Angel: Dead End (2.18)

It was clearly the influence of David Boreanaz and Christian Kane's real life friendship, but I loved the way their characters interacted with each other. They were always at each others throats, but this season has been particularly memorable in making their feud so childish and silly. There's no greater moment reflecting that than during Lindsey's performance at Caritas. Everybody is so captivated by his singing, and Angel's there trying so hard to undermine it. It's so schoolyard, and it's really unfortunate that moments like this were cut short due to scheduling conflicts. They had such great banter, and then he's written out.

Behind-the-scenes hoodoo weighs in pretty negatively on Dead End, if only because it feels like a weak scenario to finally force Lindsey to flee Wolfram & Hart. The whole 'body part transplant' thing is interesting, but a character like Lindsey deserved a grander exit. What made him so fascinating was his moral ambiguity, and the existence of a conscience within him. Blind Date was stronger in that regard, since you bought his disbelief at the potential slaughter of a bunch of children, yet you also bought his desire to remain working for W&H. Here, it feels a little casual. Blah.

His two final scenes, though, are wonderful. The "evil hand!" scene in particular feels like one of those hugely underrated comedy moments with the Lilah goosing and the constant ribbing at that random lawyer guy. And the frat-boy humor of Angel's prank at the end was ridiculously cute.

Elsewhere, we're beginning to see the crippling effects of Cordelia's visions. If I remember correctly, this marks the rapid destruction of her character, but I'm enjoying the story in its early stages. Charisma is playing the part so well right now, and Cordelia having powers yet being entirely human feels too important a plot-point to not explore at this time.

Dead End works well as a character-driven mystery of the week episode, but feels underwhelming as an exit for Lindsey. Great work by Christian Kane, though, who rapidly became one of my favorite Buffyverse actors during this re-watch. B

Credits
Guest stars Christian Kane (Lindsey McDonald); Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan); Andy Hallett (Lorne); Gerry Becker (Nathan Reed); Michael Dempsey (Irv Kraigle); Mik Scriba (Parole Officer)
Writer David Greenwalt Director James A. Contner