

Season 4, Episode 1
Written by Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by Terrence O’Hara
Original Airdate: 6 October 2002
“I’ll take away your bucket.”
Wesley
REGULAR CAST
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
- J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
- Amy Acker as Winifred ‘Fred’ Burkle
- Vincent Kartheiser as Connor Angel
- Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
- Andy Hallett as Lorne
GUEST CAST
- John Rubinstein as Linwood Murrow
- Laurel Holloman as Justine Cooper
- Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan
- Daniel Dae Kim as Gavin Park
CO-STARRING
- Noel Gugliemi as Driver Vamp
- Rod Tate as Bruiser
- Ingrid Sonray as Marissa
SYNOPSIS
The entire Fang Gang, complete with Connor, Lorne, and Wesley sit around a table enjoying a happy meal together. Angel and Cordelia appear to be in a loving relationship and Connor has a great relationship with his father. 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 grave. 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 ask 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, much like he did last season. This time though, as he turns back to the car, Cordy’s waiting for him. They talk and he realizes that this isn’t the way things actually happened. Cordy professes her love for him and they kiss, but then Angel leans down on her neck and eagerly feeds from her. Under the water, Angel wakes up yelling. 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 two of their friends while a third has practically become their enemy.
Lilah collapses ontop of Wesley after another round of sex. Seemingly on much better terms, the two chat about Angel as Lilah gets dressed and prepares to return to work. After she leaves, Wesley dresses and proceeds towards a closet. Inside, he has Justine chained up in a cage and he annouces 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 and 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 explaination, but Linwood really isn’t interested.
Wesley finally sense 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. Angel relaxes back into the box, giving Wesley the opportunity to completely free him. Wesley slowly feeds Angel animal blood while Justine taunts him from the background.
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 enough and cuts his own arm to feed Angel. In a meeting, Linwood asks a room full of lawyers about Lilah and her future at the firm, but she quickly turns the tables on him. She annouces that she spoke with a seinor partner then with a touch of a button, Linwood is beheaded and she’s the new boss.
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 Connor’s connection to Angel’s dissapearance. Meanwhile, Wesley buckles Angel into the car and leaves Justine handcuffed to the pier. 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 leaves without much of an explaination.
As Wesley leaves, a noise is heard in the office, drawing the attention of the humans. 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. Angel gets Connor to admit truthfully that he had nothing to do with Cordy’s disapearance and then with a parting lecture about life and an admission of love, Angel tells Connor to leave. Angel stumbles a bit, but he’s set on his focus: finding Cordelia. High above, Cordelia annouces how incredibly bored she is.
TRIVIA
Alexis Denisof has been promoted, with an ‘and’ on the opening titles. Vincent Kartheiser has also joined the regular cast, continuing an Angel tradition of a guest star appearing in the last few episodes of a previous season with every intention of adding them as regulars the following year. J. August Richards and Amy Acker were also added to the regular cast this way.
Andy Hallett is now listed as a special guest star throughout his appearances this season, until Release when he is added to the opening titles. He only doesn’t appear in one episode this season.
CONTINUITY
With just Fred, Gunn and Connor, the Angel Investigations team is at its smallest since Parting Gifts, when it counted only Angel and Cordelia.
Fred uses Angel’s stake bracers, first seen in City Of.
The Hunga Munga is one of the weapons Gunn, Fred, and Connor carry at the beginning of the episode. It was first seen in Anne and appeared a second time in Happy Anniversary.
When Fred calls Lorne in Las Vegas, Lorne refers to a dog named Fluffy that Fred does not have. As it’ll be explained in The House Always Wins, Lorne is trying to subtly convey that something is wrong and he needs to be rescued.
Wesley resorts to imprisoning and torturing Justine, in order to rescue Angel. In Sanctuary, he pointed to Faith’s imprisoning and torturing of him as evidence that she was a bad person.
Before Wesley cuts himself to feed Angel, he raises his knife, creating the impression that he wants to cut Justine instead. Lilah performs a similar action towards Linwood before cutting herself to help Angel in Forgiving.
Angel says he once got stuck in a hell dimension by a girlfriend for a hundred years, referring to when Buffy sent him to Acathla’s dimension in Becoming (Part 2).
In Tomorrow, when Connor was closing Angel’s coffin, Angel said to him: “Some day, you’ll learn the truth and you’ll hate yourself. Don’t. It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you.” In this episode, Angel tells Connor the truth about Holtz’s death and says: “What you did to me was unbelievable,” now blaming him.
GOOFS
A vampire jumps on Gunn’s truck and shatters the windshield with his hand. However, every shot of the truck after that scene (when Gunn stops the truck and while they’re fighting the vamps from the convertible) shows the windshield unbroken.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
EPISODE
Tomorrow / Ground State
STORY ORDER
Selfless / Him









