PunditLisa W&H is not run by humans. The senior partners are demonic entities that apparently exist in many dimensions (a set of three sacred books in Lorn’s home world show a Wolf, Ram and Hart on their covers).
Why humans work for them is presumably because they are very well paid and get great benefits and are unlikely to believe that the end is comming in their life time. The idea is that you are screwing everybody else. Given the size of the organization you are likely to be unaware of the time table until near the top.
For higher ups who are aware of the time table they are either inhuman or so deeply in that they won’t be allowed to leave alive so they may as well live in comfort until the end comes hoping that they’ll be on the winning side.
The key is that it seems more like W&H is waiting for a certain specific apocalypse as opposed to any old one or engineering their own. They refer to Angel’s role in the apocalypse, not an apocalypse or even our apocalypse. Angel is the one who refers to the end of the world that Lilah’s bosses want.
Now with the new threat it may be that the W&H senior partners thought that it was infact the end they were waiting for but infact it isn’t, as evidenced by the hostility of the Beast.
The impression I got after the episode ended is that Joss Whedon is tired of Wolfram & Hart’s present incarnation and wanted to take the law firm in a new direction. I will miss Gavin also. It was nice having a counterbalance to Lylah.
The impression I got from the episode is that Wolfram and Heart is finished. Kaput. Gone the way of the dodo. Everyone in the building in dead, including re-occuring characters and the “Resident Evil” in the white room. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been waiting for someone to drive a stake through the collective hearts of that law firm since last season. Neat idea originally, but played out IMO.
As for why humans would work towards the apocalypse: there is life after aramageddon. What I assume is that whoever orchastrates the apocalypse will be in position to rule what ever is left. Humans work there because it’s better to be with them than against them, and loyal servants might get significant promotions after the global restructuring. This also explains why W&H often butts heads with other evil individuals or organizations, because every bad guy wants to be the one who gets the credit (and the rewards) for ending the world.
Over all, I though this was an okay episode. Anything with lots of flesh-eating zombies can’t be all bad. Would have been nice to see the lawyers put up more of a fight, though. Certainly wasn’t anywhere near the worst Buffyverse episode, which wasn’t Doublemeat Palace (which I really liked) or the Swim Team (which was pretty good) or even As You Were (which was merely mediocre) The worst Buffyverse episode ever was the Season Six Halloween episode, which is the only time I’ve ever regretted tuning into Buffy.
—The impression I got from the episode is that Wolfram and Heart is finished. Kaput. Gone the way of the dodo.—
Dunno. If that were the case, you’d think they’d make a lot of hay about finding the Senior Partners dead or something, considering that they’ve been a constant mystery for quite awhile.
—I will miss Gavin also. It was nice having a counterbalance to Lylah.—
REAL SPOILER
That may cease to be such a problem within a few episodes…
I think the little girl is more of a consultant. The senior partners send people to her in a trouble-shooting capacity.
The line of the slayers is currently running through Faith. When Buffy’s heart stopped for a few minutes a few seasons ago, Kendra was activated. When Kendra died, it passed on to Faith. The only way for one of the Slayerettes in BtVS to get activated is if Faith dies. Since Faith is now semi-permanently in the Angel plotline, that’s not likely to happen.
My big problem with this whole Angel prophecy is that they’re ignoring their past. The prophecy runs something like, Angel stops an apocalypse. He’s a key player in it. Then he gets to become human again.
Umm, hello? That happened already. He was a major player in the apocalypse that Buffy averted by running him through, then he came back to life in Season1. Remember, the Buffy comes to LA episode, where Angel gets the PTB to set time back a day so he can avoid becoming human?
Wouldn’t it be just awfully funny if the Big Bad Apocalypse that Angel’s supposed to be in on and Wolfram & Hart have been gearing up for for centuries had already been averted and NOBODY NOTICED?
Hey, at least Go Fish gave us the spectacle of Xander in a Speedo. And a whole bunch of half-nekkid dudes on the swim team, until they all turned into the Creatures From the Black Lagoon.
It seems to me the Beast has nothing to do with the Wolfram & Hart version of the Apocalypse, simply based on Lilah’s reaction to its presence and the Beast’s declining her offer by thrusting a claw into her belly. But perhaps that’s the grand plan after all. I can never tell.
Well, that’s the thing. Only the human employees of W&H (other than the little girl, who I think was an oracle or seer) were killed. The Senior Partners appear to be safe in demonland and unaffected by the Beast. They can always rebuild, and maybe the Beast will take out some other entities that were in opposition to W&H.
Exactly! Don’t forget that the building went into “lock down” mode, too. I was two weeks behind, but my mind was blown when I finally got to watch it yesterday- all they would have needed is a train to make the rip-off complete. You seldomly see a tv show “borrow” a movie’s plot-points so blatently.