4x07 "Apocalypse, Nowish"
Reviewed by Matthew Bon | Rating: 10/10

THE END OF THE WORLD - When Cordelia's (Charisma Carpenter) apocalyptic nightmares become a reality, Angel (David Boreanaz), Wesley (Alexis Denisof), Gunn (J. August Richards) and Lorne (Andy Hallett) find themselves powerless against The Beast (guest star Vladimir Kulich) who has risen from the center of the Earth, bringing earthquakes and a rain of fire to Los Angeles. Bloodied and beaten, Angel and his friends realize that they may not be able to stop the impending doom. Amy Acker and Vincent Kartheiser also star. Vern Gillum directed this episode written by Steven S. DeKnight

Overview:

Geesh, I really have to hand it to the makers of this show, because when they're willing to go all out, they really do go all out. Could there have been anything more screwed up then our pure Cordelia sleeping with the son of the man she loves? The man who she also pronounces her love to only earlier on in the day? And also sleeping with the guy she was carrying around as a tiny infant only 7 months ago and using a flimsy excuse about not having a childhood to get him into bed with her?

I have to go with the general consensus on this issue and saw "EWWWWWWWWWW". But I do have to sit back and be astounded at the level of outcry that this plot twist has brought out from fans all over the world. I could never have imagined that this would have created such a strong response. Some have threatened never to watch the show again which I think is taking it a little bit too far, but I can't help laugh as this feelings of disgust that come on so strong as to never watch the show again can only come from loving the show and it's characters so much.

While people shout at how out of character Cordelia has gotten, I disagree. They all say they wanted 'the bitch back' and I think we got her. I think we got back the manipulative selfish individual we saw back in the high school days and I don't think that the fans can accept how the leading lady can be so disturbed. I think (I'm using too many 'thinks', but hey...I'm a thinker) that the writers have cleverly thought this through so much and come up with one of the best plot twists in the history of the show.

So much discussion has been put into this event that the rest of the highlights of this episode are all but forgotten. Lorne, hilarious! Gunn and Fred, tragic! Lilah, hilarious and tragic!

But also just the pure cinematic beauty that this episode had with the fight choreography, the literal rain of fire and the beautiful, beautiful single tear that falls down Connor's cheek as Cordelia and he start to kiss.

Angel:

What can our say about our hero? As usual, David was fantastic and for a while now I have not been able to say anything different about him. Angel is just...Angel, and we must admit that we all love it more when he's all broody.

I have no idea what else to say about him, other than he's a fantastic character and they are taking him into fantastic places. The Angel action star of this episode was flawless (I have watched the fight with The Beast at least 10 times now - it's amazing. The way Angel crashes through the pillar gets me every time), he was ferocious, relentless, and although ultimately the loser he did it remarkably well.
And the end, that was heartbreaking. The look of Angel's face is enough to send me into depression knowing it's a long wait until I see the next episode. We have some very interesting storylines coming up.

Connor & Cordelia:

Speaking of the ending, somebody needs to buy some curtains. /Me glares at Connor. Seriously, anybody could be watching!

I'll just expand on what I was talking about earlier on involving these two sleep together. We all know that Cordelia wants Angel, and I think that in this desperate time of fear and pain that she is going through at the moment she really needed the man she wants to comfort her. But she wasn't able to get him, because she can't accept his past and what he has done (by the way, this is a bit OT, but did she see all his evil deeds of the past before or after she was begging him for help from up high?), so Cordy, in her desperation I add again, just reaches out for the next best thing, his son, giving him what he wants while also giving herself part of the pleasure she wants so much.

And I completely understand, it's a very weird time for her and she's been through a lot over the last couple of weeks. Who's to stop her from having a little happiness? Cordelia has felt the pain that The Beast is bringing and she thinks that it is the end, giving up all hope left inside her.

Maybe I'm making too many excuses for this turn, maybe I'm too blinded in my effort to prove that this event HAS to have some logical explanation that I just have to wait until I see the next episode and it will all be explained. Either way, it's an interesting turn as I have said, and it's a turn that will cause a lot of pain within the ranks.

It's great how they can take Cordelia and give her yet another angle for us to look at her from, she's a very complex woman and we still haven't seen the whole thing even after 7 years with her.

So, is The Beast connected to Connor. It appeared as Connor in Cordy's dream, it rose up from where it was born and there was also that chilling line from The Beast: "Do you really think she's safe...with him"

Gunn & Fred:

Their relationship continues to fall apart, which is harrowing for me to watch, but it also makes for good drama on the screen because as we all know, nothing in the happy in the Buffyverse lasts forever. Fred feels such agony for causing Gunn to kill Seidel for her that she can't stand seeing him and the nice little guest spot by the waitress who says something to the effect 'as long as there's love it can't be that bad' just hammers the nail deeper. In their relationship, their love for each other is what is causing them to fall apart. It's a confusing and complex issue that they are dealing with and I don't think the arrival of The Beast is going to help in any way.

Oh, I also liked that Gunn figured out the key to finding The Beast before Wesley did. Nice touch by the writers after all the stuff we have seen between the two with Gunn being the muscles and Wesley being the brains. It was a nice switch in roles because later on, Wesley is the one that pulls Gunn out from the raging fire and carries him to safety.
And the axe! Gunn's poor axe that has served us since "Untouched", an early episode in season 2 has been destroyed. I loved that axe! But at least it got to go out with a bang, in a spectacular fight scene and hopefully it might be able to be repaired.

Lilah:

Ha! Her impersonation of Fred was so funny, I could not stop laughing, and tears of joy were flowing from my face. As much as Lilah would like to deny it, she is so obviously jealous of Wesley's affection for Fred and I think Lilah is a little bit threatened by that.

But to move onto her dealings with Wolfram & Hart, I very much liked finding out that this isn't the prophesized apocalypse that will turn Angel human and is just something that has popped up. I thought that the explanation (Lilah's "Someone's trying to muscle in on our apocalypse...") was very well done. This threat has come out of nowhere, it's caught everyone by surprised, and no one knows how to stop it. It is also interesting to see the beginning of potential teamwork between Angel and Lilah and it really is a win-win situation for her. If she helps Angel and they stop it, she gets lauded with praise for keeping Angel on the playing field as they work towards his end and if he dies, she gets her own personal wish come true and can also wipe out any evidence that she helped him and go 'oh well, time for my next project'. Either way, Lilah has some very more important and interesting stuff that will turn up in the next few episodes.

And did anyone catch Lilah's closing? Boy, she was scared, majorly scared.

Top 5 Quotes:

Wesley: Lilah...
Lilah: Oh, forget about that evil witch. Let's talk about me. I'm good and pure and science turns me on, and-and one day if I pray hard enough and eat all my vegetables, I just might just have hips.

Angel: I always wanted to be a prince. I hear you gotta be born into it.
Cordy: How do you do that?
Angel: What?
Cordy: Make everything feel like it's not spiralling apart.

Angel: You're not afraid of me, Lilah. You're afraid of what's coming. Maybe we can help each other, huh. The enemy of my enemy...
Lilah: Can kiss my ass too. You wanna play hero? Go find another sandbox.

Lorne: Let the machine work it's mechanical magic. C'mon. I'll hang my head out the window; see if I can pick up the Burkle vibe.
Gunn: You can do that?
Lorne: Um, no, but it sounds comforting, and I could use the air.

Lorne: Ooh, uh, I'm gonna need a bigger arrow.

In Closing:

And you know, I could be totally reading into this Cordelia issue the wrong way. Maybe the hold that The Beast has over her forced her into doing this as The Beast seems to have some kind of connection with Connor as explained before. Maybe Cordelia is just a plain slut, or maybe this is just the worst written plot turns in the history of the series if they can't explain it correctly. But honestly, I just don't accept that anymore from this team of writers especially not after the amazing episodes we have already had this season.

So my reservations about the Cordelia/Connor issue only spell mass curiosity for what lies ahead. I give this great episode a

10/10

and thank you Steven and Vern for truly making this one of the most memorable episodes ever.

As I finish the review for this episode, I'm left with this lingering line of dialogue from Cordelia as mentioned before:

Cordelia: I love you...

Why would anyone in their right mind sleep with the son of the man she proclaimed her love to only earlier on in the day? I do not believe that the writers or even the character of Cordelia herself would say that without it meaning less than it does. Something is definitely up...


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