I can't be first. It's just not right.
Well, it's not gonna come as a surprise to anyone that all I really saw this whole episode was Wesley.
But. . .I'll get to that. A few things that stood out for me:
"You live, so that others will." I'm adding this to my list of reasons why the BDP was really dumb.
"Without him, I'm fighting blind." So, you get Cordelia. But then, she dies. And after being without his link to the PTBs for over a year, Angel really was fighting blind. Look how THAT turned out.
Angel made a joke. An actual joke. I was stunned. ("I don't wanna come back and find you two necking on the couch. . . .")
Now. . .Wesley.
The first thing I thought upon seeing Wes was, "Run!" Well, okay, the FIRST thing I thought was, "Oh, Wesley, no. Leather pants?" But immediately after that was: RUN! Fast! Away from Los Angeles! Right now!
'Course, he didn't. Why did Angel have to invite him to breakfast?
Not that I'd trade five years of AD for anything, but. . .oh, my poor Wesley.
Okay. . .Wesley/Cordy kissage has seriously improved. In fact, it seemed to improve mid-kiss, which was impressive acting on both their parts. ;D
"What's a Rogue Demon?" Hee.
When Wes isn't posing, he's already way impressive (in his element, which, at this point, is still pretty much research). But when he is, he's such a huge buffoon that it's tough to watch.
When confronted with Angel, a "real" rogue demon hunter, Wes' facade starts to break down. But the sort of creepy element, for me, was how fatherlike Angel was in those early scenes. He will NOT take Wesley with him to Koreatown, even though Wes is the one who successfully tracked the demon (albeit not the one he thought) across half the continent. Wes is a grownup, but Angel treats him like a child. And the look on Wes' face as Angel leaves the basement is very much that of a crushed child. He hasn't lived up to Angel's standards.
And so the front starts coming down, as though it was his real father. First, he gets dejected, and when Cordy asks whether he's okay, he clumsily covers his hurt feelings by saying his pants chafe (which they undoubtedly do, but that's not the point).
So, he changes out of his new costume, and back into his old one - the Watcher garb. But that's not Wesley, either, as we'll learn much later. Still, though, it's an improvement, 'cause with the loss of the leather, Wes gains some confidence in himself, and goes out to help Angel regardless.
But then it turns out he was tracking the wrong demon, and despite the fact that it looks like he couldn't have known it was the wrong demon, he immediately blames himself for Cordy's kidnapping. He starts to positively marinate in self-loathing, and the words coming out of his mouth are frightening - because now that we've met Roger W-P, we know that those aren't Wesley words; they're Roger words.
Impressive. . .that the setup for both Wes' father issues, his resulting low self-esteem, and his hero-worship of Angel are already there in this very first episode.
