Shells

Props to Nokia and Dachelle.

Previously on Angel, Fred died. A lot.

Continuing right where we left off last week, Illyria stares at her hand while Wesley stands up and asks, "Fred?" He's a little slow. Illyria curiously walks toward the mirror, and Acker's body language as Illyria is neat. She's sort of stiff and uncomfortable in her own skin, which makes sense since it isn't her own skin. She looks at herself in the mirror as Wesley more grumpily says, "Illyria." Illyria turns and sniffs, "Because I've returned in the body of a human, you think you can speak to me. It's disgusting." Wesley asks Illyria who Winifred Burkle is, presumably because he's trying to figure out if Illyria is aware of her body's former owner, and not because he forgot. Illyria grumbles at the fact that humanity hasn't died out yet, and Wesley quavers, "So you don't know who Fred is?" Illyria says that she doesn't care, and scores many points by adding, "Bleat at me no longer -- we're done." She turns away, and Wesley picks up an axe and agrees, "We are," before swinging it at Illyria's head.

Credits. I tell Johanna, "It'd be really funny if the axe works. Like, when we come back, Illyria's dead, and they spend the rest of the episode on a whole new plot." Johanna says that from now on she's ending all of her conversations with "bleat at me no longer."

When we return, the axe-head shatters on Illyria's skull without her seeming to notice. She casually says, "Now I remember. Winifred Burkle is the shell I'm in." Wesley punches his "tragic bereavement" button and sits down on the bed, moaning that Fred's the woman Illyria killed. Illyria stares at him and correctly identifies the mood he's projecting as "grief." She says, "It's like offal in my mouth," and even though she pronounces it like "oh-full," I have to wonder yet again if the show is recapping itself. Plus, you'd think a demon would like offal. Wesley, who has tears running down his cheeks, gah, says, "If you stay here, you'll taste it every day." He walks to the window and tells her that humans rule the world now, saying, "Like roaches crawling everywhere, crying and sweating, and puking their feelings all over you." Wesley, not everyone hates life as much as you do. I've heard. He goes on telling Illyria to go back to sleep until humanity dies off -- oh! It's a Clever Trick! Subtle. Illyria somehow manages to see through his gambit, and says, "This carcass is bound to me. I could not change that if I cared to." She adds that if humanity rules the earth, she has work to do. With that, she throws Wesley into a wall.

Angel and Spicule are jetting homeward. I am terribly disappointed to see that they are not surrounded by bags of tacky "Old Ones do it in the Deeper Well" t-shirts. You just know Drogyn has a souvenir stand somewhere in those caves. Spicule is about halfway through polishing off a dozen weenie little bottles of Jack Daniel's. That's what the puppets were drinking, too. Did Jack Daniels replace Apple as the show's corporate sponsor? Spicule complains that the tiny portions are keeping him from getting drunk, which...what? Angel broods quietly. Spicule reminds Angel that thousands of people would have died if they'd saved Fred, and says, "She wouldn't have wanted that." If Fred had been okay with the idea, would they have gone ahead with it? Angel says he tried to call Wesley, but nobody answered. Spicule sighs, "Guess she's gone, then," and goes back to bitching about the whisky. He holds up one bottle and says, "It's like, 'Here's what a bottle of Jack would look like, if you actually had one.'" Then he stretches his arm out and suggests, "Or 'Here's a drink, but it's very far away.'" Heh. Angel asks, "What does that mean?" and Spicule starts to explain his joke until Angel clarifies, "What does it mean that she's gone?" Is this the very special episode where they explain the concept of death to Angel? Is it going to be like that Andy Griffith Show episode with the bird? That would be awesome. Spicule really does start explaining that dead people go away and don't come back, but Angel interrupts, "Unless you're a vampire." Spicule says, "Or the ghost of one that saved the world." Angel adds, "Or Buffy." I add, "Or Darla." Angel figures that death isn't always the end: "Rules can be broken. All you have to do is push hard enough."

Cut to a bloody Knox, whose wrists are duct-taped together, slumped over in a chair in Gunn's office. Harmony confirms that Gunn is planning to torture Knox, and asks if she can help. Gunn isn't in the mood to share, but Harmony whines, "Fred's my friend! We went out for drinks all the...once." Wesley hurries in looking for Angel. Gunn says that Angel's on the way home, and asks how Fred is. Wesley is distracted by the sight of Knox until Harmony explains that they're getting ready for some torturing. Wesley says, "Good," and starts to turn away before processing that and asking, "Why?" Heh. Gunn says that Knox knows about what happened to Fred, and Wesley angrily asks, "Why didn't you tell me?" Er, they just did. I'm confused by the way they're playing Wesley's devastated grief for comedy. Assuming it's intentional. I guess I'm even more confused if it's not supposed to be funny. Knox pointedly repeats Wesley's question, and Gunn tells Knox to shut up. Wesley numbly says it doesn't matter anymore: "Fred's gone." Gunn stares, and Knox starts giggling and snorting, and I really liked that. It's cool to have someone snickering over a moment of emotional impact. Knox cheerfully asks Wesley to describe what happened, and Wesley obligingly explains that Illyria consumed Fred and possessed her body. Gunn desperately says, "Then it's still Fred, right? This thing is just controlling --" Wesley interrupts. "She's. Gone." Knox gibbers that he loved Fred, because everyone loved Fred. He vaguely insists, "She had a warmth that took you in and held you until everything cold and distant melted away." Say something specific! She liked tacos. She wore terrible outfits. She babbled. Anything. Knox says he chose Fred because she was "the most beautiful, perfect woman [he] ever met." Wesley promptly pulls out a gun and aims at Knox. Gunn insists that they need Knox alive, and his voice trembles as he says, "I know how you feel." Wesley gasps, "You didn't feel her die." He goes on about how much pain Fred was in, and how brave she was, and says, "She was better than anyone I've known. Better than...." Xander? Okay, that's an intriguing moment, although it's drowning in the the poignant speeches. Not to mention the piano. Wesley repeats, "She's gone." From the doorway, Angel says, "I know. Now let's get her back."

The MoG have regrouped in Angel's horrible penthouse. Angel and Spicule exposition about what they learned at the Deeper Well, and say they were too late to save Fred. Cary moans that he should have known what was up when Knox sang for him. "If I had concentrated harder, read him better, maybe Fred --" Angel insists that they can all have a guiltfest later, but Cary replies, "I got nothing. I'm sorry," and then wanders out. At this point, I'm pretty well convinced that Cary's limited screen presence is due to how expensive his makeup is. I get that they're trying to make everyone feel guilty for Fred's death and all, but it's not like this is the first time Cary's failed to identify a bad seed. Angel calls after Cary, but Spicule says, "If he's doubting himself, he won't be any good to us." Yeah, no need to worry about someone's feelings unless those feelings are useful to you. Wow, I didn't realize just how much I liked Cary until I got unreasonably angry at that line.

Gunn turns his back on the others as he notes, "We should have seen this coming." Angel grumbles that, according to Drogyn, Illyria's escape was "preordained." See my comments about destiny. Saying something was destined to happen doesn't make blame, or praise, irrelevant. I wish someone on the show would point that out. Gunn nervously says that, actually, it wasn't inevitable, and explains that the sarcophagus was stuck in Customs until "someone" got it out. It sounds like he's leading up to saying that this is his fault, because why else bring it up? But then Wesley says, "Who?" and Gunn looks at Wesley and hesitates before he finally says, "I'm working on it." I suspect that Gunn would have confessed if Wesley hadn't been there. Or if Wesley hadn't come very close to shooting Knox just a few minutes ago. I'm not sure, and it's not that I'm eager to make Gunn noble. It's more that I'm happy to see some complicated interpersonal dynamics again. So yeah, Gunn chickens out, and Wesley snarks, "Oh, you're working on it? Good for you, Charles, not a moment to lose." Angel tells Wesley to chill, because he needs everyone to help Fred. Wesley gruffs, "There is no Fred anymore." Gunn snaps that Wesley doesn't know that, and Wesley says, "I watched it gut her from the inside out." Because it's all about Wesley's pain. Angel insists that they can pop Fred's soul back in there, have her back good as new. I'm glad he's wrong just because I've got my own totally non-canonical theories about how souls function on this show, and if that worked, it'd ruin everything. Angel adds that once they've got Fred fixed up, "[they'll] make every son of a bitch who had a hand in this pay." The MoG give in to the cheerleading, and Angel says they need the big guns. Wesley says, "Willow." Spicule recalls that Willow is in South America. Angel says that they need to contain Illyria while they find Willow, and asks where Illyria might be headed.

Cut to Illyria smashing through the windows in Gunn's office, and yanking Knox out of the room. As Harmony runs over, she sees Illyria and gasps, "Fred?" Illyria smacks Harmony, who goes soaring across the lobby. Illyria stomps out, and Knox trails after her, sucking up as much as possible. He makes a good Renfield. Knox says, "I worship you!" Illyria smiles a little as she replies, "Yes, I know. Worship."

Commercials. You know, it would have been interesting if they'd made Knox seem more like dorky, prat-falling Wesley from Seasons 1 and 2. I mean, it'd have been annoying for me, personally, but that would have made Fred's interest in Knox a lot more painful for Wesley. And then he could have perked up this season, which would have made Fred's change of heart toward him a little less random, and then the shift back to psychotic Wesley would have been more shocking. As it is, there have been too many sudden shifts in everyone's feelings for me to understand anyone's behavior.

In the lab, Illyria is looking over her sarcophagus while Knox expositions. He says he's adored Illyria ever since he saw her "pressed between the pages of the forbidden text" when he was eleven. It seems like there should be a Harry Potter joke here. In the show, or in the recap. But they didn't make one, and I can't, so oh well. Illyria says, "You are the Qwa'Ha Xahn," which Knox helpfully translates when he replies, "I am your priest. I am your servant. I am your guide in this world." He also pulls up his shirt, revealing a nasty scar over his ribs, and a little skull-shaped object pressing up through his skin. I had to look pretty closely to realize it was a skull, which is a shame because that's neat. Knox explains that Illyria felt called to him because he placed her sacraments "close to [his] heart." Illyria prods at the little skull and then looks up at Knox to say, "My last Qwa'Ha Xahn was taller." Knox pulls his shirt down and defensively says, "I may be shrinking a bit in the glory of your presence." Heh. Illyria grumbles, "This world. It's not how I left it." Knox says he can't change that. Illyria says that she can, and whirls around while ripping off her shirt. Knox blinks and says, "Yeah...Okay!"

"Himalayas?" Angel says, in my favorite segue of the episode. He's on the phone, trying to track down Willow, while Wesley, Spicule, and Gunn sit in the peanut gallery. Angel continues, "Whaddya mean she's not on this plane? You just said -- astral projection? Well, is there any way to get her astral over to L.A.?" We finally learn that Angel's talking to Giles, and then Giles puts him on hold. Heh. The camera moves over to Gunn and Wesley, by the window, as Wesley sighs, "Never a witch around when you need one." Gunn stares outside as he nervously insists that it'll work out. Wesley tells Gunn, "I've been unreasonable because I've lost all reason." Ugh. He adds that he shouldn't have snapped at Gunn, and says those magic words: "I'm sorry." Gunn takes a shuddery breath and doesn't look at Wesley as he says, "So am I." Richards is awfully good throughout this episode. Meanwhile, Angel continues his phone conversation, and says, "Yeah, I'm still at Wolfram & Hart. What does that have to do with anything?" He finishes by saying, "Yeah. I understand," and then hangs up, smashes the cell phone into the wall, and calmly says, "We're on our own." Angel more desperately insists that nothing's changed: "We find Illyria and --" "Smack her a good one for me? " Harmony suggests as she enters. She points to a scrape on her cheek and complains, "So gonna leave a mark."

Illyria's all nekkid and holding a hand over the sarcophagus while the soundtrack goes "OooOOOoah!" Then she puts her hand on the sarcophagus and clothes start materializing on her skin. As a red and black patchwork catsuit envelops her, Knox watches appreciatively. When her makeover is complete, Illyria says, "I'm ready to begin." "Or we could just hang out," Angel suggests, as he, Spicule, and Wesley enter. Illyria eyes Angel and pegs him as a "warrior." Gunn arrives with a gang of Wolfram & Hart goons. I'm amused to note that Gunn stopped to put on his suit jacket on his way to the battle. Illyria eyes the competition and says, "Two half-breeds and a band of primitives." Angel adds, "And a whole lot of bullets." Wesley insists that there are enough bullets "to temporarily incapacitate even [Illyria]." What is he basing that on? Is it a thing about shells and gunshells or something? Or has Wesley convinced himself that the only problem with his dependence on firearms is that he doesn't have enough bullets handy? Is he going to start wearing bandoliers? Actually, I'd enjoy that. Angel tells Illyria that she should have stayed in the Deeper Well, and that she took something from them. He suggests, "Stand down, and I promise we won't destroy you takin' it back." Illyria responds by tossing Angel with enough force to send him flying through the windows separating the lab from Fred's office, through Fred's office, and through another set of windows to the outside. Nice pitch! Angel plummets toward the ground. Meanwhile, Gunn orders the goons to fire, but Illyria waves her arm at them, and they go in to super-duper-slo-mo. While everyone moves like molasses, Illyria grabs Knox and marches out past them.

Moments later, Illyria and Knox walk away from the building while, above them, Angel is still falling toward the earth. And then time speeds up again, and Angel falls the last few yards. It's like The Hudsucker Proxy! Well, slightly. Angel spits out some impressively gooey blood and stands up wearily.

Angel and Harmony arrive in the lobby. Harmony apologizes for not stopping Illyria earlier. Angel asks if Illyria threw Harmony out a window, and when she says no, grunts, "Then you're one up on me." The rest of the MoG arrive in the lobby, and Wesley reports that there's no trace of Illyria or Knox. Angel wonders how they escaped, and guesses that Illyria can teleport. Wesley disagrees, because there was "no characteristic displacement of the atmosphere around her." Right. Spicule reports seeing a blur, and Gunn says that it was as if Illyria were "pulling a Barry Allen." Off the others' blank looks, he tries again: "Jay Garrick? Wally -- like she was moving really fast." Wow, Gunn just might be geekier than I am. They conclude that Illyria can either speed herself up or slow everyone else down, which comes to the same thing. Angel tells Wesley to go through the lab looking for any more information about Illyria that might help them. Harmony offers to tag along: "I got a degree in tearing things up!" The others pedeconference as Gunn offers to try some of his contacts, and Angel suggests that he and Spicule try to figure out where Illyria is now.

In Angel's office, Spicule asks how exactly they're going to track Illyria. Angel insists, "We just do it," and pulls a dagger off the wall. Spicule reports that even when Illyria was in front of him, "there was no scent. Nothing. It's like she wasn't even there." Angel gloomily says, "I know." Spicule starts to suggest that they may need to give up on the idea of getting Fred back. Angel interrupts, "No. I lost Cordelia because some thing violated her. Crawled inside. Used her up. No way in hell am I letting that happen again."

Harmony is demonstrating her "smashing stuff" skills in the lab, prying a cabinet open with a crowbar. Why is there a crowbar in the lab? I guess Harmony could have brought it, but it seems like, if it was hers, it'd be pink. Wesley is running his hand over the sarcophagus. He pontificates, "She was curious. That's why Fred didn't put it into containment immediately." He goes on muttering about that for a while, and finally concludes, "She was just curious. I think I hate her a little for that." Well, it's sort of like emotional complexity, so I'll take it. But I wonder if Wesley's realized that Fred's insatiable curiosity may be what led to her interest in him. Because there doesn't seem to be any other reason for it. Wesley asks Harmony for the crowbar, and Harmony brings it over, saying, "The girl of your dreams loved you. That's more than most people ever get." Ugh. The girl of his dreams dated him for a week or two! Or did six months pass between episodes without anyone's telling me? Wesley takes the crowbar and says, "I know, but it isn't enough," and starts smashing the holy hell (so to speak) out of the sarcophagus. Harmony yells at him to stop, and tells him that getting his rage on isn't helping. Wesley disagrees, and picks up a gem that he's broken free of the sarcophagus lid. Harmony says she thought the sarcophagus was unbreakable, but Wesley says that the markings on it "refer to a series of concussively timed intervals." He says that the gem may still retain some of the sarcophagus's power. Harmony reports that she's found Knox's cell phone and his cheese sandwich. She notes that the phone has "a Rick Springfield screensaver, which opens up a whole new set of questions." Wesley takes the phone and reports that the lists of outgoing and incoming phone numbers have been deleted. Harmony suggests checking for missed calls, and this isn't a bad bit, but it is a little weird for this show. After all their magic books and spells, they wind up checking numbers on a cell phone. I don't know, I kind of like it, just because it's disconcerting. Sure enough, Wesley finds three calls from the same person within the past few hours.

Cut to Dr. Sparrow cleaning the gore off some surgical instruments. He reminds himself how much he hates the sight of blood, and is probably about to mention how much he loves describing his personality to himself when Gunn interrupts, saying, "Then this is gonna be an uncomfortable conversation." Sparrow makes fun of Gunn for taking so long to come visit, and asks how Fred is. Gunn shoves Sparrow into a chair and demands information about Illyria. Sparrow starts yammering about the Deeper Well, and an unimpressed Gunn gives Sparrow a punch for good measure. Then Gunn yanks Sparrow around by the collar and shouts, "How do you bring Fred back? How?" Sparrow says it can't be done, and explains that he was just involved in working the deal with Gunn to get the sarcophagus out of Customs. Gunn begs, "Then take it back! Everything you put in my head, the law, all the knowledge -- take it back." His voice starts shaking as he continues, "Take more: leave me a vegetable. I don't care, just bring her back. Please...bring her back." Aw, poor Gunn. I buy him acting a bit crazy because he's got the guilt thing, which means his behavior isn't solely motivated by his adoration of Fred. Sparrow almost regretfully reports, "Miss Burkle's soul was consumed by the fires of resurrection. Everything she was is gone, forever." A shocked Gunn releases Sparrow, who advises him to learn to live with the deal he made. Sparrow heads for the door, and is promptly knocked out by Wesley, holding a shotgun. Wesley aims the shotgun at Gunn and asks, "Is there something you'd like to tell me, Charles?"

Commercials. Johanna asks why Spicule was breathing so heavily in his last scene with Angel, when he was talking about Fred. She says, "He was panting!" I suggest that maybe he's a vampire with a soul and a mild case of asthma.

When we return, Wesley explains that he found out Knox was working with Sparrow. Gunn nods quickly and tries to claim that one of his sources told him the same thing. Wesley tells Gunn not to bother, and asks if what Sparrow said about Fred's soul's being annihilated is true. How would Gunn know? Gunn tries to explain: "I was losing it, everything they put in my head, everything that made me different, special. And he could fix it, make it permanent, so I signed a piece of paper. It was a Customs release form. I didn't think anyone would get hurt." I like this shot, with Gunn on the left half of the screen, and on the right side there's just the gun pointed at him in the foreground. Wesley hisses that nothing from Wolfram & Hart is free, except for the stuff Wesley gets. Gunn says he couldn't go back to being the muscle, and rather damningly adds, "I didn't think it would be one of us. I didn't think it would be Fred." Wesley says he can understand not wanting to go back: "Not wanting to be who we were. I understand it. And I can forgive it." Gunn looks a little surprised at that. Wesley walks over to the table of instruments as he adds, "But you knew what was happening to her. You knew who was responsible and you didn't say anything. You let her die." Well, Gunn didn't know that until Knox told him, which was pretty close to the end. I guess Wesley may think Gunn knew all along, from their conversation here, so okay. Wesley snatches up a scalpel or something and quickly spins and drives it into Gunn's abdomen. Gunn looks dully shocked as Wesley adds, "I'm less forgiving about that."

Cut to Angel slamming Wesley into a wall in his office. It really seems as if the act break should have come after Gunn got stabbed, so that we had time to process it before coming back to this. Wesley insists that he did what he had to do, and Angel growls, "I don't remember seeing 'Stab Gunn' on the agenda this morning!" Wesley snivelingly insists that he avoided the major organs, and that Gunn should recover. Wow, Wesley can deliver exposition even while he's getting beat up. Angel slams Wesley into the wall again and asks if that's supposed to make it all right. Wesley shouts, "Nothing is all right! Nothing will ever be all right!" Oh dear. Wesley is near tears as he explains that they can't bring Fred back, because her soul was destroyed. No, no, no. I mean, huzzah about her soul getting trashed, but boo to Wesley's tearful outbursts. This is a guy who's all about repressing. If we're meant to think that, gee, Wesley loved Fred so much that dealing with his grief snaps even his emotional restraints, well, sorry, but I don't believe it. I didn't believe it when this aired, and I believe it even less having watched his parting (ha!) scenes with Lilah in "Salvage" over the weekend. Anyway. Angel's shocked to hear about Fred's soul going poof, and releases Wesley. Wesley goes on to explain that Gunn helped to bring the sarcophagus to Wolfram & Hart. He shouts, "What he knew, when he knew it -- it doesn't change what happened! He let her die." Angel raspily says, "So did I." He explains that they could have saved Fred at the Deeper Well, at the cost of thousands of lives. Wesley stares at Angel with an expression that might indicate surprise, or betrayal, or "I never noticed that map on the wall behind you before." Angel says, "I need you to bury it, Wes. Everything you're feeling, everyone you want to hurt -- I need you to put it aside and focus on what has to be done." Hee. Sorry. I just think it's great that now we've got Angel advising Wesley to be even more repressed and crazy. Which seems in-character for Angel. It just amuses me how screwed up everyone on the show is. Oh! And if Fred had stayed paranoid and nuts, she would have stayed in her room and wouldn't have gotten killed. Heck, Cordy was doomed as soon as she got all actualized and upbeat. Neurosis keeps you alive on this show. Angel says they have to stop Illyria, and Spicule chimes in, "Before she unleashes hell on earth?" Spicule's in the doorway, wiping blood off his hands. Angel asks Spicule, "What'd you get out of the doctor?" and Spicule answers, "Screams, various fluids, and a name: Vahla Ha'Nesh."