Angel Investigated - 1.21 Blind Date

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 09.02.2009

One of Angel's enemies asks for the vampire's help, but is he serious about changing sides?

1.21 Blind Date
Writer: Jeannine Renshaw
Director: Thomas J. Wright

Whedon Speak

Gunn: Whoo, Whoo! My God! They told me it was true, but I didn't believe em. Damn, here it is. Evil white folks really do have a mecca. Now, now, now girls, don't get all riled up. (Screams) Did you just step on my foot? Was that my foot you just stepped on? Are you assulting me up in this haven of justice?! Somebody get me a lawyer, because my civil rights have seriously been violated. Oh, I get it, y'all can cater to the demon... cater to the dead man... but what about the black man!?

Case Files

Jennifer Badger, who plays the villain Vanessa, has been a stunt woman for both Charisma Carpenter and Eliza Dushku.

Shawn S. Lealos has the full review!

Blind Date is an episode that does a lot right but at the top of the list is making Lindsey the driving force. Anything with Christian Kane in the spotlight gets an automatic passing grade in my book. He is so perfect throughout the entire run of the show and is the only person to be in both the first and final episode of the series. There is a reason for that; he is that damn good.

Blind Date is all about a crisis of faith. As with the best episodes of Angel, the crisis of Angel is paralleled with another character or situation on the show. In this case, Angel is facing a crisis because he followed the court system and they failed. He wonders aloud early in the episode how he can do his job when the legal system can’t do theirs.

On the other end of the spectrum, Lindsey has one of his crisis’ of faiths. This time he learns that Wolfram and Hart’s blind assassin is going to kill three young children and that is a line he is not willing to cross. He goes to Angel and wants out but, of course, no one trusts him. This episode allows Lindsey to work with Angel and sets up the final episode of the series as well. Lindsey proves to be a formidable partner for Angel but by the end he is lured back to the dark side. He can be very useful but can never be fully trusted which is why Angel makes the decision he makes at the end of the show’s run.

I also loved the final fight between Angel and the assassin. Angel always seems to use his might and here he uses his brain to beat her. When he realizes that she can “see” him and stops moving to lure her in, it was a brilliant move and made the ending so great. Other highlights include calling the Scooby Gang (“Willow says hi”) and another great appearance by Gunn (“Why should I help?” “It will be dangerous.” “I’m in.” - all paraphrased but you get the point).

Jeremy Thomas	This episode is all about Lindsey and establishing for us that he's not strictly a Black Hat. Oh, he's a bad guy and a villain, make no mistake about it. But this episode reminds us that even evil has its shades of grey. Lindsey has always been my favorite Wolfram and Hart character, as good as Holland Manners and Lilah Morgan were, and this episode was one of many reasons why. Christian Kane really showed his acting chops here and we actually feel for the young lawyer, even as despicable as he's been so far. This complicates the dynamic between Angel and Lindsey that will run the length of the series, but in such an awesome way. The end scene with Lindsey and Holland reinforces the point of Wolfram & Hart; they're not the villains themselves. They aren't the front lines, they just enable the front lines to do what they need to, much like Holland did to Lindsey. That makes them just as evil, of course. It's a hard realization for Lindsey and he'll struggle with it for a long time. Great work all around.	8.5
Ronny Sarnecky	How many times have I said this during Season One of “Angel,” but ANOTHER really good episode. While the main villain in the episode, a blind demon who sees the actions someone will make before they do, was an interesting concept. However, the character of the blind demon wasn’t the most intriguing part of this episode. This episode gave us a lot of insight on the character of Wolfram & Hart’s lawyer Lindsey McDonald. Lindsey was one of my favorite “Angel” characters. Sure, he was representing the “bad guys.” However, after “Blind Date,” you could understand his motivation. He grew up dirt poor, and vowed to never have to live that way again. Even though, he put his morals aside, so that you wouldn’t have to live the life he knew as a kid, he still knew when to draw the line. That line was kids. He knew it was wrong to kill children, and that was reason enough to put his career at risk. Once the kids were safe, and the promotion was offered, he went back to Wolfram & Hart to keep up his lifestyle that he is now accustomed to. I enjoy episodes where they put focus on the villain. This helps add depth to their character, and you learn that there was some event, or series of events, that caused the character to walk down the wrong path. The writers did that with Lindsey in “Blind Date.”	9
Mike Gorman	"Blind Date" is a great episode that re-enforces the adversarial dynamic between Lindsey and Angel that will populate the rest of the series. Lindsey gets the real spotlight this week and I enjoyed the way he was taken from being a two dimensional evil lawyer to a three dimensional character whose moral spectrum runs a bit deeper than we once saw. Seeing where he came from to where he is now was nice. Lindsey's back story definitely lets us understand his motivations more and fills in the details when it comes to the choices we see him make. In the end he chooses to remain with Wolfram and Hart, and this made me happy. The gray zones within him are much more interesting than a rapid hero turn.	9
Jason Chamberlain	Christian Kane is the man, and when I first saw this episode I really hoped he'd join the good side and come on as a series regular. I think he would have made an interesting compliment to the Fang Gang. Ultimately Lindsay will continue to be someone who struggles between light and dark, and Angel gives him a chance here, a chance he won't extend to him again.	8.5

GRR!!! ARGH!!!

The 411: Blind Date did everything right. It had a smart Angel and the troubled soul that is Lindsey working together. This is the episode that made a lot of people stand up and take notice of Christian Kane and that is always a good thing.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]