Angel

FIVE BY FIVE

The Good;
All of it, brilliant episode that gives Angel it's first 10/10 story. It's my all time favorite Angel ep AND contains my nearly all time favourite Angel moment, Wes coming across the weeping Faith in Angel's arms and dropping the knife.

The Bad;
If you think there's anything bad in this ep, go to the doctor because you're clearly crazy

Best line:
Cordy 'Generally you don't change a guy. Scratch the surface and what do you get? More surface!' (the events of Expecting still sting obviously)

Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Faith tortures Wes, horribly. She hurts Lee too but who cares? Darla describes killing children who 'squeal like little piggies', eugh!

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Cliches

Damsel in distress; 15,

Inverting the Hollywood cliche; loathsome pimp picks up beautiful lost girl who then turns around and beats the crap out of him! Good for her!

In disguise; 4, Angel masquerades as a lawyer

DB get's his shirt off; 5

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; he doesn't carry any cash with him
3

Fang Gang in bondage: Wes tied to a chair
Cordy: 5
Angel: 8
Wes: 2

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy and Wes
Cordy: 9
Angel: 10
Wes: 4
Doyle; 1

Kills:
Cordy: 3 vamps, 1 demons
Angel: 3 demons so 11 vamps, 9 and 1/2 demons, 2 humans.
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 1/2 a demon
Kate; 3 vamps

Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 6

Characters killed:
25

Recurring characters killed;
2;

Total number of Angel Investigations:
3, Angel and Cordy and Wes

Angel Investigations shot: Angel by Faith
Angel: 8,

Packing heat; Angel tries to shoot Faith in the leg but fires blanks
Wes; 2
Doyle; 1
Angel; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast
Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky:
Lindsey offers to 'get Faith off' but she's heard that from guys before (although Lilah promises she'll impress Faith?). The guy who picks Faith up at the bus station is clearly looking to be her pimp but she gives him what he deserves. In a blow to Cesly fans CC proclaims that hell will freeze over before she has sex with Wes. Faith dancing is always a highlight. Darla and Angel(us) refer to 'playing games'.

Captain Subtext;
Lilah picks Faith up in the club. Faith remarks she's not much of a talker, more of a doer

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages;
4,

Buffy characters on Angel;
7; Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith

Questions and observations;
Note that when Angel catches the crossbow bolt Faith fires at him it's nowhere near his heart, she just wants to goad him into the fight. At this stage Wolfram and Hart don't realise that they need Angel for their prophecy so are quite happy to try and kill him. We have flashbacks to resouled Angel having broken up with Darla, starving but isn't able to bring himself to kill in order to eat. All of the WR&H lawyers have the same initials, LM? How does Angel enter the thugs apartment when he's not invited? PTB or is the guy squatting?
Marks out of 10; 10/10 my favourite Angel ep ever

We always knew that Faith was one psychotic chick but due to restraints on the amount of violence on Buffy, we never really saw her go to the extremes she so desperately wants to reach. Thankfully, in her first appearance on the darker spin-off Angel, Faith goes all out crazy and crashes into Los Angeles. As soon as she arrives, she kills a pimp and starts a riot in an LA club.



The club scene has to be one of the most spectacular scenes in Buffyverse history. How she starts a brawl and just casually continues to dance around, whilst occasionally punching or kicking anybody in her way, all to Rob Zombie's adrenalin-pumping song "Living Dead Girl", is just astounding and Eliza has never been sexier.



The few screws that remained in Faith's head are immediately screwed loosed as soon as she is recruited by Wolfram & Hart. She severely injures a W&H lawyer, injures Angel, breaks into Cordelia's apartment, attacks Cordy and abducts Wesley. Dragging him back to the stolen apartment she beat up the pimp for, she uses any object around her to torture Wes.



Even though Faith is a complete nutjob, you immediately feel for her. She has had such a mess of a life and her life only got worse when she came to Sunnydale. She was driven to insanity when she accidentally killed a man and began working for the Mayor, a psychotic demon who was planning to be transformed into a giant snake on Graduation Day. She engaged in a massive fight with Buffy which left her stabbed and thrown off a balcony. In a coma for a year, she awakened and took Joyce, Buffy's mother, hostage. Using a device the late Mayor got for her before he died, Faith swapped bodies with Buffy, letting herself become what she has always wanted to be and leaving Buffy in her own natural body, which she loathed.



The closing moments of Five by Five are absolutely stunning. As she fights Angel in an alleyway, she begs him to kill her, begs him to end the pain and her self-loathing. Wesley runs into the alley, holding a knife in which he plans to use to kill her with. He sees Faith in Angel's arms, weeping and begging for death, and drops the knife to the ground.



Five by Five is honestly the greatest, most powerful episode of Angel. Every character gets their time in the limelight and Eliza Dushku is like a whirlwind throughout the episode, showing she is the most talented actor in the Buffyverse. Truly amazing.

Coming on the heels of the “Buffy” episode “Who Are You”, this episode begins a process that would send “Angel” to a more consistent level of storytelling. Much of the first season had been spent trying to find the right direction: some episodes were devoted to a relatively simple theme of redemption, while others were predicated on the idea of Angel as Champion. Other initiatives were attempted that never really came together, like the Angel/Kate dynamic.



Faith’s arrival in Los Angeles changed all of that. Faith came on the scene after an experience that forced her to see all the emotional and psychological baggage that was ruling her actions. “Who Are You” forced Faith to recognize everything she hated about herself, and she arrived in LA with no real concept of what to do about it.



Angel was identified during the third season of “Buffy” as the perfect person to give Faith perspective. That resonance between the characters is what drives this story, and it actually serves as an important moment in Faith’s overall character arc. Just as Buffy must endure a long and laborious process of self-discovery to find her sense of balance, so must Faith lose everything to find her true strength of character.



Ever since “Amends”, the third season episode of “Buffy” that began Angel’s recent search for redemption, Angel has been trying to find a way to make real progress in that personal quest. His activities in Los Angeles have been heroic in many cases, but in other moments, his lack of connection with humanity has been apparent. Faith represents someone with a clear need for change and redemption.



Angel’s flashbacks to the circumstances of his cursing give scope to his level of understanding. Angel finds himself suddenly recognizing the depth of his evil as Angelus, and in response, he tries to “correct” his conscience by engaging in exactly the kind of evil behavior that used to make him so happy. Angel recognizes the same look of psychological desperation in Faith’s eyes, and as the episode progresses, that dynamic becomes central to the episode.



Of course, part of the fun is that Angel can’t be sure that Faith can be saved. It’s easy enough for him to recognize Faith’s descent; it’s quite another to use that as a motivation to become the person to bring Faith back from the abyss. Angel needed someone to show him that there’s something good and worthy left in him, and so he must question whether or not he can do the same for Faith. It’s really a question of whether or not Angel can replace the “guidance” of the Mayor with an equally powerful influence.



If that were the only layer to the storytelling, then it would have probably worked as a typical first season episode. However, the writers also wanted to establish more firmly the role of Wolfram and Hart. Lindsay and Lilah become far more prominent in their machinations, and the “office politics” of the demonic law firm make their first appearance. This additional layer of intrigue not only brings back much of the promise of the pilot episode, but it also sets the stage for some of the complexities of the second season.



This element is tied to Angel’s previous escapades through the plot device of convincing Marquez to testify in a case that Wolfram and Hart has a stake in (not literally, this time). This places Angel and his activities in something of a wider context; his mission is getting in the way of the firm’s goals. Those goals are still somewhat murky at this point, but the intent is clear.



Meanwhile, Faith tries to find some outlet for her own negative energy. She wants to be hated, yet a part of her wants to be found worthy of something real. Unfortunately for Faith, she’s never learned any other way than what she’s always done: sex and violence. Since those are the things that rule her from the Chosen legacy (thanks to what appears to be heavy abuse as a child), it’s how she instinctively reacts. She doesn’t have the nurturing influence that Buffy has received.



For Eliza Dushku fans, that’s a good thing, because it means lots of sweaty, sexy dancing in skimpy outfits that tend to be tight and shiny. Faith always dresses to kill, and that’s one of the best things about the character, especially at this stage of the Buffyverse. (For better or worse, Buffy had abandoned much of her inherent sexiness when Sarah Michelle Gellar dropped far too much weight.) Faith is something of a slut, but she gives the broiling instincts of the Slayer expression.



What’s interesting is the reaction from Wolfram and Hart to Angel’s interference. The implication of later episodes is that the firm always knew that Angel would be a player. So why try to kill him now? It could be a question of shifting assessments. At this point, Angel is showing little or no proclivity towards slipping back to the dark side. Killing him could be seen as a better option. It’s not until the end of the season that they put into motion the plan to subvert and turn Angel.



Another interesting concept introduced in this episode is the idea that Darla recognizes the return of Angel’s soul. This would suggest that it has happened before Angelus, and that Darla either saw the effects or learned about it from the Master. Whatever the case, vampires are clearly disgusted and terrified at the thought of having a soul restored. As later seasons of “Buffy” would demonstrate, there’s more than one way for a vampire to have his or her soul restored, and it’s often not something that most vampires would admire or revere.



The fact that Giles didn’t say anything to Wesley is a nice bit of evolution for the Buffyverse. Clearly, Wesley or Cordelia must have informed the gang back in Sunnydale regarding the status quo in LA, or Wesley wouldn’t comment on the fact that Giles should have known where he was to make contact. The fact that he wasn’t warned is an indication of how little respect Giles has for Wesley, and that’s something that carries through the rest Wesley’s arc.



Adding another layer to the mix, Wesley is initially the one who insists that Faith be saved from herself. This becomes important later when Wesley becomes the one ready to kill, forced to face his own demons. This is the episode where a lot of the hidden strength in Wesley comes through, and the character is all the better for it. He never quite loses his naïve qualities, but they become a lot less prominent.



Faith’s torture session with Wesley is more brutal than one would expect, but it effectively communicates how far Faith has fallen. More to the point, this is when Wesley’s desire to help Faith see the light comes to an abrupt and painful end. But it’s also nicely mirrored by Angel’s own actions in the past, providing a strong resonance between Angel and Faith and their journey towards redemption.



What’s great about this episode is how Angel’s choices take him further down the same road that he offers to help Faith find. It’s even better when taken in context with the later developments in Faith’s arc. In a lot of ways, Faith gets to find a way to find peace within herself by the end of “Buffy”, while Angel’s path is a lot less direct. This begins Faith’s process of becoming the Slayer she was always meant to be; Angel’s search for redemption will never truly end.



Of course, there are immediate obstacles for Faith, and Angel has to make some serious choices to allow her the time to overcome them. It’s that immediate conflict of interest that comes into play with the second half of the story. Those conflicts also complete the process of bringing “Angel” to the next level of storytelling.

‘Five By Five’ features Faith coming to LA after her disastrous choices in Buffy’s episode ‘Who Are You?’



The episode begins with Angel saving a guy from some demons, he needs the guy to testify against W&H and he does. Thanks to him Wolfram & Heart loose the case.



In this episode, Faith goes to LA and is just the thing what the W&H lawyers need, a rogue slayer that is willing to kill Angel for money. Three lawyers returned that all have been in one episode over the past season one, Lindsey McDonalds (City Of..), Lee Mercer (Sense & Sensitivity) and Lilah Morgan (The Ring). They work together to get Faith on the case and naturally she accepts it.



Faith immediately shows initiative when she hits Lee because he doesn’t want her to make him look bad. Then soon she shows the gang that she’s n town and starts shooting the boss and hides in Cordelia’s apartment waiting for them just to give Cordy her famous elbow and knock out Wes.



Faith takes Wes to an apartment where she was staying and tortures him and almost even burns him. Her chemistry with him was brilliant and it’s the first time we see Wesley as tortured and tough. But Angel comes in to save Wes and he has a big fight with Faith and fall out of a window. When it begins to rain and Faith begins to ask Angel to fight it becomes obvious that she actually wants Angel to kill her, she begs for it and falls crying in his arm. When Wesley grabs a knife to kill her he finds her crying on Angel’s shoulders and lets his knife fall.



The episode also featured flashbacks on how Angel killed the gypsy and how Darla kicked him out of the house. And of Angel trying to drain a woman but not being able to kill her.



Another great scene is the Lindsey/Angel one, there is a big vibe between them that will continue the second and fifth season. And ofcourse the classic Faith dance and how she starts a fight in a dance club.

The episode was downright brilliant even though I don’t consider it to be one of the show’s best.

This episode is so much deeper than just another bad guy loses at the hand of good guy. I love how Faith has a nervous breakdown at the end of the ep. It is also the episode that marks Wesley's move from goofy sidekick to grizzly miserable wreck. (The final straw being kidnapping Connor.) Considering his is my favorite character development to watch over the years, this has to be a favorite. After Faith tried so hard to be good in Buffy Season 3, I figured she was a lost cause. I know some might think it's cliche how Angel constantly promotes saving lost causes, but I assumed she would go down swinging and accept her fate. Go figure. I think Wesley should've gone crazy sooner than he did, though, like he did in Season 5 considering he was one of those guys who was ridiculed all his life and repressed it. God bless torture. Go Head Boy!

Faith (My all time favorite character in the Jossverse) is in LA! This is Pt 3 in the Faith 4 parter (Pt 1 and 2 are on BTVS). Wolfram and Hart pursue Faith and ask her to kill Angel. She agrees. Before she goes after Angel she gives Cordy a nice shiner and tortures Wes a wee bit. Angel and Faith have THE best fight scene. When they both go out the window, Faith breaks down and tells Angel to kill her.



to be continued.....

i was never a big fan of the faith episodoes on buffy but i must admit that this one was very good!



faith comes in town and ready to do what she always does. have a great time. the best about this episode were lindsey, lee and lilah hooking up together and hiering faith. at first faith tries to make angel mad by kicking cordy and torturing wesley but angel is smart and at the end she cries for him to kill her but he doesnt do it. the end scene was spectacular!

This episode started off kicking butt and just kept going. Faith comes to Sunny L.A. after a brief stint wreaking havoc in Sunnydale. She is hellbent to cause trouble, and soon enough she is recruited by Wolfram and Hart to kill Angel. Easier said than done. She ends up punching Cordy and in a very chilling scene (broken glass, fire, blunt weapons)she tortures Wesley. Wesley really impressed me in this ep. He stood his ground with Faith and even told her exactly where to get off. Angel shows up and battles with Faith and we finally get to see what Faith wants more than anything; death. She wants someone to kill her and put her out of her misery. But Angel is all about atonement so we know that isnt going to happen. Kudos to the writers for the great flashbacks to when Angel had his soul restored and how Darla treated him after that.

Faith waking out of her coma was something that Angel and the team least expected. After being hunted down by Wolfram & Hart Faith is offered money in exchange for the extermination of Angel, which she is more than ready to do. Eliza Dushku making her appearance as Faith in 'Angel' was so awesome. It gave us the chance to look at her character in a different setting with a slightly more insane background. The fact that Faith kept playing games with Angel made it all the more interesting as the show progressed. She even went as far as to torture Wesley, her previous watcher. This is where we get to really see how truly insane she is and I loved every minute of it. It turns out that she was just giving Angel excuses to kill her because she in fact wanted to die. In reality she had been feeling guilty and wanted to take the easy way out by putting herself out of her misery by having Angel do it. But of course Angel wouldn't hear of it and ended up saving her, forcing her to take the hard steps to redemption.

I've never been a big fan of Faith, at all actually but I gotta say that I did like this episode. It was done really well. Faith, after causing some serious hell back in Sunnydale, arrives in LA and is even more unbalanced then when we last saw her. After being recruted by our friendly neighborhood evil law firm she begings to target Angel, Wesley, and Cordy spewing all his torture and hell onto them causing even more destruction then she has in the past. However, by the end of the episode it is revealed that not only is Faith a seriously troubled and twisted young woman but she is in some serious need of a whole lotta help. This is probably the one moment in the entrie span of her character that I haven't totally hated her, at least in the last moments of the episode.

Five by Five-Faith, the rogue Slayer, arrives in L.A., and Wolfram and Hart make plans to use her in their fight against Angel.



What is it about Faith that makes her appearences on Buffy and Angel such amazing TV? Hard to beleieve such a dark character can turn anything she touches into gold. But what can you expect from a rogue slayer you can't help but love to hate? Eliza Dushku is an excellent actress and her appearence on Angel only deepens Faith's psychotic rampage. I mean Faith may had killed people on Buffy, but on Angel, the character of Faith actually feels more fleshed out and her violent acts seem more surreal. Which is expected from a darker show Angel is to Buffy. The main cast's reaction to Faith is played out nicely and Wolfram and Hart's invovlement is an added plus. I have to say I love the scene where Faith bangs one of the lawyer's face into the his desk repeatedly. It's just so disturbing but kinda hilarious. Also I love how Faith's appearence really shakes up Cordelia and especially Wesley. Like how she elbows Cordelia and Wesley punchs her back, but then Faith knocks him and to make it worse, tortures him and taunts him about being a failure to her. Also, the torture scenes lookd truly brutal and you didn't have to actually see it. The horrible bruises and deep blood gushing cuts on Wesley's shirt just said it all! But there's also a hilarious scene in during the torture scenes where Wesley almost calls Faith a piece of sh!t but Faith shuts him up before he can finish, just a great moment. The episode concludes incredibly with a amazing fight between Faith and Angel, which starts in the apartment and ends in an alley. But then watching Faith breakdown after all she's been through and collapses in Angel's arms as Wesley is shocked at what his seeing, it just all came together flawless with Eliza's show stealing performance. This episode also features some flashback scenes with Angelus, Darla and some post-cursed Angel, it's great but does feel out of place during the episode but doesn't hurt it by any means. All and All, a wonderful dark and impressive episode with Faith as it's undeniable star, another classic for season 1.

Very good episode. Faith is back and is she mad as hell. Faith lands in LA and upon arriving kills a guy. She is then hired by Wolfram and Hart, who is starting to take a prominent role in the series. The addition of Christian Kane playing Lindsey McDonald is very good; he makes a good villain. Faith cannot get the job done and ends up seeking sanctuary with Angel. Wolfram and Hart send another demon to take out Faith and Angel, but they are able to take it out. Against the pleas of Wesley and Cordy, Angel lets Faith stay.



It is pretty good to see Faith back. She is a great addition to the cast, even only if temporary. Her psycho personality brings a good edge to the show.

my favorite scene in this episode is when faith starts to go physco in the vclud. Her fighting actions, perfectly sync'd with the music that is play (rob zombie-living dead girl) madme for a perfect insight into th emind of faith and little grab on reality.



This episode truly shows faith in her darkest form. The last scene of this episode is also great Faith FINALLY breaking down and realising what she has done made the episode perfect and having a vampire with a soul as your 'sponsor', couldnt get any better. Overall this episode is great due to mainly the crafting of each scene.

Faith. Darla. Angelus. Lilah. Lindsey. Torture. What's not to love? Five by Five is the best episode of Season 1 by a mile and one of the top 20 of the series. It's just an absolutely incredible episode and an amazing followup from the BtVS two parter "This Year's Girl/Who Are You?". It definitely shows that when Angel's at it's best, it's unbelievably fantastic. Faith is such an amazing character and definitely one of the most complex. She adds so much to Buffy and Angel and really makes everything more exciting. The scene in the club is brilliant with Faith dancing seductively whilst beating up everyone in the club. It's definitely a metaphor for what the character of Faith stands for: sex and violence. The music was very good and setted the scene well. We see Faith try to kill Angel numerous times in the episode. We see her punching Cordelia in the face, torturing Wesley and beating up several others. Yet at the end of the episode we feel sorry for her. Her breakdown was heartbreaking and so excellently written and performed. The torturing scenes were brutal and when she was sitting at the windowside with the glass covered in blood, I actually feared she'd killed Wesley. Wesley showed great courage in this episode- even when being tortured he never screamed but stood up for himself and it's definitely a testament to the fact he's not just a clumsy goof- he's a brave person. The fight scene was brilliant at the end also- one of the best of the show. As said, Faith's breakdown was heart-wrenching.



W&H fitted really well into this episode and it was nice to see them doing something actually aimed at Angel. Sending the rogue slayer after him was a good move and I was glad to see Faith beat Lee up so badly. Lilah was as always excellent. The flashback scenes were unexpected, yet fitted so perfectly into the episode. This and the next episode are all about redemption and seeing Angel when he first got his soul back was powerful. As always, Julie Benz was excellent. Five by Five is a masterpiece and is an episode that delivers Angel's one of Angel's mission statements; anyone can be redeemed.

This is simply one of the best Angel episodes. It has action and adventure, and more than a little drama at the end. Faith is always a treat to watch, and the fight between her and Angel is one of the series' best. Try not to cry when Faith finally breaks down and cries in Angel's arms. This starts the road to Faith's redemption.

The writers outdid themselves on this episode. I would rank this among Angel's top 10 episodes, and the fight is extremely well choreographed.

It's a shame that Eliza Dushku never got to star in the talked about Faith series because of the conflict with Tru Calling, which is a much underrated show.

OK I'll say it. I love Faith. I think the character is great and same goes for the actress. It seems like I only really like characters who are bad or at least a little anyway. Plus it's fun seeing familiar faces once and awhile. Seeing how the other characters react to her is equally enjoyable. This episode made Faith and Wesley equal in my opinion. He messed up on Buffy, She messed him up on Angel. This two part episode was just great to me. Although another appearance of Buffy so soon felt a little forced. I also really wasn't expecting the shocking ending, never figured that would have happened. It made the two episodes that much better though.

Five by Five was a perfect episode of Angel. I really enjoyed watching this episode because it was very character driven by Faith and Angel. This episode was very interesting because it had a crossover from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, however it was very relevant to Angel himself. I think this episdoe showed more of Angel and his true character. I think the story of this episode was not only important but pertinent to the future of Angel Investigations. Faith really knows how to stir the pot and she did that well in this episode. I can't wait to see what happens in the next episode of Angel!!!!!!!