EPISODE 3.02
THAT VISION THING
Written by: Jeffrey
Bell
Directed
by: Bill Norton
Through a Glass Darkly
What is the purpose of Angel
Investigations in general and of Angel himself in particular?
Is it to fight evil? Is it
to help those who need it? Or is it
only to help those who deserve it? Clearly
there can be a great deal of overlap between these three purposes. But there can also be circumstances in which there are not
only significant differences but actual conflict between them.
Indeed there are circumstances in which it is difficult to know
how you can tell one purpose from another.
This, then, is the question posed by the writers in “That Vision
Thing”: how do we tell what is the right thing to do?
The context in which this question is
examined is on the face of it quite a simple one.
Lilah has arranged for a “mind hacker” to attack Cordelia through her
visions. She does so for an
ulterior purpose. She wants to
blackmail Angel into helping her free a young man from torture and imprisonment in a demon
dimension. This is Lilah we are
talking about. This is Wolfram and
Hart. This is the same combination
which was responsible for destroying Darla – the very thing which sent Angel
off at the deep end in season 2. And
that is forgetting about everything else Lilah was involved in such as the
attempt to kill Angel in “Five by Five” or trying to turn Bethany into a
killer in “Untouched”. Our immediate
reaction therefore must be that, if she
wants that young man freed, it cannot be for humanitarian reasons.
As Wesley says to Angel:
“I don’t need
to explain to you that if Wolfram and Hart are behind this mission it can’t be
good.”
So, what
then is the right thing to do? Does Angel risk the lives of others by freeing someone who
may be a monster or further jeapordize Cordelia? Only it’s
not quite as simple as that. I
think I can illustrate this point by mentioning the scenario in the BUFFY
episode “Choices”. There the
gang had a very straightforward dilemma. They
knew, at least in general terms, that if the mayor got the Box of Gavrox, he
could complete the Ascension Ritual. This
was unambiguously “a bad thing”. On
the other hand, if they didn’t give the Box to him Willow would die.
The nature of the choice was clear – to sacrifice Willow to prevent a
clear defined evil or save Willow and leave the door open to such evil. Here
there is no such certainty. On
general principle we are inclined to agree with Wesley. If Wolfram and Hart want something no good can come of it.
And let us not forget what Lilah was prepared to do to get Angel to take
on the mission. Then there is the imprisonment of the young man himself.
Wesley examines the coin and key used to imprison him and tells Angel the
bad news:
“Something that
you probably won’t like to hear is that both artifacts are considered objects
of good”
So the prison itself is part of the war
against evil. Finally there is Skip
the young man’s jailer. He
identifies himself as fighting on the same side as Angel:
Skip: “You’re
a vampire right. How come it smells
like you’re workin’ for the Powers that Be.”
Angel:
“‘Cause I do.”
Skip: “But
you’re here to rescue this guy. But
we’re on the same side. Shouldn’t
you be helping me to keep him in here.”
Angel “I know I
know. Long story.
It involves a girl. I
don’t like it any better than you do.”
As for the prisoner himself, Skip calmly
observes:
“Oh he’s
supposed to be here. You have any
idea how monstrous a guy has to be before he gets sent to us?”
Considering the punishment being inflicted
upon the prisoner – literally being burnt alive - it is not hard to accept the
truth of this. Indeed Skip himself
seems an amiable creature with no malice in him and he doesn't appear to take
any personal pleasure in the suffering of the young man, thus indicatingthat
the punishment is for good reason.
So all in all the evidence seems to point towards hat young man being
someone who is quite exceptionally dangerous.
But is the situation quite as
straightforward as all that? After
all this is an episode that warns us in many different ways that appearances can
be deceptive.
No, the choice that Angel has to make is,
although he may not fully appreciate the fact, far from a simple one. He cannot see clearly what the situation is so how can he
makes choices about what the best thing to do is?
And it is here that we get back to my original question: what is
Angel’s purpose?
The Good Fight
One of the issues raised, though never
entirely explored to my satisfaction, in the aftermath of “Reunion”, was the
difference between fighting a war against evil and fighting the good fight.
Because Angel had become so obsessed with seeking revenge on Lilah who,
along with Lindsey he held responsible for Darla’s second death, he turned his
back on helping people like the would be suicide and abandoned his friends.
Indeed at one point Cordelia (not entirely fairly) accused him of not
caring what happened to them. The
turning point came in “Epiphany”. There
he came to a realization articulated in he following exchange with Kate:
Angel: “In the greater scheme, the
big picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win.”
Kate: “You seem kind of chipper
about that.”
Angel: ”Well, I guess I kind of
worked it out. If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do
matters... then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What
we do. Now. Today. I fought for so long, for redemption, for a reward, and
finally just to beat the other guy. I never got it.
Kate: “And now you do?”
Angel: “Not all of it. But now I
just wanna help. I wanna help because people shouldn't suffer as they do.
Because, if there isn't any bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is
the greatest thing in the world.”
These words have a very clear echo in
another exchange in this episode, this time between Angel and Cordelia:
Cordelia: “What
if that guy you freed is something or someone truly terrible?
Wolfram and Hart won this time and it’s all my fault.”
Angel: “It’s not about winning
Cordelia. It’s about what’s at
stake. And in this particular
scenario you were way more important than winning.
I can’t worry about that guy I set free. I did what I had to do.
I’ll just deal with the consequences when they happen.”
Here we see Cordelia not as Angel’s link
to the powers that be but as a friend. As
he had said to her earlier when she suggested that he only need her for her
visions:
“That’s
not why I need you. You’re important. The visions are just
after-market extras.”
And it is because she is his friend that
Angel decides that he has to help her even at the risk of freeing some great
evil.
If “That Vision Thing”
illustrated anything it is that it is often simply impossible to know
whether what we are doing is right or wrong.
Angel at the beginning acted on assumptions unsupported by evidence and
ended up attacking the forces of good. Later
he had to face the dilemma of seeing Cordelia suffer or freeing someone he had
reason to believe was dangerous. This also meant attacking someone else who was also aligned
with the forces of good. And at the
end of it he had no idea what he was unleashing. It is even possible that by
releasing the prisoner he was doing no great harm and may indeed have helped
someone who needed it. How
could he know? But at least when he
knew he was helping Cordelia – when he was committing that one act of kindness
that he mentioned in “Epiphany” he was doing something worthwhile.
And that, I think, is how he now defines his purpose in life, rather than
simply fighting evil.
Just as in "Hearthrob", in
"That Vision Thing" too we have a theme that was explicitly carried
over from season 2. If the former
was about Angel having a purpose in life then the latter is about the nature of
that purpose. The theme of this episode is
therefore the logical follow on from the theme of the season premiere and further strengthens the idea that
Angel as a character has changed as a result of his experiences in last season.
I always like that sort of joined up thinking.
Moreover the episode further
explores the nature of the difference that we now see in Angel.
He couldn’t risk killing Lilah in her office while she still had power
over Cordelia. But he could have
when the handover of the prisoner was complete and Cordelia was no longer under
threat. Instead he simply killed
the mind hacker. This was a
perfectly rational thing to do. It
was the hacker that continued to be the threat and it would seem in any event
that he was demonic in nature. Killing
a creature like that has never been problematic.
Lilah is, of coursem, human and as such redeemable, no matter how bad her
actions now are. Killing her would therefore be problematic.
But instead of doing so, Angel simply gave her a warning.
This is indeed a very different Angel to the one that came after her and
Lindsey in “Blood Money”. The
first great strength of this episode is therefore that, by emphasizing these changes, it gives meaning and
weight to the developments of season 2 rather than just forgetting about them.
But more than that; here we also see one of the reasons why helping people is
what Angel should be about rather than simply fighting evil.
I may be wholly wrong about this but I am left with the distinct
impression that – ruthless though her methods may have been – perhaps Lilah
was not really acting on an evil agenda at all.
Perhaps as she herself insisted she really did have benign motives. At the very least Angel has given her the chance to show what
her game was all about. If evil is
afoot then Angel can deal with the consequences.
But if Angel had acted as the Dark Avenger of “Reunion” she would
never have the chance to show what she really did want, just as Holland and the
other victims of the Wine Cellar never had a chance to change.
So, while the difference in treatment handed out to Lilah and the mind hacker was
stark, there was perhaps a good reason for it.
And the fact that we have to entertain this possibility makes what
otherwise may be a very simple and straightforward dilemma into something
more complex and therefore more interesting.
We are confronted with a situation that we cannot instantly grasp and
have a clear understanding of. We
are asked to judge whether Angel did the right thing.
Notwithstanding the fact that Angel himself seemed certain we can
have our own views and that sort of audience engagement is always a plus.
And we must also concede that our judgments cannot be definitive because they
cannot be arrived at on the basis of a clear understanding of all the facts.
There is ample scope for argument and debate and therein lies the interest of
the situation we find our characters in.
Cordelia
Having said all that, however, I
must record one major problem with the
scenario. This lies in Cordelia’s involvement as the victim in chief.
Since “Epiphany” we have really been hit over the head with this.
There Cordelia was the one held captive by the Skilosh in the Sharp’s
house. In “Belonging” she was
the one transported to Pylea where she was held as a slave.
And now this. And each time
Angel’s attitude is the same – we have to do something because it’s Cordy.
The time comes when you have to ask: is this special pleading?
I enjoy the Angel/Cordelia friendship as much as anyone and in
“Hearthrob” I thought the writers got it just about right.
There was a nice combination of genuine concern and willingness to help.
But it wasn’t laid on too thickly.
Here I think it was. When
Cordelia has her first vision everyone else rushes for the books and only Angel
shows concern about her. Wesley
tries to ask her questions about what she saw but Angel is more concerned to
find out what was wrong with her. Then
Angel was the one who took the lead in finding about the boils and clawmarks.
After that he was the one who had
to persuade Cordelia to accept the Host’s help.
It was to Angel alone that Cordelia confided how frightened she was.
When Lilah spoke slightingly about her Angel reacted angrily.
It was Angel who single-handedly decided to save her by releasing the
prisoner. In doing so he seemed to
entertain no doubts and brusquely
overrode Wesley’s (admittedly feeble) objections.
And finally he defended the decision to Cordelia when she herself raised
objections. I do not say that
this is necessarily a nascent romance. But what I do say is that this huge stress on the personal
connection between the two contains within it a very subversive possibility.
I have tried to explain the way in which I view the dynamic of this
episode. But if you look at the same events and see in them Angel just
wanting to help Cordelia because of a personal commitment to her and ignoring
any consideration that gets in the way (including releasing a potentially very
dangerous creature) then the episode takes on a very different meaning and
Angel’s actions become much more problematic.
Would he have done the same thing if it had been Gunn or Wesley or Fred?
Would he have done the same thing for a stranger off the street?
The possibility is never raised. How
can we know? But if he would not, then his actions become completely
self-centered and as such a betrayal of his promise to help others.
One good thing though is that Cordelia’s
suffering did help shed some more light on her attitude towards the visions.
I have been critical of the way in which Cordelia’s desire to retain
them was presented as some noble
sacrifice for all humanity in “No Place Like Plrtz Glrb”.
Here we get a much more ambiguous, uncertain and therefore inherently
more interesting and believable reaction from her.
When we first see her she claims to be looking forward to her next vision
but she is being defensive and her real attitude is revealed by her description
of the experience:
“Having my head
torn open and hot lave poured into my skull gifts”.
And when she first sees Gavin Park the
only thing that really registers with her is the Gucci loafers and the sharp
suit. This is the authentic
Cordelia. As is the reason why she
wants to hide the marks on her – pride:
“What is there
to say except gross, yuck and unclean. Like
you’re nothing good.”
It’s almost as if they were a reflection
on her personally. And,
when Angel presses her about her reluctance to let Lorne help her, we see
not some self-sacrificing sense of mission but a fear that losing the visions
would make her useless – especially to Angel.
Angel “Maybe he
can make the noise stop.”
Cordelia: “Yeah.”
Angel: “Isn’t that what you
want?”
Cordelia:
“Yes…no…well…no. Sure,
I hate looking and feeling like this but if I lose the visions I wouldn’t be
able to help you anymore. You
wouldn’t need me.”
The idea that Cordelia wants above all
else to be valued by Angel and that for this she unwillingly puts up with her
visions rather than embracing them wholeheartedly is so much more convincing and
satisfactory an explanation for her reluctance to give them up.
And the fact that at the same time we see a Cordelia who can still
appreciate a man in Gucci loafers
and a sharp suit (even if he is a minion of Hell) and that she retains her pride
and sense of dignity gives us a much better feeling that this is the same
Cordelia Chase we have been watching from Sunnydale High.
Sure, experience has taught her things.
She has grown up in many ways. She
has found a purpose that was formerly missing from her life.
But she is not so disconnected from her former self to make it look as
though the character were completely re-invented.
That is the strength of characterization missing from a lot of late
season 2.
But best of all the writers had the
courage to draw a line. There is a
limit to what even someone as self-possessed and strong as Cordelia can put up
with. There comes a time when
anyone would say: just make it stop. Sometimes
writers are reluctant to show that line being crossed because they see it as a
sign of weakness. So characters are
shown with a strength of will in putting up with anything that at time is hard
to swallow. Cordelia’s “Book of
Job” experience was horrible. To
me showing her beginning to crumble under it was entirely realistic.
Plot
I have already discussed at some length
the way that this episode continually shows us that all is not what it seems.
This is something ANGEL as a series always strives to do and something at
which it usually succeeds. From the beginning of the episode, the focus is on Cordelia
and her suffering. This was
established in a very effective way. From
“Heartthrob” we had already learned that the pain she was experiencing from
her visions was getting worse. So
we were not terribly surprised when we see her collapse under another. But when Wesley asks her how many claws the creature has and
she counts the claw marks on her midriff we are suddenly and unexpectedly hit by
the realization that something different is happening this time.
And from there Cordelia’s situation gets worse step by step.
She progresses from claw marks to boils to burns and at each stage her
condition becoming more and more desperate.
In this way we get a sense of a deteriorating situation.
But one thing I like here is that the writers were able to convey the
seriousness of the trouble Cordelia was in without descending into melodrama.
For example there was no real suggestion that Cordelia’s life was in
danger. There was no anxious
deathwatch. There was instead a
very real sense of suffering.
At the same
time as we were gradually becoming aware of the extent of Cordelia’s plight,
we see Angel retrieve first the coin and then the key.
That there was some connection was obvious because the physical marks on
her correspond to the characteristic of the creatures guarding the objects.
But what was the connection between these objects and Cordelia’s
distress? We couldn’t guess.
It was in fact I think impossible to guess so long as we believed that
the visions were sent by TPTB. But
that is the real strength of the plotting.
As I have already said we were given two overwhelming clues that they
weren’t but disregarded them because it was canon that Cordelia’s vision
came from TPTB. Hence the surprise. Now I have to say
that the way that Wesley and Fred between them figured out that the visions were
from a different source is stretching things a bit:
"Y-you used the word
'communicate' which got me thinking - everything's made of energy, right? Light
waves, radio waves, x-rays, even brain waves are all electric energy. If
Cordelia is receiving visions from the Powers That Be they're being communicated
somehow. Maybe we could figure out the frequency and trace the calls."
As I have said before, in
principle I look upon Fantasy and Science Fiction as two completely separate
genres and I think it is a mistake to try to mix them together.
The so-called “genetic bomb” in “Hero” is proof of that. So too
is the derision with which the pseudo-science in “Happy Anniversary” was
greeted. Having no great interest
in physics myself I do not necessarily look for scientific explanations to make
sense but to try to explain a magical phenomenon in terms of physics as Fred
tries strikes me as dangerous. Are
we to say that there is a scientific explanation for everything magical in the
Angelverse? Take for example the creation of a vampire or resurrection as
a zombie.
Or what about souls and what happens to them after death.
To try to reduce these phenomena to matters within the relams of science would
be frankly absurd and unbelievable.
This is a series that runs on metaphysics not physics.
But if you
overlook this then dramatically the way that the truth behind Cordelia’s visions
was revealed worked very well. We, the
audience had the same information as the protagonists up until almost the last
moment. Then we were granted a
sight of the brain hacker in action. It
was because of this that we realized that what had seemed two separate
storylines (Cordelia’s visions and Wolfram and Hart's machinations)
were in fact connected. And
we figured out the truth only moments before Angel and the others did. So the surprise was complete but at the same time everything
that had puzzled us before simply fell into place.
Everything that had seemed unusual such as the victimless visions and the
physical manifestation of the trauma made sense. We also had a privileged glimpse of the origin of the attacks
as well but then again Angel wouldn’t need to be a mind reader to figure that
one out for himself.
I am sorry to say,
however, that from this point
onwards things became a little pedestrian. The
first disappointment was that there was never any real doubt about whether Angel
would accept Lilah’s offer. It
would have been nice if there had been some serious argument about this if only
for form’s sake. But there wasn't.
So, nor only is there no suspense crfeated while the audience wonders what Angel
wiull do, his certainty suggests that he is acting for personal and therefore
highly suspect motives, thereby calling intnto question our sympathy for his
actionbs. The second
problem was that for a demon prison fortress this one proved less than escape
proof. There was only one guard.
That guard had the power to keep his prisoner in flames and to prevent
his screams from being heard. We
therefore had the right to expect him to be a formidable opponent.
Yet Angel with his bare hands made pretty short work of him. I found that very disappointing.
But I did like
the scene in which the newly freed prisoner was handed over.
Yes, it was for the most part predictable with its “don’t trust
them” and “do that again and I’ll kill you” overtones.
We have all seen it before in a dozen Cold War spy thrillers.
But oddly enough I think that this is just why the scene works.
There is something so “Checkpoint Charlie 1963” about the forces of
Wolfram and Hart and TPTB facing off against one another at a clandestine
meeting to arrange what amounts to an exchange of prisoners.
And the final moment when Angel skewers the mind hacker and suddenly
appears behind Lilah was shocking.
But over and
above all of this there is another reason why I think this episode worked. In
the final scene Darla seems to have exhausted all possibilities for help with
the pregnancy. She clearly
doesn’t want the child; she equally clearly doesn’t know how she became
pregnant. So it now makes
sense for her to return to confront the daddy.
And as I have already suggested it seems to me that there is far more
about the release of fire guy than meets the eye.
I get the very strong impression from this episode that threads are being
brought together. We do not yet
know how or for what purpose but I have to say this episode creates a very
strong sense of expectation in me. It
makes me want to know what happens next. It
even tempts me to spoil myself. And this can only be good.
Overview (B-)
As I have already indicated I like the fact that we are seeing more and
more how season 2 has marked a dramatic change in Angel.
The way he decided that it wasn’t defeating Wolfram and Hart that
mattered but helping Cordelia was a clear example of this.
More interestingly, because this episode makes it clear that neither we
nor Angel fully understand even at the end what really is going on,
the sense of that attitude can clearly be seen.
To that extent we see a vindication of the change of heart he underwent
in "Epiphany".
And here I have to say that the way the story twists and turns to make it
clear that we do not understand what is going on is an exemplary piece of
plotting. My one doubt remains the
Cordelia/Angel overload here. There
were many things about the Angel/Cordelia dynamic to like here.
Some of it was genuinely touching. And
I did appreciate the more textured insight the writers provided into
Cordelia’s attitude to her visions. But
having said all that, if Angel risked releasing a potential fiend just because
of a piece of special pleading on Cordelia’s behalf then a potentially
interesting theme is reduced to dangerous sentimentality.
Of course, this was an episode also
notable for its tone as well as its theme or its storyline.
This was a dark program. It
was dark in its treatment of Cordelia. It
was dark in its portrayal of the pitiless way that Skip (and presumably TPTB)
treated their prisoner. And it was
all the better for that. It made
the fact that there were serious issues involved here crystal clear.
The darkness was contrasted to occasional and brief flashes of humor.
Some frankly did not work. Wesley
should never ever try obvious double entendres again.
On the other hand finding a magic key in a key shop and exchanges between
Angel and Skip were terrific. The
latter in particular showed how effective humor can be.
The incongruity of their
almost friendly conversation actually highlighted the fact that they were in the
presence of a prisoner being burnt alive.
