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Context Recap / AngelS05E11Damage

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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angel_damage.png]]
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3At Wolfram & Hart, Harmony tells Angel what she suspects it's a case of demon possession. There was a mix-up with a patient named Dana's medication at a psychiatric hospital, and no longer sedated, she broke down her door, fought and killed one of the paramedics, and escaped.
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5Angel and Spike arrive at the hospital, where Dr. Rabinaw tells them that Dana had been kidnapped and tortured for months when she was ten, by the man who killed her family. Recently, she gained incredible strength. As Spike leaves to deal with the girl, a nurse provides Angel with Dana's session tapes. She talks in various languages, and he understands what she says in Romanian. He then calls Wesley and informs him: Dana is a Slayer.
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7At Wolfram & Hart, Giles has sent "his top guy" to take care of Dana, which turns out to be Andrew Wells. He's emotional in his reunion with Spike, then updates the group on how Willow activated every Potential Slayer in the battle at the Hellmouth months earlier. Wesley wonders how the Slayers will be trained now that the Watchers Council is gone, so Andrew explains that Giles and some Sunnydale alums have resuscitated the Council.
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9As Spike heads off to look for Dana, Angel follows Lorne's suggestion to visit Dana's childhood home with a psychic. Vernon flashes back to Dana's abduction and her family's murder; the smell of molasses and a basement is "where her pain lives," he says. Meanwhile, Dana goes to the basement of the building where she was held captive, flashing back to her torturer injecting her with various drugs. When she looks up at his face, it's Spike.
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11Andrew catches up with Spike, and updates him on the Scoobies' activities — Xander is in Africa, Willow and Kennedy are in Brazil, Buffy and Dawn are in Rome, and everyone else is in England. Andrew guesses that Buffy doesn't know Spike is alive and wonders why he didn't tell her. When Spike follows the scent of blood into Dana's trap, Andrew tries unsuccessfully to shoot Dana with a tranquilizer gun. Spike chases Dana to the basement, where she starts repeating what her torturer once said to her. Dana, channeling Nikki, recognizes Spike as William the Bloody. Before he can explain that she's dreaming of other Slayers, she injects him with a sedative. At Wolfram & Hart, Fred realizes that the smell of molasses indicates Dana was held in a distillery, and Angel sends a tactical team to search abandoned distilleries.
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13Back in the basement, Spike awakens to discover that Dana has cut off his hands. She tells Spike he can't hurt her anymore, but when he insists she's thinking of someone else she finally remembers who her torturer really was. Angel arrives, tells Dana her real torturer is dead, and knocks her out with a tranquilizer dart. Spike is taken to the hospital to have his hands reattached. Later, Andrew tells Angel that because Dana is a Slayer, she belongs in the care of the new Council. Andrew says none of the Scoobies trust Angel now that he works at Wolfram & Hart, and that they aren't on the same side.
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15Angel visits Spike at the hospital, now with his hands reattached. Spike admits he's never thought much about what being evil means. He says Dana is like them — someone turned her into a monster. Angel notes that she's an innocent victims, but they agree they both were too, once upon a time.
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17----
18!!Tropes
19* TwentyPercentMoreAwesome: Andrew boasts that he's become "82% more manly" than the last time Spike saw him.
20* AbandonedWarehouse / CreepyBasement: Dana goes to the place she was tortured [[NeverRecycleABuilding years before]].
21* AmazonBrigade: Andrew's backup consists of about twenty Slayers, none of whom has ever dated Angel, who wisely doesn't antagonise them.
22* AnArmAndALeg: Spike wakes up to find himself chained to a pole [[OhCrap with his hands severed]].
23-->'''Dana:''' Can't touch me now.
24* AsYouKnow: Andrew's exposition about the origin of Slayers starts out like this for the benefit of the non-''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}'' watchers. Lampshaded.
25-->'''Angel:''' That's, um...really great, but we...actually know all that.
26* AxCrazy: Dana. Perhaps Bonesaw Crazy would be more accurate.
27* BackFromTheDead: [[ArmedWithCanon Spoofed]] when the sanitarium doctor warns that someone should stop Spike, because if he goes after Dana, he'll wind up dead. Angel mutters, "He'll just [[PopularityPower end up coming back]]."
28* BadassInANiceSuit: Andrew, or so he'd like everyone to think. Needless to say he puts on a [[BadassLongcoat long coat]] as well [[AscendedFanboy while out with Spike]].
29* BaitAndSwitch: Dana being a crazed Slayer instead of a case of DemonicPossession. Spike appearing to be the one who tortured Dana as a child, but she's actually confusing him with the real psycho.
30* BatmanGrabsAGun: Angel is engaged in his usual one-man rodeo show when suddenly he gets on the phone and demands backup from the Wolfram & Hart tactical squad. Turns out the "possessed" woman is actually an insane Slayer.
31* BewareTheSuperman: Dana shows some of the the consequences of Buffy's decision to activate all Potential Slayers worldwide in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen Chosen]]", being violent and AxCrazy as a result of being tortured as a child. The ''Season Eight'' comics explore this even further with [[DangerousDeserter Simone Doffler]] and [[AristocratsAreEvil Genevieve Savidge]]; Buffy [[DidntThinkThisThrough really didn't consider the possibility]] that not all of the newly-activated Slayers would use their power for good.
32* BilingualBonus: Dr. Rabinaw sees that the nurse is working a crossword and says, "Give me one." She offers, "'In a mellifluous manner.' 7 letters, ends in a 'Y'." It is hardly secret knowledge that the Latin word for honey is "mellis," and "fluens" means "spilling", which suggests that the answer is "sweetly." Perhaps it does suggest something about his character that Dr. Rabinaw gives up and says, "Give me another one."
33* CallBack:
34** "Sorry luv, I don't speak Chinese" is the same line Spike said to the Peking Slayer before he killed her ([=BtVS=] "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E7FoolForLove Fool for Love]]"). Dana speaking Chinese is apparently due to her accessing that particular Slayer's memories.
35** Andrew lighting up a DistinguishedGentlemansPipe [[OfCourseISmoke only to start coughing]], then engaging in overdone exposition ([=BtVS=] "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E16Storyteller Storyteller]]") and being partnered up with an annoyed yet tolerant Spike ([=BtVS=] "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E19EmptyPlaces Empty Places]]").
36** A Slayer having memories of past Vampire Slayers is a nod to the original ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' movie.
37** Dana's appearance after acquiring street clothes heavily copies Spike's introduction in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E3SchoolHard School Hard]]", from stomping off with bonesaw rather than smoke in hand, to the same punk rock tune roaring away.
38* CelebrityParadox: Lorne says Vernon does readings for Creator/TomArnold, who appeared opposite Creator/AlysonHannigan and Creator/GlennQuinn in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' and Creator/ElizaDushku in ''Film/TrueLies''.
39* ChairReveal: Giles has sent his best man to handle the crisis...
40* CharacterDevelopment: Spike shows the remorse over the slayers he killed that he definitely wasn't feeling in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E17LiesMyParentsToldMe Lies My Parents Told Me]]".
41* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
42-->'''Angel:''' (re Spike being thrown out a window) You should've waited!
43-->'''Spike:''' Hey, keep your knickers on. Least now I know what we're dealin' with. It's a Chinese demon. Maybe a water dragon or one of those elemental thingies. (Angel sighs, rolls his eyes, and walks away) What?!
44* ContinuityNod:
45** We're filled in on what has happened with the Scoobies and Potentials after the ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'' GrandFinale.
46** Fred organises the Wolfram & Hart medical team, but assures the shaman they won't need a cadaver [[Recap/AngelS02E18DeadEnd as they still have Spike's hands]].
47* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: Angel intervenes to stop Dana cutting off Spike's head.
48* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Spike threatens to wedgie Andrew unconscious.
49* CreditsGag: Michael Krawk as "Vernon the Creepy Psychic". Sounds like a spin-off to me!
50* DemonicPossession: Initially suspected to be the cause of Dana's insanity.
51* DestinationDefenestration: Spike gets tossed out of a fifth-floor window by Dana.
52-->"Just thought I'd see what it was like to bounce off the pavement. Pretty much what I expected."
53* DidntSeeThatComing: Andrew takes Dana to be with the other Slayers, by having twelve Slayers with him, all of whom ''hadn't'' dated Angel.
54-->'''Spike:''' What happens to her?
55-->'''Angel:''' I don't know. Andrew and the Slayers took her. Didn't trust us to help her.
56-->'''Spike:''' ''Andrew'' double-crossed us? [beat] It was a good move. Hope for the little ponce yet.
57* DontSneakUpOnMeLikeThat: Dana breaks the arm of a store employee.
58* EstablishingCharacterMusic: The scene in the convenience store where Dana is confronted while shoplifting and as she's leaving is scored with the intro to Music/WhiteZombie's "Blood, Milk and Sky". The scene cuts just before the first verse, but the opening lyric fits her.
59-->''The siren sings a lonely song of all the wants and hungers''
60* FacialMarkings: Dara marks her face with blood streaks.
61* FailedAttemptAtDrama: Andrew boasts about how he TookALevelInBadass, but ScreamsLikeALittleGirl when he trips over a body.
62* {{Fauxshadowing}}: Buffy being mentioned in this episode was meant to foreshadow her appearance in the next episode. When Creator/SarahMichelleGellar couldn't make it, the episode was re-written to have Cordelia return.
63* FightingFromTheInside: Dana has a brief moment of clarity towards the end, when Spike finally manages to get her to separate herself from all the previous Slayers and him from her kidnapper. Unfortunately, even comparatively sane Dana thinks a vampire who's killed two Slayers should die.
64* FirstNameBasis: Andrew referring to Giles as "Rupert", albeit once. Somehow it's doubtful he does that to Giles' face.
65* FlippingTheBird: Spike wants to do it to Angel, but without the feeling in his hands, it's a bit difficult.
66* {{Foil}}: Spike and Angel talk about how they acted as vampires. [[BloodKnight Spike just loved the fight and the kill]], [[ForTheEvulz Angelus loved the cruelty of the kill and drew it out as long as possible]].
67* ForTheEvulz: Angel and Spike have a conversation concerning how they committed atrocities For The Evulz -- but in different ways. Spike loved killing for the sake of it and didn't bother to give his victims another glance. Angelus couldn't look away from his victims and relished their suffering.
68* {{Foreshadowing}}:
69** Gunn says they're battling evil and still have all their fingers and toes. He should have included hands.
70** Andrew says that Buffy is now in Rome. This sets up the events of "[[Recap/AngelS05E20TheGirlInQuestion The Girl in Question]]".
71** Buffy and Giles rounding up the Slayers into an organization, which becomes a key part of the BTVS Season 8 comic series.
72* GhostMemory: Dana gets the memories from past Slayers along with their powers, and her mental state causes her to confuse her own traumatic memories with theirs.
73* GilliganCut: Angel turns down the idea of having the Wolfram & Hart Tactical Team back him up, saying this demon possession case needs to be handled by someone with finesse. Cue Angel exiting the lift...at the same time as Spike steps out of the lift next to it. Let the snarking commence!
74* GoryDiscretionShot: Dana cutting off people's heads.
75* GotMeDoingIt: Angel, after spending a meeting with Andrew, who insists on putting the AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle.
76-->'''Angel:''' She's a Slayer. She has every reason to hate us, and she's unstable. In her mind, there probably aren't any good vampyres. ({{Beat}}) ''Vampires.''
77* GratuitousSpanish: Andrew throughout, and spoofed at the end.
78-->'''Andrew:''' Think we're just gonna let you take her back to your evil stronghold? Well, as they say in ''México''... No. We're not...gonna... let you.
79* HeelRealisation: Spike becomes unusually introspective after getting his hands cut off.
80-->"Lass thought I killed her family. And I'm supposed to, what, complain? Cause hers wasn't one of the hundreds of families I did kill? I'm not saying you're right, cause...[[TheRival I'm physically incapable of saying that.]] But for a demon, I never did think that much about the nature of evil."
81* IdiotBall: Spike acts dumb even by his own standards. Going off on his own and revealing himself to Dana, a crazed Slayer, and dropping hints on who he is is pretty standard stuff. However it's revealed Spike knows Slayers have visions, which would include Spike killing two of them, and Dana confuses herself with Nikki Wood. He mentions to Dana that she's thinking about the Slayer he killed, prompting her to fly into a rage and cut his hands off.
82* InJoke: Spike's comment that Angel is looking "old" is an reference to Creator/DavidBoreanaz's inevitable visible signs of aging, despite the fact that Angel, as a vampire, is immortal and should still look 26, the age he had when he was sired, not in his late thirties.
83* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Dana subscribes to this trope and refers to it by name: "Heart...and head. Don't be scared, stab the heart, cut off the head, keep cutting until dust."
84* KarmaHoudini: Team Angel aren't willing to risk alienating the Senior Partners by punishing Eve without evidence she was behind the events of "[[Recap/AngelS05E10SoulPurpose Soul Purpose]]".
85* MadnessMantra: Dana has several of these, one of which consisted of information on vampire killing she'd never been told.
86* ManySpiritsInsideOfOne: Between her own psychosis and [[PsychicDreamsForEveryone mystical dreams]] that make her remember generations of previous Slayers, Dana has ... issues.
87* MilesGloriosus: Did you hear how Andrew and Spike saved the world by closing the Hellmouth? Buffy helped...
88* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
89** One of the effects of turning every Potential in the planet into a Slayer is that a severely mentally disturbed girl now has SuperStrength.
90** AntiHero example with Spike throughout the episode. First he reveals to Dana that he's a vampire, then lets slip he killed one Slayer, then that [[SayingTooMuch he killed Nikki Wood]]. Spike going after a emotionally scarred girl who thought he was the one who tortured her, then telling her he's the famed vampire that killed two Slayers, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge that'll end well.]]
91* TheNicknamer: Spike dubs the doctor "Show-And-Tell-Me-Nothing". Lorne refers to their Liaison to the Senior Partners as VideoGame/ParasiteEve. %% The "Parasite Eve" is in dialogue and is talking about the character Eve, not the work, so it is not italicized.
92* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Dana's drawings on the wall of her room.
93* TheNoseKnows / ScarilyCompetentTracker
94-->'''Spike:''' All right, pet. No getting away. Got your scent locked in now. Could track you for miles.
95* NotSoDifferentRemark:
96-->'''Spike:''' The tingling in my forearms tells me she's too far gone to help. [[IAmAMonster She's one of us now. She's a monster.]]\
97'''Angel:''' She's an innocent victim.\
98'''Spike:''' So were we... [[FromNobodyToNightmare once upon a time.]]\
99'''Angel:''' Once upon a time.
100* OhCrap:
101** The doctor realizing Dana didn't get her Thorazine.
102** Angel when he realizes Dana is a Slayer.
103** Spike when he finds his hands have been cut off.
104** The Wolfram & Hart extraction team when a dozen slayers step out of the shadows.
105* OhMyGods: Andrew says "Yoda knows who" instead of "God knows who."
106* TheOphelia: Dana's not all there.
107* PerpSweating:
108-->'''Spike:''' What he said. But with a bit more of a threat at the end.
109* ReferenceOverdosed: With a former member of the Nerd Trio on the scene, geek references to other movies and TV shows sky-rocket.
110* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Dana re: Spike. For being the vampire who killed two Slayers as well as believing he was the one who tortured her before.
111* ShipSinking: A double dosage:
112** Any hopes of Buffy and Angel reconnecting are dashed to hell when Andrew tells Angel that ''nobody'' in his camp trusts him anymore due to his association with Wolfram & Hart, least of all Buffy, who instructed Andrew to retrieve Dana.
113** Spike decides not to tell Buffy that he's alive, as it would undermine his HeroicSacrifice.
114* ShoutOut: An InUniverse one, with Andrew on board.
115-->'''Andrew:''' You're like... you're like [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf the White]], resurrected from the pit of the Balrog, [[HoYay more beautiful than ever]]. (Hugs Spike, sobs) Ohh... he's alive, Frodo. He's alive.
116** Clear references to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' (and/or [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E17NormalAgain another Slayer]]) in the mental hospital escape scene.
117* SlashedThroat: The security guard who tries hitting Dana in the back of the head while she's holding a bonesaw.
118* SlasherSmile: Dana letting Spike know that [[GameFace vamping out]] in front of a Slayer might not have been the smartest move he's ever made.
119* StealthInsult:
120** Andrew gets in a whammy when he implies that Buffy doesn't trust Angel anymore because he's gone over to the enemy.
121** Andrew to Wes, showing some people from Sunnydale still don't think much of him after the events of [=BtVS=] Season 3. "My hypothesis exactly, Pryce. I see Mr. Giles may have been wrong about you."
122** Angel strikes back. "Get Andrew on this. See if he knows...anything."
123* TakeThat: Andrew says that Buffy is in Europe training Slayers, giving them "...the full ''Film/XMen1'' minus the crappy third act". Creator/JossWhedon wrote a draft for the first movie that was thrown out save for a couple of lines.
124* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Angel and Spike.
125-->'''Angel:''' Look, shouldn't you be out in the streets, protecting the city from people like you?
126* ThereAreNoTherapists: Well there are -- they just don't know who they're dealing with. Whether the Slayer Organization can do any better is debatable.
127* TookALevelInBadass: Andrew boasts of receiving training from Giles. When he faces down Angel and a Wolfram & Hart spec ops team, even Spike is impressed.
128* TrenchcoatWarfare: Andrew proudly shows off the Walking Armory under his BadassLongcoat which he copied from Spike. Spike is not impressed.
129* TwistedEchoCut: From Gunn saying to Fred (re joining Wolfram & Hart) "End of the day, I'm thinking we made the right choice." to Angel saying to Wes and Lorne, "Maybe we made a mistake coming here."
130* TwoScenesOneDialogue: Angel doing exposition to Wesley over the mobile phone, intercut with Spike facing Dana.
131-->'''Angel:''' (to Wesley) I saw a tape of her. She was speakin' a half-dozen languages. One of 'em was Romanian.
132-->'''Spike:''' (to Dana) Likin' the view, are we? What say we have a nice, quiet chat... about mistreating little girls... demon to demon. (GameFace)
133-->'''Angel:''' She was yelling about being [[TheChosenOne chosen]]. She's not a demon, Wes...
134-->'''Dana:''' (SlasherSmile)
135-->'''Angel:''' ...[[WhamLine She's a vampire Slayer.]]
136-->'''Spike:''' [[OhCrap What are you grinnin' at?]]
137* UsedToBeASweetKid: At the end of the episode, when Spike and Angel talk about themselves as vampires and Dana as a psychotic Slayer, Spike says she's a monster, like them, Angel retorts that she's an innocent victim, and Spike replies that "So were we. Once upon a time.".
138* VolleyingInsults: Angel and Spike when they find each other at the hospital.
139* WhamLine:
140-->'''Angel:''' You're way outta your league. I'll just clear this with Buffy.
141-->'''Andrew:''' Where do you think my orders came from? News flash! Nobody in our camp trusts you anymore! Nobody! You work for Wolfram and Hart! Don't fool yourself...we're not on the same side!
142* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Dana ends up being taken in by the Slayer Organization and sent to England, so you'd expect the ''Buffy'' season 8 comics to feature her in some capacity. Unfortunately, the ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'' comic licenses were held by different companies during Season Eight.
143* WhatTheHellHero:
144** An off-screen one; Buffy refuses to let Angel have a Slayer (and by extension torpedoes any chance of them reconciling) because he's now working for Wolfram & Hart.
145** Angel points out that Spike hasn't exactly changed much after getting a soul, setting up some proper HeelRealization at the end.
146* YouAndWhatArmy: Turns out Andrew has his own AmazonBrigade.
147-->"[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Check the view screen, Uhura.]] I got 12 Vampyr Slayers behind me, and not one of them has ever dated you."

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