[Applause]
first I was afraid I was petrified kept
thinking I could never live without you
by my side but then I spent so many
nights thinking how you did me wrong and
I grew strong and I learned how to get
along you're Mandy well you came and you
gave without takin but I sent you away
oh man
you kissed me we opened on the
introduction of the unnamed host but
since we'll be finding out his name
later the season and it's not
particularly a spoiler I'm just going to
call him Lorne
I've on sois a montage of team angel
mounting up ensues then I rather adore
Cortese acting has taken a real step up
since the last time we saw her on stage
I mean of course a time will come when
Torvald is not he's not Wow she gets a
9-1-1 beat from angel and takes off
Wesley is throwing a mean game of darts
in a bar when he gets his text and the
avengers assemble at a gym minor side
note here in the video for the HD Buffy
remaster I described how a show could be
filmed in one aspect ratio but protected
for another in the case of angels second
season it was filmed in sixteen by nine
but intended to be shown in the old 4 by
3 ratio and you can see the impact of
that with this cool two-part shot that
is now broken in most releases given
most outlets use the sixteen by nine in
part one of the shots David Boreanaz is
standing off to the right while the crew
focuses on the mirror without angels
reflection in it he was supposed to be
cropped out when the episode aired in 4
by 3 when charisma and Alexis reached
him the camera rack focuses off the
mirror and it looks like angel was with
the group the whole time probably looked
very cool in 4x3
but since most sources for the show now
use the unprotected sixteen by nine it
makes no sense why angel is standing
there or has a reflection angel bursts
through the mirror team angel kicks ass
and again later in the scene
anyways team angel has taken up
residence and Cortese haunted home I'm
beginning to
think it was the sloth demon but demons
don't sacrifice adolescents Wesley it
was a carnist Wow
go Cordy angel is now obviously
preoccupied with the Shinshu prophecy as
he contemplates whether or not to get a
gym membership you don't have to work
out your eternal may not always be Cordy
gets a vision all right survive get it
back at Wolfram and Hart Darla is Rifa
militarizing ourself with the world
[Music]
well kinda like three years I mean a few
things have happened while you've been
gone we've got two Slayers now so that's
interesting
well three there was this whole thing
that well nevermind Sunnydale high blew
up so that's a thing
it's got hope it's gay wait wrong show
meanwhile in pursuit of a demon from
Cordys vision Wesley takes the team to
Caritas to meet his informant Merle
Caritas is a magically enforced
violence-free karaoke bar run by Lorne
who can read a person or demons aura
when they sing on this run-through oh I
noticed one of the patients at Caritas
bears a striking resemblance to the
naked psychic demons from earshot Merle
points them in the right direction and
Lorne drops a piece of foreshadowing on
Angel smooth groove and around this
point after some really fun character
building bits the episode gets a little
Pilate in the subway Angel stumbles upon
and kills the demon turns out he was one
of the good demons not the evil ones
what did you do damn those vague visions
the demon was protecting a woman
pregnant with a prophesized baby angel
recruits Gunn to help him find the woman
and when he does takes over as her
protector Gunn is introduced to the rest
of the team and it seems so cringeworthy
it might break bones he's a great guy
with a really fly Street tag what's he 5
in fairness anyone named Gunn probably
would have learned by now to introduce
themselves as Charles what if it's a
demon with a gun or a friend of angel if
my last name was face punch I'd probably
go by Ian's angel in his charge find
their way up from the sewers into an
abandoned hotel an angel loses her
sponsor Cordy one of my favorite Cornish
steps in to bolster his confidence you
can't see everything you're just a
vampire like everyone else that didn't
come out right to find and protect the
woman
angel resorts to the most heinous
ghastly an unthinkable deed he's done
since getting his soul back Loren sets
him on the path angel defends the woman
from death in a neo-noir horse Josten
sequence that I'm kind of torn about on
the one hand the shot paused looks
pretty sweet on the other and the
episode ends with angel coming to grips
with the scope of the task in front of
him actually with our nowhere with no
slit and reconnecting with the one
person who probably understands him best
oh man do I hope they lean into this
relationship a lot in the coming season
the opening feels very confident as if
the writers were saying we may not
entirely know the direction the show is
going but we definitely know who these
people are and in the span of a few
minutes they make it very clear that the
characters have progressed the visions
forced upon Cordy have infused her with
a strong sense of empathy something
required to play characters other than
herself was just amazing and her growing
aptitude for demonology displays the
commitment to the cause she found after
the torture she'd endured at the end of
the first season we will there's still a
bit of slapstick Wesley here but he is
equally confident in their cause and
ready to look inward at the ethical
contradictions when they're laid out in
front of him we're not running a race
we're doing a job and the very fact that
he is the one with Merle the demon
contact and knows of Caritas is further
evidence that Wesley is far more
competent and resourceful than anyone
including he really believes nice to see
Darla back and still a Justin and I
definitely prefer whatever this
direction is for her character compared
to what we had in Buffy Season one a bit
less vampire Harley Quinn something more
nuanced and complex at first glance her
appearance in this episode might seem
like nothing more than a reminder that
she's here but there's something
interesting going on we'll get to in a
minute after recurring last season this
premiere is the first time that J August
gets billed in angels fantastic
opening credits one of the details I've
always really enjoyed was how each
actors character had a symbolic piece of
b-roll behind them gun gets a back alley
a visual connection to his life with the
Lost Boys a cage for Angel indicating
him being trapped by his past actions or
the monster trapped within a line to a
club for Cordelia showing her desire for
the glamorous in season one Doyle's
footage was of his messy one-bedroom
home emblematic of his own inner turmoil
Wesley's b-roll for the rest of season
one was Doyle's with a blurter added to
hide his character a symptom of Glenn
Quinn's unfortunate and unplanned four
departure in season two that footage has
been replaced with a more fitting pan
across one of his books reflective of
Wesley's knowledge and his rightfully
earned position in angel investigations
undoubtedly the most glorious addition
to the mix is the maestro of mind
reading himself Lorne
given the show's proclivity for Greek
mythology Lorne is an obvious stand-in
for the Greek chorus I really don't want
to say too much about him just yet
other than that Lorne is another layer
to the gray or the green that is the
angel verse a kind demon who uses his
powers to help anyone along their path
be they eaters of their own young or
angel himself Lorne the demon who
insists on his domain being a place of
peace and tranquility it'll be
interesting to see what his interaction
with the team does for them both but
beyond that Loren is also such an
interest in commentary on music itself I
said in a previous video that music
really is the heart's native language
music has a way of bypassing our own
defense mechanisms of giving at our very
soul why not then a telepathic demon
that can read our hearts when we sing it
is absolutely perfect and from lorenz
opening song which could be interpreted
as being about Lorne himself or Darla
and Angel it's clear that music is going
to play an unexpectedly important role
in the angel verse similar to how in the
first three seasons of Buffy pretty much
every classroom lesson was in some way
relevant to the theme of the episode
itself while that is not the case with
every bit of music an angel Lorne song
makes it clear that the choices are
anything but haphazard even if the
intent is as simple as poking fun at its
characters it's a
outside the box I'm so excited
[Music]
an example let's look at Angel's ear
stabby karaoke ditty
Lauren asks a seemingly innocuous
question of angel why Mandy remember
Lauren can't read minds willy-nilly he
can only get impression from people when
they speak in sin and answer true
because you know no but him asking the
question itself suggests something may
have made him think he should
angel answers with what angel believes
is true I kind of think it's pretty and
it is your great big SAP and that's good
enough for Lauren's gloriously eccentric
psychic power we all move on except
maybe something else is at play here
Manilow song Mandy was a smash hit his
follow-up the next year could it be
magic was less successful
it was one of the few Manilow Tunes to
be written in a minor key and he based
it on Chopin's Prelude in C minor many
major themes from the previous
Buffyverse seasons are reintroduced here
D Manasa D does not in the evil being
make but the gray extends beyond just
the essence of the creatures in angel's
world but also to the intrinsic virtue
of one action in the next or one vision
and another thanks for the obscure
visions we're doing great with that
perpetually force an angel to question
where he ends and Angelus begins this
endless cycle of self-doubt looks like
it could put angel at risk somewhere
down the line the episode also holds the
dubious distinction of being the show's
first use of the word a champion
champion champion a champion champion
champion champion is defeated got it
really hate that horde you'll find out
why it's dubious later on lastly the
structure of the threat to angels client
in this one is no accident that threat
being the tribunal and their trial and
judgment in this episode angel wins the
day by playing their game but bear in
mind his exhaustion and desire to break
that wheel that he also expressed in
blind date her rules their game it's all
a lot of good stuff after the very very
gloomy first season the addition of
hosting Maclaurin is a welcome injection
of saturation and life to the mix and
everything around Lorne in this episode
is a joy the team chemistry is still
lively and getting even just a glimpse
of faith on her own journey of
redemption and the evil anonymous
relationship she has formed with angel
is a welcome reminder of some of season
one's pinnacle moments still as much as
I enjoy this episode it seems to exist
mainly for the purposes of having angel
come to grips with the fact that it's
going to take some time before he shinji
and does a shine shoe thing now that he
can see an end goal in mind over the
course of the summer angel has developed
some impatience and get into that
destination light was so bright
I thought I was already out and that's a
fascinating idea it could be really
interesting if they choose to play with
that this season however rather than
letting angel continue to bathe in that
anxiety the writers choose to tie
judgments story and development off with
a bow we shouldn't be keeping school so
cool I guess whose move past is hunger
for the destination then but if that's
the case from a narrative standpoint I
thought his interaction with Wes over it
at the end of season 1 was a far more
elegant demonstration of this so don't
break out the champagne just yet
then his pining for a gym membership
here sure you might say there's a
difference between being told something
will take time and angel actually
realizing the weight of that fact but it
still feels a little redundant to me
given how season one ended and if they
choose to walk back his moment of
character growth here again then that
would make the events of judgment even
more head scratching for me we'll see
how the story unfolds there are a number
of solid setups in this episode for some
wonderful payoffs later in the season
but nothing that feels like it couldn't
have been nipped and tucked into the far
superior are you now or have you ever
been or simply an episode with a
stronger fresher plot judgment contains
numerous ideas but it doesn't feel like
it advances so much as restates them
through moments we've already seen in
season one angel filled a good demon in
the ring or at least a demon made to do
bad things by some worse old humans
we've got the second pregnancy-related
plot in two seasons though at least this
one wasn't touted as mystical I also
wonder if the specifics here like angel
guarding a pregnant woman being hunted
and whose demon II partner he killed
will come up again and we've got another
client that will be shortly forgotten by
the next episode somehow even with all
the good Lorna bits and the chemistry
judgement still feels at times like a
relatively rote season one angel story
woman in trouble with a generic
supernatural threat angel brooding wacky
hijinx honor good Redemption hard yada
yada yada but we know the business of
television had an influence on angels
plot arcs from time to time and maybe
that's why judgment feels like another
pilots with a built-in desire to catch
up new viewers rather than a
continuation of angel and company's epic
journey a consideration of the fact that
the show didn't have the strongest
following at this time in its run and
would need to do more than rest on its
Buffy laurels to survive and flourish
all of that said it's still better
television than a fair bit of season one
and honestly that's better TV than most
is wonderful to be back with these
characters and the world they inhabit
[Music]