S03.E04: Carpe Noctem

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; Some nice humour, especially over the whole 'Fred' thing and some nice stuff with Lilah

The Bad; Surely Marcus notices that in his new body the heart isn't beating and he doesn't breathe?

Best line: Cordy; "You're a eunuch" Angel; "Hey!" CC; "Figure of speech" Angel; "Find another one!"

Apocalypses: 5

Angel Clichés Inverting the Hollywood cliché; Much like the handicapped in Blind Date in the Buffyverse old people are EVIL! We don't expect Marcus' spell to affect Angel but it does.

In disguise; 8

DB get's his shirt off; 12

Cordy's tattoo; yes, her two piece purple outfit shows it off to great effect. 9,

Cheap Angel; 7

Fang Gang in bondage: yep, Angel Cordy: 5 Angel: 11 Wes: 6 Gunn; 3 Lorne; 2

Fang gang knocked out: Angel as Marcus Cordy: 11 Angel: 14 Wes: 5 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 1 Lorne; 2

Kills: Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons Angel; 28 vamps, 40 and 1/2 demons, 3 humans Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 7 demons+1 vamp Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.

Gunn; 8 vamps+ 6 demons.

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang: Angel/Marcus Cordy: 2 Angel: 7

Characters killed: the three poor guys Marcus hijacks 43

Recurring characters killed; 7;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 5, Angel, Cordy, Wes, Gunn and Fred Angel

Investigations shot: Angel: 11 Wes; 1

Packing heat; Wes; 3 Doyle; 1 Angel; 1 Gunn; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 3 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis Angel: 5; Buffy, Darla and The Transcending Furies Wes; 2; Virginia and the bleached blonde

Kinky dinky: Threesomes with beautiful hookers. Well we've all been there. CC refers to Angel as a eunuch, remember she doesn't know about Darla. CC salivates over the bodybuilders but still thinks 'All men are dogs'. Gunn and Wes argue over who gets to visit the 'First Class Escorts' but CC decides she should go instead. She refers to them as 'Pretty skanky women' (does she mean 'Women who are pretty skanky' or 'Women who are skanky and pretty'? To judge by the extremely attractive girls in the opening scene they certainly live up to their companies' billing). That's a bit rich considering she wanted to prostitute herself to Rusell Winters and David Nabbit, has twice been knocked up by demons, twice sold as a slave and is currently having a high old time with her ghost and his loofah.

The simmering sexual tension between Lilah and 'Angel' finally comes to a head, much like Kate in 'The Shroud of Rahmon'. She gets what she always wanted, thrown over the desk and ravished by him. Is this ever mentioned again because Lilah is actually the only one who knows about it and she has no idea it's not really Angel? And what do AI make of Lilah's forgeries plonked on Wes' desk?

Captain Subtext; Marcus thinks Angel is gay (just look at his outfit) and Wes is 'Fred', his boyfriend.

Know the face, different character; 3

Parking garages; 5,

Buffy characters on Angel; 16 Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony

Questions and observations; Amy Acker's remarks about skinny models are weird as she's the thinest girl in the Buffyverse by quite some way, even more so that season 5 Buffy. Angel likes 70s Charlton Heston films, a leftover from the Manilow era? (The Omega Man has vampiric theme, plenty of blood and contains the wonderful line 'Honky paradise brother?'). The 'Nightstalker' is referred to but probably the LA serial killer rather than Kolchak. Marcus/Angel drinks martinis with Lilah, thought she was a whiskey girl? Read a good fanfic once where Angel doesn't get his body back in the end but his soul gradually retakes control, Marcus' magic temporary and unstable. Good performance from Rance Howard as Marcus (Ron Howard's dad) Marks out of 10; 7/10, always thought I disliked this ep but the humour makes up for a pretty weak story in many ways, actually found myself enjoying the rewatch more than I thought I would.