Rush to Judgment?
© Ellen Ross
Those of us who remember Lindsay Wagner as "The Bionic Woman" may have enjoyed a few moments of nostalgia at the "Jaime moments" in the season opener episode "Buffy vs. Dracula," down to the hair, the scarf and a little sound that Buffy made while facing the Dark Prince. Fear not, this gal won't be losing her own "Oscar Goldman" anytime soon, but the most anticipated appearance in the episode came in the last few moments of the show, when we had our first brief look at Dawn.
Meanwhile on "Angel," we renewed our acquaintance with Angel's "counterpart on the path to redemption" after watching Angel learn a costly lesson about jumping to conclusions.
For the past two years at least, a consistent theme on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" has been that appearances are deceiving, and that you can't always tell evil from good by a first look. In the season premiere episode "Judgment," Angel discovered that while he has learned a great deal in the past year, he is still more than capable of making mistakes.
It's too early to be certain, but perhaps this year's unifying theme may be shifts of perception - the changes that the characters, and the viewers, experience within themselves as they learn to look at things in a different way.
Even without Doyle to guide him, Angel will find his way out of the tunnel. Ever since "Somnambulist," when Cordelia spoke lines originally written for Doyle, it has been made clear to the viewers that it is Cordelia, not Wesley, who has been gradually taking on Doyle's role as Angel's best friend. The addition of Gunn to the team may soon change this, however. It was Gunn who was perceptive enough to recognize immediately that Angel was going to be "soaking up the guilt" even though he hasn't spent enough time with Angel to know him that well. Given Gunn's hatred of vampires, it will be fascinating to see how that friendship develops this year.
Cordelia's pledge of loyalty highlights the tremendous change in her personality since she came over from Sunnydale to L.A. Many fans wouldn't be surprised if something more of Doyle survives in Cordelia than just his visions. The Angel-Cordelia relationship has the potential to become something better than a mere romance, if the creative team is not too eager to take another friend away from Angel. Let's hope that the "new Cordelia" is given the opportunity to keep her promise to Angel.
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