Judgement

Season 2, Episode 1, Aired
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Episode Summary

After a case of mistaken identity leads Angel to slay the demon protector of an innocent girl, karaoke is the only way to make things right. Meanwhile, Angel struggles with the discovery that he may not always be eternal and Darla recovers from her resurrection.
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Fan Episode Reviews (20)

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  • Ok season 2 opener

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By joxerlives, Jan 19, 2012 Report Abuse
    JUDGEMENT

    The Good;
    Jousting in LA, even in Tinseltown that must be a rare enough sight.

    The Bad;
    A fairly slow opener for a season that will eventually start firing on all cylinders

    Jeez, how did they get away with that?
    The demon who sings at Caritas is 'Gorshak the Child-eater'? His pick is 'Achy breaky heart' (I'm not sure which is worse?)

    Apocalypses: 4

    Angel Cliches

    Damsel in distress; 16, yep, she sure is

    Inverting the Hollywood cliche;
    Angel the hero actually kills the damsel in distress' protector by accident

    In disguise; 4

    DB get's his shirt off; 7

    Cordy's tattoo;3

    Cheap Angel;
    4

    Fang Gang in bondage:
    Cordy: 5
    Angel: 8
    Wes: 2

    Fang gang knocked out:
    Cordy: 9
    Angel: 10
    Wes: 5
    Doyle; 1

    Kills:
    Cordy: 3 vamps, 1 demons
    Angel; 4 demons for Angel so 16 vamps, 16 and 1/2 demons, 3 humans
    Doyle; 1 vamp
    Wes; 1/2 a demon
    Kate; 3 vamps
    Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.
    Gunn; one more vamp so 4 in all.

    Fang Gang go evil:
    Cordy: 2
    Angel: 2

    Alternate Fang Gang:
    Cordy: 2
    Angel: 6

    Characters killed:
    25

    Recurring characters killed;
    4;

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

    Angel Investigations shot:
    Angel: 8,

    Packing heat;
    Wes; 2
    Doyle; 1
    Angel; 1

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

    Kinky dinky:
    Wes seems to attract the attention of a beautiful girl in a bar. The first hints of the love affair between Lindsey and Darla.

    Captain Subtext;
    From the beginning a very flirtatious relationship between Lorne and Angel. Gunn comments that he's seen Wes before in bed which Wes takes a lot of exception to. Cordy points out that if Angel joins a gym he'll have to shower with naked men but he says he'll always be a loner.

    Know the face, different character; 2

    Parking garages;
    4,

    Guantanamo Bay;
    Angel beats up Merl and kills an innocent

    Buffy characters on Angel; 11
    Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla

    Questions and observations;
    The Introduction of Lorne for the first time, no sign yet that he'll become such an important character. Pretty obvious he's inspired by Barney from Parting Gifts. Angel Investigations have been busy over the summer with at least 6 cases according the whiteboard. First appearance of Merl and first meeting of Gunn, Cordy and Wes. Wonderful to see Angel visit Faith, such a lovely touch. So what happens to the mother and child? Often in fanfic whatever goes wrong in the Buffyverse that kid turns up to set it right. When Angel meets Gunn he inquires after his health as Gunn said he should in Blind Date. Jo is played by Justina Machado who played Rico's wife in the wonderful Six Foot Under, a show that not only guest starred Michelle Tractenberg and Eric Balfour (Jesse) but at one point her characters' actress sister appears to be guest-starring on Angel (or possibly Charmed?)

    Marks out of 10; 6/10, the opening and ending are probably better than the rest of the ep
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  • Nice introduction to Season Two.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By TheSlayerInMe, Sep 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    Anagogic Demon: At first I was afraid, I was petrified

    Gym Guy: That guy had horns
    Angel: SteroidsNot good for you

    This episode is the first of Season Two of Angel. It was directed by Joss Whedon, and written by Mere Smith.

    This episode opens with and singing demon, and Angel contacting Cordy and Wesley about a demon. They go into a gym and have a brilliant opening fight, which captures the attention of the viewer perfectly.
    The episode progresses when Cordy has a vision of a Demon. This Demon appears to be attacking a pregnant woman.
    When the gang finds out the kind of demon, Wesley takes them to a Demon Bar. This is where the singing demon derives from. They find out where the Pregnant Women is, and Angel leaves the bar to find her. When he does locate the women, a Demon attacks. After he slays the demon, the woman falls to her feet, and exclaims that Angel killed her protector.
    Angel feels horrible remorse for his accidental crime, and takes over the roll of Protector.

    Judgment also introduces two new characters.
    The singing demon turns out to be a Psychic, who sees the future of those who sing for him. This character is rather animated and interesting.
    The second new introduction is a man named Gunn, a freelance fighter who used to know Angel. He fights well and knows about demons and kills them.

    Judgment is over all a fabulous and captivating introduction to Season Two of Angel.moreless

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  • Riding high after a busy summer saving souls and pondering the ramifications of the Shanshu Prophecy, Angel accidentally kills another demon fighting for the side of good.

    8.7
    "Great"
    By westernhomes, Sep 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    The teaser of "Judgement" so effectively reintroduces who the characters are and what they do that it nearly makes Season One obsolete. Cordelia and Wesley are gaining confidence and Angel is all business. There's still plenty of comic potential in all three as well. Cordy is improving as an actress but still has that attitude of hers we all know and love, popping a fellow student a good one in their "dramatic scene." Wesley is hustling at darts but he's still absent-minded enough to toss one without looking and hit an innocent bar patron. And compare Angel's behavior in public with his stumbling stance from the beginning of the first season. Like the series itself, this cast is really beginning to stand on its own.

    Like any good Joss Whedon work would, Season Two sets out immediately to remove the characters from their place of comfort. More of an ongoing thread is suggested than the prior year with the concept of the prophecy and Julie Benz's enigmatic appearance as Darla, whose intentions seem unclear from the very beginning. Lilah and Lindsey, the most interesting W&H villains from the first season, are set up to get more screen time this time around. The wonderful J. August Richards arrives as a regular to shake up the dynamic between the main Angel Investigations team. In the very early Gunn episodes, Richards uses more street slang than the Gunn we're used to, but the character's strength and sense of carrying many burdens quietly is established from the outset.

    Of course you can't overlook the first appearance of Lorne, here still called simply The Host, and his demon karaoke bar Caritas. Lorne's presence is yet another way "Angel" advances its sophistication from the first season. He's much cleverer than the silly Oracles, and he's never just a plot device -- he has his own opinions and agenda. Besides, what a great excuse to have everybody in the cast take a turn singing during the season! Here we see Angel tackle "Mandy" and it's nearly the comic equal of his ridiculous dancing sequence from "She." For the rest of the show's run, Lorne can always be counted on to add humor to even the bleakest situations. Plus, the whole idea of grotesque demons singing karaoke is practically a bottomless well of comedy.

    "Judgement" shares a problem with many "Buffy" and "Angel" season premieres. The standalone storyline in the episode isn't nearly as interesting as the ongoing character work and the setup for more longer-running plotlines. Having Angel kill a fellow champion is a clever way of getting him questioning his mission right from the beginning, but the whole Tribunal concept is poorly explained and feels like a first-season idea. The way that the various guest actors talk about the young woman's unborn child suggests it's destined to be a major player, but to the best of my knowledge it's never mentioned again. Also, the whole role of the Powers That Be in this episode makes no sense. The Tribunal implies that the pregnant woman's grievance must be settled by one-on-one combat. If the woman already had a champion, why would the Powers send Cordelia a vision telling Angel to assist them?

    I guess since it's the first episode of a new season, it's important to reestablish the central concept of Cordelia's visions. But that could have been worked into the teaser. If Angel had just come across the champion demon by chance and killed him that way, it wouldn't change the episode significantly and it would have questioning his faith even more strongly. Oh well, they can't all be perfect. And ending with a jousting contest right on the streets of L.A.? There's an image that could only have sprung from the mind of Joss Whedon.

    "Judgement" isn't the strongest episode of "Angel" to this point, but it does quite rightly suggest that the season to come is going to be a quantum leap forward from the first. It makes you wonder what's going to happen with Darla, Gunn, and the prophecy. In other words, it makes you want to watch the next episode, which is exactly what a season premiere should do.moreless

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  • A decent start to the second season.....

    8.0
    "Great"
    By gryffyn76, Sep 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    A decent start to the second season.....

    This second season of "Angel" is when the show really started to come into its own. The show started to have mini-arc storylines and started to rely a little less on the individual standalone storylines that took up the majority of the first season. My favorite parts of this season are the trilogy of episodes "The Trial/Reunion/Redefinition" (these are my favorite three episodes of any Joss Whedon show) and also the final three episodes that take place in Pylea (these are either love them or hate them episodes are often argued about amongst fans).

    Here is how I rate the episodes in season 2:

    ANGEL Season 2

    Angel 2- 1 Judgment - 8
    Angel 2- 2 Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been - 9
    Angel 2- 3 First Impressions - 7
    Angel 2- 4 Untouched - 9
    Angel 2- 5 Dear Boy - 10
    Angel 2- 6 Guise Will Be Guise - 8
    Angel 2- 7 Darla - 10
    Angel 2- 8 The Shroud Of Rahmon - 9
    Angel 2- 9 The Trial - 10+ !!!
    Angel 2-10 Reunion - 10++ !!!
    Angel 2-11 Redefinition - 9
    Angel 2-12 Blood Money - 7
    Angel 2-13 Happy Anniversary - 4
    Angel 2-14 The Thin Dead Line - 6
    Angel 2-15 Reprise - 9
    Angel 2-16 Epiphany - 9
    Angel 2-17 Disharmony - 8
    Angel 2-18 Dead End - 8
    Angel 2-19 Belonging - 7
    Angel 2-20 Over The Rainbow - 9
    Angel 2-21 Through The Looking Glass - 10
    Angel 2-22 There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb - 9
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  • 'There are three things I don't do: Tan, date and sing in public.'

    9.6
    "Superb"
    By SleepTight, Sep 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    The beginning of the second season of Angel, and what a start it was.

    Both the beginning and end of the episode were spectacular, though some of the in between was a bit slow and less fascinating, but the brilliant scenes come up for it.

    The episode introduced The Host (Lorned) singing in his karaoke bar. Meanwhile Cordy and Wes get beeped, Cordy is acting and improving quite a lot while Wes is impressing a girlfor the first time. They both go with Angel to a club and kill some demons, the action scene looked very cool.

    Back at Cordy's place, she gets a vision. Angel goes out to it and finds a pregnant lady with a demon behind her, but Angel is strong and breaks it's neck. But he finds out just right after it that the demon was good and was protecting the woman from something and now he has to take on the job.

    This episode we also meat Merl who sometimes helps Angel. Angel goes to find the woman's home after he killed her and Gunn helps him with that because he knows the streets better than everyone. Angel tells him to go to Cordy's apartment and take something he found, when the pregnant lady arrives at home she was just looking for that. She says that her daughter has some special powers and now everyone is after it. Soon the demons arrive and they flee into a hotel that Angel has seen before, when they get attacked once again he tells her to go to Cordy's place while he fights off the demons.

    Meanwhile Gunn meets Cordy and Wes, the three characters have a great spark and chemistry. When Angel comes home he finds out that the pregnant woman didn't listen to him and he feels bad about it, he thinks that he won't become human anytime soon even though he thought he was going to. But he decides not to mope around and to save the pregnant lady.

    There are some tribuno men who are after her, she has to have a her to protect her and Angel enters the battle. He has to get on a horse and beat down the other contestant and so he does, he hacks off it's head when it thinks to have defeated Angel. So now the woman will be protected together with the daughter until she grows of age.

    What Angel learns form this episode is that it's not right to keep score. The episode was brilliant, Darla was brought back and now with Lindsey and Lilah.
    At the end of the episode Angel visits Faith which was a powerful scene, they both talk about their problems but Angel wins when he tells her he had to sing.
    The episode was pretty good, sometimes a bit slow but when it was good, it was very good. it was nice to see Faith once more and the scene with Angel on a horse was classic.



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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • When Angel is climbing on the horse at the trail, camera equipment is visible on the lower right corner of the screen. Edit
    • At 3:49 of the beginning scene, after Angel, Cordy and Wesley have released the hostages and are leaving, you see Angel's reflection in the mirror briefly as they leave the from the room behind the mirror Edit
    • At exactly 15:18, during the fight between Angel and the Prio Motu, just as the Prio hits Angel in the back, there is a member of the production crew in the shot. On the right, in a blue shirt, holding film equipment. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Mordar the Bentback was played by E.J.Gage, who also appeared as Mover #1 in the Buffy episode Buffy vs. Dracula, the Buffy Season Five opener which aired the same night as this episode. Edit
    • Keith Campbell, the manager of the health club in which the Carnyss demon is killed, played the werewolf alter ago of Seth Green's Oz in the Buffy episode Phases. Edit
    • The judges of the Tribunal look and sound, and are dressed similar to the shadowy creature that the Mayor summons in the Buffy episode Enemies (3x17). Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • (after Angel kills guardian) Cordelia: I didn't feel any fear when I saw him. Angel was probably supposed to help him, not-- (sighs, looks upward) Thanks for the obscure visions! We're doing great with that! Edit
    • Cordelia: Cat got your tongue, Merl? Merl: I don't have a tongue. Cordelia: Oh. Edit
    • Angel: You well?
      Gunn: Picture of health and harmony. Look at you, dog. You haven't aged a bit.
      Angel: I've got a situation.
      Gunn: So much for the small talk. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Pregnant Woman: I mean, six months ago I'm working the register at Costco. Costco is a chain of membership wholesale stores that are found primarily in the Western United States. Edit

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Judgement

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