The episode has a really great scene in which Angel confronts Holtz and the latter admits he no longer has a taste for vengeance. He has grown to love Connor as a son and wants the boy to be happy, even if it means giving Angel some measure of peace as a byproduct.
What a mature resolution to a storyline of revenge. Love trumps hate. For a moment, Holtz is one of the most complex villains in the Buffyverse.
Then we find out he's lying. Justine stabs him in the throat with an ice pick to make Connor think Angel killed him. Connor goes on hating Angel, based on flimsy and easily disproven lies.
Ho hum.
There are many points at which Holtz threatens to become interesting. When he is confronted with the fact that Angel has a soul. When his Christian convictions butt up against his thirst for revenge. When he sees the gang carrying a crying baby through the rain, after Darla stakes herself, and lowers his crossbow in apparent remorse. And when we suppose in this episode that he may actually have grown to love Connor. But the show keeps walking it back. He's just a vengeance machine of single-minded purpose. And he can take out a SWAT team single-handedly, for some reason. He's completely flat as a character, with no arc whatsoever. It's too bad, because I like the actor who plays Holtz and think he could have handled a more dimensional role quite capably.
What a mature resolution to a storyline of revenge. Love trumps hate. For a moment, Holtz is one of the most complex villains in the Buffyverse.
Then we find out he's lying. Justine stabs him in the throat with an ice pick to make Connor think Angel killed him. Connor goes on hating Angel, based on flimsy and easily disproven lies.
Ho hum.
There are many points at which Holtz threatens to become interesting. When he is confronted with the fact that Angel has a soul. When his Christian convictions butt up against his thirst for revenge. When he sees the gang carrying a crying baby through the rain, after Darla stakes herself, and lowers his crossbow in apparent remorse. And when we suppose in this episode that he may actually have grown to love Connor. But the show keeps walking it back. He's just a vengeance machine of single-minded purpose. And he can take out a SWAT team single-handedly, for some reason. He's completely flat as a character, with no arc whatsoever. It's too bad, because I like the actor who plays Holtz and think he could have handled a more dimensional role quite capably.