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.

Time Bomb

• Gunn’s about to get his heart cut out in the basement again.
• But that’s interrupted when Illyria shows up and knocks out the demon before pulling the necklace off Gunn.
• He explains he can’t leave unless someone else puts on the necklace to take his place.
• So she puts the necklace on the torture demon, who now cuts his own heart out.
• BTW… I’m not counting that as a death as I would assume the rules are the same, only that he’s cursed to cut out his own heart daily.
• Wes and Angel discuss Illyria’s place in this world when she suddenly appears with Gunn in tow.
• She very nearly breaks Gunn’s neck as she asks Angel and Wes about his value to them.
• Wes steps in and calmly states that they clearly owe her a debt for freeing Gunn.
• She drops him and leaves Angel’s office.
• The next day Gunn shows up to work and finds a ton of files on his desk.
• He’s ditched the suits it seems.
• Wes is researching the Old Ones and seems kind of frazzled.
• They’re both trying to adjust.
• In the training room, Illyria and Spike continue her tests.
• She shows off her time warp ability again before Angel asks Spike to step outside for a talk.
• He tells Spike that they need to stop the tests because he’s realized they’re not testing her, she’s testing them.
• Spike protests, claiming he’s just now getting somewhere.
• Illyria is suddenly in the room with them and looks injured, so Spike brags that he’s at least got her winded a little.
• Lorne pops into Gunn’s office and reveals he’s currently on Illyria watch… just to keep tabs.
• Angel calls a meeting to finally decide what to do about Illyria.
• He wants Wes to figure out a way to kill her.
• Gunn brings up the apocalypse, which Lindsey said is already going on.
• Hamilton interrupts the meeting to complain about Illyria’s attack that released Gunn.
• Apparently that little attack cost Wolfram & Hart a pretty penny, setting the LA branch back a bit.
• Illyria visits Wes in his office and tells him they’ve had this conversation before.
• He thinks she’s referring to the subject…
• She then refers to him as her betrayer, considering what he meant to do when he shattered the memory cube last week.
• Wes wanted to bring Fred back, which would have destroyed Illyria…
• Only that didn’t happen.
• Hamilton has sent a file to Gunn detailing some kind of demon pact involving a pregnant woman’s baby that is meant to fulfill some kind of prophecy for some demon clan.
• The pregnant woman arrives and Angel thinks they’re supposed to protect her from the demon clan.
• But it turns out she’s not Wolfram & Hart’s client… the demon clan is.
• Illyria is making observations about time before she starts jumping around the timestream…
• In the training room, in a scene we haven’t seen yet, Angel orders Wes to do something involving a fancy looking gun of some kind.
• She winds up back where Spike bragged about having Illyria winded.
• So are her powers getting wonky or has something been done to her at some point in the future?
• Suddenly she’s back in Wesley’s office and accuses him of trying to murder her.
• Harmony keeps the demon clan (the Fell Brethren) busy while Angel and Gunn try to talk the pregnant woman, Amanda, about getting out of this contract.
• But she’s convinced it’s a good idea to go along with it.
• Her baby will be cared for by the Fell Brethren… he’ll be honored…
• Meanwhile she and her husband will be rewarded…
• Amanda explains that her husband was injured on the job and is suffering from a brain injury, but the Fell are allegedly able to repair the damage done.
• Gunn and Angel step out and Gunn wants to fight to get Amanda out of the contract but Angel isn’t so sure that’s the right move.
• Hamilton visits Wes down in the lab, telling him that the Senior Partners don’t want Illyria here… or anywhere for that matter.
• But that’s not the Senior Partners’ problem… it’s the good guys’ problem.
• Just as Amanda is about to sign the contract with the Fell Brethren, Gunn stops her.
• He comes across a clause in the contract about a ritual when the boy turns 13 which ends in him being sacrificed.
• This angers the Fell and they yell, “Whose lawyer are you?!”
• They’ve got a point.
• Illyria storms in and demands to speak to Angel.
• She demands to know what they’ve done to her, but he has no idea what she’s talking about.
• Angel heads to the lab to find out where Wes and Spike are with the Illyria issue.
• Wes says that Illyria is falling apart… the human body she inhabits can no longer contain her power.
• He pulls out the futuristic looking gun, explaining that it’ll draw Illyria’s power into a pocket dimension.
• Angel asks if it will kill her and Wes says yes.
• They go to the training room to confront her where she very quickly kills Spike, Wes, Lorne, and Angel.
• Illyria is proud of herself… then time shifts again.
• She’s back to confronting Angel about what they’ve done to her.
• When time shifts this time, she pulls Angel with her to Wesley’s office.
• Then they’re in the hell basement where Gunn was being kept.
• She’s angry that Angel is following her now, then reveals that she has been trapped in repeating time, still believing that Angel has something to do with it.
• Angel yells at her about how this isn’t her kingdom anymore and confirms that they’re trying to control her by any means possible because she would do the same to them if she could.
• Then they shift to the possible future where she’s killed them all.
• Between bouts of pain, Illyria has some nuggets of wisdom for Angel in his position at Wolfram & Hart.
• Instead of quibbling over the price he pays for the power he has, he should accept it.
• “If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition.”
• At this point Illyria realizes that what’s happening to her is her own power run amok.
• Then she explodes… basically destroying all the things.
• Angel returns to the moment before he, Wes, and Spike arrive in the training room to be killed by Illyria, warning Wes that she’s a time bomb about to go off.
• Once they’re in the training room, Angel realizes an invisible Illyria is about to reveal herself by killing Spike.
• So he pushes Spike out of the way and gets stabbed by Illyria instead.
• Just… not in the heart…
• Angel is able to stop Illyria from killing them all and Wes reveals that the gun he has won’t kill her… he lied to Angel about that part.
• All it will do is diminish her powers so that she can continue to live.
• Illyria doesn’t want to let them do it… but then she begins to crack apart again.
• So Wes shoots her… taking away a portion of her power.
• Illyria collapses to the floor, grieving what she’s lost.
• Wes says she won’t stop time or walk through dimensions anymore and it’s likely her physical strength has lessened.
• Angel tells Wes he’s worried about this arrangement he has with Illyria, but then says she may make the team after all.
• Gunn is in the middle of arguing with one of the Fell Brethren while Hamilton tries to calm the others.
• Angel returns to the lobby and tells Gunn that the baby belongs to the Fell.
• He escorts them back to the conference room and Gunn asks him what he’s doing.
• “What we’re supposed to,” he says, looking pointedly at Hamilton, “Serve our clients.”
• Then he closes the door behind him.
• So… in serving his own ambition, has Angel turned to the dark side?
• Body count: No one actually died… well… no one stayed dead.