4x02 – GROUND STATE

“Ground State” is one of the most wholly unremarkable episodes of the season, so timid and – may the Gods of punnage strike me down – emotionally grounded that it feels like it’s trying to be inoffensive. The title “Ground State” refers to the lowest allowed energy state of an atom or molecule, a fact which guest character Gwen Raiden references at one point. The metaphor is supposed to sharpen the dramatic barb of the episode, which makes its points through examinations of characters that have been emotionally grounded by events in their lives. Unfortunately, the metaphor works against the episode too. Like a flamboyant screenwriter who has the gall to name his or her satire “The Worst Thing Ever,” this episode falls on its face even more than it otherwise might have because of this choice.

Not that it does so in an abhorrent way, mind you. This is no repeat of the pretentiousness that amounted to 1x13: She, let alone the screwdriver-through-my-brain horror of 3x12: Provider. Nonetheless, this story feels like a drag because of the season it’s placed in. S4 is not the best season of the series, and neither is it the worst. However, for its considerable flaws, S4 is fast-paced and intellectually challenging in a way that even the vastly superior second and fifth seasons don’t always manage to be. And after the all-out barnstorming of the season-opener, this episode is a tremendous disappointment, draining all the tension and promise that was built up there. Going down this drain leads us into a gutter trough where the series will stay for at least a few more episodes. This is a fact I mentioned in my review of [“4x01”]: the considerable promises of quality that that episode made really don’t get delivered on until after 4x07: Apocalypse Nowish .

Not that “Ground State” is offensive, mind you. Its worst sin aside, it’s quite watchable and has the sharp, entertaining dialogue that is characteristic of the series. Gunn even mentions Vegas again! And who doesn’t love Gunn throwing in a pitch for Vegas (though the fact that he pimps it three or four times throughout the series makes me think someone on the writing staff was pushing the idea of a group outing)? We pick up shortly after where we left off last episode. Now that Angel has returned to Angel Investigations, there’s a lot of work to be done. The hotel is running down, Angel has kicked Connor out, the Fang Gang has no paying clients and Cordelia is still missing.

To find her, Angel tries to mend a bridge with Wesley. In what is one of only two remotely memorable scenes in the episode, Angel stands face-to-face with his betrayer for the first time since 3x16: Sleep Tight. It was disappointing at first, since that kind of interaction would usually beg a few sparks of conflict, but thinking of where they’ve been and knowing where they’ll go in the future makes it very interesting; the substance is in the subtext. There’s some in the text-text too, of course. We see that Wesley is now running his own demon-hunting crew. Appropriately, we’re given no insight into his allies; Wesley is emotionally distant and for good reasons, so his purposes with this group are expectedly utilitarian.

Angel shows a slight hint of admiration towards the fact that Wes is still fighting the good fight. Genuinely, and unconditionally, he forgives him: “We’re okay now.” That the scene plays the interaction with little-to-no emotion is what interests me. Wes knows why Angel is there as well as Angel does. Angel’s forgiveness is genuine, a fact which is proven when Angel accepts him back into the fold after 4x06: Spin The Bottle , but what he really wanted at that moment was help finding Cordelia. Wes gives him everything he found on Cordy and sends Angel packing with nary a word.

Seeing this right after the scene where Angel looked at the old picture of him, Cordy and Wes smiling together is sad in a very cold, empty way. This is the only place where the ground state metaphor really hit home for me. Angel’s motivation for wanting to find Cordelia would never be questioned by a regular viewer of the show, so the one the writers try to inject into this episode – of Angel feeling like he has nothing without her – comes off as disingenuous and a bit stupid. The metaphor fails here. Not everyone liked the Cordy/Angel pairing in S3, but I thought it was a good demonstration of how they’d matured: they built a relationship on a foundation of deep friendship.

They built a romantic relationship on a concrete foundation of deep friendship. This episode’s particular explanation, on the other hand, did not work for me. I understand the need to get the plot moving, but the show could’ve done with a little bit more expositionary dialogue to make the dimensions of the relationship fully implicit.. But the plot must go on. The second memorable scene comes when Angel takes Wes’ advice and goes to Dinza, an otherworldly creature who is said to be ‘the keeper of the lost.’ In a downright unnerving exchange that feels right at home in this series, the menacing bat-like figure decides to aid him, salivating at the certainty that Angel “has so much more to lose.”

This is where Gwen Raiden, who has the coolest name of anyone on the show (hello? Mortal Kombat?), intersects with Angel Investigations. Dinza tells Angel to look for the Axis of Pythia, a magical device (or ‘plot contrivance’) that will allow him to locate Cordelia. It happens that Gwen, a supernatural, spy-like thief is looking for it too. She’s the heart of the episode’s main theme, and the like the episode, she’s played way too thinly. Her motivation is uninteresting: she wants to steal something to make money. That doesn’t mean motivations can’t underlie interesting psychological aspects, of course but the “traumatic childhood” backstory she’s assigned has been done so many times that unless it is done exceptionally well, it usually falls flat.

Such is the case here. I’ll admit Gwen has some entertaining lines, but she’s written to shallow effect. We get a couple of flashbacks to her childhood, seeing how she was institutionalized. Prohibited from even going near other children, she was forced to wear gloves and stay away from just about everyone, even her parents, because of her ability to shock people with the electrical current she could harness in the area around her. At a young age she would’ve learned that human contact meant pain and suffering, which no doubt would’ve produced a very damaged and sociopathic adult. But the character has no such complexities.

Sure, she steals and enjoys mucking up other people’s business. She likes getting attention through sexy outfits because that’s the only attention she can get due to her inability to be ‘close’ with anyone. But that’s about as far as it goes. The episode isn’t brave enough to make her remorseless or ruthless, which someone forced by their nature to be deprived of human contact likely would be. Even if you disagree with that assertion, you should probably agree that someone with her condition would at least be a little less stable because of her lack of normal social interaction.

A more unstable Gwen might’ve still saved Gunn, but she may have been more conflicted about it, or may have simply been unable to understand what the act entailed, thus making any uncertainty genuine. That would’ve generated real tension, as opposed to the lame act-out where Angel pronounces Gunn to be dead just before Gwen comes back to revive him. We know a major character won’t die in such a trite, irrelevant episode, so the suspense is false. And despite the fact that Gwen and Angel seem to have ‘electricity’ between them, their fight scene, and the kiss that followed it, made no sparks fly. When Angel tells her “So you’re a freak. Boo hoo!” it sounds like common sense.

In a better episode with a more appropriately three dimensional Gwen, such a statement would’ve been a criminal understatement and would’ve opened the door to some revelations. Alas, no. The emotional conclusion that the episode brings Angel and Gwen to simultaneously, that despite their feeling hollow and alone they can still find passion by accepting themselves rings hollow. The foundations for both characters in this episode are weak, and so the conclusion they come to is weak. Gwen’s characterization is so thin that I can’t feel anything for her, sympathetic or otherwise.

When she revived Gunn I had no idea why she did it. I know why the writers wrote that scene that way: to show that she isn’t some heartless monster, that perhaps there is still some emotional sensitivity in her. But the story didn’t show why this was so, or even bother to explain. At least her half-assed back story tried at that much. I kept getting the feeling that another five to ten minutes of material focusing on Gwen would’ve done wonders, but then we still would’ve had the shallowness of Angel’s motivations to suffer.

Wesley and Lilah proved worth watching, at least. It’s still just more sexual head games at this point, but the charisma of the actors sells it well. Their tryst is delicious to watch. You could just eat Lilah’s delight when she teases him about having kept Justine prisoner all summer. Wesley’s explanation was that it was necessary, but throws in an addendum: necessary for fighting people like Lilah. This is further proof that Wesley fully understands what kind of person he’s sleeping with. He’s become more inverted and selfish, and he can overlook some unpleasant facts because he enjoys taking advantage of her. Nonetheless, they seem to understand each other; the first whiffs of an emotional bond are detectable here.

There’s also a good scene where Angel threatens Lilah, credibly for once, since he reveals he knows about her affair with Wes. Connor does nothing. At the episode’s close we get a lame explanation detailing how Angel finds Cordy with the Axis and decides not to pursue things much further, since she’s clearly happy. A poor, emaciated resolution to a serious emotional issue. Bleh. Beyond that there’s not much else to say. In the tapestry of the series, this is about as bland as it gets. Again, poor Cordelia only gets a solitary, if humorous moment: “What are you, deficient? Get me out of here!”

• Though Angel and Connor are distant, Angel still keeps a watchful eye on him. Even though they are constantly at each other’s throats throughout the season, Angel is constantly watching and trying to help him.
  
  
• The strain of managing Angel Investigations and its worsening problems creates a small rift between Fred and Gunn in one scene. The disagreement over responsibility they have following the murder of Fred’s old professor in 4x05: [“4x05”] adds to the tension that eventually splits them up.