Angel 5.11 - "Damage"

What can I say about possibly the most in your face Angel to date?

Confronting. I wondered whether there would be any stories about the consequences of what happened in ol' Sunnydale. Dana (Navi Rawat) at first appeared a bit like Faith, and sent my brain into overdrive trying to fill the gaps that could have gotten her there. Thankfully it wasn't, but still didn't end well for the orderlies. I'm glad I wasn't eating a meal and watching this ep because the confrontation with the orderlies made my stomach churn.

Even though this ep didn't really progress the season's arc at all, I'm thankful for the opportunity to be brought up to date on the Buffy gang and to see the funniest annoying person Andrew. Tom Lenk has great comic timing and bounces off James Masters perfectly. "I'm 82% more manly than last time you saw me!"

Speaking of Spike. Have to give kudos to Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard, there was a lot that could have made this ep a typical 'find the baddie, imprison the baddie', but by adding a couple of twisted red herrings they managed to create a memorably disturbing hour of TV. When I recognised Spike's voice as the murderers, I was uncomfortably reminded of what he is/was. A good way of keeping a character a little edgier in a time where some characters seem to be getting tired.

Andrew really hit the nail on the head when he said that Angel doesn't work for the same side any more. I'm confused by a lot of what goes on. Some how it seems a little like the troubles the show is having in production is starting to show in the quality of the product. I want some of the old Angel back where fighting the good fight is the right thing to do because sitting behind a desk getting paper cuts doesn't inspire me to tune in.

Bring on the weekly hour of Joss we deserve.