Deep Down

 

Opens with the gang having what looks to be a Thanksgiving-type dinner. Food is being passed around, everyone is talking and joking. Lorne remarks about his nickname on Pylea (“fragrant tuber”) and then Cordy notices Angel has no food on his plate. Angel insists he’s starving, but that he wants to freeze the moment. Everyone, all together, considering what they’ve been through this summer. Emerging from the darkness at one end of the table, Wesley (clean cut, looking healthy and content) leans into the light, wineglass raised: “To family.” Everyone toasts, and Lorne jokes “As long as it’s not mine!” They all laugh.

Cordy notices that Angel has an empty glass; nervously Angel asks if it’s bad luck as she fills it with water. She tells him to relax, that things are normal and nothing will break them apart ever again, and if it tries she’ll go all glowy. She and Angel are getting closer and closer, voices low, stretching to kiss each other (feels comfortable and ordinary, like they’ve done this a million times), until they are interrupted by Connor being slightly grossed out. Angel teases him, ruffling his hair and mock-threatening to poke his eyes out; Connor grins and straightens his hair, saying it’ll stick up like Angel’s.

The food starts being passed around again, but somehow it all passes Angel by. He looks distressed as everyone else begins to eat, ignoring him, until he frantically grabs a plate. When he sets it down all the food has vanished off it. Looking freaked out, he turns to Cordy, knocking over his glass in the process. It shatters on the floor and she sighs. “Now look what you’ve done, silly.”

Angel looks to where the glass hit the floor and finds it ankle deep in water. The lighting has gone all cold and blue and dark, and water covers the room, and when Angel looks up again you notice his face is paler than it was, and several abrasions are on his cheekbones. He looks sickly and gaunt, and as the camera pulls back it reveals Connor still sitting next to him. He looks up at his son, who smiles coldly. “Freeze the moment, Dad,” Connor says softly. “It’ll last forever.”

The shot pulls back more to show the table is empty of everyone except Connor and Angel, all the settings empty of food. The next shot of Angel shows him gasping and trapped, still in the metal box at the bottom of the ocean, face cracked and flaking. The shot zooms upward and fades to black. (LOVE the music!)

Opening credits.

Angel is on the beach, waiting for Cordelia. He turns to go back to the car and finds her standing on the dune behind him next to the car. She’s wearing that all white outfit she “ascended” in. In the middle of their quiet conversation there’s a flash of Connor and Angel tumbling down that same dune to the shore, and Angel realizes that this is not how it happened. Another flash of the fight. (Liking the abrupt cuts with the flash effect, and the jolts of strings that interrupt the soft backmusic of the scene.) Cordy says she likes this version better. Angel flashes back to the fight, and Cordy strokes his face to calm him, and tells him she loves him, that she has for a very long time, and she needed him to know that. They kiss, and as the shot pans around to Angel’s back you hear that crunchy noise that signifies his vamp face emerging. Cordy’s eyes go wide and the crunch of his fangs sinking into her neck is audible; Angel looks up, game face on, saying “I’m so sorry!” as he bends down and sinks his teeth into her neck again.

Cut to Angel, lit by blue again, obviously underwater and still in the box. He cries out and thrashes a bit in the throes of his hallucinations.

Back at the hotel Fred and Gunn are talking to Connor about a lead- Marissa, a vampire. Gunn is ready to leave Connor at home, but Fred gives in and tells him to get his weapons. Gunn details that this lead is basically their last hope, and if they blow it they have nothing. Fred brings up Wolfram & Hart, and Gunn pretty much shoots that idea down. She starts to mention Wesley and Gunn cuts her off. “No.” Gunn insists Wes doesn’t give a damn about them; Fred shoots back that they haven’t given him a reason to. “He’s made his choice- now he has o live with it.”

Wes and Lilah in bed, gasping. Again- what they’ve been doing is obvious by their sweaty breathlessness. (All I can say is- ewwwwwwwwwwww, Wes! Come on! Lilah is so slimy I’d imagine she’d be that way all the way through, and that thought just gave me the willies for a YEAR!) They trade barbs (it’s obvious to me that Wes is trying to be the one in charge but Lilah is the actual boss here, even though she goes to great pains to let Wes think otherwise) as Lilah gets dressed. When she brings up the subject of Angel getting back, Wes laughs at her and tells her he doesn’t know and doesn’t care where Angel is. Lilah seems to buy it, although in my opinion Wes is a VERY bad actor. She gives him a final kiss and leaves; as he watches her go his face goes hard.

He gets out of bed, puts on some pants, and goes to the closet. (Oh, WOW- Alexis…. *drool*) The door opens to reveal bars- and Justine, gagged and chained on her knees. She doesn’t look happy at Wes’s suggestion of a boat ride.

Cut to the boat. Wes is steering as Justine mouths off (she sounds remarkably like Faith for a few moments). She wonders if finding Angel will change anything, but supposes that anything is better than sitting around in her cage all day with nothing to do but fill her bucket. “Perhaps you should have considered that before slitting my throat,” Wes tells her. Justine makes a comment about Wes banging the enemy and keeping “slave girl” in his closet; Wes remarks that she was always a slave; she just couldn’t see the chains. The verbal sparring continues; Wes brings up her sister, and Holtz, and Justine shoots back about Wes stealing Connor. Then Wes dryly remarks about Justine and Holtz tricking Connor into sinking Angel to the bottom of the ocean. As Wes continues talking Justine picks up a large wrench; as she goes to strike him with it he calmly says “I’ll take away your bucket.” She freezes, the throws the wrench down.

Cut to Connor kicking in a door, Gunn and Fred behind him. Marissa’s lair appears to be empty, and skanky to boot; as they walk through she drops from the ceiling and attacks Connor. The two fight until Connor pins her against a pillar, sword to her throat. Gunn questions her about the night Angel and Cordy disappeared. She breaks free and Gunn starts to yell at Connor for letting his guard down as Connor goes after the vampire. She ends up on the roof- and finds Connor waiting calmly for her. He questions her about what she saw; she tries to cojole him into letting the whole thing go, dropping her vamp face. (She’s actually rather pretty.) Connor coldly stakes her.

Connor cuts himself to make it look more like a fight as Gunn and Fred rush up. Gunn yells at Connor, angry at him dusting their only lead. Gunn is obviously frustrated with Connor’s behavior in general, and when Fred tries to defend him, Gunn insists that no matter what she thinks and Connor acts, Connor is not “just a boy”. Fred tells him “He’s Angel’s son. That’s all that matters” and walks away in a huff; Gunn just sighs and follows.

Connor is sitting on another roof edge, looking broody. (Wonder where he gets THAT from?) Angel enters the frame, coming to stand some distance behind him. Angel remarks on the view; Connor replies that it’s the way it should be. He turns to Angel, who regards him coolly. “What, no hug?” Angel’s demeanor is icy. Connor jumps down from the ledge and tell him to get it over with; Angel wonders what the rush is, since he’s not going anywhere.

Another voice behind him says “No, you’re not.” Angel turns to find several more vampires gathering on the roof. He grins and chuckles, Connor doing the same, and the vamp demands to know what’s so funny. Angel says “I’ll tell you later,” and they begin to fight. Angel and Connor kick some vampire ass, and in a brief lull Angel turns toward Connor. Another vampire attacks and the fight continues; Connor intercepts a vamp with a stake as he heads toward Angel. Together Connor and Angel subdue him and Connor tosses him off the roof. Grinning, Angel puts his hands on Connor’s shoulder. “Thanks!”

Then he breaks Connor’s neck.

In his watery prison Angel starts and screams, struggling against his bonds.

We’re suddenly backstage at Lorne’s show in Las Vegas. (Okay, main thought here is- Liberace. Eeek! Ditch the fuzzy blue coat, Lorne! It clashes with your skin. ;) ) He’s answering a cell phone- Fred has finally managed to get hold of him. She asks is he’s gotten anything from his sources, and he denies anything. He seems okay and happy and busy- until he says something about making sure “Fluffy” gets enough love and hangs up abruptly. The cryptic remark leaves Fred wondering. When Gunn broods about soon having no roof over his smooth delicate head, Fred grins and offers to make him a paper hat. Then she sighs and says that Angel and Cordy are out there and no matter what they’ll find them.

Cut to Wolfram & Hart. Linwood is congratulating Gavin on finding Angel- right in front of Lilah. Under her questioning, Gavin reveals that he doesn’t exactly know where Angel is, just that he’s contained. Linwood insists that Angel simply being out of play is sufficient; Lilah disagrees. Linwood brings up Lilah’s personal escapades with Wesley, and she gets a very hard look when he mentions the staff meeting in an hour. He and Gavin walk off.

Wesley and Justine are still in the boat. Wes thinks he’s found something and sends Justine down to see. She dons diver suit and goes below and finds- Angel. In the box. He blinks in the light she shines on him. They haul him up, Wes cuts open the box with a blowtorch, and they haul off the lid. Wes cuts the steel cables holding Angel (Justine continues her bitter monologue in the background) and suddenly Angel has Wes by the throat. The vampire is pale and looks slightly worse for wear- several abrasions on his face, gaunt and sickly-looking- and soon lets go, unable to do more than just lay there. Wes drags him inside the boat and feeds him animal blood. As he does, Angel continues hallucinating, now having a discussion with Lorne. In a freaky two-sided scene, Angel continues talking to the non-existent Lorne as Wes tries to talk to him. In Wes’s place Angel sees Connor and says, “I should have killed you.” Justine nearly crows in contempt of Wesley, who realizes that Angel needs more than pig’s blood. At first he looks ready to cut Justine, but the threat is idle- going into noble mode he slices his own arm and holds it to Angel. Justine looks away as Angel grabs Wes’s arm and feeds.

Lilah is alone in the conference room as people begin to file in for the meeting. Linwood, ever his smarmy self, immediately shines the spotlight on Lilah. Gavin backs him up. Lilah brings up the lack of securing Connor for study and the inability to pinpoint Angel’s location. She accuses Linwood of being a coward, essentially, and says that one of the senior partners agrees with her. Linwood throws a tantrum about her going over his head, and Lilah says Mr. Suvarta was most helpful- including some office redecorating tips. She smirks and presses her stylus to her palm pilot. A long blade extends out of the side of Linwood’s chair and strikes, retracting almost quicker than can be seen. Linwood’s expression is stunned- and his head slowly tumbles from his shoulders. Gavin looks understandably worried. Lilah basically takes over the firm and tells them all to get out- and tells Gavin to remove Linwood’s decapitated head. (EWWWW!)

Connor is on his bed in the hotel. Fred brings him a snack. As he begins to eat she strokes the back of his head; Connor seems to still be worried about Gunn being angry with him for his earlier gaffe on the rooftop with Marissa. Fred starts talking about what Connor’s been through, that it must hurt- but it’s not going to hurt nearly as much as what he did to his father. Connor starts to look up at her, realizing Fred knows what he’s done- and Fred stuns him with the tazer Connor used against Angel (ow, right in the chest- that’s gotta hurt).

Connor wakes up tied to a chair. His first reaction is to ask why, but Fred and Gunn are having none of it. They tell him they spoke to Wesley and that they know what he did, and in the midst of her diatribe she uses the tazer on him again (yay for Fred working through her anger but OW, DAMN IT!).

Wes settles Angel in his SUV as Justine continues to prattle. He tosses her the key to her handcuffs and drives away.

Fred is feeling betrayed, as she should- here she’s been sticking up for Connor and he’s been lying the whole time- and Connor is showing his true colors. Wes comes in with Angel draped across his shoulders, still looking like death warmed over. Wes leaves despite Fred’s accusation that he doesn’t care, leaving them alone with Angel. They hear a bump and run, fearing Connor has escaped, which of course he has. He gets past Gunn and turns the tazer on Fred then turns to run- and finds Angel blocking the way. “Sit. Down.”

Connor steps back a bit, backing down even as he says Angel is too weak to take him. Gunn and Fred stir and Angel takes a seat. After briefly describing his three months in the water, he tells Connor about Holtz having Justine kill him with the icepick to make it look like Angel did it. Connor denies it and insists Angel got what he deserved. Connor tries to make a break for it and Angel tosses him against a wall. What Connor deserves, Angel tells him, depends on if he did anything to Cordelia. Connor insists he had nothing to do with it; Fred and Gunn think he’s lying but Angel can tell he’s not. Angel absently mentions that since he was sent to a hell dimension for 100 years by his ex-girlfriend, three months under the sea gave him perspective. In the end, he tells Connor he loves him- and to get out of his house.     Connor leaves and Angel collapses behind him. Fred says he needs rest; Angel says he needs Cordelia, and that they have to find her.

Cut to the Higher Realm, all happiness and light. Slow dissolve to Cordy, bare-shouldered and beautiful. “God- I am SO BORED.”

End credits.
 
Rating and Comments:
Seeing the not-so-softer side of Fred, and may I say, its nice to see her getting some backbone. It’s almost as though she and Gunn have switched roles- now she’s the one getting tough and Gunn is holding her back. Connor deserved what he got (tazered AND kicked out) for not only torturing Angel, but also lying for MONTHS to Gunn and Fred. Weak Angel was quite a fright- and wow, Wesley to the rescue? I honestly did expect him to cut open Justine to feed Angel. Would have served her right. But instead, we get an interesting insight into the “new” Wes. He might be sleeping with the enemy and exploring the darker side of his psyche, but underneath the new fragile armor he’s built around himself he still cares about his friends and will do what he feels is right. Connor seemed like a typical stuck-up teenager here- I wanted to smack him.

Nothing really stellar in this ep, other than a few moments (Fred tazering Connor was quite a shocker at first; Angel’s tough love for Connor; and then to actually hear him say “I need Cordelia” was enough to get that ol’ lump in my throat. God help me, I’m turning into a C/A shipper). For a season opener, it was kind of blah, but hey- poor soggy Angel dried out pretty fast.
Rating: 6/10
Written By: Staff Writer - Shelbel

Back