Overall I liked this. Can't say I'm jumping up and down about Angel being a full-time dad, but I have to give Joss the benefit of the doubt and see where he goes with this.

Holtz is slimly, but not scary to me. I don't think he took out the swat team alone, but had his demon squad to help. Just because we didn't see them, doesn't mean they're not there.

Possesed Angel and Lilah - don't think that encounter reached it's full potential, so I'd be surprised if anything came of it.

I think this show continues to improve and so do the actors. I like where it's going. I think it would be icky to have Angel and Cordy get romantic. Just doesn't work for me. I think that it's about damn time someone started training on how to fight on these shows. Cordy is coming along. I loved it when she decked Darla.

Again, I have to ask, why don't they have spells protecting the place from people getting in? Some sort of alarm system or someting. I just don't get it.

Oh yea, also, I think there is an inconsistency floating around about Angel's age and I find that a bit annoying for a show that normally pays attention to detail.

However, he did say in another season 3 episode (I think it was Helpless) that he fell in Love with Buffy when he first saw her, pre-season 1. Am I reaching on this?

Anyway, the point being characters saying something isn't canonical, but when the narrative says he was created in 1753 then thats something they can't back away from.

[Wizdar gets out his dictonary...]

Angel fell in love with Buffy when Whistler brought him to Buffy's old high school before she got the news that she was the newest slayer (and was accused of getting the gym burnt down, so the Summers ladies had to move to Sunnydale). This was all covered in the season ending 2-parter in Season two. Angel was a directionless wreck of a vampire bum with a soul for over 80 years until he laid eyes on Buffy, and it was Buffy that "made him want to be a better man/demon/vampire" (my apologies to ripping off a line from "As Good As It Gets").

Well, Joss has admitted that he's NOT good at math, and there have been a few inconsistances with dates... but here's an outdated bio on him... it's like 2 years old, so has some mistakes, but it covers the basics.

http://www.vampirology.bizhosting.com/angel.htm

I completely agree, Elektra - full time dad would be horrid, but I'm giving Joss the benefit of the doubt - plus it looks like there's some huge overarching story here (like maybe a second chance at a human life for Angel?!?!?). A girl can dream.

As for the age question, I too wish they'd spell it out. See next part for my opinion on the matter.

KayUK, I've been wondering about the demon dimension time myself. Lily's boyfriend aged about 60 years in just a day and a half/2 days in the demon dimension, so if Angel was in the same dimension for at least 3 months (when Buffy had run away)...say 30 years a day for 90 days...2700 years!!!!!! Geez - wonder why they never discussed it more. Every once in a while there's a reference to how Angel was "supposed" to have been tortured for eternity, and that he did in fact suffer for years in the demon dimension, they didn't ever spell it out. Suffering for 2700 years is a huge step towards making reparations for the horror you caused others. But then I think of Angel like I think of Xena - current good deeds making up for past sins. (helps that I got to "know" them as good before I was told of their bad deeds).

One last thing - those scene change flashes and strobe-like flashes during fight scenes are REALLY annoying. Trying way too hard to be "artistic" with the cinematography.

There have been several times when characters have been vague about mentioning "a" demon dimension... I'm assuming that there are some dimensions where time runs a little bit faster, and some where time runs MUCH faster. Since age seems to play a part in both how powerful the vampires are AND how deformed they are (the Master's prune face, Kakistos' hooves etc, Balthazar's blobbiness), and Angel doesn't quite seem THAT powerful or deformed at all, I'm guessing Angel was in one of the former, and Lily's boyfriend was in the latter.

Thanks for the thoughts, Captain Marvel. I think you're right about the multiplicity of demon dimensions, based on the other points you brought up (how vamps change when we're talking a LOT of time, etc.). Angel having been in a different demon dimension where time moves faster than here but not insanely so makes much more sense.

Balthazar was not a vampire.

Over time though, vampires do start chaning into a "de-evolved" state. The Master and Kakistos are examples.

As said before, Angel was in a demon dimension. Where time passed much slower. We don't know how long he was there, but it was basically torture non stop for some hundreds of years. One would assume that since Angel was:

A) Being tortured
B) His demon soul was not in control

And therefore wouldn't deform.

More here on age and it's effects.

As for demon dimensions, there are all sorts of hell dimensions. Earth USED to be a hell dimension, but some how, humans came about and drove back the demon forces into other dimensions or underground.

On the Scale of Non-Importance, this ranks very high, but I took a look at the studio promo for Angel a few days ago (back when it first aired, it was a 6 minute promo to the networks, so they'd know what this show was about). Anyway, the first thing Angel says is, "I'm a 244 year-old vampire." He references this number again towards the end of the promo. So, just more reinforcement that some things may seem askew, but Joss clearly is keeping track of this number as his primary age.

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