I’m wondering if Angelus will notice the fact that Cordy just diced Lilah, what with his super-senses and ability to smell blood and fear and whatnot. I really hope that we don’t see a cliched pact/doublecross between Cordy and Angelus.
Do we ever get a reason why Angelus > Angel? Does having a soul make you weaker somehow?
I’ll have to give more thought to the title of the episode and whether I can get some kind of crucifixion/sacrifice meaning out of it. But what a great episode! I was riveted. I like the dynamic of Gunn and Connor together, and now with Fred out of the picture and Cordy going evil perhaps they’ll find solace in each other (but not in a fanfic kind of way, ya pervs). They’re the two loose cannons in the group (especially now they’ve both lost their loves), and as shown while digging up the body can fight pretty well together, complete with witty commentary and sexy moves.
The plots of Angel and Buffy seem to be moving more or less parallel in nice ways, but IMO Angel’s better executed of late. Hopefully this will lead to more excellent episodes in the weeks to follow.
I love the idea of a pan-dimensional black market.
You didn’t mishear, that’s how it happened.
I’m going to miss Lilah. She was so very eeeevil and bitchy but very smart and self-assured. I liked her. I’m really hoping she’s only mostly dead.
My belief is that the Big Bad is working through Cordy, but that Cordy does have control sometimes (and isn’t aware of the times she’s not in control). She’s been too Cordy-like in private moments for me to believe that it’s not Cordelia. There’s just no reason for the Big Bad to sit on her bed, flipping through her yearbooks and commenting on her popularity and style, as Cordy did when she returned.
I think Angelus’s little character assessment of Gunn was spot on, and might spur some growth for Gunn as he sets out to prove Angelus wrong. Angelus more or less summed up what people on the Boards have been complaining about as far as Gunn’s character goes, so obviously the writers are aware of his undevelopedness (new word!).
Don’t want to have to wait three weeks for another episode, but I guess I’ll have to. I (heart) Angel.
Oh, man, I really liked Lilah! And she was in the process of redeeming herself. She didn’t even have time to express jealousy over Fred’s relationship with Wes! I would have loved to have seen Lilah actually looking vulnerable for a change. Well, other than when Angelus was chasing her.
I’m puzzled why Lilah came back and was working towards killing the Demon, even going so far as trying to release Angelus to do it. Doesn’t she want the world to end? AND WHAT DID HE GRAB OUT OF HER GUT? I’m soooo confused.
I wish Gunn would quit picking fights and stuff. You’d think that would take a backseat to the freaking apocalypse.
Finally, would someone PLEASE get some scissors and cut Connor’s hair? I realize it’s permanent dusk in L.A. but surely there’s a good hairdresser somewhere!
Actually I heard that the show got cancelled. I’m not entirely positive though, also I got the information from a talkback section of a spoiler site.
Well if Cordy is really an imposter then there have been numerous times when she could have let Angelus out of his cage (remember when she went down to talk to him and turned off the camera?) Instead of just letting Angelus out and pretending like he escaped, she goes through a lot of unnecessary trouble.
If she freed Angelus, it would have been seen on the TV and the others would have been tipped off. I guess it’s also possible Angelus is being fooled too.
BofP was cancelled, but I think they had these last two eps in the can, and figured, what the hey, most of America will be watching “The Bachelorette” anyway. I think it actually is a good sign that they didn’t run a new “Angel” against “The Bachelorette”, since doing so would have driven “Angel” 's overall ratings down further, and given less reason to renew the show.
I don’t think he grabbed anything out of her gut, the Beast was just getting ready to eviserate her when Wes (or something, I forget) showed up and she ran off.
—I found it interesting that Conner was the most skeptical of the “fact” that Angel got his soul back.—
I don’t think he was skeptical… I think he was actually disappointed. Angelus, as he said, is his REAL father. Angel is just some cop-out excuse that he can’t kill.
E-Sabbath:
She caught Angelus by surprise.
It should come as no surprise Cordy would be stronger than Lilah.
And anyway, Cordelia is now part-demon. We haven’t specifically been told she doesn’t now have super-strength anyway.
[spoiler]After watching the ep, I was thinking that Cordy hasn’t actually come back from on high. But you’re right about too many Cordy-like activities for an imposter. Then I read this story [Caution! This somewhat spoils the rest of the Angel season or at least the ‘Who’s pulling the Beast’s strings’ question.]:
http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?30163[/spoiler]That is published on a common TV news site, but it’s kinda spoilerish, so I put it in the box.
Well, there you go. I’ve pretty much hated this series from the start, but whenever I completely give up on the show they do something to pull me in again.
This episode did just about everything right; I knew that Cordelia was going to be evil by the end of it, and I could even tell that Lilah was going to get killed, and it still got me. Kind of a drag that they killed off one of the most interesting characters, but at least it finally gets rid of that pointless Wolfram & Hart nonsense that’s been dogging the show since the beginning. The only interesting thing that came out of that subplot was Lilah, and I lost any respect I had for her when they revealed that she was actually kind of dependent on Wesley, instead of just using him. If they had taken the “Buffy” route, and had one big bad guy per season, then it might’ve worked better. Stretching a weak villain out over three seasons just went too far.
It’ll be interesting to see if they can recover from this finale, though. I get the impression that they’re blowing their wad. Still, it’ll be a great way to go if they can keep making episodes like this one.
This is pure speculation (I only spoiled myself up to Angel losing his soul, and I’m desperately trying to resist any more spoilers), but I think it’s pretty convincing, so I’ll box it.
Basically, whoever the Big Bad really is, it’s got a MAJOR grudge against Wolfram and Heart. This is a major clue: it wasn’t just after the little girl: it killed every single WH employee right down to the gophers, and now it’s bone/knife has been used to kill the very last member. It’s not just because they aren’t “evil enough.” Indeed, why else would Cordy murder Lilah if not to finish the job? Why else would she risk revealing herself to Angelus or the gang in that way unless it was important, part of a mission rather than just incidental chaos? Now, one of two things could be going on. Either this show is going to cop out and simply have some unknown BB demon lord be behind all of this, or it’s something we’ve seen or heard about before, something that plays deeply into the series. If it’s the latter, then there’s only one connection that makes any sense: it’s whoever took Cordy in the first place (yes, that means that Skip is a bad guy! sniffle!). Now, either that outfit is, again, something we’ve yet to hear of… or it’s really the powers that be themselves. Think about it: what if TPTB aren’t so much good as they are just vying with outfits like W&H for power? What if they’ve been playing the exact same “control Angel in order to control the apocalypse” thing that W&H were playing at? What’s offing a few minor demons compared to bringing about things like Connor (who still figures into this somehow) and returning Angelus to the picture? SOMETHING is definately screwy with the powers: the visions, to demony Cordy, to taking her away, to bringing her back as a nutso leader of a human holocaust. It doesn’t look like a break where a Big Evil cut in to dance: it looks like a continuum… and yet, that continuum leads to a Beast and an apocalypse. If the powers are good guys, then where did the original visions go? We need to look back again at the ep where Skip convinces Cordy to go all demon: are there any clues that something is fishy here?
And hey, people: we have to seriously reconisider “the answer lies among you” now. Because Cordy is the freakin answer. Connor and Angel are supposedly now just red herrings. But Cordy wasn’t there when the girl was babbling. So what the heck did it mean?
I agree Apos about what’s in your spoiler box.
Incidently I was surfing through the web and I found what looks like the best spoiler site.
So those who can’t wait the two weeks, check here.
Caution, use your best judgment…
She was jumped by W&H’s strike team after she returned and dispatched them pretty well. So it seems that her strength/ reflexes/ fighting skills are significantly enhanced from where they were before.
Ya know, when I’m being evil and impersonating good folks who have ascended to godhood, I’m always pretending to be amnesiac, and flipping through their old things trying to get a sense of everyone they really knew so I can fake everyone out.
And hey folks-- if you’re speculating, and pulling it out of your ass
You don’t need to put it in a spoiler box. Let’s reserve these for people who have actually had a peek at non-aired episodes.
In the previous episode, whem Cordy made her deal (What’s a better ride than a Mustang? Me. )with Angelus, didn’t she turn off the camera? She could have done it then.
Dammit, I know who the big bad is now. TV news sites should mention if the articles they link to are going to have spoilers in them! 
Anyone want the link? http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?30163
Sure, that’s what they said months ago, which is what made it confusing. As it turns out I was far from the only one to notice their use of season vs series http://www.tvtome.com/BirdsofPrey/