah has not brought about an epiphany for Wesley; it just seems to emphasize the terrible state he's in. Wes might not be at the bottom of the ocean, but he's alone and cut off just the same.

To say the least, alone is not a good thing. The gang is strong together, but without each other … who knows? In the series premiere, Doyle spoke of the dangers of being isolated from people. We saw in Birthday a glimpse of what happened when the family was split.

In keeping with the long tradition of season finales, we were left not knowing what tomorrow holds for any of the team. Maybe it was Cordy's reassurance that everything will be all right, or maybe it was that I knew what would happen - spoilers are evil! - but I'm not worried. The gang will go on. The nice thing about having to wait so long to see this episode is that I don't have to wait long to see what happens next.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

* Ironically, it was Groo who should have received the "Songs for the Love-Lorne" CD.

* Skip commended Cordelia for handling all the power she'd been given so well, but you could argue that she simply couldn't control it. If she knew how to use it, she might've been corrupted by it.

* I bet Justine loved lying to Connor as payback for her deception by Holtz.

* Angel checked his breath? Umm, they’ve told us repeatedly that vampires have no breath...

Reviews Index