The Thin Dead Line
| Business is booming. The new Gunn, Wyndham-Pryce or Chase agency
(whatever they eventually decide on calling themselves) is inundated with paying clients,
including the family of a seemingly poor girl who has sprouted a third eye in the back of
her head. The team hit the books right away and try to figure out what is causing the
growth, but it all goes on the backburner when an old friend of Gunn's calls for help. It
seems Anne (the unwitting money spinner for Wolfram & Hart in "Blood Money")
asks Gunn for help with a police brutality problem in their old neighbourhood. Gunn decides that with the help of some gang members, he can sort out the problem with the police. Unfortunately, his gang members take a bit more persuading than he expected. Seems that his friends are a bit un-impressed with his new choice in lifestyle and the company he keeps. Why has Gunn not been around to help them with their problems? However, they eventually come round and put together a plan of action. Their plan is a simple one. Capture the cops harassing them on videotape, as proof of the unjustified police brutality in the area. Now, how can they be sure that they will be harassed for no reason? It’s obvious. They will be “the ones walking down the street whilst black”. What other reason do the police need? Off they go to put their plan into effect. However, at the last minute, Wesley decides that this is a bad plan and goes off to intervene. As expected, Gunn and his friends get harassed by a cop, but when Wesley steps in to explain that Gunn wasn't doing anything wrong he gets shot in the stomach for his trouble. In turn, the officer was shot by one of Gunn's friends, who starts to panic at the thought of what he has done. With the rest of the gang explaining that it was a “them or us” situation, fled the scene in an ambulance. After a high-speed chase from police cars, they arrive back at the teen shelter and barricade themselves in. Cut to Angel, being stopped in an alley by a police officer. Our hero is fully co-operating when the policeman whigs out and attacks Angel. Obviously something is going on with L.A.'s finest and Angel fights back, resulting in a headless police corpse. It becomes evident that there is a supernatural slant on things when the head carries on talking. It seems our police officers don't let a pesky thing like decapitation get in the way of duty and Angel goes to enlist Kate in his fight with the renegade cops. With Wesley on the brink of death and the shelter under heavy attack from the undead army of police officers, it seems that our gang of fledgling heroes and sheltered kids are doomed. The shelter is eventually stormed and with no apparent way to stop them (these are zombies after all) it looks like the end for the good guys. Cue Angel and Kate who arrive at the precinct just in time to find the source puppeteering the resurrected cops. Angel does battle with the “Top Cop” and chases the police captain back to a secret room where the spells are being cast and breaks the link to the zombie squad. Seems the Captain just wanted to clean up his neighbourhood by any means necessary. With the evil police zombies vanquished, Wesley makes it to the hospital in time. A worried Angel stops by to check on him and (despite his best efforts to remain undetected) Cordy confronts him. It seems that after being jilted by our brooding vampire, our fledgling heroes have developed in the their time of desperation and they don't need their old boss anymore. Perhaps it’s for the best, Angel needs to concentrate on the job at hand and doesn’t need any distractions. |
| Rating and Comments: A decent episode, in my opinion. It shows how all the characters are progressing after the split and is setting up the story for either a gripping reunion of the gang or an even bigger divide. I can’t wait to find out. |
| Rating 8/10 |