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Wesley is having an incredibly lousy damn day. First, he brings Fred
along on a dangerous assignment, where they're attacked by Ninja robot assassins
(Los Diablos Roboticos?) and Fred gets hurt. Then Angel chews Wes out
for letting Fred get hurt, then Fred chews Wes out for worrying about
her getting hurt.
Then his father shows up. And as longtime viewers know, Daddy Dearest really is....Daddy Dearest. Roger Wyndham-Pryce is his name, making Wesley feel like dirt is his game. He's there on Council business, or what's left of it - the surviving Watchers are re-forming the group, and are considering Wes for admittance back into the fold. Wesley isn't especially interested, but Roger wants him to clear the family name after his disgraceful tenure as Watcher. He also doesn't believe that his son is doing any good at Wolfram & Hart, or that any good can actually be done there at all.
The old man's presence turns Wesley into a pompous bumbler again, just like
that. His discomfort nearly turns deadly when they go up to the science
lab to see a dissected robot, and Wes accidentally triggers some kind of
self-destruct mechanism. Naturally, Roger corrects the problem, being
sure to rub Wesley's face in it.
The crew learns a little about the robots, and everyone is puzzled by the
fact that their past activities include taking down demon cabals and death
chambers. These things should be on the same side as our heroes, yet
they're attacking instead.
Wes continues his research, taking his father up to the room with the big template books in it. Roger is appalled at their lack of security, which is illustrated nicely when the Ninjabots get into the building and start beating people up. Wesley takes Roger back into a secret storage area, assuming they'll be safe there.
He assumes wrong. Roger picks up a hard object and knocks Wesley out with it, then unlocks a vault and removes a twisted wooden-looking staff with a crystal at the top. He notifies someone through a transmitter that "Phase One" is complete.
When Wesley wakes up, he finds an "injured" Ninjabot and basically tortures
it into telling him what his father's up to. He arrives just in time
to find Roger on the roof of the building, where he has tricked Angel into
taking him. He has used the staff to magically remove Angel's free
will, and when Wes grabs it from him, he pulls a gun. Wesley is also
armed, so it's something of a standoff, but Wes has the upper hand, threatening
to drop the object off the roof, where it will shatter and restore Angel's
will.
Roger insists that Angel is dangerous, a puppet for The Powers That Be, and now for Wolfram & Hart. It's better for the Council to control him now. Wes isn't buying it, pointing out that he knows Angel and has good reasons for working with him, and that Roger should trust that. The conversation turns into some pretty bitter father-son recriminations, as a helicopter hovers overhead, waiting to pick Roger and Angel up.
Fred has also arrived, and Roger grabs her, threatening to shoot her if Wesley doesn't give up the staff. Without hesitation, Wesley fires at his father. Many times. He unloads on the man.
It's a pretty devastating moment....until Fred and Wes hear this electrical
zapping noise. They look down to see that it wasn't really Roger
Wyndham-Pryce at all, but another Ninjabot, disguised by a highly effective
glamour.
Later, Wesley talks to Angel, whose free will has been restored. Those
robots knew everything, about Wesley, his father, the Council, the whole
shebang. Nobody can figure out where they came from or what their agenda
is.
Wesley has other things on his mind, of course, but Angel reassures him on two fronts. First, he reminds Wes that he has always been the person who did what had to be done for the greater good, which makes him stronger than he (or anyone else) realizes. Second, Angel really killed his father, so Wesley isn't alone on that one. He gets a similar pep talk from Spike, who points out that he killed his mother after he vamped her.
None of this makes Wes feel any better, and his mood isn't exactly heightened
when Fred stops by to check on him. She thinks that a part of him knew that
wasn't really his father, but Wes replies flatly, "I was sure it was
him." So that's no comfort. Wes also points out that he was prepared
to kill anyone who threatened Fred, which makes them both rather nervous.
When Knox shows up to drive Fred home, Wesley firmly encourages her
to leave.
After she's gone, Wes picks up the phone and dials England. When the
real Roger Wyndham-Pryce gets on the line, he dishes out the usual coldness
and criticism. Wesley takes it, and when he finally gets a chance to
speak, says simply, "I just wanted to call and see how you were."
This episode irritates me. It is so close to being absolutely
brilliant, then it cops out with the biggest cheat of an ending since at
least "Ted." In fact, it's an even bigger cheat than "Ted," because
the emotional stakes are higher. When I first watched this, I was sitting
there going, "Oh, my god, Wesley just killed his own father. That is
so cool!" I eagerly awaited the emotional fallout, maybe some intrigue
involving the Watchers, all kinds of neat stuff.
And it turned out to be a freaking robot. I nearly threw things at my television.
There's so much to like about this episode, too. Daddybot may not be
the real thing, but its behavior is close enough to convince Wesley himself,
so we do get a glimpse of what their relationship is like. Alexis Denisof's
performance is spot-on throughout, especially in showing the way abuse victims
can revert to almost childlike helplessness when their abusers are around.
There will still be some consequences for Wesley, since he now has
to live with the fact that he believed he was murdering his own father.
He also has to deal with the way his feelings for Fred are affecting
his judgment, although I think he probably would have shot the old jerk no
matter who was being threatened. His desire to protect Fred is pretty
strong, maybe even scary strong, but his anger and resentment toward his
father are stronger. That's what really caused him to pull the trigger,
and that's what makes all this interesting.
Unfortunately, setting up Wesley's emotional state requires some
character-bending on the part of Fred and Angel. Since when is Angel
this hyper-protective of Fred? Eve thinks it's because Angel doesn't
really trust Wesley after the whole Connor incident last season, but aren't
they over that? We haven't seen Angel show any distrust of Wesley for
a while now. Angel already knows that Wes will act on the greater good
no matter what, and that his actions regarding Connor were completely
well-intentioned. We don't need to go over that again.
And when did Fred get so pissy? She chews Wesley up and down just for being worried about her. Yes, it's patronizing for him to treat her like a fragile flower, but she didn't even give him a chance to explain himself. That's not like her.
In fact, the only person besides Wesley who behaves completely in character
is Spike. He's funny, he's a bad-ass, he confronts Eve about how she
seems to watch his every move. She, in turn, implies that maybe that
amulet was meant for Spike all along, and his being tethered to Wolfram &
Hart is part of the big plan.
Oh, and Gunn and Lorne? Not around much, really. Guess Lorne
is still napping a lot after getting his sleep back. The Ninjabots,
with their vast knowledge and uncertain agenda, have more going on.
I hate to dock points on Drew Goddard, since he's normally a genius and all.
But that lame-ass plot twist, coupled with the out-of-character antics,
bring this one down a couple of notches. I cannot, in good conscience,
give it higher than a 7 out of 10.