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.

Unleashed

• Team Angel has a late night picnic…
• But it’s a cover to meet outside of Wolfram & Hart where no one can keep tabs on what they’re really meeting about.
• Wes tries to hide his jealousy of Fred’s close relationship with Knox.
• Angel is still trying to figure out why the Senior Partners want them inside Wolfram & Hart.
• Gunn is still suspect after the firm put all that law knowledge in his head.
• “I made a deal. We all did. Seems like I’m the only one who’s willing to accept that.”
• There’s also the issue with Spike.
• Fred tells them Spike is more than a ghost… he’s unique.
• Suddenly Angel asks to borrow Wes’ pen, then he takes off.
• Cut to a girl being chased down by a horrible, hairy monster!
• Angel arrives, tackling the beast and stabbing it with Wesley’s pen.
• When it dies, the werewolf in question reverts to his human form.
• Back at the office, Angel tells Gunn they need to find the girl.
• He knows she was bitten… he could smell her blood.
• With two nights left around the full moon, she has two nights in which she will turn into a monster.
• Spike shows up in Fred’s office and is kind of miffed that focus has shifted from him to werewolf girl.
• He reveals that something is trying to hold onto him from the other side.
• Fred suggests that Spike confer with Wesley, since he knows more about the mystical side of things.
• Spike says he can’t deal with Wes… bad things happened back when Wes was a young Watcher.
• But Fred sees through Spike, knowing he’s making up the whole troubled past.
• Meet Dr. Royce, cryptozoologist for Wolfram & Hart… claims the dead werewolf is a rare breed.
• But that’s no help in finding the victim…
• Who wakes up late in the day, feverish… and experiencing super hearing powers.
• This girl, Nina, lives with her sister and niece, whom she’s supposed to babysit tonight.
• Might not be good to leave her alone with a kid.
• Back in the lab, they get a hit on the sketch that Angel drew.
• From that, they track down her car on traffic cams… then track down Nina Ash.
• Back at home, Nina is alone with her niece and is beginning to feel not so well.
• Moon’s a-risin’, kids.
• Nina says she’s going to lie down, but collapses on the floor in her bedroom.
• The transformation begins.
• It’s all very An American Werewolf in London.
• The niece is worried about her aunt and is about to walk in, but Angel is at the window, luring her outside.
• They fall off the roof together and Wes shoots Nina with a tranq gun.
• In the morning, Nina wakes up naked in a cell.
• Angel comes in and introduces himself, trying to help her understand that she’s safe now.
• Understandably, she doesn’t believe she’s safe at all.
• Kind of seems like she’s been abducted.
• He shows her a video of herself, reverting to human form.
• She thinks she’s seeing the creature that attacked her… then she sees it’s her.
• Angel reveals that he’s a vampire, but he has a soul.
• “I’m not evil and neither are you.”
• Vampires can control themselves if they want to, and so can Nina.
• Dr. Royce warns Angel that her first few transformations are the hardest and suggests taking her home to get some things that are familiar.
• Fred and a few security guys take Nina to her house.
• Angel’s feeling guilty about what Nina has to go through and takes it out on Gunn.
• Lorne stops in and tries to get him to vent, because the Spike of it all is bugging him too and he’s holding it all in.
• Fred and Nina get to the house and her sister is freaking out.
• Fred tries to step in and make an excuse to save Nina, but the sister is too pissed to listen.
• Nina grabs a few things and they leave, but something’s wrong in the van.
• Security guys are all unconscious… then the ladies are attacked by men in black ski masks.
• Fred is knocked out and Nina is taken.
• She’s taken to some sketchy dungeon looking location where she’s given a Shawshank welcome.
• Lorne reads everyone at Wolfram & Hart that knew about Nina.
• Royce sings “Jessie’s Girl” and then gives a report to Angel about what groups would be interested in nabbing a werewolf.
• Then Fred spots Spike in a translucent form and takes off after him.
• She follows him into Royce’s office and finds evidence that he’s behind Nina’s abduction.
• The team digs deeper and figure out that the people who took her plan to wait until she’s in wolf form, then carve her up and eat her.
• Gross.
• But since she would revert to human form if they kill her, they’ll have to cut her up while she’s still alive.
• Gross… and terrifying.
• The people at this werewolf banquet look to be quite wealthy.
• Team Angel uses Royce to get into Crane’s house to save Nina.
• She tries to tell Angel to leave her and let them choke on her, but he’s insistent.
• A fight breaks out and Nina turns.
• Wes tranqs her again.
• Crane complains that his guests paid a lot of money to experience werewolf on the menu.
• Suddenly, Nina bites Royce on the leg before being tranquilized again.
• So Angel tells Crane that in a month, he’ll have another werewolf.
• Back in Fred’s office, Spike finally fully reappears and admits that this time he wasn’t sure he was coming back.
• The next day, Angel drives Nina back to her sister and niece.
• He gives her a pep talk before she gets out, reminding her that she’ll be okay.
• Team Angel get back together in Angel’s apartment above the offices and order Chinese food… just like old times.
• Oh, and Angel and Nina might have a thing for each other?
• Body count: Werewolves – 1