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.

Origin

• Wes and Angel discuss Illyria as they watch her from Fred’s old office above the lab.
• Angel wants someone to help him with her, but there aren’t a lot of free hands to go around these days…
• He says he won’t leave Gunn in the hell dimension he was left in last week.
• Then he tells Wes that he needs him to work… he needs him back where he can do some good, not just babysitting Illyria.
• A couple meets with Wes to ask for help regarding their son who seems to have super powers.
• He was hit by a van and had no injuries.
• Wes asks Harmony to have Angel join in on the meeting.
• As Angel crosses the lobby, he hears a familiar voice say, “Hey, Dad!”
• He turns and sees his son, Connor.
• Connor is actually talking to the man he thinks is his father who is stepping out of Wes’ office beyond Angel.
• Angel flat out says no, that they can’t help this family.
• Elsewhere, in a hell dimension, Gunn has just had his heart ripped out of his chest.
• Then he magically heals and wakes up confused.
• The monster in the basement hands him the oven light bulb he was looking for and he returns upstairs.
• Spike is on Illyria duty, testing her to see how she feels when she gets punched…
• But she enjoys punching him and continues doing so repeatedly.
• Illyria seems almost to enjoy it.
• She recognizes that Wes is upset about Angel’s decision to give Connor and his family the boot.
• Back in the office, Angel is pissed at Hamilton and wants to know why Connor showed up at his door.
• Hamilton says that the Senior Partners are not behind Connor’s sudden appearance…
• But someone is… and whoever it is wants Angel’s attention.
• Connor and his family are attacked by a pair of demons when they get back to their hotel.
• When Connor sees his mother getting attacked, he activates and punches one of the demons hard enough to throw him across the parking lot.
• Angel suddenly arrives and kills both demons.
• Connor is super impressed by Angel’s action hero antics.
• Connor’s dad is injured, so they take them back to Wolfram & Hart to get treatment from their doctors.
• Angel is able to spend time with Connor, who asks if he is some kind of demon, too.
• Angel says that, as far as they can tell, Connor is a healthy kid with enhanced abilities.
• Gotta say, this new personality for Connor is pretty great.
• I kind of like him like this.
• They reach the training room where Spike has been testing Illyria and Angel introduces Connor.
• Spike reveals that Illyria is able to hit hard, selectively alter the flow of time, and possibly talk to plants.
• She wants to keep Spike as a pet.
• Then Illyria recognizes that Connor is lusting after her…
• And he admits that he’s always had a thing for older women.
• You don’t say…
• Lorne drops in to bring them up to Wesley’s office where they reveal the demons that attacked Connor were sent by a warlock named Cyvus Vail.
• Wes says that if Vail is sending these demons then he’s not trying to be anonymous about it.
• Angel storms off on his own and insists that Wes stay behind.
• But Wes becomes suspicious of Angel’s behavior, deciding to make a call asking for everything they have on Vail.
• Angel shows up at Vail’s place and confronts him.
• He appears to be a frail old demon.
• Vail says he did not intend to kill Connor, just get him to realize what he’s capable of.
• Then he claims he built Connor.
• Lorne and Wes dig into Vail and find out he was Wolfram & Hart’s go-to for mind control and reality shifts.
• And he did a big job on the same day Team Angel took over Wolfram & Hart.
• Vail built Connor’s memories, so Angel asks what he wants.
• Vail reveals he needs someone dead… Sahjhan.
• Angel says he’s trapped in a bottle, which Vail now owns.
• Vail reveals that he has all of Connor’s old memories tucked away in a fragile cube and threatens to shatter it near Connor, which would revert his memories.
• According to the prophecy, Connor is the only one who can kill Sahjhan.
• Back at the office, Angel offers to train Connor so he can fight and kill Sahjhan.
• But Wes wants to wait and find out what Vail did back on day one rather than give in to his demands.
• Angel is again insistent that they need to do what he says.
• In the basement, Gunn is again being tortured when Hamilton interrupts and removes his necklace.
• Hamilton offers Gunn a deal to get him out of there, informing him that there’s not a lot of talk about rescuing him back in the office.
• Gunn just cuts him off and asks for his necklace back and tells the demon to get back to work before getting killed all over again.
• In the training room, Angel starts with the training…
• He warns Connor that Sahjhan talks a lot and will try to lull him into slowing down, but Connor is faster than him.
• As Wes continues trying to figure out what Vail has done, Illyria reveals that some of Fred’s memories had been changed… that the old memories are gone.
• Then Wes finds the right file and sees that Angel is the one who approved Vail’s changes.
• Angel takes Connor to see Vail and the kid tries to sound tough, telling Vail that if he doesn’t leave his family alone after this, he’ll come back and slit his throat… or cut off his head… or just keep stabbing ’til he bleeds to death.
• Connor enters the room with the urn holding Sahjhan, then finds a wall magically sealing him in.
• On the other side, Angel and Vail can still see and hear everything though.
• Connor opens the urn and Sahjhan appears, offering to grant Connor three wishes.
• But he’s just messing with him.
• He is grateful for being let out, though.
• Connor then tells him he should say that they’re supposed to fight and Sahjhan realizes who he is.
• Sahjhan throws the urn and hits Connor in the head, then offers him a sarcastic time out.
• Angel tries to interfere, but he can’t get through.
• When he demands that Vail open the barrier, Vail pulls out the magic memory cube again.
• Connor’s getting his butt handed to him and Angel turns to yell at Vail again.
• But this time, Vail doesn’t have the cube…
• Wes and Illyria do.
• Wes asks if the cube is his 30 pieces of silver.
• Illyria tells Angel that Wes no longer follows him… the trust is gone.
• Angel tells Wesley that Connor is his son.
• He asks if Angel traded Fred for Connor… did he know what would happen? was Fred the price?
• Wes threatens to smash the cube, asking if it’ll undo all that’s happened.
• Angel realizes he means, will it bring back Fred…
• Of course it won’t.
• But he smashes it anyway, just to see.
• It brings back all the old memories that Vail tucked away when he rebuilt a world without Connor.
• Wes remembers everything.
• But does Connor?
• Connor suddenly gets the upper hand with Sahjhan and beheads him in a matter of seconds.
• Angel rushes in once the fight is over and Connor seems like his normal self… the normal that Vail created.
• He asks to leave so he can get back to his parents, saying he’s not sure this whole fighting thing is for him.
• Back at the office, Illyria points out that Wes betrayed Angel… stole his son… and Angel had tried to kill him because of it.
• There are now two sets of memories…
• Wes encourages Illyria to push the real memories out of her mind and focus on the fake ones.
• Not to hide from the truth but to endure it.
• The next day Connor visits Angel and says he’ll just tell his parents not to worry about him and he wanted to say good bye before he gets back to his life.
• Connor says he needs to go so he can take care of his parents… this isn’t their world and it scares them.
• Then he says you have to do whatever you can to protect your family… “I learned that from my father.”
• So… were Connor’s old memories restored? Is this his subtle way of letting Angel know that he knows who he really is?
• Body count: Demons – 3