Angel : Season One, Episode Two : Lonely Hearts

Grade: A-

Angel, Doyle, and Cordelia are attempting solidify their new business venture when Doyle receives a vision of a nightclub and a certainty that something is about to go wrong there; identifying the place, the three set out to visit it, Angel attempting to sound out any suspicious activity in or around the bar while Cordelia takes the opportunity to distribute the new business cards she had designed. Doyle attempts to explain to her why an undercover, vigilante organization should not be publicly advertised, while Angel has a conversation with a woman who introduces herself as Kate; however, before he is able to find out anything definitive about recent crimes connected to the nightclub, Cordy and Doyle become implicated in a bar brawl and lose any opportunity for continued stealth. Returning to Angel's apartments, they research the nightclub and discover several disappearances vaguely linked to the establishment; returning to the bar, Angel once again meets Kate, and attempts to warn her to avoid the place. She disregards him, however, and, making inquiries, Angel discovers the name and address of a woman who was seen to have left the club the night before with a man who subsequently failed to arrive at work. Tracking the woman down, Angel discovers her dead in her bed, while her one-night stand absorbs a small, worm-like demon. Angel is unable to defeat the preternaturally strong man, who flees the scene, leaving Angel to be discovered with the woman's corpse by Kate, an undercover police officer who has also been tracing the string of disappearances. She accuses him of being the killer, and he is forced to attack her in order to escape before more police arrive; rejoining Cordelia and Doyle at Cordelia's apartment, he is able to identify the demon as a Burrower, a body-snatcher who is forced to inhabit and discard bodies until it finds one it can occupy permanently. Knowing that Kate has also traced the disappearances to the nightclub and may have information he lacks, he phones her and convinces her to call a truce until they can meet and share what they know. Agreeing to meet at the bar, Kate arrives before Angel does, and is lured into a back room by the bartender, whom the Burrower is currently inhabiting. The demon attempts to transfer itself into Kate, but she is rescued by Angel before the change can be made. The bartender's body begins decaying as the demon's time of occupation runs out, and he begins desperately searching for another body to inhabit; however, Angel is able to set fire to the man while Kate uses her gun to keep him at bay, destroying the demon and his flesh body. As police and fire trucks begin arriving on the scene, Angel and Kate make peace and reach a mutual agreement to aid one another in the future if an opportunity arises; returning to his home, Angel parts with Doyle and Cordelia for the night, all of them exhausted by the stress of their first investigation.


Observations:

• As we see Doyle and Cordelia work with Angel for the first time, the three of them have quite an enjoyable group dynamic; I'm not certain how long this small team is going to last, but they're very enjoyable to watch interact.
• Please don't drag the "Doyle-likes-Cordelia-but-she-doesn't-know-that-he's-a-half-demon" thing out for very much longer; it's already getting tiresome, and can only get more so if it becomes a central "drama" of their story arcs.
• The confusion over the abstract angel figure on the business cards: hee. I like it, but, again, it could get old fast.
• I'm assuming that Kate is going to become a recurring character, though I don't recall ever hearing her name mentioned as a main cast member.
• The demon story is decent but not particularly memorable; acceptable for a second episode. No further appearance from the Wolfram & Hart lawyers as yet, although I am aware that they become recurring villains at some point.