Continuing with my viewing and reviewing of season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and season 1 of Angel...
***SPOILERS***
B4-16: Who Are You?
Synopsis: After magically switching bodies with Buffy, Faith pays a visit to Riley - leaving Buffy in the hands of the Watcher Council Special Ops Unit who've come to take Faith back to England. (written by Joss Whedon, airdate 2/29/00)
First, kudos to Sarah and Eliza playing the "other" so well. Nice acting there. Some very interesting stuff as "Buffy" learns her knew body and struggles with not knowing who everyone is. The interchange with Spike was especially fun. Then she goes and leaves a little mess with the Buffy/Riley relationship. Nice to see Tara play a bigger role - figuring out that "Buffy"'s energy was off and being Willow's anchor during a very sensual spell. I liked how "Faith" convinced Giles of her story - giving just too much information to make it unfakeable by Faith. We get yet another great Buffy/Faith fight as we realize why Faith didn't skip town. She had to come back, had to save the hostages from the vampires, had to be "the one true Slayer" because, deep down, she hates what she has become. Tragic indeed but it shows there is a slim chance for her salvation some day. Nice. But can Buffy and Riley's relationship also be salvaged after he "slept with Faith"? Leave it to the woman to argue those semantics - and she doesn't even know he said "I Love You". Oh, the drama.
A1-16: The Ring
Synopsis: An investigation leads Angel to an underground gladiator-like arena where he is captured, then forced to fight to the death with other demons in order to win his freedom. (written by Howard Gordon, airdate 2/29/00)
First rule about fight club - don't get tricked into investigating fight club only to end up one of the participants. Clearly Angel missed the memo and stumbled into the trap. Though he tries his best, he realizes that none of these demons are willing to turn against their enslavers and would prefer to do 21 kills and done with it. Luckily for Angel, Cordelia and Wesley can put aside their debate between high-tech vs. ancient tomes research to do a little investigating and undercover work. How cool was one-shot Wesley with the cross-bow against the bookie? Very! And then, quick thinking Cordelia in scoring them tickets to the fight event so they could find their boss and try to figure out a rescue plan. The introduction of Lila Morgan, attorney at Wolfram & Hart, proved interesting - here they are willing to buy Angel's freedom in exchange for having him in their pocket. Glad he told them where they put their offer. Wesley and Cordelia manage to figure out how to get the cuffs to open, mount a rescue (only to have Wesley bumble and lose the key - but it worked out) and the revolt is on. So glad Darren got what he deserved. The heartless bastard killed his own brother for crying out loud. He got the just punishment in the end. And, as our trio realize they've done good and saved the victims, you can see the look on their faces - "damn, you know we're likely to run into these guys again and have to stop them". Yeah, way to go team! :)
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