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Parting Gifts Review by Nemo

Episode 1.10
Original Air Date: 12.14.99

Big Summary | Quoteable | 3 W's | Ficcable? | Rating

Big Summary (for anyone who wants to fic, but missed the episode):
Previously on “Angel”: Doyle finally got around to kissing Cordelia. The down side to this was that he died about twenty seconds later.

Angel has gone to the Oracles in an attempt to bring his friend back. This doesn’t go so well, and they send him away with the message: “For every door that closes, another one opens.” Angel is thrown bodily from their realm . . .

Just as a badly dressed demon hides behind a dumpster from some very nasty-looking, motorcycle-riding, Terminator-sort-of-a-thing.

Meanwhile, at the office, both Angel and Cordelia are going through their own little mournings for Doyle. Cordelia looks in vain for something of his, and when Angel proposes that she go out, she spots a ploy. She insists that she won’t go and let him brood. She is, in fact, wonderfully adamant until her beeper goes off and she’s reminded of the commercial audition she has to go to.

She heads for the door—only to run into the very demon we saw before. Cordelia takes a moment to marvel at the strangeness of a demon on their doorstep, and then remembers her priorities and heads out. As she leaves, the demon introduces himself as Barney.

Cordelia’s audition is . . . interesting. At first, she is so swamped by grief that she sobs her way through the Stain-B-Gone audition, which mightily impresses the casting directors, who consider it a very interesting choice, but want her to try for happy.

She takes a breath, grins, and is hit by a skull-shattering vision! She does manage to choke out her line, but sounds vaguely homicidal as she does, and the casting directors show her the door.

Barney, all the while, is telling Angel that the Terminator-creature is a relentless assassin that has been stalking him for months, always on his tail. When Angel asks why Barney would be targeted, the demon explains that he is an empathy demon, and that he occasionally uses that power to his advantage in cards. Angel isn’t happy about it, but he takes the case.

Cordelia gets back from her audition right about them, with a very weird expression on her face that immediately puts Angel on alert. That alert is very much confirmed as she plants a kiss on his exceptionally unprepared lips. Angel freezes up, awkwardly tapping at her arms and attempting to speak until she pulls away. He tries to comfort her but also remind her that she might be confusing their friendship for something else, but she cuts in and says that she didn’t feel anything. Angel is relieved, and relief turns into amazement when she reveals that she is the proud new owner of Doyle’s visions, given to her when he kissed her before dying. She swears that she will get rid of them if she has to kiss everything on the face of the earth. Barney walks in, and she makes good on her promise, laying one on him, too.

Angel stares in shock as she pulls away grimacing and recanting on that “everything” clause.

Unable to stand the weirdness for another second, Angel heads out to check Barney’s apartment. When he gets there, he steps into the door and is promptly knocked through it by the crossbow-wielding Terminator . . .

Wesley.

Oh, yes. Angel stares in disbelief as a leather-clad Wesley enters the room, totally in control . . . for about five seconds at which time Angel knocks the crossbow out of his hands and Wesley deflates somewhat. He tells Angel that he quit the Watcher’s Council and is now a “Rogue Demon Hunter”. Angel is less than impressed, and in fact, seems to be repressing giggles at the ridiculousness of Wesley in leather trying to act tough. He fails and gets down to the details. It turns out that he’s not after Barney, but after another demon that’s after Barney, and that has been leaving a trail of corpses across the continent. All of the victims had a special ability, and the physical source of that power had been ripped off their bodies.

He is trying to find the very demon, in fact, that drops from the ceiling and attacks them both. They survive, and Wesley even manages to shoot it with his crossbow before it dives out a window into the night.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave Cordelia and Barney discuss Doyle as she attempts to draw the thing she saw in her vision which she describes as ugly, gray, and blobby, but their talk is cut off by the arrival of our two boys. Barney recognizes Wes and runs, while Cordelia gets up and strides purposefully towards the newest arrival. Wesley is very pleased to see her again, though he really isn’t expecting the passionate kiss she hits him with. For a second, it looks like a repeat of that infamous Library Kiss ™ (Graduation Day Part II), but Wesley suddenly gets his act together and sparks fly.

Cordelia is a little dazed by the kiss, but still disappointed that the transferal didn’t work. Wesley seems dejected and comments that it went better than the last one. At that moment, Cordelia realizes who exactly is standing in front of her. She’s very impressed, and even more so when he tells her that he’s a Rogue Demon Hunter, though she’s curious to know what a rogue demon is.

As Angel calms Barney, Wesley identifies their attacker as a Kungai demon, which has a Tak horn that can drain an enemy’s life force. Angel suits up to go after it, and tells Wesley to stay behind, citing that he doesn’t want to lose another companion. He works alone. Wesley stands at the bottom of the stairs, shocked at how quickly his case was taken from him, and at last decides to change into something more comfortable. Apparently, leather pants tend to chafe one’s . . . legs.

Angel tracks the demon to a Korean demon Spa, and bribes the owner to tell him that the demon is in the back. Angel heads back, but finds the demon dying with its Tak Horn broken off, and muttering in a language he doesn’t understand.

At Angel’s apartment, Cordelia is telling Barney about her new visions and how angry she is at Doyle for using their kiss to pass them on to her. Barney points out that Doyle, who lacked in material possessions, left Cordelia with the most valuable thing he had.

And he definitely thinks they’re valuable, because he secretly rips the phone cord from the jack and calls someone on his cell phone, telling them that he got the Tak Horn, and he also just found something even better. With that, he attacks Cordelia, and, after a struggle, knocks her unconscious.

Angel is having his own problems as he tries to communicate with the demon, but they are at a language impasse that seems impossible to breach . . .

For anyone who hasn’t had Watcher training. Wesley walks in (in the cream-colored suit, but more on that later), and says he knows the language decently. After several unsuccessful attempts to translate the demon’s speech (producing such phrases as “fish will die”, and “slab the cherry”), Wesley finally determines that the Kungai’s horn was taken for something called the “Klu(click)Ka”, and that more people will die. The last thing he gets before the Kungai dies is that its killer was a “Demon Heart-Reader”. The boys realize exactly who is being discussed and run for the doors.

Unfortunately, they’re too late, and they get back top Angel’s apartment to find it empty. As Angel hunts for clues, Wesley starts to blame himself. He confirms that he did not quit the Council, but was fired for his colossal failure, and that his self-esteem is extremely lacking. Angel finds Cordelia’s drawing from her vision, and realizes that he knows what it is. It is a statue. Wesley agrees that all they have to do is find the statue, and then Angel can go rescue Cordelia. Angel corrects him, telling Wesley that *they* will rescue Cordelia, and the he needs Wesley’s help. After a second, Wesley stands up and gets a wonderfully determined look on his face as he agrees.

As Angel finds where the statue went (the Ramsey Hotel Chain), Wesley finally figures out that “Klu(click)Ka” means auction. They have an answer, and off they go.

Cordelia, meanwhile, is facing her auction with dread. Dread, however, is quickly supplanted as the bidding for her is piddly at best, and she begins goading the bidders into higher and higher prices. Finally, a lawyer from Wolfram and Hart wins with a bid of 30 thousand dollars, and Cordelia realizes that she is about to get her eyes gouged out.

But not quite, because at that moment, our dynamic duo burst in. Angel begins to systematically rip through the opposition, while Wesley just manages to fall down, although he does eventually get Cordelia free. They get ready to go, only to be confronted by Barney. Wesley suddenly gets mad, and launches himself gracelessly at Barney. Things aren’t looking particularly good for him, but Cordelia, in a moment of brilliance, ends up stabbing Barney with the Tak Horn and sucking his life out. Cordelia tells Angel that she knew he’d save her, and he says that he was lucky that he had a Rogue Demon Hunter on his side.

As the dust settles, Wesley prepares to leave, watching longingly (not to mention hungrily) as Angel prepares breakfast for Cordelia. He tries to hide his sorrow at leaving, but doesn’t quite manage, and all his bluster comes out rather mournfully as he prepares to be forgotten.

Then, unexpectedly, Angel asks him if he’d like to stay for breakfast, an offer which Wesley immediately takes him up on, and the episode ends in a surprisingly, beautifully domestic little tableau as the first hints of the emerging family begin to show.

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Quotable Wes (and a few others):
Cordelia: (on failing to pass on the visions to Wesley) Didn’t work!
Wesley: No? Hm. I rather thought it went considerably better than lat time.
Cordelia: No, see, it was just this kind of experiment where I—Wesley? Are your working with Angel now?
Wesley: A lone wolf such as myself never *works* with anyone. I’m merely allowing Angel to assist me.
Cordelia: Wow.
Wesley: I’m a Rogue Demon Hunter now.
Cordelia: Wow. . . . What’s a rogue demon?

(As Angel and Wesley discover Cordelia is gone)
Wesley: I’m a fraud. The Council was right to sack me. Yes, I was fired. I had two, *two* Slayers in my care! One turned evil and now vegetates in a coma, the other’s a renegade. Fire me? I’m surprised they didn’t cut my head off. I’m useless. A fool. A sniveling, great—
Angel: (picking up Cordelia’s sketch) Ugly, gray, blobby thing.
Wesley: Yes, I’m an ugly, gray, blobby . . . what?

Angel: (on Cordelia’s thanks for saving her) Well, I had a Rogue Demon Hunter on my side.
Wesley: (from his position of being sprawled on the floor, he smiles) Glad to be of service.

(And, last but not least, the breakfast scene)
Wesley: No rest for the wicked-fighters. Through storm and rain, famine, heat . . . deep, gnawing hunger . . . (realizes that no one is listening and he droops dejectedly) I go.
Angel: Breakfast?
Wesley: (dashing for the table) I suppose so!
Cordelia: One of the perks of the job: after a night of fighting the lurking evil, we get eggs!
Angel: Toast?
Wesley: Please.
Cordelia: I’m famished! He’s a good cook! You know, for someone on a liquid diet.
Wesley: Remarkable, really. Did you say something about toast?
(Fade to black on the three of them happily munching)

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The 3 W’s:
Weapons:
Not a weapons-heavy episode, I’m afraid. There was Wesley’s mini-crossbow, which had me snorting and saying that a crossbow was no way to get compact and mobile. A six-inch bolt will do damage, sure, but you’ll have to be far more accurate with it for it to do anything serious to a vital area. This is, in fact, a lesson Wesley learns by the episode Expecting,” when he becomes the first series regular in the Buffyverse to tote a handgun.

Also of note would be Cordelia’s well-used Tak horn. For those of you thinking of using this item in a fic, the basic idea is that you stab an enemy with it (it really doesn’t matter where), and their entire body will turn black and deflate like a balloon, leaving nothing but a withered husk. Very fun, but probably difficult to acquire.

Wear:
Angel: unless he wears color, I won’t comment on him other than to say that he needs a longer coat than his cotton one, and while we’re at it, get a more active material. Cotton has absolutely no attitude whatsoever. The leather duster rocked because of the way it played the lighting, cashmere dusters are beautiful and elegant, while more subtle than a leather duster . . . but wool? Was there a shortage in the costume budget, or something?

Cordelia: Not much to note, although I love the way that they play with her coloring with the greens. Not many girls can pull those sorts of colors off, but Charisma Carpenter manages. However, having said that, I have to admit that I prefer her in brighter colors that compliment her vibrant character. We lose her a bit in dulls.

Wesley: All right, we basically are looking at two costumes:

The Leather: I love how it seems he is totally cool as he steps in, only to reveal that the leather is nothing but a mask. He is so beautifully awkward, and the leather is such a striking contrast with his intrinsic geekiness, that it just makes me happy.

The Cream-Colored Suit: Okay, I’ll admit it, this is one of my favorite costumes in the history of Angel.” It subtly captures the very essence of season-one Wesley! It is vaguely ill-fitting, giving the impression it was picked up somewhere like Goodwill by someone who wasn’t used to having to buy off the rack, while at the same time subliminally suggesting a character who isn’t quite comfortable in their own skin. That, and the color offsets Angel’s darkness so perfectly that just the clothes light up any scene with the two of them! Beautiful!

Wesley:
What can I say? I didn’t expect to like him. In fact, all I could remember was the twit in Sunnydale who everyone loved to hate. I couldn’t imagine him as a series regular!
Yet, I did the one thing that a fan should never do: I doubted Joss. It’s not smart, because he’ll always stun you, and this time was no exception. It was a beautiful, *believable* breakdown from stuffy and pontificating to awkward and unsure. It was the awkwardness that began to win me over (that, and that heroic-determined” look he gets when Angel asks if he’ll help save Cordelia). A beautiful job by all of turning one of the least-likeable characters into a character that quickly became my favorite.

This is a critical episode for Wesley, simply because it established him. It showed the very top few layers of a deeply complex character, while hinting at some lower levels (Wesley’s last bluster is a beautiful example of this hinting at a very deep loneliness to the character that immediately connects him to Angel).

What we learn: Wesley was fired by the Council, spent about a half a year traveling North America as a Rogue Demon Hunter, and ended up in L. A. in pursuit of the power-stealing demon. He tries to be slick and cool, but usually only manages endearingly pathetic. He has a deep sense of responsibility and guilt for what happened in Sunnydale, as well as a burning desire to prove himself.

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So, is the episode ficcable?:
Hell, yes! You have half a year where anything could have happened to Wesley! Where did he pick up his new skills? Why a motorcycle? What’s with the leather?

Or, episode centric: what happens after the breakfast? What is Wesley thinking as he realizes that they might let him stick around?

This is the introduction to the character, when relationships are tenuous at best! It’s time to let loose and fic away!

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Episode rating:
(“That’s an Angel? It looks like a lobster with some sort of . . . growth.”)
4 lobsters out of 5

A solid episode character-wise, though nothing to really stir the blood. Still, a solid character-introduction, and the famous line, “What’s a rogue demon?”

Next: Is Angel murdering people in his sleep? Perhaps. Whatever he’s doing, it gives Wes the chance to chain him to the bed! Whee!

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