Previously: Wesley kidnapped Connor so Angel wouldn’t kill him, but ended up playing right into Holtz’s game. Holtz carried Connor right into a hell dimension. Angel’s pretty pissed.
—
Forgiving
Lorraine: Angel stands in his fire and earthquake destroyed room, staring at the charred and empty crib. We zoom in on his hurt face, which a lot of you seem to have very little sympathy for. You Heartless Cows can pretend he’s thinking about how to get rid of smoke damage.
Cut to Wesley’s apartment. Fred is sadly listening to several messages she left for Wesley. He has not been home. She’s having a hard time accepting that he would kidnap Connor. Gunn is more on team, “well. It happened.” They both know that if Angel reaches Wesley first, he’s a dead man. Fred wants to stay in the apartment in case Wesley comes back, but Gunn doesn’t think Wes is coming back. His toothbrush, razor and gun are gone, aka the essentials. I’m not sure what you would need to find gone from my house to assume I was gone forever. All my nail polishes and books probably wouldn’t be conducive to running away, you know?
Sweeney: You should really leave people a list.
Kirsti: It’s pretty easy to tell if I’m gone for any length of time. Because my phone charger is gone too.
Lor: Good answer.
Anyway, Fred starts freaking out about how Wesley wouldn’t have have left without leaving her a message. She wants to find his diaries but so far they’ve had no luck locating them.
Fred and Gunn leave Wes’s apartment and there is some tension between them about whether or not Fred should keep calling Wes’s cell phone. As they drive away, Fred calls again. We pan from her, past a tree, and into some grass where Wes was throat sliced. The Zoomy Cameraman does his job on Wes’s abandoned cell phone. It stays there for a second before we pan over to Wesley looking mighty throat sliced and pretty dead. It’s a terrible sight to be sure but Sweeney told me Wesley exists in gifs of the future. PHEW.
Sweeney: THANKS TUMBLR!
K: All I can say is that Justine apparently sucks at slitting throats.
Lor: OKAY, RIGHT? I’ve had this, “did she just give him a deep scratch?” thought bouncing around my head so I’m glad it found a place to be voiced.
Justine returns back to the Vampire Bad, Human Good Headquarters. I wish I could say I care more now that Holtz is gone, but I don’t. She just inherited his extreme boring. Congrats. Justine gives her soldiers a speech about how Holtz left and that was totally their plan all along, but now they have to finish the job and kill Angelus.
Electric Cellos.
Brooding Hotel. Fred is having a hard time believing that Connor is gone, through a portal, something she has too much experience with. Fred cries and Gunn holds her. (K: FRED FEELS.) Now it’s Gunn’s turn to say he can’t believe Wesley would do that. I guess because from our POV we’ve seen Wesley building up to the point where we totally believed he was capable of acting how he did, but this whole, “HOW COULD HE?” thing is kind of wearing on. We get it, we get it.
Angel joins them now to say he doesn’t much care about the why, just about getting his son back and making all those involved pay, including Wesley. Angel charges Lorne with finding out more about the hell dimension Sahjhan opened up. Fred and Gunn say they will go with Angel into this dimension, though Gunn does an awkward job reminding Angel that their portal-opening-expert is in fact Wesley. Angel says they don’t need Wesley because they are going to find Sahjhan. Angel shows Fred a picture he drew of Sahjhan for an awkwardly timed dose of Angel/art OTP. Enjoy it if you can!
Sweeney: Always.
Lor: From there, we Segue Magic over to Wolfram & Hart where Lilah and Linwood are also discussing Sahjhan, and the fact Lilah met with him and Angel behind Linwood’s back. She assures her evil boss that all those details are in a report. Linwood reminds Lilah they are in a war they can’t win, so Lilah should make sure to not win with him. Lilah understands his “pick the winning losing side” half-threat, but reminds him that she did have a gun to her head when all the Connor stealing commotion went down. Linwood calls it a win for Holtz, and Lilah doesn’t think jumping into a hell dimension a win. Linwood says it certainly isn’t a win for them.
Sweeney: There was just no need for this scene to use the word “win” as many times as it did.
Lor: Brooding Hotel. Fred isn’t haven’t any luck finding Sahjhan in their references, and Gunn is struggling with Cordelia’s filing system. Angel’s big contribution is to be moody and curt, like his baby was just kidnapped or something. Fred picks up the phone to call Cordelia. Angel stops her, even after she argues that Cordelia will want to know. Fred tries again and Angel says that when Cordy gets back she’ll have presents for Connor and he’ll be there to receive them.
K: Angel, dude. I get that you’re having feels and you don’t want other people to be having feels. But if I got back from holidays and all my friends were like “Oh, this MAJOR THING happened and we didn’t tell you,” I would be all kinds of pissed. CALL. CORDELIA. Also, surely this is the kind of thing that the Powers That Be (Contriving) should be keeping her posted about?! Unless she doesn’t get reception outside the US…
Lor: International rates are a bitch.
Angel apologizes for his outburst and says their research isn’t working and to forget about it. He storms out and Fred worries that Angel’s skipped the “locate Connor” part of the plan and jumped straight to the “make everyone responsible pay,” part. They need to find Wesley.
Throat Slicing Park. A homeless man finds Wesley’s body and pushes him over onto his back. Wesley gasps a bit, so we know he’s alive. Homeless Samaritan blames muggers for Wesley’s condition, but soon finds his wallet full of cash. The Homeless Samaritan pockets the cash, drags Wesley’s body into a bush and runs away. I CALLED YOU A SAMARITAN, SIR. YOU BETTER BE RUNNING FOR HELP.
Angel is staring at his weapons cabinet when Lorne returns to the Brooding Hotel. Lorne’s spoken to a few of his sources and the news isn’t good. They were all afraid of the Quor’toth hell dimension. Also, there are no portals that open up to Quor’toth. The only way in is to rip through the fabric of reality. Angel has been messing with a few office supplies (a staple remover and a memo pin), and now walks away from Lorne and heads upstairs.
Lorne follows and clarifies that getting into Quor’toth will require centuries old dark magic. He knows Angel doesn’t want to hear any of this but the truth is that even if Angel gets into the hell dimension, finding Connor would be like looking for a needle in a China sized haystack. Angel’s only response is that he should’ve found needles.
We see why a second later when he opens one of the hotel room doors and reveals Linwood tied up to a chair. OH SNAP. CRANGEL IN THE HOUSE.
K: Because CrAngel’s plans have always gone BRILLIANTLY in the past (see: hate sex with Darla, cross reference: Connor).
Lor: Angel lays out all his makeshift torture tools as Lorne asks who the heck the man tied to a chair is. Linwood introduces himself and says that Angel clearly hasn’t thought about the consequences of abducting an employee of Wolfram & Hart. I think Linwood hasn’t thought of the consequences of dying by staple remover. The consequences are mainly, “being dead.” Angel says that Wolfram & Hart would kill Linwood before they killed him. That’s one good part of being crucial to future apocalypses and stuff.
Sweeney: And being super expendable in the not-just-your-job-but-also-your-life sense is a major pitfall of working for W&H.
K: Super expendable because they own your ass once you’re dead too and can just bring you back to keep on working, but without that pesky getting paid thing. WHEEEEEEEEEE.
Lor: No benefits are worth working forever.
Lorne tells Angel that this is a human he’s got tied up and that torturing him won’t bring Connor back. Linwood rambles about how this is assault and kidnapping. I don’t think the guy with office supply torture weapons really cares about that stuff, dude. Linwood catches on to that as Angel picks up the memo pin and caresses it. By the time Angel puts the pin right up to Linwood’s eye as he asks who Sahjhan is and the Single Note of High Pitched Suspense strikes up, Linwood’s all, “NUMBER THREE ON MY SPEED DIAL.”
Number three on the speed dial is Lilah. Linwood tells her he’s sending over a client and that she needs to give him whatever he wants.
Fred and Gunn walk into Vampire Bad, Human Good Headquarters. They find Justine whittling some stakes because VAMPIRE BAD. Gunn snarks about the lack of security and Justine replies that getting out is the hard part. Gunn wonders if that’s what happened to Wesley. Justine isn’t forthcoming and Gunn almost gets violent but Fred stops him. She tries to reason with Justine, but quickly realizes that there is no way that Justine will ever be happy because she’s tortured and shit. Just then, the rest of the Vampire Bad Posse arrive. Gunn starts fighting and Justine backhands Fred. Gunn is outnumbered and one of the posse holds a knife to his throat. Justine has a guilt! flashback of slicing Wesley’s throat and calls off the fight. She tells Fred and Gunn to get out.
Wolfram & Hart. Lilah is leading Angel through the office, taking him to some big deal place called the white room. Getting there requires entering the elevator and hitting a series of floor numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. JUST KIDDING.
K: As one who can see the future, allow me to say this: UGH, THE WHITE ROOM.
Lor: In the white room, they are greeted by a creepy little girl (S: It’s Kay Panabaker, of Disney Channel fame!) who compliments Lilah’s red nail polish and then says Angel’s got a taste for red nail polish too. No, wait, I think this is a metaphor for blood. Yes. That.
Angel asks the little girl about his son and Sahjhan. Creepy Little Girl says his son is gone and that Sahjhan is basically nothing these days, though it wasn’t always like that. We flashback to a more solid Sahjhan removing heads and stabbing people. Apparently, he was causing so much chaos that “we” (whatever we the creepy little girl represents) made him immaterial.
Capturing Sahjahn requires a special urn. CLG knows, though, that Angel wants more than to just trap Sahjhan, but further information comes with a price. She tells him to kill Lilah. Angel doesn’t hesitate before grabbing Lilah for a neck snap. CLG stops him with a giggle. Just knowing that he would is enough for now. CLG gives Angel the ritual for turning Sahjhan into flesh.
Fred thinks Wesley threw away his diaries. She searches a dumpster briefly and finds the diaries in question. Back at the Brooding Hotel, she gets down to diary reading. Fred can tell Wes was worried and it isn’t long before Gunn finds the “father will kill the son,” prophecy. Fred thinks this is great and that Wes did the right thing. She wants to find Angel and explain.
Cut to Angel painting a pentagram on the floor for his ritual. Lorne is nervous about this and tells Lilah not talking would be a good look for her. I love Lorne. Angel is less in love with Lorne and his warnings at the moment. Next up on the ritual recipe sheet is some human blood. Lilah picks up a knife and walks purposefully toward Linwood, who is still tied to a chair. She apparently just wants to go on a little stroll before she cut her own hand, though. She steps into the pentagram and lets her blood drip to the floor.
Sweeney: Lilah is batshit, but she’s an entertaining villain-type. She gives good evil.
K: She really really does. The death stare she gave Linwood while walking was FABULOUS.
Lor: That all done, Angel says the magic ritual words like he’s reading a grocery list. Dude, it’s the spell that’s going to bring your enemy forth. Use a little intonation. Lights, mystical wind, indoor lightening, but no Sahjhan. Angel is pissed.
We cut to Sahjhan materializing on a street somewhere. He’s promptly hit by a truck. The truck driver freaks out accordingly, but we can assume he freaks out even more when Sahjhan flips over his truck like it ain’t no thang.
At the hotel, Angel is dragging Linwood back upstairs, still tied to his chair. It’s kind of hilarious because the chair is smacking against each step. Lorne is still on team, “DON’T DO THIS.” It’s Lilah, though, who gets him to stop, as she’s just gotten word about some mystical juju appearing at certain cross streets at the same time they did the spell. Angel lets the chair go, and we watch Linwood tumble all the way down.
Fred and Gunn run into the hotel as Angel is trying to get out. Fred tells him about the father killing the son prophecy and blocks his way to the exit. Angel glares at her and says that he knows the prophecy isn’t true because he would never hurt someone he cared about. “Now move,” he adds, so we can all not really believe him. Angel leaves.
Fred wants to go after him but Gunn says they can’t. He’ll kill Angel himself if he lays a hand on Fred. Lorne fills those two in on all the kidnapping and dark magic they missed. As Linwood dusts himself off and says Angel will pay, Lorne makes sure we all realize how bad things are.
Right outside the Brooding Hotel, Angel is attacked by the Vampire Bad Posse. He fights them off easily. He tells Justine that he isn’t her boyfriend so she should find someone else to smack her around. Yick. (S: MAJOR yick.) (K: Agreed. Yick.)
Angel pushes Justine and by the time she looks up again, he’s gone. She runs to her car and leaves her posse behind. Fred and Gunn see her leaving, and note that she’s driving Wesley’s car.
Angel arrives at the magical juju cross streets and talks to the truck driver who hit Sahjhan. He doesn’t know much but he does feel bad about what happened.
Justine’s at the underground place where Holtz screwdrivered her to a table. She’s having fond flashbacks of Holtz, and I really dislike this whole battered woman wanting more vibe they’ve got going on with Justine. It’s not particularly well done and also I don’t care about her. Sorry.
K: The “Not sorry” vibe is strong with this one. And justified.
Lor: Fred and Gunn (seriously, are they just going to appear always together now) have followed Justine and ask where Wesley is. Justine first sads about how Holtz lied to her, but then admits that Wesley was “innocent” and that also she slit his throat. Fred backhands the shit out of her. Justine moves to retaliate, but Gunn is there to punch her a few times. He picks her up by her collar and demands to be taken to Wesley. Sahjhan arrives now, wanting to pick a “real” fight since there are uninvited guests in his home.
After a cut to black, Sahjhan recognizes Justine and also punches her. Man. I know I just said I don’t care about her but watching Justine act as punching bag time is rough too. Angel arrives before Sahjhan can do more than threaten Fred and Gunn. They circle around each other as Angel tells Sahjhan to take him to his son. Sahjhan says he can’t even if he wanted to, because you can only open the door to Quor’tath once or else the whole universe “goes kablooey.”
Sweeney: Since I mentioned my amusement at Lilah, I have to say Sahjhan is a super excellent villain. This show all kind of runs together, but I think he’s my favorite AtS bad guy so far.
Lor: Sahjhan admits that he was the one who wrote the father the killing the son prophecy. OOOF. The original prophecy was about Connor killing him, so he used his time traveling powers to mess with the prophecy, and Wesley believed them. Angel is pissed (K: FAIR), so he vamps out and they fight. Gunn gets in a punch and gets knocked down for his trouble. Fred grabs a nearby torch thing and throws it in Sahjahn’s face. Angel pushes Fred aside and takes over the fighting again. He’s outmatched, though, and Sahjahn flips him onto a table. There is a convenient piece of pointy wood nearby, so things are looking bad for Angel. But hark! Sahjahn has been reading the Big Book of Villain Gloating recently and takes this moment to neener neener about Connor’s demise. This allows Justine time to come running in with that special urn that will trap Sahjahn. She opens it, he gets sucked inside, and that is that. The only thing left is for her to tell them where she left Wesley for dead.
We cut to the Throat SlicingPark, but they’ve had no luck finding Wesley. Fred thinks Justine was lying, but Angel can smell Wesley’s blood. The sun is coming up so Angel needs to get indoors. He says Wes can’t be dead, and Gunn assures him that they’ll find him.
Back at the Brooding Hotel, Angel gives Lorne what is supposed to sound like a repentant, “whoops! I went to far!” speech, but I’m not buying it completely. I don’t know if I should be buying it because being a Snow is hard. (S: Same!) Angel asks if Lorne thinks Wesley is dead. Lorne doesn’t know, but he does think that Angel did everything he could with the knowledge he had. Just like Wesley. Feelsy music starts up as Lorne says that maybe Angel must first forgive Wesley to forgive himself.
Sweeney: Lorne found it unconvincing too.
Lor: The phone rings and it’s Fred. They found Wesley.
Angel joins Fred and Gunn, Siamese Twins, at the hospital. Wesley can’t speak because his trachea is damaged and he lost a lot of blood. Angel goes into the hospital room to see him. Wesley stirs as Angel enters the room. Angel says that he knows about the prophecies and that he understands why he did what he did. Angel says that it’s important for West to know that he didn’t kill his son, and that it isn’t Angelus talking to him, it’s Angel. “You know that right?” Wesley acknowledges him with a slow blink. “Good,” Angel says.
We all know Angel’s had a history of dealing with things by going crazy, so this doesn’t surprise me. He’s grieving, he’s lost, he’s out of options and he’s been trying all episode to get his hands on something. Of course he tried to kill Wesley. Poor Wesley. That final scene is tough because I understand them both. That’s my favorite part of the story line so far, is that they you can understand both of their motivations. Wesley was tricked and acting in a way he felt was best and to Angel, “I thought you were capable of killing your own son, so I kidnapped him,” is no explanation at all. It’s no consolation.
K: I’d completely forgotten about that last scene, so my reaction was mostly “HOLY FUCK WHAT IS HAPPENING OH MY GOD HOW DO I PROCESS THIS?????”
I guess someone’s up to the anger stage of grieving…
Next time: Apparently Gunn sold his soul? Apparently in Angel S03 E18 – Double or Nothing.
I'm a 30-something south Floridan who loves the beach but cannot swim. Such is my life, full of small contradictions and little trivialities. My main life goals are never to take life too seriously, but to do everything I attempt seriously well. After that, my life goals devolve into things like not wearing pants and eating all of the Zebra Cakes in the world. THE WORLD.
Nicole is the co-captain of Snark Squad and these days she spends most of her time editing podcasts. She spends too much time on Twitter and very occasionally vlogs and blogs. In her day job she's a producer, editor, director, and sometimes host of educational YouTube channels. She loves travel, maps, panda gifs, and semicolons. Writing biographies stresses her out; she crowd sourced this one years ago and has been using a version of it ever since. She would like to thank Twitter for their help.
I'm a 30-something librarian and I still live with my parents because I'm super broke. Leader of Team Heartless Cow. I have an inexplicable love for 90s television, eat too much chocolate, and read more than is good for me.
