Judgment
Cordelia has a vision that leads Angel to a nasty looking demon. Angel kills it only to find that it was protecting a pregnant woman whose baby is supposed to be something great- a seer or a fighter, they don't say. Turns out the demon was like Angel- his breed was something that was evil, but he wasn't- instead he fought for good. To make a long story short- there is this Tribunal. If a champion goes before the Tribunal & defeats another fighter, the person the champion is representing is granted asylum- protection. Angel killed the pregnant woman's champion so Angel has to take his place. Of course, Angel defeats the other guy, & the woman and her baby are granted asylum. In this episode Angel is feeling cocky about one day becoming human. He's lost sight of his mission. This case brings him back to reality. Also, Cordelia tells Angel that she's going to be there to fight with him until he is human- even if she does become internationally famous in the meantime. & Gunn meets Cordelia and Wesley as he helps Angel with this latest case. Darla is briefly in this episode- she's recovering & interested in paying Angel a visit. &, at the end, Angel makes a visit to a Los Angeles jail to see Faith, who is dealing with redemption one day at a time- just like Angel. Also, Angel goes to a Karaoke bar for demons & meets a demon that can read people when they sing. His name is The Host.
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
Last week, in the process of rescuing the pregnant woman, Angel came up from the sewers in an abandoned hotel. This week, he asks Cordy & Wesley to look into the hotel's history. In the 1950s Angel stayed in this hotel, which was located in the heart of 1950s Hollywood. The entire hotel was full of people who had something to hide. Angel meets Judy. Although Angel wants nothing to do with this woman's life or her problems he ends up getting involved. Judy has stolen a bag full of cash from her employers- a bank- who just fired her because they found out she was part black (she was light enough to pass for white). As you can imagine, she's lost hope in humanity. Angel & Judy teach eachother that the world isn't all bad. Judy makes Angel care enough to acknowledge that something is wrong in the hotel. Something is whispering evil to its residents. Angel goes to a shop in L.A. to find out what the creature is & how to get rid of it. He returns to the hotel as Judy is being harassed by lots of hotel residents incited in a mass panic. Judy, in fear, blames a certain death on Angel. The group lynch Angel. Later, he gets himself down & encounters the demon causing all this mess. Instead of fighting with it, he leaves it to its prey because Angel's just lost all hope in humanity. In the present day, Angel- with Cordy, Wesley, & Gunn- chant the demon into showing itself. When it does, it tells Angel that it's still feeding. Angel electrocutes it & goes upstairs to see Judy. Angel & Judy make peace, & Judy, now free of her paranoia, rests. Angel comes downstairs & tells everyone that they're moving into the hotel. Wesley warns that the hotel is a place of evil, to which Angel replys: "not anymore."
First Impressions
Darla is visiting Angel in his dreams, little does he know that she's also in his reality. Darla sends Angel dreams where they have a rekindled relationship. Yet there is a dark side to the happy fantasy where Darla is slowly trying to get Angel to see that his friends- Cordy, Wesley, & Gunn- don't give him his dues & that, basically, fighting evil is a thankless, worthless job. In this episode, billionaire David Nabbit gives Angel financial advice on the hotel & Gunn asks Angel for help with a demon in his neighborhood. The group is unsuccessful in finding the demon so Angel goes home to sleep, lending Cordy his car. Cordy goes back to her place where she has a vision of Gunn in danger. With Angel asleep & Wesley unavailable she heads out on her own in Angel's car to save Gunn. She finds Gunn is not yet in danger & vows to stay with him until she can save him from the thing in her vision. Gunn isn't enamored & tries to get Cordy to leave only to find that Angel's car has been stolen. They go out looking for the guy who stole the car & end up at a party that is crashed by vamps. A friend of Gunn's is thrown through a window & takes a big shard of glass to the throat. Cordy saves the girl's life. At the hospital, Gunn's upset because his recklessness has gotten yet another person he cares about hurt (note: Alonna was his sister). Anyway, Cordy & Gunn end up finding Angel's car & the demon Gunn was looking for earlier. Angel & Wesley come to the rescue. At the end, Gunn thanks Cordy for saving his life. Cordy tells him that she doesn't deserve the thanks. The vision wasn't about that particular demon, it was about Gunn living dangerously, too close the edge (exactly what Alonna used to warn Gunn about before Gunn's habits more or less led to her death). Gunn sorta knows that that's a problem & doesn't really argue with Cordy when she says she's going to be there for him until he gets a hold of himself.
Untouched
Cordelia's visions lead Angel to a girl with telekinesis powers who has just killed some would-be rapists with her power. They soon realize that the girl, Bethany, is a runaway. She's running from her sexually abusive father. She's currently staying with Wolfram & Hart's Lilah, who hopes to turn the girl into an assassin. Angel enters the girl's life just in time, for as Cordy coins, Bethany had a choice in killing those would-be rapists. The girl's on the edge. Meanwhile, Darla progresses her dreams by showing Angel some of the evil times they had together. But, Bethany is messing with Angel's sleep-time so Lilah is asked to get her out of there. Lilah decides to send Bethany's father their way. When he shows up, Bethany is left with the decision to kill or not. She flings him out a hotel window- but stops him before he hits the ground. Angel's empowering of Bethany allows her to go out & get her own life. As Angel & Bethany get her things from Lilah's, Angel smirks & says to Lilah, "looks like you're gonna have to find someone else's brain to play with." To which Lilah replies, "Yeah, we have someone in mind." Also in this episode, Angel puts Gunn on the payroll.
Dear Boy
The line between dreams and reality begins to mess as Angel is more and more consumed by dreams of Darla. So much so that he confesses to Cordelia and Wesley about the dreams. On a job, Angel sees Darla, only the person who looks so much like Darla can go into the sunlight. Wesley & Cordelia believe it isn't Darla, but Angel's convinced it's her- the woman had Darla's scent. Angel goes to stalk Darla, who is posing as a human. Let me explain this: Wolfram & Hart kill a couple & hire an actor to play the husband & then have Darla pose as the wife. When Angel is stalking Darla, they have a vamp kill the actor and then Darla plays the saint- that he her husband was dead, that Angel killed him & that Angel had been stalking her for weeks calling her "Darla". Of course, Kate goes off & tries to arrest Angel. Later, Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia convince Kate that, duh, if the owners of the house we're still alive Angel couldn't have gotten into the house uninvited. Meanwhile, Angel kidnaps Darla & takes her to an underground watertank for a little chat. She plays the part for a while, & then puts down the front when Angel transforms into vamp face & kisses her. Angel gets a hold of himself, & tries to tell Darla that now that she has a soul all her memories of massacring will haunt her. She says that all Angel has to do to is let her give him a moment of true happiness and they'll be happy together again. Angel tells her that sex with her wouldn't revert him back to his former self because he doesn't, & has never, loved her- because he didn't have a soul before. Darla tries to convince him that his darkness is innate & that his dark side wants out. The sun rises, Darla taunts Angel with the nasty things he said in his sleep. He gets angry & grabs her by the neck, she pulls out a cross and puts it on his chest. She says: "No matter how good a boy you are God doesn't want you." They let go of the strongholds & Darla says: "But I still do" & walks off into the daylight.
Guise Will Be Guise
Angel goes to The Host for some consoling, & The Host sends him to a swami. While Angel's gone, a guy holds Cordelia at gunpoint saying that his boss needs Angel. To save Cordy, Wesley poses as Angel. He is taken to the mansion of a very wealthy man, who is actually a powerful magic man. He says that an enemy of his is trying to kidnap his daughter & he needs Angel to protect her. Wesley takes the job.
Meanwhile, the enemy of the wealthy father gets word that Angel is going to that swami so he has a guy kill the swami & then pose as the swami. Angel figures out that the guy is not really the swami because he gives some very unenlightened advice. Over at the mansion, Wesley is protecting the father's daughter, Virginia. This naturally leads to sex. The enemy's people tip the father off that the guy posing as Angel isn't Angel & they rain on Wesley's parade & Virginia is really hurt that Wesley lied. Everyone regroups & figure out what's going on. Turns out that the father is really trying to protect his daughter from getting kidnaped by his enemy because the enemy knows what the father is planning to do to her- which is kill the daughter in a ritual sacrifice that will make the father very powerful. Angel and co. go to save Virginia. They come just in time- but it's actually pointless because the sacrificing demon shows & doesn't take the sacrifice- because Virginia's unpure. Another twist occurs when it's learned that Wesley didn't save her, she wasn't a virgin before him. Also, since Virginia's dad is so rich, Virginia is a sort of a star, so Wesley gets dubbed by the press as "bodyguard to the stars". She gets over Wesley's little deception & continues to date him.
Darla
Angel continues to be obsessed with Darla, as Darla is clearly on the edge of sanity. The memories of her past are beginning to drive her crazy. Is it the soul stuff? The sudden conscious? No, it's her conflict of identity: is she a vampire or a human or is she just something else entirely? Darla remembers her past in a series of flashbacks. First, the Master, from "Buffy", makes a prostitute with syphilis into a vampire. One, centuries later, where Darla chooses pompous, Angelus, over her sire, The Master. Another where Darla ravages the gypsy tribe that gave Angel a soul. Later, another where Angel pretends that his soul doesn't bother him during the Boxer Rebellion in China so he can be with Darla. Darla figures out that he only kills murderers & rapists, & demands that Angel kill a little baby, he doesn't & runs out. Meanwhile, in the world of today... Lindsey's affection for Darla becomes more apparent. Lindsey kisses Darla, saying he doesn't care what she is. She bites his neck & asks if he cares what she is now. Lindsey says he doesn't care what she is- he cares for whatever she is. Darla seeks out Angel, leaving Wolfram & Hart's clutches. Angel thinks she's ready for her soul to be saved, but this is not the case. She wants for him to end her humanity- her suffering, her heart beating. She says she granted that gift to him & she wants it in return. Angel argues that it wasn't a gift- it was a curse, & the gift is humanity. He refuses to kill her, make her a vampire. Darla then runs out of the hotel (Angel Investigations) & tells Angel to not look for her again.
Shroud of Rahmon
The episode starts out with Wesley being interrogated by police officers. A body has been found without a head & a female officer may die. Wesley is acting a bit mental, babbling incoherently. The police officers ask Wesley to tell them what happened. He answers: "it all went horribly wrong." He then recounts what happened. Gunn's cousin is in trouble. He's supposed to be a driver for a job that seems too big for him to get involved in. Angel poses as someone involved in the job, Gunn poses as his cousin & they go to do the job- rob a shroud from a museum. Meanwhile, Cordelia & Wesley figure out what the job is- it's to steal this shroud that makes people go insane. They go to the museum to stop the stealers. They are too late & get caught up in the insanity. Meanwhile, Kate gets tipped off about the job &, hearing Angel's involved, goes to the museum to stop Angel. Angel & co. steal the shroud. Things get a little heavy, a guard involved in the heist gets his head knocked off & then Kate shows up. Angel is a little insane & bites Kate. She falls to the ground. Cops break in & Wesley gets taken in because he is found hovering over Kate. The robbers have gotten away. With the full force of the shroud upon them, they bicker & fight among themselves, but Angel gets a hold of himself long enough to burn the shroud. Wesley is back at the police station rehashing what he knows about what went on. The officers don't buy his limited involvement & almost arrest him, but in comes Kate, who has survived, & tells them to let Wesley go. Later, alone, Kate remembers the incident. Angel chows down on her neck, but whispers in her ear to pretend she's dead so the demonic robbers don't kill her. At the end, Angel sits down after a long day at work, remembering his little snack with fondness.
The Trial
Gunn finds where Darla is staying. Lindsey finds her first. He takes her to Wolfram & Hart where they reveal to her that she's dying. The sickness she was dying of when she was first made into a vampire was something she was reborn with when they brought her back. Darla goes out & tries to get a vampire to turn her. Angel interrupts. Darla tells him what's going on. He doesn't believe it, so he visits Lindsey, who invites Angel in. Lindsey confirms it, showing Angel dozens of doctor's files that he personally sought for second & twelfth opinions. Angel figures out that Lindsey loves Darla. Lindsey scolds Angel for having the power to save Darla but not using it. Angel goes to The Host for help. Darla sings. He advises Angel of this mystical thing that could save Darla. Angel does it. He has to go through three tests. One, where he must face a demon in battle. The second, where he must face crosses & holy water. & the last, a test of death. Angel must choose to give his life for Darla's. Knowing that alive he could save many souls, but with Darla alive, not only would those souls not be saved, but she may fall down & hurt more people. Angel doesn't care. All he cares is that Darla lives, that she gets her second chance at life. He chooses to sacrifice himself for her. But, alas, that was the test, to see if he was willing to give his life for hers. Angel passes & Darla is granted the second chance- but, all is not as simple as it seems, for because she has already received a second chance, she can't get a third. It's just not within their power. Angel freaks. He throws things around & punches walls. Back at Darla's dingy hotel room, Angel tells Darla that maybe she won't be bad if he turns her because of his soul, but Darla tells him no. She's seen now what she means to him. He cares for her the way nobody has ever cared about her & that's all she needs from him. She accepts her death & says that maybe this is her second chance... to die the way she was meant to die in the first place. Angel tells her that he won't leave her, for the rest of her life she'll never be alone. Just at this touching moment, in comes Lindsey with some Wolfram & Hart toughs. They electroshock Angel & tie him up. In comes.... Dru! She sucks up Darla's blood & guides Darla to her chest so that Darla can be reborn into a vampire.
Reunion
Angel tries to save Darla from eternal damnation by staking her before she wakes to her vampire-self. Cordy, Gunn, Wesley, & Angel track down Darla's burial place & Angel gets there just before she awakes. But, Drusilla doesn't want her grandmum/daughter to die, so she fights Angel. Darla awakens & a great fight takes place between Dru, Darla, & Angel- each individual fighting each individual. Dru & Darla get away separately. Dru heads to Wolfram & Hart with Lindsey, who seems awfully at home with the insane vampire. Dru says Angel is on the way to Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey gets a call that an untamed vampire is in the building- it's Darla. He's happy to see her. She teases him a little, then throws him across the room, grabs Dru & runs out. Darla slaps Dru around for a little bit & then asks: "why?" Dru says "I thought it was what you wanted, to be saved" & that they've lost their way. Darla understands Dru, kills a bystander, & then takes Dru shopping. Shopping, Holland, of Wolfram & Hart, calls Dru & orders a massacre. Angel goes to Wolfram & Hart where he first meets Holland. Security comes in & Angel tells Holland that they can't protect him. He says they don't need to- Angel doesn't kill humans. Angel says Holland doesn't qualify because he's the puppetmaster to many innocent deaths. Holland responds: "& yet I just can't seem to care". Angel is then picked up by the cops for breaking in to Wolfram & Hart. Fun news for Angel- Kate's part of the team who pick him up, but, she's had a change of heart & let's him go. Darla's on the rampage & Kate can't stop her, but Angel might be able to. Holland is having a little get together for his staff, including Lindsey & Lilah. But they have crashers, Darla & Dru giving Holland just what he wants: a massacre. Meanwhile, Angel figures out where his girls have gone. Holland's wife, although weak, is still alive to invite him in. Downstairs, Darla is giving Holland a speech about what a good friend he is: bringing her back human so she can crawl back to the bastard that killed her to beg him to restore her vampire-self. Darla then goes into a spiel about all the fear in the room- from everyone, except Lindsey. She asks him why he's not afraid. He says he doesn't know. She says he could die & he doesn't care? He responds: "I care. I guess I just don't mind." Angel then arrives. He apologizes to Darla for not getting to her in time to stop her from rising. Darla welcomes a fight with: "come on, love, I never did get that good-bye kiss." Angel responds: "you will, but not tonight". Holland tells Angel to help them: "people are going to die." To which Angel responds: "& yet somehow I just can't seem to care" & leaves Dru & Darla to their prey. Later, he rehashes what happened to Gunn, Cordy, & Wesley. They tell Angel that what he did was wrong & that they are all that is standing between Angel & real darkness. Angel says he knows it & then says: "you're all fired".
Redefinition
There are 2 survivors of the massacre- Lindsey & Lilah, left human. Darla & Dru enlist Wolfram & Hart's new head of the Special Projects division (the Special Project is Angel). They want to take over L.A. & they need the connections, money, & power that Wolfram & Hart have to do it. They figure either Lindsey or Lilah will get the promotion as division head, & since Lindsey is already under Darla's thrall, they left him & Dru's choice alive so they can work together. Darla says that she hates being used & she sent the firm a "15 body memo" about them using her to get to Angel. Now she wants to be the one pulling the strings. Her & Dru go to a place where demons fight each other for sport & announce that they're recruiting members of their brute staff. Angel's been preparing himself for the fight with Darla & Dru. When he thinks he's ready, he goes out to fight them, disguising himself & going to the demon fighting place. Dru senses Angel's there & says that Angel remembers when Darla was warm & that he still sees what she was. Both Angel & Darla are riled by this, & for Angel, it means he's too close to what Darla was & he can't fight them. He leaves. Meanwhile, Lindsey & Lilah suspect that their employers will pick one of them as a scapegoat for the massacre, kill that one horribly, & promote the other. The two are called in for a meeting. Wolfram & Hart decide that both candidates are flawed for the position as division head, but that together- with their competition- they could do the job well, until the time they decide to narrow the position down to one... Cordy, Wes, & Gunn are shocked at being fired. They go separately to the demon Karaoke bar so that The Host can tell them what to do next with their lives. They get a little drunk & sing some Queen. The Host comes up to them later in the night, but he won't say anything, because someone higher up is about to tell them their fortune- Cordy has a vision. They go off to save a life. They get the job done. Angel knows where Darla & Dru are holding their weeding out auditions for muscle in their gang, & gets there before Dru & Darla do. Approaching, Dru has a vision: "Ten little soldiers all in a line. Shot rings out, down to nine." They get to the place & find nine of their candidates dead- & Angel there smoking a cigarette. He doesn't say a word. Dru rants "a shadow". Darla bades a fight. Angels says nothing. Darla begins to sense a wrongness: "Angel? Angelus?" Nothing. Then he drops the cigarette & a line of fire reaches the girls. Darla resourcefully opens up a firehidren & stops the flames from killing the vampires- but leaving them with bad burns. Dru cries & rants: "all gone, he's all gone," & Darla tries to shhh her: "That wasn't Angel. That wasn't Angelus either. Who was that?" Wesley finds Angel training again at the hotel. Wes tells Angel that even though Angel's given up on his mission, him, Cordy, & Gunn will be keeping the agency open.
Blood Money
Angel's obsession with Lindsey & Lilah becomes apparent as he stalks Anne, a woman running a shelter for kids in trouble, who he'd seen with Lindsey. To make a short story no longer than it has to be, Lindsey set up this charity ball for the shelter. He plans to raise a couple million bucks & steal it, pocketing most of the money and giving a little to the shelter. Angel makes Lindsey & Lilah think he's going to expose them for their scam, but he doesn't. Instead, he & this other guy steal the money before Wolfram & Hart can take it, pocketing 90% of it. The guy has this old score to settle with Angel- he wants to fight it out with Angel to know who's the best fighter. They fight & get blood on the money. At the end, Angel returns all the money to Anne who doesn't care that it's blood money. Toward the end of the episode, Lindsey & Lilah are upset about Angel's new mission to take them down. Lindsey says he's ready to just have Angel killed, but one of the lawyers who is higher up then him tells him the reason why he can't, the reason Wolfram & Hart have been playing with Angel like they have: Angel plays a major role in the apocalypse, all the prophecies say, but what they don't is which side Angel's on. Therefore, the more they mess with Angel & tear him away from the Powers That Be, the more chance Angel will be on evil's side in the apocalypse. Also in this episode, Wes, Gunn, & Cor discuss their new agency, and debate over what they're going to call it.
Happy Anniversary
The Host gets Angel out of bed because he's read into a guy who's going to end the world. A scientist working on an equation that will freeze time learns that his girlfriend is going to break up with him on their year anniversary. He's so distraught that he thinks that he can prevent it from happening by freezing the moment before she does it. This group of human-hating demons know about this guy & are aiding him in the equation, & also fight Angel & The Host while trying to prevent the end of time. Anyway, Angel stops time from ending. Also in this episode, Cordy, Gunn, & Wes find a place for the home office & they decide to call it Angel Investigations, but the Angel is only in figurative name and not an actual name. Virginia, Wes' girlfriend, gets them a gig & they solve the case- Clue-style. While on the mission to stop the world from ending, Angel opens up to The Host that his problem is that he can never find redemption & on top of that all these highly intelligent lawyers have dedicated their existence to troubling his. Then he says that the reason he fired Wes, Cor, & Gunn was because they can't handle what he's going to do about his problems. Kill Darla & burn Wolfram & Hart to the ground. The Host tells him that that's not a fun place to be & that vengeance is for lower-beings, & Angel's not one: he's a champion.
The Thin Dead Line
A fed-up cop starts digging up cops that have died in the line of duty, reanimating them, & sending them back on the streets in the rough gang area of L.A. Gunn is made aware of this when an old friend of his, Anne (the same Anne who runs the shelter for teens) informs him that cops are unjustifiably beating on her kids. Gunn goes to investigate, Wesley follows him & gets shot by one of the Zombie Police. Gunn has to hold up with the wounded Wesley at Anne's shelter because the cops are after them. A hoard of Zombie Cops surround the shelter, and it looks bleak for Anne, Gunn, Cordy, the shelter kids, &, especially, Wesley. Luckily for them, Angel stopped stalking Lindsey & Lilah long enough this week to check in, in a very stalker capacity, on his old crew. When he heard about the Zombie Cop situation, he went to Kate. Kate & Angel tracked down the head cop responsible & destroyed the Zombie God used to control the zombies. Ironically, at the end, when Angel goes to check on Wesley's condition (he lives, by the way), Cordy sees him & reams him for walking away & not being there for them, when he actually just saved them. Then she tells him that her, Gunn, & Wes are getting along just fine without him & that he should just do what he does best: leave. This episode had a sort of tragic message. The Zombie Cops may have been a danger to the local people of that bad neighborhood, but they kept the crime rate down, and with killing them, the tradeoff was all those murders, rapes, & robberies that happen. Actually, the episode had several messages, but that was the big one.
Reprise
Darla is still on her quest for power. Being a little dehabilitated by Angel, but more for the reason of having access to information about Wolfram & Hart's going-abouts, Darla holds up with Lindsey, playing the act of being really dehabiliated, when she's actually healthy. It is going through Lindsey's things that she learns of Wolfram & Hart's 75-year review, where a senior partner comes to the firm to see how they're doing. Of course, this being a 75-year review, you get that the partner isn't human, but a demon. Angel learns about the review & looks to kill the senior partner upon his visit. He goes to the shop keeper from "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" who has aged a lot- well, duh. He tells Angel that there is this glove that he has that will instantly kill that kind of demon. Also, there is a ring the demon will have that will transport Angel to where the demon resides, which Angel thinks is something The Host told him the lawyers were thinking about, something called the 'home office'. Angel takes it to be 'hell'. Then, Angel gets this wacky plan. To kill the senior partner & use the ring to get to hell & kill all the Wolfram & Hart senior partners. It would be a suicide mission, but he'd get those Wolfram & Hart guys. As the shop keeper expresses confidence that Angel will be able to do what he plans, he is stabbed with a sword- by Darla who takes the glove & runs. Now I have to explain a little bit about Cordy, Gunn, & Wes. Last episode, a rich woman that Virginia knew came to the guys after her daughter was attacked by a demon & left with a third eye on the back of her head. They took care of it, but as the episode starts, the woman refuses to pay the group, saying that it must have been a hoax for their money. Wesley is in a wheelchair, recuperating from the gun shot. Virginia is miffed about the whole gun shot thing, the non-supernatural kinda evil, & breaks up with Wesley. While looking for material on the senior partner, Angel goes to Cordelia, Wesley, & Gunn's new office to get a book that they took with them. Cordelia refuses to let Angel have it. Wesley stands up in his wheelchair & tells Cordy to just let Angel have the book so he can get out of there. This causes Wesley's stitches to come out. Gunn is out & Wesley has to go to rest at home, so Cordy is left alone in the office. Meanwhile, Kate has to go to a hearing because the zombie cop man reported her for letting Angel into his office. They fire her. Back to Angel, he goes to the Wolfram & Hart review & finds where Darla is. He grabs the glove from her. The Wolfram & Hart guards go to stake an exposed Darla, but are stopped by Lindsey, unaffected by the fact that Darla has been deceiving him. Angel uses the glove & kills the demon while jumping out of a Wolfram & Hart window. Then, he picks up the ring left behind. An elevator on the Wolfram & Hart building chimes & a familiar face pecks his head out- Holland Manners. Angel directs Holland to take him to the home office. As Angel goes down in the elevator, Holland gives Angel the mind trip. Is fighting worth fighting? Is it a fight at all? No. Not for evil. They just are. It's not a fight; it's a job. It's a way of life. & they're not the only ones. All of humanity is evil. Hell isn't the home office, earth is. The ring offers a one way trip & Angel choose to go to the home office. Holland drops Angel off, right where he picked him up & Angel walks home, looking around at all the evil- all the people- around him. Elsewhere, Cordelia gets a phone call from Wesley. He tells her that things are going to get better. When she hangs up, she gets another call, from the woman with the daughter with the third eye. She tells Cordy she's ready to pay & for Cordy to come to her house. Cordy does, not knowing that the demon who was responsible for the third eye is there, looking for revenge. Kate, after being fired, goes back to her place & starts to drink, then takes some pills. She calls Angel as he gets back to the hotel, leaving a message on the machine that makes it very clear that she's killing herself. Angel does nothing & goes upstairs. Upstairs, Darla comes out from the shadows, looking for the ring. Angel says that what she really wants is him & proceeds to violently copulate with her. Asleep next to Darla, Angel wakes in a familiar style, crying out in pain as if his soul was being ripped out.
Epiphany
Angel wakes in pain, but not from his soul leaving his body, but the pain from a sudden epiphany. Angel has what the Host calls "a moment of clarity" & he realizes the wrongness in how he's been thinking & acting. Darla is upset by this, she wasn't happiness to Angel afterall. Angel apologizes to Darla. She saved him from the moral coil, & he couldn't save her. Now she's saved him again & he can do nothing for her. All he can do is tell her to leave. His conscience, not his mental state, won't let him kill her, but if he sees her again, he will do so. Then, Angel remembers Kate. He goes to her apartment, getting to her just in time, & waking her up in the shower. Once she's up & awake she tells Angel 'thank you, now get out.' He does. He goes to the Host. The Host is happy Angel finally hit rock bottom, & also revels that if Angel hopes to patch things up with Cordy, Wes, & Gunn, he'd better act fast before they're all dead. He goes to Cordy's place, she's not there. He goes to Wesley's & gets there just in time to fend off the Shilosh demon- those adult three-eyed creatures. They go to the office, Gunn shows up, & they figure out where Cordy's gone. Meanwhile, Cordy gets to the Sharp's house, the people who hired & didn't pay for the third-eye thing. The Shilosh are waiting. When they learn that more of their people have died, they decide to make Cordelia have one of their spawns. She sprouts third-eye. Gunn, Wesley, & Angel drive to the Sharp's. They are attacked by some Shilosh. Angel decides to take on the ones there & for Gunn & Wes to go on ahead. Intimidated by Angel's valor, the Shilosh run off & head to the house, but Angel doesn't have time to give chase. He's suddenly attacked by a beat-down vehicle- whose driver is Lindsey. See, Darla came back to their place after Angel told her to get out. She was more or less speechless & in shock, letting thoughts settle, but Lindsey notices she has the ring of the senior partner so he knows where she's been. He drives Angel down a few times & then beats him further with a weapon. As he's about to stake Angel, Angel regains his vitality & has to knock Lindsey around a bit, where he apologizes to Lindsey for Darla never loving him & for not taking him more seriously when he came for help before he made junior partner. Meanwhile, Gunn & a disabled Wesley go into the Sharp's to save Cordelia. They get caught. The Shilosh decide to impregnate them too. Just as they are about to do it, in comes Angel, crashing in with Lindsey's beat up car. He kills the Shilosh as Wesley deocculates Cordelia's third eye. Afterwards, Lindsey goes back to his place to find all of Darla's stuff gone. Kate shows up to talk to Angel. Angel talks about his new philosophy. That if there's not going to be this great reward, & nothing any of us does really matters, then the most profound thing in the world is a simple act of kindness toward another person. So he's going back to the fight. The fight not geared against evil, but the fight to save the lost. Kate again thanks Angel for saving her life & tells him she's greatful, & that she'll get by not being a cop. She's not in danger of trying to kill herself again, now she believes in something- because she never invited Angel in her apartment. Angel then goes to the new Angel Investigations offices. Wesley, Gunn, & Cordelia tell Angel that they've decided that they don't want to come work for Angel yet. Angel says that that's okay, because he wants to work for them. So he can help people. They accept the terms.
Disharmony
Dead End
Belonging
Over the Rainbow
Through the Looking Glass
There's No Place Like Pltz