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.

Forgiving

• Angel stares at Connor’s empty crib.
• Gunn and Fred are at Wesley’s apartment trying to figure out where he could be.
• Fred cannot believe that Wes would do what he did.
• Gunn says when they find him they can ask why he took Connor.
• Because if Angel finds him first, he’ll kill him.
• They decide to head back to the hotel to get a read on Angel while Fred tries Wesley’s cell again.
• It rings… on the ground… across the street from Wes’ apartment… where Wes lays bleeding out.
• Justine returns to Holtz’s lair and kills the two chained vampires because there is no more training.
• She breaks the news that Holtz and the child are gone and that Holtz left instructions to finish the job by killing Angelus.
• Gunn and Fred get the lowdown from Lorne about Connor going through the portal.
• Angel tells Lorne to find out everything he can about Q’ortoth.
• They’ll get there by finding Sahjhan, who’s been behind this whole thing since the beginning.
• Linwood warns Lilah about meeting with Angel and Sahjhan behind his back.
• And he’s not happy about losing Angel’s baby.
• Fred gets ready to call Cordelia, who’s still on vacation in Mexico.
• Angel stops her because Cordelia will come back with presents for Connor and he wants to make sure he’s got Connor back before that happens.
• But then he suddenly changes his mind about finding Connor first and skipping ahead to dealing with those responsible.
• So Gunn and Fred head out after Angel to try and find Wes first.
• Wes is found… by a homeless guy… who takes his cash and hides him behind a bush.
• Lorne returns to find Angel in the lobby… he doesn’t have good news.
• Everyone he talked to is afraid of Q’ortoth.
• Also, there are no portals to Q’ortoth.
• What Sahjhan did was tear a hole in the fabric of reality.
• To do that, Angel would need to tap into the darkest and most powerful magics.
• At this point, Angel reveals that he has abducted Linwood from Wolfram & Hart.
• That might help them find access to Q’ortoth.
• Linwood tries to warn Angel that if the firm finds out what he’s done… but Angel says they’d kill Linwood before they’d kill Angel.
• Angel is more than ready to torture Linwood to get what he wants.
• So Linwood calls Lilah and tells her he’s sending a client and she should give him anything he wants.
• Gunn and Fred visit Justine, but they get nothing from her or her people.
• Justine, it seems, is feeling guilty for slitting Wes’ throat, though.
• Lilah escorts Angel to the White Room at Wolfram & Hart.
• It’s here that Angel encounters a conduit to the Senior Partners.
• This conduit takes the form of a little girl.
• The Senior Partners are the ones responsible for making Sahjhan and his kind non-corporeal.
• The girl reveals that Sahjhan can be trapped in an urn, but that’s not what Angel really wants.
• So she gives him the spell that will turn Sahjhan solid once more.
• Meanwhile, Fred and Gunn manage to find Wesley’s diaries in the trash and discover the false prophecy about Angel killing Connor.
• So now they know why he abducted Connor…
• Doesn’t really change the fact that he did it and Connor is now in Q’ortoth.
• Angel is ready to perform the ritual in the Hyperion lobby and Lorne tries to talk him out of it.
• But Lilah is there helping with every step.
• When the spell calls for human blood, she looks like she’s gonna take it from the still tied up Linwood, but gives her own blood instead.
• Angel tries to summon Sahjhan and there’s a big light show, but then the pentagram is still empty.
• Sahjhan instead appears in the middle of a street and is run down by a big ol’ pick up truck.
• Does nothing to him, though.
• And he seems pleased with this turn of events.
• Lilah gets a call from the firm about a disturbance that, yeah, is Sahjhan.
• Before Angel can go after him, Fred and Gunn arrive to tell him about the fake prophecy.
• Angel is still pissed and is ready to find Sahjhan.
• He doesn’t even leave the hotel property before he’s attacked by Justine and her crew.
• Fred and Gunn see Justine drive off in Wesley’s car.
• Angel talks to the driver of the truck that hit Sahjhan.
• From there, he’s able to track Sahjhan…
• Justine goes back to the underground lair where she first met with Holtz.
• Gunn and Fred track her down and ask again, where’s Wes.
• Justine has come to realize that Holtz isn’t coming back…
• She tells them she slit Wesley’s throat, so he’s probably dead.
• Then Sahjhan walks in… all corporeal and violent.
• He knocks out Justine… and gets ready to take down Fred and Gunn.
• Then Angel walks in… all corporeal and violent.
• Angel demands that Sahjhan take him to Q’ortoth, but Sahjhan claims he could only open that tear one time.
• Sahjhan also takes credit for the fake “father will kill the son” prophecy.
• The reason he did it? Connor.
• The real prophecy was that Connor would grow to manhood and kill Sahjhan.
• Angel attacks, but it’s a losing battle…
• Luckily, Justine gets back just in time with one of those fancy urns that can trap Sahjhan indefinitely.
• She tells them she left Wes in the park, but by the time they get there, he’s gone.
• Angel says, “He can’t be dead…”
• And he seems concerned.
• But it’s because he wants to kill Wesley himself.
• I’m guessing, anyway.
• Lorne tries to make sense of everything… Start to forgive yourself by forgiving Wesley.
• Fred and Gunn managed to track Wesley down to a hospital, calling Angel to come down.
• Angel asks to see him, even though he can’t talk yet.
• He goes in alone…
• He looks down at Wes, telling him that he understands why he did what he did, and how hard it must have been for him.
• He makes it clear that he’s not evil… that he’s not Angelus, he’s Angel.
• Making that distinction clear to Wes, he moves in for the kill in an intense rage.
• Like… in the history of two television series, we’ve never seen Angel this angry before.
• Orderlies manage to pull Angel off of Wes before he can suffocate him.
• Angel is dragged from the room screaming that Wes is a dead man while the latter gasps for air.
• Body count: Vampires – 2