Angel, "Guise Will Be Guise" Review (2x06)

Brief Synopsis: “Under Lorne’s guidance, Angel travels to a mystical swami to help him understand his haunting dreams and regain some focus. While he’s away, Wesley assumes Angel’s identity to try and save a woman in peril.”


"Dear Boy" (2x05) quick link here                                                                                                                                                      "Darla" (2x07) quick link here

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



After the emotional upheaval that was Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s “Family” and Angel’s “Dear Boy”, it’s nice to have a primarily comedic episode to review – especially when you consider that the next half a season of “Angel” is very dark and serious. The timing of this episode is perfect. Not just because “Angel” is overdue a comedic break, but also because it’s right after Buffy’s “Family”. Virginia in this episode and Tara in “Family” have some interesting parallels. Both were manipulated and controlled by their fathers in order to fulfil their father’s selfish needs. Both were restricted and often thought about running away from their families. I don’t think the parallels were intentional, but it does make for a nice comparison. The Queen of comedic, quirky episodes, Jane Espenson wrote this and her trademark dialogue and truncated sentences are all over it. As a general rule, Jane Espenson has been involved in every great show ever in some capacity. “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”? Check. “Angel”? Check. “Game Of Thrones”? Check. “Firefly”? Check. “Torchwood”? Check. “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”? Check. “The OC”? Check. “Battlestar Galactica”? Check. “Once Upon A Time”? Check. “Warehouse 13”? Check. “Dollhouse”? Check...I think you get the point that Jane Espenson = Goddess.

(that's right, I've met a writing Goddess! \O/ <--- celebratory arm-flail of joy)

“Guise Will Be Guise” is a very clever title because the episode explores the concept of identity and how Wesley and Angel both cover their insecurities with a disguise that they display to the world. We’ve seen a lot of episodes on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” that openly explore the main characters’ sense of identity, but there haven’t been many “Angel” episodes that cover it so openly thus far. The interesting thing about identity on “Angel” is that the characters are adults, not teenagers or young adults like most of the Scoobies. It just goes to show that you’re constantly exploring who you are and evolving, even when you’re an adult. Who is Angel? What does he do? How does he carry himself? Why does he act the way he does? These questions are answered in “Guise Will Be Guise” using two methods. Firstly, we see it through the eyes of the man himself while he’s talking to the fake T’ish Magev. The second, much more humourous half, is dissected through the eyes of Wesley and how Wesley views Angel. Wesley needs to pretend to be Angel convincingly so he’s forced to act how he thinks Angel would act. He tries to follow Angel’s actions, his broodiness, his confidence, and his strength. In doing so, Wesley finds some confidence in himself that has been lacking for a very long time. After being re-ensoulled and overcoming the initial (100  years!) adjustment period, Angel has basically created his own identity. What the fake T’ish Magev does is get to the root of why Angel made up his identity of the things he did. This is a detailed and hilarious process, which sees the T’ish Magev look at Angel’s choice of hairstyle, his car, his dating history, his choice of clothes, and much more. Of course, this episode has Wesley pretending to be Angel, so it was always going to be a winner as Alexis is the King of physical comedy.

The parallels between Angel and Wesley are apparent even before Wesley pretends to be Angel. Wesley, deep down, is an insecure man that lacks self-esteem because his father told him that he’d never amount to anything. As we discover in season five’s “Lineage”, Roger has always looked at Wesley as a disappointment. Yes, I’m aware it was a robot, but if it was convincing enough to fool Wesley, it’s realistic enough to prove this point. Plus, it was also implied in season one’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” that Roger used to lock Wesley in a cupboard under the stairs (I KNEW WESLEY WAS AN ADULT HARRY POTTER!). When Wesley reached adulthood, he was fired from the Watcher’s Council and spent a year drifting through the U.S.A. before stumbling upon Angel and finding a purpose again. Back then, Angel was better than Wesley in almost every conceivable way, so this only furthered Wesley’s insecurities and thirst to prove himself. In comparison, Liam (Angel before he was sired) was also a disappointment to his father and Angelus spent the first period of his afterlife as a vampire trying to be the exact opposite of the person his father wanted him to be. They both have daddy issues. After being re-ensoulled, Angel created his own identity to cover his insecurities of Angelus potentially returning.

At the beginning of this episode, dorky Wesley is out in full force. It’s a more dorky version of Wesley than we’ve seen this season, but it’s needed in order to maximise Wesley’s character growth and transformation over the next 42 minutes. 

Wesley: “I was a rogue demon hunter, so I know how to handle myself when things get rough *he slips on some paper and falls flat on him ass.*”

Cordelia: “They have vampire detectors!”
Gunn: “We know, it’s cool, he’s got a plan.”
Wesley: “A plan?”
Angel: “Yeah, I get to the offices before they stop me.”
Gunn: “See. What?! That’s the plan?! Walking real quick was the plan?!”
-----------------------------
Cordelia: “This is Angel. ‘Oh no, I can’t do anything fun tonight. I have to count my past sins, then alphabetise them...oh, by the way, I’m thinking of snapping on Friday.’”

YOU SEE ALL THAT WITTY DIALOGUE?! Jane Espenson is the woman who gave us the ultimate drunken riddle rhyme in Buffy season three’s “Gingerbread” – “It’s a doodle. I do doodle. You too! You do doodle too!” I beg you all to try and say that when you’re hammered.

Under Lorne’s guidance, Angel goes to visit a swami known as the ‘T’ish Magev’ in order to find some mental balance again after the shocking revelation that Darla is alive in the last episode, “Dear Boy”. The T’ish Magev is played by Art LaFleur, who is in everything I’ve ever seen, I swear. He’s such a wonderfully talented actor and he really does a great job of making the T’ish Magev memorable and likeable before the big scamola is revealed.

Angel: “I don’t have a reflection, so...”
T’ish Magev: “Sure you do.”
Angel: “I do?”
T’ish Magev: “You’re reflected in the people around you, the way they see you. What do you think they see?”

My favourite scenes of the episode are easily the ones involving Angel and the T’ish Magev because they’re so insightful. Even though we discover that the T’ish Magev is a fake, it doesn’t detract from what he says because everything he says is absolutely true! For example, why does Angel have a convertible car when sunlight can turn him into a pile of dust? Why does Angel put product in his hair when he has no reflection? Angel does these things because he has no reflection and because the sun can kill him. He’s covering his fear and insecurity by doing things that he shouldn’t be doing or doesn’t need to do. Angel truly is reflected in the people around him, as we discover when Wesley is trying to pass for Angel. Wesley and Cordy both need and look up to Angel. They spent a lot of time trying to break through Angel’s icy exterior. What do they see when they look at Angel? How is he reflected in their eyes? We get to see glimpses of this from Cordelia in the “this is Angel” speech and we get to see it from Wesley throughout the episode.

Angel confiding in the T’ish Magev about his fears of the demon inside of him was a really, really interesting insight into Angel’s state of mind when it comes to Angelus. Understandably so, Angel is terrified of Angelus re-emerging, so he never lets himself get too carried away in fighting, dark thoughts, or relationships. The more interesting part is the T’ish Magev’s response to that. He tells Angel that he needs to accept himself as a vampire with a soul that also has a demon inside of him instead of trying to suppress the demon. While he’s suppressing the demon, he’s hiding away from himself and allowing his demon side to control him. If he was able to come to terms with his demon side, he could start to control it for the first time. All of this is made more fascinating when you consider the fact that Angel is heading down a very dark path in just a few episodes...locking the Wolfram & Hart employees inside a wine cellar with Darla and Drusilla, using Anne as a way to get to Wolfram & Hart, setting Darla and Drusilla on fire, AND ALSO SMOKING (quoting my man Principal Snyder there). Angel and the personality traits of Angelus are never more closely linked that they are during the Darla-arc of the show.

T’ish Magev: “What does she look like?”
Angel: “She’s beautiful. Small, blonde...”
T’ish Magev: “Right, here’s what you do...you go out there and you find yourself some small, blonde thing. You bed her, you love her, you treat her like crap, you break her heart. You and your inner-demon will thank me, I promise.”
Angel: “Umm...”

I think it’s safe to say that Angel has done that already. While I disagree that he treated Buffy like crap (mostly...), it does raise an interesting point about Angel and Buffy’s relationship. Was Angel initially attracted to Buffy because she physically reminded him of his sire? Oooh, that should totally have been explored at some point! We never get an answer to this! What a fascinating psychological thought! Vampires do have a strong connection to their sire...

Soon after the amazing conversations and sparring sessions, Angel discovers that the T’ish Magev is a fake. The T’ish Magev escapes into the sunlight and Angel manages to grab him by throwing a fishing hook through his mouth and reeling him in. That looked painful...and completely unrealistic. Again, the revelation that the T’ish Magev was a fake didn’t detract from the conversations he had with Angel because they were so honest, insightful, and realistic. Perhaps the fake T’ish Magev was a counsellor or psychology teacher before becoming an evil mastermind.

While this is going on, Wesley (pretending to be Angel) is taken at gun-point by a man who works for Magnus Bryce. Wesley’s little look to Cordelia as he’s leaving, where his eyes scream ‘save me!’, is terrific. As I’ve mentioned before and will mention another 87 times in my review of “Spin The Bottle”, Alexis is the King of physical comedy. He captures Angel’s awkwardness perfectly, but also adds his own clumsy mannerisms. The results are spectacular. For a long time, Wesley has looked up to Angel and tried to emulate him. Now, he gets the chance to be Angel and he excels. He even spikes his hair up like Angel! With that being said, it doesn’t start smoothly for Wesley. Wesley, you’ve been researching vampires since you were a boy, you should know by now that vampires have to be invited into human homes. You should also know by now that mirrors need to be covered (he shrieks at his reflection!) if you’re pretending to be a vampire and that you can’t touch crosses. From a comedic standpoint, the best parts of the episode revolve around Wesley forgetting the laws that confine vampires. Wesley holding the cross for ten seconds and then having to pretend that it hurt him, only to make more fuss over the ice that he places his hand in, makes me bust a gut. Even better than that is Wesley drinking the blood. Sweet Lucifer, I cannot watch that scene again. It’s not good for my health. When he whispers “dear God, that’s...nummy...”, I die. During that scene, Magnus Bryce casually mentions the Goddess Yeska. Oooh, you sneaky, sneaky Jane Espenson! It’s the same Goddess that Magnus intends to sacrifice Virginia to.

(Yeska...sexy, no?)

While defending Virginia, Wesley successfully terrifies two men who believe him to be Angel. It must be a wonderful change of pace for Wesley to be commanding such fear and respect, just on name value alone. Wesley has never encountered respect or being viewed as someone with authority before. When he arrived in Sunnydale as a Watcher, nobody respected Wesley or listened to what he had to say. Now that he’s in Angel’s shoes, everyone is treating him differently, which I feel causes a change in Wesley. Wesley’s confidence grows and very soon after this he finds himself as the leader of Angel Investigations. Wesley is forced into acting to save himself and other people in this episode and he realises that he’s capable of greatness if he can just find some self belief.

This newfound confidence results in Wesley and Virginia doing the wild thing in Virginia’s bed. Wesley’s idea of foreplay is telling Virginia that the curse has been widely misinterpreted and that he won’t lose his soul. Who said that romance is dead?

Before Angel can stop the fake T’ish Magev, he informs people who work for Magnus that Angel is with him. This tips Magnus off that Wesley is an imposter. To prove to Virginia that Wesley is a fake, they throw Wesley into a patch of sunlight that’s streaming in through a window. Wesley pretends that the sun is burning him, but it soon becomes apparent that he’s not a vampire when he doesn’t burst into flames. This is a huge blow for Virginia. She trusted Wesley, she confided in Wesley, and she slept with Wesley. Her whole life she’s been locked away like a child and has never had a friend before. Wesley comes along and protects her, helps her, and treats her well...then it turns out all of this has been a lie. I understand Virginia’s rage towards Wesley.

After banishing Wesley from the Magic Kingdom, Magnus ties Virginia to an altar and tries to sacrifice her to the Goddess Yeska so that he’ll receive riches and power, thus redefining the term ‘tough love’. For Virginia’s entire life, he’s been protecting and confining his daughter so that she can die at the right moment. OH MY GOD, HE’S DUMBLEDORE BEFORE VOLDEMORT USED HARRY’S BLOOD TO RESTORE HIS BODY! Luckily, this Voldemort has a nose. Let’s not forget, Magnus has a soul and therefore has zero excuses for his horrific actions.

Wesley: “Release her or die.”
Angel: “Don’t I say that?”

Wesley strides into the room with the rest of Angel Investigations to save the day! Wesley’s newfound confidence also gives Angel an identity crisis. Angel gets shirty over Wesley wearing his coat and using his catchphrases. So very funny. The line above proves that Wesley faking confidence as Angel has led to a legitimate increase in confidence for him. He’s come so far over the past year, but now it’s time to take him character to another level. Wesley saved the ‘damsel in distress’ in this episode, not Angel. Wesley saved Virginia from the would-be-assassins by himself. Here are some other reasons why I love this scene...

1) Wesley’s look of relief at Virginia not being a virgin before he slept with her...“oh, thank goodness...”
2) Angel’s over-the-top defending of the fact that he’s not a eunuch. He showed more emotion in that scene than he did in three years in Sunnydale.
3) Rick quietly shuffling off in the background after Virginia tells her father that she previously slept with him. A friendly note to you all: don’t watch this scene while drinking. You need a new keyboard afterwards.
4) Virginia finally getting revenge on her father and punching him in the face.
5) Angel’s smug look to finish the scene.


By the end of this episode, Wesley has a girlfriend for the first time (that we’ve seen) and some confidence and self belief. All it took for Wesley to find this was to pretend that he had it already. Wesley had the strength inside of him all along to do real good in the world and to make a difference. It’s a cool message to send out into the world, isn’t it? Each and every one of us is capable of greatness if we just believe in ourselves.

Angel: “’bodyguard to the stars’, yeah right....there’s no Wyndam-Pryce Agency!”

The perfect ending to a very funny, insightful episode.


Quote Of The Episode

Magnus: “She’s impure? She’s not a virgin?...you!”

Gunn: “Whoa! That’s what impure meant?”

Cordelia: “She slept with him?”

Magnus: “You were supposed to be Angel. This wouldn’t have happened. That’s why I hired him, he’s a eunuch.”

Cordelia: “You slept with her?”

Angel: “A eunuch?!”

Wesley: “Things happen...two young people, danger....”

Virginia: “What are you talking about?”

Magnus: “She was a virgin before you got here.”

Virginia: “I was not a virgin!”

Magnus: “What?”

Wesley: “Oh, thank goodness...”

Gunn: “I could have told you she wasn’t no virgin.”

Angel: “Not a eunuch!”

Cordelia: “One day as Angel. One day and he’s getting some!”

Magnus: “What? How could you...I kept you away from all men.”

Angel: “...the cure isn’t even all that clear...”

Virginia: “Daddy, you remember that chauffeur from when I was sixteen? And the one at eighteen? I haven’t been a virgin for a very long time. I even dated Rick. *Rick shuffles off in the background*.”

Magnus: “Ginny, don’t do this! Don’t make me angry!”

Virginia: “Right, because then you might do something bad. You were going to kill me! *Virginia punches her father in the face, knocking him to the floor*. You are not my father anymore.”

*Angel walks over the crumpled Magnus and smirks*

Angel: “...not a eunuch.”


FINAL SCORE: 7/10

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

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