Angel/Buffy rewatch; Benediction
BENEDICTION
The Good; The return of Justine but this ep will always be remembered for the incredible scenes between Angel and Holtz. They strike you as a pair of weary emotional boxers slugging it out to the last. I especially like the moment where Angel rages at Holtz for stealing his son and Holtz points out that he kept Angel's son alive whilst Angel(us) killed his.
The Bad; Angel just leaves a set of vamps lying on the floor of the club.
Best line: Justine; "How did you survive?" Holtz; "My hatred kept us alive" HOOOOoooooooooo! also like; Fred; "He's survived an unspeakable hell dimension. Who hasn't? It doesn't mean you can leave him on the streets of LA"
Jeez, how did they get away with that? Holtz forcing Justine to stab him with the icepick
Apocalypses: 5
Angel Clichés In disguise; 8
DB get's his shirt off; 12
Cordy's tatt; 10
Cheap Angel; 9
Fang Gang in bondage: Cordy: 5 Angel: 11 Wes: 6 Gunn; 4 Lorne; 3 Fred; 2
Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 12 Angel: 14 Wes: 5 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 1 Lorne; 3 Groo; 1
Kills: 2 vamps for Angel. 2 for Connor as well and we can add in the demon he killed in The Price Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons Angel; 41 vamps, 57 and 1/2 demons, 7 humans Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 12 demons+3 vamps, 2 humans Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans. Gunn; 10 vamps+ 11 demons. Groo; 1 demon Fred; 1 vamp Connor; 2 vamps and one demon
Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 2 Gunn; 1 Wes; 1
Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 8 Fred; 1
Characters killed: 46
Recurring characters killed; 8;
Total number of Angel Investigations: 6, Angel, Cordy, Gunn, Fred, Lorne and Groo
Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 12 Wes; 1
Packing heat; Wes; 6 Doyle; 1 Angel; 2 Gunn; 1
Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 4 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo Angel: 5; Buffy, Darla and The Transcending Furies Wes; 2; Virginia and the bleached blonde Gunn; 1 Fred Fred; 1 Gunn Groo; 1Cordy
Kinky dinky: According to Fred's gizmo Connor is 'Hot'. Gunn dislikes the idea of tracking Angel's teenage son's 'emissions'.
Captain Subtext; Groo and Lorne, their scene together very reminiscent of a scene in season 5 Buffy with Xander and Riley at the magic shop. But the Groo does it SOOOOO much better than Riley does "If she asks" Awwwwww!
Know the face, different character; 4
Parking garages; 5,
Buffy characters on Angel; 16 Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony
Questions and observations; One thing I've noticed in working my way through Buffy season 6 and Angel season 3 is that I keep leaping ahead wanting to watch more and more Angel and not Buffy. Note that the PTB's decide to save Justine through CC's vision. Holtz is quite religious believing god gave him Connor. You genuinely get the impression that they do love each other. Interestingly Fred refers to 'being at the bottom of the ocean looking upwards'. Does Holtz go to hell? Is he an evil man? The only evil thing I can think off he does is slitting Wes' throat but that's Justine and we've no idea that he even knew about it.
Holtz is disappointed that they've only been gone for a few days, of course he is, he wanted it to be a longer period so that Angel would suffer more. It's interesting to watch the father/son scenes between Holtz and Connor, I was a big fan of The Equalizer back in the 80s and you had very much the same dynamic between Edward Woodward and Keith Szarabajka's characters.
Ironically Buffy goes out of her way to keep Dawn away from vampire hunting whilst Angel takes Connor along as a bonding exercise.
Ah glowsticks! I miss the 90s. Note we see Holst give up Connor for his greater good just as we witness Angel doing when Holst leaps through the portal and will again at the end of season 4.
Marks out of 10; 8/10, an ep of great emotional depth and poignancy