If you never watched the show before, the "previously on Angel" snippets would tell you that there's a woman named Lilah who works for a company called Wolfram & Hart, who was pleased to meet a girl named Darla, who sometimes rolls around on a bed with some guy with strange hair. I have no theories as to how that knowledge would help you.
It appears to be after hours at Wolfram & Hart. Lilah sneaks into Lindsey's office. He's got a nice desk. And a very strange lamp, which seems designed to illuminate itself, and not much else. Lilah starts poking around at the papers on the desk. I suddenly realize that he doesn't have a computer. A moment later I remember that his typing probably isn't too good anyway, and giggle madly to myself. Darla suddenly says, "Exciting, isn't it?" startling Lilah into dropping the papers she was holding. Apparently, Lilah totally forgot that Darla existed. Wish I could. Darla steps out of the shadows in one of her trademark red dresses and continues, "Going through their things, all the hidden pieces of themselves locked away, giving you a naughty little thrill of control." The stuff Lilah was looking at wasn't hidden or locked away, but I think Darla's the type of gal who just likes saying "naughty." Lilah explains that she likes "keeping abreast" of Lindsey's latest project, and says that Lindsey's probably going through her own office right now. Darla rubs purple dust into her palm while Lilah wonders, "Calynthia powder? Is that how you keep Angel sleeping when he's with you?" Darla sighs, "No, I just speak very slowly to him in this breathy little-girl voice, and his brain immediately shuts down due to lack of input." Well, she doesn't really say that, but she doesn't have to, does she? I'm zoning out myself as she goes on, "There's nothing so lovely as dreams. Everything's in them. Everything hidden. Open those chambers and you can truly understand someone. And control them." Lilah asks what Darla's found in Angel's "secret chambers." Darla grins, "Horrors." I think Darla's thinking of what's under Angel's shirt.
A blipvert whisks us to Angel being startled awake as Darla's drone finally fades out. Pajamas. Please give him pajamas. Cut to him wandering downstairs to the sound of Wesley and Cordelia bickering. It's a wonder the guy ever manages to stay awake. Cordy is calling Wesley a sheep, because he gets all of his opinions out of books. Eh? "At least I've opened a book!" Wesley shoots back. Cordy says she was in the top ten percent of her class. "What class? Advanced bosoms?" Wesley wonders. Cheap shot, but given the fact that Cordelia's cleavage is particularly emphasized by her butt-ugly halter top, I can't blame him. I can, however, blame him for wearing an olive green tie with a blue and white striped shirt. With these two around as examples of fashion gone wrong, I can't blame Angel for sticking to basic black. Angel asks why they're arguing. Cordy says they were discussing whether or not they should pay Gunn. Wesley adds that after three minutes, their discussions turn into "name-calling and hair-pulling." Cordy claims that Wesley is cheap. Wesley says that Gunn might be insulted if they offered to pay him. "He's a proud sort of fellow," Wesley says, his tone conveying how alien this notion of "pride" is to him. As if we couldn't tell that from his clothes.
Angel says that he'll think about asking Gunn if he'd like a paycheck. Cordy snaps, "No 'think.' Pay! That's an order." Angel asks, "How 'bout we pretend that you work for me?" Cordy starts to say something about how unpleasant Angel is being, but Angel cuts her off by saying, "Then why don't we pretend that you don't?" Cordy blinks, then responds, "You can't fire me. I'm vision girl," and sticks her tongue out at him. Angel hesitates, then tries to keep himself from smiling. The first time I watched, that was kind of cute. The second time, I noticed that as the smile starts to appear, Angel puts his hands in his pockets, and given the whole Darla thing I feel a little bit unsure about why he's smiling. Moving on from the horrible things this show does to my mind...Angel more calmly says that he'll think about offering Gunn some money on a case-by-case basis. Wesley claims that he was going to suggest that. Back in "To Shanshu in LA," Cordy talked about getting Angel a puppy. I think that's a good idea. With Wesley and Cordy around, it'd probably be nice for him to have a companion who didn't talk. Just a thought. Angel asks if there's coffee. Along with pajamas, maybe someone could get him a spare coffee maker that he could keep in his room, so that we could just be done with the endless quest for java. Cordy says, "There was in the morning. It's ten o'clock at night." Okay, so the final list is pajamas, a coffee maker, and a clock. And, possibly, a puppy. Angel awkwardly explains that he's been "sleeping weird [sic]." Wesley notes that Angel's sleeping habits have been strange for a while, and asks if he's been dreaming. Before Angel can answer, a vision interrupts the conversation. Cordy sees a girl being attacked by two men. In, of all places, an alley. She tells Angel that the alley is at "Hollywood and Wilcox." Angel heads for the door as Wesley helps Cordy to a seat. Cordy moans, "Oh God, he's gonna be too late."
The girl is indeed running down an alley. The guy with the shaved head and goatee grabs her by the shoulders and throws her down. The second guy, with hair and a beard, says, "What are you making us run around for?" It appears that facial hair is, like smoking, a key indicator of Evil. While the two baddies argue over who gets to go first -- ew -- the girl just sits there sobbing. Honey, I'm sure you're really upset and all, but this would be a really good time to run. Instead of, say, just waiting there while they finish arguing and one of the thugs pulls out a knife and starts toward you. But she just waits as the guy steps closer, and then the air morphs and a big dustbin whooshes across the alley, smooshing the baddies into a brick wall. While the credits roll, let's reflect on the fact that it only took twenty-six episodes for this show to have a girl who could fend off stalkers all by herself.
Angel walks past the gathering crowd in the alley while the paramedics wheel away a surprisingly three-dimensional body. He slips under the police tape, grabs an unattended cup of coffee off a police car, and asks a uniformed officer, "So what've we got here?" The officer starts to question Angel's identify, but Angel quickly shouts to the crowd, "Hey, you wanna get behind the tape? You wanna gawk, go home, watch a high-speed chase on Fox." More quietly, he tells the officer to "think about keeping the tourists off my crime scene." He goes on about being "out of vice three weeks" and "amateur-night crap" and, by God, anyone would be fooled by his wily impersonation of a world-weary detective. Okay, it is kinda funny. Especially if you figure he's just doing an impression of Kate. The intimidated officer says that they had to scrape the victims off the wall, and that they were "pinned by a two-ton dumpster." No way does that dumpster weigh two tons. Angel sips his coffee and then makes a disgusted face. I wonder if a fish got in the percolator. Angel asks if the dumpster fell on them, but the detective says that "it looks like somebody might have shoved the dumpster from the side." Angel notes that someone would have to be very strong to do that. No duh. The officer agrees, and points out how far the blood was splashed. Ick. Angel bends down and, simply by examining a few drops of blood on the concrete, is able to say definitively, "That's not their blood." He asks if the officer has seen a girl, "maybe a little scared, beat-up?" The officer says he hasn't seen anyone but "our Mr. Bills." Then he adds, "Oh no, Mr. Bill!" in falsetto. Hee hee! Angel wanders further down the alley, allowing us time to be properly impressed by the fact that Joss Whedon himself directed this episode. Sorry, Joss, I'm the one who thought "Hush" was over-rated. The officer turns as the real homicide detective arrives and asks, "So, what've we got here?" The officer is confused. Oh, such wackiness.
Further down the alley, Angel finds a door with a broken lock. He enters the freshly redressed warehouse/garage set, and sees the girl sitting on some rubble. She's frightened, and asks what he wants. He says he has a few questions for her. The girl says, "I'm really upset right now, I think it's best if you just..." Angel asks if she was in the alley. "No!" she says, and then tries again by asking, "What alley?" She starts for the door, and Angel tries to stop her, grabbing her arm. The air morphs, and a rebar flies across the room and through Angel's chest. He falls down. The girl sobs, "I tried to tell you," and continues toward the exit. Angel calls out, "Please wait," rather calmly, all things considered. The girl watches as he stands up and pulls the rebar out. "What are you?" she asks. Angel introduces himself and says he's there to help her. The girl giggles hysterically and says, "Great, I stabbed an angel. Now I'm really never getting into heaven." Angel says it's just a name, although he admits that he's "different from most people. Like you are." He says that the men in the alley tried to hurt her, and she stopped them. The girl says they followed her from a club. Angel determines that she is staying with a friend in town. The girl says, "You can't make me go anywhere with you." Angel looks down at his chest and says, "I think that message got through. And I would never try." She starts to leave, and Angel offers her a business card, telling her that if she needs anything, she can call him. "I won't hurt you, and you can't hurt me," he says. She grabs the card and hurries away. As soon as she's gone, Angel grabs his chest and collapses to the floor. "Okay, maybe she can hurt me a little," he gasps. If he had a dog, it could be like a vampire Lassie, and he could send it for help when he's injured. And a dog could go out in the sunlight where Angel (supposedly) couldn't. I think this is a really good idea.
The girl enters a rather icky-looking apartment building and starts to pull out some keys. Before she can use them, a door opens, and Lilah smiles at her. "Bethany," says Lilah by way of identification. "I was starting to get worried!" Bethany apologizes for being late, and steps inside. Lilah is wearing a camisole with a little bow at the collar. I don't believe that's her apartment, or her clothes.
Those new Lycos ads are a riot.
Lilah carries a laundry basket through her...what the hell, she lives in a converted warehouse? Or a three-story loft apartment? Huh? She asks if Bethany had fun at the club, and whether there were any cute boys there. Bethany shakes her head. Lilah explains that she couldn't make it there because "our new clients are monsters." Bethany offers to help with the laundry, but Lilah says that folding laundry is "like a Zen exercise" for her. Right. Bethany insists that she has to help somehow since Lilah is putting her up. Lilah talks about how they made "a blood oath" that Bethany wouldn't feel guilty about staying with Lilah. Bethany provides some exposition: they met when Lilah spoke at Bethany's high school. Lilah explains, "You're special, Bethany. In the old, non-retarded sense of the word." She adds that Bethany has a power about her, and that other people are going to recognize it. Bethany looks uncomfortable, and says she's sleepy.
Back in the hotel lobby, Cordy is bandaging Angel's torso. She complains that she can't get the bandage to stay in place, and tells Angel to stop moving. Angel says he isn't. "Well, then stop breathing," she suggests. Angel insists that he doesn't breathe. "Then stop flexing your manly boob-muscles, or whatever," Cordy responds, in a shout-out to everyone who's confused about the whole vampire-breath conundrum. Angel says they need to find out everything they can about the girl. "Like, oh, say, her name?" Cordy guesses. Angel explains, "I was impaled at the time!" while Cordy mercifully buttons his shirt back on. "Do you know how hard it is to think straight with a rebar through your torso?" Cordy answers, "Actually, I do. Benefits of a Sunnydale education." Heh. Angel says that the girl had "traces of an accent, northeast, maybe Ohio. And everything about her tells me she's on the run, so..." They plan to look up runaways from the northeast, cross-referenced with supernatural occurrences. This is kind of like a Lycos ad, come to think of it. Angel goes on about how the girl is lost and out of control and needs help and so on. While Cordy heads for the computer, Angel asks Wesley what he knows about telekinesis. Wesley says, "Ah, yes, the power of moving things with one's mind," knowledgeably. He then clarifies that this is, in fact, the extent of his knowledge. "I'm better with demons, really," he adds.
Gunn enters, declaring, "You call, I come!" Would that it were so. Wesley asks what Gunn is carrying, and Gunn shows off his nifty axe, the head of which is made out of a hubcap. "Some of the kids in my camp put it together for me." His camp? He has a camp! I love Gunn, so this strikes me as adorable rather than nonsensical. I'm a little biased. So? Gunn says he's hoping for a chance to stick his axe in something, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. Cordelia shakes her head and says, "Men are all alike." Gunn greets her as "the fair Cordelia," and asks if she's still saving his life. "Every minute," Cordy says, not looking up from the monitor. "How's that workin' out?" Gunn asks. Cordy says, "You're alive, aren't you?" Gunn asks what sort of monster they're out to kill. Angel says they just want him to do some legwork. Gunn complains, "That kind of leaves me high and dry with my cool new axe!" Cordy begins gesturing to Angel in a way that, I think, is meant to convey, "You should pay Gunn!" Angel leans forward to block Cordy from Gunn's view, and explains that they're trying to find a girl who smashed some rapists with a dumpster. "Must have been a hefty kind of girl," Gunn observes, and Angel explains that she did it psychically. "Telekinesis," Wesley explains, "The power of moving things with --" "Yeah, I have heard the word," Gunn interjects. Angel says that the attack happened in Gunn's neighborhood, and I'm getting the impression that "Gunn's neighborhood" is any area more than three blocks away from the hotel. He asks Gunn to find out where the guys are. Are? I'm pretty sure they are in a hospital or morgue. How is that helpful? As Gunn leaves, he says, "If I come back on the end of a spatula, I'm expecting some serious workman's comp!" Cordelia tells Angel that this proves her point: "He wants to get paid! The poor man can't even afford a real axe!" Angel promises that he'll talk to Gunn about it. Cordy smiles happily. When Cordy bullies Angel, they're both cute. It's pretty much the only time they're cute, but still. Heading for the stairs, Angel says he's going to bed: "It's been a long day." Cordy observes, "You've been up for three hours." Angel puts on his frowny face and says, "Cordelia. Find the girl."
In his room, Angel takes off his shirt again and slumps onto the bed. Elsewhere, Bethany lies awake in her own bed. Angel lies down. Bethany's eyes start to close, although not nearly as quickly as mine did when Angel's shirt came off. In Bethany's dream, she's a young girl with braids in an attic. Joey Potter's drug-dealing dad climbs the stairs into the attic. Lilah walks into the bedroom and watches all of the furniture shaking around the dreaming Bethany. Mr. Potter says, "Shh, Rabbit," as he walks forward and takes young Bethany by the arm. "Let's go downstairs, just you and me," he suggests. As he pulls her toward the door, stuff in the attic starts shaking around them. "Don't make a fuss, Rabbit," he says. Adult Bethany screams and sits up in bed as a lamp swoops across the room and knocks Lilah in the head. Bethany jumps out of bed and grabs her clothes while apologizing. Lilah begs, "Don't go!" Wearing a sweater over her nightgown, Bethany runs down the street.
Damn. I thought they were phasing out the flashbacks. But no. Angel and Darla topple onto the floor by a roaring fire, borne down by the weight of their giant wigs. Darla's wearing a corset. Angel...isn't. Unfortunately. They suck face, and then vamp out. And then suck face some more. The vampire makeup is much better, as we saw earlier this evening on Buffy. There's a more animal look to it, as opposed to the "I have plastic eyebrows" thing from last season. Speaking of animals, let's go back to that dog idea, so that I don't have to think about what's happening on screen. Maybe he could get an Irish wolfhound, which is the kind of dog I'd get if I had a few spare acres for it to run around on. And see, that'd tie into his Irish heritage. Plus, Angel's head would look smaller by comparison. We finally cut to Angel in bed, with present-day Darla lying on top of him. Talking. And talking. And talking. She's saying, "Remember, don't you, in front of the fire, with the gypsy girl..." The closed captioning misses the first bit, and translates the rest as: "You've been in a fire with a gypsy girl." Darla continues, "You took her right there. You sucked her blood till she was dry." Back in the flashback, they stop kissing, and then Angel sings his fangs into Darla's neck. Darla pulls his shirt collar back and bites him right back. Angel wakes up alone, and rubs his neck.
Angel wanders into the lobby, where Wesley is reading and Cordelia is slumped over the computer. Cordelia crabbily says that she's been working all night but hasn't found any leads, and that they haven't heard anything from Gunn. Wesley says that, according to his books, telekinesis usually occurs during emotional distress. Angel rubs his eyes and says, "We've gotta find her." The door opens. Cordy points out that Bethany just walked in. Bethany introduces herself, complete with last name (Chaulk, if you're interested). Angel assures Bethany that she's safe. Wesley adds, nervously, "We're all safe people." Cordelia looks at Bethany rather coldly. Angel introduces the MoG, and Bethany says, "So it's a family business, huh?" "Friends," Angel replies. Bethany steps forward and starts to collapse. Angel catches her, and she quickly pulls away and says she's tired. Angel offers her tea. Tea? Is he actually hoarding the coffee now? Cordy tells Bethany, "Angel does this kind of thing all the time." As one, Bethany and I ask, "Makes tea?" "Helps people," Cordy explains, "he helps people with problems." Bethany stares at Cordy and asks, "What's wrong with you?" Wesley strides through the frame behind camera, smugly asking, "Where to begin?" before passing out of view again. The blocking makes him remind me of a shark. A wise-ass, badly dressed shark.
At the Wolfram & Hart office, Holland the boss-man looks at Lilah and observes, "That little girl gave you one heck of a shiner, didn't she? Do you think the alley scenario was too much?" Lilah tries to reassure Holland, but he's having none of that. "An assassin's no good if it can't be controlled," he says. Switching to good-cop, he goes on to say that he's sure that Lilah will "bring this girl into the welcoming arms of Wolfram & Hart." Sounding nothing at all like Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans, Lilah nods and declares, "I will find her." A phone rings. Lilah answer and smiles. "Bethany! No, I'm so glad you called!" She asks where Bethany is, and looks a bit unhappy about the answer.
Hey, they found another set at the hotel! Somebody must have gotten bored and thought, "I wonder if these doors are all decorative, or if they have something behind them?" It looks like some kind of covered patio leading out to a garden. So there's sunlight streaming into the far end. Naturally, this strikes Angel as a good place to hang out. How has he managed to stay alive for two hundred years? Bethany enters in a change of clothes, which she claims Cordy gave her. They're much more conservative than anything Cordelia has ever worn in her life. Angel asks if Bethany talked to her friend, and Bethany says she did. "How do you explain...she'd just think I'm crazy!" Bethany says. Angel asks if Bethany is crazy, pointing out that "things'll go smoother" if he knows ahead of time. Bethany says she probably is. She goes on to say, "I don't want to talk about me, or share, or whatever." She adds that Angel's the expert. Angel says he just knows what it's like to have power that you have to control. "I don't want to control it," Bethany responds. "I want it gone." Gone? But you can make a quick million if you show your stuff for James Randi!
Back in the lobby, Cordy watches Angel and Bethany talking. Cordy says that she's getting a vibe from Bethany. "She's vibey," she adds. Wesley says he didn't notice any vibe. Cordelia says, "Well, all evidence to the contrary, Wes, but [sic] you're not a woman." Huh? I don't know what to say about that. Cordy adds, "Women and sex. It's not like you guys. We see more levels." Can I just say again, huh? Wesley looks up suddenly, and then flips back a page in his book.
Bethany is describing what it's like when she goes all Carrie on someone. It's not very interesting, so let's skip it. Angel asks if she's ever moved something on purpose. Bethany gets up angrily and snaps, "It's not a parlor trick! It's a disease!" Angel says that they don't know what it is, and that he wants to know about her. Bethany rants, "Don't start asking me a bunch of stupid questions: when you were potty trained and name all your pets, do you like hide-and-seek?" Angel says, "None of those were on my list." Bethany shouts, "You don't know what I'm going through! I shouldn't even be here!" Wesley steps out and says, "I agree." Wesley tells Angel that Bethany doesn't want their help, and they shouldn't waste time on her. Angel tells Wesley, "That's enough." Wesley disagrees, and asks, "Why doesn't she go back to her friend's? Toss the furniture about?" Stepping up to Bethany, Wesley menacingly adds, "Or maybe we should send you home to your father?" Bethany gasps, air warps, Mr. Potter blipverts by, and Wesley is thrown against the wall. Angel starts toward Bethany, she turns, and he flies across the courtyard, his fall cushioned by the big pile of bright sunshine he lands in. He quickly scuttles back into the shade and smolders quietly, staring at Bethany.
Cordelia tends to Wesley's injuries. Unsurprisingly, none of his injuries requires him to remove his shirt. Thank heaven for small favors. "You're sure nothing's broken?" Cordy asks. "Like your brain?" She asks what Wesley said to Bethany. "I mentioned her father," Wesley admits. Cordy asks who Bethany's father is. Wesley says, "No, it's...the sort of trauma that can produce this level of psychic power usually involves abuse of some kind. Very early on. You'd mentioned a sexual vibe, she made that crack about 'family business'...statistically speaking, the father was the best guess." Cordy stares at him and finally says, "There's not enough yuck in the world." And she should know, since she's had several close looks at Angel's bare chest. Angel enters the room and Cordy asks how Bethany is. "Settling." He tells Wesley, "You're gone." Cordy protests that Angel can't fire Wesley. Angel says he isn't firing Wesley. Wesley explains, "My being here won't exactly help her to feel trusting. I'll be at my flat. Call me if..." If? If they order pizza? If we decide Gunn doesn't make a good MoG after all? Not bloody likely. As Wesley leaves, Angel tells him, "It helps that we know." It sure does, because now they know this is totally out of their league and they should get a qualified therapist in there, and maybe ask a lawyer about the statute of limitations on charges of child abuse and incest, and...oh, wait. That would be a responsible thing to do. Angel tells Cordy, "You should stay at your own place tonight in case she..." In case she...? Yes? What? Is there some demon that's stealing their ability to complete sentences? Cordy tells Angel to be careful. Angel says, "I don't think she'll go off again." Cordy opens her mouth, but the demon has taken full control, and the poor girl can't even say half a sentence. Rendered mute, she exits.
Angel finds Bethany sitting in an rotting room on the top floor of the hotel. Bethany says she feels safe there. Bethany says, "I'm really embarrassed. And that just makes me..." Argh. Are they all forgetting their lines? She says, "All these horrible things have happened, been done to me. Guys have died, and I'm freaking 'cause I'm so embarrassed." Bitterly, she concludes, "People are pathetic." Angel, who's not normally the bluebird of happiness, says that he likes people. "I've seen some horrors, scary behavior, a couple of fashion trends I constantly pray to forget, but you see people try. I see them try to be better." Bethany says she'd like to see people the way Angel does.
We suddenly cut to Angel and Darla chomping on each other in the past. Angel finally pulls Darla away and they look at each other. Then they turn to look at the whimpering gypsy girl lying bound on the floor nearby. Who looks blonde. Was she blonde the last time we saw her? I can understand that they couldn't get the same actress, but a blonde gypsy? I think I would have mentioned it if she was blonde last time. Maybe it's the just the light of the fire. Maybe.
Bethany strolls the hallways of the hotel in her nightgown. Angel moves restlessly in bed and slowly wakes up. "Darla?" he asks. Nope, it's Bethany. Angel sits up a little and asks her what's going on. Bethany says that she didn't want to sleep, and that "I heard a voice in here and thought maybe you were awake." She sits at the foot of the bed as Angel says he was having a nightmare. "It looked like a pretty happy dream," she says, "or maybe the covers were just rumpled." Now I'm having a nightmare. And I'm awake! Angel squirms, and asks if Bethany wanted to talk to him about something. Bethany hesitates and says, "No...I figured we'd have fun." Aw, she wants to play a board game, like Candyland or Chutes & Ladders. That'll be nice. Then she clarifies, "You can do stuff to me, and...you know, we'll have some fun." Okay, so I was wrong. But way to go, Bethany -- you managed to finish that sentence, even though it was struggle. Angel says that's not going to happen. Bethany sneers, "What, like I'm some frightened little mouse? I've done stuff. I can make you happy." She looks away, and Angel replies, "You wouldn't like me when I'm happy." Hee. Nothing like an Incredible Hulk reference to lighten the mood. Bethany rubs her hand over Angel's blanketed leg and says, "Come on, it doesn't mean anything." Halfway through her line, she turns into Darla in her wig and corset. "I said stop it!" Angel growls, grabbing Bethany's hand. Bethany immediately wrenches her hand away and shouts, "Get off me!" The bed shakes briefly, and then Bethany turns to leave. Angel asks, "You want to make love but you don't want to be touched?" Bethany laughs, "'Make love'? What are you, from the eighteenth century? I just wanted..." She stops there. Oh no, it's gotten to her, too. Angel tries to team up with Bethany against the demon, asking, "What did you want?" Bethany gets hostile, and asks, "Are you shocked that I'm a great big slut?" Angel says that he isn't easily shocked. Bethany sits down again and says, "Everyone thinks I'm so fragile and innocent. Men love it." Angel asks if she does, and Bethany says, "Who cares?" She says that she's like a chambermaid: "When a guy's on me...I made up the room, I showed him in, then I leave till he's gone. Come back and clean up the mess." Angel asks about the men, and Bethany says they don't notice or care that she isn't there. "Would you?" she asks. Angel says, "I don't think everyone's as bad as you'd have them be." Bethany replies, "Oh, right. You love the people," and then rolls her eyes. She goes on, "You love them so much, you've got a hundred rooms to be all alone in." If he had a dog, she wouldn't say that. You're never alone with a dog. Since he doesn't, though, she goes on to say that maybe Angel isn't qualified to help her. As I've been for the past ten minutes. Angel insists, "Maybe I'm the only one who is. Try and get some sleep." Bethany asks who Darla is. Angel refuses to answer, and says goodnight.
Bethany unhappily heads out and down the hall, past the kitchenette. Angel's got a nice little suite. And Bethany heard someone talking in the bedroom from way out in the hallway? Hm. As she leaves, a dramatic chord blares a second before we're likely to notice Darla, hiding in a corner. Damn it, stop warning us that we're about to be startled! A dog would also, obviously, keep away midnight intruders. And it could help fight demons. And Angel could teach it to do tricks! Like, fetch him bags of blood from the fridge. Kind of like Alex, the dog who used to fetch Stroh's, but a little different.
At the Wolfram & Hart offices, Holland tells Lilah that Bethany is keeping Angel awake, which is interfering with Darla's midnight visits, and thereby screwing up Lindsey's plan. Could that be any more complicated? (If you're wondering whether I mean the plot or that sentence: both.) He menacingly says, "Get her out, Lilah. And not just for the sake of the big picture. For yours." Lilah nods.
Bethany tells Angel that she feels funny. More specifically, "sweaty-funny." Oh, that kind of funny. Angel encourages her. Turns out he's having her practice telekinesis on a scarf he borrowed from Cordelia. Hey, PsiCorps SOP is to use a penny, not a scarf. Bethany stares into space, and the scarf magically wraps itself around Angel's neck. Bethany is happy to learn that she can use her powers for non-smooshing purposes. Cordelia hangs up the phone and gives Angel an address where he can meet Gunn. She adds that she'll take Bethany to "hit the Plaza shops."
Angel kicks in an apartment door. Gunn walks into the room, saying, "See, this works great. You break, I enter." For the benefit of new viewers, Angel explains again that he can't enter while the resident is alive. Gunn says that Bethany's attacker is on the critical list at the hospital. Angel notes that the apartment furnishings don't fit the "thug in the alley" profile. Gunn says that the guy was "muscle for hire," and guesses that someone wanted to hurt Bethany. Angel speculates, "Or wanted to find out what would happen to someone who tried." Angel leans up against the invisible barrier blocking the doorway and tells Gunn to look around for something that will tell them who hired the thugs. Gunn replies, "I'm still dealing with this man's ugly-ass living room set. Some people just shouldn't have money." While Gunn pokes around, Angel hesitantly brings up all the volunteer work Gunn's been doing. Gunn asks if Angel's offering to pay him. When Angel admits that he is, Gunn gives a thumbs-up and says, "Cool!" The barrier warps and disappears, and Angel falls into the room and onto his face. Heh. Gunn chuckles, "You're a very graceful man, have I ever mentioned that?" Angel says, "I guess someone's off the critical list." For a split-second I wonder if they should be making jokes about someone's death, but Gunn immediately says, "Rapist for hire. See me cryin'?" Good point. While they look through the apartment, Angel presses speed-dial on the phone. Through the speaker, they hear a secretary say, "Wolfram & Hart, how may I direct your call?"
Hey, a merry-go-round! Well, that was random. Cordy and Bethany are strolling along the street about a block away from it, holding cups of coffee-like-beverages. Cordy notes, "It's the vanilla that makes the mocha less latte-ey." Uh. Right. Bethany says that where she's from, they still just have coffee. Where's she from, Antarctica? Is there still any place in the country that is Starbucks-free? Cordy abruptly tells Bethany, "Don't bone my boss." Bethany plays innocent. Cordelia goes on to say that Angel is old-fashioned, and that "he sees you as, pretty much, the damsel in distress. I think it's a little more complicated than that." Cordy says that she likes Bethany, but believes that she's dangerous. Bethany claims she had to defend herself from the guys in the alley, but Cordy ain't buying it. "You could have floated them away, or spun them until they puked. I don't know. You squashed 'em." They sit down, and Cordy tells Bethany that she saw Bethany in a vision, and that "those guys are better off squashed, I truly think, but somewhere in that moment of panic a decision got made, and I don't want something like that to happen to my friends. Or, and I can't stress this enough, me." Bethany tells Cordy not to worry, and asks if Cordy is involved with Angel. Cordy says that she isn't, adding, "I like my men less broody and more spendy." A guy pushes his way in between them and, while blocking Cordy's view, quickly injects Bethany's neck with something before moving on. Bethany wobbles, but before she falls down two more men walk up and swoop off with her. Cordy shouts, "Police!" and throws her hot coffee into their faces. Good going, Cordy! She grabs Bethany and helps her stumble away as a van pulls up behind them. Two more men jump out, throw Cordy down, and pull Bethany into the back of the van. As it pulls away, Cordy shrieks, "Bethany, you can squash those guys!" Hee. With inexplicably good timing, the Angelmobile pulls around the corner at that very moment. Cordy tells Angel and Gunn, "Tan van! Fetch!"
Finally, an action sequence! And a car chase, at that! The Angelmobile pulls up behind the van. Angel tells Gunn to drive, and climbs out onto the hood. He leaps out and hangs off the back of the van, and gets the doors open. We hear punches, and see the two guys who nabbed Bethany fall out into the street. Gunn avoids hitting them, probably just to avoid nicking the paint on Angel's car. Well, that was brief.
Lilah's on the phone: "One more excuse from you and I am gonna bury you alive to my house so I can hear you screaming." She pauses, and finally says, "He took her to the hotel? Great. He wants to play with little miss time bomb, I say we let him. Pull the trigger." She hangs up. She'd be more threatening if she didn't have shiny pink lip-gloss smeared all over her mouth.
Bethany sobs her way into her hangout in the top floor of the hotel. Angel is trying to convince her that Lilah is behind the attacks. "She's my friend!" Bethany wails, and doors start slamming shut. Cordy is a wee bit nervous, and suggests a time-out. Angel tells Bethany, "Nobody's controlling you! You have the power here!" While he talks, he nonchalantly bats away a bucket that Bethany sends sailing his way. He goes on, "You gonna die? Then they win. Don't let them. Don't let them touch you." Bethany calms down, and walks toward the door. She opens it and sees Mr. Potter. "Hello, Rabbit," he says. I think we all knew that was going to happen. But getting to see the outside of the hotel as all the windows on the top floor suddenly shatter is an unexpected bonus.
When we come back from the ads, Cordy is crumpled on the floor, unconscious. Bethany stares at the man who does not deserve the title of "father." While he talks about how worried he's been, Angel gradually comes to. Mr. Potter steps into the room, and the ceiling makes rumbling noises. Cordy is awake too, and we watch as a nail works its way out of the windowsill and flies across the room into her arm. Aiiee. Mr. Potter is saying, "I know what you can do, Bethany, and I know you don't mean to hurt anyone," while Cordy groans and pulls the nail out. Bethany stares in horror while Mr. Potter says that she's coming home with him. He says, "I promise it'll be just like it was before," while the walls and ceilings shudder and quake. Bethany suddenly arches her back, and the scenery stops shuddering. Angel stands up and says, "Bethany..." before being pinned back against the wall. Mr. Potter reaches out toward Bethany and suggests that they go downstairs. He is pushed back suddenly, and Angel is released. As Mr. Potter is slowly lifted up toward the ceiling, he asks, "Bethany, what are you doing? Stop it. Put me down!" He starts gasping for breath. Angel looks on calmly, and says, "You've got the power. Use it. Finish it." "It hurts," Mr. Potter moans. Not enough, is my response. Bethany says, "Goodbye," and Mr. Potter suddenly hurtles backward through the window. He plummets, and suddenly stops short a few yards from the ground. I'll say it again: It's not the falling that'll kill you, it's the stopping, so that should have finished him just the same. But it doesn't. Bethany hesitates, then lets him fall the rest of the way to the ground, more or less unharmed. Which is a pity. She, Angel, and Cordy all look at each other. Anyone with theories about what on earth was motivating Mr. Potter there, let me know. Did he think it'd be all happily ever after?
Bethany is packing up her stuff at Lilah's. Lilah gamely asks, "You think that's it? Poof, you're cured, and all your nightmares are gone?" Bethany says she isn't an idiot or a child. Lilah, who needs a few lessons in tact, says, "Yes you are, and you need us. Sooner or later your powers are gonna get out of control, and you're gonna need a friend." Bethany says that her friends don't hire people to rape her. "At least not my close ones, anyway." Lilah claims that she was trying to make Bethany stronger, which is going past "spin" and into "whirlpool." Bethany looks at Lilah, and her suitcase closes and flies into her waiting hand. "Good job," she notes. Lilah doesn't give up and follows Bethany to the door, and sees Angel waiting outside. He tells Lilah, "You gotta learn to lose, sweetie." Lilah casts about for some edge, and finally tells Bethany, "He is a vampire, you know." Bethany turns to look at Angel, raises her eyebrows, and says, "Weird." With that, she leaves. Angel hangs around to tell Lilah, "Looks like you're gonna have to find someone else's brain to play with, huh?" Lilah growls, "Yeah, we have someone in mind." Angel smirks his way off, and Lilah looks after him and says, "Sweet dreams."
I must admit, they treated the subject of child abuse with more respect than I expected. week, Angel sees Darla and goes all wacky. You know what? Angel could name his dog "Charlie," and then it'd be...oh, never mind.