Angel # 9: Awakening

Season 4, Episode 10
First Aired January 29th, 2003

With one brief exception in Season 1, Season 4 of Angel was the only time Angelus appeared in the present day of the series (he was often featured in flashbacks, and he kind of resurfaced for a few hours in the Season 1 episode "Eternity" due to some drugs). The Angelus arc was probably my favorite part of Season 4; even though he couldn't do anything as horrific as the big things he did in Season 2 of Buffy (because he didn't love anyone as much as he loved Buffy, he couldn't torment the way he did to her, and even if he did love Cordelia, she wasn't exactly present), I think that I was more entertained by some of the little things he did this time around. I'll try and hit on those points in a later posting, because "Awakening" is the story of how Angelus returned.

So far, the Angel Investiagtions team has been having a bad year. In addition to all the personal tension, a huge rock demon, known only as the Beast, emerged from the ground, prevailed in numerous fights against the group (and I mean the group; it fought Angel, Gunn, Wes, and Lorne simultaneously), and succeeded in blocking out the sun in LA, making it a demon playground. Believing that only Angelus has the knowledge that can stop the Beast (normally, Angel and Angelus have the same memories, but all references to the Beast were elimiated in our dimension, including peoples' memories), Wes hired a powerful shaman to remove and store Angel's soul in order to question Angelus about the Beast.

Angel is very reluctant, but eventually decides to go ahead with the plan. The group builds a massive cage to hold Angelus in, and they strap Angel down while the shaman performs the spell. Halfway through the incantation, the shaman reveals that he is an agent of the Beast, and the group is forced to take him out. They discover that all over his body are tattoos telling the story of the Beast, and revealing how to defeat him. The tattoos state that a sword exists that is powerful enough to kill the Beast and restore the sun. On their quest to get the sword, Angel and Wes make amends (Wes even apologizes, which is something he had never done before), the rest of the group make up, Connor comes to see Angel as a good person, and after the Beast is destroyed, Angel and Cordelia celebrate by making love.

It is then that Angel loses his soul, and the whole adventure is revealed to be part of the spell, a way of making Angel think he is perfectly happy. Every problem in his life was conveniently solved, every broken relationship was fixed. The fantasy gives us a window into what Angel wants and reminds us that things are going to get much worse before they get better...

Up next: Angel #8...