Angel (TV Series) Conviction (2003) User Reviews

The One Where Angel Takes Over Wolfram And Hart...

[taylorkingston · 8/10 · 26 September 2014]

I love this episode. It's actually the first episode of Angel I ever saw. Because I heard Spike was coming into it.

In this episode, Angel has just taken over Wolfram and Hart. With him being CEO he wants to change the law firm from representing the worlds greatest evils, to helping people. One person at a time. Fred has taken over the science devision, obviously. And Lorne has taken over the entertainment devision, once again, obviously. Wesley gets to do all the prophecy and archive stuff and Gunn, is pretty much the muscle. Until they give him all the knowledge of the law, and he becomes a lawyer. And Harmony ends up being Angel's new assistant. At the very end of the episode, we see Angel open a package, that we've seen at least three times throughout the episode, and it turns out to be the amulet that Spike was wearing in Sunnydale, when he died. Angel drops it to the ground and Spike comes roaring in. My favorite line of the episode: "Blondie Bear?"

Overall, this is my favorite Season Premiere episode, and I give this episode an 8 out of 10.

Settling in

[Joxerlives · 8/10 · 4 April 2012]

CONVICTION

The Good; Angel vs the ops team and Charley Gunn/Harmony coming to the rescue. Plus Spanky! Also love the ritual sacrifice gag and Lorne's vetting of the staff (what would you sing? Wichita Lineman myself).

The Bad; Disagree with Joss, evil people never believe they're evil, they always believe they're the justified victims.

Best line; Goon; (after Angel blows Hauser's head off) "What about mercy?" Angel; "He got the last of it"

Angel Clichés Inverting the Hollywood cliché; despite his cynicism towards WR&H and characteristic dourness Angel can't help squealing with joy at the sight of his collection of classic muscle cars (although his yellow charger looks horrible!). On the minus side note that Hauser note only packs a different weapon to the rest of his team but is the only one unmasked for much of the time to distinguish him from the others, such a Hollywood cliché.

Fang gang knocked out: not on screen but Angel get's knocked out by Caleb whilst visiting Buffy in Sunnydale

Kills; 1 vamp and at least 2 humans for Angel.

Angel Investigations shot: yep, Angel by Hauser's men Angel: 13 Wes; 2

Packing heat; Wes' backup plan for the bad guy not getting acquitted is his .45 automatic. How did he get that into the courtroom? Angel kills Hauser using his own shotgun. Wes; 8 Doyle; 1 Angel; 4 Gunn; 2 Fred; 2

Kinky dinky: The wonderfully named Spanky who has his own fetish website and lots of S&M gear to prove it. One popular fan theory is that this is the guy Faith used to dress up as a naughty schoolgirl for and let him punish her? He certainly has a bull-whip. When Angel asks if the gang heard about last night Gunn replies "You got lucky?". Harmony does a sexy little shimmy when she basks in the sunlight. Shirtless Gunn. Eve asks Angel what he'd like to have 'passing through her lips' (wait until Life of the Party and you'll find out!)

Captain Subtext; Spanky doesn't spank men although he's fine with other people liking to (love the characterisation here, he's evil but he's not a bigot, spanking men just isn't his thing). Angel interestingly comments that he has NO problem spanking men. Hmmm? Hauser calls him a fairy. As Angel walks out of the school we see a series of kids posters above his head proclaiming "Respect, learn, know, show"

What the fanficcers thought; Spanky a popular figure in some fanfic circles especially with Faith. In several slash fics Spanky has a slightly different fetish and Angel persuades him to come clean in a very different way.

Questions and observations; LOVED Space; Above and Beyond, to my shame didn't recognise Rodney Rowland from it (he apparently was Gillian Anderson's boyfriend for a while, he was in the X-files ep with the Jodie Foster voiced tattoo). Remember 'Who watches the birds?' and thought it was brilliant although it actually has loads of dialogue in the flashback scenes. Also like "The Angriest Angel' which the writers of BSG also seemed to like as they freely adapted it for the ep with Scar the Cylon Raider. Loved Kristine Cloke and if they ever need someone to play Jennifer Connelly's sister (or indeed Megan Fox's) she's the girl which is pretty high praise in itself. Too bad they picked the most uncharismatic man in history to play the lead!

David does look a bit fatter at the start of this and his hair more bouffant than ever. Fries won't let his son read The Punisher comics, probably because people like him would be number one on Frank Castle's never-ending hit-list. Personally I never noticed the effects of the Bell's Palsy on Alexis, I don't know about you? Love Wes bashing Feng Shui and Lorne's ascots (so that Andy can wear less makeup). Not so sure about his polyester suit look, he looks like he could be appearing on Wonder Woman. Is it just me or do American apples look lovely but taste like cotton? Interesting gag that both the Kennedy's and Bush families have made deals with WR&H. If you're going to bash politicians you should do both sides. Note the little flash of the black panther when the screen flashes away from Gunn. For a moment I thought one of the nick-nacks Knox places on Fred's table is the puzzle-box from Hellraiser.

Great to see Harmony back, in the pilot of Buffy and she'll be in the last ep ever of the Buffyverse too! Angel drinks coffee now, he must have taken it up since his Sunnydale days. Presumably Harmony can't really mourn for CC because she has no soul.

What Twilight Zone ep is Joss referring to? Lorne seems a bit interested when Spanky is mentioned? Why does Spanky put on his bathrobe even if he's hot after exercising? To hide the harness for the wire gag his stuntman is about to do? His choke hold is rubbish, a 5 year old could get out of it.

Is Hauser named after Cohegan's duplicitous henchman in Total Recall? Joss is a Law and Order fan, a show MT guested on. Wes know's Spike? They've never met as far as we know, maybe he read up on him after coming to Sunnydale?

Joss is a little bit conflicted over his political views. He seems a trendy lefty but someone has obviously pointed out to him that his good-guy characters torture, kidnap and kill for the greater good more ruthlessly than the CIA ever did. His assertion that such things are best left in fiction sounds pretty weak. He also seems pretty knowledgeable about The Punisher, probably the most right wing character in the history of comics.

Marks out of 10; 8/10

There is one thing more powerful than conviction. Just one. Mercy.

[SleepTight666 · 8/10 · 12 January 2007]

There is one thing more powerful than conviction. Just one. Mercy. - The last season opener is also the weakest, but it's still excellent on it's own. It has plenty going on but sadly some of it is negative. Watching this episode is like watching the pilot of a completely different show, a very good show, but not as good. In the credits, both 'Charisma Carpenter' and 'Vincent Kartheiser' are out and 'James Masters' takes over CC's spot which kinda sickens me to begin with. Luckily he appears at the end of the episode so I didn't have to sit through his constant b!tchin',.. yet. The rest of the cast also lost most of their character development during the last year, 'Fred' had turned into a pretty tough character but is now back to being an annoying geek and 'Knoxy' really doesn't help making her more interesting. 'Wesley' falls completely into the background, 'Lorne' is as useless as usual but nothing beats 'Gunn' becoming a lawyer, I think it was meant to be a good idea and it did change him, but sadly It turned his character into a bigger unbearable mess. I'm sounding pretty negative but I still liked this episode a lot, the dialog has plenty of memorable one-liners, I love how 'Angel' and 'Fred' kept turning around in the elevator and especially 'Angel' dealing with Wolfram & Heart which was an obvious confusing mess for him. 'Harmony's addition to the season was a good idea at first, I really enjoyed her intro and also liked 'Eve's introduction, the whole 'Eve-giving-Angel' an apple irony was not lost on me. What I liked most about the episode was the actually main story, with the gang having to keep an ass out of jail or else he would blow up his kid and expose a deadly virus, which hit 'Angel' hard as it reminded him of his own son. The way 'Angel' killed the main bad-soldier with his own weapon was also pretty damn neat. A pretty nifty episode that falls a little short compared to the other four. SPANKY: You know what I'm doing now? I'm applying pressure to your windpipe. You'll pass out, and then I'll let Mr. Fries decide if he wants you to wake up again. ANGEL: Do you know what I'm doing now? Not using my windpipe. SPANKY: Vampire. ANGEL: Capital "V." And there's something else you should know about me. I have no problem spanking men. (8.0 out of 10)

The start of my favorite season

[katierose295 · 10/10 · 4 March 2007]

This is my favorite season of "Angel" and possibly of the entire Buffyverse. It's got some of the best episodes, greatest characters and most creative plots that I've ever seen. Season five reunites my favorite two characters in the Buffyverse: Spike and Angel. I'd rather watch the two of the bickering about who saved the world more times and which of them really deserves the Shanshu Prophesy than anything else, EVER, in the history of television. (No, I'm not exaggerating. I'm just flat-out addicted to this show.) Really, this season gives all the characters some of their best material. It's Gunn and Fred's best work. Wes steals the whole second half of the season. Lorne's character is finally deepened. And Cordy's episode has me in tears every time I see it. The fact that this is the show's last season breaks my heart. But I truly believe that "Angel" went out on it's best year, and nobody can take that away. "Conviction" sets-up the season to come and you really need to see it.

"Conviction" revolves around Team Angel's first days at Wolfram & Hart. They are overwhelmed and stressed about their new jobs. Most of their clients are evil and a lot of the employees are plotting against them. They also meet their liaison to the Senior Partners, Eve. And Angel has a new assistant: Harmony, who was last seen in season two's "Disharmony." Team Angel's not sure of the best way to do help the helpless or do good in the Big Bad's citadel.

One of their first cases revolves around evil human. If he doesn't get free of his current legal troubles, he's says he'll detonate an mystical, virus bomb. And he's hidden the bomb in his little boy. Angel takes that personally, because of his own son. Only he and Eve can remember Conner now and he's even more broody than usually about it. When Wolfram & Hart's security force tries to kill the little boy, Angel kills them instead.

Meanwhile, Gunn gets a complete knowledge of the law implanted into his brain. He heads down to court and gets the evil client free on legal grounds. Back at the office, Team Angel tries to come to grips with all the new problems they'll face. Angel insists that they'll get the hang of defending evil clients, so that they'll help the greater good. When he opens an envelope left on his desk, that pendant from season four's "Home" falls out. There's a weird little tornado thing and suddenly Spike is standing there. Un-un-un-dead.

There are some great parts of this episode. I just love the beginning, with Angel saving that woman in an alley. He's acting all mysterious, killing the vamp and trying to walk away with his "helping the helpless" reputation safely secured. Then all these guys from Wolfram & Hart show up with legal wavers, a SWAT team and a camera crew. Angel's confusion just cracks me up. Also, I love that Harmony is Angel's "assistant." Spike and Angel both get so frustrated with her nuttiness and endless chatter. But they also have too much of a soft spot for the Littlest Vampire to actually fire (or stake) her. Plus, I always laugh when Angel visits that Spanky guy. The scene of him selecting which of his 12 new cars to drive to the interrogation is just hilarious. "They're all so beautiful" And the end of the episode is interesting. Angel says that they'll learn to control Wolfram & Hart. Then Wes adds, "Or kill ourselves with it trying" which has a sad sort of foreshadowing to it.

I also really enjoy lawyer Gunn. I think that it adds a lot of dimension to his character. Through a lot of season four, he was worried about just being the muscle. Now, he has a chance to grab onto a new, "brainy" identity. Rather than work at his new legal career, though, he lets Wolfram & Hart just jack it into his mind. It's the first of a lot of questionable decisions Team Angel makes at Wolfram & Hart. The law firm clouds things for everyone, making terrible options seem suddenly... Normal. Things that Team Angel never would have done a year before, they slowly begin to accept as par for the course. It's a slow insidious process and I think it's one of the most creative plot lines the show ever produces. What if an apocalypse wasn't an epic battle with some demon or one clear cut fight of good v. evil? What if it was a thousand tiny steps into shades of grey, until you couldn't even remember the point of standing up for the helpless anymore? Until you forgot what it means to be a Champion? God, it's just a brilliant concept.

On the down side, I really do wish Cordy had been there with the others when they walked into Wolfram & Hart. I miss her. Really, her very absence becomes a plot in and of itself. Without her to anchor him, Angel looses his way. Season five might not have much Cordy, but her continued importance is shown over and over as the season wears on

My favorite part of the episode: Spike arriving. Love him, love him, love him.

Angel investigations goes corporate....and a beloved character (to many fans) appears.

[aswmbo · 17 February 2007]

This opening episode storyline concerns defusing one of the Wolfram & Hart more influential clients: one threatening to bomb L.A. if Angel & Co don't get him acquitted in court of openly admitted evil deeds. (Welcome to the gray world of legal machinations...)

However the main thrust of this episode is all about setting the stage for the season, to shoehorn the characters into their new roles as corporate worker bees. --A Senior Partners' liaison, Eve, is introduced and viewers just know she is not all she seems to be. --Angel learns quickly that being a CEO means never again having to do the dirty work himself. ("They put a tracer on me...all of a sudden, the entire firm shows up in the alley.) --Fred discovers she is heading up the lab and is a bit overwhelmed ("I don't even understand half of what they're doing.") --Gunn is given a brain boost: he is now Super Lawyer, a far cry from the street-savvy kid of yore. --Wesley is his usual stoic self, with Lorne actually seeming to enjoy his new position as head of the Entertainment Dept.

One of the highlights of the episodes for me was the appearance of more beloved Buffy characters: feather-brained Harmony, the classic Dumb Blonde, is now Angel's secretary. And in the last moments of the episode Angel finally opens a mysterious envelope delivered to him. Out falls an Amulet that all Buffy fans will recognize. It spews forth a whirlwind and in a reversal of the Hellmouth scenario, fire turns into dust, which turns into bones, and the skeleton turns into...Spike, doubled over in pain, panting, and glaring ferociously. Blondie Bear is back. Stay tuned.

Wolfram & Hart - Angel's Branch

[Samuel-Shovel · 8/10 · 12 April 2019]

The final season of Angel kicks off with "Conviction", where Angel and the crew are running the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. Each member settles into their new role differently. Angel feels weird being the head boss and having a tactical team try to follow him around and take over his work. Fred enjoys the lab but feels a bit overwhelmed. Wesley seems fine with it all and hires Harmony to be Angel's secretary. Lorne loved the celebrities that WR&H represent. And Gunn undergoes an odd surgery that makes him knowledgeable of the law so that he can be of better help to the gang.

A former client threatens Angel's new regime. He's planted a bomb somewhere unknown and says he'll release it if WR&H don't win him his court case. They learn it's a bioweapon that this man has inserted into his son. The tactical team heads to the school to eliminate the threat but Angel beats them there and starts a fight with his own employees. He kills the leader of the group whose resistant to WR&H's new moral compass. Gunn gets the case thrown out with his new knowledge. At the end of the episode, an amulet releases Spike into Angel's office.

Wow, this season opener is not what I expected! It's like I'm watching an entirely new show. Everything is so much brighter, all the actor's appearances are more attractive, the plot is wildly different. It's like we got a brand new reset.

The premise that the gang is taking over their archenemy's law firm is a lot to swallow but I'm going to give it a chance. It seems like a fun space to play in, even if it does come entirely out of left field. It's almost like Joss decided he wanted to make a courtroom drama for a season. Yes it's odd but the premiere at least was enjoyable.

The lighting feels like the complete opposite of the dark and moody backdrop of the rundown hotel that the majority of the past few seasons have taken place in. WR&H is bright and shiny. And that opening tracking shot is absolutely gorgeous and really well done.

It seems like the writers had no idea what they should do with Gunn so they decided to just make him a law expert overnight. Pretty hilarious. Everyone else had some kind of transferrable skill to the law office except him... Well now he does.

Bringing Spike in this early after his "death" in Buffy makes that series finale seem a bit more meaningless and lowers the stakes for me. I enjoy his presence but I think I could have done without him showing up on Angel, at least this early after his demise.

Connor and Cordy look to have been effectively written off of the show. I'm sure they'll guest appearance near this end of this season but we seem to have moved on from that weird plot thread. Also, the writers seem to have forgotten that Gunn and Fred we're madly in love with each other like half a season ago. Despite the fact that they are broken up, they get along fine and don't even talk about it... Odd.

And also: what in the world happened to Gwen?