Happy Anniversary

Season 2, Episode 13
Written by David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon
Directed by Bill L. Norton
Original Airdate: 6 February 2001

“It’s the change we’re listening for… the note coming after and the one after that. That’s what makes it music.”
Lorne

REGULAR CAST

David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

GUEST CAST

Andy Hallett as Lorne
Brigid Brannagh as Virginia Bryce
Matt Champagne as Gene Rainy
Darby Stanchfield as Denise
Mike Hagerty as Bartender

CO-STARRING

Victoria L. Kelleher as Val
Danny LaCava as Mike
Mike Lange as Lubber #1
Geremy Dingle as Student Clerk
Michael Faulkner as Guy on Stage
Norma Michaels as Aunt Helen
Frank Novak as Curmudgeonly Father
Al LeBrun as Man
Bob Jesser as Torto Demon

SYNOPSIS

Wesley and Cordelia discuss their future as investigators without Angel and most likely without enough clients to keep their business running for long. At the hotel, Angel awakes to the singing of the Host down in the lobby. He tells Angel the story of a guy who came to sing at Caritas and when reading the man’s mind, the host realized the world would be ending.

The man singing at the bar, a physicist named Gene Rainy works on a formula to stop time. His girlfriend, Denise visits him and they talk of their plans for their first anniversary. Angel and the Host check out karaoke bars to find Gene. After an unsuccessful attempt to test his formula, Gene leaves his work area and two Lubber demons emerge from the shadows to alter the formula Gene has been working on. Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia mope about their job troubles but Virginia stops by with food, champagne, and a case they can take to earn a lot of money.

Angel and the Host check out yearbooks at the college library for the name of their depressed mystery man. Denise confesses to her friend that she has to break up with Gene because things aren’t working out. Gene overhears this and returns to the lab, dejected. While getting directions to Gene and the Physics lab, Angel is attacked by the Lubber demons.

Finally, at the Physics lab, it’s discovered that Gene is gone and so is his equipment. He has plans to freeze time during a moment of love between him and Denise. Angel confesses his many problems to the Host as they rush to stop Gene before he stops everything. Gunn kills the demon that he and the others were hired to protect a rich family from. Wesley discovers the real truth behind the murder, that one of the family hired the demon to kill one of the men and gain control of the family money.

Angel and the Host take care of several Lubber demons who tried to stand in the way, then rush to stop Gene before it’s too late. Gene freezes Denise and himself in a moment of passion, but Angel is able to get past several more Lubber demons then stop the machine and undo the whole process. Gene later confesses he didn’t know the overall effects of his actions; he just didn’t want to loose his love. At their new office, Wesley, Cordelia and Gunn party in celebration of their success with several friends until a man shows up in need of their services.

TRIVIA

The establishing shots of Gene’s university are of the Valley Life Sciences Building at University of California, Berkeley.

CONTINUITY

Angel says he can relate to love and how it might destroy the world, referring to the events of the Buffy episode Surprise and the culmination of said events in Becoming (Part 2).

Angel wields the same blade in the physics lab that Buffy used in Anne and Gunn, Fred, and Connor will use in Deep Down.

GOOFS

In the opening shot of the episode, Angel’s reflection can be seen silhouetting the light from the inside of the room that is reflected on the glass doors.

As the field expands, one of the demons tries to enter an equation but is interrupted. This doesn’t make any sense: if it were required for the field to expand, it would have needed to have been entered before the field expanded. If it were supposed to stabilize the field, then it has no purpose, as the demons wanted the whole world frozen in time.

When Angel disconnects the power, the field collapses. However, the projectors of the field are already inside the field, so they wouldn’t be affected by changes outside it. Also, if the field had actually expanded to cover the world, the power grid itself would have been inside the field and thus unable to supply power.

When Angel’s car collides with the Lubber demon, as the demon is flying over the car, the car is stationary when we see it from behind and the side. In the fourth shot, when the demon is lying behind the car, the car is moving again as we see it coming to a halt.

During the party at the end, the camera shows a shot of Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley dancing, then a panning shot of them dancing from outside the window, then another shot of them before they stop and consult the customer. The position of Cordelia’s dance quickly changes in between the panning shot to the third shot.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Blood Money / The Thin Dead Line

STORY ORDER
Checkpoint / Blood Ties