Slouching Towards Bethlehem
| A family tries to get their stalled car started by the side of the road
at night. Connor appears, asking if they’re okay. He warns them that they’re in
trouble. The father looks at him warily and tells him that he’s already called for
help. Just hen a tow truck comes careening around the corner. The father is very relieved
to see them (obviously thinking Connor is a psychotic freak). Screeching to a halt, the tow truck driver and a passenger get out of the truck. The father isn’t sure if he needs a tow or just a jump. It’s then that we see the face of the tow truck driver – it’s a vampire. The vampire says he prefers a jump and attacks the father. The other vamp goes after the man’s wife. She frantically locks her door but the vamp busts the glass on the window. Luckily Connor appears and dusts the vamp before going to the aid of the father. After a lengthy fight, he douses the vampire with gasoline and tosses a lit car cigarette lighter at him – effectively dusting him. Connor returns to the Hyperion Hotel, sneaking in through an upper window. He creeps down the hall and peers down to the main lobby area, just in time to see Cordelia’s mysterious arrival. Cordelia stands in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. She’s dressed in what she was when she was taken away at the end of last season. She doesn’t know who Angel and Co are and backs away when Angel gratefully moves toward her. Angel introduces himself, then Fred and Gunn to a nervous Cordelia. But Cordy doesn’t even know her own name. She has no memory at all. Back from commercial we see a demon on the ground. It’s grotesque, with a huge exposed mouth. Angel, Fred and Gunn stare down at it. Angel asks how they could leave her alone. Fred replies that she’s a grown woman and Gunn says she handled herself really well with the Wolfram and Hart guys earlier. Flash to Cordelia, there’s no demon on the ground and we’re back where we were before commercial break. Cordelia says she can remember normal things, like animals and flossing, but not her friends or herself. Angel tells her that her name is Cordelia Chase and she works here, she’s had been gone for awhile but she’s back now and safe. Cordy sees a flash of someone up on the balcony (Connor leaving) and asks if anyone else lives there. Fred thinks that she has amnesia. Gunn wonders if she needs to go to the hospital. Cordy doesn’t like that idea. Perhaps they can go later if she really needs to. Angel sees Lorne walking up do the doors behind Cordy. He doesn’t really think that seeing him is going to help her at all right now. Angel and Fred distract Cordy while Gunn detours Lorne and sneaks him into his room at the hotel. In the office, Angel and Fred try to find something of Cordy’s that she might remember. Angel thinks this is a disaster. Fred cautions that they should tell her the truth, she’s gonna find out eventually anyway. But Angel wants her to remember HIM before he tells her he’s a vampire. Fred wants to know why she’s back, which Angel hadn’t even thought about. Fred reminds him that if she’s been where they think she has, then anything is possible. What Cordy sees, though, is Angel and Fred acting suspiciously in the office. She can’t hear what they’re saying, but she can see them looking at her funny. She thinks it’s creepy. When she sees part of a blade, she thinks that’s creepy, too. Angel and Fred come out of the office, they couldn’t find anything of hers. Cordy, looking freaked, not so subtly begins to back her way towards the door as the phone rings. She wonders why they don’t answer it, but they’re trying to prevent her from bolting out the front door. The answering machine picks up and it’s Cordy’s voice. She recognizes it and realizes that she DID work there. The machine beeps and a man begins leaving a message about some “demon broad.” Fred leaps to answer the phone before Cordy can hear more. But Cordy heard enough; she asks what the man meant. Fred covers by saying it’s an ugly divorce case. She tells Angel that she’ll get Gunn and they’ll take care of it. Angel volunteers to stay and help Cordy settle in. As soon as Fred leaves Cordy says she wants to go home. Angel takes her up to what is now her room in the hotel. She’s a bit disappointed that this is her home. Angel explains that Fred and Gunn moved her stuff over when they had to let her apartment go. Cordy absently picks up a strappy high-heeled shoe. Angel wonders if she remembers that – she wore it when they went to the ballet. She’s surprised – just the two of them went? He explains that no, it was the whole gang, but it was still very special. He’s kinda sad that she doesn’t remember, they had a really good time. She tells him that she wishes she could remember all of it. She begins picking up items and looking at them, hoping to remember something of her past life. Angel vows to help her get her memories back. She thanks him, but tells him that she just wants to be alone tonight. Angel leaves, reassuring her that she’s among friends. A bit later, after changing clothes, Cordy sits in front of a full-length mirror, trying out her name. It appears to feel foreign to her. It’s obvious she’s scared. She goes through some more things, among them the Sunnydale yearbook from her graduation year. She reads the inscriptions on her yearbook and they all refer to the demise of Sunnydale High School and a giant snake. This, of course, must sound quite odd to her. She then looks through old photos, giving us a pictorial of all her hairstyles over the years with her commentary. She wonders if she was a spy. Then she comes upon a picture that shows her holding Connor as a baby, with Angel close by. It looks like a family photo. She wonders whose baby it is. She wanders through the hotel, and begins hearing strange noises. It’s Lorne doing a reading. What Cordy hears, though is Lorne talking to some guy about his “addiction”. Lorne hears her, but Cordy flees before he can see her. Lorne turns back into the room to see his client drooling. Cordy continues wandering through the hotel, and approaches the lobby. She hears noises down there and calls out. No reply. It’s Angel and he’s hiding his cups of blood from her. Cordy goes to the front desk and sees some of the blood that he spilled. She also sees a flash of someone when Angel rushes away behind her. Freaked, she gets ready to leave the hotel, but just then Fred and Gunn walk in. They talk about killing babies and hold a bloody ax. That’s it, the final straw. Cordy bolts from the lobby out into the front courtyard. There, men dressed in black attack her. Angel races out to save her, but Cordy holds her own, putting up a really good fight. After the fight, she wonders how she knew how to do that. She now really thinks she’s a spy. She thinks they’ve brainwashed her because they’re Russian and they want to know her secrets. Gunn sarcastically asks if he LOOKS Russian to her. Angel explains that no one is a spy. The two men that attacked are lawyers from Wolfram and Hart. He tells her that she should go back into the hotel where it’s safe. She thinks that’s really funny. His friends were talking about murdering children. Then there was the singing, and the blood and oh, yes, the singing. She wants to know what the hell is going on. Angel patiently tells her that she has to believe that they’re trying to help her through this. He tells her that the Cordelia they know feels at home there. She believes him. Up in her room, Cordy shows him the picture of Connor. He tells her that it’s his son, but she’s not the mother. She seems disappointed that they weren’t a happy family. They sit very close to each other on the foot of her bed. She wonders if the two of them were in love as they move closer and closer to kissing. Before they can, she backs up and asks if she was a nun. He’s taken aback, what??? She wonders if they weren’t a happy family because she was a nun. He’s still confused (as are we). She tells him that she was going through her stuff and found tons of rosaries. She picks them up and drops them in his hand. Of course, they promptly begin burning him and he vamps out, scaring Cordy half to death. She runs away, racing through the corridors of the hotel. She ends up in the lobby and runs smack in to Lorne. This scares her again and they both tumble to the ground and she freaks, slapping and pushing at him. Angel follows close behind and breaks up the fray. Cordy is rightly freaked out. She wants to know if it’s not Halloween, then what is he(Lorne)? Lorne responds “Trick or treat.” Gunn and Fred declare that he’s their friend. Cordy wants answers and she wants them, now. Angel tells her that it’s possible they haven’t been completely honest with her. They didn’t want to scare her. She tells him that the lying hasn’t been any better. They sit her down and tell her the truth. She recounts her life: Cheerleader, Princess, Warrior, having the visions, going to a higher plane, being targeted by an evil law firm, demons and the like being real. She understands why she doesn’t remember, who would want to remember that life? Angel knows it’s a lot to take in.CORDY: “Says the vampire with a soul and his wacky gang of sidekicks.” GUNN: “Um? Not a sidekick.” Angel thinks they can straighten this all out and asks her to pick a song. Cordy’s confused, but Fred tells her that Lorne will read her if she sings. Cordy begins singing “The Greatest Love of All” (coincidentally the song that she sang in the Sunnydale High Talent Show in “The Puppet Show”). Lorne looks like he’s in pain, and not just from her singing. He stops her from singing and leaves the room quickly, acting totally freaked. Angel follows. Cordy’s kinda pissed that they left with no explanation, she’s going out. Fred and Gunn try to stop her, it’s not safe. Cordy doesn’t really think it matters where she is. Cordy threatens to turn Gunn into a rat if he does. Gunn wonders if she can do that. Fred and Gunn follow her down the hall. She wants to talk to Angel alone. Meanwhile, Angel wants to know what Lorne read. If it’s that bad, he needs to know what’s coming. Lorne tells him it’s that bad. He references something called Slouching Toward Bethlehem (see poem at end of review) and tells Angel that evil is coming and plans on sticking around. It’s gonna be bad. Across town, Lilah and Wesley lay in bed together. She tells him that Wolfram and Hart knows about them. Wes isn’t surprised; it’s their job to know that kind of thing, isn’t it? She tells him that Angel knows, as well. Wes doesn’t care about that, either. He uses the “R” word (relationship) and Lilah is pleased about that. Apparently they had a bet about who would say it first and Wes just lost. He pays her a dollar. Cordy continues to look for Angel. She wonders how big the hotel thing as she calls out for Angel (aka Mr Bumpy Face). She hears something following her and calls out to Gunn and Fred (who she assumes are following her). She tells them to back off. Instead, it turns out to be Lorne’s client, who thinks she smells very good. His mouth butterflies open and drool comes out (it’s quite gross). Angel, wandering through the halls, hears Cordy scream floors away. Cordy makes it to the lobby but is closely pursued by the demon. She asks him what he wants. He tells her a snack. Someone jumps out of nowhere and attacks the demon, it’s Connor. He tells her she’s not safe there. She knows that. Connor kills the demon, quickly and quite impressively. She asks if he can get her out of there. Connor grabs her hand and they both flee the hotel. Back to the scene we saw earlier where the demon lies on the floor and they discuss why Fred and Gunn let Cordy be alone. Angel wonders if Wolfram and Hart came back. He then wonders if there are hundreds of these demon things. That leads to him wondering if it’s started, “the slouching and the Bethlehem.” Fred and Gunn don’t know what he’s talking about, what isn’t he telling them. Lorne comes in and says that there’s something they don’t know, but this demon isn’t it. It’s a client of his. Angel’s pissed that Lorne let it roam around the hotel. Fred wonders if the something they don’t know is why Lorne ran out while Cordy was singing. Lorne replies that a, he wasn’t running he was fleeing, and b, yes. Gunn asks how bad it is. Lorne says he hasn’t read The Book of Revelations lately but, if searching for a description, he’d start there. He says that what he saw in Cordy was “a big fat onion from hell, the more layers you peel the more you cry.” Angel says they have to go find Cordy. She’s out there alone and probably terrified. Meanwhile, Connor is showing Cordy his place, which apparently features a big stuffed polar bear. She thinks it’s cool. Cordy asks why he was at the hotel; does he live there? He says no, he saw she was back. She presumes that they know each other, then. He tells her she was nice to him once. She wants to know his name. Once he does, she’s surprised that it’s the same as Angel’s baby. Did Angel name it after him? No answer, but suddenly she just knows that Connor is Angel’s son. She asks why he doesn’t live at the hotel and Connor is surprised that they didn’t tell her. He tells her about sinking Angel to the bottom of the ocean to punish him. He tells her that he tried to kill HER to, before he understood. He apologizes for that. She thanks Connor for being the first person to be straight with her and tell her the truth. At Wes’s place, Lilah gets a call on her cell phone. She takes it in the other room but leaves the door ajar with just enough room for Wesley to hear what she’s talking about. Wes gets enough to learn that Cordy is at Connor’s place and that Wolfram and Hart is going to extract her. At Connor’s, Cordy is asleep while Conner keeps watch. He wanders towards the front door and Cordy calls out to him not to go. He tells her he’s only locking the door (as he puts some kind of wire around the doorknob) and that she’s safe. She wants to know why she’s so scared. She tries to remember things: if she has brothers and sisters, who her first kiss was, but there’s nothing there. It’s just empty and it makes her feel incredibly lonely. Feeling sorry for her, Connor tells her that she likes shoes and doughnuts and she’s brave. This surprises her, doughnuts? She asks him when she was brave. He tells her that this very night she’s brave. She’s lost everything and she’s still strong. Cordy feels like something bad is coming, she just knows it’s coming. She doesn’t know whom to trust. For some reason, though, she trusts Connor. She can’t explain it, she just does. Connor resumes his watch on the window. Fred and Gunn look at a map, trying to figure out where Cordy would go. Angel comes in; he’s found nothing. They’ll have to widen the search. He says that someone must know where she is. Wes, from the doorway, says that he knows where she is. Wes thinks they’ve been careless, letting her get away after all the effort to find her. Angel tells him that they DIDN’T find her, she just showed up with no memory of who she is or what they do. Wes tells them that Wolfram and Hart will plan to extract her. They’ll consider her very valuable if she could have spent time with The Powers That Be. He also doesn’t think that Connor will be able to protect her alone. Angel is stunned that Cordy is with Connor. Wes notes that Angel doesn’t seem very concerned. Angel knows that Connor is his son and that he’ll take excellent care of her. Meanwhile, Connor and Cordy are dozing together on the bed. Suddenly Connor gets on top of her and puts his hand over her mouth. He warns her to be quiet; someone is there. Another Wolfram & Hart guy sneaks in setting off one of Connor’s booby traps. Connor attacks him with a board. He tells her that she better remember how to fight and tosses her a sword as more men come in through the window. A fight ensues at Connor’s with more and more men coming in from all directions. Cordy and Connor do their best, but they’re woefully outnumbered. Just when it seems they can’t win, Angel and Co burst in. Meanwhile, Lilah watches from some video screen up on the roof of Connor’s home. One of the thugs comes up and tells her “it’s done”. She orders the thug to sound the retreat. Angel asks if Cordy’s okay. She says she is. Connor says he didn’t expect so many guys, but Angel thinks he did a good job, considering. He tells Cordy they should get her home, but Cordy’s not going with them. She’s going to stay with Connor, who has been honest with her. She knows they were trying to help, but she needs the truth, and that’s what Connor gave her. Connor is obviously pleased. Angel & Co leave, after Angel warns Connor to keep her safe. Back at the hotel, Fred tries to console Angel: she would have chosen him. Then they notice that The Host is bound to a chair and looks like he’s been roughed up. There’s a hole in his head. It was all a distraction to get to the Host. Cordy was never in danger. They wanted to know what The Host read from her when she sang. The host confirms this, they took a piece of his brain, they got everything. Gunn reminds them that they got the tip from Wesley, how do they know he didn’t set it up. Angel says they don’t know, but they DO know that Wolfram and Hart know more about what Lorne saw than they do. Wes goes to visit Lilah. He’s pissed that she used him to get to her friends. She reminds him that she was just doing her job; he decided to take what he heard and give it to Angel. She thinks he should figure out whom he’s really mad at. She also tells him that she could have killed Lorne, but left him alive because he’s a friend of Wes’s. He wonders if that’s supposed to make him trust her again. She replies that of she had thought he would ever trust her, she would never have played him. At Connor’s, Cordelia sleeps peacefully while Connor guards her and Angel sits in Cordelia’s empty room, wishing she’d return. |
| Rating and Comments: |
| I really enjoyed this episode. I especially liked seeing this world through the eyes of someone who doesn’t know what’s going on. It seemed so creepy, like something out of a Hitchcock movie. I also loved watching Cordy go through her old stuff, the yearbook was great as was her commentary of her old hairstyles. The demon with the butterflied mouth seemed out of place, which was the only thing that kind of bugged me. |
| Rating: 9/10 |
| Written By: Staff Writer - Christine |
| Note: The title for this episode, Slouching Towards
Bethlehem, comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats. I’ve included it below as
it’s very interesting and kind of a clue as to what’s coming up. "The Second Coming" William Butler Yeats Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all convictions, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? |