Angel, "Carpe Noctem" Review (3x04)

Brief Synopsis: “An old man casts a body-switching spell on Angel and enjoys the many pleasures of being eternally young, handsome, and bloodthirsty in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Angel is dying in an old man’s body in a retirement home. Can Angel Investigations figure it out and save Angel before his human heart gives out?”


"That Old Gang Of Mine" (3x03) quick link here                                                                                                      "Fredless" (3x05) quick link here

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



“Carpe Noctem” is the very definition of average. It’s fun, funny, and has a few great moments, but on the other hand, nothing seems to happen in this episode. There’s no character development for, well, anyone, and the villain-of-the-week leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps it’s because we’ve only seen body-switching like this once before in the Buffyverse and it was Buffy and Faith in “Who Are You?”, which was vastly, vastly more superior because of the emotional ties, the history between the characters, and the spectacular acting from Sarah and Eliza. Angel and Marcus lack the history, the parallels, and the emotional ties to make this work anywhere near as successfully. By this point, like with “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, it’s hard for the show to have a bad episode. Even when the episode isn’t that great, the cast and the characters are so wonderful and well-defined that it’s hard for there to be nothing to take away from an episode. I guess part of the problem with “Carpe Noctem” is that there’s nothing contained within it that’s must-see. No character development can often be made up for by a decent villain or a few special moments, but this episode is lacking those too. The ultimate message behind this episode is that Angel Investigations is a strong, cohesive family unit and Angel can always rely on his friends to come through for him. This message is important when you consider the second half of this season...Wesley stealing Angel’s son, Cordelia and Groo disappearing for a few episodes, Angel being distracted with rage and depression. Simply, this family unit is torn apart after episode fifteen of this season and it’s never really put back together again in quite the same loving way (mostly because Cordy is possessed, evil, and then dead).

However, for all its flaws, “Carpe Noctem” does have a few redeeming features. The first of which is that it’s just so damn fun! An old pervy guy trapped in Angel’s body, shagging Lilah, and trying to breakup with Wesley? Count me in. If nothing else, David Boreanaz’s over-the-top enthusiasm and joy as Marcus is something to behold. Couple this with a guy called ‘Woody’ who dies during a threesome and you have a recipe for an episode that can never be entirely bad. I guess my biggest criticism is that nothing happens from a continuity standpoint. If you happened to miss this episode on television, you’d be perfectly okay. While having standalone episodes is good and important, some form of development needs to transpire, otherwise it’s just throwaway. Scott Murphy writes two episodes of “Angel” season three: “Carpe Noctem” and “Provider”, which one could argue are the two weakest episodes of the season. I guess you could argue that this episode has some development for Fred, who realises that Angel isn’t romantically interested in her, but it wasn’t enough to leave me thinking “yes!” at the conclusion.

Rance Howard is a fine and decorated actor, but I never believed that Angel was inside Marcus’ body for a single second. He didn’t capture any of Angel’s mannerisms, behavioural patterns, sentence structure, or dialogue. When did Marcus ever talk like Angel? When did Marcus ever act like Angel? When Faith was inside Buffy, Sarah was nailing Faith’s character traits perfectly. Even going so far as to pronounce “about” in a Boston accent. Eliza did just as good of a job as Sarah did as well. While David seems to capture Marcus’ personality pretty well, there was little of that from the other side of the body-swap. Yet, David Boreanaz and the rest of the cast seem to be having so much fun in this episode, that I can’t help but smile and go along for the ride with them. That’s how I’d ultimately define this episode: flawed, but damn entertaining. Particularly David as Marcus. Watching Marcus hitting on women, getting into fights, and being exuberantly excited about his superpowers and vampire teeth was infectious...like a mushroom or something.

Angel: “Looks like it’s just you and me, Fred. Well, the worm certainly has turned.”
Fred: “Yeah. The worm’s turning and...am I the worm?”
Angel: “No. You may not know this, Fred, but certain friends and co-workers have been known to accuse me of being the quiet, stay at home, sulky one. Some people just don’t know how to have fun anymore...”

When did Angel develop a non-broody personality? Like, was there a bulletin or something? When did this happen? When did he stop brooding and sulking alone in his room, reading books and drawing small blonde women? He’s smiling in this episode. I don’t like it, it’s not natural, and I’m starting to think he was possessed before the body-swap.

After reading about a man (Woody...LOLs) dissolving into a pile of skin in the newspaper, Angel, Cordy, and the gang head to a gym to investigate the man who’s now missing his bones. While Cordelia stays at the gym to interview the buff guys (shocker), Angel heads to the retirement home across the street because he feels more at home with the old people than the young people, being 248 years old himself. Angel sees a creepy old man looking at the gym with binoculars, spying on the hot young women. He talks to the creepy old man, Marcus, before Marcus pulls the ol’ switcharoo and steals Angel’s young, cold body. I’m never going to get over Woody dying while having a threesome. There’s a cheesy porno out there begging to be created based on this scene. Poor Woody. The snake certainly wasn’t in his boot...Toy Story jokes for the win!

Fred: “And he opened every door for me and he paid for the tickets, and even bought a giant popcorn, and every few minutes he’d go like this *motions tilting the bucket towards her*, because he wanted me to know it was okay for me to have some.”

Fred starts this episode crushing on Angel in the most hilarious of ways. She sounds just like a teenager with her first crush, doesn’t she? It’s just a stream of fangasming spilling out of her mouth in one long sentence. This behaviour makes sense, though. Angel saved her from her hell in Pylea. When she was about to be killed, he swooped in out of nowhere, saved her from the monsters, and escaped with her on horseback. He kept her safe and finally returned her home after five years of struggling in Pylea. He gave her a place to stay for free, food, support, and emotional reassurance. Why wouldn’t she become romantically attached to him? Plus, let’s be honest, the guy is hot. Not only was Angel her hero and knight in shining armour, but Fred has been living in Pylea for five years. No dates, no kissing (I bloody well hope...), no boyfriend, no romance. It makes sense that she’d instantly crush on the first guy that shows her interest, romantic or not. Fred misinterpreted Angel taking her to the cinema as a date, which it was not. Cordelia convinces Angel to talk to Fred and set the record straight, but Angel keeps avoiding the awkward conversation and running away on cases instead. Later in the episode, Fred walks in on Angel (who’s been taken over by Marcus) having sex with Lilah on Wesley’s desk. The members of Angel Investigations amusingly mistranslate this as Angel scent-marking because he wants to be the leader again.

Fred: “I should’ve knocked. I always forget to knock because, you know, I didn’t have a door for so long. He called me sweetheart! But it’s just an expression, isn’t it? Like when a waitress calls you ‘honey’, it doesn’t mean you’re special or anything. It’s just a word, right?”

Poor Fred. Wounded by love’s bitter sting. Fred has almost grown to like Angel taking care of her. So when Angel, for the first time ever, hurts her and disappoints her, she doesn’t know how to react. This behaviour is important because by the end of this episode Fred has found her own voice once again, however slightly, which will become even more important in the next episode, “Fredless”, when Fred comes face-to-face with her parents for the first time in over five years. Fred realises that her crush on Angel is immature and silly, she realises that she needs to leave her room metaphorically. Just because Fred has been outside the hotel a few times now, it doesn’t mean she’s left her room emotionally. Inside her own head she’s still the version of herself that’s been locked away inside a cave in Pylea for five years. She’s still emotionally closed off and isolated with everyone other than Angel. Due to this, she’s mistaking Angel’s feelings of friendship and support as romantic interest. I feel this is because of her time in Pylea. Fred needs something to hold onto now that she’s back on Earth. She has no family around her, no way of dealing with the traumatic time she experienced in Pylea, so she turned to Angel, her hero. She’s desperate for Angel to have feelings for her because it’ll give her something to hold onto. It’ll give her an anchor. Overcoming these feelings and realising that she’s been acting this way is the first of many big steps in Fred’s character development. Now that she’s over Angel romantically and she’s realised what she’s been doing, she can move on. From a continuity and emotional development standpoint, Fred’s minor breakthrough here is the only thing worth mentioning from this episode.

(Excellent facial acting by David to show that he's changed)

Marcus Roscoe represents everything that Angel could be if he wasn’t burdened by his past and his curse...carefree, sexually provocative, no destiny, no Shanshu, no guilt, no remorse, no amends, just enjoying his life and loving being inside a young vampire body. Marcus inside Angel’s body is completely free and completely unburdened, which is the exact opposite of Angel himself. Marcus is old, Marcus is close to death, and now he’s discovered a body that will remain strong, powerful, and young forever. It’s the perfect discovery for him. He can do what he wants, when he wants, with nobody to stop him. He has superpowers and eternal life! They’re polar opposites. However, there are a few similarities between Marcus and Liam, Angel’s human counterpart. Both Liam and Marcus treated women as objects of lust, they both lived life to the full and spent a large amount of it drinking and partying, and both have no burdens or feelings of responsibility. This could have and should have been explored more deeply. This connection between Angel’s human past and the man that’s latched onto his body. It could have been fascinating! Such a missed opportunity! If it wasn’t for his treatment of women and his disregard for the safety of other human beings, Marcus wouldn’t be considered villainous at all. It’s not a crime to enjoy life and party all the time, but Marcus’ further actions are what distinguish him as a villain.

Angel: “Romance with Fred...so I’m a *looks down at his clothes*...obviously.”
-------------------------------------------------
Angel: “Hey, how’re you doing?”
Wesley: “Alright. You?”
Angel: “So, we gotta talk. The thing is, I’ve got nothing against you personally, it’s just...oh-ho, this is gonna be harder than I thought. I just don’t know how to spit this out.”
Wesley: “Angel, whatever it is, you know I’m here for you.”
*Wes stretches out a hand towards Angel and Angel hurriedly scoots his chair back*
Angel: “Yeah, that may be the problem. I mean, whatever we had...whatever we did...I just think that we should keep that behind us. Start from scratch. You know, two men working side by side, but, you know, none of that funny stuff.”
------------------------------------------------
Gunn: “Breakfast burritos all around.”
*Angel puts some money in Gunn’s jacket*
Angel: “Thanks, bro. Keep the change on that.”
Gunn: “...Okay...”

These exchanges above are what keep this episode from tanking. David Boreanaz has always been terrific at the over-the-top comedy scenes, ever since ‘sensitive Angel’ in season one’s “Sense & Sensitivity”. Awww, man, now I’m getting mental flashes of Angel refusing to turn into vamp-face because he felt that Cordy and Doyle judged him. So funny. I love that Marcus mistook Wesley for Fred. Comedy gold, right there.

Soon after this, Lilah arrives at the Hyperion to warn Angel that Gavin has bugged the hotel and is listening to everything he’s doing. It would appear that Lilah cares more about stopping Gavin than she does about hurting and watching Angel. Those Wolfram & Hart politics are making less and less sense. Of course, Marcus is the horniest old man in the world, so he quickly hits on Lilah and starts to kiss her. Shockingly, Lilah returns the kiss and they start to have mad, passionate groping and snogging on Wesley’s desk. It’s not until the next morning that Fred tells Cordelia that she walked in while Marcus and Lilah were making out, so in my personal head-canon, Wesley arrived at work the next morning and wondered why his desk was sticky and why his post-it notes had a crack running down the middle. I find it somewhat out of character that Lilah would kiss Angel and possibly have had sex with him, however. She’s always been kinda fixated on him and somewhat weirdly attracted to him, but I still don’t find it believable that she’d just potentially bang him in the Hyperion out of nowhere. I guess Wolfram & Hart must really keep their employees sexually frustrated. Oooh! Or Lilah was trying to get Angel to lose his soul! That could explain a lot! Was she naive enough to think that she could give Angel perfect happiness when Darla couldn’t?

Gunn: “It did used to be his. Maybe he was just kinda...reclaiming it.”
Wesley: “How? By marking it? That isn’t like him.”
Cordy: “What? This is totally like him. Doing the mystery dance with some cheap blonde?”
Fred: “Brunette. She was a cheap brunette.”
Cordy: “...You’re right. This isn’t like him.”

While Marcus is living it up and mistaking Angel for a gay man in a relationship with Wesley, who was head boy in school after all, Angel is dying in Marcus’ body. Marcus has some sort of weak heart and is often prone to minor heart attacks and chest pains. Marcus arrives at the retirement home intending to kill Angel once and for all, so he can live happily inside Angel’s body for eternity.

Marcus: “You may have the attitude and you may have the power, but there’s one thing you don’t have and never will...friends. Four of them. Standing behind you with big, heavy things.”

The members of Angel Investigations save Angel, send Marcus and Angel back to their original bodies, and Fred whacks Angel on the head one extra time for good measure before the body-swap is reversed...

Angel (in Marcus’ body): “Fred! He’s out! He’s out!”

So, as I mentioned, the ultimate message behind this episode is that Angel’s friends are his family, and they’re a completely functional, strong family unit. The team are closer than ever since returning from Pylea and this episode makes the point of fully enforcing that notion. However, did this really need to be done? We’ve already noticed that the gang are close by the way they’ve interacted since Pylea, did we really need it to be spelled out for us so obviously? It’s great to see the gang close and united, but we’ve already seen it in the vastly superior episodes that have come before it, “Heartthrob” (for Angel and Cordy), “That Vision Thing” (for everyone), and “That Old Gang Of Mine” (for Gunn and Angel). Having close, real, genuine friendships between the characters is enjoyable and something that is definitely needed when you think about what’s to come, I just wish they’d gone about enforcing these bonds in a different way.

Fred: “Is this about how you’re not like other men, what with the curse and all? And how you’re really fond of me, but that’s as far as it goes?”
Angel: “Umm, yeah.”
Fred: “Cordelia explained it to me. She said you’d probably just screw it up.”
Angel: “Oh, she did, did she? She’s probably right...what?”
Fred: “It’s like something out of Fitzgerald. The man who can have everything but love. Well, maybe in some ways you’re better off because love is...well, in a way it’s everything, but it’s also heartache and disappointment, and those are good things to avoid.”

I feel that the above exchange sums up Angel’s character journey over this season very subtly. Angel finally does have something to love wholeheartedly, the one thing he was never supposed to have as a vampire...a child. Angel has been able to have everything but love as a vampire. He loved Buffy, but he could never be with her completely because of his curse. Connor gives Angel something to love more than anything he’s ever loved before and more than anything else he’ll ever love in the future. He gives Angel a purpose and someone worth fighting for. He gives Angel hope...and then comes the heartache and disappointment.

Just as the episode is about to draw to a close on a semi-positive note, Cordy rushes into the room to inform Angel that Willow has been on the phone and told her that Buffy has returned from the dead. Get ready for some off-camera brooding and melodrama. 

Quote Of The Episode

Cordy: “She’s got the big puppy love. I mean, who wouldn’t? You’re handsome and brave, and heroic, emotionally stunted, erratic, prone to turning evil, and let’s face it, a eunuch.”

Angel: “Hey! How can you...I’m not a eunuch!”

Cordy: “Angel, it’s just a figure of speech.”

Angel: “Find a better one!”


FINAL SCORE: 6/10

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

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