

Season 5, Episode 3
Written by Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft
Directed by Marita Grabiak
Original Airdate: 15 October 2003
“You know that “whoosh” thing that you do where you’re not there anymore? I love that.”
Angel
REGULAR CAST
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- James Marsters as Spike
- J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
- Amy Acker as Winifred ‘Fred’ Burkle
- Andy Hallett as Lorne
- Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
GUEST CAST
- Jenny Mollen as Nina Ash
- John Billingsley as Dr. Royce
CO-STARRING
- Heidi Dippold as Jill
- Sascha Shapiro as Amanda
- Braeden Marcott as Jacob Crane
SYNOPSIS
The Angel Investigations team gather outside LA, faking a conversation to see if Wolfram & Hart – or more importantly, the Senior Partners – are monitoring them. Frustrated, they find no bugs or wires on any of them. Suspicion lingers that Gunn might have insider knowledge, possibly linked to the Senior Partners, but he’s furious at the suggestion. Angel suddenly asks Wesley for her sterling silver pen and leaves. Nearby, a young girl is attacked by what looks like a werewolf. Angel intervenes, killing the beast with the silver pen. The girl doesn’t stay to thank him – she was bitten.
The next morning, Angel hands Gunn a sketch of her, and the team begin their search. Meanwhile, Fred works in her office when Spike phases through the wall, anxious for updates on his predicament. She tells him there’s been progress but rushes off to focus on the werewolf situation, leaving Spike feeling even more lost. In the lab, the team analyse the case. Lorne offers ideas that lead them to a name – Nina Ash.
Nina wakes up disoriented, her senses heightened. In the kitchen, her sister and niece chatter, unaware of her turmoil. An urge washes over her – to slash her niece’s throat. Horrified, she fights it. Elsewhere, Angel and the team track Nina’s name to an address.
That night, while babysitting, Nina worsens and stumbles upstairs. She collapses, transforming into a werewolf. Her niece lingers outside the door. Angel crashes through the window and wrestles the beast to the ground as Wesley fires tranquilizer darts.
When Nina wakes, she’s naked and locked in a cell. Angel tries to reassure her, but all she wants is out. He convinces her to stay long enough to see something – footage of her transformation. Shocked, she listens as Angel tells her he’s a vampire and promises they’ll help her. Later, Dr. Royce suggests bringing personal items from home to ease her distress. Fred takes Nina to retrieve them.
Arriving at Nina’s house, she hesitates. Her sister is cold, confused by Nina’s erratic behaviour. Nina quickly leaves, and Fred grabs some belongings. Outside, they find the security detail shot dead. Suddenly, men in black attack. Fred fights back but is overpowered. She is knocked out, and Nina is taken.
Nina wakes hanging from her wrists.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, Lorne interrogates Royce as the team crack down on staff, searching for the leak. Fred blames herself. Spotting Spike, she calls out, but he doesn’t respond. She follows him into Royce’s office, where she collides with the wall Spike just walked through. Recovering, she knocks over a bin, revealing a vial inside. When Royce returns, she knocks him out with a lamp. Gunn, Fred, and Wesley sift through his things – Fred finds something and rushes to Angel. It’s a menu.
Meanwhile, Nina is carted in on a lavish dinner table – garnished and prepared to be eaten. Angel forces Royce to reveal the location.
Gunn and Wesley provide backup while Angel infiltrates the dining hall. Chaos erupts, and Nina transforms, biting Royce before Wesley tranquilizes her. The team reclaim Nina, leaving Royce as the next werewolf meal.
Later that night, Spike visits Fred again, genuinely scared – his disappearances are lasting longer. Fred promises to help. The next day, Angel drives Nina home, reassuring her that she’ll get through this. She steps out of the car to her sister and niece, hesitating before walking toward them.
That evening, Angel invites everyone to his plush new apartment, complete with a gorgeous view. The team feel more relaxed – Angel included. Fred orders Chinese, and for a moment, it feels like nothing ever changed.
CONTINUITY
Nina’s type of werewolf returns to their human form after death and is considered very rare in North America. This is different from the one Gib Cain hunted for their pelts in Phases and from Veruca, who stayed in wolf form after her death in Wild at Heart.
Wesley is suspicious of Knox being evil. This turns out to be true, as will be revealed in A Hole in the World.
Spike says something is trying to hold on to him when he vanishes. Hell Bound will reveal what is trying to drag him to where.
Fred tells Nina she spent 5 years in a demon dimension, until Angel saved her. This happened in There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb, when Angel and the rest of the team brought Fred back from Pylea.
Fred refers to Cordelia, with whom Angel was in love, but has been in a mystical coma since Inside Out.
Wesley says, “An underground, monster-hunting military organization. It’s happened before.” He is referring to the Initiative in Sunnydale.
When Gunn asks the man hosting the party if leprechaun soufflé is next, the man replies that leprechauns don’t exist. In Faith, Hope and Trick, Buffy also asked Giles if leprechauns were real, to which he replied that he didn’t think so. After the new seed of magick is activated in season nine, a leprechaun is seen asking Buffy for an audience in season ten.
Angel is attracted to Nina and vice-versa. They will plan a date in Smile Time.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
EPISODE
Just Rewards / Hell Bound









