Dead End
| In his apartment, Lindsey goes about his normal morning routine. As he's
getting dressed, he sees his acoustic guitar shoved at the back at of the closet. He looks
ruefully at his prosthetic hand - playing the guitar is something he can no longer do. Meanwhile, a business man and his normal, happy family go about their morning routine. The kids and the wife go out the door as the husband lags behind. Cheerfully, he gathers what the kids left behind. His wife reminds him to grab the vitamins. Instead of grabbing the vitamins, he grabs a large butcher knife and stabs himself hard in the eye. At the same time, Cordelia gets a vision of this exact scene (family, butcher knife, eye) and it's a bad one. She reels about the office and finally falls on the floor before Angel, Gunn and Wesley can get to her. They ask her what she sees but she can only sob in horror at the vision she just had. At Wolfram and Hart, Lindsey arrives for another day at work. Today it's a staff meeting, with Lilah, a couple of other lawyers and Nathan Reed. It's a basic - where are we with this evil client's case routine - Lilah tells him they can tie it up in litigation forever. Lindsey makes an alternate suggestion - Nathan says he'll consider both options. He also wants to know what Angel's status is. Lindsey makes a sarcastic remark - Lilah jumps in and says he's back with his group and seems to have levelled off for now. Lastly, Nathan wants to know when their meeting with another evil client big-wig is scheduled. Lilah flounders about while Lindsey jumps in and tells him exactly when it's scheduled for. As Lilah glares at Lindsey, Nathan informs them that they're scheduled for re-evaluation on Friday. The meeting adjourns and Lilah rounds on Lindsey. She's pissed that he stabbed her in the back. If they're up for re-evaluation, he knows as well as she does that that means one of them will die. Before Lindsey can defend himself, Nathan interrupts, he'd like to see Lindsey in his office. Lindsey and Nathan go into Nathan's office - Lilah watches from back in the hallway - trying not too look like she's spying on them. Nathan wants to talk about Friday's re-evaluation. Nathan tells Lindsey that the co-vice president idea was novel but has outlived it's usefulness. However, Lindsey doesn't have to worry. Nathan tells Lindsey that although he understands his anger at Angel, he doesn't think it's wise for him to talk about it in front of his peers. People at the firm look up to Lindsey, which, he says, reminds him of something. Nathan removes an appointment card from his pocket, Lilah, watching the warm hand on Lindsey's shoulder in background, moves on. Nathan tells Lindsey they've made an appointment for him today. As it will take all day, he's taken the liberty of clearing Lindsey's calendar. Lindsey asks what kind of appointment. Nathan just smiles and tells him that he'll find out. At the hotel, Cordelia tries to give them any information she can about the vision. There are two problems however, the vision was vague and they're getting more intense. She's obviously still in pain from it. She tells them that the guy felt normal until he started stabbing himself - it was in a kitchen but she can't tell them more than that. It was a normal kitchen. The guys decide to do the normal checking around - hospitals, morgues and word on the street. At his appointment, Lindsey's vitals are taken by a nurse. He wants to know what's going on. Are they going to kill him? The doctor is a bit surprised they didn't tell him what was going on. They've moved him to the front of the transplant list - Lindsey's going to get a new hand. During the operation, Lindsey is sort of fuzzy aware and sees images and hears some of the talking going on. As they go about the operation, he hears the Doctor refer to something called the "pockla." The Nurse informs the doctor that "it's" arrived. Lindsey sees a creature in a robe that has no face. The creature passes it's bony hand over Lindsey's wrist and sprinkles some powder over it. The creature says something unintelligible and the wound on Lindsey's wrist magically heals. The creature glides off back into it's own dimension. At the hotel, Angel, Wes and Gunn reconvene to share what they've learned…which is nothing. Gunn informs them that Cordy has been pretty quiet all day - then she started cleaning maniacally which is what she still continues to do. They all agree that they need more information from her but are unsure if it's wise to bother her. Wes looks to Angel and tells him they'd better not crowd her, Angel should go alone. Angel replies that Wesley is the boss now - this is his job. Wesley tells him that, yes, he is the boss, and that's why he's assigning this to Angel. Angel isn't amused but approaches Cordelia nonetheless. Angel tells Cordelia that they need help - he asks her if she can go back into her vision again. She complains that she's been over it again and again. Still, Cordelia goes over the vision again in her mind - this time she remembers that the guy had kids. She also notices that the book bag said Delancey School on it. Angel tells her that's great and she should get some rest for now. The next morning, Lindsey wakes up again as normal. He looks at his new hand - except for a tiny scar it looks normal. He flexes it to test it out. Later, as he's getting ready, he spies the guitar in the closet again. This time he pulls it out and plays with it for a moment - he's pretty good. At Wolfram and Hart, Lilah notices his new hand and gets really pissed. She tells Lindsey that he must think he has this in the bag - the Shaman alone for the operation must have cost a quarter of a million dollars. She can't believe they chose him over her. During the meeting, Lindsey's hand begins to do something that it hasn't done before, it begins writing kill, kill, kill. Lindsey abruptly leaves the meeting, leaving Lilah to complete it for him. He goes home and takes up another pencil and pad, waiting expectantly for it to begin writing again. It doesn't. He pokes at it a bit with his other hand…nothing. Finally, he takes a letter opener and stabs at it..again nothing. Lindsey looks at his new hand and wonders who it belonged to before him. Back at the hotel, Angel gets several bags of food delivered. Cordy notices this and wonders what's going on - Angel doesn't need food to survive. He tells her that he forgot what she liked. She wonders why he didn't ask. He reminds her that she was tired of people asking her if they could get her anything. She's surprised that this would be what he would do instead of ask. She tells him that she loves him and Angel smiles. Cordelia tells him he should smile more often. As Cordelia starts to walk away with the sandwiches, she flashes to something else in the vision. Angel wants to know what she saw. She tells him that before the guy stabbed himself - he was happy about the eye. Like it was new or something. Suddenly, Gunn and Wesley come in - they've found the guy. His name is Joseph Kramer - his wife and kids just left the country. Angel thinks they should go to the family house - Gunn and Wes say they've already been there. It's been thoroughly cleaned to cover the blood stains. They did, however find a spot that was missed. Still, they've hit a dead end. Angel figures the only thing they can do now is go to Caritas. The rest of the gang reacts in horror, there must be something else they can do. Angel's offended that they think he's that bad a singer. At Caritas, the gang arrives to find Lindsey is up on stage. Apparently, before Angel chopped his hand off, he was quite the regular at Caritas. Cordy, Wes, and Gunn are all stunned at how good Lindsey is. Angel's irritated, he thinks it's terrible. After Lindsey finishes (to tons of applause) he goes over to the Host, he wants to know what's up with his hand. He soon notices that Angel and his crew are there as well. Angel makes snide remarks about Lindsey's singing, however, Cordy, Wes and Gunn all go up to Lindsey to tell him how much they enjoyed it. Angel thinks they're all insane. The Host tells Lindsey that he and Angel are both there for the same reason. Neither Lindsey or Angel are pleased. Lindsey can't believe that anyone could expect him to work with the man who chopped his hand off. He storms out of the club, telling Angel that if he sees him out there, he'll kill him. The Host tells Angel he hopes he's over his resentment of Lindsey, because Lindsey is the key to this case. The gang decides that the best course to take is to follow Lindsey's new hand. Lindsey, however, goes to Wolfram and Hart and does some investigation of his own. He breaks into Nathan's office and then into his computer. He begins searching the contents of Nathan's file on the clinic where he got his hand worked on. Angel, in the meantime, has tracked down the previous owner of Lindsey's new hand. It belonged to a 30 year old man named Bradley Scott. Bradley served time for embezzlement. After he was released, he met with his parole officer once and then disappeared. Wesley and Gunn want to know how Angel got his information - turns out he hired a private detective who has a friend on the force. Back at law firm, Lindsey prepares to leave Nathan's office. On his way out, he spies Lilah messing around in the file room. She's obviously scared - and carries pills and a gun in her purse. Lindsey slips away, unnoticed. Lindsey has tracked down a parole officer who did some work for the Fairfield Clinic. He visits the man, wanting to talk about what he knows about the Clinic. Sam, the parole officer, wants to know what the "code" is. Lindsey doesn't know, it's not his file and they don't need the code. Sam doesn't agree, he pistol whips Lindsey with a .45 and backs him up against a wall. He cocks the gun and points it at Lindsey's head. If Lindsey doesn't have the code - he's going to die. Just then, Angel shows up, he throws a trash can through the window, startling Sam. Sam tries to fire at him, but Angel's too fast. He ducks out of the way. Sam, however is positive he got him and leans out the window to look for his body. A rope flies in and lassos Sam, yanking him partway out the window. Lindsey grabs the gun from Sam's hand and also wants to know what the heck Angel is doing there. Angel thought he was saving his life. The two argue back and forth for a while before they finally get some information out of Sam. Sam was paid to get Bradley to go to the Clinic. He doesn't know what they do there, nor does he wanna know. Angel calls Cordy and lets her know he's teamed up with Lindsey. Gunn and Wesley wonder if that's wise (they also privately wonder if Cordy's human body can handle the visions. Doyle was half demon). Cordy doesn't care if it's wise or not, she just hope's it's quick. Lindsey and Angel head on over to where Sam directed Bradley to go. Angel fills him in on what they know so far about the man who stabbed himself in the eye. It must have been the same clinic that Lindsey went to. They banter back and forth until they get to a travel agency type place. Angel warns Lindsey that if he does anything to screw this up - he'll stick his brand new hand into a wood chipper. They break into the building and fight off about four guards. After they've finished that bonding experience, Angel discovers that the floor is hollow. They find a trap door and descend into what appears to be a demonic high tech laboratory. People in various stages of dismemberment are floating in tanks. It appears to be some sort of body farm (for lack of a better term). They harvest the human bodies for parts - keeping the unwilling donator alive until they no longer need them. Lindsey and Angel are rightly horrified. Lindsey seems Bradley Scott and recognises him as having once worked in the mail room. Bradley asks him through the glass and quite weakly to kill him. Lindsey tells him he's sorry and then takes him off the respirator that was keeping him alive. They save as many of the "before" group that they can, about five. Lindsey wants to burn the place down, but Angel has a better idea. He blows it up. Back at the hotel, Cordy, Gunn & Wes worry over how Angel dealt with having to work with Lindsey. When he comes down looking all dour, he manages to fool them but let's them know he was only kidding - he's fine. He wants to know how Cordy is doing. She tells him she's okay, but the visions are beginning to take their toll on her. The reevaluation is in progress over at Wolfram and Hart. Nathan begins his speech and it becomes clear that Lilah is going to be ousted. She begins to panic as one of the guards goes to stand behind her, she fumbles with her purse. Lindsey steadies her with his own hand. He tells her he's sorry, she just didn't have what it takes…an evil hand. He having fun with it, mussing up people's hair, generally messing with them. He wonders if they knew they were going to give him an evil hand. Nathan summons a guard to stop Lindsey, but Lindsey easily slams the gun out of his hand. He then fires a round into the guard's foot. Lilah jumps out of her seat. Lindsey waves the gun around, telling them to watch out for his "evil hand". He's obviously enjoying this immensely as he shoots objects in the conference room. Finally, he tells Nathan that he's proud that Nathan picked him, but they should've picked Lilah. She's the one that has blackmail files on them. He wonders what would happen if something happened to Lilah and those files made their way to the Senior Partners. He concludes that he, Lindsey, is unreliable, but that Lilah is "their man". Lindsey announces that he's leaving. They're welcome to chase him, but they should remember his "evil hand" before doing so. He wishes Lilah good luck and pinches her on the butt before he leaves the room (of course, blaming it on his evil hand). Nathan wastes no time, he backtracks and tells them to amend the minutes to put Lilah in Lindsey's position. Lindsey, meanwhile, is leaving Los Angeles. Angel goes to see him off. He tells him not to come back to L.A. Lindsey doesn't think he has to worry. Lindsey takes off, not knowing that Angel has put a sign on the back of his truck that says "Cops Suck." |
| Rating and Comments: I really enjoyed this episode. It had lots of humor and a very interesting way to give Lindsey back his hand and a fitting exit for the character. The interaction between Angel and Cordelia was also a nice touch. |
| Rating: 8/10 |
| Written By: Staff Writer - Christine |