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.

Quickening

• In 1764, Holtz rides through the English countryside, coming across someone who tells him they’ve found them.
• But at Holtz’s home, Angelus and Darla are invited inside by his daughter.
• Of course, this leads to their slaughter.
• Holtz and his men think the vampires are somewhere else, instead finding a note informing him that they’re really at his own home.
• He arrives only to find his wife and two children dead.
• In the present, Angel checks in on the very pregnant Darla, who is still sleeping.
• When he puts his hand on her pregnant belly, she covers it with her own hand.
• What does she mean when she asks, “Are you going to do it, or am I?”
• I want to assume she means kill their baby.
• They had no qualms about killing Holtz’s baby in 1764.
• In an unknown location, Holtz watches a bank of TV monitors showing him a quick history lesson.
• The demon that brought Holtz to the present explains that he has the power to navigate dimensions where time moves differently, which is why he hasn’t aged in two and a half centuries.
• Remember that prophecy the gang was trying to crack? Turns out it’s not the coming of one thing.
• It’s several things happening at the same time.
• They still may consider the unborn child a threat and Darla admits she tried to get rid of it when she first discovered the pregnancy.
• But Angel is ready to protect whatever Darla gives birth to.
• And then she starts having contractions…
• In Lilah’s office, a kid from the mail room gives her a disc containing security footage of that time a possessed Angel made out with her at the hotel.
• Sidebar: did Lilah face any consequences for killing Billy a couple episodes back?
• The kid tells her that Gavin bugged the hotel during that fake exterminator deal.
• Lilah finds Gavin in a room where a tech is keeping track of everything that happens at the Hyperion.
• This is how they discover that Darla is back and pregnant.
• They reach out to their superior, Linwood, who says that heads are gonna roll if the Senior Partners find out about this.
• I’m pretty sure this is foreshadowing. I think…
• Meanwhile, the kid from the mail room? He apparently worships some demon, whom he calls to inform that the thing he’s foreseen has come to be.
• So, no one could have predicted that two vampires would procreate, except this one demon and his cult of followers?
• Back in the past… nine years after his family was slaughtered, Holtz is wasting away.
• He’s visited by his demon friend from the present, who tells him that Holtz won’t get a chance to confront Angelus or Darla for more than 200 years.
• The demon wants to give Holtz the chance to kill them and only wants his word that, when the time comes, he’ll show them no mercy.
• Holtz, obviously, agrees…
• Team Angel takes Darla to a hospital so they can utilize an ultrasound machine.
• At the law firm, Linwood has a psychic killed for not foreseeing the pregnancy.
• Now that they no about it, Wolfram & Hart wants the baby.
• And Linwood tells Lilah that, if the Senior Partners are displeased by this situation, he’ll put the blame on Lilah… seeing as how Darla was resurrected on her watch.
• Using the ultrasound, Wes discovers that Darla is carrying a human boy.
• While they’re looking at the screen, they’re surrounded by vampires.
• They’re there to worship the miracle child.
• The demon, who we now know is named Sahjhan, takes Holtz out for a walk.
• He takes him to the demons that will be Holtz’s “men.”
• Holtz is less than thrilled about being a leader of demons.
• Lilah sent an assassin after Darla, but he’s quickly killed by the vampire cult.
• Their next planned move is to kill the humans surrounding Darla in order to feed the mother of the miracle child.
• Wolfram & Hart meet with a doctor who specializes in paranormal obstetrics. He looks forward to dissecting both the mother and the child.
• The good guys fight their way out of the hospital, leading to two dusted vampires.
• A team of Wolfram & Hart commandos storm the hotel, escorting the creepy doctor inside.
• Oh, and they’ve brought separate cages for Darla and the baby. How cute.
• Darla’s struggling… Angel points out that seeing the baby on the monitor has affected her.
• They plan to stop by the hotel to grab the prophecy…
• But Holtz and his team arrive instead, taking down all the commandos. Not sure if they actually killed anyone, though… it was all off screen.
• Angel parks several blocks away from the hotel and goes the rest of the way by himself.
• He gets there to find a bunch of dead commandos… guess that answered that question…
• And a dead expert in paranormal obstetrics… who turned out not to be so human.
• And a very alive Holtz.
• Angel had told Cordy to wait for him for five minutes, then leave if he wasn’t back by then.
• At six and a half minutes, she’s ready to follow that instruction.
• But then Darla’s water breaks…
• Body count: Humans – 5 (plus various Wolfram & Hart commandos); Vampires – 2; Paranormal Doctors – 1