S1.E11: Somnambulist

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Very good ep, we genuinely suspect that Angel might be going bad, Penn gives a real sense of menace and some lovely stuff with Kate

The Bad; Penn's haircut but apart from that not much. Would the police really let Kate go in by herself?

Best line: Penn; "You know you'll never get to it the exit before I..."

Cordy (opening blinds letting the daylight pour in) "...go up like a match?" (nothing more satisfying than seeing arrogance shot down)

Jeez, how did they get away with that? Penn kills his sister and presumably goes on to massacre his family as Angelus did

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Clichés Damsel in distress; nope, 2.

In disguise; 3

DB get's his shirt off; 3

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; 2

Fang Gang in bondage: Angel Cordy: 5 Angel: 5 Wes: 1

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 8 Angel: 7 Wes: 1 Doyle; 1

Kills: Cordy: 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale Angel: 8 vamps, 4 demons, 2 humans. Doyle; 1 vamp Kate; 1 vamp

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 1 Angel: 1

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 5

Characters killed: Penn's victims 20

Recurring characters killed; 1;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 2, Angel and Cordy

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 5,

Packing heat; Doyle; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 1? Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky: Cordy comments that she makes the coffee and gets to chain the boss to the bed. The everyday life of a Hollywood assistant.

Captain Subtext; Angel(us) is obviously Penn's father figure. Angel(us) is also obsessed with his father

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages; 3, once again, Angel and Wes just seem to be able to drive into the police station.

Buffy characters appearing in Angel; (unless someone can correct me no original Angel character ever appears on Buffy?) 6; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes

Questions and observations; Very nice reminder from Angel(us) past and the beginning of the real tension between Kate and Angel. Another hint that vamps share some link with those they sired. Love Kate's white sweater. Wes is now in the title sequence. Angel Investigations has a runaway case so they're obviously taking ordinary PI cases in addition to their supernatural work. Does Angel figure out Penn's plan because he knows him? Or is he heading to the police station to speak to Kate over the school bus plan? Or do Wes and he just overhear what's going on at the station with their police scanner? Penn in some ways is reminiscent of Scorpio in Dirty Harry (who also hijacks a school bus). Met Jeremy Renner at a convention and a fascinating guy, plays in a band, old friend of DB's from their acting classes, went on to star in 28 Weeks Later (as a character called Doyle?), SWAT, The Hurt Locker, Jesse James, Thor before reuniting with Joss as Hawkeye in The Avengers

Marks out of 10; 9/10 would be 10/10 if it had more arc.