Peace Out

 

Previously on Angel…..
Various scenes with voice overs from some of the main characters……

Gunn, "You're a power that was?" as the gang fall to their knees.
Angel, "We've all been saved."

Jasmine to the gathered followers in the hotel foyer, "For so long, you've all been drowning. The fighting and the pain. I'd like to help."

Fred enters Jasmine's room carrying Jasmine's shirt, "I scrubbed the other one till my fingers bled, but I couldn't get out the….." as Fred sees Jasmines real face, all maggoty and horrible.
Jasmine, "Fred?"
Fred, "Blood."

Fred to Angel "Jasmine's blood. Somehow it breaks her spell when it mingles with ours."
Angel cuts Cordelia's wrist to collect some of her blood.
Angel to Wesley, Lorne and Gunn all now with cut wrists, "We hoped Cordy's blood would have the same effect when we exposed you to it."

Wesley brings Connor to one of the rooms and Angel grabs him and holds him while Wesley cuts Connor's chest and smears Cordelia's blood on it. Gunn, "You're back with us now Connor."
Connor goes to the door and shouts, "They're here. Come quick, they're here."

As Angel, Wesley, Fred, Gunn and Lorne escape in Angel's car, Connor says to Jasmine, "I'll bring them down, I promise."

Jasmine to Connor, "This world is about to kneel before me."

As Angel, Lorne, Fred, Wesley and Gunn walk down a tunnel, Fred says to Angel, "I doubt whether anyone under her control knows these tunnels better than you."

We see a spider like beast with a humanoid body. Gunn, "Where's Wesley?"

The creature to Wesley, "We loved her first."
Wesley, "Jasmine?"

Jasmine to Connor, "Soon you'll go out with all my strength behind you."

Wesley to the creature, "She has a name and it has power over her. That's why she keeps it a secret."

Angel stabs the spider creature in the neck.
Wesley to Angel as they look at a glowing blue orb, "Angel, that creature. It came from a world that's worshipped Jasmine for millennia. A world we can reach using this."

As the team tries to keep a door shut, Fred says, "Angel. It's Connor. He's here."

Wesley holds up the glowing orb, "Angel, I've got it." And a portal opens.

As they try to keep Connor and the National Guard out, Wesley says, "Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. Angel, that's you." Angel steps through the portal carrying the orb.

Gunn, "It's time for the big fight scene." And they open the door and let Connor and the National Guard in.

Angel finds himself standing on the edge of a precipice in a grey land made of rock, ash and sulphur. In front of him a large number of the spider demons stand. Angel says, "Oh Hell."

Continued

The Tunnels
Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and Fred fight with Connor and the National Guard. Connor throws Wesley across the room then at sword point asks him where Angel is.

The Hell dimension
The creatures close in on Angel. He prepares to fight by swapping the orb from one hand to the other and the creatures move away from him. He holds the orb up and they move farther away. He turns and sees a temple on top of a towering pinnacle of rock.

Opening credits

Main
The tunnel
Connor has Wesley, Gunn, Fred and Lorne on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. He asks them what they thought they were going to do. Were they going to poison the city with their hate? He is angry, saying they talk about saving the world, and now that someone has, they are so full of themselves they cannot stand it. He tells them they are the ones left out in the cold now. He is about to kill them when Jasmines voice tells him to bring them to her. He asks why and she asks if she has to explain herself to him now.

The Hell dimension
Angel is climbing the precipice to the temple.

Jasmine's room
Jasmine tells the team it must hurt them terribly having given her up. She says she wishes it was within her power to take them back, but Fred says none of them asked for that. Jasmine asks where Angel is and Wesley says he's on a mission so she should tell them where he is. Connor hits Wesley, but Jasmine scolds him saying she doesn't want to see that. Wesley asks her if she recognised the creature in the tunnels and she says it was a previous experiment and that she did as much as she could with insects to work with. Wesley points out it must be nice for her to have satellites to beam her message all over the world, she says he's not wrong. Fred begs Connor not to let this happen, that she's going to enslave everyone, but he says she'll bring everyone together. Fred tells him Cordy's blood was supposed to show him what Jasmine really looked like, but Connor says he knows what she looks like, "She's beautiful" and we see how he sees her, all maggoty and horrible.

Jasmine tells Connor her worldwide address is going to take a lot out of her and she will be out of touch with everyone. She says she needs him to be her eyes and ears in case Angel comes back. Connor asks what Angel is looking for and she says, "The unobtainable."

The Hell dimension
Angel has reached the temple. A voice tells him he's come a long way to learn nothing. The caretaker and high priest steps out of the darkness. He is humanoid. He says the other creatures are blasphemers who no longer believe. Angel tells him she won't be back, but the priest says she will return when she is finished with Angel's world. Angel says they may be talking about different entities and asks her name, but the creature laughs saying, "That's why you're here, what you came for. The Word. The name."
Angel picks the creature up by the throat and asks again, but it says, "Fool. You can take away her power, but you've already lost. Everything."

The hotel basement
Connor locks Wesley, Fred, Gunn and Lorne in Angelus' cage in the hotel basement. Lorne tells Connor he needs to know one thing; was the reason Cordelia's blood didn't affect Connor because he already knew what Jasmine looked like? Gunn cannot believe this. Connor tells them he grew up in a hell dimension, so appearance doesn't mean much to him. They asked what did mean anything to him and Gunn said not them or his father. Fred added, "And not Cordelia who needs medical help."
Wesley asks Connor what Jasmine eats and why she is called the `Devourer`. When they realise she eats people, they suddenly realise she might have eaten Cordelia, and Wesley says, "I hope not, but we really have no way of knowing." as he looks at Connor.

The temple
As Angel holds the priest off the ground by the throat, the priest tells Angel he knows all about him. Angel says he must know he's in a hurry then and again demands Jasmine's true name. The priest says the Keeper has the name. The priest is not the guardian of the name, but the guardian of the Keeper of the Name. The Keeper is a demon who has his mouth stitched closed and the priest tells Angel the only way the Keeper will tell him Jasmines name is with his last breath.

Jasmine's room
People are getting undressed. Some are thanking Jasmine for all she's given them.

Connor enters to speak to Jasmine; he wants to know where Cordelia is. Jasmine asks him if he thinks she ate Cordelia. She says that Connor and Cordelia are her parents and her tether to this world and she could never hurt them. Connor asks if Cordelia is in another dimension, but Jasmine tells him Cordelia is where she needs her to be, safe and comatose. She had some of her followers move Cordelia. Connor asks who moved Cordelia, but Jasmine doesn't tell him, she just says Cordelia is under constant guard, much as their guests downstairs are supposed to be. Connor leaves and Jasmine tells him to close the door on his way out.

The temple
Angel fights with the demon. The priest asks why Angel fights for a world that doesn't want him, and says that Angel isn't fighting for the world but for Connor. He says Angel has already lost the woman and is fighting to save the boy, but he will lose him as well.

The hotel foyer
Connor goes up to a woman who smells like Cordelia, but the woman had read what Cordelia's favourite perfume was. Connor finds the two men who moved Cordelia; he can smell her on them. They won't say if they moved her, but Connor says Jasmine told him and that he needs to know where she is. When they refuse to tell him, saying he will need to ask Jasmine, he knocks one unconscious and pins the other against the wall and asks again where Cordelia is.

The temple
Angel is still fighting the demon. The priest asks why Angel keeps struggling to make things right for Connor, that he shouldn't exist, he was only born to bring Jasmine into the world, and that he will never love Angel. Angel says it doesn't matter and throws him against the wall where the priest is impaled on a set of horns. The demon Angel is fighting picks him up and holds him above his head.

The cage in the hotel basement
Gunn is trying to kick the door open, much to the others irritation. Fred thinks it's not looking very good for them. When Lorne asks him to stop kicking the door, Gunn says he will stop when someone else comes up with a better idea. Fred thinks it was odd that Connor just walked out and left them unguarded. Wesley is standing thinking. He realises that Cordelia's blood could affect Jasmine and that Jasmine has had her moved. As they are the only people against Jasmine, he wonders if Cordelia herself could do something to Jasmine, and that's why she has moved her. Fred says they would have to wake Cordelia first.

A church
Connor goes into an empty church. Two policemen tell him nobody is allowed in there under Jasmine's orders. They say Connor will have to leave or they will get rough. Connor says "Please" then throws them both through the huge wooden doors and finds Cordelia lying on the alter as though she is lying in state.

Jasmine's room
The bright glow of Jasmine feeding slowly dissipates and the creatures' tentacles pull in to revert to Jasmine's form. She stands up and says, "I'm ready for my close up."

The church
Connor talks to Cordelia. He tells her that he's not like Angel and the others who fight because it gives their lives meaning. That is why they like the world cruel. He then says that it isn't working for him. Jasmine brings peace to everyone except him. He says he knows she's a lie and his whole life has been built on lies, but he thought this one was better than the others were.

The hotel foyer
Reporters are starting their broadcasts waiting for Jasmine to appear.

The corridor outside Jasmines room
One of the men who moved Cordelia tells Jasmine what happened.

The hotel foyer
Jasmine arrives causing a huge stir. Her broadcast is going out world-wide. She tells them she's not there as a divinity but as a partner to help the people of the world defeat war and hunger and to learn to just enjoy each other. The onlookers applaud.

The basement cell
The team hear the applause and realise they are alone now.

The hotel foyer
Jasmine asks for questions. One of the reporters asks what they can do for her and she says just love one and other, but that a temple would be nice. As she's giving instructions for the temple a portal opens in the middle of the crowd and Angel steps through carrying the head of the demon he was fighting. Jasmine shouts at everyone there to kill him, but he holds the head up and apologises to her, then he cuts the stitches holding the demons mouth shut. It hisses something and the charm making her look beautiful disappears and everyone there and on television world-wide, sees her true face. Those present scream and run, taking no notice of her, as she tries to tell them it was a trick. She begs them not to leave her.

The basement cell
Lorne wonders what is going on upstairs as they can hear all the noise. Gunn says Jasmine is probably `chowing down` on her followers. He is still kicking at the cage door, and when Wesley suggests he stops he kicks the door once again and it flies open and he says, "Never give up. Never surrender". They all rush out of the cage and when Gunn asks if nobody's going to thank him, Fred says "Thank you Charles."

The streets
Chaos is reigning on the streets of LA. As Jasmine walks along people scream and run from her when they see her. When nobody will listen to her she calls to Connor.

The church
Connor hears Jasmine's voice from one of the police officers. She calls, "Father, help me."
Connor runs out.

A road bridge
Angel calls out, "Jasmine, it's over, you've lost."
Jasmine replies, "I've lost? Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"What I had to do."
"No. No Angel. There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven't you learnt anything working for the Powers? They are only choices. I offered paradise. You chose this."
"Because I could. `Cause that's what you took away from us, choice."
"And look what free will has gotten you."
"Hey, I didn't say we were smart. I said it's our right, it's what makes us human."
"But you're not human."
"Working on it."
Jasmine turns to walk away.
Angel calls after her, "Where are you going?"
Jasmine replies, "Leave me alone."
"Sorry, can't do that."
"What? You've taken everything. You going to try to kill me now? As if you could."
"Maybe not. But I'll die before I let you hurt anybody else."
"You're already dead!"
"You know what I mean. It ends, right here."
Jasmine asks, "Why do you hate me so much?"
"Let's run down the list, huh? Rain of fire, blotting out the sun, enslaving mankind, and oh yeah, you eat people."
"Like you never have."
"Thousands of people are dead because of what you've done."
"And how many will die because of you? I could have stopped it Angel. All of it. War, disease, poverty. How many precious, beautiful lives would have been saved in a handful of years? Yes, I murdered thousands, but could have saved billions. This world is doomed to drown in its own blood now."
"The price was too high Jasmine. Our fate has to be our own or we're nothing."
"Like me?"
"Look, we've all done horrible things. All we can do is try and make up for it. So, ok, it's not the world that you wanted. But maybe you could still help us make it better. Even if you have lost your powers."
"Not all of them."
Jasmine hits Angel and sends him flying through the air, over the railing of the bridge to land on a car below. Jasmine then picks up another car and throws it onto the car Angel is lying on saying, "You think the price was too high? You haven't even begun to pay."
Angel tells the woman in the car to run then rolls off just in time to avoid being hit by the other car. Jasmine jumps down over the bridge and says, "Maybe you're right. Maybe I can make the world a better place…." then she hits Angel again, "one body at a time. I love this world. I sacrificed everything I was to be with you."
Angel replies, "So you could rule us?"
"Because I care. The other powers don't, they never really did. You know that's true in your heart. It's a shame now I've got to rip it out."
Angel grabs a sparking electricity cable lying near him as Jasmine goes to grab him. The electricity throws her through the air to land against a fence. She quickly gets up saying, "I was forged in the inferno of creation vampire. Do you really think a little electricity would destroy me?"
Angel says, "Worth a shot."
He hits Jasmine, but she picks him up and throws him through a lamppost. Jasmine goes and stands over him as he lies on the ground, "Remember the prophecy Angel? The one that said at the time of the apocalypse you'd play a major part? How you never knew whether you'd be on the side of good or evil?"
She picks Angel up and holds him against the fence, "Well now you know. Thanks to you, this frail little Power That Was has just enough strength in her to wipe out your whole species. And it's all on your hands"
Angel tries to knock her away saying, "This isn't my fault."
Jasmine grabs his fist and there's a cracking noise and he says to her through gritted teeth "Go to Hell."
Jasmine replies "You first baby" and kisses him as he struggles to pull away from her.
Then a voice says, "Always the same Dad. I get a girl and you gotta make a play for her."
Jasmine breaks the kiss with Angel and says in a pleased voice, "Connor."

The hotel
Lorne, Wesley, Fred and Gunn are searching the hotel. They can't find anyone. They wonder if everyone is dead. Lorne discovers the television's are offline and says that something big went down, as Gunn finds the demon head and suggests that was what it was. They all go to the doors and can't believe the scene unfolding outside the hotel.

The street
Jasmine says, "Connor. I still have you. Angel's ruined everything. But he can't defeat both of us."
Angel is barely able to stand.
Jasmine says to Connor, "You still believe in me. You still love me?"
Connor says, "Yes." And as Jasmine turns to Angel with a smile, Connor puts his fist through the back of her head and out the front. She drops to the ground dead. Connor looks at the body with a sad expression on his face.
A badly beaten Angel says, "Connor. It's ok. It's over. I know this was difficult for you. I'm just happy to have you."
Connor turns and walks, then runs away as Angel repeatedly calls his name.

The hotel
Lorne, Wesley, Gunn and Fred are sitting in the hotel as Angel staggers in. Angel is shocked they are still alive. He tells them about bringing back Jasmine's true name and it destroying her, then Connor killing her. They try to tell him something, but he carries on, telling them how Connor was blank, like he had nothing left in him. He says he has a bad feeling that Connor might do something. Then Lilah steps out from the office and says, "End world peace? You already took care of that. Congratulations."

Closing credits

Rating and Comments:
This is yet another stunning episode in which an awful lot happens, but it leaves you with a very uneasy feeling.

As Jasmine tells Angel, he didn't know whether he'd be fighting on the side of good or evil when the apocalypse came, and the results of him exposing Jasmine for what she truly is make you wonder if it was the right thing to do. People should have freewill, but when you see what we do with it, the chaos that reigns when it is returned to the human race, it makes you wonder whether it was really worth it. Maybe we would be better living in a cosy little lala land where everything is wonderful and beautiful, even if it were at the cost of our right to choice. And yes, Jasmine was killing people to eat, but once again, as she said, she killed thousands and could have saved billions. So you have to ask yourself, were there really good and evil sides to this battle or were both sides shades of grey?

And as for poor Connor, we find out that he knew what Jasmine was all along. He keeps clinging to the wrong people for the love and family he so badly wants. He was brought up by Holtz to hate Angelus, with the result he won't give the one person who really does love him the chance to get near to him. Every time it looks like he may be letting down the barriers he has built up with Angel, something happens to destroy the tentative bonds they have made. And he always ends up trusting the person who breaks those bonds. First it was Holtz, who brought him up in Quortoth, and whom it now turns out abused him throughout his early years. Next was Cordelia, who had been the nearest thing he had had to a mother during his early months of life. She used him to help her fulfil her plans, or to be precise, Jasmine's plans. Once she had slept with him and conceived Jasmine she was ready to push him away, until she realised it was handier to have him as her protector than to have him back with Angel her. She used the old tactic of divide and conquer, and it worked.

Finally, Jasmine herself used Connor unmercifully, playing on his wish for the family and love he so desperately wanted. And because he felt she was `his` he went along with her, even though he knew what she was and what she was doing. The despair he must have felt at knowing that her lies couldn't go on must have been unbearable for him. And when he does kill her, he once again turns his back on the one person who would give him everything he so desperately wants, Angel.

And how heartbreaking must it be for Angel, a champion whose avowed intention is to help the hopeless, to be unable to help the two people he most wants to, his son and Cordelia. Once again he saves the world and has to watch as his own relationships slip through his fingers.

This episode, I think more than any other, questions whether good and evil really exist, or whether everything is varying shades of grey. That, added to what could be described as a theme of child abuse makes this a very dark and slightly depressing episode, but it certainly gives you a lot to think about!
Rating 8/10
Written By: Staff Writer - Rusty

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