Angel, "Reprise" Review (2x15)

Brief Synopsis: “Angel learns of the impending visit of one of Wolfram & Hart’s ‘Senior Partners’, and he plans to use this occasion to launch a kamikaze mission to the ‘Home Office’ of Wolfram & Hart to take on their evil at the source.”


"The Thin Dead Line" (2x14) quick link here                                                                                                                  "Epiphany" (2x16) quick link here

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With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



Before exploring the episode itself, we must look at the episode title of “Reprise”. A ‘reprise’ is simply a repeat or a recurrence of an action. So why is this episode called “Reprise”? What is being repeated? The reprise in question stems from the conclusion of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season two’s “Surprise”, where Angel had sex with Buffy, lost his soul, and became Angelus once again. In this episode, Angel sleeps with Darla and the episode fades to black on Angel crawling outside in the dark in a great deal of pain (just like he did in “Surprise” when he was losing his soul). The episode title is a clever play on what’s to come for Angel here, however, there’s no way you can possibly appreciate this genius until you’ve actually seen the episode. That sneaky, sneaky Tim Minear is at it again! Why am I not surprised that Tim Minear wrote this episode? It seems as though every great episode this season has been written by Tim...“Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been”, “Darla”, “The Trial” (co-wrote), and “Reunion” (co-wrote) all have Tim’s name on the credits. I’ve always found that Tim gets the essence of the show and its characters more so than any other writer on “Angel”. What Tim delivers here is nothing short of spectacular and it really gives the Darla arc of the show a stupendous send-off with “Reprise” and “Epiphany” (both written by Tim).

As I’ve mentioned before, the Darla arc of the show is arguably the greatest arc that the show ever produces. The first season of “Angel” was rather arc-less. It had a general theme of redemption and connection, but it lacked a coherent, structured arc. Season three is the Holtz arc, season four contains the Beast/Angelus arc and the Jasmine arc, while the final season goes back to a general theme (can Angel Investigations survive in Wolfram & Hart before they’re corrupted), rather than an easily defined arc. When you take this into account, I can’t see an argument against the Darla arc being the greatest of the show. The others simply aren’t comparable to it, especially Angel’s journey throughout it.

Angel’s had a rough time of it this season (more so than usual). Wolfram & Hart have been destroying his life as much as they possibly can in an attempt to turn him dark. It worked. Drusilla appeared in Los Angeles, re-sired Darla, and they went on a killing spree. In retaliation to Wolfram & Hart’s heinous actions in orchestrating this, Angel allowed Darla and Drusilla to kill them all (outside of Lilah and Lindsey, whom they spare), fired his friends, and started down an even darker road of revenge. Slowly, very slowly, Angel has been pulling out of his darkness through Lorne’s guidance and friendship. He realised that firing his friends was a critical mistake and after being informed that Wesley was shot in the stomach, he rushed to the hospital to see him. Before he got to Wesley, he bumped into Cordelia, who told him to stay away from them because they don’t need him anymore. He turned his back on them, so in turn they’re turning their backs on him. The best part of this story is that there’s no right or wrong answer. No good or bad, just varying shades of grey. Angel has made some terrible, stupid decisions over the past fifteen episodes, but almost all of them are understandable. What “Reprise” offers us is an Angel at the end of his tether. His team don’t want him, Darla is a vampire again, Angel is alone and doesn’t want to live anymore...so to speak. So, when he hears that one of Wolfram & Hart’s “Senior Partners” is coming to Los Angeles for an inspection, he decides to go on a one-way kamikaze mission to the Home Office to take down all the Senior Partners once and for all. He knows that he’ll die, he knows that there’s no turning back, but he doesn’t care anymore. He’s given up hope, which is a dangerous thing to lose. What comes after Angel’s trip is one of the most powerful, shocking, insightful moments of the show, and one which is of paramount importance to Angel’s personal journey in this season. Is “Reprise” the darkest, most depressing episode of the show? An argument could be made for “A Hole In The World” or “Release”, but I don’t think any episode packs the overwhelming despair that “Reprise” gives us here. Angel discovers that monsters and demons aren’t the real evil in the world, humans are. Earth is Hell. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling as happy as a pig in shit after that revelation. Why not punch a puppy while you’re saying it, Holland, just to add that extra depression?

This episode is all about human evil. Wolfram & Hart exists because of this evil and they will continue to exist long after Angel is dust. Parallels to the very last “Angel” episode, “Not Fade Away”, anyone? The new and improved Angel Investigations are dealing with a very different type of human evil than Angel himself is during this episode. The human evil that they’re facing is denial and ‘Sunnydale Syndrome’. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s a term I’ve created (I think I did at least...) to explain why many humans in the Buffyverse have a tendency to forget about any supernatural element they encounter and rationalise it in their heads as something completely normal. For example, when vampires attacked Sunnydale High in “School Hard”, everyone believed the story that it was a gang on PCP. Here, the Sharp family would rather believe that Wesley, Cordy, and Gunn are crooks that’re after money through extortion than believe that their daughter was impregnated with a demon spawn and grew a third eye in the back of her head. How charming. The team are learning that demons and vampires aren’t their only problem, humans can be too. How can they afford to pay their bills and help the helpless if people refuse to pay them? In his frustration, Gunn goes to visit his old crew, while Wesley goes back into the loving arms of his girlfriend, Virginia, who swiftly dumps him because she can’t deal with the violent, dangerous lifestyle he leads in trying to help the helpless. As sad as it is to see Wesley single and lonely again, I can understand Virginia’s decision. Virginia was controlled and manipulated by her father for her entire life (“Guise Will Be Guise”). After finally escaping his clutches, she’s traded one prison for another in a sense. Instead of worrying about her father and trying to create a life for herself, she’s worrying about Wesley’s health and wellbeing instead. For the first time in her life, she needs to be selfish and go and enjoy her life without having to worry about her boyfriend being shot or killed.

Cordy: “Good evening, Angphlel Investigations, we help the helpless, how can we help you?”
Wesley: “What in God's name is ‘Angphlel’?”
Cordy: “Oh, there are just some names I'm not saying at the moment. Well, what is it, Wesley?”
......
Wesley: “There must be someone you can call.”
Cordy: “Uh, no, because then I'd actually have to have some friends.  I don't.”
Wesley: “That's not true.”
Cord: “You don't count.”
Wesley: “Thank you.”
Cordy: “You know what I mean.”
Wesley: “Things are gonna get better, Cordelia. For all of us.”

Firstly, It’s so amazingly wonderful to see that Cordelia and Wesley have grown close. Then I remember Cordy taking Angel’s side and not even listening to Wesley’s side of the argument at all after Wesley stole Connor in the next season, and my elated feelings suddenly diminish. Wesley, who has just been dumped, cares more about Cordy’s feelings than he does his own sadness. Also, how much has Cordelia grown this season?! She has no friends outside of Angel Investigations and she no longer lives a carefree lifestyle or goes out partying because of her journey in “To Shanshu In L.A.”. Vocah opened Cordelia’s mind up to all the suffering in the world and Cordelia can’t bear the pain that everyone is in. It put things in perspective for her. She’s desperate to help people now and it’s taken priority over everything else in her life. She’s already so far removed from the person she was at Sunnydale High that she’s almost unrecognisable. I say ‘almost’ because she still cares a little too much about money. When the Sharps call her in the middle of the night offering to pay her, she quickly drives to their house without backup, where a group of Skilosh demons are waiting to ambush her. Oops. While Cordelia has certainly evolved a lot as a character, her human evil is still greed to a certain extent. Cordelia’s greed could get her killed...but more on that in the next review.

Let’s be honest though, this entire episode is about Angel’s story. Angel’s journey from hopelessness, to determination to take down Wolfram & Hart, to despair as he realises that he can never win, is depressingly perfect. The first we see of Angel in this episode, he’s stopping one of Wolfram & Hart’s ritual sacrifices. It would appear that Angel’s primary goal in life is still to ruin Wolfram & Hart and get revenge at all costs. Angel goes to see Kate because she has more resources than he does to figure out what Wolfram & Hart are up to with all this recent dark activity. Kate tells Angel that after the events of the last episode, “The Thin Dead Line”, she’s been relegated to desk duty and has access to no resources until her pending Internal Affairs investigation. How does stopping a corrupt captain that was raising zombie cops cause Kate to get punished and eventually fired?! WHAT THE HELL! THE INJUSTICE OF IT ALL MAKES MY HEAD ACHEY. To be fair, her superiors have no idea that vampires, demons, or zombies exist, so as far as they’re concerned she’s still struggling with her father’s death and needs to see a counsellor and sort out her issues. They’re partially correct. Kate is still struggling with her father’s death and has become obsessed with anything and everything supernatural. Kate is thirsty for revenge on the supernatural world for taking her father’s life and her being fired here greatly limits her ability to achieve this goal. Kate has no friends, her career and life has been stripped away from her, her father is gone, and she has nothing left to live for. The last we see of her in this episode, she takes an overdose of pills and waits to die. God, this episode is so depressing. As many of you are aware, back in 2011 I too tried to commit suicide by overdose, but I somehow miraculously survived. I didn’t have a dark, handsome, brooding vampire to save me, I just had dumb luck and an incredibly tolerant body. Seeing Kate’s despair here brought back a lot of uncomfortable feelings for me. I can empathise greatly with her level of hopelessness and just wanting the pain to stop once and for all.

(the downward spiral of Kate...)

After being missing since becoming the non-human torch in “Redefinition”, Darla makes another appearance. It would appear that she’s been hiding out at Lindsey’s house while she recovers from her burns and regains her strength. This actually makes a certain amount of sense. Darla and Lindsey are both creatures that are desperate for power and will do anything to achieve it. I strongly believe that Lindsey was only attracted to Darla because he had power over her when she first returned. She was weak and mentally unstable, so he felt superior and powerful. Plus, you know, trying to steal Angel’s former-love from him is never a bad thing as Lindsey despises Angel for cutting off his hand. You take my hand, I’ll take you sire...call it even? However, it’s because of their quests for power that Lindsey and Darla would never be a successful couple. They’d screw each other over at the first opportunity if it meant they’d further their own goals. Hell, the only reason Darla spared Lindsey in the wine cellar is because she knew that he’d be the likely successor to Holland, so he could offer her a useful contact and more power. Darla and Lindsey’s relationship dynamic is fascinating to watch because you know that it’s never going to last and that one of them will probably end up dead. Exciting times! As evil as Lindsey is, as inexcusable as his behaviour has been, he still has a tiny shred of humanity left in him. He always chooses power over nobility, but he’s also aware of the fact that his power search is at the expense of innocent people getting hurt...

Darla: “You always take a shower when you come back from that place. Don’t know why, you’re never dirty.”
Lindsey: “I’m always dirty.”

Because of Wolfram & Hart’s increase in dark activity and skittish behaviour in general, Angel knows that some looming darkness is approaching...

Angel: “What is ‘it’ and how do I stop it?”
Lorne: “I don’t know and you don’t.”
Angel: “Can it be killed?”
Lorne: “Almost anything that can manifest in order to move in this dimension can be killed...kinda the downside of being here. That and the so called ‘musicals’ of Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

Damn, Lorne, you sassy. Under duress, Lorne gives Angel one tiny piece of information about what’s on the lawyers’ minds that are in Caritas: the Band of Blacknil. Angel scans his books at the Hyperion Hotel, only to realise that a lot of them were Wesley’s books and he’s taken them with him to their new premises for Angel Investigations. Angel needs that book to stop Wolfram & Hart. Angel is still very much obsessed with ruining Wolfram & Hart and he will do anything to stop them. Therefore, when Cordelia tries to stop Angel taking a book, his response is “don’t make me move you”. Wesley stands up to Angel for the first time and I couldn’t be prouder of him, but did he literally have to stand up to Angel just a week after being shot in the stomach? His wound re-opens and he needs to go to the hospital again.

Cordelia: “I don’t even know what you are anymore.”
Angel: “I’m a vampire, look it up.”

To quote my boy Andrew from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, “why does everybody always have to yell?”. I hate it when the team aren’t getting along! It’s like watching your parents argue! I want to smush Angel, Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn’s heads together until they become friends again. ANGEL, WILL YOU PLEASE STOP BEING A MORON TO EVERYONE ON YOUR QUEST TO STOP WOLFRAM & HART! Again, I understand why he’s acting the way he is, but Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn are innocent here. All they’ve ever done is love Angel and offer him friendship. I feel like Angel is particularly hard on Cordelia here because it was her that told him to stay away at the end of the “The Thin Dead Line”. She told Angel that they don’t need him anymore and don’t want him anymore. Angel’s one last tether to humanity have turn their backs on him.

(great continuity casting for Denver)

I was really pleasantly surprised to see Denver return to “Angel”. Denver helped Angel stop a Thesulac Demon in the 1950’s (another Tim Minear penned episode, “Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been”)...well, Angel didn’t actually stop the demon in the end, he allowed the demon to take all the souls in the hotel after they tried to hang him...why is Angel’s life always so dramatic? It was a cool piece of continuity to bring him back 50 years later. By this point, Denver is old. He’s in his late 70’s, but still runs the same book store. Denver explains to Angel that in order to get the Band of Blacknil (a ring), he needs a glove. Denver happens to have this glove and he offers it to Angel free of charge. Angel, a vampire, trying to save a hotel of people in the 50’s changed Denver’s life. Suddenly the world wasn’t so black and white. Not all vampires were bad. Just as Denver is giving Angel the glove, Darla appears out of nowhere and shoves a sword through Denver, which also pierces Angel at the same time. Denver dies, Darla steals the glove, and Angel is feeling a little holier than he was a few moments before. Poor Denver!

Angel and Darla both gatecrash Wolfram & Hart’s summoning ceremony for the Senior Partner, craziness ensues, Angel steals the glove back from Darla, falls fifteen stories to the ground with the Senior Partner, retrieves the Band of Blacknil from the Senior Partner’s corpse, and heads to the Home Office ready to fight Wolfram & Hart to the death. He approaches the elevator that will lead him to the Home Office...and Holland Manners appears in the elevator. WHAT THE HELL?! HE’S DEAD!

Holland: “Unfortunately my contract with Wolfram & Hart extends well beyond that.”

...Why would you ever work there? You can’t even catch a break when you kick the bucket. The conversation between Angel and Holland is absolutely incredible and the entire thing is in the “Quote Of The Episode” section below. Every word out of Holland’s mouth is perfection and Sam Anderson has never been better. Holland explains to Angel that evil endures. Evil has always been a part of the world and the human race, and it will continue to be so forever. We all have dark urges inside us. We’re all guilty of selfishness and horrible actions from time to time. So long as these urges and actions exist, Wolfram & Hart will survive and thrive. Just look at Wolfram & Hart’s human employees as examples. Holland, Lilah, and Lindsey all work for Wolfram & Hart because they crave power and wealth. Do they care that innocent humans are killed by Wolfram & Hart? Do they care that Wolfram & Hart have evil intentions and are dedicated to their own goals and nothing more? Very little, if at all. Certainly not enough to leave. Angel can’t win in his quest to defeat Wolfram & Hart because as long as humans exist, there will be evil, and as long as evil exists, so will the Senior Partners and Wolfram & Hart. Angel is fighting a war he can never win. It’s almost like a prelude to Angel Investigations vs. Wolfram & Hart in the last ever episode, “Not Fade Away”. Wolfram & Hart are eternal. 

The first season and a half of Angel has been about humanising him (so to speak). It’s been giving Angel ties to the world and making connections with the helpless people he’s saving. He’s been living a human existence filled with friendship, loss, desire, happiness, and all the other wonderful emotions that come with being a part of humanity. Even though he’s currently down a dark path, he’s still connected to the world. He ultimately does the right thing and gives Anne the $2,000,000 for her homeless shelter, he tries to convince Gene that life is worth living after getting dumped and almost accidentally destroying the world, and he stopped the zombie cops. As much as Angel has tried to dehumanise himself to stop Wolfram & Hart, he still cares. He still cares about the fate of the world and wants to help people who really need it. Sure, he’s distracted! Sure, he wants revenge! But, he’s still a part of the world. Holland helps Angel to see that everything he does is for nothing. All those people he’s saved, all those souls he’s sheltered...they’re all doomed to Wolfram & Hart because evil will always exist in this world. Angel has been desperate to become a human again for years, but even this dream is shattered by Holland here. So what if he becomes human? It makes no difference. The fight can never be won and the world can never be saved...because of human beings themselves. Then, Holland delivers the final blow...

Holland: “Welcome to the Home Office.”

*The elevator opens up in Los Angeles in the exact same place that Angel left from*

Angel: “This isn't...”

Holland: “Oh, you know it is. You know that better than anyone. Things you've seen, things you've...well, done. You see, if there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, why, they wouldn't be people. They'd all be angels.”

That one shred of hope that Angel had been desperately clinging on to disappears. Angel gives in to perfect despair, as the glove clatters to the floor next to him. Evil always endures. It cannot ever be defeated and the people that Angel cares about can never be saved from it. Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Kate, Buffy...they’re all doomed ultimately. Everyone is. Holland has made Angel see this more clearly than he ever could have imagined before. Even Angel’s noble mission to destroy the Senior Partners ended in more misery and despair. After realising that Holland was right and that humanity is doomed to suffer its fate, Angel doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore. He doesn’t want his soul anymore. He doesn’t want a conscience, remorse, and the ability to care. He wants a way out of this world...then Darla arrives in his bedroom looking for the Band of Blacknil. I cannot emphasise this point enough: Angel has no hope left and nothing left to live for. Holland has destroyed every delusion of a happy ending that Angel has ever had or wished for. Every dream Angel has ever wanted has been destroyed. He gives into the hopeless, overwhelming despair he feels and he sleeps with Darla. A lot of people might be wondering why Angel did this, but if you understand Holland’s speech and Angel’s reaction to it, it all makes perfect sense. Angel describes it best here...

Darla: “Don’t play games with me.”
Angel: “I’m not playing. I just want to feel something besides the cold...why’re you laughing? Don’t you feel the cold?”
Darla: “What’re you doing?”
Angel: “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters.”

This is nothing like we’ve ever seen before. This isn’t the Angel that distanced himself from humanity before “City Of”, this isn’t the revenge-seeking Angel of the past few episodes, this is the Angel that has nothing left to fight for, no hope, and no desire to go on. He hits Darla here, throws her through a glass door, and starts to kiss her. Everything about his demeanour has changed. He doesn’t want to care about the world or its fate anymore. He’s tired of feeling alone, cold, and empty. He wants it to stop by bringing Angelus back and losing his soul...

The episode fades to black.

What an overwhelmingly powerful piece of television.


Quote Of The Episode

There’s only one thing it could possibly be here. It’s not a quote, but an entire speech. I firmly believe that it’s one of the most powerful, thought-provoking scenes in the history of television and that it’s often overlooked...


Angel: “In the larger sense, I really don't give a crap.”

Holland: “Now, I don't think that's true. Be honest, you’ve got the tiniest bit of ‘give a crap’ left. Otherwise you wouldn't be going on this kamikaze mission. Now let me see, there was something in a sacred prophecy, some oblique reference to you. Something you're supposed to prevent. Now what was that?”

Angel: “The apocalypse.”

Holland: “Yes, the apocalypse, of course. Another one of those. Well, it's true, we do have one scheduled. And I imagine if you were to prevent it you would save a great many people. Well, you should do that then, absolutely! I wasn't thinking. Of course, all those people you save from that apocalypse would then have the next one to look forward to, but hey, it's always something, isn't it?”

Angel: “You're not gonna win.”

Holland: “Well, no. Of course we aren't. We have no intention of doing anything so prosaic as ‘winning’.”

Angel: “Then why?”

Holland: “Hmm, I’m sorry, why what?”

Angel: “Why fight?”

Holland: “That's really the question you should be asking yourself, isn't it? See, for us, there is no fight, which is why winning doesn't enter into it. We...go on, no matter what. Our firm has always been here, in one form or another. The Inquisition, the Khmer Rouge. We were there when the very first caveman clubbed his neighbour. See, we're in the hearts and minds of every single living being. And that, friend, is what's making things so difficult for you. See, the world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us...welcome to the Home Office.”

*The elevator opens up in Los Angeles in the exact same place that Angel left from*

Angel: “This isn't...”

Holland: “Oh, you know it is. You know that better than anyone. Things you've seen, things you've...well, done. You see, if there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, why, they wouldn't be people. They'd all be angels.”


FINAL SCORE: 9/10

What are your thoughts on "Reprise"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!

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