Lineage (12 Nov. 2003)

Wesley's father comes for a visit. With his father overseeing and critiquing everything he does, his old feelings of insecurity arise. Also, Wolfram and Hart is besieged by robot ninjas.

Director:

Jefferson Kibbee

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator), David Greenwalt (creator),

Stars:

David Boreanaz, James Marsters, J. August Richards

Cast

Episode cast overview:
David Boreanaz	...	Angel
James Marsters	...	Spike
J. August Richards	...	Charles Gunn
Amy Acker	...	Winifred 'Fred' Burkle
Andy Hallett	...	Lorne
Alexis Denisof	...	Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Sarah Thompson	...	Eve
Jonathan M. Woodward	...	Knox (as Jonathan Woodward)
Treva Etienne	...	Emil
Roy Dotrice	...	Roger Wyndam-Pryce

Storyline

Wesley's father comes for a visit. With his father overseeing and critiquing everything he does, his old feelings of insecurity arise. Also, Wolfram and Hart is besieged by robot ninjas.

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 2003 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Wesley: Lorne runs our entertainment division.
Roger Wyndam-Pryce: Entertainment division? Well, I can see how that would be very useful in the fight against evil.
Charles Gunn: You'd be amazed at how many horrible movies we've stopped.

---

Connections

References The Bionic Woman (1976)

User Reviews

A great Wesley episode

Wesley's one of my favorite characters in the Buffyverse. (Probably number three over all, after Spike and Angel, in fact.) I love the guy and this whole season is filled with great Wes moments. He's just so cool and funny, but at the same time he's tragic and romantic and tough. He's also deeply insecure, thanks to his childhood. I never get tired of watching Wes and this is one of his best episodes.

This episode revolves around Wes's horrible father, Roger, visiting Wolfram & Hart. He says that the Watcher's Council is being recreated and they'd like Wes to come back to work for them. If Wes can prove himself, of course. Wesley isn't interested in going back to England, but he does want to show off some of his accomplishments to his father. Roger has spent years disapproving of Wes and Wesley keeps messing up under his father's censorious gaze. Roger doesn't like Wolfram & Hart, Lorne, Angel or Spike and he's pretty open about it.

Plus, there are robots to deal with. Wes and Fred were attacked by them while breaking up a gun smuggling ring. The robots seem to be good guys, but they're also attacking Team Angel. When they raid Wolfram & Hart, Angel and Gunn fight them. (With a little ghostly help from Spike.) Meanwhile, Roger knocks Wes over the head, steals the staff of something or other from the Wolfram & Hart's vault and then lures Angel to the roof. It turns out the staff can be used to control Angel. Wes arrives. He and Roger face off a gun point, arguing. But when Roger grabs Fred, Wes shoots him. Wesley is horrified, but it turns out that Roger was really a robot, too. Wes's real father is alive and well back in England, but Wes still feels guilty.

There are some great parts to this episode. I love Spike's conversation with Roger. He has a soul now, but he honestly doesn't feel real guilty about his past. And Angel knows it. Roger's rants that he once met Spike at an orphanage that Spike attacked and where he killed three Watchers. Angel squeezes his eyes shut, seeing where this is going. Spike sort of nods at the memory and smiles at Roger, "Right. So, how've you been?" It just cracks me up. Plus, there's his sex with robots line, which ties into BTVS season five's "Intervention." And I like Fred smiling at the story of seven year old Wes trying resurrection spells on dead birds. Wesley looks so embarrassed and cute that you can just see Fred melting. Also, I wish I'd heard the set up to Lorne's joke about Judi Dench, a pair of pants, cherries and the cops. It sounds so pretty good. And I like that Spike finally calls Eve on her obvious badness. I just don't like her. Finally, the shoot out with Emile is very cool. Especially, since they brought up those collapsible swords again. I love it when the show remembers it's history.

Mostly, though, I love this episode because of Wesley. Since season one, Wes has been terrified of his father. He's been a confident, capable, hard ass for years now, but when he sees his father, he's back to being clumsy and tongue tied. I feel so bad for him. He's never been able to live up to his father's expectations, even though its pretty clear to me that Wes is a better Watcher than pretty much anyone. I saw all those Council guys over on BTVS and none of them had Wes's ability. When Wes finally sees that his father has gone bad, he starts to stand up to him. Their argument on the roof top is really incredible. When Roger grabbed Fred and Wes shot him about eight times, my jaw just about hit the floor. Wesley emptied the gun into his father's chest, then stumbled aside to throw-up. Wes has always done what he thinks is right, regardless of the consequences, and the scene encapsulated that. Even Angel is impressed with Wesley's fortitude. He's already mostly forgiven Wes for the Conner thing, but now he's really understanding Wes's actions and sort of apologizing for his treatment of Wesley in season three. Even though Wes doesn't remember it. And finally there's Wes and Fred. When he whispers that he shot his father because "He pointed a gun at you, Fred." my heart just breaks. He's so sad and open about his love. How can she walk off with Knox after that?

On the down side, I think that having Wes's dad be a robot is kind of a cop out. Like the episode didn't want to take things to that extreme. So they added a "Hey, it's not really your father" ending that let Wes be sad... But not TOO sad. Also, I'm still not clear on who sent the robots. The season never really resolves it. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's some rouge element of the re-formed Watcher's Council, but I wish we had some resolution.

My favorite part of the episode: Spike and Angel trying to comfort Wes by relating their own tales of how they killed their parents. They're so sweet and misguided that I just have to smile.