DVD review - Angel season 2 episodes 20, 21 and 22

Completing my viewing and reviewing of Angel season 2 (it made sense to view these all in a full block):

*** SPOILERS ***

A2-20: Over the Rainbow (written by Mere Smith, airdate 5/8/01)
A2-21: Through the Looking Glass (written by Tim Minear, airdate 5/15/01)
A2-22: There's No Place Like Plrtz Glbb (written by David Greenwalt, airdate 5/22/01)

I must say that I loved the three-part adventure in Pylea. It really held together well, had a lot of elements you'd expect in an adventure where the gang goes to a fantasy realm, and it flowed very evenly across the writers (as opposed to the Buffy season 5 final three episodes).

Before the guys get there, we get some great stuff. Lorne and Gunn not wanting to go, but the former's psychic friends Aggie (played by one of the regular actresses from Girlfriends) tells him he must to save Cordy and the later decides his friends really need him. Added cool points - using the car when passing through the portal to keep them all together (very Back To the Future-y).

Once there, I love the twists of this dimension. Sure you have a ruling class with an evil council of priests - that's a must. But, you have the males as "mothers", the supposed monsters and cursed one's being the most beautiful, the fact that Angel's typical vampire curses are gone (can be in sunlight, have a reflection) but when he does go vamp he shows his true beast side (eeeww), Cordy being made a princess (she did deserve it after all), the ancient books with the symbols of a wolf, ram and hart (i.e. Wolfram and Hart). We get humor here too: Cordy doing the heel click to try to get home, the monster being more a pet-dog, the whole dance-of-shame and dance-of-joy, Angel enjoying not being on fire and checking out his looks, Cordy wanting to take the jewels and such when trying to escape the castle, the whole teaming of Cordy with Lorne's head, etc.

Of course, alls well that ends well. They managed to free the slaves, put a new person on the thrown who will help Pylea move to a new age, rescue Winifred who we learned about in episode 19, and get home in one piece.

Then reality crashes back into them as Willow is waiting there, to fill them in on what happened in Sunnydale in episode 22 of Buffy. A nice touch.