Angel, "Disharmony" Review (2x17)

Brief Synopsis: “Angel Investigations is whole once again with Angel rejoining the team, but things are still awkward between Angel and Cordelia. When an old friend of Cordy’s from Sunnydale High, Harmony, arrives in Los Angeles as a newly sired vampire, Angel has to choose between supporting Cordelia and protecting her from her now soulless friend.”


"Epiphany" (2x16) quick link here                                                                                                                             "Dead End" (2x18) quick link here

Two quick notes before we get started...

1) This review will almost definitely contain spoilers for episodes after this one.

2) If you enjoy my reviews, please subscribe to the blog! Over on the right-hand side there's a little box that says "Follow Shangel's Reviews by Email!". If you put your Email address in there and click "Submit", then confirm your subscription, you will get each review sent straight to your inbox! No junk mail, no bullshit, just my reviews.

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



The episode title of “Disharmony” is clever because it’s addressing the two biggest themes of the episode in one word. Firstly, it highlights that Harmony will be arriving in Los Angeles and causing disruption. Secondly, Angel Investigations is in a state of disharmony since Angel rejoined the group because Cordelia isn’t ready to fully forgive him yet. She’s accepted Angel back into the group, but not into her heart. Angel hurt her, Angel abandoned her, Angel fired her, and Angel gave away her clothes! They’d been through so much together and were the only two original members of Angel Investigations that were left, so it makes sense that Cordelia takes longer to accept Angel back than Wesley and Gunn. Cordelia should be pissed off at him and I’m glad that David Fury addresses that fact early and doesn’t just gloss over it because Angel’s a part of the team again. Cordy’s not the type of person to forgive and forget easily. Remember when Xander cheated on her with Willow in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” season three? She cut his head off of every picture of him she owned and then spent the next six months being rude and sarcastic to him (rightfully so, you could say). 

Cordelia: “You didn’t just betray me, Angel. You didn’t just hurt me. You gave away my clothes.”
Angel: “To the needy.”
Cordelia: “I am the needy! Do you know how scared I was you were on your way to becoming Angelus again? Imagine what could have happened if you’d gone nuts and slept with Darla!”
Angel (mumbling): “You know I would never do that...”

...Awkward. So awkward. I hope that lie doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass in the next season, Angel.

Another great thing about this episode is that it subtly addresses the struggle for power between Wesley and Angel. Angel has accepted that he’s not the leader of Angel Investigations anymore, but he’s having trouble adjusting to taking orders from Wesley. Angel gave the big apology, he made the gesture of friendship, but now he had to deal with the consequences of that and has to learn how to take orders. Angel spent a hundred years by himself, brooding and relying on only himself, and now here he is taking orders from Wesley. To be fair, Wesley is flourishing in his role as leader. He’s commanding and has definitely grown in confidence since Angel fired him in “Reunion”. Even though Wesley is doing well, it doesn’t mean that he’s above giving Angel a hard time. Wesley, Cordy, and Gunn all relish in making Angel a glorified coffee-maker and receptionist for a while. Angel fired them all and hurt them all, they’re entitled to a little light-hearted revenge.

What’s most surprising about “Disharmony” is how damn funny it is! As soon as Harmony arrives it’s joke and witty pun after joke and witty pun. Part of this is due to the fact that “Reprise” and “Epiphany” were so dark and depressing that a little humour was needed. Think about it, when was the last time “Angel” had a light-hearted episode? “Guise Will Be Guise”? That was ten episodes ago! The other reason why “Disharmony” is so funny is that Harmony doesn’t belong with Angel Investigations. Like, at all. What bonds Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, and Doyle together? What common goal do they all share? They’re trying to make amends for their previous behaviour and are trying to save souls. Can you see Harmony fitting into that picture at all? Yes, Harmony arrives in Los Angeles with an identity crisis, but she’s not bred to be the type of person that belongs in Angel Investigations. Even when she becomes Angel’s secretary in season five, she’s still not really a part of the gang and ends up betraying them all for funsies. Plus, Harmony has the attention span of a goldfish. She spills blood on the computer and breaks it, sings for Lorne in a scene that will forever make my ears bleed, has a hilarious scene with Cordelia where Cordelia thinks she’s a lesbian, she tries to be a part of Angel Investigations, and inevitably betrays them for no good reason because she’s a soulless vampire. All of this is played in the funniest of ways.

With all of the above being said, I feel that the Darla-arc of the show should have continued until the end of the season. Why not have Lindsey leave during the Darla-arc at some point and move the Pylea-arc to season three to distract Angel from Buffy’s death? The Darla-arc was so strong, so flawlessly written, and so powerful that I feel as though there was more story left to tell. Why not have Angel be dark for a few more episodes? Why not blend those lines between Angel and Angelus just a little more? Why not have Drusilla around for just one more episode? Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel that the season should have ended on “Epiphany”, with Angel rejoining Angel Investigations after he’s discovered Buffy’s death, so that the third season could address Angel trying to reintegrate. The first nine episodes of this season were about setting up Angel’s past and motivations, while the next seven were about Angel’s journey in and out of darkness. Therefore, the first sixteen episodes have been one big story, which is quickly removed in favour of a comedic episode. As much as the season needed a little humour, I’d have preferred for the entire season to deal with Angel’s journey and how it’s affected his friends.

Harmony arrives in this episode to highlight the growth and transformation that Cordelia has undergone since leaving Sunnydale High and moving to Los Angeles. Harmony represents everything that Cordelia used to be: self-involved, shallow, and inconsiderate. While Cordelia has evolved, Harmony is stuck. Partially because she’s a vampire, so she isn’t capable of changing her nature as easily as humans are. Cordelia explains her transformation best when she’s sitting on her sofa in her apartment with Harmony, telling Harmony how fulfilling her work is. She uses a weird air-pockets metaphor, but it does make sense. Cordelia grew up with a privileged lifestyle. She had maids, wealth, and everything she wanted. She was popular in school, waited on at home, and didn’t ever have to face the worst of humanity. She didn’t have to witness gut-wrenching poverty or see the pain that most of the world was in...until she moved to Los Angeles. Within a year, Cordelia experienced both of these things. Her parents lost all their money, so she was living in a dingy motel struggling to afford food, and then Doyle passed his visions on to her and Vocah opened her mind to all of the suffering in the world. The amazing thing is that this character growth was so natural and realistic that I didn’t notice just how much Cordelia had grown until Harmony arrived in this episode. Cordelia doesn’t need boys, wealth, or popularity to feel fulfilled anymore, she just needs to help people and save souls. She’s barely going on auditions these days and gives up her perfect life in “Birthday” in order to help people who’re in desperate need of it.

In comparison to this, Harmony is still the same person she was in Sunnydale High, and she’s miserable. She doesn’t want to be a vampire, she misses her reflection, and she’s directionless. However, Harmony does raise an interesting debate about vampires. Are all vampires evil? Are they capable of changing and being good? If you’ve read my review of Buffy’s “Forever”, you’ll know that Spike (a soulless vampire) is capable of selfless, empathetic behaviour, even when there’s nothing in it for him. This shows me that Harmony is capable of not being evil, it’s just a lot harder for her to accomplish than a human. Harmony isn’t a vicious killer, she isn’t bent on destroying the world, she’s just trying to find her place in it. Speaking of Spike, I wonder if part of Harmony’s vampire personality stems from him. Since being sired in “Graduation Day”, Harmony has spent most of her afterlife with Spike, who is an anomaly amongst vampires. Spike is more human and less evil than the other vampires we’ve seen in the Buffyverse, so perhaps some of this rubbed off on Harmony. Harmony hasn’t inherited a lot of that evilness that encompasses vampires as soon as they rise from the grave. She’s basically the exact same person she was at Sunnydale High. Is this because she was surrounded by Spike’s humanising influence quickly after being turned? We’ll never know for sure, but it’s an interesting thought. What does Harmony desire in this episode? A place in the world, material possessions, and the desire to be as popular and loved as she was in school. These are all human traits, not characteristics of a soulless, evil vampire. When faced with this identity crisis, she turns to her closest friend from the time in her life that she’s trying to relive: Cordelia.

There’s just one problem, Cordelia doesn’t know that Harmony’s a vampire. This leads to a very amusing scene where Cordelia wakes up to find Harmony in her bedroom. Harmony is trying to resist the urge to bite Cordelia, but Cordelia thinks that Harmony is trying to resist the urge to kiss her....

Willow: “Okay, we’re clear on the fact that Harmony’s a vampire, right?”
Cordelia: “Ohh, Harmony’s a vampire! That’s why she...oh my God, I’m so embarrassed. All this time I thought she was a great big lesbo! (*Willow informs Cordelia that she is now a lesbian*). Oh...good for you then.”

Of course, after discovering that Harmony’s a vampire, Angel and Wesley both want to stake her because she’s a soulless fiend. It’s an amusing irony that Angel tells Cordelia that she can’t trust Harmony because Harmony is a soulless, evil vampire, yet Angel betrayed Cordelia’s trust and abandoned her even with his soul intact. However, to Cordy, Harmony is one of her closest friends and she flat-out refuses for Harmony to be hurt. Angel just wants what’s best for Cordy, but he gave up the right to make choices like this for her when he walked away from her and fired her. Cordy doesn’t trust Angel anymore, so when he warns her about Harmony, she rebels. Not only does she allow Harmony to live, but she tries to integrate Harmony into Angel Investigations and help her find her place in the world, which leads to easily the most hilarious scenes of the episode. Case in point...

*Harmony spills blood on the computer and it explodes*
Wesley (exasperated): “Get her out of here. Now.”
Cordelia: “Come on, Harm.”
Wesley: “Such a fitting nickname.”
----------------------------------
Harmony: “I mean, how do you stand everything? Being what you are, how can you deprive yourself of the taste? The sensation of rich, warm, human blood flowing into your mouth, bathing your tongue, caressing your throat, with its sweet, sticky...”
Gunn: “I’m back!”
Angel (coming out of a trance): “Me too.”
----------------------------------
Cordelia: “What do you think?”
Lorne: “I think your friend should reconsider the name ‘Harmony’.”

Lorne tells Harmony that her path is to follow Cordelia, her guide, and that Cordelia will show her the way. Did Lorne know at this time that Harmony would betray them? Or was Harmony’s current path unclear because Harmony hadn’t made a choice yet?
 

The other facet to this episode is the pyramid scheme of vampires ran by ‘life coach’, Doug Sanders. While the pyramid scheme aspect of this episode may seem pointless, it’s needed in order to give Harmony a moral dilemma. Does she stay with Cordelia, her guide, and try to make it work with Angel Investigations, or does she join the pyramid scheme and stay with her own kind. The cult offers Harmony something that Angel Investigations didn’t (outside of Cordelia): a place in the world and a place to feel accepted and appreciated. If Angel, Wesley, and Gunn were more warm and empathetic towards Harmony here, would she still have made the same choice? Probably. Harmony is selfish by personality and does what she wants without loyalty. With the cult, she has access to human blood and an army of vampire friends. This is the moral dilemma of the episode! Does Harmony deserve a chance to help the helpless even though she’s soulless or will evil always be evil without the ability to change? It’s a fascinating topic to discuss, but it’s not one that’s easy to resolve. It seems to vary vampire to vampire.

Ultimately, Harmony betrays Cordelia and Angel Investigations. She rats them out to Doug Sanders and the pyramid scheme vampires so that they can turn one human into a vampire, eat the other two humans, and kill the renowned vampire, Angel. How rude! Of course, our heroes will not be killed off in a comedic episode, so they quickly dispatch the baddies before a showdown between Cordelia and Harmony. With two crossbows aimed at Harmony, Cordelia decides to let her go. I feel Cordy chooses to do this because she knows how it feels to be struggling to find your identity after leaving Sunnydale High. Cordy has lived it personally and her new empathetic personality doesn’t stop at human beings, it would appear. Cordelia had the visions to help her see the error of her ways and to become a stronger, better person. Harmony doesn’t have that luxury. She’s a soulless vampire. Did Cordy do the right thing in letting her go? Won’t Harmony kill innocent humans because of Cordy’s attachment and inability to kill her friend? Potentially, but Cordy feels that she owes it to Harmony to give her a second chance, which really shows you how much she’s grown. Harmony runs away into the night, and Cordy quickly tells Angel to shut up and not say “I told you so”.

After all Cordy’s character development and the episode highlighting how much she’s grown since Sunnydale High, one thing hasn’t changed...she loves clothes. Angel found the one quick way back into Cordelia’s heart and exploited it in hilarious fashion (see what I did there?)...

Wesley: “Time and space. Those are the only solutions in a situation like this. And as long as we understand that, the healing process...”
*Cordelia screams and bursts into the room holding clothes*
Cordelia: “Oh my God! These are gorgeous! You have the most amazing taste! Like, a gay man’s taste and that’s saying a lot. I love them so much! You! Thank you! You’re the best! I have to go try these on! La-la-la! New clothes, I have new clothes!”
Angel (smiling): “I got her new clothes.”
*Wesley looks annoyed*

Will “Disharmony” set the world ablaze and raise the bar for television episodes around the world? Not at all. However, it’s a welcomed addition to the “Angel” franchise because it highlights what “Angel” does best...moral dilemmas, character development, identity confusions post-education, and helping the helpless.


Quote Of The Episode

Harmony: “I mean, you’d think I’d get a ‘thank you’ for not biting any of you.”

*Harmony tears a page out of a book to put her chewing gum in*

Wesley: “What are you doing?! This book is twelve centuries old!”

Harmony: “Okay, so it’s not like I messed up a new one.”

Cordelia: “Wes, it’s not like she did it on purpose.”

Harmony: “That’s right. And I could have, because, you know, I am evil.”

*Wesley pulls a stake out of his desk drawer and lunges at Harmony*


FINAL SCORE: 7/10

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

If you've enjoyed this review, please use the conveniently placed buttons just below to share it on Blogger, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, or email it to a friend! It is greatly appreciated!