"First Impressions" (Angel 2.3): Dude, Where's Angel's Car?

Special mid-week edition of Whedonverse Weekend, part 2!

Though there's a lot of wheel-spinning in this episode, arc-wise, I must say I quite enjoyed it. Gunn's continued Scoobification is paired with some quite steamy shirtless Angel shots.

e. effing g.

 For me, the Angel guide to finding your stolen vintage car is a solid win.

Also, there's a demon. Whatevs.

DO show us all what a real rogue demon hunter looks like. Gunn's menace and volatility are front and center in this episode. He's pissy, driven, dangerous, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. So it's just perfect that he and Cordelia end up spending most of the episode together trying to find who jacked Angel's convertible.

Gunn makes this face for most of the episode.

Cordy is convinced by a vision she needs to protect him, and by the conclusion, the two of them realize each other's worth, and Gunn is one step closer to moving into the new hotel. Jenn remarks that the episode as a whole does a lot for inter-character relationship development. She suspects that it might have something to do with moving away from a focus on detective plots and more towards a character-driven drama. Sounds right to me.

DON'T make Angel wear the lady helmet. And by "don't," I mean "do."

Because it's hilarious.

DON'T underestimate the value of a good succubus. Throughout the comic plot of hunting down Angel's car, the tall, dark, and handsome vamp is plagued by recurrent dreams of Darla.

We have the making out in Lorne's club dream:

The making out while sunbathing at night dream:

And the making out just 'cuz dream:

Though at first it seems like Angel might have ingested some of Buffy's prophetic dream powers when he fed on her in "Graduation Day," , as it turns out, Darla is actually visiting Angel while he sleeps, and presumably fucking him up (not a euphemism).

Though he seems remarkably okay with it . . .

As Jenn reminds us, it's always blondes for Angel, no matter whether he's evil or not.