It's 1943, and a submarine is moving through the Atlantic Ocean as its crew begins to panic. An officer named Lawson issues orders to the crew as their captain is suddenly grabbed and killed by an unseen creature.
In the present, Angel's team discusses the fact that Eve has vanished. Wesley is concerned about her threats of revenge, but Gunn thinks that the Senior Partners will take care of her for them. Angel wants to make sure that Lindsey is being punished as well, but Gunn notes that the white room is still empty, so they no longer have a link to the Senior Partners. Gunn knows of a procedure to allow them to establish a new link, but has trouble recalling the information which he puts down to tiredness. Angel takes this as a cue to let them all go home, surprising the team who aren't used to being let go before midnight on a Friday. However they all still have work to do, so agree to meet up again in a few hours for another discussion. They split up as Sam Lawson arrives in the building. Later, Fred encounters him in the science lab and is disturbed that he knows her name. She casually backs away, but he warns her that if she runs, he will have to stop her. He tells her that he's an old friend of Angel from "back when he was in his patriotic phase."
Back in 1943, a brooding Angel is sitting alone in a New York City apartment when a group of military officers armed with stakes burst inside. They represent a new agency, the Demon Research Initiative, and their goal is to recruit Angel to join the war effort. They need his assistance to rescue a German prototype submarine that has been commandeered by the American military (the submarine seen earlier). The crew ran into trouble on the way home and is now trapped in enemy territory. No human soldier can reach the sub because of the extreme cold and pressure at the bottom of the ocean (conditions that pose no threat to a vampire). Angel is initially resistant to participating, but it soon becomes clear that he has no real choice.
In the sub, Lawson and his surviving shipmates are barricaded into a small section of the submarine, temporarily safe but unable to control the submarine. As they evaluate their options, they are alarmed to hear a clanging sound in the tubes until Lawson recognizes it as Morse code: an SOS signal. They open the tube and discover Angel inside.
In the present, Lawson captures Wesley as he attempts to help Fred.
On the submarine, Angel asks for the captain and is informed that he is dead and that Lawson is now in charge. Angel issues an order and provides a verification code that assures the crew that he is on their side and that they are supposed to defer to his authority from now on. He heads for the hatch to confront the creature and comes face-to-face with a dark-haired Spike, clad in a black leather Nazi jacket. "Angelus," Spike remarks. "They'll let anyone in here." Angel disbelievingly asks Spike if he is a Nazi; Spike says that he just ate one and took his jacket. Spike assumes that Angel was grabbed by the S.S. the same way he was - by being lured by an invitation to a "free virgin blood party."
Spike introduces Angel to the two other recently freed prisoners, vampires named Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies. When Spike learns that several humans are still alive, he wants to kill them; Angel forbids killing the humans because they need the crew to get back to the surface ("We're underwater?" the confused Prince of Lies asks). Spike tries to prove that he can steer them out, but he just sets off an alarm. When Nostroyev insists upon killing all but one of the crew, Angel kills him. When Angel reiterates his demand that no humans be killed, Spike gives him the two-fingered salute and a "heil Hitler."
In the present, Lawson confronts Angel in his office. Angel recognizes him and learns that Lawson has been keeping tabs on him on and off over the past 60 years.
Back on the sub, Angel introduces the human crew to Spike and the Prince of Lies, telling them to put the vamps to work. Angel and Lawson move the dead crew members out of the way as Lawson says that he is not sure how to feel about Spike being there, since he killed the captain. Angel reminds him that they have to follow orders and bring the sub in. Lawson replies that "there's a difference between orders and purpose." He can handle dying, as long as it is for a greater purpose. Angel tells him that the job they do will help win the war, so they need to work together, and that he doesn't need Lawson to understand every detail, just to trust that Angel will get all of them through this safely.
In the present, Lawson asks Angel if he only did what he did on the sub for himself. He wants to understand "why we do what we do." Angel attacks Lawson and starts to stake him with a coffee table leg, but Lawson asks if he really wants to do that. Angel reminds him that the last time they saw each other, Angel promised he would kill Lawson the next time they met. Lawson says that he would never come to Angel without having something up his sleeve. He takes Angel to a conference room, where Angel sees that Wesley, Fred, and Gunn are all tied up and standing on office chairs. Lawson explains that the gang have wire around their necks, so if they get knocked off their chairs, they'll be decapitated. He parrots what Angel said back on the sub about trusting him to get them all through this.
In the past, the crew takes control of the submarine while Spike complains to Angel that he wants to steer the sub and be addressed as "Captain", given that he ate the captain. Angel puts him to work and tries to assure Lawson that he can control Spike. They two hear screaming from the next room and rush over to discover that the Prince of Lies is beating up the captured Nazi. He and Lawson try to get the Prince of Lies away from the Nazi, but Angel has to stake him to stop him. Angel has to explain to Lawson that the Prince of Lies was a vampire. Spike points out that the Prince of Lies was holding a report in German and demands that the Nazi tell them what it contains. Lawson translates an impromptu interrogation while Spike "menaces" the Nazi officer, who reveals that the Nazis have been doing experiments on vampires, trying to learn how to control them. The Nazis eventually plan to use the controlled vampires in the Nazi army. Spike is furious about what the Nazis are doing, and assumes that the Americans want the sub because they have similar plans. Accordingly, Spike reiterates his desire to kill the crew, but Angel and Lawson stop him. Lawson insists that the Americans would never experiment on vampires or try to control them, saying: "You don't win a war by doing whatever it takes. You win by doing what's right." Angel tells Spike to burn the report, which he does (while singing "God Save the King"), much to the dismay of the Nazi officer. By this time, Spike has figured out that Angel is playing both sides with the humans and vampires, and expresses both surprise and respect for the move.
They hear an explosion, and a distracted Spike accidentally sets his clothes on fire instead of burning up the whole report. Enemy destroyers are spotted and the crew tries the submarine, but after more explosions the sub is rendered motionless. The sub starts taking on water and Angel helps fix the pipes to stop the flow. As Spike notes that the Nazi has disappeared, Lawson looks for his screwdriver. He turns around and the Nazi stabs him in the stomach with the missing screwdriver. Angel tries to get the dying Lawson to tell him how to get the sub home. Lawson says that he's the only one who knows how to do what needs to be done. Angel reluctantly vamps out and bites Lawson, then makes Lawson drink from him.
Later, Angel heads back to the main room and tells the crew to get ready to surface. The newly sired Lawson repairs the sub and thanks Angel. However, he now wants to eat the rest of the crew, since he and Angel do not need them anymore. Angel takes Lawson to the main room, warning the rest of the crew to keep their distance from him, and forces him to leave the sub to swim the 20 miles to dry land. He warns Lawson that the sun will come up in eight hours, and tells him that if he ever sees him again, he will kill him. As Lawson leaves the sub. Spike laughs at Angel's actions, telling him that he is "still a dick," and is irritated when Angel also forces him to leave under the same conditions as Lawson.
In the present, Angel tells Lawson that he never wanted to sire him, but Lawson notes that it seemed fair to sacrifice his life to help the Americans. Angel tells him that killing the gang will not change the past; Lawson says that it will hurt Angel, which might be enough for him. "It never is," Angel replies. They fight, and Lawson accuses Angel of making him nothing because Angel gave him a little bit of his soul, leaving him caught between human and vampire. Lawson tries to stake Angel, who turns the stake around so it is pointing at Sam. "Go on, Chief. Give me a mission," Lawson says. Angel stakes him. The next day, Spike goes to Angel's office, explaining that Fred filled him in on the events of the previous night. He thinks that Lawson was there for revenge, but Angel says that he came there for "a reason."
- Anachronism Stew: During the flashback sequences there is little or no attempt to use the language of 1943. Anachronistic phrases like "back in the day", "hold it together", "don't lose your cool", a joke that assumes everyone is familiar with a melon baller, etc., abound.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Angel siring Sam Lawson, an engineer, after a stab wound prevents him from finishing his repairs to the sub's engine. Once a vampire, Lawson completes his repairs. Angel states this is the only time he ever sired someone after gaining a soul. (He even refused to re-sire Darla when she was slowly dying of syphilis).
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Nostroyev claims to have been Rasputin's lover.
- Blessed with Suck: As a vampire, Lawson is unable gain any pleasure from his violence, a fact which he attributes to Angel having a soul when he sired him. Unfortunately for Lawson, he didn't absorb enough of Angel's soul to suppress his dark impulses, leaving him neither one thing nor the other. He's kind of irritated.
- Blind Obedience: Discussed by Lawson on the sub, who tells Angel he used to mock military boys for this attitude before hearing about the atrocities the Nazis were committing convinced him to enlist. He wants to be sure that following Angel's orders will lead to some greater good, given that he's being asked to have his men work with the vampires who slaughtered their friends and take everything on faith.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: In the opening, Lawson gets splattered with blood from his captain's death.
- Bound and Gagged: Wesley, Gunn and Fred are standing on swivel chairs with wire nooses around their necks; one bump and it's Off With Your Heads.
- The Bus Came Back: In-universe example with Lawson. As Spike so eloquently puts it, "So sailor boy finally came back for a yo-ho-ho, did he?"
- The Butcher: Nostroyev is the "Scourge of Siberia and Butcher of Alexander Palace".
- Call-Forward:
- 1943-Spike declares "I'm not going to be experimented on by his (Lawson's) government!" and 1943-Angel replies "And I'm not going to get trapped at the bottom of the ocean!". Both statements make perfect sense in context but are hilarious, because the viewer knows that about sixty years later, Spike will be experimented on by the US government (the same Initiative that sent Angel, in fact), and Angel will spend several months trapped underwater.
- Spike takes an interest in the U-Boat Captain's Badass Longcoat. He'll eventually permanently adopt one as part of his outfit 30 years later when he kills Nikki Woods and takes her coat as a trophy.
- The "Demon Research Initiative" is an apparent precursor to "The Initiative" in Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Nazis' experiments on vampires (involving brain surgery, stimulation and control) sound similar to what was done to Spike. The implication is that the US government found the blueprints and decided it was a good idea.
- Continuity Nod:
- 1943-Spike still isn't aware that Angel has a soul (which fits with Spike's introductory Buffy episode "School Hard", where he initially thinks Angel is Angelus), though the 1940s version of the Initiative does know.
- Nostroyev says that he was Rasputin's lover. In history class at UC Sunnydale, Buffy floated a theory intimating that Rasputin was a vampire and that was why were sightings of him after his Rasputinian Death.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon:Nostroyev: I will tear you open and play "Coachman, Spare Your Horses" on the lute of your entrails.Prince of Lies: I will suck the brain from your skull and digest your thoughts like a sour pudding.
- Death Seeker: Present-day Lawson's motive.
- Destination Defenestration: Angel chucks Lawson through one of the W&H building's internal windows.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Lawson misses the clarity of purpose he had while he was human, when the war was presented to him as a simple struggle against evil.Lawson: Imagine my surprise when I found out that Mr. Vermin-eater himself was suddenly fighting evil and running Wolfram & Hart. Mind explaining that one to me? Those two don't exactly go hand in hand.Angel: It's complicated.Lawson: Find that's true about most things these days. I don't mean to sound like an old man, but... (sighs) we used to live in simpler times, didn't we? Never thought I'd miss being on that sub. Things made a kind of sense.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The United States trying to seize Nazi military research for their own purposes.
- Doomed by Canon: The Initiative's supernatural experiments will fail to even get off the ground during WWII, given they won't come to fruition until Buffy Season Four over 50 years later.
- Dramatic Irony: Retroactive instance for Season Two's "The Trial" thanks to Lawson's situation. Due the nature of Angel's curse, Lawson became a flawed, only half-turned Vampire that could take no joy in his nature. So this means that even if Angel had turned Darla back into a Vampire like she wanted at the time, it wouldn't have done any good and she'd have ended up just like Lawson.
- Emergency Transformation: Angel reluctantly sires Lawson after the latter is fatally stabbed by the Nazi prisoner, because he's the only one who can get the submarine working.
- Enemy Mine: Angel forces the soldiers and the vampires to work together. While Spike (reluctantly) follows Angel's lead, and the humans cooperate with the vamps despite their misgivings, Nostroyev doesn't toe the line and is offed quickly, with the Prince of Lies initially helping but later going berserk when he discovers the Nazi plans and being similarly put down as a result.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Lawson doesn't believe at first that the US want to copy the Germans' plans of creating an army of controlled vampires, saying only the Nazis could conceive of something so perverse, but in fact that's exactly why the sub is so important to the American government that they sent Angel to recover it. Angel decides to go against orders and burn the Nazi plans, but the audience knows the Initiative will eventually succeed in recreating the experiment by the late 1990s.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Soulless!Spike may be a vampire, but he's against the Nazis. Doesn't stop him from popping on an officer's trenchcoat (complete with the Nazi band still on it), though.Angel: (sees the Nazi armband on Spike) Spike? You're a Nazi?Spike: Nah. Just ate one.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Sam wonders aloud where his screwdriver has got to, just before the Nazi appears and stabs him with it.
- Flipping the Bird: Spike's Heil Hitler.
- Foregone Conclusion: Despite their interactions, Spike will not realize that Angelus has regained his soul (as he won't discover this until over 50 years later during Buffy Season Two).
- Foreshadowing: Gunn has trouble recalling something from his enhanced memory.
- Ghostapo: The Nazis hope to build an army of mind-controlled vampires. A subversion in that it's noted that the US is trying to achieve the same thing (they'll try again half a century later).
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Spike (in vamp mode) leans on the surviving Nazi officer while Lawson questions him.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When Lawson Wrench Whacks the Nazi scientist, his death is shown by his blood-splattered glasses dropping to the deck.
- Got Volunteered: Angel isn't interested in joining the war effort, so the US Government wraps heavy chains around his legs and throws him overboard. The only way to get them off is to get the help of the sailors onboard the submarine.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Wesley takes a certain amount of pleasure in the news that Knox has mucked up one of Fred's experiments.
- How We Got Here: Begins with Angel's friends being picked off one-by-one by a well-groomed vampire. The rest of the episode consists of flashbacks to a World War II submarine, where the mystery man (Lawson) first crossed paths with Angel.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Angel sired Lawson after being cursed; this had devastating consequences for the "child", who eventually came looking for revenge. The newly-turned Lawson could gain no pleasure from feeding, perhaps as a result of Angel's curse plus his own former idealistic nature, and so resented him even more. Angel even calls him "son" at one point.Lawson: Do I have one [a soul], too?Angel: I don't think it works that way, son.
- Which confirms that if Angel had turned Darla as he suggested at the end of "The Trial", it wouldn't have worked out well.
- Improvised Weapon: Angel knocks Nostroyev down with a fire axe, breaking the handle in the process, which he then uses to stake him.
- I'm Standing Right Here:Nostroyev: (to Angel) You may have made a name for yourself muscling around weaker vampires...
Spike: Hang on! - Insistent Terminology: Spike insists on being called 'Captain'. "After all, I did eat him."
- Ironic Echo: "Safe and sound".
- Just Between You and Me: Interrupted by Angel trying to stake Lawson. Lawson however has taken the precaution of booby-trapping his hostages before confronting Angel (though not in a way that would put them in danger from Lawson's death, as it turns out).
- Klingon Promotion: Discussed by Spike, who wants the crew to call him "Captain" now, since he ate their captain.
- Looks Like Orlok: The Prince of Lies is probably the most explicit version of this trope in the Buffyverse, with trademark pointed ears and long fingers. Like other Buffyverse examples of inhuman-looking vampires such as Kakistos and the Master, his appearance is credited to extremely great age.
- My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Discussed. Lawson says that this trope isn't true.
- Nonindicative Name: The Prince of Lies doesn't actually do any lying. Unless he was lying about his name...
- "Open!" Says Me: The DRI doesn't believe in knocking either.
- Perp Sweating:Spike: I'll menace, you talk.
- Putting on the Reich: It's just like Spike, no matter how much their actions horrify him, to put on a Nazi coat replete with Swastika for shits and giggles.
- Refuge in Audacity: Spike spends a good chunk of the episode wearing a Nazi officer's coat, swastika and all, but observes that he just liked the jacket after he killed its original wearer.
- The Reveal: What terrible Eldritch Abomination is waiting for Angel at the bottom of the ocean? It's Spike! And he's wearing a coat!
- Remember the New Guy?: Lawson, who's revealed to be the only Vampire Angel's sired since getting cursed. Justified, as the shame of that necessary evil is why Angel's never discussed Lawson with either the Scoobies or the Fang Gang until now.
- Same Clothes, Different Year: Spike becomes so taken with a U-boat captain's leather trenchcoat he kills him for it.
- Schmuck Bait: Spike says that he was captured by the SS when he showed up for a "free virgin blood party" in Madrid."One minute, I'm asking a fella why all the virgins look like Goebbels
. Next minute, I'm stuck in a box on this cursed ship." - Shout-Out:
- The title, to Why We Fight.
- One of the human crew compares Angel to "Steve Rogers or Captain America". His friend tells him that Steve Rogers is Captain America, which surprises him.
- Smash Cut: As the episode jumps back and forth between the past and the present.
- Stealth Pun: Spike warns Angel that his friends are a bit stiff. He opens the hatch to reveal a pile of corpses.
- Straw Nihilist: Lawson after Angel turns him. He can't be good, can't be evil, he's immortal and purposeless.
- Sub Story: The episode is a WWII flashback where Angel is sent by the U.S. government to help bring in a captured U-boat.
- Super-Soldier: The American soldiers speculate that Angel is one, given his ability to survive the ocean's depths in order to reach them on the sub, not realizing that he's a vampire like the creatures that attacked them.
- Super-Strength: Angel squeezes a pipe to stop it leaking.
- Swiss-Cheese Security: Wolfram & Hart's lousy security strikes again. Possibly revenge for how Team Angel kept making them look ridiculous in the early seasons.Lawson: Aren't you going to ask how I got in here?
Angel: No. You'd be amazed at how many people break into this building on a regular basis. - Tempting Fate:Spike: Krauts are shooting blanks. (depth charges go off)
- Spike scoffs at the idea of keeping the crew alive to pilot the submarine. "How hard can it be?" He pulls a lever and a klaxon goes off.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Plenty from the other vampires but not Spike, interestingly enough. He just resorts to snarking while deferring to Angel's authority. The fact that "Angelus" doesn't hesitate to stake anyone who disobeys him probably has something to do with it.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Present-day Lawson says this was his last thought while dying on the sub.
- Transhuman Treachery: After being turned, Lawson only sees his former comrades-in-arms as lunch. "They look so small."
- Trust Password: Angel gives the correct codewords and countersign for Lawson's mission to get his cooperation and designate himself as the acting commanding officer.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Switching between Lawson talking with Angel about events on the sub in the present day and the flashback scenes.
- Villain Cred:Nostroyev: Used to be quite the terror back in the day. Haven't heard much of you lately, though.Angel: Haven't heard much of you, ever.
- Uncertain Doom: Zigzagged with Lindsey getting Dragged Off to Hell by the Senior Partners at the end of the previous episode. According to Gunn, W&H precedent means Lindsey should be boiling in his own filth right about now. However, this is Lindsey we're talking about; the Fang Gang thought they were finally rid of him before and that didn't stick. More, Angel doesn't trust the Senior Partners either. After the "Doyle" fiasco, Angel understandably wants confirmation Lindsey's in the middle of his own personal hell and off the board, lest they get blindsided again. But with Eve's treachery and flight, they've lost their liaison to the Senior Partners until they see fit to appoint a successor. In the meantime, Gunn's working on alternate avenues of getting the confirmation.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Following the events of the previous episode, Eve is now on the run from the wrath of both the Fang Gang and the Senior Partners. Officially, the W&H search teams haven't been able to pick up her trail (though Lorne thinks they did capture her off-screen and are intentionally keeping the Fang Gang in the dark). We won't find out her whereabouts until "A Hole in the World".
- Whole Episode Flashback: To 1943.
- What the Hell, Vampire Yoda?Spike: Bloody brilliant. Turn the poor sod to save the ship, then make him dash to dry land before the sunshine scorches him a new one. You're still a dick.
- Spike finds out just how much of a dick when Angel makes him do the same.
- You Are in Command Now: Lawson is briefly put in charge of the American crew on the captured German submarine following the murder of his captain by Spike. Once aboard, Angel assumes control thanks to the command codes provided him by the U.S. military, although Lawson remains mindful of his crew's safety when Angel orders them to work with the vampires and not question the mission's objective.
