“Supersymmetry”

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Episode 5 of Season 4

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“It sounds like a life you stumbled into, not one you chose.”

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Original US airdate: November 3rd, 2002

Rewatched: November 1st, 2023

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• Writer: Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain

• Director: Bill L. Norton

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Randy Oglesby

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Cordy and Fred are both looking for their place in the world. Cordy is still living with Connor, who brings her things from the hotel to help find her way. She looks at pictures from her life (including our first glimpse at a photo of her parents), but it doesn’t help. Connor decides to introduce her to her full former self. He trains with her and takes her out to hunt vampires. Cordy starts to feel a bit more like herself, but still can’t remember anything. The hunt does, however, end in her kissing Connor, him kissing her back, and Cordy breaking it off. Cordy is confused by the kiss and decides to move back to the hotel.

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Fred’s journey is a return to her roots. She gets a piece on physics published and is invited to speak at a symposium, where she runs into her old professor, Dr. Seidel. Fred had wanted to study history before she took his physics class. He seems interested in getting her back into the physics fold. However, a portal opens above Fred at her speech (Gunn and Angel keep her from going through). The next day, she still goes through with meeting with Dr. Seidel, even though she's worried what he'll think about the portal. He thinks she’s no longer on the right path, saying the life she has now is one she just stumbled into. Fred’s not sure, saying “I guess it kind of chose me”. Although Dr. Seidel seems keen to support Fred in becoming a brilliant physicist, Fred finds evidence Dr. Seidel opened the portal at her speech and more damning, was the one who sent her to Pylea (and in fact had sent more than one student through a portal).

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Fred wants revenge. Gunn and Angel talk her out of it. They tell her that they don’t kill people no matter how evil, which they are right about. The rule in the Buffyverse is to let human laws take care of humans, although I think that when human laws would have trouble dealing with the crime (sending people through portals), there may be scope for demon hunters to take matters into their own hands. But I digress. Gunn also doesn’t want Fred to let Seidel define her, which he is also very right about. However, in this moment, Angel and Gunn cannot give Fred what she needs (vengeance), so she turns to Wesley, who has been going through a dark phase. Wesley doesn’t cut Fred out or shut her down and lets her attempt her revenge. Angel and Gunn do confront Seidel on their own and are there when Fred shows up. Angel is kept busy with a demon who can’t be killed, and Gunn and Fred confront Seidel. Fred knows what she’s doing isn’t right, but she doesn’t care. All her anger at being stuck in Pylea for so long is boiling over. She opens a portal to give Seidel a taste of his own medicine, but before he can be sucked into it, Gunn snaps his neck.

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The two lie to Angel, telling him that Seidel opened the portal himself and got sucked in. Like many times on Angel, keeping this secret will not do them well, and this episode marks the start of the end of their relationship. It’s hard to say that Seidel didn’t get what he deserved, but neither Fred nor Gunn deserve the consequences of vengeance and it’s sad that Seidel was so evil they felt is was necessary.

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Cordy’s journey has taken her back to the hotel and Fred’s has taken her close to darkness. It’s a key episode in both character arcs.

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“Spin the Bottle”

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Episode 6 of Season 4

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“... is there anything worse than feeling like you're all alone?”

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Original US airdate: November 10th, 2002

Rewatched: November 29th, 2023

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• Writer: Joss Whedon

• Director: Joss Whedon

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Vladimir Kulich

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This episode is framed and narrated by Lorne, who seems to be playing a show. At the end of the episode, we find out he’s been playing to an empty house, underlining that we are all alone. Lorne tells the story of trying to find a cure for Cordy’s amnesia, and how it all went wrong. Instead of getting her memory back, everyone reverted to their 17-year-old self. It provides a brief bit of humor, and a bit of levity for all the characters, before they finally gain their full memories back, including Cordelia.

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Lorne calls Wes in to help with the spell. Wes is willing to come for Cordy, but he isn’t showing a lot of friendly feelings to the team. He is still in his dark phase. It is, however, an interesting contrast to his younger self. Wes is jaded, but also very capable, and a natural leader. At 17, he was bumbling. His attempts to lead are not very good.

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Fred and Gunn start this episode with relationship issues. They are not as close now that Gunn has killed for Fred. Gunn reveals he knows Wes helped Fred, and is worried that Wes might be trying to start a relationship with her. 17-year-old Fred gets to be carefree again, most worried about alien abductions than anything else. 17-year-old Gunn shows his chip on his shoulder. He’s come a long way in his time at Angel Investigations. He may not fully feel the others are his family, but he’s not quite as angry at the world anymore.

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Angel at 17 is not the champion he later becomes. He’s confused by the modern world and sure he’s in hell. He’s also very willing to let others step up and lead.

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Connor is not a part of the spell, but he is still trying to navigate LA alone and is worth mentioning. He tires to sleep with a girl he saves, but she’s a prostitute and wants money. He seems to be hung up on Cordy and when he comes to the hotel and Cordy tells him to kill Angel (who she finds out is a vampire), he is very willing.

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Finally, Cordy plays a very important role, as the spell is for her after all. Cordelia seems to want the spell, but also stops it midway (probably triggering everyone ending up 17). It’s unclear, to be honest, whether Cordy’s amnesia was ever real or to what extent she’s in control at all, at least once you look back on this episode knowing how the season ends. Also, 17-year-old Cordy is an odd one. She knew Angel already and knew more about vampires than this version does. However, it allows for a good contrast. Cordy has become a very caring person, but this episode reminds us how self-centered she was. It’s nice to be reminded of how far she’s come.

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Finally, Lorne is able to concoct something to make them all themselves again. No one is harmed. But they all remember. The levity is gone. We see a vision Cordy has of a very scary beast and Cordy runs away. It seems something nasty is coming to LA. Angel follow Cordy. She tell him she can remember and tells Angel that she loved him (emphasis on the past tense nature of it).

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Circling back to Cordy. This season’s big bad hitched a ride to earth in Cordy, as we will later learn. This raises a lot of questions about what parts of Cordy are Cordy, and what parts the big bad. Or even if Cordy’s memory returning triggered the arrival of the big bad. Lots of open questions. More importantly is this episode’s study in loneliness. Angel Investigations is breaking apart, with each member moving away from the others. Wes is still out. Cordy, even with her memory back, runs from the group. Fred and Gunn are rocky. Connor is alone. And Angel is, too. Lorne is attempting to keep them together through his friendship with them all, and all fissures may not be visible, but it does not bode well for the group that they are a group apart.

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“Apocalypse, Nowish”

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Episode 7 of Season 4

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“I was never supposed to happen.”

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Original US airdate: November 17th, 2002

Rewatched: December 18th, 2023

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• Writer: Steven S. DeKnight

• Director: Vern Gillum

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Daniel Dae Kim, Vladimir Kulich

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The apocalypse comes to LA. The phone is ringing off the hook at Angel Investigations. Fred and Gunn go to a house to see about a haunting, but it turns out to be a plague of rats. There is a swarm of birds that hit the hotel. An earthquake. A rain of fire. And blood. (Reminding us of the prophecy that Angel will kill Connor, which may actually come true at the end of this season). And the beast is born at the spot where Connor was born.

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But in all the chaos, there is also a lot about relationships. First, there’s Fred and Gunn, who are not doing okay. They do, however, finally have a bit of a talk about their feelings. It just doesn’t lead to any resolution. Fred is angry that Gunn murdered the professor for her, taking away her choice to do it. Gunn didn’t want her to carry the burden of it, but now he’s stuck with it. Things are not looking up for them.

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Wesley is helping out the group more. He shows up for the apocalypse but is still sleeping with Lilah (who pretends to be Fred for him in this episode). He is, however, still showing signs of darkness. He uses guns when he confronts the beast with Gunn, Lorne and Angel.

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Cordy and Angel have a brief talk, with Cordy telling Angel she can’t be with him. Evidently, as a higher being, she saw his whole life and can’t deal with it. In light of later events, this seems like an excuse. Cordy lived through Angelus in Sunnydale, seeing firsthand what he could do, and she has known him long enough to realize Angelus and Angel aren’t the same. But it explains why she’s with Connor (again). When Cordy has a vision of the beast, she asks if Lorne can read her again. This sends Angel to negotiate with Lilah at Wolfram & Hart (if this is not their apocalypse, they’ll want to help Angel stop it). Angel is able to get everything that was taken from Lorne’s head, so he doesn’t need to read Cordy again. Cordy and Connor, in the meantime, have gone on a walk to help Cordy clear her head. They end up in the alley where Connor was born, just in time to see the beast appear. Cordy and Connor try to fight it, but they are no match and Connor is hurt for the first time, forcing them to retreat to Connor’s place. Connor is very sure that everything is his fault. He was never supposed to happen, so somehow must have caused the beast to appear at this place of birth.

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Angel and team are able to track the beast to a rooftop bar, where some ritual is in progress (using dead bodies). They are also no match for the beast (and Gunn’s hub-cap axe dies in the battle). The beast completes his ritual, causing a rain of fire.

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The episode ends with Cordy and Connor sleeping together as fire rains from the sky, a very strange turn of events. Even stranger is that Angel seems to be watching them. Later in this season, we will find out that Cordy is not herself at this time, explaining her odd behavior. But it’s still a hard scene to stomach. On a final note, Cordy is still claiming in this episode that she doesn’t know how or why she returned to LA, which will also turn out to be not really true.

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It's complicated in LA, and the apocalypse doesn’t make it less complicated. Wesley has his love triangle, Gunn and Fred are slowly falling apart, and Cordy is being strange. And somehow, the beast seems linked to Connor, something a troubled teen boy doesn’t need.

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“Habeas Corpses”

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Episode 8 of Season 4

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“I'm choosing a side.”

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Original US airdate: January 15th, 2003

Rewatched: January 15th, 2024

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• Writer: Jeffrey Bell

• Director: Skip Schoolnik

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Stephanie Romanov, Daniel Dae Kim, Vladimir Kulich

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The rain of fire has stopped, and Angel Investigations is regrouping. Sort of. Fred and Gunn are able to rediscover their love of each other; their worry for each other during the rain of fire a testament to their feelings. Wesley finally choses a side, breaking up with Lilah and choosing to return to Angel Investigations. Gunn and Wes also continue to have their issues, but Angel tells them to shut up about it. Cordy tells Connor sex was a one-time occurrence, and she also returns to the hotel. Angel, however, is barely containing his rage at seeing the two of them together and he doesn’t welcome Cordy with open arms (which, strangely, no one else seems to notice, although when Angel takes Fred, but not Cordy, out to hunt the Beast, Fred does find this strange). At the end of the episode, Angel will kick Cordy and Connor out. So, some things are getting better, others are getting worse. And the Beast is still out there. Before we look at the interesting Beast-related events, I’d like to look more closely at Lilah and Wesley.

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Their relationship is a sign of Wesley flirting with the dark side. He lost his friends, set up his own business, but is perhaps considering whether he really, truly, wants to be good. So far, it hasn’t really worked out so well. But in this episode, he tells Lilah “I’m choosing a side … This isn’t about Fred, or anyone else for that matter, it’s about right and wrong.” Lilah counters that he might not have such a good grasp on the difference between good and evil, and Wesley admits he’s made mistakes, but then he continues: “There is a line, Lilah, black and white, good and evil.” Lilah counters: “Funny thing about black and white, you mix it together and you get gray, and it doesn’t matter how much white you put back in, you’re never gonna get anything but gray.” However, Lilah’s assertions go against the main tenet of Angel – redemption is possible. Wesley knows this. The apocalypse has come, and Wesley is choosing his side.

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The Beast’s motives are unclear. Both Connor and the Beast show up at Wolfram & Hart. Connor because he hopes they have information for him about his birth. The Beast, strangely, to destroy the law office. This is perhaps the first sign (as well as the fact that while the Beast prevented Angel Investigations from stopping the rain of fire, he did not take the time to kill anyone) that the Beast may not be following an evil agenda. In the Beast’s attack, Connor is trapped. Wesley and Lilah escape. Gavin dies. Wes will later help Angel, Gunn and Fred into the building, which has gone on lockdown and the dead lawyers have turned into zombies, a final attempt to stop the attack on the offices. Angel finds Connor, and the five of them flee via the White Room. There, they find the Beast killing the little girl. It seems this is why the Beast attacked Wolfram & Hart, he needed something the little girl had, and he is seen sucking some sort of black essence from her. Before she dies, she tells Angel “The answer is among you” and then teleports them back to the hotel.

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The question remains open what, exactly, the Beast is trying to do, and what the answer is that is among them. Does this mean Connor is indeed connected (is he the answer?) or something else? The mystery continues.

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“Long Day's Journey”

 

Episode 9 of Season 4

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“As far as evil plans go, it doesn’t suck.”

 

Original US airdate: January 22nd, 2003

Rewatched: January 28th, 2024

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• Writer: Mere Smith

• Director: Terrence O'Hara

• Guests: Andy Hallett, Alexa Davalos, Jack Kehler, Michael Chinyamurindi, Vladimir Kulich

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This episode is action-packed, and full of relationship drama. It’s a ride.

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Angel is still angry with Cordy and Connor, and although Cordy is back living with Connor since Angel kicked her out, she is very cool with Connor. However, Cordy does seek Angel out when she has a vision, although at the beginning of the episode, her vision is incomplete and unhelpful. When she seeks him out, they argue. Angel won’t look at Cordy and won’t let her touch him. She tells him that he has to suck it up and deal, because he needs to be a leader during the apocalypse. It’s also implied that Cordy may be worried an isolated Angel could turn dark again. And Angel does, sort of, suck it up and deal. He's come a ways since season 2.

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Gwen shows up at the hotel. One of her clients was killed by the Beast and something was taken out of him. It turns out her client, and the little girl in the white room, were part of the Ra-Tet, symbolic manifestations of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Lorne also reports on a shaman, another member of the Ra-Tet, being killed and her heart removed. With only two more members of the Ra-Tet out there, Angel and Gwen decide to go to Death Valley to protect one. They find the Beast has already been there, but the fifth Ra-Tet member, Manny, is there as well and still alive. Manny also fills them in on the Beast’s intent. If the Beast collects all the bits from the Ra-Tet, he can turn out the sun, first in LA and then in the rest of the world. They bring Manny back to LA, where Gwen and Angel hope to keep them safe in her super secure panic room.

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Gunn, Gwen, Cordy and Angel take Manny there, and keep watch in shifts. Only, during Cordy and Angel’s shift, they are drugged, and Manny killed. The Beast has everything he needs. It does, however, remain unclear what the Beast’s motives are in turning out the sun. There is drama, too, since Manny was killed under Angel Investigation’s nose. Cordy blames Gwen and Gunn continues to think Connor may have something to do with it. However, there is no time to really investigate, as the Beast must be stopped.

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Fred and Wesley think that the best way to stop the Beast is a portal. This does not sit well with Gunn, but as Angel agrees it’s a good idea, he reluctantly gets on board. Angel decides to get Connor to help, but once the team shows up at Connor’s apartment, they realize the Beast is there, set to carry out his ritual where Connor lives. Connor tries to stop the Beast, but is thrown from his window, a chance for Angel to show with his actions that he still loves his son and cares about his well-being, as he immediately runs to Connor and does his best to keep him safe. But the team are ultimately not able to stop the ritual and the Beast successfully blots out the sun, swallowing the orb he took from Manny and used in the ritual. 

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Cordy, who waited outside with an injured Connor, also finally has her full vision. The Beast knows Angelus, making Angel, or rather Angelus, a suspect as well.

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So, the sun is gone, Angel and Connor could both be the answer that lies among Angel Investigations, and while Angel was able to work with Cordy and show his love for Connor, things are not great between them. As a final note, Fred is also a bit jealous of Gwen and Gunn, and Gunn is very jealous of Fred and Wesley, so while Gunn and Fred seem to be better on the surface, they are still not okay.

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