She

Season 1, Episode 13
Written by Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt
Directed by David Greenwalt
Original Airdate: 8 February 2000

“Wow. Grovelling isn’t just a way of life for you, it’s an art.”
Cordelia

REGULAR CAST

David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

SPECIAL GUEST STAR

Bai Ling as Jhiera

GUEST CAST

Colby French as Tay
Heather Stephens as Shari
Sean Gunn as Mars

CO-STARRING

Tracey Costello as Laura
André L. Roberson as Diego
P.J. Marino as Peter Wilkers
Honor Bliss as Girl
Chris Durand as Demon Henchman #1
Alison Simpson as Demon Girl #1
Lucas Dudley as Security Guard

SYNOPSIS

Cordelia throws a party at her place, which Angel and Wesley both attend. A woman tries to get Angel to dance, but a mental flash of the wacky dancing he could do keeps Angel from saying yes. Angel mopes at the party, and finds his only friend is phantom Dennis. A man at the Ice Factory hears voices from a large box and opens it.

The next morning, Cordelia informs Angel that he wasn’t any fun at the party. Wesley is at a loss for money, so Angel offers him a job at Angel Investigations. Cordelia has a vision of a man being burned from the inside, which sends Angel and Wesley go to the scene at the Ice Factory. Angel finds the remains of the man and the empty crate filled with ice. He finds a demon named Tae, who is from another dimension. He was sent to bring back the demon that has escaped from his realm.

Angel goes searching for information on Peter Wilkers, the man that was burned by searching through his office. In the midst of his search however, Angel is attacked by a female demon that kills with the power of fire. She knocks Angel out of the way with a powerful blow and then leaves when she gets a call on her cell phone. Angel calls Cordelia on a bad cell phone connection while he chases after the she demon. Angel follows her through an art gallery and begins to talk about the art to a group of people to avoid the security guards looking for him.

Meanwhile, Wesley discovers information on this demon species. Angel goes to a back room and encounters the female demon, Jheira. Another female demon enters this universe through a portal, but Tae and other males of the species arrive and attack them. They take the new girl and bring her to a building. With a special tool, the “un-make” her. At Angel’s place, Jheira tells Angel about her kind. The personalities of the women are taken away–they are un-made–when they reach a certain age so that they can better serve the men. She tells him about the fire beneath her skin and how ice is the only way to cool that fire.

After discovering that the demons are herbivores and eat their weight in food, Cordelia and Wesley go looking for compost. They find the demons and overhear a conversation about their plans to capture Jheira, who is a princess in their world and bring her back. Jheira goes to the other women that are being kept safe on beds of ice. She talks with a human male who is helping her take care of the other women from her world. They try to make arrangements for the females to be moved to another, safer location.

After Cordelia and Wesley tell Angel about what they heard, they head to the location where Jheira and the other women are. Angel has the address from a paper he stole from Wilkers’s office. While Cordelia and Wesley get the other girls out, Angel helps Jheira fight. When the other women are safe, Wesley and Cordelia return to the fight. They get held hostage and Jheira is willing to let them die in exchange for the survival and freedom of her own kind. With the other girls in boxes of ice on the back of a truck, Jheira tries to drive them away, but is attacked by two of the male demons. Before they can un-make her, Angel stops them and Jheira gets away.

The next day, Wesley apologizes for being taken as a hostage. Jheira shows up and she talks with Angel. The other women are safe, away from the city. The tension thick between them, Jheira leaves to continue what she does. Angel promises that he’ll do what he has to if she takes her mission to save the innocent too far.

TRIVIA

Writer Tim Minear had originally put the dance David Boreanaz performs in his imagination into Sense and Sensitivity but removed it on Joss Whedon’s request; “Plus,” Minear says, “we wanted to save it until it was just right. Here’s this guy who looks like this, and he’s a complete social retard. I think we’ve had a lot of success playing that aspect of the character.”

Angel follows Jhiera into the real Japanese American National Museum, located in Los Angeles.

The end credits feature additional footage of Wesley and Angel’s dancing skills. This is the second time in the Buffyverse that a scene is played as the credits roll, a format also used in the episodes The Puppet Show and Judgement.

Bai Ling, who played Jhiera, said of her character: “[She’s] so cool. She seduced Angel, and yet she’s very dangerous and independent. She’s got all those things that a modern woman wants, yet she’s a princess. She has her own duty to do good things for the people in her land. She’s got all this complexity and beauty.” She also said that the character was considered for a return, but it never happened.

This is the second guest appearance for Sean Gunn, who played Lucas in Hero.

CONTINUITY

Having assisted Angel in Cordelia in Parting Gifts, Somnambulist, and Expecting, Wesley becomes an official member of Angel Investigations.

Angel will say once again he doesn’t dance in Judgement, when he will also display his inability to sing.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Expecting / I’ve Got You Under My Skin

STORY ORDER
Goodbye Iowa / I’ve Got You Under My Skin