Angel # 4: You're Welcome

Season 5, Episode 12
First Aired February 4th, 2004

"You're Welcome" is the 100th episode of Angel. It set up the rest of the season (and series) and it very beautifully gave Cordelia Chase closure. At the end of Season 4, she fell into a coma because of the stress of birthing Jasmine, and at the beginning of this episode, just as Angel was starting to give up on himself as the CEO of Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia finally woke up. She came back to a world she barely recognized; Angel was the CEO of Wolfram and Hart and Spike had a soul and was helping the helpless. Unbeknownst to Angel and his friends, Spike was going out at night to save people, much the way Angel did in the first two seasons of the show. In fact, Spike was receiving tips on where to go to save people from someone who called himself Doyle. "Doyle" claimed to receive visions from the Powers That Be of people in need.

When Spike told Angel and Cordelia about this, they both became quite upset, because Doyle was their original partner. He received visions of people in trouble and directed Angel to their location. Even worse was the fact that Doyle was in fact Lindsey McDonald, who had set up the situations for Spike. He and Eve were working on a plan to bring down Angel's self-esteem by making him think that Spike was the subject of the Shanshu Prophecy.

Cordelia helped reassure Angel, and he and Lindsey met for a showdown in the bowels of the Wolfram and Hart building. However, when things looked like they were finally going to turn out alright for Angel and Cordelia, Angel got hit with a realization. The final twist made complete sense based on previous comments made in the episode, and it was very sad but dramatically satisfying. Cordelia's role in the episode put Angel back on track in ways that won't be quite clear until the end of the season, and in ways beyond what she did in her waking state.

Up next: Angel #3...