Angel, "Fredless" Review (3x05)

Brief Synopsis: “Fred’s parents make a surprise visit to Angel Investigations, trying to hunt down their daughter. Rather than being happy to see her parents for the first time in five years, Fred runs away from them in terror. Are Fred’s parents as loving as they seem or do they want to find their daughter for a darker purpose? Meanwhile, a strange insect-like demon is stalking Angel.”


"Carpe Noctem" (3x04) quick link here                                                                                                                         "Billy" (3x06) quick link here

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“Fredless” is the first episode of “Angel” to focus on the newest addition to the team, Winifred Burkle. Until now, we know absolutely nothing about Fred except the fact that she was swallowed through a portal and spent five years living in fear and isolation in Pylea. “Fredless” begins to open the door into Fred’s life and helps explore her mental state now that she’s returned home. Where does she belong? What can she contribute? What should she do with her life now? These are all important questions and this episode gives us the start of answers to them. “Fredless” was written by the amazingly talented Mere Smith. As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, Tim Minear is the M.V.P. of “Angel” writers. Nobody understands the characters more and writes them so spectacularly. However, I would rank Mere Smith as arguably number two on that list. Mere penned such remarkable episodes as “Redefinition”, “Birthday”, “Loyalty”, “Calvary”, and “Orpheus”. That’s one helluva résumé. Fred is adorable, cute, nerdalicious, geektastic, and an all-round sweetheart, but until this episode she was rather one-dimensional. Since returning to the City of Angels, Fred has been in a holding pattern. She’s barely left her room, she’s writing on the walls of her bedroom, and has progressed very little since her cave in Pylea. Before she can grow and become a more interesting character, Fred needs to deal with what happened to her. She needs to stop compartmentalising her trauma and start openly addressing it. It’s the first and most crucial step in her journey to happiness and mental stability once again. To do this, Fred needs to see her parents again and come to terms with the fact that Pylea wasn’t a wild fantasy, but a real part of her life for five years.

One of the strongest and most powerful messages behind all of Joss Whedon’s work is the notion that we create our own family in life. It doesn’t matter who’s your blood, your family are the people that support you, take care of you, and love you. Time and time again on both “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” we’ve seen this message enforced. Whether it was Buffy’s speech to Mr. Maclay in “Family” or Angel’s remark to the doctor in “To Shanshu In L.A.”, both shows really go out of their way to send this powerful message to their audience. One could argue that the current members of Angel Investigations are the closest we’ve ever seen them. Angel, Cordy, Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne are very much a family by this point and they will continue to be so until “Sleep Tight”. The only missing piece of the puzzle at present is Fred. Fred is so used to isolation and loneliness that she still rarely ventures outside of her bedroom. Ever since returning home from Pylea, her place in the group has never felt like it was going to be a long-term deal. We’ve seen her spend a little more time with the gang over the past couple of episodes, Angel in particular, but she’s still not integrated herself very much. She’s been a secondary character ever since her introduction in “Over The Rainbow”. How is she contributing to the team? When is she going to start to develop as a character? Is she ever going to be a part of Angel Investigations or will she disappear into obscurity? “Fredless” really makes a point of showing us just what an outsider Fred is to the gang. While Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn are poking fun at Angel’s history with Buffy, Fred is bemused. Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn know so much about Angel by this point. They’ve been through so many life changing experiences together and developed strong bonds of friendship, while Fred has yet to create these relationships yet.

Before this episode can be fully appreciated, we must remember what we know of Fred’s journey. For all her adorableness and quirky behaviour, Fred was trapped in Pylea for five years. She was a slave, a runaway, and completely alone. No friends, no help, no hope. Living by herself in a cave, desperately trying to open a portal to return home. She was constantly scared, constantly fearful of being discovered or killed, missing her friends and family, and living in the knowledge that she was never going to get home. It shouldn’t be a simple process for Fred to adjust to regular life again and nor is it. It’s going to be a long, painful process for Fred to heal and it’s not until way into season four that Fred has left most of her Pylea trauma behind her. However, “Fredless”, is about step one. It’s about accepting what happened to her and starting the healing process. We all know that Fred is a lot stronger than she appears. There’s no way she could have survived five years in Pylea if she wasn’t. It’s not lost on me that, yet again, a story on “Angel” and a story on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” have similar themes and are running simultaneously. Just as Buffy is having to adjust to being dragged out of Heaven, Fred is trying to adjust after returning from a borderline Hell dimension. Both characters are trying desperately to be okay, but both are failing. However, Fred has something that Buffy doesn’t have (or didn’t have until Giles returned): loving parents.

The episode opens on one of the greatest comedic scenes that the show ever produces. Wesley and Cordelia re-enacting what Angel and Buffy’s reunion must have been like off-screen. Gotta be honest, I think that Wesley and Cordy’s version was a lot closer to the truth than Angel would care to admit. I like the fact that the show is able to make fun of itself and have a little joke over the melodrama of Angel and Buffy’s relationship. I’m actually a big ‘Bangel’ fan, but there’s no denying that they were melodramatic. That entire exchange is in the “Quote Of The Episode” section of this review.

 
Fred: “This has been the best night ever! First there’s you taking me to get ice cream, then there’s the ice cream, then that monster jumps out of the freezer and you’re all brave, and ‘Fred, watch out!’, and then we get to chase it down into the sewers, which are just so bleak and oppressive, and...homey. And I could build a condo down here.”

Fred is contemplating building a condo in the sewers of Los Angeles. I think it’s safe to say that she’s having trouble adjusting to non-Pylea life. Furthermore, Fred, breathe between sentences, dear. When Angel and Fred return to the Hyperion, Fred spots her parents sat in Wesley’s office. Instead of looking happy and excited to be reunited with her parents, Fred looks terrified and quickly runs away from the hotel. This is startling behaviour from Fred, who rarely ventures outside of her bedroom without supervision and hasn’t left the hotel by herself since returning to Earth. Are Fred’s parents evil? Are they vampires?! I haven’t seen them in the daylight yet...hmm...does anyone else feel like Wesley should press a cross to everyone he meets, just in case? It would eliminate so many near-death experiences.

Trish: “About a month ago we got a letter from her in the mail.”
Roger: “But she didn’t leave her return address. In fact, she said she was fine and we shouldn’t bother looking for her, but...”
Trish: “Five years of not knowing whether your daughter’s alive or...well, how could we just let it go?”

You know, it’s easy to forget Fred’s struggles. We only saw Fred in Pylea for a matter of days, so it’s easy to just brush Fred’s plight aside and roll your eyes, and expect for her to be okay already. However, what we need to remember is that it was five years. What has happened in your life in the past five years? How much has changed? How many experiences have you lived through? For Fred, she’s been stuck in Pylea, terrified and alone, for the entire time! It’s not just Fred that’s suffered while she’s been away in Pylea, her loved ones have too. Fred just disappeared out of nowhere. No goodbye to her parents, no explanation, no reason to hold on to. She just vanished off the face of the Earth...literally! I can’t imagine the turmoil they’ve been through. Then, out of nowhere, they receive a letter from their daughter in the post. Their daughter who they probably believed was dead. Of course they’d want to track her down at all costs! On the flipside of that, how is Fred ever supposed to explain this to her parents?...“Sorry, guys, I was sucked into a portal and spent the past five years living in a medieval-looking world filled with green-skinned people, where I was hunted and treated like a slave...how’re you doing?”...However, this isn’t revealed until later in the episode. For a large section of “Fredless”, we’re led to believe that Fred’s parents are evil. Perhaps they were abusive like Wesley’s parents or unloving like Liam (Angel)’s. Why is Fred so desperate to avoid them?

Cordy: “Pfft! Sneaking off, right. Fred can barely tie her shoes without Mr. ‘Oh, you’re my big, fat hero!’ around.”
Angel: “...You think I’m fat?...”
---------------------------------
Gunn: “We could hit all the local taco stands...joke!...Kind of.”
Angel: “Come on, guys, think! What do we know about Fred?”
Gunn: “Well, I knew about the tacos.”
---------------------------------
Wesley: “If you know so much about her, Gunn, why don’t you just tell us where she is?”
Gunn: “Bet that taco stand’s not looking so bad now, is it?”
Cordy: “Hey! Mr. & Mrs. Bickerson! A little focus ,please.”

1)    How awesome is the dialogue in this episode? There’s some comedic gold mixed into it.
2)    Of course that’s the part to focus on, Angel. He’s such a man-child, isn’t he? Paranoid about his hair in Pylea, paranoid about the pink helmet in “First Impressions”, drives a convertible car even though sunlight would make him a pile of dust, getting sensitive about his weight...he’s a teenager trapped inside a 248-year-old body. I love that our hero and champion is also a paranoid drama queen.
3)    THE RETURN OF THE GUNN-WESLEY BICKERING! YAAAY! I’VE MISSED IT SO MUCH SINCE THEY BECAME GOOD FRIENDS!
4)    This exchange does highlight a very important fact. None of them know anything about Fred (except Gunn and her love of tacos). None of them have taken the time to ask her questions or get to know her. She was the ghost of Harrenhal for her entire time in the hotel (give yourself 10 points if you get that “A Song Of Ice And Fire” reference). Yes, Fred has been hiding herself away, but when have we seen any of the team try to get to know her on a deeper level than “I hope you feel better soon”? This will all play into Fred’s decision to leave towards the end of the episode.

Shockingly, Fred didn’t runaway to a taco stand or even a nice condo in the sewer, she ran towards the place she visited in “That Old Gang Of Mine” and the demon who puts people on their paths and gives them advice. Caritas and Lorney Tunes. I must admit, I feel epically sorry for Lorne. He hasn’t had the heart to rebuild his club since Gunn’s former gang destroyed it two episodes ago. It’s probably for the best as it’s only going to be destroyed again as soon as he repairs it.

Lorne: “You’re in a bad place, aren’t you, doll? You thought you could outrun them and maybe you were free, but those old monsters hunted you down. I know why you’re running away, Fred. You know what your problem is?”
Fred: “I’m not strong enough to stay and face my fear.”
Lorne: “No. You haven’t run far enough.”

I’ll never understand Lorne’s advice to Fred here. Why does he encourage her to run further? Is he trying to spare her the pain of facing her parents and the nightmare of Pylea becoming all too real? That’s the logic reason behind this, but surely he knows that Fred needs to face her parents to have any shot of getting over it! How is encouraging Fred to leave Los Angeles going to help? She has no money that we’re aware of, no friends, no plan. She’s going to end up getting herself killed on Lorne’s advice! Perhaps Lorne was fearful that Fred’s parents wouldn’t understand her or believe her if she told them the truth so it would be less painful for Fred in some way to run? Also, just based on the way that Lorne said “but those old monsters hunted you down”, I knew that Fred’s parents weren’t going to be demons or evil. It wouldn’t make sense to the story that was unfolding in front of my eyes. I wasn’t sold on them being good either, but the way that Lorne delivers this line to Fred made me think that he wasn’t being literal with the term “monsters”. The monsters he’s referring to are the monsters from Fred’s past. The demons inside her own mind. As I’m sure all of you are aware by now, I had severe battles with depression over a four and a half year period. When I miraculously survived my suicide attempt and decided to rebuild my life from scratch the most difficult part was facing the demons inside my brain. Facing those issues that forced me towards suicide in the first place. My two closest friends’ death, relationship breakdowns, an absentee father, and a whole host of other crap. It’s not a nice process and it’s a very daunting one, but it’s something that needs to happen to move forwards. Those issues will always be there in the back of your mind, chipping away at your thoughts and mental health if you don’t explore them and eliminate them. This is what Fred is facing here. Does she runaway at the risk of rejection and a difficult conversation or does she face her fears and start to accept what happened to her? Eventually, Angel Investigations arrive at Caritas and Lorne is reluctant to tell Angel where Fred is. If you’ve never seen the outtakes to this scene, hunt them down on YouTube. Hilarious.

Lorne: “I’m not some mystical vending machine here to spit out answers every time you waltz in with a problem. I have a heart. Granted, it’s located in my left butt cheek, but it’s still a heart, and that heart is broken! I mean, why is it no-one ever cares about my destiny? Everyone who walks through that door is all about ‘me, me, me’. Well, what about my me? My me’s important.”
Angel: “You know where she is, don’t you?”
Lorne: “And another thing, how do they get the pimentos in the olives, huh? There’s a mystery for ya. You know, do they stuff each one by hand, ‘cause that seems a little time consuming, or do you think they have a little pimento stuffing machine?...Fred doesn’t want to see her parents. She has reasons for that. I mean, why force a showdown if you don’t have to?”
Angel: “Because it won’t be over. They found her once, they’ll do it again. At least this time we can be there to protect her. Please, tell me where Fred is...I know you’re not a slot machine.”
Lorne: “Vending machine, you big palooka.”

I love these two together. Later in the season, they’re mother and father to baby Connor and it’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. A vampire with a soul and a green-skinned demon are the best parents the show has ever seen...except for Fred’s perhaps. Also, the location of Lorne’s heart makes the Pylea arc make more sense. Silas tells a hunter that Angel’s heart is located where a “cow’s” is and the hunter is disgusted. It would appear that everyone in Pylea does not wear their heart on their sleeve, they wear it in their ass. They must have really warm bums. Angel’s side of the conversation enforces what I mentioned above. If anyone knows what it’s like to face up to trauma and mistakes, it’s Angel. How many times has Angel had to face something he didn’t want to? Countless times. He knows that it’s never going to end until Fred sees her parents and lets the chips fall where they may. All of this leads us to the confrontation scene between Fred and her parents, and it’s damn heartbreaking.

Fred: “No! You’re not them! You can’t be them because they don’t know!”
Roger: “Sweetie, it’s mom and dad.”
Fred: “Shh! Stop saying that! You can’t be!”
Trish: “Honey, don’t you remember us?”
Fred: “I was...I was five years and so lost and at night I would...I was all by myself and you weren’t there!”
Roger: “Fred, I don’t understand.”
Fred: “I got lost. I got lost and they did terrible things to me, but it was just a storybook. It was just a story with monsters, not real. Not in the world, but...if you’re here and you see me then...then it’s real! And it did happen. If you see what they made of me...I didn’t mean to get so lost!”
Trish: “Oh, honey, it doesn’t matter what they did to you.”
Fred: “Mommy.”
Trish: “Oh, we’re gonna make it all right.”
Fred: “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I got so lost.”
Roger: “It doesn’t matter. You’re our little girl.”
Fred: “I missed you so much. I didn’t mean to...”
Trish: “Shh...”
Roger: “Everything’s okay now. You’ll see. You’re safe now.”

Oh my God, Amy Acker is phenomenal. Such an underrated actress. You can put her performance up against damn near anyone in Hollywood and she’ll hold her own. Fred explains it best herself. When she sees her parents, everything that happened to her in Pylea became real. As long as she avoided her parents or ties to her past, she could pretend it was a dream. A dream with jousting, demons, monsters, castles, and runaway cows. It does sound like something out of a child’s story...it even has a handsome man that saved her from the monsters on horseback! Fred’s compartmentalised her time in Pylea. It’s how she’s kept herself semi-sane. By viewing her suffering as a fantasy, it eliminates some of the pain of having to experience it because it wasn’t real. Her parents’ spontaneous appearance in Los Angeles destroys her illusions and fantasies, and bitch-slaps her back to reality. I feel so fulfilled with the reveal that Fred’s parents are normal, caring, loving people. They can offer Fred support and help her through the heartbreaking realisations that lay ahead. Speaking of a bitch-slap to reality, Angel Investigations, plus Fred’s parents, are attacked by a giant spidery demon thingy that’s stalking Angel because Angel has its babies...I never thought I’d type that sentence. After Fred’s mom hits the giant insect with a bus (how badass is that woman?!), Fred sits her parents down and explains to them where she’s been. I can’t imagine it was an easy conversation for anyone involved and Fred really had to open herself up and relive the experience to allow her parents to understand. Group hug, guys?

And you know what? After all was said and done, Fred’s parents didn’t think she was crazy or try to have her locked away in a mental institution; they supported her and took care of her. This above all else is the reason why Fred made the decision to leave Angel Investigations and head back home to Texas with her parents. She hasn’t really integrated into the team by this point. When Fred explains to her parents who everyone is within the group (Angel’s the champion, etc.), she can’t find a role for herself. She doesn’t think she belongs at Angel Investigations. While I was sad to see Fred leaving, I was happy for her. She was back on Earth, saved by Angel, and reunited with her parents. If her character was to be a short-lived one on the show, it was a rare happy ending. So, of course, Fred ends up staying and dying within 2.5 years, but I’m getting ahead of myself...

Fred (explaining the drawings on her wall): “It’s a story. Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived all alone in a horrible cave, so far from home it made her chest hurt. And every day in that horrible cave, the girl tried to figure out a way to escape. None of her plans ever succeeded, of course, and she’d almost given up hopin’, when one day, just like a fairy tale, a handsome man rode up on a horse and saved her, and took her back to his castle. Now, you’d think that was the end, wouldn’t ya? Dumb old fairy tales and their happily ever afters. But, see, the minute they got back to the castle, the handsome man went away again. And even though she didn’t mean to, didn’t want to, high up in that castle the girl just built herself another cave. Hoping he would save her again...but you can’t save me this time, can you?”

True. So very true. The only person that can get Fred through this is herself. She needs to face up to everything and she needs to accept it. Angel can’t do it for her, her parents can’t do it for her. It’s kinda ironic that Fred’s parents (who we were supposed to believe were monsters) are the only ones on “Angel” thus far that haven’t been useless, abusive, or ashamed of their children. I’m so pleased with the fact that someone has a happy, functional family unit. Angel, Cordy, Wesley, and Gunn are actually jealous over how cool Fred’s parents are and how much they support her. Cordy even says these words to Fred. While the demon subplot was mostly absent for three-quarters of the episode, it’s an important part of the story as it gives Fred a reason to stay. Fred figures out the puzzle. Fred figures out that the demon was going to return and try to kill Angel. Fred’s weird toaster/axe-firing contraption slew the demon and saved the day. In that one moment, Fred proved her worth. Fred proved that she has a role to play at Angel Investigations. While Fred and Wesley have similarities, they have different specialities and strengths. Wesley is the demon expect with the knowledge of the Watcher’s Council behind him, while Fred is a scientist. Fred now knows that she has to deal with Pylea herself. She’s the only one that can fix her life. Fighting demons and helping people is the best way forward for her and the best way for her to come to terms with everything. Hiding away in Texas isn’t going to help her as much as openly accepting demons, vampires, and darkness, and starting to understand them and fight against them. The episode draws to a close on Fred painting over her doodle of Angel and herself on horseback from Pylea. She’s not the damsel in distress anymore and her time in Pylea is no longer a fantasy, it’s a reality. It’s time for Fred to move on to the next chapter of her life...one that involves a love triangle.


Quote Of The Episode

Fred: “So, now that she’s alive again, are they gonna get back together? Angel and that girl with the goofy name?”

Wesley: “Well, Fred, that’s a difficult question. I think it’s fair to say...no. Not a chance, never, no way, not in a million years, and, also, ‘nuh-uh’.”

Fred: “But you said he loved her. And of course she’s gonna love him back because he’s so strong and handsome and he really listens when you talk...I mean, if you go for that sort of thing, why wouldn’t it work?”

Cordy: “Let me break it down for you, Fred.”

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “Oh, Angel! I know that I’m a Slayer and you a vampire, and it would be impossible for us to be together, but...”

Wesley (pretending to be Angel): “But!”

*Wesley pulls his glasses off*

Wesley (pretending to be Angel): “My Gypsy curse sometimes prevents me from seeing the truth. Oh, Buffy!”

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “Yes, Angel?”

Wesley (pretending to be Angel): “I love you so much I almost forgot to brood!”

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “And just because I sent you to Hell that one time doesn’t mean that we can’t just be friends.”

*Wesley grabs a hold of Cordy’s wrist*

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “Oh!”

Wesley (pretending to be Angel): “Or possibly more?”

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “Gasp! No! We mustn’t!”

Wesley (pretending to be Angel): “Kiss me!”

Cordy (pretending to be Buffy): “Bite me!”

*Wesley bends Cordelia backwards over his arm and pretends to bite her neck*

Angel (from off-screen): “How about you both bite me.”


FINAL SCORE: 7/10

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

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