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: Andy Hallett as The Host (Lorne), Amy Acker as Fred (Winifred) Burkle, Jarrod Crawford as Rondell, Darris Love as George, Brody Hutzler as Landokmar of the Deathwalk Clan

Original air date: May 1, 2001

Written by: Shawn Ryan

Directed by: Turi Meyer

Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn and Angel are having dinner out at an expensive restaurant to celebrate Cordy landing a job acting in a commercial. A really expensive restaurant. So expensive, in fact, that Angel is a little weirded out by the prices. Cordy admits feeling a little guilty but Angel tells Cordy that she should order anything on the menu. Cordy corrects Angel - Cordy actually feels guilty about leaving Angel, Wes, and Gunn in the middle of a case to film her commercial. Wes assures Cordy that the three men, with some help from Angel’s informant, will kill the nasty Haklar demon to death. While Angel tries to convince Wes and Gunn that Angel isn’t too cheap to order another bottle of wine, Wes and Gunn discuss the pros and cons of buying a flame thrower. In the middle of their dicussion Angel jumps up from the table and nearly rips a shawl off of a woman. Angel accuses her of being a Voctar witch wearing a Brahanian battle shroud which has been woven from the skin of dead children. Eeew. Angel realizes that he’s just accosted an innocent victim and Cordy comes over to try to remedy the situation. Cordy tries to convince the woman that Angel just likes beautiful things and apologizes profusely. When they sit back down to the table Gunn and Wes agree that they should try to finish dinner with a minimum of attention drawn to themselves, but that doesn’t work. Cordy gets food poisoning and Cordy’s appetizer makes a repeat appearance on the dining room rug.

The next day Wes is in his office at the Hyperion. He’s phoned home to wish his father a happy birthday. Wes tells his father that Wes has been put in charge of the detective agency permanently. Wes looks pained as he admits to his father that he was fired from the Watcher’s Council (see AtS 1.10, “Parting Gifts”). If possible the rest of Wes’s conversation with his father goes downhill and Wes looks more and more depressed and distraught. It sounds like Wes’s father is dredging up every negative thing that has ever happened to Wes and throwing it in Wes’s face. After Wes hangs up the phone Gunn walks into the office and Wes explains that he’d called home to wish his father a happy birthday. Wes lies and tells Gunn that Wes’s father sends his greetings to everyone at Angel Investigations.

Across town Angel is at the studio where Cordy’s commercial is being filmed. Angel is thrilled to stand in the fake sunlight and get a fake tan. Cordy walks up to him and wants to know why he’s there. Before Angel can explain why he’s on the set the commerical’s director comes over and treats Cordy really rudely: the director demands to see Cordy’s wardrobe (a very skimpy seashell bikini) and then demands that Cordy go back and have make-up reapplied to cover the abused-women-eye-bags that Cordy has. Angel has had just about enough and demands that the director apologize to Cordy. The director calls for security to ‘escort’ Angel off the set while Cordy tries to shut Angel up before Angel completely ruins Cordy’s career. After the director leaves Angel asks Cordy if she would like Angel to rip the director’s head off. Cordy rants at Angel and demands that he leave but Angel doesn’t. Angel has a question for Cordy about the Haklar demon, whether the demon in Cordy’s vision ate the victim’s whole or just the livers, because there are two species of Haklar demons. Cordy tells Angel that she hates her whole life.

At the Hyperion Wes is brooding over his conversation with his father and Gunn tries to get a conversation going by asking about the Hacklar demon. Wes starts to do his impersonation of an encyclopedia and spills all that he knows about the Hacklar. Gunn can take this for a few minutes but eventually interrupts Wes and Gunn asks how to kill the Hacklar. Wes replies that it’s your basic “slice and dice.” Rondell and George, two of Gunn’s friends, stop by the hotel. Wes thanks both of them for their help saving Wes’s life when Wes was shot (see AtS 2.14. The Thin Dead Line”). Rondell and George tell Gunn that they’ve set a trap for a nest of vampires and Gunn wants to go along. Rondell and George tell Gunn they don’t need Gunn’s help, just Gunn’s truck. Gunn doesn’t want to let his friends attack the vampires by themselves to he volunteers to go with and tells Wes to page him when Angel finds out where the Hacklar is holding up. Just then Angel shows up with the location of the Hacklar demon so Gunn and Wes go with Angel to kill the Hacklar while George and Rondell leave without Gunn. Gunn asks George and Rondell to wait until Gunn gets back before they try to eradicate the vamps.

Angel is pulling weapons out of the weapons cabinet and is looking broodier than ever. Wes asks Angel what is bothering him and Angel tells Wes about Cordelia and the director of the commerical. Angel can’t believe that acting is Cordy’s dream, and •really• can’t believe that Cordy took crap from the director especially since Cordy has never taken any crap from Wes or Angel or Gunn. Angel, Wes, and Gunn leave to take out the Haklar demon.

Meanwhile The Host is in the middle of a set at Caritas. The Host is rocking the room and the audience is really enjoying the show. Until a vortex opens up behind The Host and a big, ugly, creature jumps through the vortex on to the stage. Everyone is spooked by the creature who runs through the bar knocking over tables and chairs, and then runs out of the club. The Host tries to reassure the crowd that the creature is really part of the whole Caritas show.

At the studio Cordy is acting her heart out in the commerical but the director isn’t happy with her work. The director wants Cordy to bend over so far that she might just fall out of her top. The director doesn’t care if she falls out of her top, he’s just worried about Cordy being in another actor’s light. Cordy is just not happy with how her day is turning out.

Later Cordy is sulking in the hotel lobby when Angel and Wes return from their battle with the Hacklar demon. When Angel sees Cordy he tries to apologize to her again for his behavior at the TV studio. Cordy thinks she embarassed herself because she just wanted to be an actress and she never wanted to feel this way. Cordy asks where Gunn is and Wes tells her that Gunn went to meet up with Rondell and George for some vampire fighting. Cordy asks about the demon fight and Angel tells Cordy that everything went well. They were able to kill the Hacklar before it ate a group of power walkers, but one of the power walkers hit Wes hard enough to cut Wes’s forehead. The Host stops by and wants to hire the Angel Investigations team to kill a Drokken. Wes tries to look up the Drokken but The Host stops him because Drokken are native to his world. The Host explains that the Drokken came through a vortex and that it has to be killed before it starts killing people.

In another part of town 2 guys come stumbling out of a bar, apparently drunk. The Drokken leaps out of an alley, knocks both of the guys down and kills them, then the Drokken starts up it’s own buffet. Once the Drokken has it’s fill it starts to chase a woman down the street.

Back at the hotel Wes and Angel want some more information so that they can track and kill the Drokken. The Host thinks that those details are irrelevant. The important thing is to kill the Drokken and The Host wants to know if Angel and team will do it. Angel suggests that they start at Caritas and work out from there. Cordy has a worried look on her face. After all, Angel isn’t in charge of AI anymore, Wes is (see AtS 2.16, “Epiphany”). Angel apologizes to Wes and Cordy tells The Host that Wes is in charge of AI now. The Host congratulates Wes and asks him what they should do now. Wes, under pressure, repeats Angel’s plan. They’ll start at Caritas and work out from there to try to find the Drokken. Just then Cordelia has a vision but Angel and Wes think, at first, that it’s jus the food poisoning. Cordy explains her vision. A young woman, who may have worked at the public library, was reading a book when a vortex opened behind her. Wes thinks that the vortex at the library and the vortex at Caritas may be connected. Wes suggests they check the library first, before it closes Angel asks The Host if he’s coming along and The Host reluctantly, very reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile Gunn arrives at his old hangout and the mood is dark. Something has gone wrong. The gang is standing around a body on the couch. It’s George and he was bitten by a vamp. Rondell explains that they didn’t wait for Gunn and went after the vamps by themselves. Gunn wants to know if the vamps made George drink and Rondell tells Gunn he doesn’t know.

At the public library Cordy, Wes, Angel and The Host are looking for the room from Cordy’s vision. When a librarian nearly runs The Host down the librarian thinks The Host is there for the children’s reading program and has come in costume. The Host heads towards the children’s reading room to check out the space. Cordy describes the girl from her vision for the librarian and the librarian tells Wes, Cordy, and Angel that the girl Cordy has described is Fred (Winifred) Burkle. Fred disappeared from the library five years ago. The librarian shows Cordy a ‘missing’ poster of Fred and Cordy tells Angel and Wes that’s the girl they are looking for. The librarian tells Cordy, Wes, and Angel that Fred was studying to be a physicist. Wes asks the librarian about the day Fred disappeared and the librarian tells them that Fred had been working in the foreign language section and the next moment she was gone. Wes, Cordy and Angel go to the foreign language section but no one is quite sure what they’re looking for. The Host arrives and Cordy finds the book that Fred was reading in Cordy’s vision. Wes tries reading from the book but it’s pretty impossible because the title reads “Scrsqwrn.” Cordy checks the front of the book and finds that it was returned on the day Fred disappeared. Cordy starts reading from the book but The Host looks a little nervous about it. Suddenly a vortex opens in the middle of the library and a demon with green skin and red horns and eyes comes flying through. The demon pulls a wicked looking sword out so Angel fights with the demon until The Host calls the new demon by name: Landok. The Host encourages Angel to keep beating up Landok until Landok calls The Host “Krevlorneswath of the Deathwalk Clan.” The Host explains that he prefers the name Lorne but doesn’t use that name because of the actor Lorne Greene (and The Host’s skin is green). Landok and The Host have a small, uncomfortable family reunion. Landok, or Landokmar as he prefers to be called, is The Host’s cousin. Landok tells The Host that when The Host disappeared the family hoped that The Host had chosen to kill himself to repent for an ill-spent life. The Host explains that he, too, was sucked through a vortex but his trip was one-way and The Host has no intention whatsoever of returning to his homeworld. Landok is outraged that The Host continue to shame his family by living. Landok wants The Host to remove the stain of The Host’s cowardice from the family honor and The Host is insulted by Landok’s accusation. The Host tells Landok that he, Angel, Cordy, and Wes were hunting a Drokken and Landok wants to help. Wes asks how a Drokken can be killed and Landok explains that any weapon can be used provided it has been coated in thromite. Unfortunately there is no thromite on this world so killing the Drokken will be much more difficult, but beheading will probably work. Landok offers to track the feelings of hostility the Drokken leaves in its wake. According to Landok, any of his people who undergo training can read emotions. Landok asks to be taken to where the Drokken entered this world so that he can track it and Wes, Cordy and Angel are grateful for Landok’s help. The Host, however, is incredulous. He can’t believe that Wes, Cordy, and Angel are going to work with Landok.

Meanwhile Gunn drives his truck to a remote location where he meets up with Rondell. Gunn tells Rondell that the gang should have waited for Gunn’s help and Rondell answers that the gang has been waiting on Gunn for months. Gunn and Rondell unload wood from the back of Gunn’s truck and build a funeral pyre for George.

Landok finds one of the Drokken’s victims and begins a trance to find the Drokken’s hostility so that Landok can find where the Drokken is now. Angel and The Host look on and talk about The Host’s home world. The Host is a little miffed that the people of his world snub The Host’s skills to help people but Landok uses the same skills to track Drokken and Landok is praised. Apparently on The Host’s homeworld everything is black and white, there are no arts, and no one talks about their feelings. In the meantime Wes is having no luck finding Gunn (who isn’t answering his pages). Cordy tells Wes that finding the Drokken is good but that they’re missing something. Cordy’s feeling isn’t tangible, just a sense that there’s something bigger that they are supposed to be working on. Landok finds the Drokken’s scent and tells everyone that the Drokken has taken a person with it to eat later. Everyone piles into Angel’s convertible and follow the Drokken’s scent to an industrial area. They find the Drokken carrying a woman and Angel asks Wes what they should do. Wes doesn’t look comfortable with his new role as the leader and can’t quite decide what they should do. Wes suggests lighting some flares as a diversion but Landok doesn’t want to wait and jumps out of the car to chase the Drokken. Angel follows Landok armed only with a sword and Wes is worried because they don’t have a plan.

Landok finds the Drokken first and starts to fight it, but the Drokken bites Landok in the arm. As Landok screams in pain Angel finds him and begins to fight the Drokken. As Angel and the Drokken fight Wes and The Host find Landok, who insists upon getting his sword so that he can fight the Drokken. The Host reminds Landok that he’s been poisoned by the Drokken’s bite and The Host tells Wes that the only cure is back on The Host’s homeworld. As they fight, the Drokken knocks Angel to the ground and chases after the woman, and Angel and Wes follow. Angel and Wes find the woman and Angel tells Wes to get the woman out of the area to safety. Angel continues to search for the Drokken who is actually standing on pallets above Angel’s head. Meanwhile Landok and The Host continue arguing. Landok wants to fight the Drokken despite the poison coursing through his body and The Host insists upon a little sanity from his cousin. Angel continues to look for the Drokken while Wes looks for the woman. As Wes finds the woman the Drokken finds Wes and knocks him to the ground. Wes tries to defend himself by forcefeeding the Drokken the lit flare that Wes has been carrying but the Drokken shrugs it off. Just then Angel finds Wes and the Drokken and after a short fight Angel impales the Drokken on his sword, killing the Drokken.

After the fight Landok, The Host, Wes, and Angel head toward Angel’s car which Cordy has been guarding. Landok demands that The Host peform the ancient rituals if Landok dies from the Drokken’s bite. The Host tries to reassure Landok that Landok won’t die in L.A. and that Landok will get home. At the car Wes tells Cordelia that Landok needs to get back to his homeworld soon or he will die. Cordy tells Wes and Angel that she’s figured out the big picture. Cordy figures that if Landok reads from the library book where a vortex is known to be Landok can be sent back to his home planet because the vortex works both ways. Cordy thinks that’s what happened to Fred in the library. Wes and Angel are worried that something might come •to• L.A. instead of sending Landok back but Cordy tells both of them she is sure that it won’t. Cordy doesn’t know how she knows, she just knows. Wes makes his decision and tells everyone to get moving.

Meanwhile Gunn and Rondell have finished building the funeral pyre for George. As the gang members look on Rondell lights the pyre and everyone watches George’s funeral, including Gunn. But unlike the gang members, Gunn is standing back from everyone, alone.

Wes, Angel, Cordy, The Host, and Landok arrive at Caritas, one of the places they know a vortex has opened. Landok takes his place on the stage where the last vortex opened. Landok thanks Angel for killing the Drokken and The Host asks Landok to tell The Host’s mother that The Host threw himself onto the sacrificial fires of Trelinsk. Landok opens the book and begins to read and a vortex opens behind him, sucking him through. After the vortex closes The Host suggests they all forget the entire incident with Landok. Both Angel and Wes agree that The Host has a good idea. When Wes asks Cordy if she agrees with The Host’s idea they suddenly realize that Cordy is no longer with them -- she’s not at Caritas anymore. Cordy is, however, lying in the middle of a lightly wooded area with 2 red suns above and some strange animal-like noises in the distance. Cordy’s reaction is to say, “Oh, crap!”

Summary by Kirsten.