“Dad”

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Episode 10 of Season 3

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“He's more than a mission, bro.”

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Original US airdate: December 10th, 2001

Rewatched: June 2nd, 2023

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• Writer: David Goodman

• Director: Fred Keller

• Guests: John Rubinstein, Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Daniel Dae Kim, Jack Conley, Laurel Holloman, Keith Szarabajka

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Angel is a father. And he has no idea what he’s doing. And he doesn’t want any help. Plus, a bunch of demons are after them.

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The gang returns to the hotel with the baby, who Angel names Conor, and Lorne arrives, having decided that since his bar was destroyed twice by Angel Investigations, he can move into the hotel. Angel is on edge, and won’t let anyone hold the baby, or really help him. He’ll only accept help in identifying and taking out threats, which the gang sets out to do, identifying six threats and five possible threats. When most of the threats, except Holtz, show up at the hotel, the gang needs to find a way to keep Angel’s baby safe. Lorne is instrumental in helping by first getting Angel to calm down and really accept his baby as more than a mission, and then in figuring out that Wolfram & Hart have surveillance in the hotel. This helps Angel Investigations hatch a plan where it looks like Angel is abandoning the team to flee with his son, when in reality, Angel flees alone and lures his pursuers into a trap while the rest of the team takes care of those demons left at the hotel. Then, Cordy, Wesley and Fred take the baby to the hospital for his check-up while Gunn buys a stroller.

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Angel has learned three things. First, that he can trust his son to the gang, which may come back to haunt him. Second, that love is more important than worry, which Lorne told him. Third, that he cannot do it all by himself, which Cordy told him. Raising a baby is hard.

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The real threat, however, is still out there. Lilah is able to figure out who Holtz is, using files and records at Wolfram & Hart, which is not only a file room, but a woman (demon?) who acts like a computer and can recall all the files and records Wolfram & Hart has. Holtz, while he doesn’t come after Angel this episode, is still pursuing his goal of revenge. He recruits Justine, a young woman whose twin sister was killed by vampires and who has turned to hunting vampires as an outlet for her grief. Angel Investigations has won the battle, but not the war.

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“Birthday”

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Episode 11 of Season 3

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“I know my purpose in this world and it includes the visions and if the Powers That Be aren't complete dumbasses, they know it, too.”

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Original US airdate: January 14th, 2002

Rewatched: June 8th, 2023

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• Writer: Mere Smith

• Director: Michael Grossman

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Patrick Breen, Max Baker, David Denman

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It's Cordy’s birthday and the visions are finally about to kill her. The gang surprises Cordy with a bit of a party and Cordy has a vision that sends her into an astral state. While the gang try to figure out what happened, Cordy meets her guide, Skip. He tells her that the visions were a mistake. The Powers didn’t anticipate Doyle’s love for Cordy, and it was only this that allowed the visions to transfer to her. However, due to Skip’s later role in bringing Jasmine to earth, plus the Oracle’s knowledge that after Doyle’s death, Angel wouldn’t be cut off from the visions, I doubt Skip’s claims and even call into question whether Skip was sent by the Powers at all, but unpacking this fully will have to wait. It is fairly convincing to Cordy, and she knows she not strong enough for the visions and that they are killing her. Skip also mentions nagging feelings, that Cordy must feel a nagging feeling that she has another destiny and this means her true destiny is to be an actress, something Skip can make happen. The nail in the coffin is when Skip allows her to see Angel pleading with the Conduit for her life, but only letting her see the bit where Angel says she’s weak (more detail in a minute on that). So, Cordy chooses door number two and Skip makes her a famous actress with her own sitcom.

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Meanwhile, Angel Investigations is doing their best. Gunn and Fred search Cordy’s apartment for info on her health and find out how much the visions have been impacting her (Angel is very angry at Cordy for hiding this from him). Wesley does research. Lorne gets Angel access to the Conduit, which is a link to the Powers. There, Angel pleads his case:

My friend Cordelia has visions given to her by the Powers. They’re killing her. I want the Powers to take them back. Let her go. She’s suffered enough. […] The visions are too much. She's not strong enough to handle them. […] No, you're not listening! Cordelia is not a champion. She is a rich girl from Sunnydale who likes to play superhero. She doesn't have what it takes to do this! Don't the Powers get that? Stop whispering and listen to me, damn it! She's weak. […] You're killing her. She's unconscious, and she's alone. Who knows if she's in pain? […] I'm more afraid of her dying than she is. - What is that?

It is this speech, or rather just the middle, that makes Cordy take the final leap. But in truth, it’s a scared plea by Angel to save the person he has come to care greatly for. He knows she’s a hero, but he’ll claim she’s not if it will save her.

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Once Cordy gets the life she always wanted, she has a nagging feeling (so it must be her destiny, according to Skip) that she needs to be elsewhere. She goes to the Hyperion, a fully functioning hotel in this reality, and finds the room where she managed to write the address from the vision that made her unconscious on the wall, the one thing she managed in her astral state). She has to rip wallpaper off the wall to find it, but she’s famous enough that the hotel clerk doesn’t stop her. Then she goes to the address, where her fame gets her in the door. The demon she saw in her vision appears, but so do Gunn and Wesley. Wes is missing his left arm, lost to a Kungai demon, the demon Wesley was chasing in his first appearance in LA. Gunn has a scar on his face. And Angel is not with them because he is crazy in his room, driven that way by the visions. Fred is not there, because without Cordy, there would have been no trip to Pylea to save her. Things are not okay with out Cordy. Cordy convinces Wes to take her to Angel, where she kisses Angel, transferring the visions back to her (and indicating that Cordy and Angel may love each other). Skip arrives, angry that Cordy rejected her destiny. But Cordy knows her destiny. Cordy tells Skip to find a way, that the Powers must know she’s the right person for the visions. Skip says there is one way, but it’s hard. Becoming part demon will make the visions painless (why did they hurt Doyle?) but the effects of this will numerous and unpredictable, and she’ll neve lead a human life again. Cordy asks to be part demon.

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This episode is an important milestone in Cordy’s journey. Unlike Buffy, who could never really reject her fate and whose growth revolves around accepting and growing into her power, Cordy did have choices. It could be argued that the role she played with the Scoobies in Sunnydale was unavoidable- Sunnydale was full of evil and Cordy joined the fight to keep herself safe. But many others in Sunnydale didn’t actively join the fight. Cordy saw evil and while she didn’t fully embrace fighting it like Willow and Xander, she could generally be counted on. In LA, she joined Angel at first to have a job, and then had the visions, cementing her role in the group and making it hard for her to leave. In this episode, her greatest wish was granted, and she turned her back on it to keep the visions and fight the good fight. Cordy has grown as a person. She has learned the cost of evil, and of ambivalence, and has decided to choose good.

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“Provider”

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Episode 12 of Season 3

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“They tried to cut Fred's head off. We earned every penny.”

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Original US airdate: January 21st, 2002

Rewatched: June 15th, 2023

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• Writer: Scott Murphy

• Director: Bill L. Norton

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Laurel Holloman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Bruskotter, Sunny Mabrey, Tony Pasqualini, Keith Szarabajka

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Connor’s arrival has Angel reevaluating the mission in this episode. While Gunn, Wes, Cordy and Fred have all made the choice to fight the good fight knowing what it will cost them in terms of being able to live a normal life, Angel’s choice to fight the good fight has, until now, helped connect him to the world. But with Connor’s arrival, Angel will need to have money for him. Connor will need food and clothes, and a college fund. It’s unclear how much money Angel Investigations brings in. In recent seasons, they don’t seem to have pursued many cases besides the visions but have still managed to support the costs for the hotel, and salaries for Wes, Cordy, and Gunn that allow them to afford their own apartments. This is probably a bit of TV magic. The problem of money leads Angel to putting money over the mission in this episode. 

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First, Fred sets up a website, and the gang distributes flyers (unfortunately, the first round had the wrong phone number), and Angel Investigations is filled with people needing help. So much so that the team is spread thin. Gunn and Wes help a woman with a zombie. It’s her ex-boyfriend she poisoned and they decide to get back together. It can be counted as a win. Sort of. Angel helps a man clean out a vamps’ nest. When Angel returns victorious, he finds out he was duped. The man wasn’t who he said he was and had no money. But the vamps killed his boyfriend and he wanted vengeance and his boyfriend’s watch back. Angel later finds the man at the nest, and also finds out he only killed three of seven vampires. Angel at first doesn’t want to help save the man from the remaining four, but eventually figures out his mission again. Fred is sent to help some demons with a puzzle. But it turns out they want her head. Cordy has a vision that Fred is in trouble. She can’t reach Gunn, Wes or Angel. Lorne had gone with Fred and is already out of commission. Cordy takes Connor to negotiate with the demons. She’ll give them their $50,000 back if they give her Fred. Thankfully, when things go south, Angel, Wes and Gunn show up and the day is saved. They fight the demons and keep the money. Everyone has learned that money isn’t everything, although having it isn’t inherently bad.

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Several smaller themes are come up in this episode as well. In the love category, both Gunn and Wesley are clearly mooning over Fred. And noticing the other’s interest. And Cordy and Angel may be getting closer. At the end of the episode, they are in Angel’s bed together, cuddling Connor. This scene underscores how much they mean to each other and that they truly are family. Which brings us to the bad family dynamics. Holtz is still training Justine. Some scenes remind me very much of Buffy, underscoring how their relationship may be like a Watcher and Slayer, but this is definitely more brutal than Giles ever was with Buffy. Holtz wants loyalty at all costs and tests Justine to make sure he has complete control.

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Finally, Cordelia is still questioning what becoming part demon means. Nothing new has appeared, and while she floated during her vision in the last episode, she doesn’t float on command and doesn’t during her vision in this episode either. Ultimately, while there are a few moments in the series where Cordy experiences being part demon and what that means for her, it was generally very underused and it was never really clear what powers she may have actually had.

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While recurring themes of love and relationships are important in this episode as well, it mainly serves to emphasize that Angel’s fatherhood has changed him forever.

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“Waiting in the Wings”

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Episode 13 of Season 3

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“I hesitated and I lost everything that mattered. Now all I do is wait.”

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Original US airdate: February 4th, 2002

Rewatched: June 22nd, 2023

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• Writer Joss Whedon

• Director: Joss Whedon

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Mark Harelik

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Angel Investigations goes to the ballet and deals with three love triangles. It’s fun to see the gang all dressed up and going out for a night of fun entertainment while Lorne stays behind to babysit Connor. Angel, Wesley and Fred are keen to see ballet, having seen at least some before. Cordy is excited to dress up, but ballet puts her to sleep. Gunn is initially not keen to see the show, but decides that ballet is actually great.

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But at the theater, it turns out it’s the exact ballet Angel saw in 1890. Angel knew it was the same piece, by the same company, but was not prepared for the exact same performance and the exact same dancers. The head of the company, Count Kurskov, was in love with the prima ballerina, but she loved another man. Instead of leaving with him, she stayed to dance and Kurskov found out about it. He trapped her in time, forcing her to dance the same dance again and again. In her own words, she’s not dancing, really, only echoing. But Angel and Cordy, with the help of the others, figure it out and help the prima ballerina take control of her dancing. Angel breaks Kurskov’s power center, and the whole ballet fades away.

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This is a metaphor for the two other love triangles. Angel and Cordy have been getting closer and Lorne even notices Angel’s feelings. Lorne tells Angel to let Cordy know his true feelings, and by the end of the episode, Angel's ready. But it turns out that while the gang was at the ballet, Gru from Pylea, newly disposed, has shown up to find his love. Cordy kisses Gru, and Angel knows he waited too long. Then there’s Fred, Wesley and Gunn. Cordy convinces Wesley to tell Fred how he feels, and after talking to Fred and mistaking her feelings for Gunn with feelings for Wesley, Cordy convinces Wesley Fred also has feelings for him. During the battle at the theater, however, Gunn is injured and Fred nearly has a meltdown. Her love of Gunn is evident, so are Gunn’s feelings for Fred and the two kiss. Wesley is clearly not happy he lost out to Gunn, but he is able to put his feelings aside and fight the good fight side by side with them.

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Although Angel doesn’t express his feelings to Cordy in this episode, the two are possessed by the spirits of the prima ballerina and her lover during their investigation. The two share a few passionate moments while possessed, although Angel does lament that being possessed by dead lovers is not a great thing. Despite the lovers possibly only being able to possess Cordy and Angel because of their feelings for each other, it’s not enough to make them fully realize they love each other.

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Finally, unlike Kurskov, Wesley and Angel recognize their inability to control their desired partner. They can have feelings. They can express these feelings, including feeling sad or jealous, but ultimately, they accept, unlike Kurskov did with the prima ballerina, that Fred and Cordy are free to choose others. Love hurts and it’s hard to see Angel and Wesley sad, but Fred and Cordy finding love is nice to see.

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