Recap / Angel S 04 E 01 Deep Down

The entire gang, complete with Connor, Lorne, and Wesley sit around a table enjoying a happy meal together. Connor has a great relationship with his father and even Wesley is present. As plates are passed around the table and Angel is ignored, things start to change and soon the dream becomes reality and a physically weakened Angel is in his watery prison. Fred and Gunn run back to Gunn's truck, trying to escape vampires. One crashes onto the windshield and more arrive in another car.

Gunn and Fred, now running Angel Investigations themselves since Angel and Cordelia both disappeared on the same night, ask a vampire gang about a girl named Marissa, but the vampires aren't really interested in talking. After giving up what could be accurate information about Marissa, the vamps attack. Several of the vampires are slain and Connor jumps in just in time to save Fred from a flying ax. Gunn and Fred lecture Connor back at the hotel about the danger of his wild actions, despite the fact that they're all still alive. In the office, Fred talks about their efforts to look for Cordelia and Angel and how little success they've had over the past three months.

Angel stands atop the cliffs, where he was meant to meet Cordelia. This time, she arrives and the two discuss their feelings for each other even though Angel realizes this isn't how it happened. As the two kiss, Angel's hunger takes over and he starts feeding from her. Under the water, Angel wakes up screaming. Connor finally finds out from Gunn and Fred that they have another lead into Angel's whereabouts, and he's not pleased that they didn't tell him earlier. Fred agrees to let him to tag along as they check out a potential location for her. While Connor's out of the room, Gunn and Fred argue about the tough situation they are in with the hotel, business and the struggle to find Angel and Cordelia. Both know that if this lead doesn't pan out they'll be at a complete dead end, since the only other options are Wolfram & Hart or Wesley (who has already refused to help twice)

Lilah collapses on top of Wesley after another round of sex. Seemingly on much better terms, Lilah attempts to weasel information out of Wesley on where Angel is. Wesley makes it clear to her that he doesn't know where Angel is and doesn't care, claiming that part of his life to be over. After she leaves, Wesley dresses and proceeds towards a closet. Inside, he has Justine chained up in a cage and he announces that it's time for them to go look for Angel. Later, Justine taunts Wesley as he directs a boat around the ocean in search of the steel box Angel is confined in. Connor kicks in a door at the building where the gang hopes to find Marissa. They find her and grill her about the cliffs where Angel last went to, but Connor lets her escape. He runs after her and kills her before Gunn and Fred show up. He cuts himself with the stake and pretends as if she attacked him when the others arrive and then runs off.

Angel finds Connor on a tall rooftop and they start to talk before they're rudely interrupted by a group of vampires. Angel and Connor fight and kill them all and then Angel snaps Connor's neck. In his underwater grave, Angel wakes and starts to scream again. Fred finally reaches Lorne in Vegas, but he's very busy and doesn't have any new information to share with her. At Wolfram & Hart, Linwood, Lilah and Gavin walk as Linwood praises Gavin's latest findings. Lilah realizes that they know about her and Wesley and tries to offer an explanation, but Linwood really isn't interested.

Wesley finally senses something metal on his sensor and sends Justine down to check it out. It turns out to be Angel and the steel coffin is raised from the ocean. Wesley opens it and frees Angel's arms only to have Angel wake up and catch Wesley's throat in a death grip. Although it initially seems Angel is following through with his promise to kill Wesley, Wesley is able to lower the arm back down as he explains to Justine that while vampires can live forever without feeding prolonged starvation can cause brain damage. Wesley slowly feeds Angel animal blood while Justine taunts him from the background, reminding him that Angel and the rest of the team hate him and will never take him back.

Connor returns to the hotel to find Fred and Gunn worried and waiting for him. Connor gets testy when Gunn suggests Connor's like his father. On the boat, Angel hallucinates that Lorne is on the boat with him as Wesley comes below deck to check on Angel's progress. Angel sees Connor instead of Wesley and Wesley realizes that the animal blood isn't returning Angel's strength fast enough and cuts his own arm to feed Angel. Before a meeting, Lilah absentmindedly strokes the top of Linwood's chair. As the meeting begins Linwood asks a room full of lawyers about Lilah and her future at the firm due to her failures regarding Angel. Lilah smugly and quickly turns the tables on him saying "I may have failed on numerous occasions, but one thing I've never been is afraid of Angel." She announces that she spoke with a Senior Partner. Linwood becomes visibly angry demanding from Lilah "You went over my head?" Lilah smirks and says "Well, more like under it." Then, with a touch of a button, Linwood is beheaded and she's the new boss. She asks Gavin to remove the head.

Fred brings Connor a sandwich and they start to talk as he eats. Unexpectedly, Fred promises him great suffering for what he did to his father and then subdues him with a stun gun. Downstairs, Fred speaks angrily to Connor as he's tied to a chair. She and Gunn reveal that Wesley called them and informed them about his finding Angel and that Connor was behind his disappearance all along, and accuse him of also disposing of Cordelia. Meanwhile, Wesley buckles Angel into the car and leaves Justine handcuffed to the pier, telling her she can continue being a slave or live her own life. Back at the hotel, Connor argues with Fred and Gunn that Angel's not his father and shows no regret for his actions. Wesley carries a weakened Angel into the hotel and, after making sure he's ok, Gunn and Fred demand to know why Wes didn't tell them what was happening or warn them about Connor. Wesley doesn't offer much of an explanation and just leaves, showing just how little he cares for his former friends.

As Wesley leaves, a noise is heard in the office, drawing the attention of the humans. Having broken free of his restraints, Connor knocks Gunn down and shocks Fred with the stun gun, but as he turns around Angel's standing in front of him. Angel orders him to sit and he explains to his rebellious son the truth about Holtz's death and Angel's lack of involvement in it. Realizing he's in trouble, Connor attempts a getaway, but Angel isn't done yet and throws Connor into the wall. After making sure that he had nothing to do with Cordelia's disappearance, Angel tells Connor, with a parting lecture about life and an admission of love, to leave, which he does immediately. After he does so, Angel nearly collapses with Gunn and Fred urging him to rest but Angel's main focus now is finding Cordelia.

Meanwhile, Cordelia, now in a higher dimension, bemoans her boredom.

---

Tropes

• Actor Allusion: Linwood refers to his department at Wolfram & Hart as his "corner of the sky," a reference to the song "Corner of the Sky" in the musical Pippin. John Rubinstein, who plays Linwood Murrow, originated the title role in the Broadway production.
• Almost Kiss: Angel and Cordelia in Angel's first dream.
  Connor: "Do I have to watch this part?"
• Aloof Ally: Wesley. He goes through great lengths to rescue Angel from the bottom of the ocean, even letting Angel drink from him once it becomes apparent pig blood won't be enough to return Angel to lucidity. He also calls Fred and Gunn to warn them about Connor so that they can make sure he's restrained before Wesley and Angel return to the Hyperion. However, after Wesley drops Angel off and makes sure that Gunn and Fred have secured him, he abruptly departs instead of attempting to fully reconcile with everyone, curtly saying that his business with them is done. He does give one final note that Angel will need more blood before walking out.
• And I Must Scream: Having spent three months trapped at the bottom of the ocean, Angel's gone mad with hunger and loneliness. By the time Wesley finds him and fishes him out, he's suffering from nightmares and hallucinations.
• And Starring: Alexis Denisof is moved from third billing to the very end of the cast list, complete with "And" credit. He'll remain there for the rest of the series.
• Armor-Piercing Question: As Connor rants about how Angel deserved it, he's stunned and quiet when Fred asks him how long until he'd start thinking she and Gunn deserved it.
• As You Know: Some clunky exposition between Wesley and Justine.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Fred enters Connor's room with milk and a sandwich on a tray.
  Fred: (stroking Connor's hair) "I can't imagine what you've been through, Connor, being taken away by Holtz, raised in that place. It must have been horrible. I know you're still hurting but, I promise, it's not nearly as much as you're gonna hurt for what you did to your father." (zaps Connor repeatedly with a taser)
• Board to Death: Linwood holds a meeting where he claims, due to Lilah's recent shortcomings, that she will be moved to a "less central office" or a "third-world dimension" according to Gavin. Lilah, however, secretly spoke to a Senior Partner named Mr. Suvarta who agreed with her on Linwood's incompetence. During the meeting, Lilah activates a trap located in Linwood's chair, releasing a blade that decapitates him. After which, she takes his position.
• Bound and Gagged: Justine is kept this way in a secret compartment in Wesley's home, complete with a chain restraint around her neck, connected to the wall. Wesley certainly isn't pleased with what she did to Angel and hasn't forgiven her for slitting his throat and kidnapping Connor.
• Break the Badass: Justine has been so thoroughly broken by Wesley that he's able to dissuade her from trying to attack him by simply threatening to take away the bucket she uses as a toilet, without even turning around to look at her.
• Break Them by Talking: This one flies thick and fast from all sides. Angel's speech to Connor (and to an extent, Wesley's to Justine) also count as "The Reason You Suck" Speeches.
• Brief Accent Imitation: The list of words Fred can't get away with include "Bro," "Dawg," and "Word."
• Call-Back:
  • Angel mentions his girlfriend sending him to a hell dimension for a hundred years ("Becoming, Part 2").
  • To "The Body" where Buffy remembers a happy family-and-friends dinner gathering, only to cut back to the reality of her mother's dead body.
• Catch and Return: Connor catches an axe being hurled at Fred and then throws it back at the hurler.
  Connor: "Did you see that? Wasn't that cool? (Laughs) That was cool!"
• Ceiling Cling: Marissa hiding from Connor, Gunn, and Fred.
• Chekhov's Gun: Fluffy (for "The House Always Wins").
• Crashing Dreams: Angel's dreams always start off with an ideal vision — his True Companions (including Wesley and Connor) sharing a hearty meal and a Friendship Moment, Cordelia confessing her love like she intended in "Tomorrow", Angel and Connor fighting side by side — then things turn ugly as Angel's hunger or rage breaks through.
• Darker and Edgier: As if Wes having sex with Lilah, trading insults and disdain, wasn't enough, after she leaves he gets up and opens the door to his closet to reveal a bound and gagged Justine in a cage. With a bucket.
• Designated Parents: With Angel, Cordelia, Lorne and Wesley not available, Fred and Gunn have fallen into the role of Connor's surrogate parents, worrying about his tendencies toward destructive rebellion in the way that his own parents might worry about it.
• Dirty Coward: Lilah and the Senior Partners conclude that Linwood is too much of a coward to get the job done.
• Double Entendre:
  • Lorne calls from Las Vegas, telling the gang to "make sure Fluffy's getting enough love". Fred has no idea who he's referring to.
  Fred: Wait. You don't think he was referring to anything of mine that's fluffy, do you? Because that would just be inappropriate.
  • When Fred tells Gunn he's top dog.
    Fred: Don't let it go to your head.
    Gunn: [pulling her close] That's not the direction it's flowing.
  • Lilah and Wes, post-coitus.
    Lilah: Hmm. That didn't suck. Well, maybe just a little bit.
• Dramatic Irony: The audience knows that Connor betrayed and drowned Angel, but Fred and Gunn don't, adding tension to their hunt for him with Connor's help.
• Easily Forgiven: Angel chooses not to punish Connor. He does throw him out of his house though.
• Electric Torture: While Connor is tied to a chair he gets tasered again by a pissed-off Fred.
• Foreshadowing:
  • For the mid-season return of Angelus. Wesley is helping Angel into his car.
  Justine: "He'll turn on you! He won't be able to help it. That's what he is. Sooner or later he will turn on you, and all your friends!"
  • For "The House Always Wins". Lorne is in Las Vegas, and is sending messages his friends can't understand.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Mr. Suvarta gave Lilah "some great hints on office furniture."
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Where Cordelia is, complete with a Holy Backlight.
  Cordelia: God, I am so bored.
• Game Face: Inverted - Marissa reverts to her human face when trying to sweet-talk Connor into letting her go. It doesn't work.
• Get Out!: "I love you, Connor. Now get out of my house."
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Angel is weak, raving and hallucinating when Wesley pulls him out of the water, but after Wesley feeds him his own blood and carries him back to the Hyperion, Angel is strong and coherent enough to face down Connor. Subverted when Angel collapses after Connor leaves, showing that he was bluffing about being strong enough to take him.
• Gratuitous Spanish: The vampire gang Gunn and Fred confront.
• He Knows Too Much: Connor staking Marissa when he realises she might have seen Connor and Justine disposing of Angel.
• Honey Trap: Lilah to Wesley — he's not fooled, telling her bluntly that he has no idea where Angel is.
• Hyper-Awareness: Justine is about to Wrench Whack Wesley from behind when (without turning around) he calmly threatens to take away her toilet bucket the next time she's in the cage. Justified as he likely saw her reflection in the window.
• Ignored Epiphany: Angel tells Connor the truth about Holtz's death. After a brief pause, Connor responds:
  Connor: Even if, you still deserved it.
• Immortality Hurts: Try spending it at the bottom of the Pacific. Gives you some perspective. Kind of an M.C. Escher perspective.
• Killed Off for Real: Linwood is supplanted permanently by Lilah.
• Klingon Promotion: Gavin discovers that Lilah is bonking Wesley and tells Linwood in order to finally supplant his rival. Lilah responds by accusing Linwood of being afraid of Angel and his son, which is why he hasn't tried to find out where Angel is. Linwood is unimpressed until Lilah says that the Senior Partners agree with her.
  Linwood: This is outrageous! Are you actually telling me that you went over my head?
  [Lilah touches her stylus to the palm-pilot in her hand. We hear an electronic beep — then a blade whips out of the backrest on Linwood's chair slicing quickly and neatly through his neck.
  Lilah: Just under it, actually.
  [Gavin and the other board members stare shocked as Linwood's head rolls along the table.]
  Lilah: Mr. Suvarta didn't think Linwood's sky was sunny enough. You're all reporting to me now. (Sits down) Get out.
  [Everyone quickly and quietly gets up and files out the room.]
  Lilah: Gavin.
  [Gavin freezes. Lilah gives him a slight smile, then indicates the decapitated head with her stylus.]
  Lilah: Please remove that.
• Knight in Sour Armor
  Angel: "Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and cruel. But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be. You're not a part of that yet. I hope you will be. I love you, Connor. Now get out of my house."
• Lecherous Licking: Lilah Morgan licks Wes neck while flirting with him.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Gunn and Fred are trying to find Angel alongside Connor, unaware that Connor himself is responsible for Angel's disappearance, having attacked him, sealed him in a metal coffin, and sunk him to the bottom of the ocean. They eventually do find out from Wesley, who had been searching for Angel this whole time, and call him out over the fact that he didn't tell them or warn them of Connor's actions; Wesley justifies himself by stating Connor wouldn't hurt humans, and he felt they were safer not knowing.
• Love Confession: Cordelia and Angel in his second dream. Then he vamps out and feeds on her.
  Cordelia: I can't remember what it was like — not knowing you, not being close to you. I'm in love with you Angel. Deep down I think I have been for a long time. I needed you to know that.
• Manipulative Bastard: Wesley wins the prize in this episode — fooling everyone including Lilah about his intentions while keeping control of a vampire-hating prisoner in order to locate and rescue Angel.
• Morality Pet: Angel makes it clear that what Connor deserves depends on whether he did anything to Cordelia.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast
  Gunn: "His nickname back in Quortoth was the Destroyer. And unless you put Conan in front of that, I'm guessing it's not a good sign."
• Neck Snap: Angel to Connor in his third dream.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Apparently vampires can Spiderman-climb straight up walls now?
• The Nicknamer: The Powers That Screw You.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve: During the opening fight, a vampire snatches a crossbow off Fred.
  Vampire: "I see Angel left you a little toy, huh?"
  Fred: "More than one." (Fred stakes him using Angel's wrist-stake-launcher)
• Offhand Backhand: A variation with a considerably more badass Wesley on the other side of it. Justine picks up a wrench, then when Wesley calmly threatens to take away her toilet bucket she puts it down again. It could be explained as Wesley seeing her reflection in the glass (he was steering a boat at the time).
• Off with His Head!: How Lilah gets her promotion.
  Linwood: You went over my head?
  Lilah: Actually, I went under it. * blade extends from Linwood's chair and slices his head off.*
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The minute Linwood finds out that Lilah went behind his back and spoke with one of the Senior Partners, he knows he's done for.
  • Connor's reaction when Fred reveals she knows that he was behind Angel's disappearance, right before she tasers him.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce
  Fred: "He's just a boy."
  Gunn: "Are you sure about that? Offspring of two vampires. Last time I checked that's not supposed to happen. And jumping off a six-story without busting your coconut kind of sways me to the side of not just a boy."
• "Open!" Says Me: Connor kicking open the door to Marissa's crib.
  Gunn: "Or we can do it the loud way."
• Post-Coital Collapse: When we first see Lilah and Wes, they have just finished having sex and we immediately cut to Lilah collapsing on top of him Wesley, both drenched with sweat.
• Previously on…: A long one due to all the plot elements that the audience has to be reminded of from over the summer break.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Vincent Kartheiser as Connor.
• Put on a Bus: The last thing we see of Justine is when Wesley throws her the key to her handcuffs, telling Justine to stop being a slave.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Linwood and Gavin suggest reassigning Lilah to a "third world dimension".
• Running Gag: There are more jibes about Angel's Spiky Hair.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Angel confronts Connor and asks him "what do you deserve?", Connor, realizing how much trouble he's in, tries to make a break for it... but Angel intercepts him and tosses him into the wall.
  Angel: Daddy's not finished talking.
• Series Continuity Error: No mention is made of Groo disappearing, even though Cordelia is the only one who knew he was leaving and didn't have an opportunity to tell anyone. Gunn also has his goatee in Angel's dream, which Angel shouldn't know about.
• Shirtless Scene: Wesley gets one when Lilah has just left after they have sex. He only puts his pants back on before revealing to the audience that he has Justine tied up in his closet.
• Slow-Motion Drop: The glass in Angel's first dream.
• Stab the Scorpion: Wesley discovers that pig's blood isn't enough to revive Angel. He takes out a wicked-looking knife and looks at Justine.
  Justine: "Oh, screw you. I'm not feeding that thing.
  Wes: Your blood's too thin [Cuts open his own vein]
• Super-Speed: Marissa jumps out a window, clambers up a wall onto the roof and finds Connor already there.
• Super Window Jump: Marissa, quickly followed by Connor.
• That Man Is Dead
  Wes: "That part of my life is dead. Doesn't concern me now."
• Title Drop: Cordelia drops the title during her Love Confession in Angel's vision.
• There Are No Coincidences: Invoked: Gunn and Fred are convinced that Connor did something to Cordelia as well, pointing out that Cordelia couldn't have just "happened" to disappear the same night Connor dumped Angel into the ocean.
• Toplessness from the Back: We see Lilah's naked back when she climbs out of bed after having sex with Wesley.
• Totally Radical: Fred trying to master Gunn Speak.
• The Triple:
  • Angel's touching reunion with his son.
  "So... how was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw some fish. Went mad with hunger. Hallucinated a whole bunch."
  • Wesley's "Break Them by Talking" lecture to Justine.
  Wesley: You and Holtz deserved each other. You two have so much in common. Pain, loss, deep-seated lack of anything approaching humor."
  • Given that Wesley is saying this, it could also be a case of I Resemble That Remark!.
• Villains Never Lie: Connor appears to accept Angel's word that he didn't kill Holtz. But then again, he's had three months to think about it and so probably suspects the truth anyway. Gunn is skeptical when Connor says he didn't kill Cordelia, but Angel says that Connor has lied enough to him that he's learned to tell the difference. "The truth has a better sound to it, less nasal."
• Wall Crawl: Marissa does this while fleeing from Connor.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Gunn and Fred both give one to Connor after discovering that he was responsible for Angel's disappearance.
  • They also give one to Wesley over the fact that he knew what Connor had done to Angel, but didn't tell them or warn them. Wes just leaves.
    Gunn: What took you so long to tell us about Connor?
    Fred: You knew what he could do to us.
    Wes: You're human. He wouldn't have hurt you. I thought you were safer not knowing.
    Fred: We were safer? You really don't care anymore, do you?
    • Wesley's reaction to Fred's final question verges on Armor-Piercing Response, as he simply notes that Angel will need more blood, due to Wesley being "fresh out." Given the very prominent piece of cloth wrapped around Wes' arm, Fred and Gunn are quick to deduce the meaning of this.

---