Â鶹ԼÅÄ Cult - Printer Friendly Version
Angel - Season Three Episode Guide - Season Three Guide
Heartthrob
A heartless lover hunts Angel.
Investigating a vampire attack, Angel runs into and stakes Elisabeth, a very old acquaintance from his vampire days. Discovering her death, her partner of centuries James searches Angel out after having an operation that will make him invincible - for a time.
Far away, Darla is searching for the answer to a little trouble she's found herself in.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Discussing why James could have become invincible, Cordelia mentions the Gem of Amara, seen in Buffy episode The Harsh Light of Day and Angel episode In the Dark. It makes vampires completely invulnerable.
The Buddhist monastery where Angel is attacked was quite a challenge for the show's designers. "We did a lot of extensive research looking at monasteries from all over Asia, through Bhutan and Burma, and came up with a design that we really liked," Production Designer Stuart Blatt told us.
You can read the whole interview here.
Amy Acker joins the regular cast of Angel with this episode. She had previously been a recurring guest star in the last episodes of season two.
That Vision Thing
Cordy's visions are becoming a bit of a headache.
Cordelia's vision have started to cause physical harm to her, and in the hope that it will help she sends Angel and the others on a search for a mystical coin and key. During this quest, they discover that it's actually Wolfram and Hart sending the visions.
Left with no choice but to do the evil lawyers' bidding, Angel rescues a young man from a hellish prison and hands him over to Lilah. Before he leaves her, he makes sure Cordelia won't be troubled again.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: "Who knew William Shatner could sing?" says the Host, before admitting that it's a bad example. The Kirk actor really can't sing, but it's never stopped him trying. Particularly fascinating is his strange version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which he doesn't so much croon as chant.
Speaking to the Cult site, Charisma Carpenter revealed that, while the visions weren't usually too hard to play, this episode was a bit more challenging. "[It] was really tough because [there] is this stigmata effect where the visions start manifesting physically upon me. That was a little bit more challenging than I had anticipated. It wasn’t your basic ordinary vision."
You can read the whole interview here.
Skip, played by David Denman became an instant hit, with his hey, I'm just the demon next door persona. The writers quickly realised what a great character he was, so expect to see more of him later in the season.
That Old Gang of Mine
Divided loyalties bring no-one any fun.
Someone in Los Angeles is killing demons, both good and bad. Angel thinks it should be investigated, but Gunn isn't so sure. Returning to his old gang, he discovers that they are behind the vigilante killings.
Over at Caritas, Fred takes the stage, her first proper visit outside since returning from Pylea. Unfortunately, Gunn's old friends are determined to stop any demons having a good time, and where better to start than at a demon karaoke bar?
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Fred sings Crazy, a hit for Patsy Cline written by Willie Nelson. Patsy is one of the great tragic figures of country music, dying young in a plane crash in 1963.
The anti-demon violence spell in Caritas is maintained by the Furies - a group of three magical women who seem to know Angel very well. In classical mythology, Furies were vengeful, hideous evil spirits who punished evildoers. This trio seem rather more approachable.
Carpe Noctem
You're only as old as you feel.
Fred, still painfully shy, develops a crush on Angel. Rather than have an awkward conversation to explain things to her, as Cordelia wants, Angel throws himself into work.
Whilst investigating a rash of deaths amongst young, fit men, Angel runs into Marcus, an old man who uses a spell to swap bodies with him. Back at the hotel, Marcus puts his new body to good use, especially on Fred and Lilah.
Luckily, unlike Marcus, Angel has friends...
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The title, Carpe Noctem, is latin for "Seize the Night."
Willow's call at the end of the episode ties in, of course, with the events at the start of Buffy season six. Buffy's been raised from the dead, and the Scoobies have finally got round to telling Angel.
Fredless
Fred's being bugged - by her parents?
Fred's parents come to take their daughter home - and at first there's suspicion between them and the staff of Angel Investigations.
An attack by an insectiod monster pulls everyone together though, and they become friends. Fred leaves with her parents, but on her way realises that the team are in terrible danger. She returns and saves the day, thus earning a place amongst them.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Angel has just come back from visiting Buffy at the start of this episode. We never see the two together this time, but the story of their meeting was told by Buffy scriptwriter Jane Espenson in a comic, called Reunion.
There's a sly reference to an earlier work of Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon when Fred's mum mentions that her husband fell asleep during the last Alien film, Alien Resurrection. It was written by none other than Joss himself.
Billy
The battle of the sexes.
Billy, the man freed by Angel to save Cordelia, turns up as a suspect in a battered woman case. The Angel Investigations team look into him, discovering from Lilah that his touch drives men to a woman-hating murderous frenzy.
Back at the hotel, both Wesley and Gunn have been infected, and Fred is in danger. Fortunately, she's very good at building traps.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Justin Shilton, who plays Billy in this episode, has also appeared in cult time travel series Seven Days, and makes an appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's seventh season.
Wesley's apartment number is seen to be 105.
Offspring
Darla's got a bun in the unholy oven.
Angel's sire, Darla, arrives back in LA with a very unexpected surprise for the soulful vampire - she's massively pregnant with his child. While the Angel Investigations crew discuss what this could mean, she attacks Cordelia, then runs off. Angel tracks her down as she hunts children, but stays his hand when he realises that the unborn baby has a soul.
Meanwhile, a shadowy and scarred demon is bringing an old enemy of Angel's back from the past.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The fact that Angel, as a vampire, can't have children, is first raised in the Buffy episode What's My Line part one, where Angel tells a disappointed Buffy that she won't be dandling anyone on her knee if she sticks with him.
The night that got Darla into this predicament took place during the season two episode Reprise. Sleeping with Darla didn't lose Angel his soul though - even though he and she did it, er, several times, she just didn't mean what Buffy did to him.
Quickening
Old enemies return for fresh vengeance.
In a flashback, vampire hunter Holtz is shown discovering that Darla and Angel have killed his family and turned his daughter into a vampire. A visit by the demon Sahjhan gives Holtz the chance to have the vengeance he thirsts for - he is brought forward two centuries to the present day.
Elsewhere, Wolfram and Hart are planning an attack on the Hyperion to capture the pregnant Darla. Unfortunately for them, they run into Holtz instead. Returning to pick up some scrolls which may help Darla give birth, Angel walks right into trouble.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Sahjhan is pretty uncomplimentary about Britain when bringing Holtz up to date on world events - apparently all we amount to is "warm beer, boiled meat, and bad teeth." He also refers to the American idea of manifest destiny - the belief that it was fated that the early US settlers would conquer the whole of the continent.
Jack Conley, who plays Sahjhan, may well be familiar to Buffy viewers. He played amoral werewolf hunter Cain in season two episode Phases.
Lullaby
Love, labour and loss.
Narrowly escaping from Holtz and Lilah, the Angel Investigations team head off in search of Darla, who has run away. Angel finds her pondering her love for the unborn child, and they return to the newly refurbished Caritas, where she can give birth safely. The child will not come, however.
The fiery destruction of the club by Holtz prevents this though. Lying in the alley outside, Darla realises that only by giving up her life can her baby be born.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Angel actor David Boreanaz became a father in real life a few months after the filming of this episode. Speaking about the experience, he did point out that his own child would be raised in somewhat different surroundings. "My son is not going to be in that environment... He won't have broadswords hanging in the cabinet."
David's child, a son, was born on 2nd May 2002, and is called Jaden Rayne.
Poor Lorne loses his club Caritas for a second time in this episode - it was previously worked over by Gunn's friends in That Old Gang of Mine.
Dad
Happy Father's day, Angel.
The gang head back to the hotel, with Angel's new son. Once there, Angel begins to settle uncomfortably into fatherhood. As he fusses, the hotel is repeatedly attacked by factions intent on capturing or killing the baby.
After all other plans have failed, Angel takes the baby and makes a run for it. What his attackers don't know is that he's got a baby/bomb swap surprise in store.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Wesley and Gunn gee themselves up during a tense siege situation by imagining themselves as action heroes. Wes goes for John Wayne in 1959 Western Rio Bravo, while Gunn goes for a role from John Carpenter's 1976 thriller Assault on Precinct Thirteen.
Angel names his baby in this episode, choosing the traditional Irish name Connor. Coming from the Gaelic name O'Conchobhair, meaning 'counsellor', or more appropriately, 'helping warrior'.
Baby Connor is played by a set of triplets. That way no single baby had to be on set for too long.
Lilah quotes Shakespeare, comparing the birth of Angel's son to that of MacDuff in Macbeth, also know as the Scottish play. Both were "ripped untimely from their mother's womb," though in MacDuff's case it was via Caesarian section.
Birthday
Cordelia becomes gifted.
It's Cordelia's birthday, and everyone gives her presents. Suddenly, she falls unconscious, stricken with a vision.
Unable to communicate with the gang, Cordelia is taken on a journey in spirit form by Skip, who explains that as a human, she is simply not strong enough to take the visions. They will very soon kill her.
Fortunately, there's a choice. She could be a rich, famous and well-loved soap star instead. Or she could be a part-demon, penniless Champion.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Much more of Cordy, the sitcom shown in this episode, was recorded than appears here. The additional footage is included on the Angel season three DVD set. The theme tune to the sitcom was written by Angel producer David Greenwalt, who sings it along with Buffy Executive Producer Marti Noxon.
Just one thought. Cordelia inherited the visions from Doyle in the episode Hero, where they were passed over with a kiss. Does that mean in the alternative reality, Doyle and Angel had to snog?
Charisma Carpenter's real birthday is on 23rd July.
Provider
Fred gets head-hunted.
Concerned that he won't be able to provide properly for Connor, Angel pushes the gang into concentrating on money making. Leaving Cordelia behind to look after the baby, everyone heads off on lucrative-sounding cases.
Unfortunately, things aren't always what they appear, leaving the gang threatened by zombies, deadbeats, and head-hunters - none of whom can pay up.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Angel Investigations' phone number is revealed to be 313 555 0162. Not 0126, which is actually Fabrino's pizza. Don't bother dialing the number though - in reality, area code 313 is nothing to do with Los Angeles.
The host drinks Kahlua, a fabulously sweet coffee liqueur. Mixing it with baby formula would almost make a White Russian cocktail, though minus the vodka.
Wesley relaxes by publishing web articles on "DNA fusion comparisons in Tri-ped demon populations." We don't see the website though.
Waiting in the Wings
A night at the ballet.
The arrival of a ballet company Angel last saw in 1890 prompts him to take his friends out to see a little culture.
Watching the dancers, Angel realises that it's not just the same company as a century ago, but the same dancers. Investigating lands Angel and Cordy in a sensually charged haunting, replaying the act of infidelity which led to the dancers being cursed to an eternity of the same performance.
Wesley, meanwhile, makes his own sad discovery about the path of true love.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The ballet the team go to see is Giselle, first performed in Paris in 1841. It's a deeply sad romantic tragedy, about infidelity, madness and hauntings.
This episode was originally designed to showcase the dancing skills of Amy Acker (Fred), who studied ballet and modern dance for thirteen years. Ironically her big dance scene with Wesley was cut from the final version, though it appears on the season three DVD as an extra.
The prima ballerina is played by Summer Glau, who went on to play River Tam on Joss Whedon's space series, Firefly.
Couplet
Cordelia wants sex - can Angel do the business?
The Groosalugg returns from Pylea to be reunited with his love, Cordelia. Before acting on their desires, though, Cordelia needs to find some sort of protection that will prevent her visions being passed on to her lover.
While Angel reluctantly helps with this, Fred and Gunn, now a couple, find themselves trapped underground by a life-sucking tree demon. Only Angel's intervention saves them, and the Groosalugg. To the vampire's annoyance, Cordy's more impressed by Groo's modesty than Angel's heroism.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The Groosalugg first turned up at the end of season two. He and Cordelia were meant to do the com-shuck, which would cause Cordelia's visions to pass to him. That makes com-shucking a little inconvenient right now.
Cordelia refers to biblical hero Sampson when she checks that the Groosalugg won't lose his strength if he has his hair cut. As it's not so, he's able to "loose the Battlefield Earth hair," a reference to John Travolta's sci-fi mega-flop.
Loyalty
Talking hamburgers tell tales of doom. And no fries.
Disturbed by a prophecy that Angel will kill his son, Wesley goes on a quest for more information. Meanwhile, Gunn and Fred are set up by one of Holtz's followers, barely escaping with their lives.
Seeking help from an ancient being known as a Loa, in the form of a giant hamburger statue, Wesley is told that three portents, earthquake, fire, and blood, will herald the fulfilment of the prophecy. Back at the hotel, a shock rips through the building, setting a gas pipe on fire and cutting Angel. Wesley looks on in horror.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The scene with the Loa was shot at a MacDonald's training centre, built exactly like an American fast food drive-through. There were too many safety issues with using a real restaurant.
The term Loa comes from the African/Caribbean religion of Voudoun. Loa's are powerful, godlike beings, each with their own sphere of mystical influence. One of the best known in Baron Samedi, the Loa of the Dead.
Sleep Tight
Little boy lost.
Incresingly erratic and frightening behaviour from Angel leads the gang to a horrible realisation - his food has been spiked with Connor's blood.
Fearing for Connor's life, Wesley takes him and flees. Double crossed by Justine, he is left for dead. Angel arrives as Holtz, Sahjhan and Wolfram and Hart fight over Connor. When Sahjhan opens a portal to a hell-dimension, he see only one way to save his son, and watches in anguish as Holtz jumps with Connor through the portal.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Angel describes his room as looking like the "wreck of the Hesperus." A poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Wreck of the Hesperus is a famous poem about a schooner destroyed in a storm.
Holtz gives Connor a new name, Steven Franklin Thomas. His plan seems to have been to raise him with Justine in Utah, a thinly-populated US state. First settled by Mormons, Utah still has a fair sprinkling of polygamists - men with more than one wife. They aren't too keen on people poking their noses into their business, making Utah a good place to hide.
Forgiving
Making up is hard to do.
By threats of torture, Angel forces Wolfram and Hart to help him, and is taken to a mysterious entity in the evil lawyers' White Room. With her information, and Lilah's help, he performs a black ritual which makes Sahjhan solid.
It's all for nothing, as he learns only that there is no way to reach Quor'toth, the dimension Connor is in, and is nearly killed by Sahjhan. Only Justine's intervention saves him.
With Justine's help, Wesley is found, still alive. When Angel visits him in hospital, though, even his understanding of Wesley's reasons won't let him forgive his friend's betryal.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Quor' toth is a dimension that frightens even demons. Not only that, there's no way in or out of it, except by ripping a hole in the fabric of reality itself.
Sahjhan is revealed to be a Granok demon, from a race of fierce, vicious warriors made immaterial by dark powers.
Double or Nothing
Gunn's old debts are called in.
Gunn's falling heart and soul in love with Fred - but his soul's not his to give. Seven years ago, with no real future ahead of him, the younger Gunn sold his soul - now the buyer, demon casino owner Jenoff, wants to collect his dues.
Gunn lives a last day to the full, then heads for the casino. Fortunately, his friends aren't just going to let him go, even if Jenoff loses his head over it.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Gunn reveals that he sold his soul not for fame, riches or love, but for his truck. It's almost a character in itself, having been seen regularly since Gunn's first appearance in season one episode War Zone.
The song heard during the flashback to Gunn's younger days is Gangsta's Paradise, by Grammy Award winning rap artist Coolio. As well as his mulit-plantinum recording career, Coolio has also done a bit of acting, appearing in films such as Batman and Robin.
The Price
That old black magic is back.
The dark magic Angel performed to make Sahjhan material proves to have horrific side effects. A wave of translucent, parasitical creatures infests the hotel, crawling into people and killing them through dehydration.
With Fred infested, and the gang under siege, Cordelia comes to the rescue, manifesting a demon power which rids the hotel of the creatures. Wesley, meanwhile, agrees to help only Fred, saving her with a stiff drink.
Danger over, the gang still can't relax, as Fred tells them the Destroyer is on the way. A portal opens in the lobby, and a monster and young man leap out. Swiftly despatching the demon, the boy turns to Angel with the words, "Hi, Dad".
Quiz - ten quick questions.
Trivia: Cordelia's correction of Angel when he says that it never snows in Southern California is a reference to the Buffy episode Amends. "Did once", she says, reminding him of the mystical snowfall that prevented him killing himself by sunlight in a torment of regret back then.
A bit more of the Hyperion Hotel's geography is revealed in this episode. There's a pool and a huge kitchen, as well as many creepy corridors.
Groo's mother's name was Pomegranate. But he's never heard of the colour purple before.
A New World
Connor swaps hell for LA.
Connor is back, all grown up after a troubled childhood in Quor'toth, where time runs at a different rate. After attacking his father, Connor flees - leaving a dangerous dimensional rift active in the hotel lobby.
Wesley, meanwhile, receives a visit from Lilah - an attempt to woo him to the dark side and a position at Wolfram and Hart.
Connor falls in with Sunny - an addict - but must team up with Angel in order to fend off her dangerous friends when she overdoses.
Back at the hotel, Mistress Meerna, a mystical friend of Lorne's, seals the dimensional rift. Connor spurns Angel's offers of help, turning to his surrogate father Holtz (who has also returned from Quor'toth) instead.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Vincent Kartheiser exposed a whole new aspect of Connor during his first big fight scene out on location. An over-ambitious kick ripped a hole in the crotch of his trousers - on the one day he happened to be going Commando.
"From about the base of my butt all the way around to about the nape of my tummy there was a big old gaping hole. It was one of the days, I don't know what happened to me that morning, but I hadn't worn underpants. So I looked down and everything was quite exposed," he told us. We'll have a full interview coming soon.
Holtz has renamed Connor, calling him Stephen. The name Stephen derives from the Greek for "crowned," after Christianity's first martyr Saint Stephen.
Lilah offers Wesley a 401K as part of his Wolfram and Hart benefits package. It's basically a standard US pension fund, and a rather good one. We suspect Wesley will be more tempted by the big shiny books with demons in them.
Benediction
Holtz and Angel are in a tug of love custody battle.
The Angel Investigations gang are concerned something dangerous may have followed Connor through the dimensional rift, and set out to find him.
Connor is hiding out with Holtz, who continues to paint a bleak picture of the boy's real father, but ultimately convinces the boy that he should go to Angel. He warns him to be wary: "The devil will show you bright things. Many colours."
A vision from Cordy leads Angel and Connor to a nightclub, where Lilah has lured Justine and several vampires.
Justine is rescued, only to meet up with Holtz, who persuades her to kill him in such a way that Connor will believe he died at the hands of Angel.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: Fred uses a Geiger counter modified with Cedrian Crystals to track Connor. Not normally enchanted, these crystals, when properly prepared, are capable of searching out mystical energy. They are said to contain millennia of stored mystical energy. Lorne acquired the crystals from a six-horned Lachnie hag. He does know some odd people.
Holtz and Connor stay at the French Cottage Motel, in room 204. The actual motel used is located at 6757 West Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles.
Tomorrow
Upstairs, downstairs.
Connor prepares to wreak his revenge against an unknowing Angel for the death of Holtz. Meanwhile, Cordelia and Groo part company, as they both realise it's Angel she really has feelings for. Lorne's off too, to develop his singing career in Las Vegas.
After the gang fend off a commando attack from Wolfram and Hart operatives at a drive-in movie theatre, Cordy receives a vision  of herself. Taking it as a sign she should confess her feelings to Angel, Cordy arranges to meet the vampire at the Point Dume beauty spot.
She never arrives. Intercepted by Skip, Cordy is told the Powers That Be have decided the time has come for her to ascend to a higher plane of existence.
Waiting for Cordy at the Point, Angel is ambushed by Connor. With Justine's help, Connor condemns his father to an eternity trapped in a metal box at the bottom of the ocean.
- ten quick questions.
Trivia: The location of Angel and Cordy¹s tryst is Point Dume, a State Preserve operated by Los Angeles County. It's apparently a great place to swim, surf, scuba dive, fish and watch for California grey whales during their migration period. It's less great for being buried (un)alive at the bottom of the sea in a big metal box.
Cordelia once used her glowy powers as a nightlight.
Lorne gives Angel a CD of his, called Songs For The Love Lorne - a title was suggested by his publicist. Surprisingly, talented singer Andy Hallett still hasn't released a CD himself. Perhaps if we got him into the Fame Academy?
Groo gives Cordelia a Mockk-na, a drink to relieve tension. The Mock-na is made with mud, creeping fig and sourgrass from the garden. We think we may have drunk this once at the Â鶹ԼÅÄ canteen.