''Angel and his crew are ready for anything... but are they ready for...''
Fredless - 3ADH05
Written by Mere Smith - Directed by Marita Grabiak - First Aired on October 22nd, 2001
Synopsis -
Creature Feature -
Cool Quotes -
References -
Continuity -
Goofs -
Trivia -
The Morgue -
Cast -
Famous Faces -
Points Of View
Synopsis
The Short: Angel goes into full detective mode when Fred's parents unexpectedly arrive in Los Angeles to bring Fred home, but their appearance inexplicably sends her into a tailspin and on the run.
The Long: After a ''Previously on Angel'' segment (see Continuity #1) we open on Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley doing a weapon inventory at Angel Investigations (see Continuity #2 and Reference #1). Fred keeps asking what time it is, and wonders when Angel will be back from visiting Buffy. Fred worries Buffy and Angel will get together, but Wesley and Cordelia assure her they cannot (see Continuity #3). Cordelia and Wesley even make light of their plight with some play acting as Angel shows up (see Cool Quotes #1 and Continuity #4). Angel doesn't want to talk about it, but wants to go get ice cream, and leaves with Fred to get some. Later in the sewers Angel and Fred are tracking a Durslar Beast they spotted at the ice cream place. Fred insists she is boring, spots some crystals, then Angel sends her back to the hotel when they get close to the Beasts lair (see Reference #2). As Fred leaves the Durslar Beast attacks Angel.
Back at the Hyperion Gunn tires of the inventory and wishes Cordelia would get a vision. She trips on a spring loaded device Fred built, but they have no clue what it's for. A couple walk in looking for Angel Investigations. The couple, Roger and Trish say they are looking for their daughter. At first the crew think they lost their daughter to demons and want to hire them, but they eventually learn they are Fred's parents and they heard she was staying with them. About that time a lone Fred walks in licking her ice cream and sees them parents talking in the next room and unseen by everyone panics and runs up stairs to her room. Wesley says that Fred is out at the moment. Roger and Trish want to know where their daughter has been for five years, but the crew cover for her, saying she was depressed. Roger and Trish say they got a letter from Fred, with no return address, saying not to look for her. Right then Angel walks in with the severed Durslar head in
his hand bragging about how tough it was before he notices the couple (see Reference #3). Cordelia covers for him saying he works in the movies and that the head is a prop, then introduces him to Fred's parents. Up in Fred's room she tries to clean the walls of her writings and tidy up in vain. Back in the office Angel tries to make small talk with the parents. They want to know when Fred will be back, and Angel guesses she came back already and is in her room. They go to her room and see the ice cream wrapper, so they know she was there. Roger and Trish are freaked out by the writing on Fred's walls. Cordelia and the others are suspicious of the parents and why Fred seemingly ran away. Out on the streets Fred acts lost and frightened.
Roger and Trish talk in the lobby of the Hyperion as the crew talk in the office. Cordelia says something is off about the couple. They wonder why Fred would run away from her parents. They try to figure out where Fred would go, but can't come up with any good ideas. Angel decides to check out the sewers while the others go with Fred and Trish to the library Fred worked at. At a closed Caritas Fred knocks on the door, rousing the host from enjoying television (see Reference #4). The place is still a wreck as he reluctantly lets Fred in (see Reference #5). Fred wants cash to get out of town. The host is sympathetic and talks with her. In the sewers Angel looks for Fred. As he does pair of glowing eyes watch him. At the library Cordelia talks to Fred's parents as Wesley and Gunn find she isn't there. Cordelia learns Trish drives a school bus. Roger thinks it's off that a physicist works for a detective agency. They crew don't know where to turn, then it hits them (see Reference #6). In the sewers Angel gets a cell phone call from the crew and they tell
them what they thought of. He leaves as a bug-like monster watches him. In Caritas the whole crew and the parents surprise the host (see Reference #7). The host is still uncomfortable with Gunn being there. Angel talks to the host as Roger says he thinks the crew is hiding Fred from them. The host stalls then gives up where they can find Fred, but he warns it will be ugly. In the bus station Fred talks to herself and frightens off a bum. She considers going to Las Vegas and learning to count cards for money as she calculates PI to relax (see Reference #8). Then her parents walk in and she panics and runs off, but the parents stop her. Fred is freaked because meeting means her life was real, that it really happened and isn't a story book story. She breaks down and cries in her mothers arms. As Rogers says she is safe now a giant bug jumps down from the roof and hisses at them.
Angel tells the crew and parents to run as he tries to hold the bug off, but Angel is clearly out matched. The fight carries out to the parking lot. Roger learns Angel is a vampire. Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia grab some sporting equipment from bags and attack the bug. They can't seem to keep the bug pinned down, and Fred grabs a golf club, saving Angel by whacking it. When the bug attacks Fred, Roger slams it over the head with a fire extinguisher. Angel then tackles it, riding it, but he his thrown. Just after Angel is thrown clear a bus rams the bug at high speed, splashing it's purple innards on everyone. Trish runs out of the bus and does a little dance, having killed the bug. Back at the Hyperion Cordelia does first aid on a cut on Fred's arm. They are honest with what they do to the Burkles, killing demons. Fred notices the crystals on the severed Durslar Beasts head, like she saw in the sewers. Fred and her parents seem to be happy. Cordelia then patches up Angel's wounds as Wesley talks to Fred (see
Reference #9). Fred
realizes she doesn't seem to serve a purpose at the agency, and that she was almost killed. Roger is proud of his daughter. Fred flatly states she wants to go home, where it's quiet and safe. Gunn and Wesley look like they will miss her. Up in Fred's room Angel says good-bye to her. Fred over his past with Angel. Out in the lobby Trish and Cordelia bond (see Reference #10). Wesely and Gunn show Roger the device Fred built, which he is very proud of. Fred and Angel come down stairs with her suitcase. She decides to keep the shirt with bug guts as a momento. Fred says hugs the crew one by one, except Angel. They leave. In the taxi Roger says they rented out her room recently. Fred opens her bag and looks at the shirt which now has crystals on it. She realizes something and insists they turn the car around. In Wesley's office the crew lay back and say they will miss Fred and her parents. Wesley makes references to how Fred's parents didn't berate her, which they all notice, and he stops. Cordelia says she wishes things were more
normal. In the lobby the Durslar Beast head starts to pulse and little bug arms start to poke out of it (see Goof #1).
As the head continues to pulse the crew comment on Fred's good qualities. Cordelia gets a little jealous. They hope Fred will come back and visit. As the head pulsates we see another bug creature like the one from the bus station standing outside the window looking in. Cordelia gets up to head home, but sees the giant bug and cries out. They see more of them standing outside. They go for the weapons and start to fight the one inside. Fred and her parents rush in and she sets up the device she built. The device shoots a battle axe across the room splitting open the Durslar head. The bug reacts to seeing all the little bugs crawling out. It walks out with a little horde following it. Fred explains how she noticed the crystals which were in the sewer, on the Durslar and on her shirt were all bug guts and reasoned that the reason the Durslay went mad was because the bugs laid it's eggs in it's head (see Reference #11). The bugs were looking for their eggs, which is why they followed Angel. The crew is impressed with her reasoning.
Fred states she has realized her path in life. She's not normal, this is her life. She tells her parents she is staying. The crew agree they want her to stay. They insist off staying a few days and catching up. Later in Fred's room the repaint the walls. Roger and Angel bond over people they think were demons (see Reference #12). Cordelia shows up with pizza as Fred paints away her past, beginning a new.
Creature Feature
The Durslar Beast is a large humanoid demon who makes more noise then is really dangerous. It's sub-terrainian and rarely goes above ground.
The colony of bug demons are six limbed and seem similar to preying mantises. They can climb walls and lay their eggs in the heads of other animals.
Cool Quotes
- Cordelia: ''Let me break it down for you, Fred. Oh, Angel! I know that I'm a Slayer and you a vampire, and it would be impossible for us to be together, but!''
Wesley: ''...but! My gypsy curse sometimes prevents me from seeing the truth. Oh, Buffy!''
Cordelia: ''Yes, Angel?''
Wesley: ''Oh, I love you so much I almost forgot to brood!''
Cordelia: ''...and just because I sent you to hell that one time doesn't mean that we can't just be friends. Oh!''
Wesley: ''...or possibly more.''
Cordelia: ''Gasp! No! We mustn't.''
Wesley: ''Kiss me.''
Cordelia: ''Bite me!''
Angel: ''How about you both bite me.''
I think Cordelia and Wesley have it down pat.
References
- Cordelia: ''No. Angel, keeps complaining that the weapons cabinet is all different, but, Wesley, who's the boss around here? You, or the guy with the pancreas dagger.''
A pancreas is a long, irregularly shaped gland in vertebrates, lying behind the stomach, that secretes pancreatic juice into the duodenum and insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin into the bloodstream.
- Angel: ''Nah. Durslar Beasts are pretty Faulknerian. Lotta sound, no fury. Think you can find your way back okay?''
William Faulkner (1897-1962) is an American writer who set many of his works, such as the novels The Sound and the Fury (1929) and The Unvanquished (1938), in the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County, a microcosm of the postbellum South, in which he explored the decay of traditional Southern culture. He won the 1949 Nobel Prize for literature.
- Angel: ''Wait til you guys hear what happened at Haagen-Dazs! Ordinarily these things don't put up much of a fight, but this one? Hoo! I think I'm gonna have it...''
Haagen-Dazs is an international maker of ice cream and frozen yogert. They opened thier first shop in Brooklyn, New York, in November of 1976. Since then, Haagem-Dazs has grown into an international sensation, with over 240 shops in the United States and more than 800 shops worldwide. There are two Haagen-Dazs shops in Los Angeles. One is at 10878 Kinross Avenue, the other is at 8500 Beverly Blvd. They have an official web site at http://www.haagen-dazs.com/.
- Host demon: ''Oh, figures. Right when Judge Judy is about to lay the smack down.''
Judge Judy is a 1996 television series in which Judge Judy Sheindlin, a former judge from New York, tackles real-life small claims cases.
Smackdown is...
- Host demon: ''Oh, no. No. Just the one, but it turns out massacres are a lot like sitting through Godfather three, once is enough.''
The Godfather: Part III is a 1990 drama film. Plot: In the final instalment of the Godfather trilogy, an aging Don Michael Corleone seeks to legitimize his crime family's interests and remove himself from the violent underworld but is kept back by the ambitions of the young. While he attempts to link the Corleone's finances with the Vatican, Michael must deal with the machinations of a hungrier gangster seeking to upset the existing Mafioso order and a young protoge's love affair with his daughter.
- Cordelia: ''Hey! Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson, a little focus, please. There is definitely something going on with them.''
Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson are...
- Host demon: ''Oh, do you like it? I was kinda going for a Dresden after the bombing sort of feel.''
Dresden is...
- Fred: ''I could go to Vegas. Learn to play Black Jack. Memorize four hundred fifty two consecutive digits of pi a few hundred measly cards are easy.''
Las Vegas is a city of southeast Nevada near the California and Arizona borders. It is a major tourist center known for its casinos. Also referenced by Buffy in Surprise and Gunn in Heartthrob.
Pi is a transcendental number, approximately 3.14159, that expresses the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle and appears as a constant in many mathematical expressions.
Blackjack is a card game in which the object is to accumulate cards with a higher count than that of the dealer but not exceeding 21. Also called twenty-one.
- Roger: ''Well, I tell ya, I hadn't seen a stroke like that since Nicklaus took on Gary Player in the '63 Bob Hope Dessert Classic.''
Jack Nicklaus is...
Gary Player is...
The Bob Hope Desert Classic is...
- Trish: ''I mean, Rog's always had a thing for those disgusting Alien movies with all the slime and teeth. He just can't get enough of 'em. Except for that last one they made I think he dozed off. I just can't believe it's all real.''
Alien is a 1979 horror film which spawned three sequals. The last sequal was 1997's Alien: Resurrection, which was written by Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator, writer, producer, director and actor Joss Whedon!
- Fred: ''Those crystals are just dried up bug goop. It must have laid its eggs in the Durslar's head, which would explain the Durslar coming up out of the sewer, 'cause, I mean, wouldn't you be a little crazy if you had eggs in your head? I know I would. Anyway, that'd be all fine and Darwinian, except Angel killed the Durslar and brought the head back here, so the Bug had to track him down to get its babies back.''
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was a British naturalist who revolutionized the study of biology with his theory of evolution based on natural selection. His most famous works include Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871).
- Roger: ''Now, Spiro Agnew, I know he was...''
Angel: ''A Grathnar demon! You knew that? I thought I was the only one that knew that!''
Spiro Theodore Agnew (1918-1996) was Vice President of the United States (1969-1973) under Richard M. Nixon. Agnew resigned amid charges of illegal financial dealings during his governorship of Maryland (1966-1968).
Continuity
- Fred: ''Previously on Angel.''
Belonging - We learn Fred has been missing for 5 years.
Over The Rainbow - Cordelia is made a slave in Pylea and meets Fred. Constable Narwek finds Fred.
There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb - Angel fights the captain of the guard in Fred's cave. Fred says she loves tacos.
Judgement - The host of Caritas sings with Liz.
Guise Will Be Guise - Wesley and Cordelia explain how the host reads people.
That Old Gang Of Mine - Fred sings Crazy as gunfire erupts in Caritas. The host asks Gunn if these are friends of his.
- Cordelia: ''No. Angel, keeps complaining that the weapons cabinet is all different, but, Wesley, who's the boss around here? You, or the guy with the pancreas dagger.''
Heartthrob - Angel complained the weapons cabinet was different after returning from Sri Lanka.
- Cordelia: ''He'll be back when he's back.''
Fred: ''So, now that she's alive again, are they gonna get back together? Angel and that girl with the goofy name?''
Carpe Noctem - Angel learned Buffy Summers, his old love, was alive.
- Cordelia: ''...and just because I sent you to hell that one time doesn't mean that we can't just be friends. Oh!''
Becoming
Part 2 - In order to save the world from being sucked into hell, Buffy
had to send Angel there instead.
Faith, Hope and
Trick - Angel mysteriously returns to Earth several months later, but
for him hundreds of years passed in hell.
Goofs
- When the Durslar Beasts head starts to hatch we see bug arms poke out of it, but the bugs that came out didn't have arms like that.
Trivia
The Morgue
- Anonymous Durslar Beast: In the sewers, beheaded by Angel.
- Anonymous bug demon: At the bus station, run over with a bus by Trish Burkle.
Cast
Starring:
David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Amy Acker as Winifred "Fred" Burkle
Guest Starring:
Andy Hallett as the Host Demon (Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan)
Gary Grubbs as Roger Burkle
Jennifer Griffin as Trish Burkle
Co-Starring:
No one.
Famous Faces
Gary Grubbs, who played Roger Burkle, played Fire Captain Miles Cooles in the 1998 X-Files film. He also played Sheriff Thomas Arnes in the X-Files episode Our Town 2.24.
Jennifer Griffin who played Trish Burkle, played Doctor Miryum in the X-Files episode Per Manum 8.13.
Points Of View
Mathew:
I liked Fred and Trish, very nice parents. Their accents were a little over done, but not too bad. The bug demon was very cool looking but not a lot about it was told. I like a name for my demons.
Page by Webmaster Mathew - September, 2002
Special thanks to The Complete Buffy Episode Guide for
inspiration and technical help, as well as Buffy episode links and all the
readers of the
Watcher's Diary for their feedback in making this page what it is.
