Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, James Marsters as Spike, J. August Richards as Gunn, Amy Acker as Fred, Andy Hallet as Lorne, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

Guest starring: Sarah Thompson as Eve, Mercedes McNab as Harmony, Christian Kane as “Doyle” (a.k.a., Lindsey McDonald)

Original air date: January 21, 2004

Written by: Brent Fletcher
Directed by: David Boreanaz

The Columns Opera House in Death Valley, Nevada. Angel is laying on the floor, battered, bleeding and staked in the shoulder as Spike, who has no injuries, reaches for the Cup of Perpetual Torment. Angel reminds Spike that an enormous burden goes with drinking from the cup, besides it’s Angel’s destiny to drink from the cup, not Spike’s. Spike tells Angel that he won and Angel lost, and that all of Angel’s work toward atonement was for nothing, because the cup and the Shanshu prophecy was really about Spike. As Spike drinks from the cup he is bathed in a golden light and Angel burns up. Suddenly Angel wakes up, alone, in his office at Wolfram & Hart shaking and sweating from his nightmare.

Meanwhile, across town Spike is drinking alone in a strip club when he is approached by a stranger who buys Spike a drink. Spike tries to get rid of the stranger, but he’s not budging. As Spike gets up to leave the stranger asks Spike if he’s gotten any interesting mail lately. This gets Spike’s attention. Spike asks, “who the bloody hell are you?” and the stranger answers that he’s Spike’s new best friend. Spike figures out that the stranger mailed both the amulet and the de-ghosting box to Wolfram & Hart. The stranger tells Spike that there are a lot of folks who are “powerfully” interested in Spike and Spike’s future. The stranger gives his name as “Doyle.” Doyle wants to know what Spike is going to do with the rest of his life.

At Wolfram & Hart Gunn and Wes are arguing about how to handle a powerful, evil warlock, Lucien Drake. Wes wants to send in an assassin while Gunn wants to work from the inside. Gunn and Wes argue across the lobby and into Angel’s office. Angel has to interrupt them to stop the argument and then needs to be filled in. Apparently Drake and his followers sold their children to get access to some very dark and evil mojo and the group is stockpiling demonic weapons. Both Wes and Gunn want the group to “redirect their energies” and hope to accomplish that killing off Drake, creating a power vacuum, and letting the cult members fight amongst themselves until a new leader emerges. Angel wants to know why they’re trying to eliminate Drake - is it the right thing to do or merely cost effective? Wes and Gunn agree that it’s both, and that they are in a morally gray area. Angel doesn’t like the moral ambiguities of the situation and blows up at Wes.

Back at the strip club Doyle is trying to convince Spike that he has a destiny, but Spike is suspicious. Spike thinks that Doyle was behind the wild goose chase that was the Cup of Perpetual Torment, but Doyle denies it. [AtS 5x8.] Doyle says that he just does what “they” (pointing upwards) tell him to. Doyle tells Spike that he was a nobody until he started getting mind-shattering visions of people in trouble and that ‘we’ need a champion. Spike denies that he’s a champion, and that it’s Angel’s gig. Doyle tells Spike that Angel is on the wrong side now, and that no one is helping the people who really need it. Doyle tells Spike that he had a vision right before he came to the club and that a young woman is in danger.

In an alley a vamp is chasing a woman when Spike arrives. There’s a very short fight and Spike dusts the vamp. The woman tries to thank Spike but he tells her that she is a moron for (a) being in a dark alley and (b) wearing shoes that’ll probably break her ankles. Doyle watched the whole thing and tells Spike he did good work, but he might try being nicer to the victims. Spike nearly made the woman cry. Spike doesn’t think he did anything important, but Doyle tells Spike not to shrug his victory off. After all, this is the first time that Spike saved someone’s life when there was nothing in it for him (Spike) and no woman to impress. Doyle tells Spike that even Angel didn’t save the woman on his first mission.

In the meantime Wes and Gunn are still arguing in Angel’s office, nearly coming to blows, when Fred enters. Wes asks Fred about using a Wolfram & Hart satellite in his assassination scheme. As the argument continues Angel is getting visibly more upset. Suddenly Angel says that they should “just kill them all,” warlocks, minions, the whole lot. After all, they sold their children and that makes them evil. Angel wants to return to simpler times when there was good vs. evil and all he had to do was destroy the demons. Gunn asks Angel if he’s alright and Angel says he’s just tired. Angel tells Gunn to contact the potential turncoats in the cult and feel them out. Gunn’s is Plan A and Wes’s plan is their back-up. Fred, Wes and Gunn convince Angel to get some rest and sleep in tomorrow, if need be.

Angel goes up to his penthouse moving like molasses in January. He’s clearly dragging. Wes comes in after him and helps Angel to his bed. Angel thinks there’s something wrong with him and Wes agrees. After all, according to Wes, Angel has to adjust to being a nobody. But, Wes thinks that accepting that Angel is irrelevant will make staking Angel a lot easier. As Wes plunges the stake into Angel’s heart, Angel wakes up screaming on the edge of his bed. Another nightmare.

In another alley a couple is crouching down as Spike takes on two vampires. During the fight Spike flicks his wrists and stakes (apparently attached to his wrists) come out below the cuffs of his coat. As both vampires rush Spike at the same time, Spike drives the stakes into their hearts dusting both vamps at the same time. Spike tells the couple that it’s safe now. When they ask who he is, he tells them, “I’m the hero.”

The next morning Wes asks Harmony to run an errand in Accounting. Eve overhears and thinks that Wes is doing a bang-up job: solving problems by throwing money at them. Wes isn’t particularly happy that Eve is there, but puts up with her long enough to find out that Eve and the Senior Partners want the runes on a chunk of rock translated. According to Eve the Senior Partners are very impatient about getting the translation. Wes assures Eve that he’ll get right on it and make it a top priority.

Angel is still in his penthouse sleeping. Fred comes in the room and wakes Angel up. Fred thinks that Angel looks awful and that she might know how to fix him. Fred snaps on a pair of examination gloves and, suddenly, Angel, his bed, and Fred are in Fred’s lab, and she’s now wearing her lab coat. Fred uses a scalpel to slice open Angel’s chest and has a look inside. She takes out the unnecessary organs (liver, kidneys, dried up walnut that is his heart), then finds some other interesting things: a string of pearls, some raisins (which she eats), and a rusted, bent Texas license plate. Fred thinks Angel might have come up the Gulf Stream. Then Fred finally finds Angel’s soul, in the form of a goldfish bowl with a dead goldfish that Fred’s assistant, a bear, is going to flush. Angel wants to know what’s wrong but Fred can’t find anything wrong with him, except that there’s nothing left, just a shell. Fred peers into Angel’s chest, but can’t find anything. Ooops. Angel’s still having nightmares.

Downstairs in Wes’s office he and Fred are talking about Eve’s runic rock when Gunn comes in. Gunn’s had a report of a vigilante vampire patrolling the streets of L.A. last night. Wes reads the report and he and Fred think that Angel may have snuck out of the building last night to do some patrolling. Gunn urges Wes to read on. The vigilante had platinum blonde hair.

Meanwhile Doyle is showing Spike an apartment that Doyle got for Spike. The place is very spartan but it has sewer access and a 24-hour Korean market on the corner. Spike doesn’t like the idea of being Doyle’s “kept boy” and nearly leaves until Doyle asks Spike if he has anywhere else to go.

In his penthouse Angel wakes up to find Spike having sex with Buffy in Angel’s bed. Spike tells Angel to keep it down - it’s hard for Spike to be a marathon man with Angel chattering. Buffy’s talking about the prom and Angel’s plainly hurt that Spike is taking Buffy and not him. Suddenly Angel wakes up, alone, in his bed. Another nightmare. Angel takes a quick look to make sure that Spike isn’t in his bedroom before he goes downstairs. When Angel gets out of the elevator he runs into Fred who points out that Angel isn’t wearing shoes. Gunn comes bounding down the stairs and tells Angel and Fred that they are “missing it.” Fred and Gunn stop at the concession stand (where Harmony’s desk usually is) and then go into Angel’s office. Angel follows. There’s a bunch of chairs, filled with Wolfram & Hart employees, eating popcorn and watching the apocalypse outside Angel’s windows. Angel wants to do something but Wes assures him that Spike will take care of the apocalypse. Gunn tells Angel to go back to bed and Lorne tells Angel to go change his shirt, there’s some stain on it. Angel looks down and sees a fist-sized bloodstain on his shirt. Suddenly we see Angel, still in his bed in the penthouse, thrashing about in the throes of another nightmare. And there’s a slimy looking, small, manta-ray shaped thing attached to Angel’s abdomen about where the bloodstain was in Angel’s dream.

There’s a “Thanks for Ending the Apocalypse” party being held in Spike’s honor in Angel’s office. Everyone’s singing and having a good time except Angel. Angel’s standing on the sidelines watching Spike being adored by everyone. Spike’s reward for fulfilling his destiny is to become human. Both Fred and Gunn listen to Spike’s chest to hear his heart beating again. Angel looks down and sees that his clothes have changed. He’s now wearing short shirt sleeves and what looks to be a clip on tie. The wardrobe of fashion-challenged losers everywhere. Completely dejected, Angel turns around, grabs his mail cart and walks off.

Across town Gunn and Wes pay a visit on Spike. Wes tells Spike that they’ve been getting reports about Spike’s vigilante activities and Spike tells him that’s what they do now - get reports and read memos. Wes and Gunn try to convince Spike to work with them - fighting to save the world with Wolfram & Hart’s resources. Spike won’t have it. While Spike was haunting the place Spike saw Wes and Gunn being slowly corrupted by the evil there, but Gunn counters that they’re still fighting for good, they’re just using a new set of rules. Spike also can’t believe that Angel would agree to have Spike on his team and, based on Wes’s and Gunn’s reactions, figures out that Angel’s been kept out of the loop on this one. Spike thinks that Gunn and Wes are hedging their bets, but Gunn denies it.

Meanwhile, Doyle and Eve are getting physical in bed. Doyle wants to make sure that the AI crew is distracted and not paying attention to Angel and his condition. Eve assures Doyle that she has them all working on the runic rock for the Senior Partners. Eve asks about Spike and Doyle tells her that they’re going to continue to build Spike up and tear Angel down until the Senior Partners start to question whether they’re backing the right vampire. But, if the Senior Partners figure out that Doyle is fixing the race, he’s a dead man. Eve assures him that the tattoos on his chest and walls will keep Doyle underneath the Senior Partner’s radar. As Doyle and Eve get more physical, Eve reaches for a box near the bed and says, “it’s gonna be fun.”

Gunn and Wes return to Wolfram & Hart and fill Fred in on their conversation with Spike. Gunn tells Fred that Spike thinks that they have sold out, but Fred thinks that they’re working to change from within. Gunn thinks that it sounds really naive when you say it out loud. Fred realizes that no one has heard from Angel all day, so Fred asks Harmony to call Angel. When there’s no answer in the penthouse Fred wants to go check on Angel but she’s siderailed by Eve. Eve puts the pressure on Fred to translate the runic rock, so Fred heads off to her lab instead.

Angel’s still in his penthouse having nightmares. This time Lorne is dressed as an old time piano player. Angel tells Lorne that he’s lost and doesn’t know what to do. Lorne wants Angel to sing for a reading. Angel tries, but barely a squeak comes out, no matter how hard Angel tries. Across the bedroom Fred tells Wes and Gunn, “I told you he was empty.” Gunn turns around and has cat-shaped irises and roars like the big cat in the white room. Angel notices the little manta ray that’s still on his abdomen. He pulls it off and squishes it until it’s pulp. Angel looks up and finds Eve, who tells Angel that he’s still dreaming. Eve’s holding the box that was by Doyle’s bed, opens it, and a larger version of the manta ray thingy starts to come out of the box as Eve tells Angel, “don’t worry. It’s almost over.” The manta ray thingy skitters across Angel’s bed and tries to attach itself to his chest, but Angel throws the thingy away and tries to get up, but he’s too weak.

At Spike’s place Spike returns from a beer run to find Doyle waiting for him. Spike’s not happy about seeing Doyle and, when Doyle tries to chat with Spike, Spike tells him to “bugger off.” Suddenly Doyle grabs his head and tells Spike he’s had a vision. Spike tells Doyle he’s not about to jump every time Doyle has a vision, but Doyle’s sure Spike’ll be interested in this one.

At the penthouse the manta ray thingy finally sinks it’s teeth into Angel’s chest. Angel is immediately transported to a large recliner in the middle of a sun filled meadow. Fred, Gunn, Wes, and Lorne walk up to Angel and tell him that he can stay there forever. Angel can be finished with his work if he wants to be, he just has to let go and stop caring. Suddenly the four of them start screaming. Angel sees Spike in the penthouse ripping the manta ray thingy off Angel’s chest and throwing it at the wall. Spike tells Angel that there’s no need for thanks, Spike’s just “helping the helpless.” Ouch. Using Angel’s old motto. Talk about twisting the knife.

A bit later there’s a pow-wow with Angel, Wes, Lorne, Gunn, Fred, and Eve in the penthouse. Wes tells everyone it was a sulventh parasite, which injects an anesthetic into the victim so that the victim doesn’t realize the parasite is there. The parasite also pumps a neurotoxin causing Angel’s nightmares. If Spike hadn’t shown up Angel would have been permanently stuck in a vegatative state. Lorne tells everyone that it was a good thing that Spike swooped in and saved the day. Suddenly Angel looks at Eve. Angel tells Eve that *she* brought the big parasite in after he killed the little one. Wes thinks there was only one parasite and suspects that Angel may be confusing reality with his nightmares. But Angel is *sure* that Eve brought in the parasite. Angel realizes that Eve changed her clothes, but not her earrings, and those were the earrings that Eve had when she brought in the big parasite. Eve tries to tell him that she has worn those earrings before, but Fred comes to Angel’s defense. Fred doesn’t remember seeing those earrings, ever. When Angel nearly threatens to tell the Senior Partners about Eve’s activities, Eve tells Angel that he’s just looking for a scapegoat, some one outside of his circle to blame. As she’s heading toward the elevator, Eve tells Angel he should look inward, unless he’s afraid of what he’ll find.

Summary by Kirsten.