but now that you point it out, it does seem rather blatant, particularly the Ted/Council stuff.

As I mentioned to beer_good_foamy upthread, I'm really fascinated by that response because several people have stated it; and in the metas and articles I read, it's either hinted at/skirted around, or not mentioned at all. This was only the second time I rewatched the episode (the first time last year) to be honest, but the parallels just jumped right out at me. I actually underwrote that point a bit, and could probably develop it further.

But again, there really is so very much going on in this episode, much more than meets the eye; even I had dismissed after watching it because I was watching them all so fast and the Angelus arc sort of sweeps everything else away. But it's really not so easy to dismiss, I find, going back to it. You can approach it from a myriad of angles.