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Angel :1999 - 2004
Regular Cast
David Boreanaz .. Angel
Charisma Carpenter .. Cordelia Chase
Glenn Quinn .. Allen Francis Doyle (1999)
Alexis Denisof .. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (1999-)
J. August Richards .. Charles Gunn (2000-)
Amy Acker .... Winifred 'Fred' Burkle (2001-)
Christian Kane .. Lindsay McDonald (1999-2001)
Vincent Kartheiser .. Connor Angel (2002- )
Andy Hallett .. Lorne/The Host (2000-)
Elisabeth Rohm .. Detective Kate Lockley (1999-2001
Stephanie Romanov .. Lilah Morgan (2000-)
Daniel Dae Kim .. Gavin Park (2001-)
James Marsters .. Spike (2003-)
Keith Szarabajka .. Daniel Holtz (2001-)
Julie Benz .. Darla (2000-2001)
Carey Cannon .. Female Oracle (1999-2000)
David Herman (I) .. David Nabbit (2000)
Matthew James (I) .. Merl the Snitch Demon (2000-2001)
Juliet Landau .. Drusilla (2000-2001)
Julia Lee (III) .. Anne Steele (2001)
Mark Lutz .. The Groosalugg (2001-2002)
John Mahon (I) .. Detective Trevor Lockley (1999-2000)
BJ Porter .. Dennis Pearson (1999)
Randall Slavin (I) .. Male Oracle (1999-2000)
Brigid Conley Walsh .. Virginia Bryce (2000-2001)
Season One
Turns out these guys aren't normal guys - they're vampires. But before they can do their worst, Angel steps in and slays them all. The girls thank him, but he sends them away - he sees blood dripping from cuts on their faces, and knows he must get away. After all, he's a vampire himself.
Back at his apartment, an uninvited guest drops in on Angel - a half-human named Doyle who's been sent "by The Powers That Be." He tells Angel a story, the story of a vampire who was the meanest in all the land. One day, he was cursed by gypsies, who restored his human soul, making him mad with guilt. Then a girl enters the story, a vampire slayer by trade, and our vampire falls madly in love with her. But when he achieves what Doyle calls "perfect happiness" with her, he goes mad again, and kills again. When he gets his soul back for a second time, he figures he can't be anywhere near his love, or he'll endanger them both, so he takes off to L.A., to fight evil and atone for his crimes.
Angel is annoyed - Doyle's just told him the story of his life, and reminded him of Buffy, the vampire slayer he loved. He asks Doyle what happens next.
This vampire thinks he's helping as he fights demons and stays away from humans, Doyle explains, but he's cut off from the people he's trying to help. Angel's responsibility isn't just fighting, it's reaching out to people; not just saving lives, but saving souls - possibly his own.
Angel, suspicious, wants to know who sent Doyle, but Doyle's not sure. But he's sure of the vision he had that morning of a person who needs help. He hands Angel a note: "TINA COFFEE SPOT S.M." Tina needs help. Angel must get involved with her life.
At the Coffee Spot, Angel spies Tina working there, and awkwardly strikes up a conversation. "Are you happy?" he asks. Tina isn't quite sure what to make of him. Angel explains that he's new in town; Tina tells him he shouldn't stay. But he convinces her to meet him after work.
Waiting outside by his car, Angel is surprised to find Tina coming at him in a little black dress - with a can of mace in hand. She thinks he's been sent by someone named Russell. Angel assures her he hasn't been sent by anyone. As they talk, Tina explains that she came to L.A. from Missoula, Montana, to be a famous movie star, "But they weren't hiring." Now she just wants to go home.
First they have to go to a party, where Tina needs to get some money from a friend. While Tina goes to find this friend, Angel spots a familiar face - Cordelia. She's acting now, she tells Angel, living in a small condo on the beach in Malibu.
Tina, meanwhile, is being harassed by a man named Stacy. When she and Angel try to leave the party, they're jumped in the elevator. Angel dispenses with the two creeps who jumped him, but the other two have taken off with Tina. A chase ensues through the parking garage, becoming a game of chicken that Angel wins. After he's disarmed one thug and knocked the other out, he drives off with Tina.
Back at Angel's apartment, Angel asks Tina about Russell. Tina explains that she knew a girl who used to hang out with Russell who tried to get away, but disappeared.
While Tina sleeps, Angel goes to the library to research Tina's missing friend. He finds that she's been murdered, and goes back to tell Tina, who's having a bad dream. He comforts her, then tells her what he's found out. But when Tina spots Doyle's note with her name on it, she again thinks Angel's been sent by Russell, and turns to run. Angel chases after her, but as he grabs her arm, he reaches into the sunlight, and flame bursts from his sleeve as he transforms into a vampire. Tina is shocked, but free of his grasp, and runs away. Angel can't follow her into the daylight.
Back at her apartment, Tina is packing up to leave town. She, too, has an uninvited guest - Russell. He says he only wants to help her. Tina says she only wants to go home. But Russell has something else in mind. He turns vampire on her, then takes a bite. When Angel finally finds her, she's lying on the floor of her apartment, dead.
Doyle and an angry Angel get to work tracking down Russell, but Russell, watching a videotape from the earlier party, has already spotted his next victim - Cordelia. Tina's "friend" from the party calls Cordelia to tell her that Russell Winters wants to meet her - and is sending over a limo.
That night, Cordelia talks with Russell at his mansion. She admits to him that the acting thing isn't working out quite like she planned. While those two talk, Angel and Doyle lurk outside, preparing to break in.
As Cordelia and Russell converse, Cordelia notices there are no mirrors in the mansion, but lots of curtains - and realizes Russell's a vampire.
Meanwhile, Angel has found his way into the mansion, and a fight between him and Russell begins. But before Angel can polish Russell off, his henchmen appear. Angel, taking bullets in his back, leaps from a second-story balcony with Cordelia in his arms, and once outside, Doyle drives them away. They're all alive - but so is Russell Winters.
The next day, Angel makes a visit to the downtown offices of Russell Winters Enterprises, where the entrepreneurial vampire is presiding over a business meeting. Russell smugly explains to Angel how things are done in L.A. - he can do anything he wants. Angel asks him if he can fly. He then gives Russell's chair a shove through the plate glass window, and Russell, plummeting to the ground and now exposed to light, bursts into flame. By the time Russell's chair crashes to the sidewalk, there's nothing left of him.
Later, Angel isn't exactly celebrating, but Cordelia is thrilled. And she's got a plan - she, Angel and Doyle will go into business solving people's vampire problems. She'll help organize things, and they'll charge a small fee - to pay her salary. Of course, this is just until her inevitable stardom takes effect . . .
There are a lot of people in this
city who need help, Doyle says to Angel. Are you game? Angel's
reply: "I'm game."
Cordelia arrives excitedly with calling cards for the new business, but suddenly Doyle doubles over in pain. He's got a splitting headache, a vision of a nightclub, and a feeling that something's going to happen there. They head out on the town after all.
At the club, boy, Kevin, meets girl, Sharon. They chat. Angel, Doyle and Cordelia arrive, looking for someone in trouble - or someone making trouble. Angel strikes up a conversation with a woman named Kate, who tells Angel she has a hard time trusting people. She asks if he'd like to go someplace quieter, but Angel says he's got to stay there.
Meanwhile, Cordelia's been handing out business cards at the club. One guy gets the wrong idea - he thinks she's a hooker. When he and his buddy make unwanted advances, Doyle decides to teach them a lesson. When a fight breaks out, Angel rushes over to take care of the problem. The troublemakers gone, Angel attracts the attention of a new girl. While he talks with her, Kate eyes him from across the room, and, upset, walks out. As the bar clears out, Cordelia, Angel and Doyle try to figure out why they were supposed to be there in the first place.
Kevin and Sharon, it turns out, have found a connection, and Sharon's found herself in Kevin's bed. The next morning, though, as Sharon's getting dressed, Kevin doesn't look so hot. In fact, he's dead, and his sheets are spattered with blood.
The next day, Angel, Doyle and Cordelia scour the papers and Internet for news stories that happened in or around the bar. Two turn up: one death and one missing girl. While Doyle and Cordelia continue their research, Angel heads back to the bar, D'Oblique.
Outside, Angel meets Kate again. He asks her not to go in, because he fears there might be trouble; she heads in anyway. Sharon's back at the bar as well, with a new guy in her sights.
While Angel's observing the scene, a friend of Kevin's asks the bartender if he's seen Kevin - he didn't show up at work, and isn't answering his phone. The bartender hasn't seen him. Angel, suspicious, dashes off to look up Sharon in the phone book. Sharon, though, is already in bed with a new guy she met in the bar. While he engages in pillow talk, Sharon has other plans - from her chest shoots a demon's head, which burrows into the new guy's back.
Angel arrives on the scene to find the guy alive, but Sharon dead - and the demon's tail slithering into the guy's back as he puts on his shirt. The demon has been moving from one body to the next, looking for the right body and leaving corpses in its wake. Angel tells it that the killing has got to stop. What's wrong with that body? he asks. This body's fine for now, the demon explains, but it's not the one he can live in. "Then it'll have to be the one you die in," says Angel. They battle, but the demon escapes.
Suddenly, Kate comes in the apartment, and she and Angel both look at Sharon's dead body on the bed. "I know what this looks like," says Angel. Says Kate, "So do I." And she flashes a gun and badge. She's LAPD, and she's been tracking Angel since the night before. But when she tries to cuff him, he jumps out the window into the night.
While the burrower demon stalks its next prey at D'Oblique (and successfully finds another body), Kate does some snooping of her own, into the offices of Angel Investigations. Angel prowls the city, demon hunting. Coming up empty, he arranges a meeting at the bar with Kate.
But the burrower is now in a new body - the bartender's - and doesn't want Kate meeting up with Angel. In fact, he plans to make hers his new body. Angel steps in before he can, knocking him away from her to start a fight. The powerful demon tosses Angel and Kate into the bar's basement, and locks the door. He must find a new body, so he's on the prowl again.
Angel and Kate break out of the
basement and chase after the demon. Before the demon can take
another body, Angel catches him, but this time Angel wins the fight,
as the demon, in flames after being tossed into a barrel of fire,
can't recover. As the police clean up the scene, Angel tells Kate
that if she ever needs any help, he'll be around.
Oz has also made a little trip to L.A., and he stops by the office. He came to town primarily for a gig, but also to give Angel something Buffy wanted him to have - the Gem of Amara. This gem, set in a ring, renders the wearer 100% unkillable, if he's a vampire. Spike dug up Sunnydale looking for it, but as Oz explains, he "got a fistful of Buffy" instead and left it behind. Buffy wanted to be sure it was in good hands, so she sent it with Oz to give to Angel.
Doyle, Cordelia and Oz head off to have a drink at the pub, but Angel stays behind. And instead of putting on the ring, he hides it, under a brick in a sewer tunnel outside his apartment.
Later, Angel takes a call from Rachel, the first client, and leaves his apartment to help her, but as he heads to his car, he's greeted by a two-by-four to the head, wielded by Spike. Spike, of course, wants the ring, but Angel's not about to give it up. Though Spike has the weapon, Angel wins this battle; Doyle and Cordelia show to see Spike down for the count. But Spike won't go away easily, and Angel, concerned that Spike is out for blood, sends Doyle and Cordelia to stay at Doyle's place, just to be safe. There, Doyle starts calling up everyone in his phone book, trying to track down Spike. Doyle gets a lead, and Angel goes to check it out.
The lead leads Angel to Spike, and Angel chases him down. But Spike's got a friend along - a friend with a chain-link lasso, which is soon around Angel's neck. Spike and his vampire friend, Marcus, take Angel to an abandoned warehouse, where they hang him by his arms and prepare to torture him. Marcus, a torture expert, goes to work, driving hot pokers through Angel's body.
Spike, meanwhile, heads to Angel's place to look for the ring, and Doyle and Cordelia find him there. Spike tells them Angel's being tortured, and that as stubborn as he is, he might die before he gives up the ring. If they find the ring and give it to him, he'll let Angel go - they have until sundown to save him.
Doyle and Cordelia search Angel's apartment for the ring, to no avail. Then it hits them - he's probably buried it in the sewer tunnels where he gets around during the day. Using his half-human, half-demon sixth sense, Doyle sniffs out the ring. But they don't want to just give it to Spike. They need a plan.
They tell Spike that the ring isn't on them, but they know where it is. Once they see that Angel's alive, they'll give up the ring.
Spike leads them to his little house of pain to show them that Angel's still alive, and demands the ring. Doyle tosses it on the floor, and demands that Angel be set free. But that was never part of Spike's plan. Fortunately for Angel, Oz is in town - he busts into the warehouse in his van, Doyle and Cordelia help Angel down, and they all drive away. Spike, frustrated, looks for the ring, but finds it gone as well. Marcus has picked it up, and he's enjoying its benefits with a walk in the sunlight. Spike is not a happy vamp.
As the van drives away, everyone is worried about Angel - except Angel. He's worried about Marcus. Oz turns the van around, and heads for the beach. There Marcus is stalking a pack of Cub Scouts. Oz rams him with the van, but he gets up. Then he shoots him with a crossbow. Marcus pulls out the arrow. After all, he's got the ring. Then Angel steps in. He jumps from the van into the sunlight, bursting into flame. But he tackles Marcus, and they both dive into the ocean. They surface, and in the shade of a pier, a fierce battle begins. When Angel impales Marcus on a rusty beam, it's Marcus who's being tortured. Angel slides the ring from his finger, and Marcus turns to dust. Placing the ring on his own finger, Angel walks out from under the pier and into the daylight, the first he's known in 200 years.
But Angel's not going to wear the
ring. He knows was brought back for a reason - to help the people
who need help in the night. He's enjoyed his day in the sunlight,
but he has a mission. He crushes the ring, destroying the Gem of
Amara
Doyle's latest vision takes Angel to an office building where Melissa Burns has just received a bouquet of flowers, with a note that reads, "My undying love. Ronald." She's so thrilled by this that she dashes to the ladies' room and pops a few tranquilizers, then leaves the building. On the way to her car, she's stopped by Angel, who gives her his card, and offers to help. Melissa, obviously unsettled, says she can't afford help, and drives away.
Her next stop is the ATM, where she tries to withdraw cash, but can't - her PIN is invalid. As she tries again, Ronald steps forward. He's changed her PIN (it was her birthdate - too obvious), and explains that he's looking out for her, seeing as they're in love. But Melissa's hardly in love with him - they only went on one date. Fully creeped out by this run-in with Ronald, Melissa decides she could use some help after all, and pays Angel a visit.
There she explains to Doyle, Cordelia and Angel about Dr. Ronald Meltzer, a neurosurgeon who seven months earlier operated on her, saving her sight. Afterwards he asked her out, and though she wasn't interested, she felt obligated, and joined him for a drink, just once. But he started calling her, and showing up at work, and her apartment, saying they had something special, and should get married. She rebuffed him, but that only made it worse. She tells them she can feel him watching her.
Later, while Melissa undresses back at her apartment, Ronald is watching her - with a floating eye he's removed from his head. Apparently, Ronald isn't 100% human. Angel decides to snoop around to find out more about this Dr. Meltzer. He sneaks into Ronald's office, but while he's browsing the doctor's bookshelf, Ronald enters the room and demands to know why he's there. Angel lies, making up a name and saying his wife needs neurosurgical help, and that he came because he heard Dr. Meltzer could give it. Ronald says that kind of surgery is too dangerous, and he can't do it, but Angel, picking up a photo of Melissa from his desk (Ronald claims she's his fiance) to emphasize the depth of his own love, says he's not willing to give up so easily.
While Angel continues his research, Ronald is spying on Melissa, lurking outside her apartment. A cop pulls up, points a gun at him, and asks him to put up his hands. But Ronald's hands aren't on the ends of his wrists - they're in Melissa's bedroom, crawling under the covers. Seeing that Ronald is handless, the cop lets him go. But when Melissa realizes where Ronald's hands are, her screams bring the cop running. He doesn't find anything . . . until Ronald's hands find his neck and strangle him to death.
To keep Melissa safe, Angel brings her back to his place. But he knows Ronald is starting to come undone, and that he'll come looking for her. When the phone rings, it's Ronald - looking for the guy Angel said he was when he snuck in his office. Ronald says he'll perform the surgery, but it has to be out of the country, and that he needs $100,000 up front. Angel says he'll be right over with the cash. But Ronald knows Angel's not who he says he was. He had seen him comforting Melissa outside her apartment after the disembodied hands incident, and he's jealous. When Angel arrives at Ronald's office, he's ready for him - with a deadly paralytic injector dart.
While Angel lies writhing on the floor, Dr. Ronald's body parts make their way over to Angel's place - and then his body makes a full appearance, taking care of Doyle and Cordelia, who'd been left behind to protect Melissa. But before he can put a scalpel to Melissa, Angel returns, and knocks Ronald to pieces - literally. With those pieces buried in cement in steel boxes, Ronald's days of neurosurgery and harrassment are through.
The next day, Melissa, feeling much
better about the world, stops by the office to drop off a plant -
and to pay her bill.
Since Doyle never answered the phone, Cordelia shows up at Angel's, luggage in tow, and invites herself in. But she's hardly a gracious houseguest. So Angel makes Doyle a deal - find Cordelia an apartment, and I'll take care of your demon. After a frustrating day of apartment hunting, Cordelia agrees to check out a place recommended by a guy Doyle knows. She loves it, and the price is a steal, so she takes it. There's just one problem: as they turn to leave, an unhappy face bulges from the wall.
As Cordelia lies sound asleep in bed in her new apartment, finally settled in, creepy stuff begins. "What do you think you're doing here?" whispers a voice. The glass of water on her nightstand boils. The bed levitates. The next morning, a very dead-looking lady appears in the bathroom mirror. When Doyle and Angel stop by, the creepiness continues; though Cordelia tries to pretend it's not happening, the guys catch on fast, and they get her out of there to figure out what to do next. Back at the office, the gang researches Cordelia's building to figure out who's haunting it, and why. Maude Pearson, who built the building, died there in 1946. The spell to rid the place of the ghost is complicated, but Doyle knows a guy . . . Later, Cordelia takes a call from Angel, who tells her to meet him at the apartment. Once there, Cordelia doesn't find Angel. She finds the ghost of Maude Pearson instead, who's become quite good at sounding like Angel. Cordelia tries to leave, but the door is locked. "Poor thing," the ghost says. "You just don't fit in around here, do you? Too bad you wouldn't leave my son alone."
At the police station, Kate helps Angel dig up some files on the Pearson death. It had been called it a heart attack, but the investigating officer mentioned problems with her son, Dennis. Maude and Dennis argued a lot about his fiance. Then Dennis skipped town with her - the same day Maude dropped dead. The cops never caught him. Looking further into the database, they see that no murders have taken place in the apartment, but there have been three suicides there since Maude's death. Back at Cordelia's, the ghost of Maude has a little conversation with the new tenant. Maude wants Cordelia dead, and fashions an electrical-cord noose for her. As Cordelia hangs from the ceiling, close to becoming another apparent suicide, Doyle and Angel bust in to save her. As they try to get rid of the ghost with a spell, things get a bit dodgy, with debris flying everywhere, and Maude still spooking Cordelia. Angel decides they need to leave, but at the door, they're greeted by Griffin and two thugs. All three have guns.
Then it really gets crazy. With things swirling everywhere, Angel and Doyle fight the thugs, and Maude gets in on the act, launching knives through the air. The knives fell one of the demons, and scare off a human-looking thug, but Maude grabs Cordelia and takes her back into the bedroom. There, Cordelia bargains for her life, while Doyle and Angel duke it out with Griffin in the living room. Then Maude pushes the wrong button, calling Cordelia a "stupid little bitch."
"I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history," Cordelia says. "I take crap from no one." Cordelia's new-found venom seems to have scared off Maude, but there's something strange in her eyes as she returns to the living room, where Angel and Doyle have finally disposed of Griffin. Cordelia starts bashing at the wall with a lamp, and Maude reappears. But Cordelia doesn't stop until she's broken through the brick - and exposed a skeleton.
A flashback shows that Maude's son Dennis never ran off - Maude buried him alive in the wall, because she didn't want him marrying his fiance and leaving her. When she finally had him all sealed up, though, she keeled over dead. Dennis' ghost, now finally set free, finishes Maude off for good.
In the all's well that ends well
department, Cordelia's finally happy with her place, which she's
cleaned up nicely. And she's got a roommate now, but she never sees
him. It's the ghost of Dennis, and they get along famously.
Angel agrees, and sure enough, he tracks Little Tony down, on a pier in San Pedro. He calls Kate, who rushes over, and tells Angel to get out of there. But far be it from Angel to just get out of the way. Instead, he dresses up like a tourist and heads down to the pier, where Little Tony and two strongmen are waiting for a boat. When Little Tony gets suspicious (and who wouldn't get suspicious of a guy like Angel in a Hawaiian shirt waiting for a boat on a pier in the middle of the night?), Angel takes out the sidekicks. Little Tony turns to run, but Kate and the cops have just pulled up to welcome him.
With Tony's one phone call, he rings up the law firm of Wolfram & Hart - the same firm that represented troublemaking ghouls Russell Winters (in Episode 1) and Ronald Meltzer (Episode 4). The man at the law firm tells Tony that they've already made plans to take care of his current problem - Detective Kate Lockley - permanently. Because Kate was, well, rather rough with Little Tony, his lawyers demand that the cops in the precinct take sensitivity training, or they'll go public with charges of police brutality. So a sensitivity trainer is brought in to work with the officers. But all is not as it seems - the trainer is in cahoots with Little Tony's lawyer from Wolfram & Hart, and his intentions are far from altruistic.
Meanwhile, Kate's father Trevor is retiring from the police force, and she's been recruited to make a little speech at the retirement party. She's asked Angel to come along for moral support, and Angel, feeling certain that Little Tony has put a contract out on Kate, agrees to join her.
In her speech, Kate reveals that her mother had died years ago, and that her father had raised her by himself. But when her mother died, her father tried to be tough, unemotional. He wouldn't laugh with her, or tell her that her mother was in a better place. What was supposed to be a congratulatory send-off turns into group therapy for Kate, as she unloads a childhood full of emotional baggage. Kate's speech soon turns a party at a bar into a group breakdown for an entire precinct of cops. As some of the officers take out their anger and fears on each other, Angel escorts Kate out of there and back to the office, where Doyle and Cordelia can keep an eye on her while Angel goes hunting for a sensitivity trainer.
Unfortunately, Kate's not quite emotionally stable, and she wants to go find her daddy. Doyle and Cordelia encourage her to stay until Angel returns, but Kate really wants to find her daddy, and when she pulls out her gun, Doyle and Cordelia decide not to stand in her way.
Back at the police station, cops are unraveling emotionally, one of them so much so that he decides to set all of the prisoners - including Little Tony - free. His act of kindness is rewarded with a very kindly beat-down. With this extra-sensitive police force on the streets, the streets turn to bedlam.
Angel, who's found the sensitivity trainer and had a few words with him, rushes to the police station, where he meets up with Cordelia and Doyle. But Angel doesn't seem himself, either. "Okay," he says. "I think someone needs a hug." It turns out that the talking stick the sensitivity trainer had used to get the cops to speak their feelings infects anyone who handles it - including Angel. He explains that Wolfram & Hart hired this guy to neutralize the police so Little Tony could escape - and kill Kate himself.
Little Tony, now on the loose in the station, is after Kate. Cordelia and Doyle finally convince Angel, who's gotten a bonus dose of the sensitivity stick, to break into the building. There, Little Tony's about to shoot Kate, but Angel, sensitive guy that he is, won't have that. He cracks Little Tony with a chair, and with a little help from Kate, Doyle and Cordelia, they put him away again.
Tony makes his one call to Wolfram
& Hart again, but this time, they won't help him. He's become a
liability, but more than that, they have a new issue that concerns
them - Angel
But Harry hasn't come for a tearful reunion. She's about to marry someone else, a nerdy guy named Richard, and she needs Doyle to sign the divorce papers. Doyle, depressed by this surprise visit, explains his marital history to Angel. He and Harry weren't even 20 years old when they got married. They were madly in love with each other, but when things fell apart, they fought bitterly. She left him, Doyle says, because he wasn't the man she married. Part of it was that when he was 21, his demon self appeared. Doyle had never met his father (the demon in the family), and his mother, waiting to see if the demon genes would appear, never told Doyle about his demon lineage, so until he was 21 and found out for himself, he never knew. He and Harry had been talking about having kids of their own, but the demon part put a bit of a damper on the discussion.
Though he understands that he and Harry are now history, he's still got a bad feeling about this Richard guy, so he asks Angel if he'll do a little reconnaissance. Angel trails him into a restaurant, where he and Harry are having some wine and discussing their honeymoon plans. And then Richard turns into a big-browed, red-faced demon. That's when Angel busts in, and gives the guy a shot to the gut. But Harry screams at him to stop. She knows Richard's a demon - he's a peaceful demon, she explains, and his family owns the restaurant. Since leaving Doyle, Harry has become an ethnodemonologist, and she met Richard while she scouting clans in North America. Back at the office, Angel tells Doyle that Harry's new beau is a full demon. "Harry didn't leave because of the demon in me," Doyle admits, "she left because of me." And then he signs the divorce papers.
As if that wasn't difficult enough for Doyle, Richard invites him to his bachelor party. And Harry invites Cordelia to her bridal shower. But while Richard and his family are discussing bachelor party plans around the dinner table, it becomes apparent that they've got more in store than just drinking and a stripper. On the schedule, right before charades, is the ritual eating of the first husband's brains. At the bachelor party, Richard asks Doyle to tell him about Harry's past, and asks for his blessing on their marriage. Angel's come along for the party, but, not surprisingly, in a room full of demons, he has his suspicions. Snooping around, he discovers one of the partygoers casting a spell. He calls Harry to see if she can translate it, but as soon as he's hung up the phone, a few other partygoers get in his face, and a fight breaks out. It's four on one, and with Angel staying human, the four toss the one out a window.
Back in the bar, Doyle agrees to give Richard his blessing. But what he doesn't realize is that giving his blessing means he's given permission for the demons to cut into his skull and have his brains for a snack. Before he realizes what's happening, Doyle's locked in a box with his head poking out, and Richard's uncle is drawing a dotted line across his forehead.
When Angel gets up from his fall, he is one unhappy camper. He goes vampire, and busts back in the party. Doyle, seeing that Angel's a bit outnumbered, finally lets out his demon side, breaks out of the box and joins the fray. It's not until Harry arrives, though, that the fighting stops. She and Cordelia have figured out what the bachelor party was up to, and she's not happy about it. She's angry with Richard for not telling her about the brain eating, and she doesn't like their barbaric, ancient customs. Richard pleads with her, saying unless he completes the ritual, his family will never consent to the marriage. Harry looks at Richard, then at Doyle, then back at Richard. When she turns to walk away, she's left her engagement ring with Richard. The wedding is off.
Back at the office, Doyle is brooding, and Cordelia takes it upon herself to cheer him up. While she's making her best effort, Doyle has a headache - and a vision. And the main character in this vision is Buffy.
But it turns out that Buffy did know, and she's upset. She says so as she strolls into the office. She doesn't know what she wants from Angel, but she knows that when he's around, whether she sees him or not, she feels him, inside, and it throws her. Angel says it throws him, too. Buffy suggests they stick to their original plan, and keep their distance, until a lot of time has passed. As they agree to try to forget, an uninvited demon smashes through the window, brandishing a sword. Buffy helps Angel defend himself, but before they can finish the thing off, it jumps back out the window.
As they track it through the sewer tunnels, they talk about how confusing and difficult things are for them both. Talking draws them nearer, until they're close enough to kiss, but Buffy takes a step back. She knows nothing has changed, and that if something happens, they'll only have to leave each other again. Back to the demon hunting, Buffy suspects it's gone up into the daylight, where Angel can't follow. Though Angel doesn't like the idea of Buffy hunting alone, he suggests a demon hangout where the thing might have gone. But the demon isn't there - it's lurking in the sewer tunnels, and it jumps out after Angel. As they fight, the demon slashes Angel's hand, which starts to bleed. The fight continues, until Angel drives the demon's sword into its gut, killing it. As it dies, green demon blood oozes from its body. Some of the blood gets on Angel's hand, and sinks into his cut, surging through his body. He's in pain, but he's still alive.
And that's the rub - he's alive. The demon blood mixed with his, making him mortal. Some research into the demon reveals that its blood has regenerative properties, which explains what happened to Angel, but not why, and he wants to know. He wants to talk with The Powers That Be.
The Powers That Be can't be spoken to directly, but only through channels, so Doyle leads Angel to an oracle, where he seeks answers. There he's told that he isn't poisoned or under some spell, and that from this day, he will live, and die, as any mortal man. He is released from his duty, free to do whatever he wants. What he wants is Buffy. When he finds her, walking by the sea, in the daylight, they embrace in a passionate kiss.
Back at Angel's, the lovebirds talk. Despite the kiss, Angel feels they should be patient with the relationship, and "see if this mortal thing takes." Even if it does, things are still complicated. They agree to be mature and take their time, but as Buffy turns to leave, maturity goes out the window, and clothes fall to the floor. Buffy and Angel make each other very happy.
As Cordelia and Doyle lament their newfound "unemployment," Doyle's head slams to the bar with another mind-numbing vision. He rushes over to Angel's, to tell him that the blood of the demon has regenerated more than just Angel - the demon has regenerated itself.
As Angel and Doyle track it down, Doyle does some research. This demon not only regenerates, it comes back bigger and stronger. When they find it, the fight doesn't go as usual - Angel's a human now. Angel had left Buffy behind, fast asleep. When she awakes to find him gone, she persuades Cordelia to reveal where Angel went, and heads right over. Before the demon can plunge its sword into Angel's back, Buffy arrives, ready for slaying. But the demon won't go down easily. Finally, Angel remembers the key to killing it, and Buffy does the deed, saving them both.
Before it died, the demon said the end of days had begun. Angel goes back to the oracle, to find out if this is the truth; the oracle confirms that it is. And this means that the lives of slayers - Buffy in particular - are in danger. Angel begs for her life - and asks them to take his back. He says he can't protect her, or anyone, as a man. He knows they have it in their power to make it right. They offer to swallow this day, to take back the 24 hours from when the demon first attacked him. That would make it so that none of what happened between he and Buffy happened. Only Angel would stop it from happening again, and Angel alone will carry the memory of that day.
Back home, Angel tells Buffy that he
asked the oracles to turn him back. "Because more than
ever," Angel explains, "I know how much I love you. If I
stay mortal, one of us will wind up dead, maybe both of us."
Buffy, far from happy, tries to understand. In Angel's last few
minutes as a human, he and Buffy kiss, and they cry. When those
minutes are up, Angel and Buffy are back in his office, right before
the demon's first attack. Angel remembers everything that has
happened, but Buffy does not. When the demon bursts through the
window this time, Angel knows just how to kill it instantly. And
Buffy, impressed but not remembering a thing, walks out of Angel's
life yet again.
A bit later, Angel explains the events of the past 24 hours - at least as he experienced them. Doyle and Cordelia have no memory of any of it (see previous episode summary for full explanation). Knowing the truth, Doyle is even more impressed with Angel, and even more convinced he's a hero.
Angel's courage inspires Doyle to tell Cordelia the truth about him being half-demon. Just as he's about to tell her, though, a new vision hits him. Soon, he and Angel are investigating what looks to be an abandoned demon household. Then Angel sniffs out the demons themselves, hiding under the floorboards.
The demons are hiding because they're being hunted by the Scourge. Doyle explains to Angel that the Scourge is an army of pureblooded demons. They aren't big fans of mixed-heritage types, and they hunt them down. These demons can be killed, but they believe in what they're doing, and are ready to die for their cause.
He knows this because years earlier, he received a visit from a demon named Lucas, a Bracken demon, like Doyle. He and his clan had been living safely in the woods in Oregon until the Scourge came. Not all of them escaped. The Scourge tracked them to Los Angeles, where Lucas begged Doyle for help, but Doyle wasn't interested. Lying in bed alone after Lucas was gone, however, Doyle got his first vision. He didn't know what to make of it, but he had to know if what it showed him was real or just a dream. When he went to explore the vision he'd had, he found dozens of his demon brethren, including Lucas, slaughtered by the Scourge.
Now the Scourge is coming for these demons, and Doyle doesn't think they'll be able to fight them. But Angel says they won't have to - they'll get them out of the country. He knows the captain of a boat, and he arranges for their escape. As Cordelia and Angel work out the final details for the ship, the Scourge hits town, with Doyle and one of the young demons in their sights. But Angel's got a plan. When the Scourge comes looking for the demons in their house, Angel steps in, fully vamped, dragging a demoned-out Doyle with him. He tells these Scourgers how much he hates half-breeds (even though he is one himself), and that he wants to join them, and kill half-breeds for them.
At the pier where the getaway boat is docked, one of the demons thanks Cordelia for all the help. He also shocks Cordelia when he mentions that Doyle particularly understands their suffering, as he has to live with a certain amount of persecution himself - the kind you get when you're half demon.
While the demons load onto the ship and wait for Doyle to arrive with the youngster, the Scourge has a rally, where they prepare to eliminate the half-breed demons they're chasing in the name of purity and the greater evil. Angel's hidden among them, dressed in full uniform. But this is more than just a typical hunt-and-kill scenario. The Scourge has a beacon that, when detonated, will annihilate any creatures "contaminated" with human blood within a quarter-mile radius.
When Doyle brings the young demon back to the boat, Cordelia slaps him. She's angry that he kept his being half-demon a secret from her. She tells him she doesn't have a problem with it, then says, "Would you ask me out for dinner already?" But before Doyle can, Angel arrives. The Scourge is on its way, and the boat needs to shove off - immediately.
But there are bigger problems than
the Scourgers themselves - there's that beacon, which is armed to go
off. To shut it down, somebody will have to expose himself to its
light. Doyle decides that he is that somebody. He kisses Cordelia,
expresses his regrets, and leaps onto the beacon. As he struggles to
disarm it, its light begins to tear him apart, layer by layer. When
he finally pulls the plug, there's a flash of light. The beacon is
disarmed, and everyone is saved, but Doyle is gone. Back at the
office, Angel and Cordelia sit in the dark, watching the tape of
Doyle trying to make a commercial. "Come on over to our
offices," Doyle says, "and you'll see that there's still
heroes in this world."
Back at the office, Angel and Cordelia are still trying to deal with Doyle's loss. When Cordelia heads out the door for a commercial audition, however, a spiky-headed demon rushes in, looking for Angel. His name is Barney, he's heard that Angel helps the helpless, and he needs help. He's being chased by someone, or something, that he thinks wants to kill him. Angel asks why; Barney says that he's an empathic demon, and admits that maybe somewhere along the line he used his empathic powers to cheat a little bit at gambling.
While Cordelia's auditioning for the commercial, she's suddenly hit with a splitting headache - and a vision. When she returns to the office, the first thing she does is kiss Angel. She's figured out that Doyle passed along his power to receive visions with his parting kiss, but she doesn't want it, and she's trying to pass it along to Angel. But it doesn't work. Neither of them feels anything from the kiss. When Barney comes in the room, Cordelia kisses him, too, but that doesn't work, either. Angel decides to check out Barney's apartment for clues. As he opens the door, he's greeted by the man who's been chasing Barney. It's Angel's old pal Wesley, and he's armed with a crossbow. He no longer works for the Watcher's Council, so now he's a rogue demon hunter, working on his own, and he's chasing down a particularly nasty demon now. Angel's confused; if it's Barney that Wesley's after, Barney hardly seems dangerous. But Wesley says that this demon he's chasing has left a trail of corpses, human and demon, all mutilated. Each of the victims possessed some unique power; whatever the physical source of their power, it was ripped, gouged or torn from their corpses - this demon is collecting powers. Just as Wesley is explaining what it looks like, and that it's secreting some sort of yellow viscous fluid, some of that fluid drops on his shoulder - and the demon drops from the ceiling. Angel and Wesley battle it, and when Wesley picks up his crossbow, he shoots the demon, and it jumps out the window.
Back at Angel's, Barney's talking with Cordelia, not looking at all like the demon that jumped Angel and Wesley at his apartment. Then Angel and Wesley arrive, and explain that Barney isn't the demon Wesley's looking for - the demon he's looking for is looking for Barney. This demon is a Kungai demon; Angel heads to Koreatown to see if he can find it. When he does, it's lying in a Korean spa, dying.
Barney, meanwhile, is chatting up Cordelia, who's been left behind at Angel's. She explains to Barney about the visions (and accompanying headaches) that Doyle left her with. While she's making some coffee for them both, Barney calls a buddy of his on his cell phone. "Hank, it's me," he says. "Of course I got the Kungai horn - in a safe place. But listen," he adds, turning to look at Cordelia, "I think I just found something even better."
As Barney turns not-so-friendly on Cordelia, Angel, and Wesley, who's joined him, listen as the dying Kungai demon tries to speak to them. It says someone has stolen his horn, and that more will die. That someone is a demon, a heart reader. Angel realizes he means an empath demon - and that he means Barney.
Angel and Wesley head back to check on Cordelia, but Barney's already taken her away, and he has her bound and gagged. Piecing clues together, Angel and Wesley realize where Barney has taken her - and that he's going to try to sell her, and her powers, at a demon auction. There, a lawyer from Wolfram & Hart offers the highest bid. But she wants Cordelia with her eyes extracted.
As Barney's about to tear out
Cordelia's eyes, Angel and Wesley bust in. Angel does battle with
some demons, but it's Cordelia, set free by Wesley, who drives the
lethal stake into Barney's back to save the day.
Wesley, meanwhile, is a shaken by the newspaper story about the murdered girl. He explains to Cordelia that as a Watcher in Sunnydale, he did extensive research on Angel, and the story in the paper looks chillingly familiar. In the late 1700s, when Angel was known as Angelus, it was his custom to "sign" his victims, by cutting a Christian cross into their left cheek. Wesley fears Angel's committed these killings - which is why he's come armed with a stake.
Then Angel himself appears. He has no memory of doing any of these things, but he's been having killing dreams, and he's been enjoying them. He's also afraid that he's acting them out. To be sure, Wesley and Cordelia chain him to his bed for the night. While he sleeps, Angel has the same dream, this time set two centuries ago. He wakes, but can't break free from the chains. Just then, Cordelia comes in with the morning paper. There's been another killing, while Angel was chained in bed. Revisiting the dream, Angel realizes that he wasn't the killer in it - it was his prot¿, Penn. In the present day, Penn is assembling his many press clippings on the wall of his apartment.
At the police station, Angel and Kate talk in a room lined with the murder photos. Seeing them, Angel makes a realization - Penn is reliving a previous mass murder. He gives Kate a sketch of Penn, and describes the next victim, and the location of the next crime.
But Penn is crafty. Though police patrol the area, they can't stop his next kill - they arrive as he's feeding on the victim. Sirens wailing, Penn escapes into an abandoned building. When Angel and Wesley arrive at the scene, Kate has already entered the building in pursuit.
Inside, she finds Penn, and shoots him. But the bullets don't work; when Kate comes to cuff him, he tosses her away. Then Angel drops in for a reunion. He and Penn haven't seen each other in a lifetime, but Angel's not there for pleasantries - he's there to kill his former student. A wicked battle begins. Penn escapes, but Kate was watching, and she saw Angel in vampire form.
Angel tells Kate he knows details have been left out of the papers - like that the victims have been drained of their blood. He also knows she won't stop the killer, not this way. It'll take direct sunlight, decapitation, or a stake through the heart. But Kate doesn't believe him - she says that's all just children's stories. Penn, meanwhile, has turned up at the offices, where Cordelia makes him a sales pitch (and gives away too much information) before realizing who he is. She saves herself by pulling up the blinds, and then Angel arrives. The two trade verbal barbs across a sunbeam, when Wesley arrives - on Penn's side. Now Penn has a hostage. But he lets him go - and tells Angel to expect the worst possible thing he can imagine. Angel pays a visit to Kate at home. She's been doing her research; she now believes Penn is a vampire - and she realizes who Angel is, too. She says she knows how to kill Penn - a stake through the heart - and suggests that when she finds him, Angel not be around, or she'll kill him, too.
Angel, Wesley and Cordelia have also been researching, and they've figured out where Penn lives. When Wesley and Angel break in, they see pictures of a school bus laid out on the table, and realize who Penn's next victims will be.
But Penn has something else in mind. As Kate briefs detectives at the station, he barges in. Tossing cops to the side, he grabs Kate as she reaches for her stake. Angel and Wesley arrive at the station, and realize that Penn's there. He's dragged Kate down to the tunnels below. When Angel follows him there, the real fireworks begin.
The fight rages, until Penn has Angel
in a headlock. But Kate has found a stake, and she knows just what
to do with it. She drives it right through Angel's stomach - and
into Penn's heart. Angel is in pain, but Penn is mere dust.
Meanwhile, Cordelia and Wilson are enjoying their date. When he drops her off for the night, they kiss; she invites him in. Soon Wilson and Cordelia are in bed together.
The next morning, though, Cordelia finds herself in bed alone - and pregnant. Angel and Wesley, concerned when Cordelia doesn't show up to work, break into her place and find her in bed, scared. Angel convinces her to call Wilson, but when she does, the number has been disconnected. In fact, all his numbers are disconnected, with no forwarding information. Angel sets out to see what he can find, while Wesley takes Cordelia to the hospital for a pre-natal exam. Her ultrasound reveals there are at least seven heartbeats. When they take amniotic fluid from the womb to run tests, the syringe cracks, and the fluid, spilling out, eats through the floor. Wesley suggests they find Angel.
He's been checking out the club Cordelia was at the night before. The bartender suggests he talk to Cordelia's friend, Serena, so he pays her a visit. She's pregnant, too. And she can't reach the guy she was with, either. Back at Angel's, Wesley tries to put Cordelia at ease. He's just gotten her to fall asleep when Angel arrives with the news of Serena. As they formulate a plan, they hear a noise, and see that Cordelia's gotten out of bed for a snack from Angel's fridge - she's drinking blood.
Angel tracks Wilson down at a gun club where Serena said he and his buddies hang out, but Wilson's not interested in talking. Angel, however, has a way of getting people to talk. But he realizes that Wilson's human, and now he's confused. He wants to know how this whole thing works.
Wesley, meanwhile, is researching what's growing inside Cordelia, and he finds the demon in a book. He reassures her that now that they've figured out the species, they'll be able to stop what's happening to her. But this doesn't reassure her. Instead, she smacks him in the face with the book. "You're not going to hurt my babies," she says menacingly. "No one's going to hurt my babies."
Back at the gun club, as Wilson's buddies come to his defense, Angel starts to piece together the puzzle. The demon needs a surrogate to impregnate human women, and these guys help him out in exchange for fame, money and success. Angel wants to know where this demon is. Wilson thinks he's pretty clever when he shoots Angel instead of telling him, but Angel really doesn't like it when people shoot him. The bullets bring out his vampire side, and he quickly disposes of Wilson's buddies. Then he plants his boot along Wilson's chin. "Now you're gonna tell me what I need to know." In the meantime, at an abandoned industrial park, Cordelia and several other expectant mothers are gathering.
Angel and Wesley are starting to figure things out. Angel knows where the women are meeting, and Wesley has found out that if they kill the beast, all its babies will die - it would be like cutting a psychic umbilical cord. But this will not be an easy beast to kill. Fire won't kill it, decapitation won't kill it, and, as Wesley explains, "it's really huge."
At the industrial park, Cordelia and the other mothers-to-be put on white gowns, and wade into a pool of yellowish liquid. Wesley approaches, and tries to get Cordelia, and all the women, to come out, but they refuse - they serve their master, she says. Just then, they all turn to hear the sound of grunts and giant footsteps. The master has come, and he's not pleased to see Wesley there.
Wesley explains that he's come for
mortal combat, a battle to the death. And then Angel arrives. He
tosses a huge tank of liquid nitrogen at the beast. When he catches
it, Wesley pulls out his gun, shooting a hole in the tank. The
nitrogen sprays forth from the tank, freezing the demon and killing
it. As it freezes, the babies the mothers are carrying die as well.
Cordelia, relieved of her burden, steps out of the liquid, and
delivers the final blow to the demon - she swings an enormous pulley
its way, shattering it to pieces. "I really hate dating,"
she groans. Back at the office two days later, Cordelia's back to
herself. And she's learned something - she now knows two people she
can trust with her life.
While Cordelia and Wesley do some research, Angel does some snooping of his own, heading to the victim's office. The victim was in private security, and Angel wants to know who hired him. Breaking in, Angel finds a shipping order from the ice factory. And then something finds him. This something starts kicking the crap out of Angel, until she gets a call on her cell phone and takes off. Angel follows. She drives to an art gallery, where she slips into the crowd. Knowing Angel's on her tail, she tells the guard a man in a black coat is stalking her, but Angel's pretty crafty himself - he takes off his coat and acts like a tour guide explaining a painting. Slipping past the guards, he follows her to a back room, and tries to get answers. But she's not talking - she's there to receive another she-demon, who arrives via portal. He asks what they're running from, but she says it's not his concern - he is not one of them. Just then, Tei and a few pals burst in the room. But Angel can see this demon he was chasing needs help, so he takes on the thugs. Though Angel and the she-demon take care of most of them, Tei and the others make off with the new arrival.
Back at Angel's, the she-demon explains things. She is Jira, of Oldun-Tao, where she is daughter to a king. In her land, a person's personality, passions and impulses sit in an area of the body along the upper spine, called Ko. Once females of her people come of age, Ko controls their physical and sexual power. When it's removed, they can be easily controlled. But Jira escaped, with her Ko intact. When she first got to earth, she couldn't control her Ko - she burned with a fever, and needed ice to cool it off. She stayed on ice for months, until the worst of it passed, and she could learn to control her power.
Jira's father promised happiness and a better life for everyone, but that wasn't what the women of her land got. So she denounced him and came to Earth to see his promise come true for all the women of Oldun-Tao. She was the first to escape; now she helps other women escape to Earth as well. When the girls come to Earth, they can't control their Ko either, so she helps them cool off until they can. But Tei and his cronies have been sent to stop her, and to send her and her refugees back home. Angel wants to help, but Jira wants him to stay out of her way.
Wesley and Cordelia, meanwhile, do some snooping of their own, and find Tei and his cohorts preparing to send the new arrival - minus her Ko - back home through the portal. But the one they really want is Jira. Then one of Tei's assistants arrives - he's found an ice plant that's shipping two tons of ice a week to a spa in Palm Springs.
Cordelia and Wesley rush back to tell Angel; this information explains the shipping order he found earlier. They take off for the spa, where Jira has three girls on ice.
They arrive just before Tei and his gang, and warn Jira. As Cordelia and Wesley help get the girls out safely, Angel and Jira do battle with Tei. Jira escapes with the girls, and Angel shows Tei that he's not human - and suggests that he and his boys grab the next portal off Earth.
The next morning, Jira arrives at the
office to report that the girls are safe outside the city. She and
Angel come to an uneasy agreement - she'll do what she thinks is
right to protect her people, and Angel will do the same.
She sees a house, where Angel and Wesley find a boy named Ryan sleepwalking into the middle of the street. Angel saves him from a speeding car, and his parents rush outside. But something is amiss - earlier, the parents locked Ryan in his bedroom for the night.
Ryan's mother, Paige, invites Angel in to tend to his cut shoulder and thank him profusely. They've just moved in, she explains; Angel is suspicious. Though the father, Seth, clearly doesn't like him, Paige invites him to dinner. He accepts. Outside, Wesley's suspicious, too - he snoops around in the garbage, and finds plactazine all around the foundation of the house. It means someone in the house is possessed by a demon.
Research reveals that the family has moved a lot in the last three years. Reports of disturbances have followed them. Wesley suggests they'll need to do an exorcism. He'll look into finding someone who can perform one, but first they need to get the demon to reveal itself. The way to do that is to have him ingest eucalypsis powder. When Angel arrives for dinner the next night, he brings brownies.
After an awkward meal, the brownies are brought out - and they bring out the demon in Ryan. Angel tells the parents that Ryan's possessed. Paige is upset, but Seth sees that Angel knows what he's talking about. He asks Angel for help.
Angel brings Ryan and his parents back to his place. They lay him on a bed, placing binding powder around it to keep him there while Wesley and Angel track down a priest. But the priest they're looking for, Father Fredricks, is dead. He was killed six months earlier, by an Ethros demon, just like the one possessing Ryan. There's only one option - Wesley will have to do the exorcism. While he's researching the ritual he finds out how Father Fredericks was killed. When an Ethros demon is cast out, it immediately seeks another body to inhabit. The demon is expelled with such force that the newly-inhabited rarely survives.
Back at Angel's, Ryan lures Paige to him and begins to strangle her. Angel and Wesley have returned, and they break in. Wielding a cross, Wesley forces the demon back into Ryan, and Paige is set free. Things are calm, for the moment. While Wesley prepares for the exorcism, Cordelia reads about an Ethros box, used to trap an Ethros demon once it leaves a body. Without one, the demon enters the nearest warm body, but unfortunately, authentic Ethros boxes are hard to come by. Fortunately, Angel knows a place that might have one.
As Wesley goes to work, the demon taunts him, bringing up all his life's failures. He's trying to win the mental battle; when he enrages Wesley and gets him to cross through the ring of binding powder, he stabs Wesley in the neck with his cross. While Paige, Seth and Angel tend to Wesley's wound, Cordelia comes back with a box. It's not quite an Ethros box, but it'll have to do. Then the demon makes the room shake - and speaks to Angel in Doyle's voice. Now Angel's pissed. Wrapping a black cloth around his hand, he picks up the cross - he's going to perform the exorcism himself.
The exorcism works, but there's a problem: while the demon headed toward the box, it didn't go in it. It smashed right though it. Angel has an idea of where it might be. While Ryan enjoys hot chocolate back home, Angel and Wesley track the demon to caves by the sea. There he tells a chilling story - though he was possessing Ryan, Ryan had no soul. That boy's mind, he says, was the blackest hell he'd ever known. He tried to get Ryan to end his life, even if it meant ending his own, but didn't succeed. And now Ryan is still alive, unpossessed but evil nevertheless, back with his family.
Angel slays the demon, then he and Wesley race back to Ryan's house. There, Ryan has stolen his father's matches, locked his parents in their room and poured gasoline all over his sister Stephanie's room. Then he dropped a lit match.
Seth and Paige break free to find Stephanie's room in flames. Then Angel breaks in, saving Stephanie from the fire.
As the fire fighters put out the
blaze, Ryan is taken away by the police. Seth, in shock, tells Angel
he won't be able to cover for his son anymore.
Angel remembers this scene as he fights a demon in a subway tunnel. As Angel finishes it off, Kate arrives on the scene. Outside the tunnel, police are taking statements from witnesses; Kate spots her father there. He says he heard there was a situation, and thought he'd stop by. Kate thinks he's checking up on her.
Flash back to Ireland. Angel's remembering a bar fight, and two lovely lasses watching him and smiling. He's remembering smiling back at one when Cordelia snaps him back to the present. Wesley has checked the books, and found the demon in the tunnel, but he's curious - all the books say it should have been a peaceful, balancing demon. What would make a peaceful demon attack a subway train full of commuters? Angel visits Kate to see what she knows. Since the demon's dead, though, she'd rather just forget about it.
While Cordelia and Wesley find the demon's body and take a piece to run tests, Angel follows a suspicious-looking delivery guy who was on that train. While he's tracking him, the guy receives a phone call and drives off. Angel follows him to an apartment building, where he picks up a package - from Kate's father.
After the delivery guy is gone, Angel knocks on Mr. Lockley's door, and accuses him of removing something from the crime scene that somebody didn't want the police to find. He denies it, but Angel warns him - he will find out what's going on. When Mr. Lockley slams his door, Angel has another flashback - his father is kicking him out of the house. Later, when he walks into the arms of Darla, one of the girls who watched the bar fight, she takes a bite from his neck - she's a vampire. Slumped to his knees at her feet, Liam's face falls into her chest, where she's spread some of his blood. And he tastes it.
Back at Angel's (in the present again), Wesley is dissecting the piece of demon, and confirms the species. He also finds a substance in its system, a drug, that would explain why it attacked the subway train - it was jonesing for more. Then Cordelia, who's been tracking (and videotaping) the delivery guy, pops in. She has a tape of him at Kel's Exotic Auto, which Angel thinks is the drug source.
Meanwhile, at Kel's, Kate's father arrives. He's been smuggling for the people there, but he thought it was just auto parts - he doesn't know what's in the other packages. And he tells them Angel's been looking into their operation. After Mr. Lockley leaves, the boss appears. He's a bit demon, and he wants Angel and Mr. Lockley both killed.
Flash back to old tyme Ireland: Liam's family weeps at a funeral - Liam's funeral. But when Darla visits his grave later that night, he emerges a vampire. When he then goes to visit his father, he's out for blood.
Flash forward to L.A.: Angel's headed out to investigate Kel's, but he doesn't get far - two of the "peaceful" demons break into the office. Angel returns, with a vial of the drug, which he uses as bait. He tosses one demon out the window, and pumps the other for information.
Things look bad for Mr. Lockley. Angel calls Kate, telling her to go to her father's place and get him out of there; he's on his way. At Mr. Lockley's apartment, the two fellows from Kel's have already arrived. Then Angel knocks, and asks Mr. Lockley to invite him in; he tells Angel to leave. That's when the two guys turn vampire. Since Angel wasn't invited in, he can't enter until Mr. Lockley is dead; soon enough, he is. Angel leaps in, fashions a stake from a chair leg and slays one of the vampires, but the other gets away, just as Kate arrives to find her father dead. In the wreckage of her father's apartment, she finds a business card from Kel's. Angry, she heads straight there, and begins shooting. Then she pulls out a stake, and begins slaying. Soon the demon boss appears. But so does Angel, armed for battle. Together, he and Kate slay the crowd, but Kate, still upset, isn't very appreciative.
Flashing back to the past, Angel
reviews the carnage of his own family, which he has created. He
feels quite powerful, but Darla reminds him that while his victory
over his father took but moments, his father's disapproval will
haunt him for lifetimes.
While Darren writes down everything he saw, Angel goes to chat with Jack's bookie. The bookie suggests a place Angel might look. There, Angel finds two howler demons. Using force, Angel gets answers - Jack has been sold.
Angel's next stop is a private club, where spectators are cheering, and wagering on, a demon steel cage match. When Angel spots Jack in the crowd, he follows him toward a back room. When he finds Jack, he also finds that he's been set up - Jack and Dennis are waiting for him. Angel resists, but is subdued with electric shocks. Jack and Dennis are going to put Angel in the steel cage.
When he finally comes to, Angel finds himself locked in a cell. He's one of many prisoners, mostly demons, who will be used for sport. They've all been fitted with steel bracelets that will cause them to be disintegrated if they try to escape. The only way they can earn their freedom is to make 21 kills in the steel cage. Back at the office, Wesley and Cordelia start to worry about Angel. Wesley decides to follow in Angel's footsteps and go see the bookie. When Wesley arrives, the bookie is roughing somebody up, and laughs when Wesley asks for information. But Wesley knows how to play rough, too.
Back at the gambling club, the slaves on that night's fight card are warming up. Angel's being sent out for his first fight, and one of the other slaves tries to give him some pointers. But Angel says he won't kill anyone. In the ring, he doesn't really fight - he just defends himself. The crowd boos. Soon, that crowd includes Wesley and Cordelia, who, posing as detectives, duped two fightgoers out of their tickets. Once inside, they spot Darren, and then they spot Angel, fighting in the cage.
When Darren provides a knife for Angel's opponent, Angel can play pacifist no longer. Cut on the arm by the demon, Angel turns vampire, and makes the kill for the victory.
Back in the slave quarters after his fight, Angel tries to persuade his fellow prisoners not to fight. "We can fight them, but only if we stop fighting each other," he says. "I'm giving you another way out." But the slaves ignore him. Outside the club, Wesley and Cordelia discuss strategy. They can't call the police; the McNamaras would just destroy the evidence, and kill Angel. They need to get Angel out of his cuffs. Wesley thinks he might be able to make a key, if only he could get his hands on one of them. Conveniently, Cordelia has sticky fingers. Later, in slave quarters, Jack comes by to insult the demons. But Angel's not taking it - he reaches across the line and grabs Jack, pulling him over to the slave side and putting him in a headlock. But none of the other prisoners moves to help. Guards summon Darren, and Angel tries to negotiate for freedom. But Jack's life isn't that valuable to Darren - he shoots Jack through the heart, killing him. Two guards jump over and subdue Angel with electric shockers.
When Angel awakes, he's not in a cell, but in the office of Lilah Morgan, fight fan and Wolfram & Hart associate. She convinced McNamara to sell Angel's contract to the partners. He's free - as long as he pretends nothing happened. Lilah proposes they work together, but Angel's not interested, so he's taken back to the club, where he's scheduled to fight Trepkos, a demon going for his 21st kill.
As Angel and Trepkos fight, Wesley and Cordelia, who've made a key to the cuffs, sneak into the arena. Wesley tries to get one of the demons to help him, but the demon instead steals the key.
Angel gets the upper hand in the
fight, with the tip of a spear at Trepkos' throat. But Angel can't
kill him. He lets him up. But Trepkos, one kill away from freedom,
goes after Angel, battering him. Then, as Trepkos readies to deliver
a fatal blow, he holds back, sparing Angel. The crowd goes silent,
and Darren orders the guards to kill them both. But the demon that
stole Wesley's key has freed himself - and the other demons. Before
the guards kill anyone, the demons burst into the ring, killing the
guards and freeing Angel and Trepkos from their cuffs. The final
kill is Dennis, who's fitted with a bracelet, tossed from the ring,
and turned to a pile of dust.
The next morning, Rebecca comes to see Angel. Someone's stalking her, and she needs help. But Angel says he can't take the case. He gives Rebecca a folder with information on the car that ran her down, and suggests she give it to her people. "You don't need me," he says.
Cordelia can't believe it. Desperate for a Hollywood contact, she doesn't understand why Angel won't take the case. But Wesley can see that Angel didn't take it because he likes Rebecca, and he's afraid of getting close to her.
Later, Rebecca is home alone, party guests having just left. Actually, she's not quite alone. Someone's lurking. But before he can do any harm, another lurker - Angel - smashes through a window and scares him off. As Rebecca thanks him, she looks into a mirror across the room and sees no reflection of Angel. When she turns back to him, he's gone.
After the police have left, she goes looking for Angel. He hasn't left. She's figured out that he's a vampire, and she's not scared. And she doesn't want to be alone for the night. Angel is on the case after all.
The next day, Rebecca meets with her agent, Oliver, for lunch. He's set up an audition for her, for a new show. That night, Rebecca has a premiere to attend, and she wants Angel along as her bodyguard. At the theater, Angel, looking dapper in a suit, walks down the red carpet with Rebecca. But one of the security guards isn't concerned with looks - he's concerned with shooting Rebecca. When she and Angel walk into the alley behind the theater (she goes to premieres for the photo op, not the movie), the guy takes aim. Angel protects her, then goes after the goon and takes him out.
As the police take Angel's statement, Oliver appears. But Rebecca's not happy with him - she's figured out that he's arranged the attacks. Oliver explains that he did it for the publicity, to help her get the series. Then Oliver tells her that she didn't get the part; the network feels she's too mature for the role. "We're going to have to face it," he says, "that nobody stays young forever." But Rebecca knows someone who does. Smiling, she glances over at Angel.
The next day, Rebecca asks Cordelia out to lunch, and shopping. She wants to know Angel's story, and how he became a vampire.
Later, she stops by Angel's place for a visit, bringing a bottle of Dom Perignon to thank him. As they drink, she bumps Angel's glass, spilling champagne on his shirt. As he goes to change, she pours something in his drink. When he returns, she hands him the glass, and they toast. As the drug takes effect, Rebecca tries to seduce him - she wants him to make her a vampire. Angel tells her she really doesn't want that, then gets up to show her just what she's asking for. He pulls a pint of blood from the fridge and sprays it in her mouth, angry. When he sees Rebecca spattered with blood, he realizes she's put something in his drink. She starts to cry, and says she just wanted them both to be happy. Then Angel turns vampire, and takes a bite.
She's freed him, and now she's really scared. Angel chases her around the apartment, then disappears. Wesley and Cordelia then appear, and find Rebecca. She tells them that she gave Angel a tranquilizer that induces happiness. But it's synthetic, so Angel's not really free - the effects will wear off. Still, it's not a good idea to stick around, so they prepare to leave, but Angel cuts the power, and reappears.
Wesley tries to reason with him, and explain that he's feeling simulated bliss, mere chemical suggestion. Angel insults him, and tosses him to the floor. Then he comes after Cordelia, who whips out a bottle of water, claiming it's holy water. Angel thinks she's bluffing. She is, but when she throws it at him, it distracts him enough that Wesley, who's recovered, can toss him down the elevator shaft.
Angel awakes the next morning,
himself again, but chained to the bed. Wesley and Cordelia agree to
put the incident behind them - and leave Angel chained to the bed
for a while.
In another part of town, Faith steps off a Greyhound bus. As she's walking away from the station, a sleazy guy approaches her, trying to pick her up. Without much effort, she takes him down, and steals his jacket, wallet and keys. Flash back to Borsa, Romania, 1898: Darla has brought Angelus a birthday gift - a young gypsy girl.
Flash forward to the office: Angel is trying to convince Marquez to testify, but he's not interested. Angel makes him interested, and drags him into court, where he testifies - against one of Wolfram & Hart's clients.
Meanwhile, Faith is dancing the night away at a club. But it's not long before she starts a fight - one that becomes an all-out brawl. When word of this new rogue slayer in town gets out, the folks at Wolfram & Hart have an idea of how to solve their Angel problem.
Lilah, of Wolfram & Hart, tracks Faith down. She brings Faith back to the W&H offices, where a trio of attorneys reviews Faith's rap sheet. They tell her that if she performs a service for them, they can clear her record. When they tell her it's Angel they want killed, Faith quickly says, "No problem."
Romania flashback: Darla returns home to find Angel cowering in the corner. The gypsies have found him, and put a spell on him - they've given him a soul. Darla chases him away, out into the street. She doesn't want to see him anymore.
In the present, as Cordelia, Wesley and Angel talk in the lobby of an office building, preparing to meet a potential client for lunch, Faith arrives - with a crossbow. She shoots it at Angel, but before it hits him, he spins around and grabs it with his hand. Faith smiles, then scampers away. Clearly, she's no longer in a coma, as Angel had thought.
Back at the office, Angel has checked in with Giles, who reports that Faith left Sunnydale a week ago, in a borderline psychotic mental state. Angel tells Wesley and Cordelia to do some research into recent fights and killings, and then to get scarce - he doesn't want them out there as targets.
Later, Faith pays a visit to the office. To her, this is a game, and she's glad to play it. She fires a bullet at Angel, wounding him, then takes her leave - through the window.
Angel decides he's going to drop in for a visit of his own - at Wolfram & Hart. He pops into the office of Lindsey McDonald, W&H's lead attorney, and starts looking through files. Then Lindsey pops in himself, and when he won't tell Angel anything about Faith, a few verbal jabs are traded. But with security on its way up to take care of the disturbance, Angel leaves, peacefully.
When Wesley and Cordelia arrive at Cordelia's apartment to pack a bag, Faith is there waiting for them. She doesn't feel Angel's really in the game, but she thinks Cordelia and Wesley may be the key. Wesley tries to reason with her - he says it's not too late to let him help her. He believes in his heart that she is not a bad person. Of course, when she gives Cordelia an elbow to the face, he believes she deserves a fist to the jaw. Faith then believes Wesley is in need of a kick to the gut. When Angel arrives, Cordelia's on the floor, and Wesley - and Faith - are gone. Faith has taken Wesley to her adopted apartment, where she is torturing him, mentally and physically.
Flashback, Romania: A dirty, ragged Angelus roams the streets, hungry, and he doesn't want food, he wants blood. He attacks some humans - but he can't bring himself to feed on them.
Back in the present at Cordelia's, she and Angel review crime reports, trying to track Faith down. When Angel finds her, she's got a knife to Wesley's throat. Angel is ready to play.
A brutal battle begins, tearing apart
the apartment and spilling out into the alley below, where it starts
to rain. Though Faith fights viciously, Angel knows what she really
wants - for him to kill her. As the fight wears on, Faith wears
down. Finally, she breaks down in tears. "I'm bad," she
cries. "Just kill me." Angel holds her in his arms.
The next morning, at the office, a bruised Cordelia, and a bruised Wesley, recap the events of the previous night. Wesley isn't happy that Faith is lying in bed unbound and ungagged. He knows there is evil in her, and tells Angel that if he sets Faith free, she'll kill again. Back downstairs, Angel tells Faith that he understands what she's going through, and he wants to help.
Meanwhile, at the law offices of Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey finds out that Faith is at Angel's, and hasn't killed him. Lindsey's not happy about Faith making them look like fools; they hire a demon to kill her.
Back at Angel's, a rested Faith is packing up to go, and having murderous flashbacks. Angel says she can leave, but that doesn't mean she'll be free. He asks her where she'll go. "Back out in that darkness? . . . You thought that you could just touch it, that you'd be okay. Five by five, right Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me - how'd you like it?"
At that, she turns and slaps him. "Help me?" she asks timidly. Angel says he will. Wesley has gone to a pub to drown his sorrows and throw darts. There, he's visited by three old friends - Watchers. They tell him the Council is willing to reinstate him, and return him to his position as Watcher - if he will bring them Faith. She is evil, they say, and must be stopped. The Council wants Faith alive, they say; they want to transport her back to England for rehabilitation. They give Wesley a syringe filled with a powerful sedative to do the job. But before Wesley agrees, he has a condition - he must have their word that no harm will come to Angel. The Watchers agree.
At Angel's, he and Faith talk about what she must do to set herself free. She can't stand the pain she's feeling, but Angel says she needs to deal with it - it's the pain she's caused, coming back to her. Then Faith realizes that she has to make things right with Buffy, too - and lets slip that Buffy has a new boyfriend. Later, as Faith is watching TV, she sees her face on the screen - the police (and Kate in particular) are looking for her. But they're not the only ones. The Wolfram & Hart assassin is crawling along Angel's ceiling, preparing to strike. It jumps down, and after a brief fight, Faith slays it.
And then Buffy appears. She's doesn't like what she sees, and when Angel tells her that Faith is trying to change, Buffy won't believe it. She wants Faith in jail. Angel sends Faith upstairs, but Buffy doesn't even want to let Faith out of sight. When Angel steps in between them, Buffy hits him, and he hits her back. Faith finally goes upstairs, so Angel and Buffy can talk.
Upstairs, a scared Faith tries to listen in when Wesley walks through the door. As Buffy plunges the verbal daggers into Angel, Wesley walks downstairs with Faith. He hasn't injected her; he explains that the Council's operations team is on the way, and they'll expect to find Angel gone, and Faith drugged. As Angel, Wesley and Buffy devise a plan of escape, Faith slips away.
At Wolfram & Hart, the lawyers can't believe their second assassin was killed. Lindsey suggests they stop trying to play outside the law, and bring this to their turf. So he heads to the police station, where he tries to get Kate to help, but she's not a Wolfram & Hart fan. Lindsey suggests they have a common enemy, and shows her a photo of Angel. He then tells Kate that the woman she's looking for - Faith - is with Angel.
Back at Angel's, Buffy chases Faith up onto the roof of the building. They argue about the past, and the future, until one of the Council operatives arrives and starts shooting. A second busts in on Wesley and Angel, a gun in one hand and a crossbow in the other.
On the roof, Buffy and Faith try to run to another building when a helicopter rises up, with the third operative, who begins shooting as well. While Wesley handles the first attacker (throwing the syringe into his neck like a dart), Angel rushes to the roof. Leaping from the roof onto the helicopter, he grabs the Council operative and tosses him to the roof. When the helicopter lands, Angel finds the police waiting for him on the ground. Kate asks him where Faith is; he doesn't answer. She has him arrested.
Wesley and Buffy race to the police station. When they arrive, Faith is already there, ready to make a confession.
Afterward, Buffy and Angel argue. Buffy says she came because Angel was in danger; Angel says she came because she was looking for Faith and wanted vengeance. Buffy insists she has a right to it. Angel's reply: "Not in my city." Buffy then tells Angel that she has someone in her life now that she loves. It's not what they had; it's new - new because she trusts him, and she knows him. Now it's Angel's turn to be angry. He's glad she moved on, but he can't, and it cuts him up inside every time he sees her. "You don't know me anymore," he snarls, "so don't come down here with your great new life and expect me to do things your way. Go home."
"See?" Buffy says as she
walks away. "Faith wins again." But Faith is locked in a
jail cell. Peace is not an easy thing to find, but at least now she
has a chance.
Meanwhile, Cordelia is in heaven, as she, Angel and Wesley make an appearance at a trendy Hollywood party. Billionaire software tycoon David Nabbit has invited them there to talk about his case. Back in high school, David and his friends were big Dungeons and Dragons nerds. Some of them got really into it, and found their way to Madam Dorian's, a Bel Air demon brothel. David went 12 times, and now a guy named Lenny is threatening to blackmail him. He doesn't want his stockholders to find out about this.
So Angel pays a visit to M
