"Angel"
Judgment (2000)

Director:

Michael Lange

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator) &
David Greenwalt (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Angel" (1999)

Original Air Date:

26 September 2000 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Misinterpreting one of Cordy's visions, Angel tries to help a pregnant woman and accidentally kills her demon protector...

Plot Keywords:

Cult Hero | Neo Noir | Attempted Murder | Good Versus Evil | Redemption

Cast

David Boreanaz	...	Angel
Charisma Carpenter	...	Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof	...	Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
J. August Richards	...	Charles Gunn
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julie Benz	...	Darla
Rob Boltin	...	Johnny Fontaine
Glenn David Calloway	...	Judge
Keith Campbell	...	Club Manager
Eliza Dushku	...	Faith
Iris Fields	...	Acting Teacher
Jason Frasca	...	White Guy
Edward James Gage	...	Mordar the Bentback (as EJ Gage)
Andy Hallett	...	Lorne
Matthew James	...	Merl
Christian Kane	...	Lindsey McDonald
Andy Kreiss	...	Lizard Demon
Justina Machado	...	Jo
Stephanie Romanov	...	Lilah Morgan

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Angel is snapping Prio Motu's neck, you can see a microphone at the top of the screen.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lorne: [sings] At first I was afraid, I was petrified / Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side / But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong / And I grew strong / And I learned how to get along.

Movie Connections:

References The Enemy Below (1957)

Soundtrack:

Achy Breaky Heart

The beginning of a really great season

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The second season of Angel is even better than the first. With Darla back in the mix, there is a longer story arc this season and more insights into Angel's past. Season two also adds Gunn to the cast full time and introduces Lorne and Fred, who will play larger roles as the show goes own. It moves the Angel Investigations into the Hyperion hotel and sets up everything that will happen in seasons 3 and 4. Season two is one of my favorite seasons of the show and I highly recommend seeing it. "Judgement" establishes some important stuff for the over all story this season, and you shouldn't skip it.

"Judgement" revolves around Angel's quest to save a pregnant woman. He's working towards the Shanshu Prophesy, believing that if he can fight enough evil, he'll be redeemed and made human again. Misinterpreting one of Cordy's visions, he kills a demon who he thinks is threatening a pregnant woman. Really, though, the demon was protecting her. Her unborn daughter will be a powerful mystic and a lot of people are out to kill her. A magical tribunal is ready to step in and save her, but only after a battle. She has to have a champion to compete in a duel and the demon that Angel killed was suppose to fight for her. Angel volunteers to take his place, but the woman is skeptical of his talents and runs off.

Wesley has found a new demon night club called Karitos. The host of the club (Lorne, although we don't know his name yet) can read people's futures and auras when they sing. Angel finally, reluctantly, agrees to sing in order to find the pregnant woman again. As Wes and Cordy stare at him in shock, Angel muddles through a karaoke version of Barry Manlow's "Mandy." Meanwhile, over at Wolfram and Hart, Lindsey is guiding Darla through her readjustment to the human world. Angel finds the pregnant woman and fights as her champion. He realizes that the Shanshu Prophesy may take a long time to come true and that he'll have to keep fighting one day at a time.

There's so much to like about this episode. I just love Lorne. He's one of the likable, interesting, consistently entertaining characters in the entire Buffyverse. His talent for reading "auras" when people sing will have a huge impact on the rest of the show. It's so great to see him here, just meeting Angel. Plus, this is also the episode where Wes and Cordy meet Gunn. It's kind of funny, watching them try to be "cool." And this is the episode that features the Hyperion hotel for the first time. Personally, I think BTVS and "Angel" have locations that just ARE the show. When I think of the shows, I automatically think of certain settings. For the first part of BTVS, it's the Sunnydale High library. In later seasons, it's the Magic Box. On "Angel," it's always the Hyperion. The huge hotel is just the perfect location for the show. There's something "right" about it. As if the mostly empty hotel, metaphorically haunted by its long, checkered history, symbolizes Angel's own feelings of emptiness and his own haunted past. Yet, both he and the Hyperion are now entering new, better chapters in their "lives." It's just really interesting. Also, I like seeing Angel ride an horse down a street in LA. It's just hilarious. And I'm glad that Angel is going to visit Faith in prison. He's such a sweetie. Finally, I think that this is the first episode that uses the word "Champion." It'll be used to describe Angel and Spike in the years to come and I think it just really works.

On the down side, I think the pregnant woman's kind of whiny. Granted she's having a rough time of it, but since she'll never been seen again... who cares? But, I am sorry that Angel accidentally killed the demon who was protecting her. It's a shame, since the guy was just doing his job.

My favorite part of the episode: Angel singing "Mandy." Without a doubt, it's one of the funniest moments of the entire series. From Angel's death grip on the microphone, to admission that he just thinks the song it "pretty," to his embarrassed wince as he tells Faith about the performance... It's all just hilarious. The scene sets up the continuing joke that Angel is a Barry Manlow fan and seals Karitos' place in the show. I just love it.