Welcome to Rewatching Angel, the part of the blog where I rewatch the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off: Angel. Each Tuesday evening, you’re invited to join me as I attempt to rediscover what made me love these shows so many years ago.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

• In Angel’s kitchen, the gang get into some heavy banter and Angel accidentally calls Wesley Doyle.
• Somewhere else, a brother and sister are fighting a lot. So the parents say it’s bedtime.
• And the way the dad says it… seems rather ominous.
• Because bedtime means locking the children in their rooms. With padlocks.
• I’d say that’s ominous.
• Cordelia confronts Angel about Doyle. Angel admits that he misses him.
• And then Cordelia has a vision. She sees Ryan… the boy who was fighting with his sister.
• Angel and Wesley go to investigate. Angel saves a sleepwalking Ryan from being hit by a car.
• The dad runs out in a panic… followed quickly by the mom…
• Mom sees that Angel is hurt and invites him inside to patch him up.
• Angel starts asking why they think Ryan was out in the street. What was he trying to get away from?
• Wesley snoops around outside and finds something that makes him say, “Oh, dear…” in a very British way.
• Paige (the mom) insists that Angel come back for dinner the next night. Seth (the dad) isn’t too keen on that idea.
• When they leave, Wesley lets Angel know that the substance he found is a clue that someone in the house is possessed by a demon.
• Cordelia does some digging on the family. They’ve moved around a lot in the last three years.
• Angel thinks the dad could be the one possessed, judging by the way the rest of the family was afraid of him… but Wes says a father doesn’t have to be possessed to terrorize his family.
• I think that may reveal more about Wesley than he meant to reveal.
• There’s a substance that, if ingested, will reveal the demon. So Angel brings some brownies to share at dinner.
• Seth doesn’t seem to be eating his brownie. But that’s okay… he’s not the demon.
• Ryan is… made obvious by his face transforming into something a little more demonic.
• What a lovely day for an exorcism.
• Seth tells Angel that what’s wrong with Ryan has been wrong for a long time.
• Angel calls Wes and tells him to put together the means to bind Ryan. He’s gonna bring Ryan and his parents to his apartment.
• They bind him inside a circle of powder that should hold him until Angel and Wesley get back with a priest.
• Except that the priest that they’re hoping could rid Ryan of the demon is already dead. Killed months ago by the same type of demon that currently possesses Ryan.
• Meanwhile, the demon/Ryan is calling out to his mom, trying to get her to break the circle so he can get out.
• Wesley decides that he’ll have to perform the exorcism. But Angel doesn’t think he can pull it off.
• Since Angel can’t touch the religious artifacts used in the exorcism, he can’t take over.
• So it’s gotta be Wes. But Angel’s gonna be right there with him.
• Ryan starts freaking out and Paige has a hard time watching him suffer.
• As Angel and Wes get back, Paige runs into comfort Ryan. She breaks the binding circle and the demon seals her in the room with him.
• Then he begins to strangle her.
• The others manage to break into the room and save Paige before the demon can kill her.
• Wesley begins the exorcism. Ryan insults his ability to speak Latin. Then he really causes him to doubt himself.
• When Wes loses control, he accidentally breaks the circle and Ryan uses Wesley’s own crucifix to stab him in the neck.
• Wes is okay… and then Angel takes over the exorcism, even though holding the cross burns him.
• Angel succeeds in getting the demon out of Ryan.
• Wes and Cordelia try to catch the demon in a special box… but the box breaks and the demon’s essence is seen zooming up and out of Angel’s apartment.
• Angel decides to track down the demon before it can possess someone else… or repossess Ryan.
• They find the demon in a cave by the beach. And the demon gets talkative.
• The demon reveals that Ryan has no soul. He’s got no conscience. No humanity. He called Ryan’s mind the “blackest hell” he’d ever known.
• The demon was afraid of Ryan.
• To thank him for this information about Ryan, Angel kills the demon.
• Meanwhile, back at the Anderson home, Ryan locks his parents in their room. Then he gets a gasoline can and douses his sister’s bedroom.
• Ryan lights a match and drops it in the gasoline.
• Angel gets there in time to save the sister and get everyone out of the house.
• Ryan is taken into custody by Detective Kate. Angel thanks her for coming… she nods, but says nothing.
• Guess she’s still not over the whole Ange’s-a-vampire thing.
• Body count: Demon – 1