"Long Day's Journey"

Written by Mere Smith
Directed by Terrence O’Hara


In which the Beast brings the next stage of his plan to fruition while Angel and the gang attempt to determine his ultimate goals, only to realize that one of them knows more than he thinks...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, Angel quietly sits in his room, and Lorne brings him something to drink as an excuse to draw him out. Angel tries to get him to leave, but Lorne doesn’t play along. Lorne makes it clear that Angel needs to stop sulking and go downstairs to help the others, even if he wants to sulk over Connor and Cordelia. That doesn’t exactly sway Angel’s mood.

Meanwhile, somewhere out of town, Gwen Raiden (from “”) meets with a customer named Mr. Ah-shet. She apologizes that she cannot accept a job to retrieve some powerful amulets. Because of the current situation, she intends to take vacation.

Before the conversation can end, though, the Beast rips his hand through Ah-shet, tossing Gwen aside like a doll. As Gwen watches, the Beast pulls open Ah-shet’s torso, releasing a burst of bright light. Then he pulls out a metallic object from Ah-shet’s chest. Before Gwen can think to defend herself, the Beast is gone.

The next morning, Connor sits by his window, listening to the sounds of the frantic populace as they try to put out the fires and stem the tide of destruction. The sound wakes up Cordy, who has been sleeping on the floor. Connor tells her things are falling apart, and Cordy can tell he feels responsible. He wants to stop by the hotel, to see if they know anything more, but Cordy reminds him that they would contact them if there was anything new.

Connor, of course, continues with the comments about their non-relationship and his possible connection to the Beast. He also knows that Cordy has been keeping him away from the hotel, and assumes that it has something to do with a connection to the Beast. She sets him straight. Then she has a vision, a flash of the Beast surrounded by dead bodies, apparently in the middle of some ruins. She decides that it would be wise to tell the others, but she warns Connor to stay put.

At the hotel, Gunn and Fred argue about what the little girl told them. Gunn assumes and argues that her words (“The answer is among you”) refers to Connor, given the connections between his birthplace and the emergence of the Beast. Welsey and Fred disagree.

Wesley has learned that the little girl was called Mesek-tet. Mesek-tet was one of five powerful beings that were linked to an embodiment of the Egyptian god Ra. The five serve as totems for Ra, the god of the Sun, and together form the Order of Ra-Tet. Only the totems know their true purpose. Welsey and Fred figure that they ought to try to find the remaining Ra-Tet.

Unfortunately, Lorne comes back with news that the Beast has struck again. What’s more, the woman that the Beast killed fits the description of another of the Ra-Tet. The Beast tore her heart out. Gunn seems to think that it’s obvious what’s happening, but Welsey and Fred think it’s too soon to say. Gunn is not pleased with their shared opinion…or shared anything.

Cordy arrives, and immediately goes to see Angel. Angel is not happy to see her, but she invites herself in anyway. She basically tells her to get over the whole situation, because now she’s had a vision, and there are bigger issues at stake. She tells him that she felt as though she was inside someone else, listening to the Beast talking.

Angel’s not too impressed, and he doesn’t think The Powers That Be are paying attention. But Cordy reminds him that he’s the leader. So he finally leaves his room and rallies the troops. Only there’s not too many ideas for what to do…until Gwen shows up at the door.

After a little taunting for Cordy, Gwen tells them what she encountered the night before…leaving out what happened after the Beast ripped open her client’s chest. She figured that Angel is the only person that she knows who might know what’s going on. But when she tells them about the burst of light, Wesley and Fred realize that Ah-shet was yet another of the Ra-Tet to be killed. The pattern has emerged.

One of them, Semket, is supposed to be nearby. Angel suggests that he and Gwen go and check on Semket alone. Soon enough, they are working their way into the cave where Semket is supposed to be. They find some kind of feline being ripped in half.

Out of nowhere, it seems, an odd man steps into the cave, explaining that the Beast is trying to kill off the Ra-Tet so he can turn off the Sun. The man explains that he is Manjet, and the Beast wants to put an end to daylight. There’s a ritual involved, and the materials needed were held within the Ra-Tet. With the sunlight out forever, the demons and vampires can take total control. Eventually, the effect would spread from LA to the entire world.

Angel offers to protect Manjet, so they return to the hotel. Angel makes sure they all get updated on the Beast’s current goal, and debate how to keep Manjet safe to prevent the Beast from getting what it wants. Gwen suggests a place, a posh safehouse hidden within a tenement building. Wesley and Fred stay behind to continue the research. There’s a safe room within the library, and Gwen suggests that the four of them split time on guard duty.

Gwen and Gunn take the first shift, and Gwen gives him a little bit of her background. He’s a little distracted, and she knows that it has something to do with Wesley and Fred. Angel and Cordy take over before Gunn can explain why he has reason to be nervous. Rather than talk things over, they plan to just sit up and wait it out.

But before they know it, Gwen and Gunn are rousing them from sleep. When they open the safe room, Manjet is absolutely butchered. When they discuss what the Beast might want, they realize that Gwen has been keeping some details from them. Regardless, they cannot figure out how the Beast could have gotten past them to kill Manjet.

Gunn thinks it must have been Connor, but Cordy is sure it’s not him. Gwen takes them to the security room, where they can review the video for clues. Angel asks Gunn to update the others in the interim. Unfortunately, the security cameras are blacked out, and the records show that someone intentionally turned them off just before Angel and Cordy’s watch.

Back at the hotel, Lorne explains what Wesley and Fred were able to uncover. The pieces from the Ra-Tet are used in the ritual to blot out the sun. Wesley and Fred believe that the only way to stop the Beast is to shove him through a portal. Gunn is not amused, but he agrees that there are no other choices. They just need to find out where the Beast is.

Cordy has a stronger vision, the same one, but more details. Whomever the Beast is talking to, Cordy thinks he’s familiar. Angel assumes it must be Connor. Meanwhile, the Beast comes knocking at Connor’s door. Connor tries fighting the Beast, but it’s a complete waste of time. Connor ends up getting tossed out of his own window, as the others arrive.

Cordy stays with Connor at Angel’s request, while the others go on the attack. They all realize that for some reason, the Beast has to perform the ritual where Connor happens to reside. The Beast is already mostly done with the ritual by the time the battle is joined. Angel, Gunn, and Gwen try to distract the Beast long enough for Wesley and Fred to open a portal.

Meanwhile, Cordy’s vision grows more and more detailed. The Beast is speaking to an adversary, and whomever it is, he’s still familiar. As the portal opens, fingers of darkness slither in front of the Sun and cover it completely. The Beast gets sucked through the portal, but night still falls.

The Beast, however, returns without any trouble, and tells Angel that they don’t need to fight. At the same time, Cordy “sees” who the Beast is speaking to in her vision…Angelus! But even when the Beast makes it clear that they know each other, Angel swears that he doesn’t remember. The ritual complete, the Beast flies into the darkness. The others are too stunned to react.

As they leave Connor’s ruined home, Cordy explains that she wasn’t having a vision…she was remembering one of her relived memories of Angelus from her time in the higher plane. The others are all stunned and angered that Angel knew the Beast, and they realize that the Beast must be using Angel without his knowledge.

They all realize that blotting out the Sun was only the first step, and with Angel unable to remember any previous meeting with the Beast, there’s only one way to find out what happened all those years ago. Somehow, they need to bring forth Angelus…


Analysis

After the assault on Wolfram and Hart, it was uncertain whether or not there would ever be an explanation for the forces behind the law firm from Hell. If Little Miss Freaky was out of the picture, would the writers have a need or desire to explore her origins? As it turns out, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

Not only was the slaughter of the little girl a good way to portray the effective power of the Beast, it also stands as the beginning of the Beast’s plan for the denizens of Los Angeles. Taken on its own, the downfall of Wolfram and Hart was chilling in its brutally casual nature. But seen as simply the first step in a much larger plan, conveniently wiping out potential competition at the same time, it’s an even greater testimony to the Beast’s single-minded purpose.

It’s even more interesting that the ritual to mystically block out the light of the Sun from the city had to be conducted where Connor happened to be living. While the writers have hinted that there is a connection between Connor and the Beast, the nature of that connection may be more complicated than it currently appears.

If there is a connection between Connor and the Beast, why would it need to be causative? What if Connor, because of the location of his birth and the unusual nature of his parentage, is now drawn to the same places that are significant to the Beast? There had to be thousands of equally safe places for Connor to hole up after leaving the hotel, so why did he pick the place that he did?

Whatever the case, even though it might not be what Wolfram and Hart were expected, Angel does appear to have a very specific role to fill in this apocalypse. And if the gang needs to unleash Angelus to determine the goals of the Beast, then that explains why the various references to the “vampire with a soul” were so ambiguous.

If Angel is the vampire in question (and there is now a reason to wonder if that’s even the case), then the unleashing of Angelus for the purpose of fighting evil would be sufficiently questionable to make a short reference to it almost impossible to decipher.

But it’s also possible that Spike was the “vampire with a soul” mentioned in the prophecies, because even as Angel is fighting one apocalypse in LA, Spike is helping to fight off another one in Sunnydale on “Buffy”. It’s always possible that the two situations are related, of course, which only complicates the issue. Never mind that there’s no requirement that the various references all refer to the same individual!

This is of interest because it makes it more difficult to know which side Angel will ultimately aid during the conflict. If Angelus can be released but contained, then perhaps “good” will prevail. But if Angelus escapes and joins the Beast, then “evil” would get a huge boost of power.

All of these larger considerations make this episode work well, especially since none of the characters can be sure that they are reading the signs correctly either. And following up a rain of fire with endless night is a neat continuation of the “end of days” theme. But adding some long-needed spice to the love triangles by re-introducing Gwen injects a little spark to the proceedings.

The jealousy between Gwen and Cordy would be a little depressing in its predictability if it weren’t for Cordy’s pragmatic advice to Angel and Connor. Having made a complete mess of things, and being well aware of her mistakes, Cordelia sets both of them straight. It may not end the laborious plot thread, but hearing her tell them to “get over it” was a breath of fresh air.

Given the questionable choice of releasing Angelus, it’s once again hinted that The Powers That Be are not all happiness and light. If events are proceeding as they appear to be, Cordy was elevated to a higher plane specifically to “download” the history of Angelus, so they could point the gang in the right direction when the Beast emerged. Never mind that they could have simply given her a vision rather than play these games, but it has the capricious flavor of higher beings well represented.

This episode continues to build on the strength of the dark premise begun in “Rain of Fire”, and there is a certain amount of anticipation in seeing what the Beast has planned for his next trick. The connection between Connor and the Beast is also intriguing, even if Connor’s childish behavior with Cordy needs to be dealt with quickly. Finally, there is the connection between the Beast and Angelus, which might just bring the season (and maybe even the series) to a rousing and well-considered conclusion.


Memorable Quotes

LORNE: “Hey! Great likeness! You wouldn’t mind if I ran screaming from the room, would ya?”

GUNN: “See, told you Connor can’t be trusted, look how weird he’s made her!”

GWEN: “Not wearing lame, though…”
LORNE: “The evil ones can’t pull it off…it goes camp.”

GWEN: “Jeez! Where we you when they taught stealth in superpower school?”

WESLEY: “This…is a being of supreme power?”

WESLEY: “As far as evil plans go, it doesn’t suck…”

CORDY: “Gosh, no…’cause you’re a supertramp!”


Observations

- Ah, Gwen…now that’s more like it! Love the hair, the attitude, the skintight rubber…because rubber’s an insulator, of course…

- One could practically see the bad vibes between Cordy and Gwen!

- Oh, and then there was Fred. If looks could kill…

- Looks like totems aren’t quite the ominous beings that they used to be…

- Gwen’s not just hot…she’s got some expensive taste!

- Is it me, or has Cordy’s line delivery been somewhat lacking of late?

- Nice wound on Connor’s face…superficial, really, but it looks really nasty…

- Cool effect with the Sun!

Overall, this episode continues the strong plot threads begun with “Rain of Fire”. While the relationship issues continue to be the weak point of the season thus far, the larger plot arc is more than compensating for those failures. If the dark tone can be maintained, then this season might easily rise above its weak beginning.

I give it a 7/10.


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