When Will Holland Manners Step From the Shadows?

James Bow comments on the run-up to the series finale of Angel.

For those who may have missed a recent episode, here is a brief synopsis of the past few weeks, with comments from TVTome.com.

Last week:The gang starts to have doubts about Angel's loyalties when he appears to have become very close with the Circle of the Black Thorn, an evil secret demon society.(TV Tome)

Highlight: Illyria gets addicted to the video game Crash Bandicoot, which she plays on Spike's XBOX.

Week Before:Angel and Spike travel to Rome with plans to rescue Buffy from their old nemesis The Immortal.(TV Tome)

Highlights: Angel and Spike visit the Wolfram and Hart office in Rome. Illyria turns back into sweetie-pie Fred, so Fred's parents won't realize Fred is dead. Wesley broods...

Week before that:When Illyria's powers become unstable and cause her to erratically jump through time, she learns that the gang intends to kill her. Upon returning to the present, Illyria plans to murder everyone before they're able to attack her.(TV Tome)

Highlight: Spike's line: "It's not murder if you say yes"
***

Continuing storylines:
Illyria and Wesley
Illyria is a wild cannon. The only thing that appears to keep her in line is her connection with Wesley. Wesley is retreating from the company of the others as his relationship with Illyria grows. There is a sense that the relationship (not a romantic relationship) is not good for either of these characters, but they fill a void in each other's lives. Illyria's resemblance to Fred, whose body she inhabits, continues to haunt Wesley. Wesley fills the role of the humble worshipper that Illyria craves.

Spike and Angel
Spike and Angel seem to be reconciling their differences. From the early Buffy seasons, it has been known that the two of them had a history that went back centuries, to the time when the two of them were both ruthless killers. But the two vampires had a loathing for each other that was never properly explained until this season. In the past few episodes we have seen the two of them working together towards common goals, even refer to each other as "partners". Still, there is a sense that Spike is now what Angel was previous to his employment at Wolfram and Hart: a hero for the people (they may have used the term People's champion, or I may be confusing it with the WWF).
It would be interesting to have seen where this would have gone. For a few episodes during the winter it appeared that Angel was going to be corrupted and Spike was going to take over the fight on the street. Would have been interesting.

Main Storyline:
Another apocalypse (yawn). There have been so many apocalypses now on Angel and Buffy that it seems this time Joss Whedon is just treading water. I'm not expecting much from the final episode, but of course I'll be watching.