Angel and Wesley are in Angel's kitchen, admiring a shiny new dagger. Wesley says that it can be used to kill a Kek demon. Angel points out that Kek demons are extinct, much to Wesley's chagrin. Suddenly there's a buzzing noise, and Cordelia calls, "They're done! Nobody touch!" Angel explains that Cordy is baking brownies. Wesley says, "Is that what I smell? I thought I'd tracked something in." Cordy struggles to cut the brownies, which she describes as being "full of nutty goodness." Cordy puts down the knife she was using and begins hacking away at the brownies with the Kek-slaying dagger. Wesley jumps out of his seat and complains, "That is not appropriate!" He whines, "Angel, make her stop," and suggests that Cordy's cooking may have a "corrosive effect" on the blade. Cordelia is not amused, and begins waving the knife in Wesley's direction. Wesley says that the brownies smell funny. Cordy says that maybe the yucky smell is Wesley's cologne. Why the hell is Wesley wearing cologne to hang out with Cordy and Angel? Angel, trying to calm things down, says, "Cordelia! Doyle! I mean, um, Wesley." Long, awkward pause. Angel finally asks them to stop fighting and mopes off to another room. If Cordy and Doyle had ever argued that way, Angel's faux pas might have seemed more plausible.
In a suburban house, complete with a white picket fence, a brother and sister are fighting. Just like Wesley and Cordelia. Only not quite as annoying. The boy, Ryan, claims that his sister, Stephanie, took one of his cards, and tries to grab her coloring book as retribution. Mom enters and tells them it's bedtime. The kids whine some more, and then Dad comes in as the synthesizer of foreboding warbles. "It's time for bed," Dad says with a complete lack of emotion. Mom tucks her son in and closes his bedroom door. She turns around to find Dad behind her, and asks, "Do we have to?" Dad padlocks Ryan's door without answering as the ominous warbling reaches ear-splitting volume. Credits.
Cordelia wanders into Angel's office and asks him, "Pretend to read any good books lately?" No, that didn't make sense to me, either. "You called him Doyle," Cordy says, in case Angel hadn't been paying attention to those noises that come out of his mouth from time to time. Angel says that he hopes Wesley's feelings weren't hurt. Cordy responds, "Oh, who cares about him? This is about Doyle. You never say his name." Please see recaps for evidence of exactly how untrue that is. It won't take long, since Angel mentioned Doyle by name in the very last episode. Cordy insists that Angel doesn't have to be "Joe Stoic" for her sake, and that it's okay to mention Doyle. Angel concedes that he misses Doyle. Whew, glad we resolved that. He goes on to say, "I've been around death before. A lot. I've lost people, I've killed people." "And you are dead," Cordy notes. Angel expresses guilt for Doyle's death, Cordy says that it wasn't Angel's fault. Cordy says that it hurts. Angel agrees. Cordy clarifies that what hurts is yet another vision, which I hope means that this bit of emotional delving is over with. Cordy sees little Ryan coloring, Dad looming, and their house number, 1256.
Moments? Hours? Days? later, Angel & Wesley pull up in front of the house in the Angelmobile. They immediately spot young Ryan, out for a walk in his pajamas. Ryan begins to cross the street as squealing tires indicate an approaching car. Angel runs out, grabs Ryan, and dives to safety on the grassy curb. Angel asks if the kid is okay. Ryan says that he is, and then tells Angel, "You're bleeding. Are you gonna cry?" Angel examines the scrape on his arm. I'm not sure how he managed to tear his jacket and scrape up his shoulder by rolling on the grass. It must be that special jagged kind of grass they have in California. Anyway, Angel ponders this question and says, "I don't think so. I don't know. Let me think. Uh, no... Yeah... No... No, not gonna cry!" Ryan chuckles. Okay, that was reasonably cute. Angel asks why Ryan was taking a moonlight stroll, but just then Dad starts shouting. He runs out and grabs Ryan, telling him, "You know better than this! Say thank you to the nice man." Shrill music alerts us that Evil Is Afoot. Then Mom join the crowd, and tearfully thanks Angel. Dad offers a less enthusiastic thank you. Angel calls Ryan a "scamp," immediately alerting the family that he's two hundred years old. Mom notices the horrific wound Angel received from their suburban lawn, and insists that Angel comes inside to be patched up. Dad appears to be displeased. No one comments on the British twerp who is presumably watching this whole scene from a parked car across the street, perhaps because they're distracted by the blipvert.
Mom worries that Angel may need stitches, and provides some exposition indicating that the family has moved around a lot. Dad announces that Ryan has gone to sleep. Mom, whose name is Paige, keeps thanking Angel, and suggests that they can repay him by having her husband, Seth, give him some advice about investments. Dad must be evil; he's named Seth. And he's an investment counselor. Angel asks how Ryan managed to wander out into the street. Seth says, "Climbed out the window," in matter-of-fact tones. Paige adds, "We have burglar bars, but he must be able to fit between. We didn't think of that; didn't even bother checking." Angel probes, asking if Ryan might have been trying to get away from something. "What would he have to get away from in his own house?" Seth asks in as menacing a way as possible. Outside, Wesley picks through the garbage, where he finds pizza boxes, a baby doll, and a memo to Warner Brothers describing something called "subtlety." Wesley pokes the doll, which squeaks, "Mama," causing him to drop his flashlight and recoil in another bit of physical non-comedy. Upon picking up his flashlight, he notices some green stains on the side of the house. The marks of the killer grass, trying to claw it's way inside! Seth lights a cigarette, as yet another indicator that he's evil. He asks Angel if the cigarette bothers him. When Angel says it doesn't, Seth says, "Lot of health nuts these days, you know? Like anyone needs to live forever." Angel says, "No one needs that." Memo to the writers: I know I said I liked Angel better when he made jokes, but that's only true if the jokes are actually funny.
Moments? Hours? Days? later, Angel & Wesley pull up in front of the house in the Angelmobile. They immediately spot young Ryan, out for a walk in his pajamas. Ryan begins to cross the street as squealing tires indicate an approaching car. Angel runs out, grabs Ryan, and dives to safety on the grassy curb. Angel asks if the kid is okay. Ryan says that he is, and then tells Angel, "You're bleeding. Are you gonna cry?" Angel examines the scrape on his arm. I'm not sure how he managed to tear his jacket and scrape up his shoulder by rolling on the grass. It must be that special jagged kind of grass they have in California. Anyway, Angel ponders this question and says, "I don't think so. I don't know. Let me think. Uh, no... Yeah... No... No, not gonna cry!" Ryan chuckles. Okay, that was reasonably cute. Angel asks why Ryan was taking a moonlight stroll, but just then Dad starts shouting. He runs out and grabs Ryan, telling him, "You know better than this! Say thank you to the nice man." Shrill music alerts us that Evil Is Afoot. Then Mom join the crowd, and tearfully thanks Angel. Dad offers a less enthusiastic thank you. Angel calls Ryan a "scamp," immediately alerting the family that he's two hundred years old. Mom notices the horrific wound Angel received from their suburban lawn, and insists that Angel comes inside to be patched up. Dad appears to be displeased. No one comments on the British twerp who is presumably watching this whole scene from a parked car across the street, perhaps because they're distracted by the blipvert.
Mom worries that Angel may need stitches, and provides some exposition indicating that the family has moved around a lot. Dad announces that Ryan has gone to sleep. Mom, whose name is Paige, keeps thanking Angel, and suggests that they can repay him by having her husband, Seth, give him some advice about investments. Dad must be evil; he's named Seth. And he's an investment counselor. Angel asks how Ryan managed to wander out into the street. Seth says, "Climbed out the window," in matter-of-fact tones. Paige adds, "We have burglar bars, but he must be able to fit between. We didn't think of that; didn't even bother checking." Angel probes, asking if Ryan might have been trying to get away from something. "What would he have to get away from in his own house?" Seth asks in as menacing a way as possible. Outside, Wesley picks through the garbage, where he finds pizza boxes, a baby doll, and a memo to Warner Brothers describing something called "subtlety." Wesley pokes the doll, which squeaks, "Mama," causing him to drop his flashlight and recoil in another bit of physical non-comedy. Upon picking up his flashlight, he notices some green stains on the side of the house. The marks of the killer grass, trying to claw it's way inside! Seth lights a cigarette, as yet another indicator that he's evil. He asks Angel if the cigarette bothers him. When Angel says it doesn't, Seth says, "Lot of health nuts these days, you know? Like anyone needs to live forever." Angel says, "No one needs that." Memo to the writers: I know I said I liked Angel better when he made jokes, but that's only true if the jokes are actually funny.
Paige is startled to see that Angel's wounds have already healed. Angel tries to distract her by asking where the family used to live. Paige says, "Akron. One winter there was enough." Not because the winters are especially bad there, but because it's in Ohio. Seth interrupts suspiciously to ask Angel what his name is. Thinking quickly, Angel says, "Angel. Jones. Angel Jones." A delighted, and perhaps demented, Paige immediately pulls out several ceramic angel figures and says, "I collect them! I think the angels are around us all the time, don't you?" Angel offers, "I think there are... beings." Paige says, "It's a nice thought, like someone's looking out for us, keeping us out of danger. Tonight you really were our angel, weren't you?" Seth looks on with a disgusted expression. Seth and I are bonding a lot during this scene. He says, "It's getting late," and Angel gets up to leave. Paige invites Angel to come to dinner the night. Seth says, "We've taken up too much of Angel's time already." Angel pauses to consider this, and then asks if he can bring something for dinner. Paige grins. Angel rejoins Wesley in the car. The convertible's top is up now; for the record, it was down when they pulled up to the house. Angel tells Wesley, "There's something wrong in that house. Wife wants to talk, but the husband keeps getting in the way. I'm coming back tomorrow night." Wesley tells Angel to be careful, and holds up a bottle full of glow-stick juice, which he says he found all around the house. "Someone in that house is possessed by a demon," Wesley says. Stephanie watches them drive away.
The day, Cordy is wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt. It's kinda weird, and not that flattering, but stunningly conservative. Of course, I can't see what kind of skirt she's wearing, so there's still an opportunity for her to look freakish. Oh yeah, and she's saying something too. She hangs up the phone and tells Angel and Wesley, "Mom was telling the truth about Akron, and before than, Miami and Baton Rouge, all within the last three years." Angel shakes the glow-stick juice and theorizes that the family "couldn't lose the black cloud." Cordelia confirms this, saying, "Everywhere they go, there's been reports of disturbances and -- yuck -- animal deaths. In Akron, a friend of the family went missing. He's still missing." Cordelia picks up the bottle of still-glowing juice, and asks what it is. Wesley says, "It's the bodily excretion of an Ethros demon." Cordy makes a face and replaces the bottle, saying, "No one could have said 'demon-poo' before I touched it?" Wesley, missing the point, says that the juice is harmless but that the Ethros demon is not. "It tends to go in for mass murder," he explains. Wesley asks if Cordy has heard of Lizzie Borden. Cordy says, "I remember the children's rhyme. And how come they're all full of death, and cradles falling, and mice getting tails cut off? Anyway, the whole thing needs a rating system, don't you think?"
Battling to stay on topic, Wesley explains that Lizzie Borden was possessed by an Ethros demon when she allegedly, um, severed her relations. Angel adds that Lizzie was possessed by an adolescent demon, but the amount of glow-juice indicates that the one they've encountered is full-grown. Cordy asks, "So someone in the family's got a squatter in their head. What do we do about it?" "Evict him," says Angel. Hey buddy, haven't you ever heard that possession is nine-tenths of the law? Wesley says he'll start scouting around for an exorcist. Cordy asks how they can find out who the demon is inhabiting. Angel notes that everyone in the house seemed scared of Dad. Wesley says, "A father doesn't have to be possessed to terrorize his children, he just has to..." Wow, that came out of nowhere. The oboe of childhood trauma toots as Angel stares at Wesley, who quickly gets back on track. Wesley says, "A little psylis eucalipsis powder ingested by the host --" Cordy asks, "Then what? Dad goes, "Grrr?" Head spins around?" For some reason Wesley does not say, "Well, if you could have waited for me to finish my sentence, instead of interrupting, I would have already told you." Instead, he just nods and says, "Essentially." Angel wonders, "How do I get someone to eat eucalipsis powder?"
Paige opens to door to find Angel holding a platter. "I made brownies," he says. At dinner, Angel rejects an additional helping of brussel sprouts and claims that the roast was full of "roasty goodness." Oh dear, he's learning communication skills from Cordelia, isn't he? Paige goes to bring own the brownies while Seth goes to fetch coffee. Ryan tells Angel that he didn't like the brussel sprouts. Angel says to Stephanie, "You seemed to like yours." She grins and reveals that she hid her portion under her napkin. Angel whispers, "I buried one in my mashed potatoes too." The children giggle as Seth returns. Stephanie tells her dad, "Angel's funny." Seth says, "Yeah? He hides it well." Seth hasn't seen Angel dance. Paige comes back with the brownies, and everyone helps themselves. After a bite, Stephanie adds hers to the pile of food accumulating under her napkin. While Angel waits for Seth to eat one, Paige makes "yum" noises and asks Angel what his secret is. Angel stammers, "I use chocolate. That's why they're brown. Which gives them their name. Brownies!" After further delays, Seth finally takes a big bite of eucalypsis. And starts choking. Then Stephanie screams, and we see that someone has superimposed a bad makeup job on little Ryan. My goodness, it wasn't Seth who was possessed at all! Which could have been a cool twist, except that Seth's done everything but twirl a black moustache at this point and we all know it's never the most obvious suspect.
Ryan's face goes through some more distortions before he finally falls face down on his brownie. Paige rushes to her son as Angel explains, "Your son's possessed by a demon." Seth, finally allowed to express an emotion beyond vague menace, looks bewildered. Stephanie moans, "Ryan's bad. Ryan's always been bad." Seth sends Stephanie out of the room for being a big tattle-tale. Angel explains that he had to get the demon to show itself, so he put a secret ingredient in the brownies. Paige is not amused, and says, "I thought you were here to help us. You are not an angel!" Seth finally speaks up to defend Angel, saying "What was wrong with Ryan has been wrong for a long time. Now, you say you know how to help my son?" Actually, Angel never said that. Seth asks what Angel needs, and Angel asks for a phone. He telephones Wesley, who says, "I found the name of a priest, but we're having a spot of trouble running him to ground." Angel tells Wesley, "I need you to put together a binding powder. Everything you need is in the pantry. It'll contain him until we get the priest. We're coming to you." That is some well-stocked larder Angel has. After Angel hangs up the phone, Seth approaches. He says, "For the last three years, it has been all I can do to hold this family together. Now you come here and tell me there may be a reason for all the terror and confusion, and a way to end it. Maybe you are an angel." Angel ignores this bit of hero worship and tells Seth to find someone who can baby-sit Stephanie while the rest of the family goes to visit Angel's house o' blipverts.
Wesley lays Ryan down on Angel's bed while Cordy introduces herself to the parents. "Hi, I'm Cordelia. Sorry about the possession and everything!" she chuckles. She starts pouring a circle of powder out around the bed, and then stops to wonder if she should put plastic over the furniture. She asks Angel, "Are you expecting any big vomiting here, because I saw the movie?" Angel glares at her till she resumes her powder duties. Angel tells Paige that he and Wesley are going to find a priest, and in the meantime, "Do not break the circle. It's important. He'll try to get you to come to him. Don't do it. Don't touch him. He's been exposed, and he's angry. He'll kill you if he gets a chance. You got that?" Cordy says, "Jeez, we got it, circle, angry, kill-kill-kill! Go to church, already."
Angel and Wesley venture into one of Los Angeles' gothic cathedrals and interrupt a nun who's in the middle of a Hail Mary. She starts to ask Wesley how she can help him, and then sees Angel. "You would come into a place of worship?" she asks. Angel says, "I'm not what you think." The nun moves her hand so that the cross on her rosary swings toward Angel's hand. He quickly moves his hand out of the way and corrects himself, "Okay, yeah, I am. But I'm trying to help someone. A child who's possessed by an Ethros demon." Wesley explains that they're looking for Father Fredericks. The nun says that Fredericks is out behind the church, and then clarifies, "The last grave on the left." Angel pieces together the clues and asks, "The father's dead?" I can see why he went into the detective business. The nun tells them, "Six months ago a family came to Father Fredericks. Their daughter was possessed with a demon. A very powerful demon. Father Fredericks saved the young woman, but he couldn't save himself." She tells them that her prayers are with them, "Because what you're dealing with is very, very smart, and very dangerous." She looks at Angel and says "Even more dangerous than you," and then she turns to go. More dangerous than the great poof?
Back at Angel's, Ryan calls to his mom, claiming that he's scared. Paige begs to be allowed to go to her son, but Seth remains firm. Paige claims, "Things were going really well this time, weren't they? Couldn't we just keep on like it was?" Seth says, "No, not after Ohio." Cordelia asks what happened in Ohio, and Seth tells her that a family friend was killed in a fire. Paige insists that it had nothing to do with Ryan. Ryan starts calling for his mommy again, and Paige, crying, says, "I'm not going to him, okay? I'm playing by the stupid rules!" Cordy chirps, "Good! We can watch TV or play cards! You'll get caught up, [and] won't even hear your son's pain!" But alas, she's wrong, because we immediately hear Ryan saying that he's scared and needs his mom. Cordy assures them that Wesley and Angel will be back soon with a priest.
Wesley is filling a bottle with holy water while he tells Angel, "I know the ritual, we have the supplies." Angel is skeptical, and says, "You've never done this before. Look, it takes tremendous strength. Mental strength." Like, the kind of discipline it takes to decide that you're just friends with Buffy, and then you're dating her, and then you're just friends, and then you're dating, and then you can't be in the same town she is? That kind? Angel adds, "Wesley, you don't even have sales resistance. How many thighmasters do you own?" Wesley, annoyed, points out that, "The second one was a free gift with my "Buns of Steel." Angel argues that Father Fredericks, an expert, was killed fighting a demon like this one. Wesley finally seems to give in and says, "So our only option is [that] you do it," as he tosses a cross to Angel. Angel clumsily tries to catch it, we hear sizzling, and he drops it to the floor. The captioning indicates that Angel "Sighs and exhales" -- I'm not sure what the distinction between the two is. Then he complains, "That was vulgar." "But I believe I made my point," Wesley responds. Angel agrees to let Wesley do the exorcism, "but I'm gonna be right there with you." They head home as the blipvert strikes.
Paige stands in the bedroom doorway, reassuring Ryan that she's not going anywhere. Seth and Cordy encourage Paige to go back to the kitchen. Ryan, whose face is kind of bumpy and scabby and demonic, begs his mom to come help him. Paige reassures him, "I'm right here, baby." Ryan begins growling and tossing about on the bed, doing his very best Linda Blair impression. Paige struggles to get to her son while Seth and Cordy hold her back. Upstairs, Angel and Wesley decide they can take the elevator, because it's not like there's any reason to hurry. Wesley suddenly looks up from the book he's perusing and says, "I believe I know how the priest was killed. When an Ethros is cast out, it immediately seeks another body to inhabit, but the demon is expelled with such force that the newly inhabited rarely survives." Dramatic zoom in on Angel, who summarizes, "That's a problem."
Upon hearing Paige's screams from downstairs, they rush... into the elevator. Has someone broken the stairs? Upon hearing the elevator approach, everyone downstairs stops struggling to watch the fascinating process of a metal box descending. Paige takes this opportunity to break free and run into the bedroom, breaking the circle of baking soda. The bedroom doors slam shut, and the elevator begins going back up without giving Angel and Wesley a chance to get out. Lame-eys in a cage. Ryan pets Paige's cheek and says, "Mommy, I'm so glad you're here." Then he proceeds to strangle her. Cordy and Seth finally manage to open the doors and begin trying to pull Paige out of Ryan's grasp. Cordy runs back toward the elevator just as Wesley and Angel hurry down the stairs. If these idiots were the only thing standing between me and the forces of darkness, I'd look for a Satanic cabal to join. Wesley holds a cross up in front of Ryan and declares, "Omnis spiritus immundi!" Is this any time to quote Police lyrics? Ryan roars and they finally manage to drag Paige away from him. Wesley says, "It's retreated back into the boy." Angel lectures Paige, "From now on you do exactly what I'm telling you, understood?" Paige and Seth nod.
Ryan is quiet again as Wesley redraws the circle around the bed. Angel hands Wesley a Bible and closes the bedroom doors. What happened to that "I'll be right with you for the exorcism" thing? Cordy hands Angel an ancient tome and tells him that they need an Ethros box, explaining "[It] says right here the demon goes all dingy when it's forced out -- bad sense of direction or something. If you have one of these boxes, it'll go right into it." Angel reads, "An authentic Ethros box is made of six hundred species of virgin wood and handcrafted by blind Tibetan monks." Cordy ponders that for a second and is forced to admit, "Nope, don't know any." Angel tells her to go to "Rick's Majick 'n' Stuff" (great name), explaining, "If anyone in LA will have an Ethros box, it'll be Rick." The lights begin flickering as Cordy goes to do some shopping. Wesley is repeating his chant and tossing holy water around as Ryan sits up to look at him. Again I must ask, where's Angel, who wanted so much to support Wesley during this? "Your Latin sucks," Ryan says, in a highly distorted voice that's really hard to understand. Wesley tells Ryan that he will not be deterred from doing his job, and starts in with the Latin again. Ryan starts on the psychological warfare: "Everybody knows you got fired 'cause you couldn't do anything right. Nothing is going to make him proud of you." Wesley is unperturbed, and says that reading his surface thoughts is just a parlor trick. "Here's one for you," Wesley says, rummaging in his bag, "How many crosses am I holding up?" Ryan recoils, and then speaks with Wesley's voice: "All those hours locked up under the stairs and you still weren't good enough. Not good enough for Daddy. Not good enough for the Council." Wesley shakily starts to repeat his omnis spiritus line, but then fumbles. Ryan, back in his demon voice, asks, "Lose your place? What makes you think that these people want you around any more than the others did?" Angel, having brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and had a little nap, finally enters the room in time to say, "Because I invited him here." That's true, if by "invite" you mean, "reluctantly hired and agreed to put up with." "Then you're stupider than he is," Ryan observes, "Go ahead, Wesley, tell him why he's a fool to trust you." In Angel's voice, he adds, "Tell him how you plan to kill him." Wesley denies this to Angel. Ryan tells Angel, "He's more afraid of you than he is of me." "I'll show you fear!" Wesley wails, and as he raises the cross over the boy, his feet cross the circle. Ryan puts up one hand, causing Wesley to neatly stab himself in the neck with the cross. Angel helps Wesley pull the cross out as Ryan chuckles.
At "Rick's Majick 'n' Stuff," Cordy asks for an Ethros box. Rick admits, "I don't have one." Cordy looks around at the many boxes and bottles lining the shelves, and points to one, asking what it is. "That's a Shorshack box," Rick explains. Cordy asks what the difference between it and an Ethros box is. "About twenty dollars, and it's not available in the mahogany finish." Cordy asks, "Handcrafted by blind Tibetan monks?" Rick says, "Pieced together by mute Chinese nuns. That's craftsmanship." Cordy asks if the Shorshack box can hold an Ethros demon. Rick says it should, although "It might be a little tight across the shoulders."
Paige bandages Wesley's neck while he and Angel argue. Wesley says he won't slip up again, Angel says it's too dangerous for Wesley to go back. Seth asks, "My son. What about him?" The kitchen table begins shaking and everyone watches as marbles spill out from a bag and arrange themselves to form the words, "Save me." Great, like they don't have enough problems on their hands; now the kitchen table is possessed, too! Wesley says, "Angel, we don't have a choice." Then we hear Doyle's voice, in a little sound bite from "Hero," saying, "The good fight, yeah?" Angel and Wesley look up as the bedroom doors swing open, revealing Ryan sitting up on the bed. Ryan chuckles, "Guess who's here, Angel? He's talking to me, right now. Doyle wants to ask why you couldn't protect him." Oh c'mon, all Doyle wants is for Angel to buy him a pitcher of draft. Angel grabs a dishrag, wraps it around his hand, and picks up the cross. Cordy walks in with the box, and gets as far as saying, "All they had was--" before Angel snaps, "Get it ready!" Angel and Seth walk into the bedroom while Ryan says, "You let him die. Just like he's going to let me die. Aren't you, Daddy?" The cross sizzles in Angel's hand. He presses it against Ryan's chest and speaks Latin, which Wesley helpfully translates: "Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his pomps?" Ryan growls while Angel gets his obligatory vamp-face on. Angel finally shouts, "Now get the hell out!" I think Max von Sydow was able to handle this problem with a bit more restraint, but whatever. Ryan writhes and begins to glow. A light blazes across the room and into the box that Wesley and Cordy are holding open. The box disintegrates. Paige runs over to Ryan, who has finally been freed of all the demon makeup. While Seth, Paige, and Ryan hug, Cordy looks up from the bits of Shorshack box and says, "Uh oh." After all the build-up about how hard this was going to be, it seemed to go pretty smoothly.
You know that scene in Pitch Black when a lone figure in the dark lights a match, and the flames reveal that he's actually surrounded by horrible alien monsters? That would probably be a pretty cool and effective scene... if we didn't all know it was going to happen because we'd seen it in the freaking commercials! My advice is, stay home and rent Aliens.
Wesley triumphantly announces that he's found more glow-stick juice. "Clearly, it came up the elevator shaft," he says. What has everyone got against using the stairs? Angel says the demon is long gone by now. Cordy is ready to declare this adventure over, but Angel is says it will just possess someone else now. Wesley wonders if the demon will try to re-enter Ryan, but Angel doubts it. "It had to expel a lot of energy to escape like this." Well, no, he doesn't quite say that. He doesn't say "ex-scape," either, at least; it's more like "eggscape." But still wrong. It's ESCAPE, people. I don't understand; it's not hard to pronounce. Say it with me: "Ess-cape." Where is the problem here? Sigh. I wish Giles was there; he'd have stood up for the King's English. Anyway, Angel says that the demon will need to recharge. "You're thinking [that] the demon has taken on corporeal form," Wesley says. Angel says that if they can find the demon while it still has a physical body, they can kill it. "He'll be looking for a hostile environment," though presumably not hostile to itself, "somewhere damp, probably returning to primordial volcanic basalt for his regeneration." He can pronounce primordial, but not escape? Okay, I'll let it go. Wesley concludes that the demon will be hiding out in the sea caves, so he and Wesley head out.
Armed with flashlights, Angel and Wesley go spelunking. Angel finds some more glow-juice. Wesley stops to assure Angel, "What that demon said before..." Angel says, "I know you're not planning to kill me, Wesley. But you're willing to. And that's good." It's very kind of Angel not to mention that even if Wesley were plotting against him, it's not like he's a serious threat or anything. Soon enough, they find the demon, who greets them by saying, "You are a fool." Wesley calls the demon a "putrescent bully" for picking on an innocent child. The demon declares, "I corrupted the spirits of men before they had speech to name me. The child was but the last among tens of thousands. One more pure heart to corrupt, one more soul to suck dry." Wesley says that the demon failed: "You didn't get that boy's soul." The demon chuckles and asks, "What soul?" Back at home, Stephanie and Ryan are getting mugs of cocoa. Ryan observes, "She has nine marshmallows and I only have seven." Mom is less than sympathetic. The demon asks, "Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is? Nothing." Not much of a riddle, if you ask me. "That's what I found in the boy. No conscience, no fear, no humanity, just a black void. I couldn't control him. I couldn't get out. I never even manifested until you brought me out. I just sat there and watched as he destroyed everything around him. Not for a belief in evil; not for any reason at all." Paige and Seth hug while Ryan glares at his little sister. "That boys' mind was the blackest hell I've ever known," the demon concludes. Angel points his battle axe at the demon and says, "The marbles -- that was you." The demon nods, and explains, "When he slept, I could whisper in him. I tried to get him to end his life, even if it meant ending mine." Angel asks if the demon made Ryan walk in front of the car. "I had given up hope," the demon says, "I know you bring death. I do not fear it. The only thing I've ever feared is in that house." Wesley says that they should hurry to the house. Angel raises his axe for an overhead swing.
Ryan walks into the bedroom where his parents are sleeping, and picks up a matchbox from the nightstand. As Ryan closes the door, Seth wakes up. Ryan puts a block under the door so that it can't be opened, and then takes the phone off the hook. Seth and Paige begin rattling the door and calling to Ryan while he walks into his sister's room with a gas can. He pours gasoline across the carpet and then pulls out he matches. Stephanie wakes up as the flames spread throughout her bedroom, and screams for help while Ryan watches. I kind of expected Ryan to pull out a packet of marshmallows to roast at this point. Instead, Seth manages to get the door open. Flames blaze directly in front of the camera lens while the actors pretend that the room they're in is actually on fire. While Seth and Paige shout to Stephanie, Angel suddenly crashes in through the window. Didn't Paige say they had burglar bars? Or are they just on Ryan's window? Anyway, Angel grabs Stephanie and carries her back through the window while Wesley hurries the rest of the family out via the front door.
Firemen clean up the scene as Kate puts Ryan in the back of a squad car. She walks over to where Angel and Seth stand, and tells Seth, "Social services will take over from here. They'll want to speak to your son alone first." Seth asks what will happen to Ryan. "We won't know until after the evaluation," Kate says. Angel thanks Kate for coming. She stares at Angel for a moment, nods, and leaves. Presumably she still wants to yell at him for being an evil monster who took advantage of her and abused her trust. I know the feeling. As she and Ryan drive away, Seth says, "I won't be able to cover for him any more. They're gonna want to know about Ohio, and everything. I wanted to protect him." He shouldn't worry too much, given the priority Child Protective Services usually gives to "family reunification." "I was just trying to hold my family together," Seth adds. Angel looks over to where Paige and Stephanie stand, wrapped in blankets, and says, "I think you did." Seth goes over to his wife and daughter and gives them a hug, while Angel exits through the gate in the white picket fence, leaving viewers to rest easy in the knowledge that sometimes kids are just bad seeds. Which is just stupid and wrong, and while I liked the plot twist, I wish that hadn't been the message we were left with. But it looks like they're trying to counteract that idea to some extent, since week we get to see Angel deal with the memory of his dad. That's right: more flashbacks, more bad hair, and more of Boreanaz's version of an Irish accent!