Sanctuary

S01E19

Once again, the "Previously on..." scenes encompass a good season and a half of WB programming. I'm tempted to ask someone who doesn't watch these shows to be a test subject, just to find out if these clips are at all helpful to new viewers, or if they only make it all even more confusing. Anyway, previously on Angel, Faith had a good cry.

Bloody but unbowed, Angel and Faith descend in the elevator to Angel's place. Angel sits Faith down on his bed and reassures her, "It's okay." Maybe he means his sheets are clean. He wraps a blanket around her, tells her to rest, tucks her in, and reminds her about the resting bit again. Then he puts her backpack on a chair directly in her line of sight and unnecessarily adds, "I'll put your stuff here." Then he says, "I'll be close," but he says it very quickly, and at first I thought he'd said, "I'll be gloves," and then I thought he'd said, "Hold me close," and then I figured it out. As he turns to leave the room, Faith calls him back. He turns, and Faith attacks him in a quick montage, only it turns out she doesn't. I'm not sure if that was meant to be Faith's fantasy, or Angel's fear, or maybe just something they filmed so that there'd be some action in the commercials for this episode. She finally says, "Nothing," and we get some credits.

Cordy has decided to accentuate her facial bruising by putting her hair up and wearing another crazy, sleeveless, midriff-baring, strappy top. She pokes around the office as Wesley enters with his own contusions. Cordy stares at him as if she's about to say, "I'm so embarrassed; we're wearing the same special effects makeup!" Wesley examines Cordy's face and finally says, "Bitch. Not you, obviously." He apologizes for what happened, and Cordy says it wasn't his fault. Wesley asks, "She's still here, I assume?" Cordy says that Angel gave Faith his bed, so I guess Cordy went downstairs to peek at her. Then Angel comes out of his office and asks Wesley how he's feeling. Wesley says he's "as well as can be expected," and with that, Angel forgets about Wesley and asks Cordy where the doughnuts are. She points the detective to the bright pink box by the coffee. After examining them, he asks if there are any jelly doughnuts. Stick your finger in the ones without holes and figure it out, Sherlock. Wesley asks, "Won't she find it difficult, enjoying delicious jelly-filled doughnuts, if she is, one assumes, bound and gagged?" Angel starts to say that he and Wesley discussed this last night. Wesley agrees that the police couldn't cope with someone with Faith's abilities, then adds, "I do not, however, understand why the woman who brutally tortured me last night, this morning gets pastries." Angel says he doesn't have any food downstairs, and asks if Wesley wants Faith to starve. Wesley says no, "There are far more humane ways to deal with a rabid animal." Angel says that Faith is a person, and that they aren't "in the business of giving up on people." Wesley complains about "coddling murderers," and Angel points out, "It wasn't long ago that you were the one making the case for her rehabilitation." Wesley replies, "It wasn't too long ago [that] I had full feeling in my right arm!" He adds that Faith is evil, and that Faith will kill again if Angel sets her free, and then stomps out.

By Strega

Angel tells Cordy, "He'll come around," and Cordy says, "Sure. People always get a little funny right after they've been sadistically tortured. Well, you'd know." She hands Angel some checks and tells him to sign them. As he does so, Angel explains, "We can't arbitrarily decide whose soul is worth saving, and whose isn't." First, when did this become Good vs. Evil, because I don't remember them being concerned with saving souls before now. Second, I'm not sure that it's really "arbitrary" to judge a person based on little things like their actual behavior. As he finishes signing the checks, Cordy tears them out, and he suddenly notices that they were all made out to Cordy. "Paid vacation?" he asks. She pulls on her jacket as she explains, "Like I'm gonna stick around here while psycho case is roaming loose downstairs with three tons of medieval weaponry? Not!" As she heads out, she stops to add, "Oh, and I'm thinking, sugar high? Maybe not a great idea." Blipvert of Wesley-torture and Angel-attack, courtesy of Faith.

Cops swarm over the piles of rubble left at the scene of Faith and Angel's showdown. A young character actor enters the room, sighs, and walks over to where Kate is collecting some particularly fine bits of rubble. After some non-witty non-repartee, Kate says, "I heard we have a fugitive." The other detective says they received an arrest warrant from Sunnydale. Kate asks if there's reason to believe that this same fugitive is responsible for redecorating the apartment. Because how many violent enemies could a pimp have, after all? The detective says that the pimp identified Faith as his attacker, so they're trying to match fingerprints now. There's a scene I'd have enjoyed watching: "Yeah, that's the one! I was just innocently trying to turn her out, and she beat my head in!" Then the detective demands to know why Kate turned up on a case that isn't assigned to her, and asks, "You've heard the rumors, haven't you?" He says that the girl they're looking for is supposed to have supernatural powers, adding, "everybody knows [that] you've gone all Scully. Any time one of these weird cases crosses anyone's desk, you're always there." Kate clarifies some X-Files trivia, telling the detective that Scully is the skeptical one (though not so much these days) and Mulder is the believer. The detective scratches his head doubtfully and asks, "Scully's the chick, right?" Kate admits that she is, "but she's not the one that [sic] wants to believe." The detective asks if Kate wants to believe, and Kate says she already does, and "that's the problem," before catching a passing blipvert. For the curious: the blipverts in this episode are a stuttering variety, where there's a flash, then a normal shot so that you think it's over, and then another flash. Someday I will publish extensive documentation of these various forms of filler, and die knowing that my contribution to society is complete.

Angel descends the stairs, doughnuts at the ready. Looking into the bedroom, he sees that the bed is made, and Faith isn't there. He looks around and calls "Faith?" I keep waiting for him to whistle for her like she's a puppy and call, "I've got doughnuts!" to entice her to come out of her hiding place. He finally spots her leaning in the kitchen doorway and tells her, "I have doughnuts." I was hoping for a different delivery on that line, but it's still funny.

He puts the doughnuts down and begins speaking. With lots of. Long. Pauses. Which I will helpfully edit out. So that you don't go. Insane.

As he slowly steps toward her, he says, "I understand what you're going through and I want to help, but there are a few things you have to do. First, I need you to give me that knife." The camera pans down to reveal that, sure enough, even though Angel's got closets full of axes and swords, she went for the bread knife. Faith thinks about it, and finally hands it over. Angel tells her she should be resting, and Faith replies, "I've been asleep for eight months. You rest."

A blipvert lands on the Wolfram & Hart building. Lilah hurries into Lindsey's office and says that instead of killing Angel, Faith has moved into his apartment. Lindsey has an annoying habit of looking directly ahead into the empty air even though he's talking to Lee, who is standing two feet to his right. He asks, "Who else knows about this?" Lee says, "No one outside of this room." Well, and presumably Angel and Faith, right? Lindsey summarizes their position, which is basically, screwed, and asks, "How are we gonna fix it?" Cut to Lee, sitting there quietly with his massive contusions and neck brace, who hisses, "I say we kill her," through his wired jaw.

Faith has flashbacks to killing the Mayor's aide, and hears the voice of her conscience, which sounds a lot like Buffy whining, "You killed a man!" She reacts by stuffing her things back into her bag just as Angel enters. The captioning has Faith say, "Leave me alone," but I guess she was just thinking that very intently. Angel tells her she's in no condition to leave, and if she goes now, she'll be running for the rest of her life, which won't be very long. Faith tries to walk away, saying, "It doesn't matter." Angel spins her around and says it matters to him. She asks why he's being nice, and tries to walk past him out the door. When Angel doesn't move, she says, "[Are] you gonna step aside, or do we throw down? I mean, am I your prisoner here?" Angel says she isn't a prisoner, and Faith says, "So I'm free?" Angel says, "I don't know about that," and then pushes the door open and adds, "but the door's open." His other superhero identity is Captain Obvious. As Faith passes him and walks out into the hall, Angel starts getting all metaphorical: "Where are you gonna go? Back out into that darkness. I once told you [that] you didn't have to go out into that darkness, remember?" Which darkness was that? Oh, that darkness. Faith stops and tries to decide if she's wearing too much makeup (answer: yes) as Angel tries wacking her over the head with an extended metaphor. He says, "You thought you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. Five by five, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me, how'd you like it?" Faith suddenly whirls and punches him. Then she looks confused, and says, "Help me." Angel, his self-satisfaction validated, agrees to do so.

By Strega

Wesley is angrily throwing darts at a pub. While sitting at a table, which is not proper form, but he keeps missing the bulls-eye, so that's okay. As he goes to collect the darts, another one whizzes by into the bulls-eye. He spins to see one of our old friends from the Watcher's Council "Team Hellblazer" squad, who tried to abduct Fuffy? Baith? (TM Ace? Sep?). The two other Hellblazers step into view as we go to commercial. After the ads, the Watcher's Hellblazers have taken a booth and are raising a few pints with an uncomfortable looking Wesley. The leader lights a cigarette, eyes the "no smoking" sign, and then dismisses it. Because, you know, he's evil and all. Wesley claims that California seemed like a nice enough place to re-evaluate his life after the Watcher's Council asked him to resign. Hellblazer #2 asks, "Wouldn't cough up the dosh for the airfare home, would they?" See, they're British. Wesley concedes that this is the case. Hellblazer #3 complains about how the Council has "all those alchemists on the board of directors, and they still make us fly coach." Heh. Hellblazer #1 says that the Council is frugal, but not stupid, and "willing to admit when they've made a mistake." He tells Wesley that the Council will reinstate him as a Watcher -- over what? Don't you need a Slayer to be a Watcher? Hellblazer #1 adds that no one blames Wesley for what happened in Sunnydale. Wesley's surprised to hear that: "I rather got the impression [that] they did when they sacked me." Maybe they just fired you for being a git, Wesley. Hellblazer #1 says that it was a mistake that can be corrected, just as Hellblazer #2 hands Wesley a dossier. Wesley opens it and pulls out a photograph of Faith. Hellblazer #1 says that they know Faith is with Angel, demonstrating Lilah's infallibility. Wesley closes up the dossier and refuses to help. Hellblazer #3 makes a crack about Wesley being loyal to a vampire. Hellblazer #1 says that a rogue Slayer is much more dangerous than a vampire. I wish these guys had names. Wesley asks why they want his help when they already know where Faith is, since, after all, "you three are the best, the Council's elite --" As the Hellblazers look everywhere but at Wesley, he figures it out. Looking rather pleased by the idea, he asks, "She cleaned your clocks, didn't she?" Hellblazer #1 says that Faith "has power, and the willingness to use that power for evil. She must be stopped." He thinks he's John Constantine, but he ain't.

Faith asks how she can possibly tell Wesley, "Gee, sorry I nearly tortured you to death." Angel suggests leaving off the "gee," and adds, "I think you have to ask yourself, are you?" Faith says there are some things you can't take back even if you are sorry. Angel agrees, and says he some experience with that. While Faith complains about how guilty she feels, and how much it hurts, Angel veers wildly from good cop to bad cop. He ends up by saying, "All that pain, all that suffering you caused, is coming back on you. Feel it. Deal with it. Then maybe you got a shot at being free." Late, Johanna asks me, "Remember how Angel got himself confused with Faith, and forgot that he was the one that killed and tortured thousands of people, and that she only accidentally killed a guy and started some fights." Before someone complains, I'd like to point out that the Professor was the only one of Faith's victims who could really be described as an innocent victim. Faith laughs that she's "the first Slayer in history to be sponsored by a vampire." Angel points out that he has experience with that role, and Faith is hit with another wave of good, clean guilt. She moans, "B -- how am I ever gonna make things right with her?" Angel says that this isn't about Buffy. While eating a slice of pizza at home, Buffy's keen Slayer powers suddenly kick in. "There's someone in the world who hasn't realized that everything that has ever happened is all about me!" she shouts, horrified. Immediately she prepares to correct this terrible error.

Meanwhile, Faith rewrites history: "All my life, there was only one person who tried to be my friend, went out of their way when I had no right or reason to expect her to, and then -- I screwed her." Adolescent males across the country begin demanding details. Faith goes on, "Not to mention her boyfriend. Only, him, literally." Angel, confused, as usual, says, "Faith, you and I never --" Faith explains, "No, not you. The new one." Angel stares. Hee hee hee! Faith realizes her error, and says, "Oh my god. Angel, I'm so sorry." Angel makes an impressive fake recovery, saying, "There! You can say it! That's good." As Faith turns away, Angel goes in search of a nice firm wall he can slam his skull against for a while. Hope his prominent brow doesn't leave any dents in the bricks.

Lee and Lilah and Lindsey tell an unseen person that they appreciate the help. While Lilah pours coffee, because she may be a high-powered demonic attorney, but she's still the girl, they show this someone that Faith is "tougher than she looks." Lindsey says, "The point is that we want her dead." Lilah adds that there won't be a written contract, and "this is strictly a handshake deal." After a moment Lindsey adds, "Not that it's necessary for you to have hands in order for us to do business with you." Lilah, chagrined, apologizes for being "speciesist." She's interrupted with a blue bumpy demon with big sharp teeth and black hair attacks its coffee. Literally. Guess it didn't take offense.

Hellblazer #1 places a hanky in front of Wesley, then opens it to reveal a syringe. He says that the sedative inside is "powerful enough to bring down a man twice your size. Or a Slayer." Wesley confirms that Team Hellblazer plans to take Faith back to England for rehabilitation. Hellblazer #1 says, "You'll signal us as soon as it's done, and we'll come in and take care of the rest." Wesley demands that they don't hurt Angel in the process, and Hellblazer #3 reacts by calling Wesley a "ponce." Wesley insists, "I've confronted more evil, slain more demons, in short, done more good while working with Angel then I ever did when I was in the Council's employ." I wait for Hellblazer #3 to jeer, "Well if you love Angel so much, why don't you marry him?" but he doesn't. Hellblazer #1 gives Wesley his word that Angel won't be harmed, and they shake on it, causing a blipvert.

Faith watches television. Something skitters around, watching her. Angel steps out of the bathroom, freshly showered. I scream. He asks if everything is okay. It would be if you would just keep your damn clothes on, pal. Faith says, "It was touch and go for those four minutes you left me alone, but somehow I got through it." We see the blue demon is above Faith, stuck to the ceiling a la Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Faith keeps channel-surfing, and suddenly stops as she sees her face on the news. The anchor says that the LAPD is on the lookout for her. Faith knocks over her drink. Angel hears the crash over my screams of horror as he puts his shirt on. He rushes out and catches part of the news story. He tells Faith, "We knew about this. Nothing's changed!" Then he looks up to see good ol' Kate giving a briefing: "Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of this suspect should get in touch with law enforcement immediately. Do not approach her. She's violent and unpredictable." Angel turns the television off and tries to reassure Faith that she's safe with him. Naturally, that's when the demon attacks. Faith runs for another bread knife while Angel swings from the rafters for one of his special kicks. Only the demon pulls him down so he hits his head. Hee hee! Angel is thrown through the room, and as the demon attacks him again Faith stabs it a few times from behind. It collapses, and Faith stares down at the bloody knife in her bloody hand and is overwhelmed with trite symbolism. Without making sure that the demon is dead, Angel tries to calm Faith by pulling her down to the couch and giving her a hug. With his shirt still unbuttoned. Trauma upon trauma for Faith. She sobs against his shoulder, and Angel looks up to see little miss Buffy, staring down at them from the stairs.

After the ads, Angel finally gets around to fastening his shirt as Buffy asks him what he's doing. Angel explains that they were attacked, and that it isn't what Buffy thinks. Buffy says, "You actually think I can form a thought right now?" I'll leave that alone. She explains that Giles told her that Faith had tried to kill Angel. Angel says that's true, and Buffy responds, "So you decided to punish her with a severe cuddling?" Angel asks if Buffy came to punish Faith, and Buffy says she was worried about Angel. Faith, watching all this from the couch, finally says Buffy's name. Buffy gives her a look of death, and asks "You didn't think I was gonna find you, did you?" Angel asks Buffy if he can talk to her, and says that Faith needs help. Buffy snaps, "Do you have any idea what she did to me?" When Angel says that he does, Buffy asks, "Do you care?" Avoiding the question, Angel says that Faith wants to change. Faith approaches and manages to get as far as "I'm sor --" before Buffy interrupts, "If you apologize to me, I will beat you to death." Faith says, "Go ahead," which is not the response I was hoping for, but then Angel steps between them and tells Faith to go upstairs. Buffy snarls, "You think I'm gonna let her out of my sight?" Angel tells her to back off. Faith edges her way to the stairs, Buffy starts to move to block her, and Angel grabs Buffy's arm. And then Buffy slugs Angel. And tries to hit him again, but he grabs her fist and punches her. Buffy gives Angel a "How could you? I'm just a teeny little helpless girl!" look. Angel apologizes, but she just keeps staring at him. Faith waits at the top of the stairs as Wesley enters the office behind her. He asks if Angel is downstairs, and Faith says that he is.

At the Wolfram & Hart office, Lindsey and Lee look up as Leigh comes in and tells them, "Strike two." Lee summarizes, "The first assassin kills the second assassin, sent to kill the first assassin, who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired the second assassin to assassinate her?" Lindsey decides, "We're lawyers. It's a mistake for us to try to work outside the law." Lindsey declares that he'll handle it.

Angel tells Buffy that Faith won't run away. Buffy says, "Why would she, when she has her brave knight to protect her? Got you? Does she cry? Pouty lips, heaving bosom." Bosom? Buffy reminds Angel that he hit her, in case he forgot, and Angel gets a point by replying, "Not to get all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first. And in case you've forgotten, you're a little bit stronger than I am." Angel says that Buffy was going to drive Faith away, that Faith's at a "crucial stage," and the camera pans past a wall in case we want to pretend this is a radio show. Buffy says "She tried to kill you!" and Angel claims that the murder attempt was "just a cry for help." Buffy replies, "A cry for help is when you say 'help' in a loud voice." She repeats that Angel doesn't know what Faith did to her, because what Faith did to anyone else in the universe is unimportant, and Angel says, "You can't possibly know what she's going through." Buffy responds, "And you do? I'm sorry, I can't be in your club. I've never murdered anybody." Nyah, nyah, nyah. Shut up, Buffy.

By Strega

Angel hears the gunfire and tells Wesley, "That's coming from the roof." But not anymore; now it's coming from Hellblazer #3, who storms into the apartment with his own machine gun. He sees Angel, cowering behind a pillar, and smiles as he raises his crossbow. Buffy and Faith decide to hop over to the neighboring building, where there are fewer people shooting at them. They start racing across the rooftop, but pull up at the edge as a helicopter suddenly blocks their way. They run, bullets fly all over, and they end up taking cover behind a skylight. Wesley calls Hellblazer #3 "Weatherby," which isn't all that much easier to type, and asks him to listen to reason. Weatherby declares that a Watcher working for a vampire is "perversion." Buffy tells Faith to stay put while she takes care of Hellblazer #1. Then she leaps over the skylight and starts fighting. Wesley tells Weatherby, "I swore to protect the innocent," and then tells Angel to get to the roof before suddenly running toward the kitchen, distracting Weatherby, who isn't very bright. Buffy and Hellblazer #1 fight. Wesley pulls out the syringe, aims, and tosses it directly into Weatherby's neck. "One hundred and eighty," Wesley says, as Weatherby wobbles. Then he strolls up and gives Weatherby a punch before he falls down on his own, adding, "That's for calling me a ponce." Well, punching a guy who's drugged senseless isn't earning you any macho points, Wesley.

Angel races up the stairs, finally reaching the level just below the roof. Looking up at the skylight, he can see the shadows cast by the fight. Buffy finally manages to knock out Hellblazer #1 as the helicopter descends toward her. Angel decides Batman was easy to imitate, and it's time to leap a tall building. Or at least, leap up, through the skylight, and into the air, before he ends up dangling by one arm from the helicopter. Buffy stares up, thinking, "I could have done that. If I wanted to." Angel wrestles the gun away from Hellblazer #2, and pulls him out of the helicopter so that he plummets and finally thuds against the roof. Angel climbs up, vamp-faced, and instructs the pilot to land the helicopter. Buffy looks around and realizes that Faith has vanishes, as is her wont. Angel's giant head blocks out the Los Angeles skyline.

Police cars race up to wherever the pilot has decided to land his helicopter. Kate marches up and demands to know where Faith is. When Angel doesn't answer, Kate tells another cop, "Arrest him. Start with aiding and abetting a wanted felon." Maybe you should start by reading him his rights? Kate-Angel-and-Faith-vert.

Wesley and Buffy hurry into police headquarters. Kate is marching a handcuffed Angel along as she tell him, "I think you're gonna like the cell we have for you, Angel. It faces east, it'll give you a great view of the sunrise in about four hours." Buffy suddenly pokes her head in and asks, "You know what he is?" Buffy's really short. Kate asks Buffy who she is, and Angel says, "She's nobody." Ouch. Buffy insists, "This is murder," and tells Angel that he can't take the fall for Faith. Kate starts ordering other cops to drag Buffy away when Angel notices Faith, sitting quietly by one of the desks. Kate walks over to Faith, who stands and says, "I'd like to make a confession."

Later at the station, Buffy and Angel chat. Buffy says, "You should have told me what was going on." Angel says, "I didn't think it was your business." Buffy asks, "Did you have any idea what it was like for me to see you with her? That you went behind my back?" Angel makes a last desperate effort to get a simple idea into Buffy's head: "This wasn't about you!" Then he starts talking about saving people's souls, and I lose interest. He points out that it was Buffy's idea for them to stay away from each other, although -- well, who the hell can keep track of which of them dumped the other at this point? Buffy claims that she came because she thought Angel was in danger. Angel says, "You came because of Faith; you were looking for vengeance." Buffy sniffs, "I have a right to it." I bet she also has a right to a pony. "Not in my city," Angel says. Buffy thinks about this, and decides she has a right to be bitchy, at least, saying, "I have someone in my life now." When Angel doesn't react, she adds, "That I love. It's not what you and I had. It's very new. You know what makes it knew? I trust him. I know him." Yeah, and Riley is such a prize, Buffy. I'll leave the rest of the sniping to Angel, who says, "That's great. It's nice you moved on. I can't. You found someone new. I'm not allowed to, remember? I see you again, it cuts me up inside. The person I share that with is me. You don't know me anymore, so don't come down here with your great new life and expect me to do things your way! Go home." Buffy stares at him, trying to think of a comeback, and finally settles for, "See? Faith wins again." No, I'm pretty sure that the troublemaking bitch was you this time, Buffy. Angel tells her again to leave, and she does. Wesley enters and asks Angel if he's okay. Angel says, "For a taciturn, shadowy guy, I've got a big mouth." Wesley asks if Angel wants to go after Buffy, and he says he does, but he doesn't actually do it, which is a step toward spine-hood. Wesley says that he thinks Angel did the right thing. "Yelling at Buffy?" Angel asks. Wesley clarifies, kind of, by saying, "The other thing." Angel says, "I didn't do it. Faith did." We see Faith sitting in her cell as Wesley comments, "I hope she's strong enough to make it. Peace is not an easy thing to find." But what better place to look than in a prison? Angel says, "She has a chance," as we fade to black. I've been told, "Faith manages."

By Strega

Faith is on the roof, catching some of what passes for fresh air in Los Angeles, as Buffy tells her that she can't run. Faith asks, "You gonna throw me off the roof? Again?" Buffy asks if there's any reason why she shouldn't. Faith says she can't make it right. They argue, let's just leave it at that. Finally Faith says, "Angel said there was no way you were gonna give me a chance." Buffy snarls, "I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me." First "bosom," now "spat." Buffy's been hanging around Giles too much. And when exactly was she trying to help Faith, exactly? Anyway, Buffy goes on, "Anything that you could take from me, you took. I've lost battles before, but nobody else ever made me a victim." Er, not even Angelus? Faith, finally fed up with all this, says, "And you can't stand that. You're all about control. You have no idea what it's like on the other side, when nothing's in control, nothing makes sense. There's just pain and hate, and nothing you do means anything, you can't even --" "Shut up!" Buffy says. That's telling her. Faith asks Buffy to tell her how to "make it better," which is when Hellblazer #1 appears and decides that his gun should be blazing right along with him. Buffy pulls Faith out of the line of fire.

By Strega