Alec Newman

Glaswegian-born Alec Newman played Drogyn in Angel’s season five. Alec joined the National Youth theater aged 17 at trained at NYT and LAMDA. He has also appeared in The Gene Generation, Moonlight Serenade, Constellation, Staring at the Sun, Four Corners of Suburbia, Enterprise (as Malik), Frankenstein, Tru Calling, Bright Young Things, Children of Dune, The Principles of Lust, Dune, and Greenwich Mean Time.

Drogyn

Drogyn was the keeper of the Deeper Well - the burial place for the old ones - located in the Cotswolds in England. After Fred was infected with Illyria’s essence in A Hole in the World, Angel and Spike sought help from Drogyn, who was an aquaitance of Angel’s.
Drogyn was unable to lie and therefore hated to be asked questions. After discovering that Angel was behind the death of Fred, Drogyn went to Los Angeles to advise Angel’s friends that Angel had gone bad in Power Play. He was attacked by a Boretz and found by Spike and Illyria. Drogyn was left under the protection of Illyria but was taken by Hamilton. He was severely beaten by the Black Thorn and left as a sacrifice for their newest member Angel. Not realising that Angel used him as an expendable warrior in the fight for good Angel drained his blood and snapped his neck.

Illyria

Illyria was one of the legendary Old Ones - an original pure demon who ruled from her citadel (Vahla ha’nesh) in modern day Los Angeles. She was murdered by rivals and her corpse was placed in stone sarcophagus, with her powers drained and placed in jewels embedded on her coffin. Her sarcophagus was placed in a mystical graveyard known as the Deeper Well along with the coffins of other Old Ones. A warrior of good and his army were assigned to guard the Deeper Well to prevent anyone from extracting one of the coffins, as the Old Ones are capable of resurrection.

Illyria’s sarcophagus was teleported to Los Angeles, but was held up by customs officials, but Gunn was convinced into releasing the sarcophagus. Masterminded by Knox, Fred’s colleague and Illyria’s self-fashioned Qwa’ha Xahn (High Priest), the sarcophagus was delivered to Fred at the Wolfram & Hart labs. Illyria’s essence was released into Fred’s body after she touched one of the coffin’s embedded jewels.

Illyria’s essence acted as an infection that liquified Fred’s organs, hardened her skin and consumed her soul. After hours of agony, Fred’s body was completely taken over by Illyria, who in the process absorbed her memories. Illyria, with the aid of Knox, attempted to bring about the destruction of humans by resurrecting her vicious ancient army, but soon discovered that it had been destroyed long ago. Lost and without purpose, Illyria agreed to learn how to adjust to the modern world with the help of Wesley, who felt drawn to her due to his love of Fred. Spike was assigned to spend time with the Old One, to discover how powerful she was. Her powers included altering the flow of time, superhuman strength, agility and reflexes, and altering her physical appereance on a basic level.

Eventually, Illyria’s power became too much for her new body to hold. Illyria was thrown out of linear progression of the time line, altering her perspective as the power sought a way to escape. Wesley used a device called a “Mutari generator” to extract the power bleeding out of the shell, ending the threat, but this robbed the Old One of her former power. She was brutally beaten and humiliated by Marcus Hamilton, which fueled the her with anger and motivated her to join the final battle against the Senior Partners.

In the series finale, when Wesley was dying, Illyria comforted him in Fred’s form. Grieving for him, she joined the final battle against the Senior Partners.

Death to the cast

Many of the main Angel cast have been killed or near death. Angel was killed and vamped in 1753; Doyle was killed in Hero; Gunn was electrocuted by Gwen and revived in Ground State; Wesley’s throat was slashed in Sleep Tight, he was shot in The Thin Dead Line and finally killed in Not Fade Away; Cordelia was comatose for most of season five before dying in You’re Welcome; and Fred was killed when Illyria took over her body in A Hole in the World.

Eve sings

In the Angel episode, A Hole In The World, Lorne, Spike and Angel go to Lindsey’s apartment to look for him and find Eve there. Lorne tells Eve to sing for him and she sings a line from the song, ‘L. A.’, that Lindsey sang in Dead End: “Pretty as a picture. She is like a golden ring”

A Nightmare Before Christmas

In the Angel episode A Hole in the World, there is a reference to the Tim Burton movie A Nightmare Before Christmas. Angel looks to a large tree in England which he believes is the entrance to the Deeper Well. Spike states, “either that or Christmas Land”. In the movie, Jack Skeleton comes upon a door in a forest which leads him into a palace known as Christmas Land.

eBay

Anya buys the last known Urn of Osiris on eBay in Bargaining (Part 1). For those who have been living in a cave, eBay is an online auction house where you can buy just about anything - I mean anything.
In Ground State, Gunn says “But if it’s at an auction house, can’t we, you know, just eBay the thing?” In A Hole in the World, Knox says to Fred of the mysterious sarcophagus, “I couldn’t find any invoice on it. I thought maybe you went crazy on eBay.”

Romeo and Juliet

Lorne says to Wesley and Fred in A Hole in the World, “Get a balcony you two, eh?” This is most likely a reference to the famous balcony scene in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.