Soul
Purpose
Lindsey and Eve are putting their diabolical plots into action, using Spike
as their all-too-willing puppet. Lindsey approaches him, claiming to
be someone named "Doyle" who has visions of people in trouble. It's
Spike's destiny to go out and help the helpless - not Angel's - and Spike
starts digging this idea very quickly. He even adopts Angel's old
stakes-up-the-coat-sleeves maneuver, and moves into an apartment furnished
by "Doyle." His antics draw the attention of Wesley and Gunn, who visit
with an offer to make him a player at Wolfram & Hart. Spike reminds
them that they're working for the wrong side, despite their protests that
things are changing, and basically tells them to bugger off.
Meanwhile, Angel is having a supremely bad day. He's feeling out of
sorts, frustrated because of the moral compromises he has to make at Wolfram
& Hart. There's also the matter of losing consciousness and having
weird, disturbing dreams. He goes up to his penthouse and tries to nap, but
all he gets are visions of his friends and associates telling him how empty,
irrevelant, and generally worthless he is.
Eventually, he discovers that there's a slimy little critter attaching itself
to his stomach. He kills it, but Eve shows up in his room with a box,
claiming to be another hallucination. She puts an even bigger little
critter on him.
Lindsey passes this along to Spike (in the form of a fake vision), and Spike rescues Angel from his icky attacker. Later, the others arrive to check on Angel, and discover that this was some parasite that gives its victims trippy fever dreams. Angel remembers that Eve appeared to him, and accuses her of being involved. He seems to figure out that she's playing her own game, but she deflects it by telling him that he's just projecting his own unhappiness onto her. The real problem is inside his group, not outside. With her usual smug smile, she leaves.
This better not be one of those arcs where the good guys all turn against
each other because they're silly enough to let the bad guys make them paranoid.
I saw "The Yoko
Factor" 4 years ago, thanks.
It's a good sign that Angel is getting suspicious of Eve, though - keep on
that track, buddy. She should be more nervous than she is, I think,
especially given the way nobody trusts her. Now we've got Lindsey
approaching Spike, too, making him think he's supposed to be doing Angel's
job. Spike seems to want to keep all that quiet right now, but he's
bound to slip up and tell somebody about "Doyle" and his "visions."
Which makes me wonder exactly what the hell Lindsey is up to. He seems determined to make the Senior Partners think Spike is the Neo in this Matrix, even though Angel apparently is. Screwing with Angel is a nice side effect, but the Partners may actually be Lindsey's real target. After all, he and Angel parted on almost not-terrible terms a while back, but he left Wolfram & Hart under really bad circumstances. Either that, or he is ultimately after Angel, which means something seriously bad must have happened between Season 2 and now.
Or maybe he's messing with Spike. Or maybe it's all of the above. Damned if I know. All I know is that he and Eve are off the Partners' radar for now, and she's still pretending to be working for them. We'll see how that goes.
I do love all the Season 1 references, with Lindsey pretending to Doyle and
the almost shot-for-shot recreations of some of Angel's Greatest Hits in
various dark alleyways. Spike has to be loving this - he's finally
getting some satisfaction after years of resenting and being jealous of Angel.
Meanwhile, Angel is having demon-induced nightmares about Spike's
encroachment on his territory, leading to some funny, odd moments and nice
little directorial touches from Mr. Boreanaz his own self.
I did find the dream sequences repetitive, though, since they're telling us things we already know, over and over again. Angel feels empty inside, Angel thinks Spike is taking everything from him, Angel thinks he's useless. Got it. Several episodes ago. The fact that Angel is also feeling cruddy about the gray areas of his new job is a nice added character touch, but it's also something we've been aware of for a while.
So, it's a mixed bag. Good directing, and some fun and telling moments
(love Spike chewing out that woman for walking around bad neighborhoods alone
at night, something everybody has always done in Angelverse L.A. and
Sunnydale, which no sane person ever does in the real world). I'm intrigued
by whatever Eve and Lindsey are up to, and I want to know more about their
backstory. But, the dream sequences often felt like a waste
of time, despite their general amusement value.
7 out of 10.