Yay!
This is more like it. A lot more like it. Great action, understated humor, darkness. A lot of darkness and soulsearching. Snarky Spike, Angel showing a wry sense of humor and Wes, with two automatics, throwing himself (in slowmotion) firing at cyborg ninjas. Damn, that’s good tv.
Arc kept going, a ‘little bad’ showing up, the plot thickens regarding Spike and his ghost-hood. Wes on center stage and good support from Fred.
Best ep so far this season and almost on par with last season.
8/10.
Wasn’t someone complaining last week about Wesley not being dark enough?
Think emptying a clip into his father was dark enough?
Heee… loved it loved it…
I just wish they didn’t pull the “It’s a robot” switcheroo. I could have accepted Wes offing his dad. The robot was a cop-out I could have done without.
Other than that, it was a very good episode. It introduced a shadowy, powerful enemy/player with unknown intentions. Good work on moving Wes and Fred’s characters forward. Nice set up for the Connor spell to unravel.
Now if they can just leave Eve in the elevator…
If you’re here to tell me about how you killed your parents, I would appreciate you wait for another time.
I don’t think the robot thing was a cop-out at all. Whether his father lived or died was completely irrelevant. What Wes has to live with is the fact that he willingly gunned down the man he believed without thought to be his father…he did it faster than he could think. That’s what is tearing him up inside. He’s going to carry the same guilt and self-doubt regardless of if his father died or not. In fact, it’s worse, because now he has to talk to the man he murdered…talked to the man he’s willing to kill…pretend that he doesn’t have it in him somewhere…
No, I’d say it’s not a cop out at all.
Yow! Awesome, awesome episode. No luchadores, though, but the show was able to carry on well enough without them. 
I was also a little disappointed that it turned out not to be Wes’s real father, but the cyberninjas are still out there, and I assume that whatever ME has planned for them won’t work with Wes’s dad involved. Besides, now we still might get a shot at seeing more interaction between Wes and his dad, which was effin’ great. Apparently, he’s enough of a sonuvabitch that Wes had no problem believing he’d doublecross him like that. Gotta love Joss Whedon and all his father issues, no? Still, for a minute there I thought this season’s Big Bad would be a reconstituted Watcher’s Council, which would just be too goddamned cool. Also, opens the door for a Giles cameo.
They missed a golden opportunity for an after-credits gag: Eve still stuck in the elevator. “Hello? Anyone out there?”
So, anyone else hoping that Knox turns out to be evil? I liked him at first, but now I’m really rooting for something nasty to happen to the smarmy little git.
Also, I think they could’ve gone somewhere with Spike’s “Hey, I killed my mom” advice, since (unlike Angel) there were some actual similarities between the two situations, in a “The person you killed wasn’t really your parent” sort of way. 'sides, would have made Spike’s prescence a little less pointless this ep.
Anyway, I was a little worried about this season at first, but with the last two episodes, this show has taken off like a rocket. Go, Joss, go!
I love it when the show’s daddy issues tap into my daddy issues.
Also, Wes with guns is The Sexy.
I don’t tihnk they needed to expand it. To me the point of that little exchange was that Spike (he of little social skills) was putting forth the effort to connect and even comfort somebody who doesn’t have the last name of Summers…it was adorable and inappropriate. Moreso because it was almost exactly what Angel said…I love my vamps.
Badass Wesley! Badass Wesley! Does the happy Crayons dance!
Oo! And they gave us a bit more of a clue as to whether they’ve all been mindwiped of the entire “Connor Season(s)” or just Connor. Wes remembers killing Lilah – “the last woman I dated I had to cut into little pieces…”
Yeah, I thought this episode had more then a few references to past Buffy episodes with regard to killing your parents, making love to robots, ect . .
Overall, another very good episode.
Glad to see they are starting to tip their hand a bit with Spike’s role for the season.
I too was a bit disappointed with the Father/Robot switcheroo- but only after the show was done and I was thinking about it.
Why didn’t the robo-ninja just kill Wesley in the Vault? He was down and lying there, just snap his neck and the plan works. Why hestitiate to kill Wesley when he first came onto the roof? The best I could figure is maybe the robot was programmed to think it was his father in how it acted.
Still, the most powerful moment of the show, and maybe the season was Wesley unloading an entire clip into his father (including a couple while he was on the ground).
Good stuff. Next week looks like a flashback-o-rama costume piece. Seeing that I just watched Darla from Season 2 Angel DVD things are working out nicely.
Loved it! I’m the one who complained a couple weeks ago about missing “I’ll take away your bucket” Wesley, and this episode brought it all back.
Miller, I feel ya on the Knox death wish. Nobody could be so clueless as to interrupt Fred and Wes’ private moment without feeling awkward – the guy’s got to be evil.
I really liked how Fred stood up for herself at the beginning when Wes apologized for not taking better care of her, and she remained strong throughout the episode. Amy Acker’s voice was positively unsqueaky in a number of scenes…always a good thing.
Connor, mind-wipe, Lilah references? Hooray for continuity!
I can’t recall in which article Joss Whedon said that (and I may be misremembering this) Cordelia’s evolution on the show was what he originally meant for Buffy (from whiney cheerleader-type to a responsible person), but overall, I think Wes’ character evolution has been the best of any character in the Buffyverse.
I rate this episode as the best this season. And I’m happy that an obvious arc finally showed.
By the way: Wes obviously recalled having to chop up Lilah, but he evidently doesn’t remember Connor. So, it seems like the last apocolypse is still in mind–just without any connection to Angel’s son. Good thing, too–that makes for more interesting writing than just completely wiping out the last season from everyone’s memories.
Loved it!! When Wesley went flying across the room with 2 guns a-blazin’ (a very John Woo moment) I was thrilled! Just a great episode, through and through.
Just random thoughts after a truly awesome hour:
Fred’s line “why, yes Wesley, I would like a gun” was the perfect antidote for the John Woo moment. It was an awesome action shot, tempered with just the right touch to show the inherent absurdity of it.
My wife has big gaps so far in her knowledge of the Buffy/Angelverse, having watched only Seasons 1-4 of Buffy and all of Season 1 of Angel. She watched this episode, and said several times throughout “damn, Wesley is a bad-ass!” I had to tell her that we’re getting to when Wesley becomes a bad-ass, but it was nice to see that side of him again.
My favorite moment was Wesley shooting his father. In another show, they might have dragged it out, had some speeches or threats in there, a tense standoff. Instead, it was shockingly brutal - the moment that Roger’s gun pointed towards Fred, Wes emptied the clip into him. It was a direct and cold act. And very much in character.
It was also interesting to see Wesley slip into bumbling Wesley mode with his father around. It would have been even more interesting had Wesley’s voice risen a few pitches to where it was in Buffy Season 3.
Amy Acker is also surprising with her character development. She hasn’t been Miss Mousy for a long time, but her ambivalence towards Wesley’s obvious feelings for her has been nicely played. Interesting - she does not really go for figurative darkness in her men. (the “anti-Buffy”?) It’s clearly her knowledge of what Wesley is capable of that prevents her from acting on any feelings she might have for him, or which prevents the genesis of those feelings in the first place. And it was her knowledge that Gunn was capable of the same that ultimately drove them apart. Fred is kind of developing into the group’s conscience, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out as each of the others toes the line between light and dark.
I wonder if the robots actually were somehow associated, at one point, with the Watcher’s Council. Some kind of secret back-up army. Or perhaps one recently developed as a force the Watchers could control, as opposed to the Slayers, who are now clearly out of their control. The fact that the robots clearly had access to the Watcher’s Council files on Wesley shows that they either stole or have legitimate access to whatever Council records were not destroyed in the explosion.
RogerBot mentioned the “four surviving Watchers” if memory serves. I wonder who they are. Roger is clearly one, Giles may be another, though he is probably no longer comfortable with the concept of the Watchers Council now that he knows more about their ancient origins. Dobson (who was nearly killed by the Bringer in Buffy Season 7) is possibly another. Who might the fourth be?
Wesley mentioned, in a self-pitying way, that he was the one targeted as the weak link. Personally, I think he was the only one who could be targeted because, as Angel pointed out, there were files on him that probably don’t exist for the others. Angel and Spike have legend and lore about them, but not psych profiles. Fred and Gunn probably don’t have the same kinds of files available. And Lorne, well, he’s an undocumented immigrant from another dimension. It’s not clear that there are extensive records about Pylea in this dimension.
All in all, a fantastic outing.
I’m wondering about the whole mind-wipe thing. Either it was done very clumsily or it was done deliberately. I’m pondering whether W&H set it up to unravel as part of a plot to split the FG up (again).
Anyways, overall a good ep, if a bit predictable (did anyone not expect that Wes’ “dad” was evil?). Nowhere near as good as last week but then nothing could be.
Best this season – I was wondering when they’d start writing good eps this season. I think they’re finally getting their bearings at W&H
Woohoo!
A couple notes: first, did anyone else start laughing hysterically when Wesley gunned his father down? I felt bad afterward, but everyone in the room with me (four other people) were also laughing. I think we were just so freaked out by it. It was the perfect moment, both completely unexpected and completely inevitable. Great stuff. And, after all, the dadbot really needed killing.
Second, I’m wondering whether this is gonna be an inside job. Or are you seriously telling me that it’s never occurred to Wolfram and Hart that attackers could land on the roof? And are you likewise telling me their security didn’t pick up the fact that dadbot was, a well, bot? W&H has shown themselves to be incredibly devious before; is it possible this is all an elaborate mindgame they’re playing on Wesley?
Daniel
I for one did not expect Rogerbot of anything. I figured it would end up with Wes proving himself a man by taking out the ninjabots. Wes’ shooting him at the end astounded me. One of the best TV moments in ages.
elf6c, ninjabot in the warehouse, despite being outfought by Angel, didn’t kill Wes because they needed to go forward with the Plan to infiltrate W&H via his father to do the mojo to Angel to begin with.
Fred is kinda growing up and becoming stronger, and it is really making her more attractive, in my eyes.
Side note: I think we now have to re-assess what I like to call the “Biggest Bad-ass on TV Award.” Last year I had it down to:
I think this ep has just placed Wes at #1 for this season. Gunning down his own father. Damn.
Knox’s days are numbered. My first thought at Wesley ventilating his dad was, “Shouldn’t have pointed a gun at Fred, buddy boy.” Before the thought was even finished, Dad was on the ground and still getting hit. Excellent execution (no pun intended) of that scene there.
Now if he’ll do that to what he thought was his father, imagine what Knox will get when he goes evil (and he will, he works for W&H).
Oh, and if Wes somehow gained superhuman strength there’d be no need to Angel at all. I’d watch a Wesley stand alone show.
I thought he said “former” Watchers, without mentioning a number. Did he not also say that both of Wesley’s parents are retired Watchers? Giles’ mother is/was also a Watcher. Dobson was killed by the Bringer I think; didn’t Giles indicate he died? There’s Kendra’s Watcher out there somewhere. His status is unknown. Was it ever established that Buffy’s first (TV) Watcher was killed?
Well, it was established that security was disabled and cut off so that would open up the roof as an avenue of attack. As for security detecting the bot, we know that at one time W&H had vampire detectors as a matter of course but other standard security measures they employ against other threat types isn’t really clear. Presumably the vampire detectors are no longer in service what with Angel being in residence. There may have been other security changes or the glamour cast on the bot may have been sufficient to fool the sensors or cause those reading the sensor to misread them. Or the presence of the disabled bot may have masked the presence of dadbot in much the same way that Gunn’s tossing a vampire into W&H’s lobby masked Angel’s entry in a S1 ep.