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.
Waiting in the Wings
- Cordelia is still encouraging Wes to ask Fred out.
- He’s still procrastinating.
- Angel’s got tickets to the ballet!
- Yay?
- Gunn and Fred return from breakfast and Fred is a little taken aback when Gunn calls her gorgeous.
- Angel is excited about this ballet.
- He saw them the same company in 1890 perform the same piece that they’re performing tonight.
- At the theater, the manager promises the performance of a lifetime.
- But somewhere above the stage, a mysterious figure laughs ominously…
- While dress shopping, Fred wants to ask for guy advice.
- Cordelia assumes she’s talking about Wes and is pushing Fred to go with it.
- But Fred is definitely talking about Gunn.
- Meanwhile, Fred wants Cordelia and Angel to pair up…
- Lorne helps Angel with his tux and he can’t help but read Angel, who definitely has a thing for Cordelia.
- Lorne points out that Angel and Cordelia are both champions.
- Everyone looks great all dressed up.
- Once the ballet begins, Cordy falls asleep and Gunn is actually into it, despite his earlier complaints.
- Angel notices something is off…
- Nothing has changed since 1890.
- Angel is watching the same dancers in the same performance from over 100 years ago.
- Cordelia and Angel head backstage to snoop around.
- Once they get past the one inept guard, they notice that “backstage” goes on forever.
- Angel suggests a spell or some kind of time flux… And that’s when they door they entered through vanishes.
- In the prima ballerina’s dressing room, Cordelia and Angel both begin to relive something that happened in the past.
- It’s almost like they’re possessed by long ago lovers…
- Uh… this has happened to Angel before… back when he was evil again in Sunnydale.
- He and Cordelia are really going at it.
- They finally work their way out of the dressing room and are no longer under any thrall.
- Lorne is babysitting Connor when he realizes they aren’t alone.
- Someone is in the hotel with them… someone Lorne recognizes…
- Cordelia and Angel are trapped backstage, but they realize they have to go back into the room to figure out who those past lovers were afraid of.
- Wes and Gunn both go for Fred’s hand at the same time, but she realizes that Angel and Cordelia still aren’t back yet.
- Cordelia and Angel return to the dressing room, but don’t get possessed at first.
- The others head backstage and are watched by the same ominous figures that were above the stage at the beginning of the show.
- In playing out the past, Cordelia reveals that they’re afraid of the company owner, who believes he owns the prima ballerina… that she dances for him.
- Before Angel and Cordelia can really get things going, they’re attacked by those ominous figures.
- I’m guessing they are some kind of embodiment of the comedy and tragedy masks that you find in the theater.
- They attack the others as well, stabbing Charles from behind.
- Angel manages to kill a couple of the mask guys.
- Wes kills another.
- And then Wes returns to find Fred and Gunn… kissing…
- You can almost hear his heart shatter.
- In his heartbrokenness, Wes finds a hotspot where he feels what the company owner felt.
- The owner is a wizard who pulled the company out of time. They would dance for him. Forever.
- The Comedy/Tragedy Guys revive and split… every time they’re killed, more are created, draining the wizard of energy.
- Wes sends Angel to the stage to see if he can find some way to free the ballerina, who is really standing backstage, watching herself perform over and over again.
- Angel figures out the only way to end the cycle is for the prima ballerina to take the stage again and change the ending.
- This gives Angel a chance to run out and jump into the owner’s box to smash the source of his power, allowing the ballerina to disappear and the Comedy/Tragedy Guys to vanish.
- Back at the hotel, Angel is pretty close to telling Cordelia how he feels.
- But then the Groosalug enters the room.
- That’s who showed up at the hotel earlier.
- Well now I have to feel bad for Wes and Angel.
- Body count: Comedy/Tragedy Guys – 3
Love love love this episode so much and Summer Glau!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I rewatch these shows at least twice a year. Currently in the middle of angle season 2 and Buffy season 5. Favorite big bad?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think Glory is my favorite. She’s like, what if Cordelia was evil and had super powers. But not like what they did to her in Angel season 4…
LikeLike
Yep same! way better than Jasmine also really like “The first”
LikeLike