One of the greatest achievements Angel has made so far has been with its depiction of Los Angeles as a city of loneliness. Just like Tina in the pilot, the lost souls depicted throughout Lonely Hearts beautifully reflect a world of isolated individuals desperate for some form of connection and release. Angel fits into this metaphor, but unlike so many of the guest stars here, he's happy to be alone and withdrawn from the world. It's where he feels at home.
Lonely Hearts had a troubled history as an episode, originally a much darker hour titled Corrupt and centered on junkie prostitutes. David Fury's hastily re-written script feels pretty strung-together, with scenes that go on for what seems like forever, and a demon plot that doesn't make a whole lot of sense before ending with a whimper. The club scenes, in particular, drag. And I always felt bad for that poor bartender's family. They all just assume he was in fact a huge serial killer? It's an unfortunate plot hole.
However, the rest of the hour works fine. Cordelia and Doyle have instant chemistry, and I love Doyle's frantic awkwardness whenever Cordelia slams the creepiness of demons. Kate Lockley is a little annoying and talks like somebody with a gazillion marbles in their mouth, but her interaction with Angel is interesting. I'm not sure it was a great idea to introduce a recurring character in just the second episode (since it forces Cordelia and Doyle to take a back-seat almost immediately), but I liked their Batman/Vicki Vale-style relationship. With Angel using his nifty grapple-gun (ultimately badly) and vanishing at the end.
Lonely Hearts has pretty average 'second-episode' problems. The dialogue is a little clumsy, the demon plot doesn't work at all, there's awkwardness all-round. But the important stuff, like the chemistry between the cast members and the general look of the show, is all already working. And the montage sequence with that stunning Vast song is gorgeous... C
Credits
Guest stars Elisabeth Rohm (Kate Lockley); Lillian Birdsell (Sharon Richler); Obi Ndefo (Bartender)
Writer David Fury Director James A. Contner
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