Oh man. I racked up so many “called it” points in this episode.

At the beginning during the teaser I started thinking “Man. I’m kind of over the whole episodic thing. I wish they would get into character stuff.” Bam.

After the last episode - when Angel made a reference to “the father will kill the son” for why he doesn’t believe in prophecies, I started rambling to Chris about how interesting it is that there’s this whole huge part of Wesley’s history and character that’s either been erased when they erased Connor or still happened but went down totally differently. And Angel’s got to carry this baggage with him that Wesley doesn’t understand. But oh well, they can’t really deal with it.

YES THEY CAN.

What an awesome way to take what felt like kind of a cheap but necessary plot device and just face it head on but not make it what the episode was about. The end where Angel FINALLY got that Wesley was the guy who makes hard decisions was so long in coming and so well paid off.

When I saw the shadow of a man in a suit standing behind Fred in Wesley’s door - not even in focus - I grabbed Chris and shouted “Oh my god that’s Wesley’s father.” They kind of hamfistedly planted the Daddy issues thing ages ago and then dropped it. Making something cheap into something awesome.

During the episode I called that Wesley’s dad was going to do something shady.

And I also mentioned that I’d be pissed if he was a cyborg.

Well, I get why he had to be a cyborg. If Wesley kills his real dad you’ve basically given him so much baggage he’s derailed for the rest of your season. But if you have Wesley thinking he killed his dad and still completing that action, you get all the benefits and you get to push on with your show. It’s a cop out that works.

They’re really pushing to try to use Spike for humor and even if it feels like mild overkill - it’s still good. I like Spike as clever, resentful comic relief much more than I do as an emotional core.

And I loved the end with Wesley and Fred. His “you should go” was clearly filled with “You should go…away from me. Because what I feel isn’t healthy or helpful.” I love the moral complications of Wesley (oh yeah - like his cyborg torturing which so harkened back to the dark Wesley of the Connor days) and the fact that even if he could be a Giles-like-mostly-moral pillar they’re not sentimentalizing him like that. His feelings for Fred aren’t self-sacrificing or heroic. They’re kind of possessive and sometimes creepy. Love it.