It's a compliment to the show's growth in confidence that two plot threads that I was painfully uninterested in when explored earlier in the show's run are suddenly fascinating when unearthed here. One is the character of Kate in general, a monotonous bore with a major stick up her butt, and the other is her messy relationship with her father. Via The Prodigal, Kate becomes a far more complex and interesting lady, and you really do feel her sense of betrayal over Angel, and later her horror and anger over her father's murder. I still think Elisabeth Rohm is somewhat miscast, but I like what they're doing with Kate as a character.The flashback sequences didn't tell us anything new, but I'm always excited by peeks into Angel's past. This episode managed to fill in some of the gaps in his siring, from his drunken hellraising as Liam, to being spotted by the seductive Darla in a bar, to his initial resurrection and his first kill. I liked these scenes a lot, and any use of Julie Benz is a plus in my book.
I'm not sure the two central stories necessarily fit together outside of their most superficial connection, but they both worked well as individual pieces. Elsewhere, Cordelia was a lot of fun as usual with her security system issues, and there was another stylish 'detective noir' quality to the show depicted through Angel's nighttime pursuit of the package deliveries, and later Cordelia's kicky undercover wig. The show is still in the most basic areas of storytelling when it comes to exploring Angel's history, but this is a major step in the right direction for the show. I liked it a lot. A
Credits
Guest stars Elisabeth Rohm (Kate Lockley); Julie Benz (Darla); John Mahon (Trevor Lockley); J. Kenneth Campbell (Liam's Father); Henri Lubatti (Vampire)
Writer Tim Minear Director Bruce Seth Green
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