Angel Investigated - 2.17 Disharmony

Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 02.23.2010

Harmony surprises her old friend Cordelia with the intention of becoming one of the good guys, but without a soul how good can she be?

2.17 Disharmony
Writer: David Fury
Director: Fred Keller

Whedon Speak

Wesley: What are you doing?! This book is twelve centuries old!!
Harmony: Okay, so it's not like I ruined a new one.

Mike Gorman has the full review!

As he says this week, "Man, atonement is a bitch." As you can tell from the title, this week is also the return of the now vampiric Harmony. When last we saw her she was being rejected by Spike on Buffy and she has come to LA for some girl time with her old friend Cordelia. This begins my problems with the episode. At this point in her evolution I really find Harmony to be a one note character who really wasn't that interesting alive and surprise, surprise is not that much more interesting dead. There is a little bit of a humorous misunderstanding which leads Cordelia to think Harmony is a lesbian, not a vampire, which culminates in a fun phone call with the now woman-loving Willow but beyond that the whole story seems tired and flat. The idea of a vampiric pyramid scheme did not really work for me nor did Harmony's attempt to walk the straight and narrow path. I understand that this week was supposed to lighten up the mood of a dour season but it just didn't work for me.

In the end Harmony can't cut it as a good guy and is made to leave LA by Cordelia. I say good riddance. I can tolerate her as a foil for Spike but otherwise she just doesn't do much for me. The episode's conclusion is probably one of the week's stronger scenes. Angel is speaking with Wesley about how he wants to get back into Cordelia's good graces. Wesley seems puffed up by the fact that Angel has come to him. Like it validates his new found authority that he saw Angel repeatedly undermining earlier. Just then Cordelia bursts in ecstatic over all the new clothes that Angel has bought her and apparently happy with her again. Turns out Wesley's advice wasn't needed, the shallow pool that is Cordelia just needed a few gifts. I mean this as no condemnation of her character, instead it is one of the patented "Whedon" twists that we have come to know and love. Just when things seem darkest or brightest, a sharp left turn occurs. These shifty dynamics might seem contrived at first glance but do speak to the deeper relations between the characters. It was their way of letting us know that although things may not be 100% back between our heroes, they will be soon enough.

Like I said, this is not an episode that impressed me much in the overall scheme of things when it comes to season two. I would have liked to see more importance placed on the restoration of relationships but hopefully that will be seen in the weeks to come. As for Harmony, I am glad she is gone for another three seasons!

Mike Gorman	This was one of my favourite “Angel” episodes of the season. What can I say? I love the cross over episodes. Here, we got two; Harmony and Willow. I liked Harmony on “Angel” a lot. After watching this episode, I would have liked them to make her regular on the show. Instead, we had to wait a few seasons. Too bad. There was some comic gold that Joss Whedon could have struck. Like Spike, I think Harmony is a sympathetic figure. Despite being vain, Harmony just wants to be liked. As for the storyline, itself, with the vampire pyramid scheme, I thought it was really creative. Doug Sanders was a cross between a televangelist and Tony Robbins. Although, unlike a true cult leader, ala David Koresh, Sanders’ followers weren’t very loyal. As soon as Wesley, Gunn, and Angel went on the offensive, these vampires took off. Really good episode, and the band is officially back together.	9
Jeremy Thomas	"Disharmony" isn't one of my favourite episodes of Season Two by a long shot. It's nice to see Willow crossing shows here, although I just can't get into Harmony in this episode. She had plenty of moments in Buffy as a vampire and she'll pick it back up in Season Five of this show somewhat, but this just seemed like a way to shoehorn her in because of her popularity as a character. The plot involving her is weak and I just never felt that she made a good villain on Angel. This show is a much darker kind of show than Buffy and injecting something as cutesy as soulless Harmony seemed false and somewhat contrived. On the plus side, we have the new dynamic between Angel and Wesley, Cordy and Gunn, and that provided for some interesting moments. Angel has to earn his way back into their trust, and progress is made here. I really liked the way this progressed and thought that the four actors did a good job with that. This isn't a bad episode by any stretch but it's not a strong showing by writer David Fury when compared to some of his other efforts and it's a piece that gets definitely lost in the pack.	7
Jason Chamberlain	It’s always cool to see Buffy characters interact with our LA gang. I liked the little bit of flirting Gunn did with Harmony before finding out she was a vampire. You’d think he’d be able to sense that by now! The vampire cult leader/motivational speaker was pretty damn funny, mostly because of how accurate it was. Hearing terms like “self actualization”, “mental road blocks” and “empowering your demon self” was definitely worth a few chuckles And Cordy earned some badass points with the double crossbow action.	8

GRR!!! ARGH!!!

The 411: A happy filler episode that is meant to be a break from the doom and gloom of the recent weeks, "Disharmony" comes off as a piece of bubble gum that loses its flavor way too quickly. It is nice to see our heroes reunited but it could have been under much more interesting circumstances.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]