"Hero" (1x09) quick link here "Somnambulist" (1x11) quick link here
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1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.
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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
“Parting Gifts” is another one of those episodes that I have undeniable, overwhelming love for, even if the fandom in general finds the episode to be average. “Parting Gifts” works as a very good follow-up to the last episode, “Hero”. It’s about grief, it’s about acceptance, it’s about moving on, and it’s about showing the audience where the show is heading with the introduction of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. How will Angel Investigations survive and move forward without Doyle? Can they still function as a team with just the two of them? Will Doyle’s death tear them apart? How will they cope with the grief? All of these questions are addressed in this episode. The way in which they’re addressed is what makes this episode great. These themes and questions tie directly into the villain and story of the week. Let’s be honest, no episode was going to live up to “I Will Remember You” and “Hero”. They are both top 10 episodes for “Angel” and they had a lot of build-up and investment. However, it is a very good episode. Barney is a terrific villain and I was completely fooled by his act, having dorky Wesley back is a treat, and having a relatively comedic episode after two highly emotional sobfests was a wise choice. I hold the Wesley of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season three and “Angel” season one in high regard. Dorky Wesley has a special place in my heart. Don’t get me wrong, the badass Wesley of the later years is a truly terrific character, but I sometimes miss Wesley falling over and saying over the top, hilarious lines.
With that being said, I’ve always felt like Wesley was brought in a few episodes too soon. Angel and Cordelia never really have the time to mourn Doyle’s death. It almost felt like “okay, Doyle is dead, next!”, rather than taking a few episodes to mourn and recover like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” did with Joyce, Tara, Buffy, and Jenny Calendar’s deaths. Angel and Cordelia need more than half an episode here to mourn and it turn the audience need time to mourn. As much as I adore Wesley, I wasn’t ready to accept someone else into the group yet. I wasn’t welcoming to a replacement for Doyle so soon. It’s like losing your wife or husband and then having a new partner a week later!
The episode opens with Angel trying to convince The Oracles to rewind time like they did two episodes previously in “I Will Remember You”. It’s interesting to witness how differently Angel and Cordelia are reacting to Doyle’s death. Angel is a man of action who pushes people away when he’s going through emotional turmoil. As we saw with Tina in the pilot episode, “City Of”, Angel wants to distract himself when he’s lost someone. He wants to get revenge and he wants to physically work through the pain. While he’s doing that, he closes himself off to the world. After he regained his soul for the first time, he avoided humanity as much as possible for a hundred years. After he left Buffy and Sunnydale behind, he retreated inside of himself and avoided contact with humans. Cordelia feels like Angel is pushing her away and in turn she’s desperately trying to hold him close to her. It’s a total yin-yang situation. Angel doesn’t want to talk about Doyle, Cordelia does. Angel isn’t outwardly showing signs of grieving, Cordelia is. It’s also interesting to see that Cordelia makes reference to how few material possessions Doyle had. To Cordelia, material possessions are very important. Until her parents lost all their money she had a lot of them. The latest designer clothes, the best car money could buy, handbags, shoes, etc. Doyle didn’t care about that type of thing. He liked alcohol, gambling, and fighting...two of which are hard to leave behind. As we discover later, Doyle left Cordelia the most precious gift that he ever received, the gift that led to his redemption, his visions.
I was excited to see The Oracles return to “Angel”. Not only are they visually stunning, but they’re interesting! They aren’t overused, they don’t negate the stories of the episodes they’re in with their power, and they’re a direct link to the ‘Powers That Be’. I would have loved to see them survive past the end of this season, but I understand why they needed to be killed off. They had too much power. Just think, Wesley could have gone to The Oracles after he discovered the prophecy in season three that ‘the father will kill the son’, Angel could have gone to them to find out where Cordelia had disappeared to in season four...they could wrap up complex plots far too easily and had the ability to rewind time. In this episode, they’re refusing to do just that, which I fudging love! That scene works on so many levels. I love that Angel cares enough about Doyle to try to bring him back; I love that Angel is actively trying to change the outcome rather than brood and sulk. However, Doyle shouldn’t be brought back! Even though losing him was heartbreaking, his death was perfect. He came full-circle as a character, achieved redemption against the creatures that massacred some of his demon kin, and he died a hero. Trying to drag Doyle back from that would have been wrong and it would have greatly cheapened “Hero” and his entire character arc. I absolutely loathe it (by the way, when I type something in italics, can you all read it in Severus Snape’s voice from the Harry Potter films? Elongate every word!) when characters are brought back from the dead for no reason. If there’s a decent, concrete reason for it and it’s used sparingly, it’s fine. Otherwise, it’s an absolute nightmare! So many times on television shows and films it feels like a character was brought back from the dead for a cheap pop. It’s just a reason to shock the audience and make them yelp, without thinking about where the character is going after that. The Buffyverse has sometimes been guilty of this itself. In the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season eight and nine comic book continuations of the show, this is used a lot. Yes, with the franchise now being in comic book form, there is more freedom available. You don’t have to rely on actors’ schedules and you can pretty much do what you want. In turn, so many characters that have died are brought back in the comics! In Doyle’s case, I’ve heard that Doyle was originally intended to be the “Angel” season four ‘Big Bad’, but after Charisma Carpenter returned to the show pregnant, the plans had to change. As Glenn Quinn sadly passed away during the filming of that season, it was probably for the best. I don’t know how they were planning on doing it, but I can’t see a scenario where Doyle is a villain working at all. Damn, that was a hell of a tangent!
Barney, Wesley, and the Kungai demon are yet another representation of the differences between “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”. Barney, a demon, appears to be a ‘good guy’ who is in no way evil, and we’re led to believe that the leather-clad hunter following him is evil. Nope, it turns out the leather-clad Wesley isn’t evil and is instead hunting a Kungai demon that is evil and hunting Barney. Nope, it turns out the Kungai demon isn’t evil and that Wesley was chasing the wrong demon. The villain is actually Barney. Twist after twist, after twist! They pulled the ol’ triple switch! Not often seen on television and rarely successfully pulled off without it becoming obvious who the villain is. As I mentioned earlier, I was totally fooled by Barney. He’s charismatic, charming, nerdy, pretends to know nothing about vampires, and even admits that he uses his empathic abilities to cheat at cards...
Angel: “You’re a demon and you don’t know anything about vampires?”
Barney: “Only what I learn from TV.”
Before the reveal, I loved Barney. I would have gone out for drinks with that guy! I didn’t want to believe that he was evil. It’s a testament to Maury Sterling (Barney)’s acting abilities that he was able to make Barney so likeable within 20 minutes and then turn into a villain so seamlessly and successfully that you then wanted to see him killed. In hindsight, there were a few subtle clues that Barney wasn’t what he appeared to be. The most obvious of which is when Barney mentions that he is able to read people’s emotions and use them to his advantage.
Cordelia’s breakdown during the commercial audition is incredibly sad. I wish to hug her. Anyone that has lost someone close to them knows how much it fucking sucks. I’m not going to go into details again as I did so during my review of “Amends”, but I lost my two closest friends within six months of each other in 2007. It was brutal and sent me into a depressive downward spiral for more than four years. Only after attempted suicide and miraculous survival was I able to regain control of my life and move on. Luckily, Cordelia receives something to distract her from her grief: a vision. I’ve mentioned before that after Cordelia’s parents lost all their money, she became more empathetic as a person. However, Cordelia inheriting the visions from Doyle is the single most important moment for her entire character! Since moving to Los Angeles, Cordelia has received a fall from grace and has had to learn to live with poverty and hunger for the first time. The visions show Cordelia a different type of suffering. They show her people fighting every single day just to survive, they show her people that are so lost and helpless that they want to die, they show her the true sufferings and evils of the world and she is unable to help the vast majority of the people that are struggling, yet she is still forced to bear witness to their battles. This turns Cordelia into an understanding, empathetic, caring hero. Through the visions, Cordelia discovers what is really important in life. It takes a while, though. First, Cordelia kisses Angel to try and pass the visions onto him. Then, she kisses Barney...
Angel: “And behave yourself. I don’t want to find you two necking on the couch when I get back.”
Los Angeles has agreed with Angel’s sense of humour. In Sunnydale, he didn’t have one.
There are many facets of this episode that I enjoy, but number one on that list would be Wesley. Wesley steps out of the shadows of an apartment room and into our hearts again. The only difference is that instead of wearing a nice suit, he’s dressed in leather. Instead of shrieking when someone touches him on the shoulder, he’s holding a crossbow with menace in his eyes...then he starts talking and you realise he’s still a dorky, cowardly spazz. Whoever made the decision to bring Wesley onto “Angel” is a genius (I’m assuming it was Joss). Not only does Wesley go on to arguably have more character development than anyone else in the Buffyverse, but Wesley is a polar opposite of Doyle. Angel Investigations has a completely different dynamic to the one that the original trio had. I was privileged enough to meet Alexis Denisof at ‘Hallowhedon 5’ (the full review of that convention is located here), and he explained that adding Wesley to the cast wasn’t planned from the beginning. It was a decision that was made shortly before Doyle’s death on the show. Doyle was always supposed to die, but the character that was going to replace Doyle was never set in stone until the moment of Doyle’s death was imminent. I’m also going to throw this out there...Alexis Denisof has the best physical comedic acting in the Buffyverse. He can make me roar with laughter with the slightest of looks or the gentlest of movements. For instance, when he rested his leg on the bed and tried to look suave, then his leg slipped off the bed, I laughed for 60 seconds straight. Legitimately. Another example is the face he pulls when Cordelia kisses him to try to rid herself of the visions...I was just thinking about that moment in my head and a grin crossed my face without me noticing it.
Wesley: “I’m a Rogue Demon Hunter now.”
Cordelia: “Wow...what’s a rogue demon?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cordelia: “Are you alright, Wesley?”
Wesley: “No, these pants tend to chafe one’s...legs.”
I defy you to watch this episode without laughing. I’m serious, go ahead! Record it, upload it to Youtube, and send me the link. If you don’t laugh, you have no soul. It’s that simple.
I know that Barney is evil and manipulative, but he was brilliant at cheering Cordelia up about Doyle’s death. Barney is the one that explains to Cordelia that Doyle left her the most precious gift he had to offer her. Of course, we later discover that Barney is using all of this information to his advantage, but it doesn’t mean that what he said isn’t true. In fact, knowing that Barney is telling the truth is what makes him so entertaining and interesting. He builds up Doyle, he builds up Cordelia, and then tears her down using the same information. He knows that Cordelia is feeling guilty over Doyle’s death so he uses that against her. He tells Cordelia that if she was less selfish, if she was less self-involved, if she showed Doyle that she cared more, perhaps things would have turned out differently. It’s absolutely shocking to hear all this information thrown back at Cordelia, but damn it, it’s entertaining! Barney has the capabilities to do good things, but he actively chooses to manipulate people and be an asshole to further his own career and goals. I love emotionally complex villains, but sometimes it’s refreshing to see a well developed bad guy that just enjoys being bad for no reason.
Wesley being incompetent at everything was what made me enjoy his character on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. To my surprise, hearing Wesley being so hard on himself and proclaiming that he’s a useless failure was oddly upsetting. It’s the very first time that we get to see Wesley as something more than just comedic relief or an authoritative voice of the Watcher’s Council. Since leaving Sunnydale and being fired by the Watcher’s Council, Wesley’s life has fallen apart. He’s directionless and he’s been travelling the United States alone hunting demons and vampires to try to prove that he’s useful for something. He was treated like a joke by the Scoobies, his Slayer turned evil, he was fired, and he’s been alone for months and months. How can you not feel sorry for this guy?! Wesley travelling the United States fighting demons was Wesley’s way of trying to make amends and seek redemption for his failures in Sunnydale. “Angel” is a show with the mission statement of ‘redemption’. Wesley’s life and current mental state fits perfectly with the theme of the show. I love that every character on Angel thus far has been a highly flawed character seeking redemption. THEY’RE SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN REGULAR HERO CHARACTERS!
The reveal that all of Barney’s actions thus far have been motivated by an auction was unexpected and a little odd...but it worked okay! Plus, it was a great way to bring up the name ‘Wolfram & Hart’ again to keep them on the audience’s mind. Only in Los Angeles could all of the hotel staff be aware of where the supernatural auction is taking place and not bat an eyelid. I cannot emphasise enough how much I love Cordelia demanding people to pay more for her. She knows her worth and she will not let herself be under-sold. After a while, this is obviously a lure to keep the auction going until Angel arrives, but I like to think at the beginning she was genuinely offended at the price that was being offered for her.
Cordelia killed Barney! Cordelia killed a demon! It took her three years to kill a vampire in Sunnydale, but within six months of living in Los Angeles she’s a badass demon killer? Please tell me Angel and Doyle were training her off-screen...please?! Speaking of that fight scene at the end, Wesley trying to remove the taped knife from his leg is beyond funny. I could watch that all day. I’ve already made reference to four hilarious Wesley moments from this episode and I haven’t even gotten to the best one yet (it’s the “Quote Of The Episode”)!
Wesley lingers by Angel’s apartment door like a bad smell until Angel invites him to stay for breakfast. He never leaves. The episode closes on Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley, the new Angel Investigations, eating breakfast, bonding, and becoming a family. For that reason alone, this episode is memorable and special. Throw in the interesting villain and the way the repercussions of Doyle’s death were handled and you have yourself a great episode.
Quote Of The Episode
Wesley: “You! Butcher an innocent girl, will you? I’m going to thrash you to within an inch of your life...and then I’m gonna take that inch!”
I literally cannot watch that moment without laughing hysterically. Alexis’ delivery of that line and the way he pushes his glasses up his nose is absolutely amazing. I can’t think about it anymore, I’m getting a stitch.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?
“Parting Gifts” is another one of those episodes that I have undeniable, overwhelming love for, even if the fandom in general finds the episode to be average. “Parting Gifts” works as a very good follow-up to the last episode, “Hero”. It’s about grief, it’s about acceptance, it’s about moving on, and it’s about showing the audience where the show is heading with the introduction of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. How will Angel Investigations survive and move forward without Doyle? Can they still function as a team with just the two of them? Will Doyle’s death tear them apart? How will they cope with the grief? All of these questions are addressed in this episode. The way in which they’re addressed is what makes this episode great. These themes and questions tie directly into the villain and story of the week. Let’s be honest, no episode was going to live up to “I Will Remember You” and “Hero”. They are both top 10 episodes for “Angel” and they had a lot of build-up and investment. However, it is a very good episode. Barney is a terrific villain and I was completely fooled by his act, having dorky Wesley back is a treat, and having a relatively comedic episode after two highly emotional sobfests was a wise choice. I hold the Wesley of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season three and “Angel” season one in high regard. Dorky Wesley has a special place in my heart. Don’t get me wrong, the badass Wesley of the later years is a truly terrific character, but I sometimes miss Wesley falling over and saying over the top, hilarious lines.
With that being said, I’ve always felt like Wesley was brought in a few episodes too soon. Angel and Cordelia never really have the time to mourn Doyle’s death. It almost felt like “okay, Doyle is dead, next!”, rather than taking a few episodes to mourn and recover like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” did with Joyce, Tara, Buffy, and Jenny Calendar’s deaths. Angel and Cordelia need more than half an episode here to mourn and it turn the audience need time to mourn. As much as I adore Wesley, I wasn’t ready to accept someone else into the group yet. I wasn’t welcoming to a replacement for Doyle so soon. It’s like losing your wife or husband and then having a new partner a week later!
The episode opens with Angel trying to convince The Oracles to rewind time like they did two episodes previously in “I Will Remember You”. It’s interesting to witness how differently Angel and Cordelia are reacting to Doyle’s death. Angel is a man of action who pushes people away when he’s going through emotional turmoil. As we saw with Tina in the pilot episode, “City Of”, Angel wants to distract himself when he’s lost someone. He wants to get revenge and he wants to physically work through the pain. While he’s doing that, he closes himself off to the world. After he regained his soul for the first time, he avoided humanity as much as possible for a hundred years. After he left Buffy and Sunnydale behind, he retreated inside of himself and avoided contact with humans. Cordelia feels like Angel is pushing her away and in turn she’s desperately trying to hold him close to her. It’s a total yin-yang situation. Angel doesn’t want to talk about Doyle, Cordelia does. Angel isn’t outwardly showing signs of grieving, Cordelia is. It’s also interesting to see that Cordelia makes reference to how few material possessions Doyle had. To Cordelia, material possessions are very important. Until her parents lost all their money she had a lot of them. The latest designer clothes, the best car money could buy, handbags, shoes, etc. Doyle didn’t care about that type of thing. He liked alcohol, gambling, and fighting...two of which are hard to leave behind. As we discover later, Doyle left Cordelia the most precious gift that he ever received, the gift that led to his redemption, his visions.
I was excited to see The Oracles return to “Angel”. Not only are they visually stunning, but they’re interesting! They aren’t overused, they don’t negate the stories of the episodes they’re in with their power, and they’re a direct link to the ‘Powers That Be’. I would have loved to see them survive past the end of this season, but I understand why they needed to be killed off. They had too much power. Just think, Wesley could have gone to The Oracles after he discovered the prophecy in season three that ‘the father will kill the son’, Angel could have gone to them to find out where Cordelia had disappeared to in season four...they could wrap up complex plots far too easily and had the ability to rewind time. In this episode, they’re refusing to do just that, which I fudging love! That scene works on so many levels. I love that Angel cares enough about Doyle to try to bring him back; I love that Angel is actively trying to change the outcome rather than brood and sulk. However, Doyle shouldn’t be brought back! Even though losing him was heartbreaking, his death was perfect. He came full-circle as a character, achieved redemption against the creatures that massacred some of his demon kin, and he died a hero. Trying to drag Doyle back from that would have been wrong and it would have greatly cheapened “Hero” and his entire character arc. I absolutely loathe it (by the way, when I type something in italics, can you all read it in Severus Snape’s voice from the Harry Potter films? Elongate every word!) when characters are brought back from the dead for no reason. If there’s a decent, concrete reason for it and it’s used sparingly, it’s fine. Otherwise, it’s an absolute nightmare! So many times on television shows and films it feels like a character was brought back from the dead for a cheap pop. It’s just a reason to shock the audience and make them yelp, without thinking about where the character is going after that. The Buffyverse has sometimes been guilty of this itself. In the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season eight and nine comic book continuations of the show, this is used a lot. Yes, with the franchise now being in comic book form, there is more freedom available. You don’t have to rely on actors’ schedules and you can pretty much do what you want. In turn, so many characters that have died are brought back in the comics! In Doyle’s case, I’ve heard that Doyle was originally intended to be the “Angel” season four ‘Big Bad’, but after Charisma Carpenter returned to the show pregnant, the plans had to change. As Glenn Quinn sadly passed away during the filming of that season, it was probably for the best. I don’t know how they were planning on doing it, but I can’t see a scenario where Doyle is a villain working at all. Damn, that was a hell of a tangent!
Barney, Wesley, and the Kungai demon are yet another representation of the differences between “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”. Barney, a demon, appears to be a ‘good guy’ who is in no way evil, and we’re led to believe that the leather-clad hunter following him is evil. Nope, it turns out the leather-clad Wesley isn’t evil and is instead hunting a Kungai demon that is evil and hunting Barney. Nope, it turns out the Kungai demon isn’t evil and that Wesley was chasing the wrong demon. The villain is actually Barney. Twist after twist, after twist! They pulled the ol’ triple switch! Not often seen on television and rarely successfully pulled off without it becoming obvious who the villain is. As I mentioned earlier, I was totally fooled by Barney. He’s charismatic, charming, nerdy, pretends to know nothing about vampires, and even admits that he uses his empathic abilities to cheat at cards...
Angel: “You’re a demon and you don’t know anything about vampires?”
Barney: “Only what I learn from TV.”
Before the reveal, I loved Barney. I would have gone out for drinks with that guy! I didn’t want to believe that he was evil. It’s a testament to Maury Sterling (Barney)’s acting abilities that he was able to make Barney so likeable within 20 minutes and then turn into a villain so seamlessly and successfully that you then wanted to see him killed. In hindsight, there were a few subtle clues that Barney wasn’t what he appeared to be. The most obvious of which is when Barney mentions that he is able to read people’s emotions and use them to his advantage.
Cordelia’s breakdown during the commercial audition is incredibly sad. I wish to hug her. Anyone that has lost someone close to them knows how much it fucking sucks. I’m not going to go into details again as I did so during my review of “Amends”, but I lost my two closest friends within six months of each other in 2007. It was brutal and sent me into a depressive downward spiral for more than four years. Only after attempted suicide and miraculous survival was I able to regain control of my life and move on. Luckily, Cordelia receives something to distract her from her grief: a vision. I’ve mentioned before that after Cordelia’s parents lost all their money, she became more empathetic as a person. However, Cordelia inheriting the visions from Doyle is the single most important moment for her entire character! Since moving to Los Angeles, Cordelia has received a fall from grace and has had to learn to live with poverty and hunger for the first time. The visions show Cordelia a different type of suffering. They show her people fighting every single day just to survive, they show her people that are so lost and helpless that they want to die, they show her the true sufferings and evils of the world and she is unable to help the vast majority of the people that are struggling, yet she is still forced to bear witness to their battles. This turns Cordelia into an understanding, empathetic, caring hero. Through the visions, Cordelia discovers what is really important in life. It takes a while, though. First, Cordelia kisses Angel to try and pass the visions onto him. Then, she kisses Barney...
Angel: “And behave yourself. I don’t want to find you two necking on the couch when I get back.”
Los Angeles has agreed with Angel’s sense of humour. In Sunnydale, he didn’t have one.
There are many facets of this episode that I enjoy, but number one on that list would be Wesley. Wesley steps out of the shadows of an apartment room and into our hearts again. The only difference is that instead of wearing a nice suit, he’s dressed in leather. Instead of shrieking when someone touches him on the shoulder, he’s holding a crossbow with menace in his eyes...then he starts talking and you realise he’s still a dorky, cowardly spazz. Whoever made the decision to bring Wesley onto “Angel” is a genius (I’m assuming it was Joss). Not only does Wesley go on to arguably have more character development than anyone else in the Buffyverse, but Wesley is a polar opposite of Doyle. Angel Investigations has a completely different dynamic to the one that the original trio had. I was privileged enough to meet Alexis Denisof at ‘Hallowhedon 5’ (the full review of that convention is located here), and he explained that adding Wesley to the cast wasn’t planned from the beginning. It was a decision that was made shortly before Doyle’s death on the show. Doyle was always supposed to die, but the character that was going to replace Doyle was never set in stone until the moment of Doyle’s death was imminent. I’m also going to throw this out there...Alexis Denisof has the best physical comedic acting in the Buffyverse. He can make me roar with laughter with the slightest of looks or the gentlest of movements. For instance, when he rested his leg on the bed and tried to look suave, then his leg slipped off the bed, I laughed for 60 seconds straight. Legitimately. Another example is the face he pulls when Cordelia kisses him to try to rid herself of the visions...I was just thinking about that moment in my head and a grin crossed my face without me noticing it.
Wesley: “I’m a Rogue Demon Hunter now.”
Cordelia: “Wow...what’s a rogue demon?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cordelia: “Are you alright, Wesley?”
Wesley: “No, these pants tend to chafe one’s...legs.”
I defy you to watch this episode without laughing. I’m serious, go ahead! Record it, upload it to Youtube, and send me the link. If you don’t laugh, you have no soul. It’s that simple.
I know that Barney is evil and manipulative, but he was brilliant at cheering Cordelia up about Doyle’s death. Barney is the one that explains to Cordelia that Doyle left her the most precious gift he had to offer her. Of course, we later discover that Barney is using all of this information to his advantage, but it doesn’t mean that what he said isn’t true. In fact, knowing that Barney is telling the truth is what makes him so entertaining and interesting. He builds up Doyle, he builds up Cordelia, and then tears her down using the same information. He knows that Cordelia is feeling guilty over Doyle’s death so he uses that against her. He tells Cordelia that if she was less selfish, if she was less self-involved, if she showed Doyle that she cared more, perhaps things would have turned out differently. It’s absolutely shocking to hear all this information thrown back at Cordelia, but damn it, it’s entertaining! Barney has the capabilities to do good things, but he actively chooses to manipulate people and be an asshole to further his own career and goals. I love emotionally complex villains, but sometimes it’s refreshing to see a well developed bad guy that just enjoys being bad for no reason.
Wesley being incompetent at everything was what made me enjoy his character on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. To my surprise, hearing Wesley being so hard on himself and proclaiming that he’s a useless failure was oddly upsetting. It’s the very first time that we get to see Wesley as something more than just comedic relief or an authoritative voice of the Watcher’s Council. Since leaving Sunnydale and being fired by the Watcher’s Council, Wesley’s life has fallen apart. He’s directionless and he’s been travelling the United States alone hunting demons and vampires to try to prove that he’s useful for something. He was treated like a joke by the Scoobies, his Slayer turned evil, he was fired, and he’s been alone for months and months. How can you not feel sorry for this guy?! Wesley travelling the United States fighting demons was Wesley’s way of trying to make amends and seek redemption for his failures in Sunnydale. “Angel” is a show with the mission statement of ‘redemption’. Wesley’s life and current mental state fits perfectly with the theme of the show. I love that every character on Angel thus far has been a highly flawed character seeking redemption. THEY’RE SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN REGULAR HERO CHARACTERS!
The reveal that all of Barney’s actions thus far have been motivated by an auction was unexpected and a little odd...but it worked okay! Plus, it was a great way to bring up the name ‘Wolfram & Hart’ again to keep them on the audience’s mind. Only in Los Angeles could all of the hotel staff be aware of where the supernatural auction is taking place and not bat an eyelid. I cannot emphasise enough how much I love Cordelia demanding people to pay more for her. She knows her worth and she will not let herself be under-sold. After a while, this is obviously a lure to keep the auction going until Angel arrives, but I like to think at the beginning she was genuinely offended at the price that was being offered for her.
Cordelia killed Barney! Cordelia killed a demon! It took her three years to kill a vampire in Sunnydale, but within six months of living in Los Angeles she’s a badass demon killer? Please tell me Angel and Doyle were training her off-screen...please?! Speaking of that fight scene at the end, Wesley trying to remove the taped knife from his leg is beyond funny. I could watch that all day. I’ve already made reference to four hilarious Wesley moments from this episode and I haven’t even gotten to the best one yet (it’s the “Quote Of The Episode”)!
Wesley lingers by Angel’s apartment door like a bad smell until Angel invites him to stay for breakfast. He never leaves. The episode closes on Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley, the new Angel Investigations, eating breakfast, bonding, and becoming a family. For that reason alone, this episode is memorable and special. Throw in the interesting villain and the way the repercussions of Doyle’s death were handled and you have yourself a great episode.
Quote Of The Episode
Wesley: “You! Butcher an innocent girl, will you? I’m going to thrash you to within an inch of your life...and then I’m gonna take that inch!”
I literally cannot watch that moment without laughing hysterically. Alexis’ delivery of that line and the way he pushes his glasses up his nose is absolutely amazing. I can’t think about it anymore, I’m getting a stitch.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
What are your thoughts on "Parting Gifts"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
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I love Wesley Windam-Pryce, I have to say. He is a character that grew a lot, to me, after I watched AtS, imo, he has the better character development of the show and I also think Alexis Denisof is the best actor of the Series. So, every time I rewatch BtVS I'm like, stop being such a jerks with my beloved Wesley. I'm sorry but after the second rewatch I realised that scoobies were really bitchy with him. I know he was annoying, really incompetent and ruined Faith's first step to redemtion. But come on Buffy, Giles, Faith and the rest of the gang but Cordelia are kind of douch.
ReplyDeleteAnyways I'm glad Wesley finally appears even tough I still missed Doyle. I love what he brought to te show, to AI and the dynamic of thes three people are still the higlights of the first season.
I'll just say what everyone else has said: Welsey's growth is AMAZING. I would watch Angel only for him.
ReplyDeleteThink how much Angel changed in half a season, Wesley just arrived, now it's time for him to reveal his true potential, and become a super-Wesley.
It's funny that you say that Wesley feels like a downgrade from Doyle, because I just finished watching the whole series and it's like: Doyle? Aww, he was cool and I miss him. But OMG WESLEEEEEEEEY!! Possibly with more exclamation points. He may be my favorite character in the Buffyverse. He definitely had my favorite character arc. It's not quite as drastic an arc as my second favorite character's, but it's just freaking awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited Wesley is finally here. He is a great add to this cast.
ReplyDeleteWesley!! I am really excited to see his character development. I still can't connect the two versions of Wesley, feels like two different characters, but that's because I missed a lot of episodes in between XD
ReplyDeleteNice episode, it was ok, not great. I'd like to see more of Cordelia dealing with the visions, that was a great part. Also: Cangel kiss!
Yay! I loved Doyle, but I was sitting here waiting for Wesley to come back! He was a complete tool in Buffy, but towards the end, he had an attitude adjustment and just wanted to be part of the team... which was the start of his very long character arc. I absolutely adore Wes. He's my favorite character in the Buffyverse. Yes, even more than Spike, although not by much. Wes gets a lot of feels from me after this point. He's just... just... human, I guess, more so than a lot of the other characters. He doubts himself, he has problems, he's awkward, he doesn't fit in and he knows it... I really identified with him. So, he gets feels.
ReplyDeleteBecause I am totally oblivious to everything ever, I had no idea until recently that Alexis Denisof and Alyson Hannigan were married. Now whenever Wesley is on screen all I can think is "Damn, you were flirting with Willow offscreen and Cordy on. Player."
ReplyDeleteI wasn't impressed with Wesley in this episode when I first watched it. The only scene involving him that I especially like is when he threatens Angel with the crossbow and Angel's like, "uh huh..." *swats aside*. Mostly because Angel's reaction is hilarious. Wesley did grow on me pretty quickly, though, in the next few episodes.
ReplyDeleteI like how Angel's sort of weirdly artsy (his ability to ID the sculpture, here). It adds more depth to his character. The only pre-AtS, non-spoilery evidence of this I can think of is Angelus's drawing of Buffy asleep in S2. As creepy as it was, it was a very impressive sketch.
Also, this episode really demonstrates what I love about Cordelia's character. She doesn't have any superpowers or fighting skills, but she doesn't panic when she's in trouble, and she's great at coming up with stall tactics under pressure. This makes her super awesome and brave, in my opinion, and it's a nice call-back to her Sunnydale experiences.
Finally - Angel and Cordelia's extremely awkward kiss is hilarious.
- Jen