Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

Guest starring: Elisabeth Rohm as Kate Lockley, Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald, Andy Hallett as The Host, Julie Benz as Darla

Original air date: February 27, 2001

Written by: Tim Minear
Directed by: Thomas J. Wright

[Note: This episode begins at the end of the previous episode, 2.15 “Reprise.”]

Angel and Darla are asleep in Angel’s bed after a particularly vigorous romp in the sack. Thunder from a rainstorm wakes Angel and he grimaces in pain. Angel staggers out of the bedroom onto the balcony and into the rain gasping and grimacing in pain. Darla follows Angel outside and tells him not to fight it and let it happen. Darla gently reassures Angel that now his soul is gone he needs a human kill to wash away the memory of his soul. Angel thanks Darla for saving him and Darla admits that she intended to kill Angel but changed her mind when Angel gave himself to Darla. Angel tells Darla that he gave her everything that he had left to give and then tells Darla that he’s sorry. Suddenly Darla realizes that Angel still has his soul. Darla just doesn’t understand how it’s possible that she and Angel had sex but Angel still has his soul. Darla tells Angel that in her 400+ years, some of which were spent as a prostitute, she knows perfection and what they had was perfection. Darla wants to have sex with Angel again but Angel tells her no and that the two of them are finished. Angel tries to explain that jumping into bed with Darla was an act of despair. Angel realizes that he tried to save Darla’s soul as a way of earning his own redemption and when that failed (see AtS 2.09, “The Trial”) he hit rock bottom. And hitting rock bottom gave him somewhere to go - up, and that saved Angel. Darla accuses Angel of making her trust Angel and Angel flashes back to Kate’s phone call (see AtS 2.15, “Reprise”) because Kate used nearly the same words Darla just did. Angel turns to leave and tells Darla to let herself out but Darla isn’t finished with Angel just yet. Darla chases after Angel and tries to stake him but she isn’t quick enough. Angel tells Darla that he’s going to return her favor and warns Darla to leave now because the next time Angel sees Darla he will kill her.

Angel bangs on the door of Kate’s apartment but she doesn’t answer because she is on the floor unconscious with several open bottles of pills and a bottle of vodka next to her. Angel busts down the door and barges into the apartment, sees Kate and checks to make sure she’s alive. Angel revives Kate by holding her in a cold shower until she wakes up. When Kate’s fully awake she thanks Angel for saving her life then orders him out of her apartment.

Across town Lindsey arrives home to find Darla waiting in his darkened apartment. Lindsey’s been trying to reach Darla by phone and he wants to know why she didn’t answer. Lindsey also tells Darla that after the debacle at W&H’s seventy-five year review the partners have ordered that Darla be staked on sight. Lindsey finally notices that Darla has been playing with a ring. Lindsey recognizes the ring as the Band of Blacknil (see AtS 2.15, “Reprise”) and demands to know where Darla got it. Darla tells Lindsey that it doesn’t matter because the ring doesn’t work. Of course Lindsey knows the ring doesn’t work because after Angel stole the ring W&H had a disenchanting ceremony to prevent Angel from using the ring to attack the Senior Partners. Again Lindsey demands to know where Darla got the ring. Darla tells Lindsey the ring was her payment for “services rendered.” Lindsey wants to know what happened, and wants to know the details. Lindsey is seriously angry and wants to know what Angel did to Darla.

Meanwhile Angel pays a visit to Caritas to talk to The Host. Angel explains what happened that night and tells The Host that he probably should have killed Darla. The Host tells Angel that the more important fact is that Angel has finally turned a corner. Angel wants to know how he can back to where he was before and The Host tells him that going back is impossible. Instead Angel has to move forward to a new place. Angel isn’t sure he can move on given the poor choices he’s made about W&H and Darla. Angel is also pretty annoyed that the Powers That Be didn’t make it clear that Angel should stay away from Darla, but The Host points out that the PTB probably did try to keep Angel away from his sire but that Angel just wasn’t getting the message. Angel asks The Host what the PTB want Angel to do now and The Host reminds Angel that he isn’t a link to the PTB, Cordy is. The Host tells Angel that there is every possibility that Angel won’t be able to fix things with Cordy, Wes and Gunn, especially since it looks like the three of them are going to die tonight.

Cordy is in a cab pulling up in front of the Sharp home. The new AI team helped to remove a third eye from Stephanie Sharp’s head and then the Sharps decided they wouldn’t pay their fee (see AtS 2.14, “The Thin Dead Line,” and 2.15, “Reprise”). Earlier in the evening Francine Sharp, Stephanie’s mom, called Cordy and told her that the Sharps reconsidered and wanted to pay their bill. Cordy is a little confused because the Sharps should be expecting Cordy to stop by and pick up the check but the house is dark and the front door is ajar. After knocking Cordelia walks into the house calling for someone to meet her. No one answers Cordy’s calls and Cordy finds out why. In the kitchen the entire Sharp family is dead. Suddenly a vision slams into Cordy - she sees herself in the Sharp’s kitchen being attacked by a Skilosh demon, the demon that gave Stephanie Sharp the third eye. As Cordy turns to leave one of the Skilosh demons attacks her knocking her unconscious. When Cordy wakes the Skilosh accuses her of killing their spawn and that three are responsible so three must pay. The Skilosh want Cordy to bring Wes and Gunn to the Sharp home for some retribution. The Skilosh who has been talking to Cordy turns to talk to two others of its kind and Cordy realizes she’s in big trouble because she can see the third eye in the back of the Skilosh’s head. Cordy realizes that these are the demons that attacked Stephanie. The Skilosh tells Cordy that they have found the “wheel-ed one” and wants to know where the other is.

About this time Wes is moving around his apartment in his wheelchair, still recovering from his gunshot wound (see AtS 2.14, “The Thin Dead Line”). Wes hears a noise outside his apartment so Wes wheels over to the closet to grab a shotgun. Unfortunately the gun and the shells are on the top shelf and Wes has to use a broom to get both of them down. Wes finally manages to get the gun down and loaded then he steels himself for an attack. Behind Wes the door breaks in. It’s Angel, who tells Wes to invite him in because Angel’s never been at Wes’s place before. Wes starts to chide Angel about Angel’s lack of interest in Wes’s life but stops when Angel points out a Skilosh demon breaking through a window. Wes gets the point and invites Angel in rather quickly. Angel fights and kills one of the demons while Wes shoots a second, getting Skilosh guts all over his face. Now that the battle is over Wes grins briefly at Angel before remembering that he is angry with Angel, and then Wes frowns.

In Lindsey’s apartment Darla has told Lindsey everything about her encounter with Angel earlier in the evening. If possible Lindsey is angrier than he was before. He goes to one of the closets and grabs a pair of cowboy boots and starts to change his clothes.

Angel is driving Wes to the AI office while Wes is trying to reach Cordelia. Cordy isn’t answering her phone and Angel tells Wes that Cordy wasn’t at home earlier; Angel checked Cordy’s place before going over to Wes’s. Angel wants to reconnect with Wes but is having some trouble because Wes really isn’t interested in why Angel went to Wes’s apartment. Strike 1. Angel finally gives up and asks Wes to fill him in on the demons that attacked Wes. Wes explains about the Skilosh demons and Stephanie Sharp’s third eye. During Wes’s research he found that the Skilosh are very aggressive, asexual demons that reproduce by injecting their spawn into the cranium of humans. The spawn matures and then erupts, fully formed, from the head of the human. Angel tries to compliment Wes on his work but Wes ignores him. Strike number 2 for Angel. Angel congratulates Wes on saving Stephanie’s life and Wes tells him ‘thank you.’

At the Sharp home a Skilosh demon tells Cordy that two more Skilosh have been killed. The Skilosh leader tells Cordy that replacements must rise. Two Skilosh grab Cordy and force her to her knees and exposing the back of her head. The Skilosh leader implants a spawn in Cordy’s skull with it’s tongue. Ick.

Wes and Angel are at the new AI office and haven’t found Cordy. Wes notes that the same truck has passed by the office three times. Angel hasn’t found any clue to where Cordy might be and thinks she’s out with friends or on a date. Wes lectures Angel about Cordy and how much she has changed over the past few months while Angel has been on his one-vamp vendetta to eliminate all the lawyers at W&H. Wes tells Angel that Cordy’s visions have caused her to become solitary. Whenever Cordy gets a vision she feels compelled to do something about it because Angel was no longer there to act on Cordy’s visions. Angel looks ashamed of what he’s done and how it’s impacted Cordy and Angel simply tells Wes that they have to find Cordelia. Angel detects that someone is coming toward the office and Wes thinks the Skilosh may have followed them. Wes tells Angel to turn off the lights and he and Angel stick to the shadows waiting. Someone does come into the office but it’s Gunn. Gunn saw the lights were on so he thought he’d investigate. Wes thought Gunn had gone but Gunn tells Wes that he wasn’t about the abandon Wes and Cordy like Angel did which brings another guilty look to Angel’s face. Gunn asks why Angel is there and Angel explains that The Host told Angel that his friends were in danger. Gunn asks Wes why Angel is there and Wes tells Gunn that Angel had an epiphany. Now Gunn understands so he asks why they had the lights out. Wes explains that he was attacked by Skilosh demons in his apartment and that he, Cordy, and Gunn may have been targeted for retribution by the tribe. Angel tells Gunn that he saved Wes’s life, but Gunn isn’t impressed. Gunn wants to know where Cordy is and asks if either Wes or Angel has checked Cordy’s message pad. Angel tries to be helpful and tells Gunn to use a pencil to raise the impression of the last thing Cordy wrote. Again Gunn isn’t impressed because Gunn would prefer to just read the carbon. Gunn sees an address which Wes recognizes as the Sharp’s. Gunn and Wes figure that Cordy went to the Sharps that evening and must have taken the original with her. Gunn and Wes are clearly worried about what might happen to Cordy and Wes asks Gunn to grab the de-oculation powder that was left from treating Stephanie Sharp. Angel thinks that Gunn and Wes are worrying over nothing until they tell Angel that the Sharps owe them money. Now Angel’s worried, too.

At the Sharps Cordy wakes up again after her close encounter with a Skilosh tongue. Cordy’s a little surprised to discover that she can see behind her without turning her head. The Skilosh eye has started to grow on her skull.

Angel, Gunn, and Wes are driving toward the Sharps and Gunn asks about Angel’s epiphany. Gunn wants to know if Angel’s epiphany is going to take or if Angel is going to attack the first W&H lawyer that he sees. Angel tells Gunn that he’s not going to attack anyone from W&H but Gunn isn’t satisfied. Gunn tells Angel that if anything bad happens to Cordelia Gunn will hurt Angel. Suddenly a Skilosh jumps into the back seat of Angel’s car and attacks Wes. Gun jumps up and joins Wes in the back seat to fight off the demon. Although Gunn has thrown the Skilosh off of the car more are coming out of the shadows. Angel makes a quick decision and tells Gunn and Wes to go to the Sharps to save Cordy. Angel will stay behind and fight the Skilosh so that the demons don’t ambush them at the Sharps. Angel promises to meet them at the Sharps because getting to Cordy is the only thing that matters. Gunn drives off towards the Sharps as Angel faces a dozen or so Skilosh demons. Angel’s a little surprised when the Skilosh scatter. An old Ford truck is barreling down the road from behind Angel and knocks Angel down. The driver, Lindsey, stops the truck, puts it into reverse, and slams into Angel again.

Gunn and Wes arrive at the Sharps to find several Skilosh guarding Cordelia. And while Wes and Gunn are happy that Cordy is still alive they’re a little icked out by the fact that Cordy now has three eyes. Gunn, whose eyes are at window level, tells Wes that three more demons have arrived. Wes is worried that the gestation of the Skilosh spawn in Cordy’s skull may be nearly complete and wants to know why Angel hasn’t caught up with them yet. Gunn wants to know how much longer they’ll wait for Angel and Wes tells him that they aren’t going to wait any longer. For all they know Angel’s had another change of heart so it’s up to Gunn and Wes to save Cordelia. Wes manages to get out of his wheelchair but doesn’t stay vertical for long. Luckily Gunn catches Wes before he can fall all the way to the ground.

In another part of town Angel is having trouble with a truck being driven into his body repeatedly. Lindsey isn’t holding back. When Lindsey finally has Angel down on the ground Lindsey gets out of the truck, grabs a sledge hammer, and hits Angel with it. Over and over. Lindsey is really angry that Angel had sex with Darla and Lindsey demands that Angel tell him everything that he and Darla did. When Angel won’t Lindsey goes to the flatbed of the truck to grab a stake, obviously to drive into Angel’s heart. But Lindsey never gets a chance to stake Angel because Angel gets some pay back. Angel starts beating on Lindsey who really can’t defend himself against an enraged vamp. Angel ends their ‘talk’ by grabbing the sledgehammer and smashing Lindsey’s prosthetic hand (see AtS 1.22, “To Shanshu in L.A.”). As Angel gets into Lindsey’s truck Angel tells Lindsey he should be happy Angel didn’t smash the other hand. Angel drives off to meet up with Gunn and Wes.

At the Sharps the demons have caught Gunn and Wes trying to sneak in the house. Luckily Angel drives up in Lindsey’s truck and doesn’t stop until the truck is sitting in the Sharps’ living room. While Gunn and Wes cut through the ropes around their hands Angel is fighting and killing several Skilosh. Wes uses his de-oculation powder to kill the Skilosh spawn. When the eye disappears Cordy sees Angel but, to Angel’s dismay, she’s not happy to see him. Gunn, Cordy and Wes leave together.

The next morning Lindsey finds his truck outside the W&H building with a thank you note on the demolished windshield from Angel. When Lindsey gets back to his apartment he finds that Darla has moved out. Every trace of Darla - clothes, shoes, books - is gone.

Later that evening Kate and Angel are talking in the garden outside of the Hyperion. Kate tells Angel that she feels like an idiot for trying to kill herself but, at the time, she didn’t feel like she had a reason to live. Angel tells Kate, “If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.” Angel tells Kate that he realizes that he was helping people to earn redemption and then he started hurting people to get back at the W&H lawyers. Getting “the prize” of redemption or inflicting pain shouldn’t have been Angel’s goal. It should have been to help people and Angel understands that now. Angel tells Kate that he wants to help people because he believes that people shouldn’t suffer. Angel tries to give Kate a pep talk about doing something with her life other than being a cop but Kate interrupts him. Kate tells Angel that she’s coping with being off the force and that she’ll be ok. Kate thanks Angel for saving her life and tells him that she has faith that they probably aren’t alone in trying to help people because Kate never invited Angel in to her apartment.

Meanwhile Wes, Gunn, and Cordy are at the new AI office working when Angel stops by. Angel apologizes again for his behavior over the past few months. Wes tells Angel that the three of them have already talked and none of them are comfortable with going back to work for Angel. Angel tells Wesley that he doesn’t want Wes, Gunn, and Cordy to come back and work for him. Instead Angel would like to work for them because Angel thinks he can help. Cordy wants to know if they can trust Angel and Angel tells her that he’ll just have to earn their trust again. Suddenly Cordy has a vision that nearly knocks her to the ground. Cordy tells Gunn and Wes about her vision then asks why she •isn’t• on the ground. Cordy looks over her shoulder and finds Angel - he caught her in time. Cordy looks at Wes and Gunn and asks if Angel should drive. Wes tells them all, “Let’s go.”

Summary by Kirsten.