Angel 5.16 - Shells
This was very much the Angel version of "The Body". The way that Illyria refers to her body as "The Shell" and how Buffy refers to her dead mom as "The Body" is catastrophic because the living can suddenly become things that sound like they belong in a natural history museum. In both cases, someone that was not supposed to die, dies. Then you get to watch how those left living deal with it. On Buffy, the Scoobies stand in a circle and cry and stare at each other. On Angel, all the males blame themselves, then finger-point, then beat each other up.

It has to be tough getting on the stage after Joss Whedon. Expectations are high. But the script didn't implode under its own weight as much as I thought it would. Even Harmony was sort of useful. Best lines: when Angel asks Spike what he got from the doctor and Spike replies: "Screaming. Various bodily fluids.." and when Illyria says her last Qua-hai San was taller than Knox. Best parts: Spike sitting in front of all those tiny Jack Daniels bottles on the plane and doing the 'play on perspective'; the skeleton key that Knox brings to the gate is actually a part of a skeleton; and the fight scene where Illyria takes both Spike's and Angel's sword and swings them around in a circle.

How cool is Wes with a gun? How come he's the only one that uses one? And how good is Alexis Denisof's acting? The spotlight was completely on him this episode and he manages to outshine the spotlight. The scene where Wes is packing up Fred's stuff was heartbreaking. Especially when he got to Fred's stuffed bunny. Poor Wes...he's willing to help Illyria just because it looks like Fred. Everyone knows that Fred is gone because her soul was destroyed, but none of them truly accepts that fact yet. The montage was bad. Or maybe it was just the horrible, horrible choice of song. Any Sarah McLachlan song would've fit the bill much better.

Gunn cried. That was major character development, seeing as how he started on Angel as the 'muscle guy'. It looks like he'll be discharged from the Fang Gang like Wes was last season. Gunn deserved to be stabbed. He got off easy considering the state of devastation that Wesley was in.

That last scene where Fred says goodbye to her parents and drives off in a huge station wagon was so sad. It's the most painful reminder that Fred is truly gone.