Guise Will Be Guise
Review: Building off of the excellent lead-in from Buffy's flashback extravaganza Fool For Love, Darla suffers from only one flaw: at this point, one has to wonder what Wolfram & Hart's plan ever was. It's ambiguous for ambiguity's sake, tot he point where the audience can no longer tell what was part of the plan, and what was a departure, and I for one wonder if the writers even had it clear in their heads exactly what W&H was thinking when they brought Darla back from the dead. However, the Angel/Darla/Lindsay is so much fun that I don't much mind it. And it's always possible that as the Darla arc draws to a close, all the loose ends will be tied up in a tight little bow. The journey is always more important than the destination, right? Still, I keep hoping that even if we never get to see the map, the writers actually do have one. Somewhere. Lindsay's falling for Darla seems to have been inevitable -- yet I for one can't get over the incredible heat and passion in their one lone romantic scene, and Darla's observation that Lindsay hates Angel just as much as he loves her is what gives that sequence resonance and depth. Minear does a great job with his directorial debut, and Benz in particularly gives an excellent performance as both the 21st Century Darla, and the flashback Darla's as we see how her relationship with Angel grew and changed over the centuries. The lack of Fang Gang is made up for by the scenes they are in, as Wes, Cordy and Gunn all get excellent lines to deliver, and they deliver them with aplomb. I especially loved Cordy's description of finding her long lost "sister", and Gunn and Wesley's recreational B&E. Huge kudos to Christian Kane as Lindsay as well, who despite desperately needing a haircut in ways I cannot begin to describe, reminds us why we love Lindsay and his poor battered morally ambiguous soul. Holland Manners, alas, continues to be nothing but a plot device. But that looks like that all may change, and soon...

My rating: 8/10

Next week, it's a caper. Quite a caper. And it looks like an especially interesting ride for Kate...