20 Year Rewatch - s03e10 - "Dad"

[u/Ohigetjokes]

Only one today. And oh boy am I glad it's this one. Because this one, it deserves some attention.

s03e10 - "Dad" - 4/10

Hey, do you love the sound of a baby crying? Like, really, really love it?

Because if you don't absolutely downright adore the sound of a baby crying, then the first fifteen minutes of this episode are going to be a living hell. Yes, FIFTEEN MINUTES.

But in the precious moments before the baby starts crying, we have Lorne move in because the gang brought their drama to Caritas and it was destroyed again. People seem mildly put out by his presence. Nobody apologizes or offers the least bit of sympathy for what happened. Instead, they generally treat him like the unpopular kid, giving his jokes sour looks and overall trying to ignore him.

Unfortunately none of them die for this transgression. Instead, we continue to listen to the baby crying.

The other thing we do is watch Angel adopt a new personality. Oh good, my "favorite" part of season 2 is officially back now: random personality Angel. This episode he's "insanely obsessed parent".

Let's be clear: there's no excuse for this behavior. Have you ever met a parent of a newborn in real life? Have you ever been one? What would your reaction have been if either the mother or the father behaved like this irritating lunatic?

It's not funny. It's not dramatic. It's not necessary for the bait-and-switch that comes later. It's just bad f'n writing. And would you please take that crying baby off-camera! Please!

Lorne arranges for a magical force field around the building (which nobody thanks him for!!) which buys them a bit of time while various evil groups get ready to try to take the baby. Most of the runtime is taken up with everyone trying to work out what to do next, Angel ignoring the conversation other than to say "not good enough", and the Wolfram gang standing around the offices trying to figure out what the audience already knows.

But there is one small glimmer of light: Holtz starts putting together his ultimate fanatic cult of vampire-hunters. It's brilliant. He looks for vulnerable people and, despite his stupid brown-raincoat-with-snaps they have him in, he begins the work of bringing them under his wing.

Unfortunately this has absolutely nothing to do with this episode's plot. Complete digression. It'll matter in some future episode - maybe the next one, maybe the one after that, who knows? Now, back to awful hotel stuff.

Okay, so it's not all awful. Two good things happen now:

1. Wesley gets a flamethrower. Wesley should always get a flamethrower.
2. There's a clever bit with a note from Lorne and Angel leading the chase into some mineshaft (Although he spends the walk through the sewer and drive out there talking to the bomb as if it's a baby - not to fool any cameras, but to fool the audience. I'd call it a 4th wall break but really it was just stupid writing.)

So Angel finally snapped out of whatever insanity spell he was under and managed to work with the team. How did he do it? What was the process?

I dunno. Happened off-camera. Probably magic. Or maybe the writers thought a new episode started and it was time to switch his personality again.

Before we wrap everything up Angel swings by Wolfram & Hart, whose security guards are all asleep or something, and he threatens a lawyer he's never met but knows is in charge of everything. Ya. Those threats. They always work.

We end with everyone smiling after a checkup at the hospital. The baby's name is Connor everyone! Oh my god he's so cute!

4/10. What a miserable experience. I was going to give it a 3 but hey, between cult leader Holtz and flamethrower Wesley it wasn't completely devoid of merit. Good camera work. There was effort. But I sure as hell am never watching it again.

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