User Reviews

This is probably my favorite episode of Angel so far. After the climatic events of last episode, this show delivers with even more excitement. Darla is now back as a vampire, much to her chagrin but she quickly changes her tune after her first feeding. It's now Darla and Drusilla, running amuck in L.A. causing havoc as Angel attempts to track them down and end this once and for all.

I've always been a big fan of Drusilla and her odd mannerisms; she's at full force in this one. The two actresses have great chemistry with one another and really bring tension to the scenes that they are in. The ending involving the wine cellar is my favorite scene of the episode. As the lawyers wait to see what exactly their fate is, I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation, waiting to see the results.

The stunning decision by Angel to lock the lawyers in with the two vampires was something I didn't see coming at all! I suppose I should have. Angel has been living on the edge for a while now and I guess he's fed up! This felt like a season finale-type of episode so the fact that it came in the middle of the season caught me off guard. I suppose his justification is that Wolfram & Hart does so much damage to the city of LA and its residents, that it's okay to wash his hands of the entire thing and leave them to the devices of Darla & Drusilla. Will this be a dark turn for Angel? Will this be a mistake? Time will tell.

"Reunion" really is a turning point for the series. It changes everything that comes after it. This is the episode that really shows Angel's dark side, sets Wesley on his path as a team leader and reestablishes the power structure at Wolfram and Hart. If you're watching the show, you can't skip "Reunion."

"Reunion" revolves around Dru and Darla. Dru has re-vamped Darla. Angel is desperate to find them before Darla can be reborn as a vampire. He, Cordy, Wes and Gunn work to try and track them down. But Angel's obsessive, dark mood is worrying the crew. Meanwhile, Lindsey, Holland and Lila are helping Dru ready for the birth of her "daughter." Dru has buried Darla and is just waiting for her to rise. Angel arrives and attacks Dru, but while they fight Darla wakes up. Angel nearly stakes Darla, but then he looks at her and can't. She and Dru escape. Angel is distraught over his failure to "save" Darla. He blames Wolfram and Hart.

Now that she's a vampire again, Darla's looking to a little fun in LA. She and Dru rampage through the city killing shop keepers and drivers who annoy them. Angel breaks into Wolfram and Hart and confronts Holland about re-vamping Darla. But Holland says that he doesn't care about the deaths that Darla and Dru may cause. Angel is arrested for attacking Holland, while Wolfram and Hart celebrates. Holland holds a wine tasting party at his house. Kate lets Angel go when she realizes that he is the only one who can stop Darla and Dru.

Meanwhile, Dru and Darla head to Holland's house. They corner all the lawyers in the wine cellar and begin threatening them. Angel arrives and sees that Dru and Darla are planning to kill the humans. Holland and Lila ask him to protect them. Angel says that he doesn't care if they die and slowly closes the doors to the cellar. Then he locks Dru and Darla in with the lawyers and walks away. Darla and Dru kill most of the lawyers. Wes, Cordy and Gunn are horrified when Angel tells them what he's done. Angel calmly fires his crew and continues down his dark path alone.

There are some great parts to this episode. You just have to laugh as Wes tries to explain Dru to Gunn. "So wait, the granddaughter is giving birth to the grandmother?" I just love Darla and Dru terrorizing LA together. From shopping for new clothes, to fighting with Angel, to killing those lawyers, they're just so great. I especially like Drusilla dancing around to her ringing cell phone. She has trouble adjusting to the modern world. In fact, she's not even clear on what century it is. And it's neat that so much of the back story from season two of BTVS plays into this episode. Dru sings the same songs she did over on BTVS and talks to the stars, just like she did in Sunnydale. Angel finds her, in part, because he remembers that she loves gardens and flowers. It just fits together really well. Finally, I love, love, LOVE Angel locking those lawyers in the wine cellar. I SO didn't see that coming. Angel's always such a champion. He usually does heroic things, even when he doesn't necessarily want to, because he just a good, sweet guy. Now, suddenly, he goes back to the uncaring, hard ass Angel that we saw in "Are You Now or Have You Even Been." The Angel who walked out of the Hyperion and let the paranoia demon eat all the guests, is back here in "Reunion." Even Dru and Darla are shocked that he leaves them alone with the lawyers. And Wes, Cordy and Gunn are horrified by his actions. But Angel's too far to listen to them now. It's just really a cool twist for Angel's character.

On the down side, Dru's in town and nobody even mentions Spike? Granted Spike's my favorite character in the Buffyverse and, if it were up to me, people would be talking about him all the time. But, it just seems weird that nobody so much as says his name when Dru arrives. Not even Darla asks where he is and she wasn't in on the whole Spike-siding-with-Buffy-about-the-Acathla-demon thing in season two of BTVS, so she doesn't know about Dru and Spike's subsequent breakup. Now, if I was Darla and I wanted revenge on Angel, Spike would be the first person I called. Logically, I guess that Spike can't come to "Angel," since he's busy becoming a pseudo-good guy over on BTVS this season, falling in love with Buffy and helping the Scoobies. I mean, which side would Spike even fight on out in LA: Dru and Darla's or Angel's? Still, it seems strange that nobody brings him up, even in passing. Luckily, Dru will head to Sunnydale later in the season to reunite with Spike in the BTVS episode, "Crush."

My favorite part of the episode: Angel "helping" that kid who was contemplating a sacrificial suicide.

Dru, honey, in our new digs we have to put in a people cellar - Even though I don't love it as much as 'The Trial' or 'Redefinition', it's still one of the best season two episodes and Julie Benz almost looks as stunning as in the previous episode with this white, angel-like outfit. 'Drusilla' is also back, and to her it's as if she's having a child. I wish there were more episodes with 'Darla' and 'Dru' working as a team, painting town red, red, red. They are just so much fun together, my favorite scene was their fight scene on the highway and then when they embrace each other. Another favorite is in the store when 'Darla' breaks that sales woman's neck. Meanwhile 'Angel' is completely going insane and can only think about revenge, he's darker than ever and ready to kill 'Darla' before she vamps, obviously he is unable to and later leaves the two vamp girls locked in a cellar with all the Wolfram & Heart lawyers to get eaten by the vampy girls and after that he fires his own crew. Although I felt bad for Wes, Gunn and Cordy, they didn't really have much to do these last episodes so now that they got fired they have more story lines to tell and to grow into a happy family. Awesome episode, huge twist at the end, it's just another fabulous piece of the season two puzzle. DRUSILLA: Do you like it? Am I pretty then? DARLA: As a picture. Now if we could only get some shoes to go with it. Oh, excuse me, Miss? Any shoe suggestions for my friend's ensemble? I said, excuse me-customer with a question here! (Darla snaps her neck) Service in this place is really unacceptable. (10 out of 10)

The Good; Darla and Dru make quite a pair whilst Angel does his Batman routine. Some nice humour from Lilah and like the way Angel is so consumed by his quest that he tries to ignore his mission sent by the PTBs. And the shock ending is a kick in head.

The Bad; Why does Lilah want to hear police sirens, what are the LAPD going to do against Dru and Darla? Shouldn't Angel have saved Holland's wife at least?

Best line: Lilah (to Lindsey, indicating dead Darla) "Think you got a shot with her now?" Why we love Lilah even though she's a total bitch.

Jeez, how did they get away with that? The scene in the shop with the murdered staff is horrifying

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Clichés Damsel in distress; 17

Inverting the Hollywood cliché; Lindsey (indicating the soon to be vamp Darla) "Can she hear us?" Darla "She's DEAD!"

In disguise; 7

DB get's his shirt off; 11

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; 5

Fang Gang in bondage: Angel in cuffs Cordy: 5 Angel: 9 Wes: 3

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 10 Angel: 12 Wes: 5 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 1 Kills: Cordy: 5 vamps, 1 demons Angel; 18 vamps, 19 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; 5 vamps+ 1 demon.

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 6

Characters killed: 16 including the shopgirls and the motorist 30

Recurring characters killed; 4;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 4, Angel, Cordy, Wes and Gunn

Angel Investigations shot: no but Angel takes a gun away from a demon acolyte intent on suicide. Angel: 10

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

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast Angel: 1;Buffy Wes; 2; Virginia and the bleached blonde

Kinky dinky: Gunn comments that he's freaked out by the whole incest vibe of the granddaughter remaking the grandmother (as he was with his vamped sister). Dru wants Angel to 'Spank us til Tuesday, we promise to be bad if you do'!!!!!!

Captain Subtext; Loved to have seen the Dru/neighbour scene. Once again Dru seems a very unusual vamp in some regards, more human than most. Dru appreciates Lilah's beauty. All of the Darla/Dru stuff

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages; 5,

Buffy characters on Angel; 13 Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, Master

Questions and observations; Like the way it's Gunn who figures out the whole nursery angle, once again showing his brains. Weird seeing Darla in her shroud. Kate and Angel seem a team once more.

Marks out of 10; 8/10, Angel on top form.

Reunion is about Angel trying to stop the rebirth of Darla, before she and Drusilla go on a murderous rampage.

So this episode isn't as fun, witty and filled with foundation as "The Trial," but an important and prosperous turning point in the series and well the ending's excellent. While the lawyers deserve what's coming to them, Angel let Darla and Drusilla go, when he's going to have to take them down anyway. I'm not sure why he needs to fire the team and become dark, when Darla's now just a soulless creature to be put down.