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.

Slouching Toward Bethlehem

• A family is stranded when their car is broken down.
• Connor is being creepy and stops by to tell them they’re in trouble.
• Then the family is attacked by vampires.
• Connor manages to save the family by killing the two vamps posing as tow truck operators.
• Seeing the family cowering together must make Connor feel nostalgic, because he sneaks into the upstairs of the Hyperion.
• And he’s there in time to see Cordelia and the others in the lobby.
• Cordy has no memory of any of Team Angel.
• She has no clue who any of them are.
• She has no clue who she is, either.
• Fred asks the good questions…
• Why is Cordelia back?
• Is this the Cordelia they think she is?
• Cordelia is afraid, though… until she hears her own voice as the outgoing message on the answering machine.
• Fred takes Gunn to go take care of a work issue.
• Cordelia tells Angel she wants to go home.
• But all of her stuff is up in one of the hotel rooms set aside for her after she lost her apartment.
• After Cordelia changes into some of her own clothes, she practices saying her name in the mirror…
• It’s like she’s practicing how to be Cordelia…
• She looks through some old pictures and finds one of her and Angel together while she’s holding the infant Connor.
• Cordy explores a little and hears someone singing in Lorne’s room.
• Then she hears Lorne tell his visitor that he has an addiction and if he doesn’t curb his urges, he’ll end up on the wrong side of you-know-who…
• Slayer? Angel? Not sure…
• Down in the office, Cordelia freaks out when Fred and Gunn get back from their demon hunt.
• Running out of the hotel, she gets attacked by a couple of Wolfram & Hart goons, but Angel helps beat them off her.
• But she doesn’t need a lot of help, because she’s got the muscle memory going on.
• Girl knows how to fight.
• Angel calmly explains to her that she’s among friends who only want what’s best for her.
• Cordy thinks she’s a spy, but Angel squashes that one.
• Then she asks if she’s a mom… and Angel tells her she’s not in the strictest sense of the word.
• This leads to her asking if she and Angel were romantically involved…
• And since they technically weren’t, she then asks if she was a nun, because she found a bunch of rosaries and crucifixes.
• But dropping these items in Angel’s hand causes him to vamp out… causing her to freak out… again.
• When she runs out, she runs into Lorne… which doesn’t help.
• So they fill Cordelia in on her entire life.
• And she says it’s no wonder she’s forgotten, because who would want to remember all of that?
• The next suggestion is that she sing so Lorne can read her future.
• She launches into “The Greatest Love of All,” which is a great callback to the talent show episode of Buffy Season 1.
• Lorne clearly doesn’t like what he’s seeing, so he stops her and runs out.
• Angel goes after Lorne, but he doesn’t want to talk about it.
• “Do the words ‘slouching toward Bethlehem’ ring a bell?”
• Evil’s coming and it’s planning on staying.
• Cordelia roams the halls looking for Angel, but encounters the human-eating demon that Lorne was reading earlier.
• Connor kills the demon and takes Cordy away.
• The team thinks Cordelia is out in the city alone, not knowing that Connor took her.
• He takes her to where he’s living and she appreciates that he’s being honest with her from the start.
• Lilah is at Wesley’s when she gets the call informing her that Cordelia is back.
• Connor watches over Cordelia while she tries to sleep… but she can’t sleep.
• I think this is the biggest reason why I don’t like the majority of this season.
• Cordelia turns to Connor for comfort like he’s the only person she can trust.
• Angel, Gunn, and Fred are trying to figure out where Cordy could be and Wes walks in claiming he knows.
• He knows Wolfram & Hart are planning to extract her from where Connor’s staying.
• Angel seems to be okay with Cordelia being with Connor.
• He really shouldn’t be, though.
• Wolfram & Hart’s commandos storm Connor’s place and they both fight them off.
• Angel, Gunn, and Fred join the fray.
• Lilah watches the fight on a monitor and is approached by a commando who lets her know “it’s done.”
• Uh… what’s done?
• When the commandos retreat, Angel offers to take Cordelia home, but she would rather stay with Connor.
• Angel tells him to keep her safe.
• They get back to the hotel and find out that everything at Connor’s was just the distraction.
• Wolfram & Hart stormed the hotel and attacked Lorne.
• They knew that Lorne read Cordy and literally sucked it out of his brain.
• Wesley goes to Lilah, knowing now that she played him.
• Body count: Demons – 1