This week's "Angel" episode, "Time Bomb," picks up with Illyria (Amy Acker) breaking Gunn (J. August Richards) out of Wolfram & Hart's idea of a happy family. You know the kind, blonde wives with big guns and basements filled with lovely, evil tormenters. Kind of makes you fuzzy inside, huh?

Well, OK so maybe it's not exactly "Family Ties." Who'da thunk it?

After Illeryia saves Gunn, we see subtle hints that something is going on inside of her. We learn that Fred's body can no longer hold Illyria's power, and is slowly self-destructing. She shifts out of space and time uncontrollably, and her imploding could cause major damage to the world.

Angel (David Boreanaz) and crew set out to create a weapon capable of pulling Illyria's power out of her, killing her. One problem, Illyria's uncontrollable time shifting makes her knowledgeable to their actions and she kills them. Time shift again, and she's back to an earlier time with Angel. She was spending quality time by picking him up by the neck and yelling at him (insert group "awww" here), and time shift again to her self deconstructing. The blast from her implosion sends Angel minutes before they try and attack Illyria with Wesley's (Alexis Denisof) cool little power sucking gadget thing. Needless to say, Angel saves the day and we find that Wesley's cool little power sucking gadget thing won't kill Illyria, just make her powerless. Leaving her even more human than before.

I have to admit that this episode has lost a little bit of the steam that the previous episodes concerning Illyria had. However anything furthering the character development of Illyria is grade A to me. Lets face it, chicks with semi blue hair, and declare they'd like Spike (James Marsters) for a pet are great. Plus, this is a perfect opportunity to explore human nature, emotion and dynamics. She reminds me a lot of Anya (Emma Caulfield), just not funny or afraid of bunnies.

The fifth and final season of "Angel" is now fully underway with the last three episodes on their way. So be cool, and stay tuned!

Time Bomb
Angel

Writing: B
Story: A
Acting: A+
Directing: A-

Overall: B

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