“Couplet”

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Episode 14 of Season 3

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“It’s your mission which animates us. We each contribute, it’s true, but you, you’re unique.”

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Original US airdate: February 18th, 2002

Rewatched: June 29th, 2023

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• Writer: Tim Minear & Jeffrey Bell

• Director: Tim Minear

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Mark Lutz

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Following on the last episode, this one shows how Wesley and Angel are able to step up and accept that the woman they love did not choose them. First, Angel is able to accept Groo into the team and take him out on a mission, although he ends up feeling like he is easily replaced when Groo is able to chase a demon out into daylight and kill it. Cordy later cutting Groo’s hair to be very similar to Angel’s and dressing him in Angel’s clothes doesn’t help either. Wesley is able to cheer up Angel a bit, underlining how important he is to everyone. Angel is, perhaps because of this, able to rise up and help Groo pick up a potion that will keep Cordy from losing her visions to Groo. Later, however, they face a tree demon that Angel has an advantage over, because he doesn’t have a beating heart, showing Angel Groo can’t beat him at everything. At the end of the episode, Angel gives Cordy some money he had saved so she and Groo can take a vacation together. He wants them to go somewhere it’s sunny, perhaps mirroring him telling Buffy that he wanted her to be with someone who could take her into the light. While Angel is hurting, he is okay with being alone. Maybe.

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Wesley is, perhaps, smarting a bit more. On the surface, he is okay with it. There are some pointed looks when Gunn and Fred share brief moments, and when the two first lose the person they were tailing because they were kissing, and then get captured by the evil tree demon, they don’t want to call Wesley, only Angel.  At the end of the episode, Wesley tells Gunn that he knows Fred chose, and it seems he’s accepting their relationship, but then he threateningly tells Gunn not to hurt her. There is clearly tension here, and it’s not a good thing.

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Finally, Wesley is still working to find prophecies related to Connor. Wesley finds a book with information on the Nyazian Scrolls and is able to translate part of the prophecy, which says the father will kill the son. An ominous end to the episode.

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It’s hard to love someone who doesn’t love you back, and both Angel and Wesley are dealing the best they can. Perhaps, because Angel has had more experience than Wesley, he is able to bounce back better. Or maybe also because Angel has doubts about what he can offer a woman, like sunlight and sex, he is able to put his feelings aside. Wesley is not there yet.

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“Loyalty”

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Episode 15 of Season 3

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“Things aren’t always black and white...”

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Original US airdate: February 25th, 2002

Rewatched: July 6th, 2023

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• Writer: Mere Smith

• Director: James A. Contner

• Guests: Stephanie Romanov, Laurel Holloman, Jack Conley, Wendy Davis, Enrique Castillo, Keith Szarabajka

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What is good and what is evil? Angel used to be evil but is now fighting the good fight with the Angel Investigations team. He has a son, who he has ordered tiny hockey sticks for, as hockey is a very vampire-friendly sport. Angel is still very much focused on his fatherhood, commenting that he can’t wait to watch Connor grow up and see who he becomes. But things are complicated.

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First, by Holtz, who is also good, although he made a deal with a demon whose motives are unclear. Holtz has been making his own team, starting with Justine, but it has now grown to include quite a few, among them Aubrey, who is sent to spy. When Aubrey leads Gunn and Fred into a trap, Angel tells her that “Holtz is one of the good guys. He has every right to hate me.” But tells her to leave his team alone. If she and Holtz don’t, he’ll come after them. Holtz, for what it’s worth, thinks Angel is inherently evil.

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Then, Wesley has translated a prophecy that the father will kill the sun. He tries to track down information that will tell him how to stop it from happening, but is told he can’t, and that an earthquake, fire (the air burns) and blood (the sky turns to blood) will be the portends. Wesley goes to Holtz, perhaps to convince Holtz not to kill Angel, but also perhaps to see if he has an ally to stop Angel killing Connor. As Holtz says to Wesley, “Angelus is his nature. The beast will reemerge. You’ve seen it, you now it and that is why you are here. You’re afraid he’s going to kill the child.” At the end of the episode, when there is an earthquake and Angel’s room catches fire and, after saving Connor and Wesley from the fire, Angel’s blood drips on Connor’s blue blanket with white clouds, the prophecy seems to be coming true. Angel’s quip that if they had been stuck, he would have had a snack, seems a bit out of character and at odds with the love he expressed at the beginning of the episode, but helps make Wesley think the prophecy will be fulfilled soon.

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It should be noted here that with Cordy on vacation with Groo and Fred and Gunn dating, Wesley is very isolated. He doesn’t think he can go to Angel, perhaps because he has inherently always considered Angel a risk, and there is no one else, really, he can confide in. He is feeling isolated. Although Gunn comments in this episode that Wesley is a good man who will always do what is right, his isolation, lack of trusts in Angel, and his trip to Holtz indicate this may not be fully true.

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The last player in the gray areas is Sahjhan. He is not happy that Holtz has not killed Angel yet and tries to take matters into his own hands by going to Liliah at Wolfram & Hart. Sahjhan’s motives remain unclear. Is he, like Holtz, a misguided good person, or is he bad?

Holtz, Wesley, Angel and Sahjhan in this episode are all not clearly good or evil. Life is often more complicated than that, and learning to navigate the gray areas of life is a key feature of adulthood, as Angel Investigations is learning.

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One final point to bring in is Fred and Gunn. Dating and working together, especially with Wesley feeling a bit jealous, is hard. Fred tries to keep them focused on work in this episode, but both are worried that Wesley may make them choose. In a wonderful scene, Gunn makes it clear to Fred that she is more important than the good fight:

“I’ve been fighting vamps and demons since I was a kid. That sense of doing good, of waking up in the morning and making the world safer, better. I’ve always had hat, but I never had a Fred before. If we have to, I choose you.”

At this moment, Fred and Gunn share a deep love for each other and have perhaps managed to find the most normal of any member of Angel Investigations.

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“Sleep Tight”

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Episode 16 of Season 3

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“But I don't stab people in the back.”

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Original US airdate: March 4th, 2002

Rewatched: July 14th, 2023

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• Writer: David Greenwalt

• Director: Terrence O'Hara

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Laurel Holloman, Jack Conley, Marina Benedict, Keith Szarabajka

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Wesley makes a decision to not trust his friends, but to trust an ancient prophecy, and it ends badly. Wes's research still points to the father killing the son as the correct interpretation of the prophecy about Connor, but with Cordy still away, Gun and Fred dating, and his Angel issues, Wesley decides to take care of everything on his own. He makes a deal with Holtz that he and Connor can leave before Holtz takes his revenge on Angel. Wesley will keep Connor safe by keeping him away.

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At the same time, Wolfram & Hart have been spiking Angel’s blood with Connor’s blood, making Angel behave erratically, nearly attacking Connor. When Angel confronts Lilah, he meets Sahjhan for the first time, who claims he and Angel are enemies. Angel, however, does not recognize the demon, so it’s a bit unclear still why Sahjhan wants him dead. Although the end of this episode may indicate it had more to do with Connor than Angel.

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As Wesley takes Connor from the hotel, he sings a lullaby and Lorne figures out what’s going on. Instead of talking, Wesley knocks Lorne out. Then, Wesley runs into a badly beaten Justine, who says Holtz betrayed her. Wesley goes to help Justine, but she slits his throat. Holtz attacks the hotel but leaves when he sees Connor is gone. Holtz meets up with Justine and it is clear they plan to go to Utah with Connor and live like a family. But this doesn’t get to be their happy ending. Wolfram & Hart are after Connor as well, as is Angel (since Holtz’s soldiers were not really a match) and Sahjhan.

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Everyone converges on Holtz, who threatens to kill Connor. During the impasse, Angel agrees to let Holtz take Connor in order to save Connor’s life, but then Sahjhan opens a portal to the demon dimension Quor’toth. Sahjhan threatens to let the portal consume everyone unless Holtz kills Connor. Lilah orders her men to kill Connor and Holtz runs for the portal. Lightning prevents Angel from following. The portal closes.

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Holtz has left Justine, who might have made him happy. Wesley is bleeding in a park somewhere. Angel is childless. Although Wesley talked a big talk with Holtz and Justine about Angel being a hero, and about them being family and about how he would never stab anyone in the back, his actions didn’t fit his words and he ended up not saving Connor but losing him and losing his friendship with Angel.

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If anyone ends this episode well, it is Holtz. He may be in a dark dimension, but his revenge is complete. He not just stole Connor, but he convinced Wesley to help him. He has broken Angel's family, like Angel destroyed his own. 

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“Forgiving”

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Episode 17 of Season 3

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“Well, maybe begin to forgive.”

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Original US airdate: April 15th, 2002

Rewatched: July 20th, 2023

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• Writer: Jeffrey Bell

• Director: Turi Meyer

• Guests: John Rubinstein, Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Laurel Holloman, Jack Conley

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Angel Investigations is reeling from the events in the last episode. Gunn and Fred are having trouble understanding why Wesley would take Connor from Angel until they find the prophecy. Once they find the prophecy, Fred is convinced Wesley did the right thing, “the only thing he could do under the circumstances.” She thinks this will help Angel forgive, but Gunn points out Angel might not be able to forgive, even if Wesley acted out of goodness. Fred is still hopeful.

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Angel also refuses to call Cordelia back from her vacation. He says it's because he wants to find his son before she returns, but it may be that Angel couldn’t deal with her empathy. He wants vengeance and he can’t face Cordy like this.

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Lorne is set to work finding out about Quor’toth. What he finds is not hopeful. There are not any portals in or out. Sahjhan tore the fabric of reality to get a portal and this is dark magic that Lorne warns Angel not to touch.

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Angel, however, is not willing to stop at anything. He’s up for trying dark magic, but first he’s going to torture Linwood from Wolfram & Hart to get answers. Linwood caves with only the first threat of violence and sends Angel to the White Room. There Angel learns that Sahjhan is a Granok demon and he learns how he can summon him and make him corporeal again. Angel works the magic and then sets out to find his demon.

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Justine and her gang show up to take Angel out. But he doesn’t have time for them. Gunn and Fred, however, notice Justine is still driving Wes’s car and track down Justine. While the three are fighting each other, Sahjhan shows up, closely followed by Angel. Sahjhan can’t open a portal to Quor’toth again either. He could only do it once. Sahjhan also admits that he planted the false prophecy that Wesley translated. The real one said that Connor would kill him. Angel tries to take the demon out, but he nearly bests Angel. It is Justine, who has an urn Holtz left, who manages to trap Sahjhan, saving the day.

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Connor is lost, but Sahjhan is out of commission and Justine may not be hell bent on revenge anymore. On returning to the hotel, the team learn Wesley is alive in the hospital. They go, but Angel is not ready to forgive him. Although Angel understands why Wesley did what he did, he can’t forgive him, and the episode ends with Angel trying to smother Wesley. When this is unsuccessful, he promises that Wesley is a dead man.

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The choices we make have consequences. Wesley chose to believe a prophecy (even if Sahjhan hadn’t faked it, prophecies are tricky) and not to communicate with anyone about his thoughts. He went to the enemy and lost Angel’s son. It’s bad. Justine trusted Holtz’s mission, only to be left alone with the mission, and now she must muddle through the gray areas of good and evil on her own. Angel also has the choice of how much of himself he is willing to sacrifice to get his son back. Is he willing to give up his soul for him? It’s a dark time for everyone.

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