S03.E18: Double or Nothing

[Joe Hellandback]

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

The Good; The Groo and CC back which is marvellous. Lovely little scene with CC and Angel and also a lovely little scene of Pylean kinship between Lorne and the Groo over the 'ritual of the bereaved'. Wonderful final confrontation too, watched this ep first at a convention and people cheered when Angel delivers his line

The Bad; The angry young man Gunn stuff is not so good. The cockney demon debt collector is deeply stupid, Guy Ritchie has a lot to answer for. When he first sees Caritas Gunn comments he's never seen anything like it but we find here he has (unless he's never seen karaoke before?).

Best line: Angel; "Am I the only one who owes this guy money?"

Jeez, how did they get away with that? CC staking the guy's hand to the table. Gunn being so mean when breaking up with Fred is also hard to watch as is the guy getting his soul removed by Jenoff. Jenoff's death is not half as yucky as his 'rebirth'.

Apocalypses: 5

Angel Clichés Inverting the Hollywood cliché; Angel loses the card game and actually cheats, breaking his word to the guy. We think Fred is going to be more sympathetic towards Wes but she rejects him.

In disguise; 8

DB get's his shirt off; 12

Cordy's tatt; 10

Cheap Angel; 9

Fang Gang in bondage: Cordy: 5 Angel: 11 Wes: 6 Gunn; 4 Lorne; 3 Fred; 2

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 11 Angel: 14 Wes: 5 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 1 Lorne; 3

Kills: Gunn kills a skench demon Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons Angel; 39 vamps, 57 and 1/2 demons, 7 humans Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 12 demons+3 vamps, 2 humans Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans. Gunn; 10 vamps+ 11 demons. Groo; 1 demon Fred; 1 vamp

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 2 Gunn; 1 Wes; 1

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 8

Characters killed: 46

Recurring characters killed; 8;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 6, Angel, Cordy, Gunn, Fred, Lorne and Groo

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 11 Wes; 1

Packing heat; Wes; 6 Doyle; 1 Angel; 2 Gunn; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 4 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo Angel: 5; Buffy, Darla and The Transcending Furies Wes; 2; Virginia and the bleached blonde Gunn; 1 Fred Fred; 1 Gunn Groo; 1Cordy

Kinky dinky: The demon fancies Fred, again weird, shouldn't demons like other demons? Groo comments Gunn is fortunate to have a woman such as Fred to 'take care of his weapon'.

Know the face, different character; 4

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; Blonde Cordy! Angel seems unaware that Fred and Gunn were dating, I thought he overheard them in 'Waiting in the Wings'. No leprechauns in the Angelverse although considering how they appeared on Charmed maybe we should be grateful. Wes coming home to an empty flat is a real killer. Angel refers to the AI gang as family.

Marks out of 10; 6/10, fun but nothing special