Angel: Inside Out

Lorne: "Kid Vicious did the heavy lifting. Cordy just muah-ha-ha'd at us."

I'm sorry, but this whole episode reminded me of that old joke about God where the punchline is, "In the first place, she's black." Maybe now that she has finally given birth to Gina Torres, Cordelia won't be the unconvincing bad guy any more, and this is a good. Maybe Gina Torres will be a more convincing bad guy.

Evil Cordelia, or whatever was possessing her, sure knew how to pick 'em. Is Connor really that dense? Probably not; he was just unable to choose between his two mothers -- the real dead one, and the one who's currently having his spawn. But hey, if the ghost of *my* mother showed up and started telling me something I already knew in my heart ("You really think that safety can be plucked from the arms of an evil deed?"), I'd listen to her. Connor didn't actually carry out the sacrifice, but did it matter? He aided and abetted, and didn't stop it.

The "virgin sacrifice" was deliberately cast to look uncannily like Darla; the hairstyle, the shape of her face, the color and basic cut of her clothing. And after Cordelia killed her, Connor was actually seeing her as Darla. We were of course intended to see a parallel between Connor allowing the sacrifice of this innocent girl, and the sacrifice that Darla made for him. And, I suspect, the death of goodness in Connor as well.

At least we finally got tons of exposition, delivered unexpectedly (and not always enunciated clearly) by Skip the demon. It really was Cordelia all along, but she "ain't driving." Skip was never working for the good guys ("I'm just a merc"). And a lot of the heavier plot twists from the entire series were leading up to this? Lorne leaving Pylea, Gunn losing his sister, Fred "opening the wrong book", Darla's impossible pregnancy, Angel rescuing Billy, Cordelia becoming a higher being (as Skip said, that plotline was so completely bogus, anyway), Wesley's affair with Lilah...

All this to bring forth Gina Torres? Okay, I'm clearly having trouble with this one.

On a positive note, it was nice to have the real Angel back; I missed him. How about Angel defeating Skip with that chain? The only thing I liked more was Wesley putting that bullet in Skip's ear.

Skip intimated that giving birth would kill Cordelia. We shall see.

Bits and pieces:

-- As usual, being dead has never stopped a character from returning. Even someone who has technically died four times.

-- The "Queen Bi-otch" thing came directly from a Buffy episode.

-- Angel and Wesley seem to have completely mended their fences.

-- In the "Continuity is good" department, Skip referred to Buffy: "Whoah, wait. Nobody comes back from paradise. Okay, a Slayer once, but..." Plus, when Skip was dying, he said, "Well, that ain't right." Didn't Trick say much the same thing?

-- The buffalo wings comment reminded me of Clem.

-- How about two Firefly actors being key in the season finales of both Buffy and Angel this year? Is Joss Whedon good to the actors he likes, or what?

Quotes:

Cordelia: "So what finally tipped off the great detective?"
Angel: "Tongue. Slip of."

Gunn: "Sorry, just got your message. Being close to Electric Gwen can really screw your equipment. What the hell happened to you?"
Fred: "Cordy's evil. Nice suit."

Angel: "Connor's not a part of this."
Lorne: "Evidence upside my head to the contrary."

Angel: "It stripped down, then gave Manny forty whacks."
Gunn: "A quick sponge-down in the sink and..."
Lorne: "Voila. Shower-fresh murder."

Angel: "We don't know if it's really Cordy."
Fred: "Or what she's got baking in her oven."
Gunn: "Evil and pregnant?" I'm guessing it ain't cookies."

Angel: "So why didn't the Powers invite you to that one?"
Skip: "Mysterious ways. They can really drive a guy nuts."

Gunn: "Wait, so the big nasty inside of Cordy is going to give birth to itself?"
Skip: "Circle of life. It's a beautiful thing."

This episode was too anti-climactic for me. Two out of four stakes,

Billie