Angel, "Birthday" Review (3x11)

Brief Synopsis: “On her birthday, Cordelia's visions become so painful that they propel her into an astral state and a life-threatening coma. Visited by a demon guide, Skip, astral Cordy is mystically granted the opportunity to live her dream of being a rich and famous actress...if she’s willing to give up her history with Angel and her visions.”


"Dad" (3x10) quick link here                                                                                                                                        "Provider" (3x12) quick link soon

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“Birthday”-“Provider” highlights a special time in my reviewing of “Angel” as it’s the halfway point of the series! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’m officially 55 episodes down, with 55 more to go! HOW. THE. FUCK. AM I ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH?! I feel like I’ve been writing forever! I guess reviewing “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” simultaneously does make the process twice as long. 55 “Angel” reviews equates to one year of writing time, 365 A4-pages of content (one a day!), and 200,000 words. That’s almost identical to the total word count of “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows”. Yowza. “Birthday” signalling the end of part one of my reviews is convenient timing, as “Birthday” also ushers in the Jasmine arc of “Angel”. Sure, it doesn’t take affect until the next season, but Cordelia becoming part demon is the catalyst. God, I find the Jasmine arc tedious, and the low-point of my favourite ever television show. However, we haven’t reached that disasterpiece yet, so let’s concentrate on the positive.

Since inheriting the visions from Doyle in season one’s “Hero”, Cordelia’s life has become more and more burdened. The first burden that materialised on screen was the emotional and social burden that accompanies the visions. They could strike at any moment, which makes socialising hard. Plus, watching someone die in front of your eyes in graphic detail once a week can’t be a pleasant experience...unless you’re a budding psychopath. What we discover in this episode is that the visions have been a physical burden for over a year now. Simply, Cordelia is dying. The visions are literally killing her. Doyle was half-demon, which aided him in the not-dying aspect of the visions, but they were still a physical burden and often left him with headaches...I wonder if that’s why he was always drinking. Do hangovers counteract vision headaches? Hmm. Cordelia is offered a simple choice: have an alternative life where she’s rich and famous, but never became a member of Angel Investigations, or stick with her current life and die. This isn’t the first time the Buffyverse has attempted an alternate reality episode. “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” created a reality where Buffy Summers never arrived in Sunnydale, in the scintillating season three episode “The Wish”, as well as creating an alternate reality where Jonathan was perfect and amazing, and Jonathany in season four’s “Superstar”. Out of the three, I would place “Birthday” as a strong second place to “The Wish”.

I’ve often mentioned that I consider Tim Minear to be the M.V.P. (most valuable player) of the “Angel” writing staff due to his uncanny ability to perfectly understand every character on the show and the journey’s that they’re undertaking. I consider Mere Smith to be right behind Tim on that list, and “Birthday” is some of her finest work. Character development, emotional complexities, powerful writing, and combining all of this with character history are key in creating a good episode of television, in my opinion. Unlike a film, television has the ability to spend hundreds of hours developing characters, so why not use this rich backstory? Since the inception of “Angel”, Cordelia has grown. Like, a lot. Fifty five episodes into “Angel” and she has almost no resemblance to the person she was in Sunnydale. Yet, this has never felt cheap or unrealistic, or out of character. Mere does a terrific job here of playing on this character development, playing on who Cordelia was in Sunnydale, playing on the pilot episode of “Angel”, and exploring what would have come to pass if Cordelia had chosen a different path back then. The results speak for themselves. Cordelia voluntarily chose to become part-demon to save Angel from his fate and to help the helpless. What character development since “Welcome To The Hellmouth”!

Wesley: “You have to forgive the wrapping. Some of us seem to have fostered a strange addiction to Scotch tape.”
Cordy: “Oh, what a cruel dilemma...presents or sweet little babyface...take the baby!”
Angel: “You’re choosing birthday gifts over my kid?”
Cordy: “Take the baby! Take the baby!”
*Angel quickly grabs Connor as Cordy is struck by a vision*

THIS IS WHY WE CAN NEVER HAVE NICE THINGS! Cuteness, a baby, a birthday, a Wonder Woman cake for Cordelia, which is perfectly fitting...I knew the scene couldn’t end well. Curse you, Whedon! Cordelia wakes up from her post-vision owwiness to discover that she’s no longer inside of her body. Visions v.2: this time with astral projection. It’s at this point that the other members of Angel Investigations - while trying to figure out what’s happened to Cordy -  discover that Cordelia’s been lying to them for over a year and has been having secret MRI’s and guzzling powerful headache tablets. Ugh. It’s heartbreaking to watch the faces of every other member of the team. It’s gut-wrenching to watch Cordelia watching this unfold. It’s agonising to hear Wesley explain that Cordelia is dying. It’s ironic that the visions have given Cordelia a purpose and helped facilitate her personality switch from selfish to selfless, yet this comes at the expense of an agonising death. I’m assuming that Doyle didn’t know that the visions would kill Cordelia as he’s not a full human himself, but he did know that the visions come with powerful physical drawbacks...who said true love was dead? Thanks, Doyle! I can understand Angel’s dramatic reaction to this revelation as out of every character on the show, Cordelia has been with him the longest. She’s been his closest friend and constant companion, yet she’s been keeping this huge secret from him since before he became Darth Angel in the last season.

Angel: “Cordy, look, I know that you can’t hear me, but there’s something I have to say. You really piss me off, you know that? I thought we trusted each other. But you’ve been lying. MRI’s and CAT scans? It’s been going on for over a year. Why couldn’t you let me in? I could have helped you. You make me so furious.”

Side note: Angel looks just like Grumpy Cat when he says “you make me so furious”. It’s uncanny.

When I first saw “Birthday”, I could not contain my euphoria at Skip returning to the Buffyverse. After his brief, but oh-so-memorable appearance in “That Vision Thing”, I was expecting Skip to stay in the Magical Fire Land Of Fire and not return to the show. In hindsight, with the Jasmine reveal in mind, I wish I’d never laid my eyes on the bastard in the first place. It was fitting that the sassy, humourous Skip was Cordelia’s guide through her astral journey, as they share a lot of personality traits...confidence, sassiness, being opinionated, and being very honest. Also, it’s glorious that astral Cordy and regular Cordy look identical. Skip mentions that people usually eliminate their ‘flaws’, such as a big nose or wrinkles. Clearly, on a conscious and subconscious level, Cordy thinks she’s flawless. Speaking of flawless, how awesome is Skip (pre-douchey reveal in season four)? I love that he’s a nerd. I love that he takes Cordy to a shopping mall for their dramatic conversation because he assumes she’ll be more comfortable there, and I really love that he’s seen “The Matrix” and quotes Trinity. Keeping an eye on Billy’s firebox for years must have been tedious work and now I’m stuck with mental images of Skip watching movies to pass the time. If he needed to heat popcorn, at least there’s an open flame right next to him.

Skip explaining the past three years for Cordelia with visual aids was a great idea. New viewers would receive vital information, while old viewers get to visually see just how much Cordelia has grown since the beginning of the show. Just think about Cordelia’s journey. She was the most annoying, self-obsessed, bratty, heartless character to appear in “Welcome To The Hellmouth”...including the vampires! It wasn’t until her parents lost all their money that she started to become a different person, but her journey was far from complete. She moved to Los Angeles to make it as an actress, but failed miserably and spent most of her time in severe poverty, struggling to eat or pay rent on her cockroach-infested motel room. After teaming up with Angel and Doyle, Cordy’s journey to selflessness expanded. She grew to appreciate her privileged upbringing because she’d experienced what it was like on the other side of the fence. Then she experienced the death of a loved one when Doyle sacrificed himself to save a boatload of people, including Angel and herself. Before sacrificing himself, Doyle kissed Cordelia and passed his visions on to her, and this is where her journey really came to fruition. Through the visions, Cordy started to feel the pain of the world. The visions aren’t just mental pictures, they’re full experiences. She can smell things, taste things, and feel the emotions of the person in question. Suddenly, her acting career and desire to be famous was irrelevant. What’s fame and fortune compared to helping people in desperate need? By the time “Birthday” rolls around, Cordelia is every bit as much of a champion as Angel. She’s every bit as much of a hero. After spending two years resenting the visions, Cordelia grew to love them, especially when she learned that they were supposed to pass to Groo in Pylea. She labels them an “honour” when explaining to Groo that she can’t give them up, but this “honour” is literally going to get her killed very soon. With the revelation that she’s been having severe brain issues for over a year, her words to Groo carry even more weight in regards to her character development. Cordy would rather die helping people than live and lose her ability to help. Compare that to the Cordy that first appeared in Sunnydale High.

Even armoured with the knowledge that her next vision will explode her skull, Cordelia chooses the visions and death over giving them up. She needs to tell Angel about the vision she had that put her into an astral state. Skip conveniently takes Cordelia to where Angel is talking in the conduit room, at the exact moment Angel is saying that Cordelia is too weak to handle the visions. He also conveniently leaves before Angel explains that he’s more scared of Cordy dying than she is. Once you have the knowledge that Skip was working with Jasmine, these scenes take on a more sinister appearance. Skip gives Cordelia a way out of her imminent death and after his little trickery with Angel’s speech, Cordelia chooses to take option 2. The ‘PTB’ (I’m not sure if it was them) re-write history so that Cordelia never joined Angel Investigations. Instead, she became a rich, famous, glamorous actress. It’s everything the old Cordelia ever wanted!

I will freely admit that I rather enjoy Cordy’s bizarro world. I would totally watch her sitcom, and her assistant is beyond glorious. When she says she wants hypothermia, he organises a large tub of ice water to be in her dressing room within seconds. When she wants hyperbaric, he arranges for an oxygen tent within seconds. That’s skill, right there. A little FYI, David Greenwalt and Marti Noxon are singing the opening theme song to Cordy’s TV show! The interesting thing to note about Cordy’s brave new world is that she’s still so heroic, intuitive, and admirable. Even if she didn’t join Angel Investigations, she still grew as a character. Granted, not on the same scale as when she had the visions, but there’s still undeniable growth from the person she was in Sunnydale. She instinctively tries to help the helpless, even though she has no idea why she’s feeling the way she is.

After instinctively realising that something’s up, Cordy travels to the Hyperion Hotel, which is completely operational in this version of events. I assume this is because Angel Investigations still removed the Thesulac Demon from the hotel, but they didn’t stay to use it themselves. I do have one question though...why is the address still on the Hyperion wall in this reality? Cordy wasn’t there to body-snatch Angel and write it! I digress. Eventually, Cordelia ends up hanging out with a much younger Aimee Garcia, known for being Batista’s sister, Jamie, in “Dexter”. It’s the Buffyverse, so a demon-attack ensues, and Gunn and a one-armed Wesley appear on the scene, led there by Angel’s vision. This is when we discover what the world would be like without Cordelia by Angel’s side to help him through life in Los Angeles. Angel inherited the visions from Doyle and has become a mentally unstable reclusive person, tormented by the horrors he’s witnessing. Angel’s alternative timeline is easily the most heartbreaking part of the episode. Fred isn’t a member of the team in this reality because they never travelled to Pylea to rescue her. Wesley lost his arm fighting a Kungai Demon. I’m assuming it’s the one he was tracking in his first “Angel” appearance, “Parting Gifts”. Gunn...well, Gunn’s pretty much exactly the same. Cordy, possessing the same love for Angel and empathy that she used to have in the real version of events, kisses Angel to take the visions from him and place them on herself. For a long time I was never open to an Angel-Cordelia romantic pairing because I was such a ‘Bangel’ fan, but moments like this really solidified them as a terrific couple.

Skip: “The only way you get to keep the visions is by becoming part demon. The process isn’t easy. It’ll make your vision pain feel like a stroll through Candyland, and even after the pain subsides the effects of the transition will be numerous and unpredictable. You may never be able to lead a human life again.”
*Cordelia looks over at Angel, then back at Skip*
Cordy: “So, demonise me already.”

OOOH, PLOT TWIST! Cordy can keep the visions if she becomes part demon. I absolutely love the moment where Cordy looks over at Angel’s frozen face and says “demonise me already”. To her the choice is simple. The choice isn’t even something that needs to be thought about. Saving Angel from that fate and helping the helpless is far more important than riches, fame, and worries that accompany becoming part demon. This completes Cordy’s journey in becoming a champion. Cordelia sacrifices her own well-being to help people. It wasn’t thrust upon her like the visions, she actively chose to do so. Cordy started this episode by giving a fake acceptance speech for a fake award she won. There was still some part of her that longed to be famous and adored around the world. By the end of the episode, she’s a champion. That’s awesome. Thus far Cordy’s only power is floating, but we later learn that she has this cool ability to heal people’s souls (like she does with Connor). I love the revelation of Cordy becoming part demon because it opens so many new doors. How will this affect the group dynamic? Will Cordy be stronger than Angel now? More powerful? What abilities will she possess? Will this affect her personality? Does she have a tail?!

One last thing to consider is this...does this episode’s emotional content get devalued by the revelations from Skip in season four’s “Inside Out” that Cordy becoming part demon and ascending was pre-destined to bring Jasmine forth? Cordy’s noble sacrifice does feel as though it means less when you consider that it was all destiny according to Skip. It’s like Cordy had no other choice but to become part demon. This is one of many reasons why I dislike the Jasmine part of the next season. It diminishes key moments such as this one, Gunn’s sister dying, Doyle giving Cordy the visions, and Lorne leaving Pylea. All of these moments are suddenly labelled as “pre-destined” instead of happening because of the characters evolving and making choices. Thankfully, when all is said and done with the Jasmine arc, it’s the characters’ free will and ability to choose that stops Jasmine. Plus, there’s always the possibility that Skip, an evil demon, was lying.

Fred: “Hi there. I know we haven’t been formally introduced...actually, I’m not sure how to introduce myself to someone who’s, you know, former, but I’m Fred. *She reaches out and shakes the top of the party hat like a handshake*, it’s nice to meet you.”
Gunn: “Fred, you are so cool.”

Excuse me? Was that a hint of attraction from Gunn? Could the show possibly be sewing the seeds of a romantic relationship between the two because they need a convenient excuse to keep Wesley and Fred apart? Check and check! I actually rather like Gunn and Fred as a couple. Finally, let’s share out mutual adoration for Phantom Dennis. He threw Cordy a surprise party, hid her painkillers because she might get into trouble, wore a party hat, and often scrubs her back with a loofah because of the vision pain...and he never pees on the toilet seat, never hogs the mirror, and doesn’t eat all your food! He’s the perfect housemate!


Quote Of The Episode

Cordy: “I want something. Hypo-something...hypothermia?”

Nev: “Josh, let’s get a large tub of ice water to Miss. Chase’s dressing room, pronto.”

Cordy: “No, that’s not it.”

Nev: “Cancelling ice water.”

Cordy: “Hyper...hyperbaric?”

Nev: “Josh, make it an oxygen tent.”

Cordy: “No, that’s not it either.”

Nev: “Cancelling tent.”

Cordy: “Hyperion! That’s it!”

Nev: “The hotel?”

Cordy: “Yes, I wanna go there.”

Nev: “Terrific. When would you like me to...now? Now you would like to...*Cordy snaps her fingers in the air without looking back at Nev*...without security? Without an entourage of me? Right. I’ll give them a call. Josh, side door, now.” 



FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

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

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