REPRISE

[Dlou444]

Something has been bugging me all day.

This morning "Reprise" was on TNT and this is the first time it has sunk in that it really doesn't make sense.

I'll start at the end because it's going to be hard to explain my issue.

So, Angel kills the demon that is supposedly possessed by the "Senior Partner" who's coming to do the review. He gets the ring, he puts it on and says to take him to the "Home Office" where the "Senior Partners" are from.
He gets on the elevator with Holland and they have a LONG droning conversation about why Angel is fighting "evil". And then the door opens and he tells Angel that the world is the "home office" and the reason "they're" reason for being is because evil lies in everyone.

However, where evil may lie in everyone, PEOPLE aren't the senior partners. Evil may be, but that's very vague. Especially if we consider they spent the next 3 seasons fighting something other than "the people".
I think it's safe to assume that at least CORDY'S not a senior partner and she's a "people", a people working for the PTB, who at least at this point in the series are "good".
Also if the Senior Partners have to take the form of this demon to travel TO the building and we have to have this "white room" to be a conduit to the partners, then they're a bit more cohesive than just the bit of evil that resides in everyone. I could go with the SOURCE of evil, kind of like The First.

I just feel like somehow in Holland's rant, the best he did was explain why the "Senior Partners" that Angel is looking for aren't at the Home Office. But, not much else. I feel like I've been fooled by some slight of hand trick where I've been thinking the ball was in one hand but it was really in another.

Lorne tells him the Senior Partners are coming from the "Home Office". Then we find out the Home Office is here while all other signs point to they're more than just what little evil resides in people AND that they can travel through dimensions and have agendas.....I just feel CHEATED and lied to.

[Lindsey McDonald]

I got the feeling that Holand was really there to stop Angel getting into the Home Office. We do later in the series find out that the Senior Partners are actually Old Ones: the Wolf, Ram and Hart. So they are actually demons in another dimension, not the evil innate to humankind. I think the whole thing was them playing with Angel's mind, trying to demoralise him and break him down. They are incredibly powerful, so I don't think he could have made his way to the Home Office without their say so. It's like Angel trying to get to Cordy's higher plane later on, they don't say outright that he wouldn't get there, but he doesn't actually try.

[Dlou444]

Yeah, but he HAD THE RING that's supposed to transport him!
You can't just throw in a BOOBY TRAP! That's NOT FAIR!

As a side note to this episode, what the heck did Darla want with the glove or the ring? What was she going to do? Go LUNCH with the Senior Partners? We are given no real clue as to why she'd even care!

[Lindsey McDonald]

I totally agree about Darla. Her motivations were non-existant in this ep. I think with the ring, it was supposed to have the same effect on the viewer as it did on Angel; you only realise later that it didn't work. W&H has you completely taken in by their explaination. It was either very subtly done quite well, or quite blatantly done very badly. I never liked the ep anyway....

[Bluebird]

I thought the way Holland was descibing the evil in all of us, it did sound a lot like the First. I liked the idea but it's inconsistent with what the Senior Partners actually are.

[Buffanator]

Are we sure there really ever ARE any senior partners? I mean, we never SEE one. Do we? Never HEAR one... do we? So I have always considered the "senior partners" to be much more like "The First" - or maybe even the opposite of TPTB, because they always seem to be so evil, or at least on the side of evil, while the TPTB are seemingly GOOD, or on the side of good. And since we never SEE nor HEAR from the senior partners, it's entirely possible that Wolfram & Hart just do as they please, and use the *non-existent* senior partners as an alibi ... as in "The senior partners TOLD me to..." Okay, maybe I'm reaching here... :rolleyes:

and I liked the way that Angel & Holland ended exactly where they started from - because there is evil (and good!) in everyone. It shows the basic "circle" of how things continue.

[Lindsey McDonald]

Well, we have evidence of the Senior Partners' existance from 3 independent sources. There are the Wolf, Ram, and Hart coded books in Pylea, which were a reference to those demons. They are also mentioned by Iryllia as being Old Ones before the time of humans. Finally, the White Room acts as a link between the W&H offices and the Senior Partners. They wouldn't have something like Mesektet of the Ra-tet in there if they weren't incredibly powerful demons.

[Spirit_Of_Fred]

personally, i agree that holland was kind of like a distraction. maybe the senior partners even thought that the fact that he was dead would make the illusion more convincing to angel. in any case, lindsey later tells darla that there was a disenchanting ceremony right away and the ring didnt work anymore. i figured that when angel used the ring, it didnt take him back to the real "home office" because it had been deactivated by then. so to mess with angel some more, they brought holland in to make a big speech that would help him lose his faith in humans. at least, thats how ive been understanding it.

also, on the senior partners, dont we see one in this episode? and dont we see one, though its kind of blurred and brief, that helps attach lindsey's new "evil hand"?

ive often wondered about darla's plan too. anyone have hypotheses?

[angelchick182]

Even if the ring were still active, I never understood why Darla wanted it either. I'm willing to jump on just about any semi-logical theory anyone has on this.

[Superstar]

I never understood why Darla wanted it either.
She tells you in the episode. POWER. Vengeance will come later.
The ability to go to the Home Office and attempt to wrest it.
The Home Office isn't so much a place as it is a space.