Sleep Tight
| Previously on Angel………. Various scenes; Angel at the doctors with Connor. Sahjan and Lilah in Lilah's office - "I need the blood of Angel's son." "Got it." "Got it? How'd you get it?" "Swiped it." Wesley studying his books on the prophecy, then visiting the burger statue, "That the vampire will devour his child is certain." "When will this happen?" (Insert) Lilah, "It's already started." "Earthquake, fire, blood." Angel's room explodes and he gets Wesley and Connor out. Wesley sees the blood on Angel and repeats, "Earthquake, fire, blood." The Hyperion Wesley is studying the prophecy; the father will kill the son, when Connor starts crying. He goes to Connor but doesn't pick him up, just looks at him. Angel comes in and says "Jeez Wes, don't you know what you're supposed to do?…………. You pick 'em up when they fuss." Wesley uses the excuse that he didn't sleep very well. Angel "Yeah, and you look like Hell. And not the fun one where they burn you with hot pokers for all eternity, but the hardcore one, you know, Nixon and Brittany Spears." Wesley comments on Angel being `chipper`. Angel thinks it was the earthquake because despite hardly sleeping he's feeling energised and he `could drink a horse`. As Angel and Wesley are talking there is singing coming from the garden. Lorne is seeing a client. Fred comes down the stairs talking on her mobile phone. The door opens and Gunn walks in obviously talking to Fred on his phone. Wesley comments on their use of the company phones. Angel comments on Connor liking Wesley who replies that he likes him too and that he thinks he should spend some time with the baby and maybe take him to the park in the next day or two. Angel agrees this would be a good idea. Lorne appears and asks the others to come and see something in the garden where he introduces them to the client, Kim. She starts to sing again, but when she gets to the chorus she changes into a demon. Opening credits Main Lorne tells the AI team about his client who he had seen a while ago and put her on her true path - to sing. Angel is pacing, drinking blood from a glass. He seems very hyper and his conversation goes off at tangents. The girl had joined a band a few weeks previously, but they started changing both physically and musically. Soon after she started changing as well and she's worried she's changing into one of them. Wesley and Fred have worked out that the rest of the band are Raithers. What she has is an infection that can be cured by taking a mystical antibiotic. Angel, who's still acting very strangely and still drinking blood, wants to kill the demons. He says a couple of Raithers are no problem and when the girl says there are three he says that's fine and starts shadow boxing. Holtz's hideout Justine is training some guys to fight vampires. Holtz walks in. He asks Justine if she's ready and she says she is but she's not sure about killing humans. Holtz tells her they are evil and Justine agrees that they chose Angel so that makes them enemy soldiers. A voice says, "So that makes it all right?" and they both turn to see Wesley being held by two of Holtzs' men. A dark room with a band playing A window breaks and Gunn, Fred and Angel enter. The band think they are A&R people for a record company but Angel says they're just there to kill them. Gunn pulls a crossbow on the three advancing band members and they back away. Gunn is very disappointed until he hears a roar behind him and turns to see Angel in full vamp face. Angel leaps for the stage and they have a very one-sided fight with Angel ripping the arm off one of the demons in the process. He stands, still vamped out, waiving the arm about and saying, "That was fun". Back at Holtz's Wesley is talking to Holtz and Justine. He doesn't want anyone to get hurt on either side but as Angel and the people he works with are his family, when he says he doesn't want to see anyone get hurt, he mostly means them. Holtz tells Wesley his problem isn't him its Angel who's going to kill his own child. He tells Wesley he has one day to do something about it. If he doesn't then Holtz will. Wesley leaves. The Reception at the Hyperion Lorne is using teddies to tell Connor a story about the Rat Pack when Gunn, Fred and a far more subdued Angel get back. Angel immediately goes to the fridge for blood. He's acting very strangely again. Lorne looks at the others and asks Angel if there's something wrong. Connor is crying and Angel shouts at him to shut up. When Fred tells him not to yell at Connor, Angel replies that if he keeps it up he's not going to be a baby for long. Then he throws his glass of blood at the wall. Fred gets the baby and Gunn, holding the crossbow, tells Angel he'd better get a grip. Angel looks at the blood running down the wall and tries to control himself, realising there's something wrong. Lorne has noticed that he's drinking a lot more blood than usual and asks him when this started. Angel doesn't know, he just knows that the last batch of pig's blood he got from his usual butcher seemed so much tastier than usual. Gunn works out that Angel is going through the highs and lows of an addict to which Angel retorts, "Hey, vampire. Need to drink something red. Doesn't mean I'm a bloodaholic". Lorne says, "Not unless someone's spiking your drink". Outside Wesley is walking along when he realises he's being followed. It's Justine who wants to talk to him about Holtz. She says she feels sorry for Wesley and what he's about to do to his friend. As Wesley walks away he tells her to be careful. Then Holtz's voice says, "You are being careful. I didn't even hear you leave". The Hotel Gunn is holding Connor while Fred studies the blood Angel has been drinking. She discovers there's a trace of something in the blood. She and Angel both realise at the same time that it's Connors blood. Angel knows because for the past couple of days Connor has smelt like food. Lorne says, "They've been feeding you your own sons blood so you'd get the taste of it and want more". When Fred asks who `they` are, Angel replies, "Who do you think!" A Bar Lilah is sitting at the bar looking at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. She makes a hissing sound and claws the air in front of her. She can sense Angel is standing behind her. He asks her how she could feed him his own son's blood. She says she made a lot of devils bargains to get where she is now and she's glad he came along because she was sitting there wondering what it was all about and now she knows it's about making the rest of his unending life miserable. She clinks her glass to his as Sahjan's voice says, "You back stabbing, traitorous bitch". Sahjan is standing behind them very annoyed to find Lilah drinking with his sworn enemy. Angel, however, doesn't know who he is but then realises Sahjan is the one who brought Holtz back. Angel and Lilah are both curious as to why Sahjan wants to kill Angel. Angel asks again why Sahjan wants to kill him. Sahjan just says, "You will pay" and disappears. The Hyperion lobby As Wesley gathers up Connors things, Lorne appears and asks what he's doing. Wesley tells Lorne that Angel has agreed to let him take Connor to stay with him overnight. Lorne tells Wesley what's been happening as Wesley goes and picks up a fretting Connor and hums a lullaby to soothe him. Lorne reads him and sees what he plans to do. When Wesley realises this he puts the baby back in his crib and chases Lorne into the office where he hits him over the head with a statue. He then comes back for Connor but Angel appears. Wesley tells him he's watching the baby and that he's packed some things to take him to his place so they can go to the park in the morning. Angel agrees it's probably a good idea, then as he's saying goodbye to Connor he asks if Wesley has heard of a time travelling demon called Sahjan. Wesley hasn't so Angel suggests he could do a bit of research before he leaves, but Wesley says he'll do it at home as he has better books there. Just then Fred and Gunn arrive with food. Wesley leaves with Connor. Angel is worried about his first night without Connor so Fred and Gunn say they'll stay with him. They hear groaning from Wesley's office just as Holtz appears with his men and they all fight. When the fight is over, Fred goes to call Wesley to warn him. Lorne staggers out of the office and Angel thinks it was Holtzs' men who attacked him, but Lorne tells him it was Wesley who did it. Lorne tells Angel Wesley has seen Holtz twice and that he's taking the baby for good. Outside Wesley's apartment Wesley comes out with Connor to put him in the car. Then he sees a badly beaten Justine coming towards him. She tells him that Holtz went after the baby and beat her up when she questioned him about it. Wesley says she needs to go to a hospital, but she says she needs this, pulls a knife and cuts Wesley's throat, taking the baby from him as she does it. The Hotel Fred is trying to get through to Wesley. Gunn thinks Lorne must have read Wesley wrong but Lorne is adamant that he didn't. Angel goes to one of Holtz's men to find Holtzs' whereabouts. When he refuses to tell him, Angel throws him across the lobby and goes to the second one. He pulls a crossbow bolt out of him and threatens him with it unless he tells him where to find Holtz. He gets the address, grabs a sword and leaves. Fred and Gunn decide to find Wesley before Angel does. A street outside Holtz's place Lilah steps out of a SUV. Holtz and the baby are gone and there are only a couple of stragglers left from the attack on the hotel. A radio message comes in saying they've found Holtz. Lilah orders her team to move out. Two of them head for a truck but Angel, who's hiding in the shadow's, knocks them out, takes the truck and follows the others. Downtown Holtz stands in the middle of the road waiting for Justine. She pulls up in Wesley's car and he asks her if everything went well and she says it did. He then looks at the baby and says "Hello son. I'm your Father. And that strong lady with the black eye is your Mother. Your name is Steven Franklin Thomas and you're going to grow up with me on a little ranch in the middle of nowhere." A street The truck Angel is driving pulls out behind Wesley's car and forces it off the road. Holtz grabs the baby from the back seat and threatens to snap its neck if Angel gets any closer, then he asks who the soldiers are. Lilah tells him they're with her and that the weapons pointed at him are unlike anything from when he was alive, but Angel points out that they want the baby alive or they would have used the guns already. Lilah tells Holtz to give them the baby. Sahjan appears and demands that Lilah have the child killed, but she refuses saying she's keeping the baby. Holtz goes to leave and the military raise their guns but Angel takes a gun from the nearest soldier and Lilah orders them not to shoot. Angel says it wouldn't be a good idea as the bullets won't kill him, but the soldiers and Lilah will all end up dead. Holtz tells Angel Connor will be dead before Holtz hits the ground if he shoots and Angel says he knows and Holtz should take the child. Meanwhile Sahjan starts chanting and opens a portal into the Quortoth dimension. If they don't kill the child, he'll widen it and they'll all be sucked into it. Lilah orders the soldiers to kill Connor, but Angel stops them and Holtz jumps into the portal with the baby. Angel tries to follow but is thrown backwards by a bolt of energy from the portal. Sahjan is pleased as it takes care of his problem. He closes the portal and disappears. Everyone goes leaving a distraught Angel lying on the ground and he whispers the final word of the episode - Connor. Closing credits |
| Comments: |
| This is a heart-wrenching episode. You are left feeling for all the
characters involved especially Angel and Wesley. Angel's anguish when he realises his son
is gone and the predicament Wesley finds himself in, are both heart breaking. Wesley must
choose between taking away the one thing his friend, Angel, thought he could never have,
the child that wasn't meant to be and that he adores, and having the death of that child,
and the emotional fallout from Angel killing his own son, on his hands. We can see his
reasons for taking Connor, but once again we are left wondering why another member of this
unusual family decides to take matters into their own hands without talking to others in
the group. How many times to they have to be shown that they are most effective working as
a unit, each with their own speciality, rather than working as a free agent, keeping the
information they have gleaned to themselves. Once again we discover there is no depth to which Wolfram & Hart, and in particular Lilah, will not sink in order to get what they want. Spiking Angel's sustenance with his son's blood is pretty despicable, even for them. They are in a no lose situation. Angel may kill the child, which would please Sahjan, but even though he doesn't they have forced a wedge, built on Angels own self doubt, between him and his son, leaving him unable to even hold his son for fear of what he might do. This is an excellent episode, which leaves us asking questions. Why doesn't Angel know who Sahjan is? Why doesn't the AI group talk to each other about the important matters? Has Angel lost his son for good? And we are left wanting more. |
| Rating: 9/10 |
| Written By: Staff Writer - Rusty |