''His dreams awaken a killer.''

Somnambulist - 1ADH11

Written by Tim Minear - Directed by Rick Kolbe - First Aired on January 18, 2000
Synopsis - Creature Feature - Cool Quotes - References - Continuity - Goofs - Trivia - The Morgue - Cast - Famous Faces - Points Of View

Synopsis

The Short: From the WB11 home page: A girl is murdered by a vampire during the early morning hours. Later that day, Wesley notices an article about the murder in the newspaper and leaves immediately. Angel pays a visit to Kate about some other business, but while he is there, he observes the crime scene photos on her desk. He recognizes the modus operandi, and immediately realizes that there is a connection between his recent nightmares and the murders. Meanwhile, Wesley returns to Angel Investigations and clues Cordelia in on the situation at hand. He tells her in the past, Angelus marked his victims' left cheek with a cross. That night, Angel has a dream. He realizes one of his sires named Penn is responsible for the current murders. That afternoon, Angel brings a drawing of Penn to Kate and instructs her to stake out an area. Later that day, Penn strikes, but before he can complete the kill, the police arrive. Penn escapes in a nearby abandoned building. Kate comes in after him and soon finds Angel at the scene. He dons his vampire face and the two begin to fight. After learning Angel's true identity, Kate initially freaks out, but then hits the library to learn more about vampires. She discovers that Penn struck two times in L.A. earlier that century, in 1928 and 1963. Wesley and Angel figure out where he resides and pay a visit to his apartment. Meanwhile, Penn pays a surprise visit to the police department. Angel catches wind of the situation climbs down into the tunnels and gets into a big brawl with Penn. However, it's Kate who saves the day when she locates a wood scrap and stakes Angel and Penn. Due to her great aim, only Penn is dusted.

The Long: After a ''previously on Angel'' segment (see Continuity #1) we get a view of the full moon reflected in a puddle of water, a woman runs in an alley, looking behind her. A man catches up with her and bears his fangs. He carves a cross in her cheek and drains her. Angel raises his head and snarls, then changes back to human form and awakens in his bed. Meanwhile police cars with Kate show up on the murder scene and she checks out the body. She says this makes three. The opening credits roll. (Listen to the teaser here.)

Wesley and Cordelia

At Angel Investigations Cordelia is practicing the ''hard sell'' on a chair as Wesley walks in to compare notes and bring in the mail. It seems the demon scene in Los Angeles is rather slow. Wesley comments on how well they worked together against the Empathy demon (see Continuity #2). The mail is actually that of their neighbor, and as Wesley goes to take it back an article in the newspaper catches his eye and he leaves. Angel walks in and is very tired. He asks Cordelia about a license plate she was supposed to look up. She asks Angel to see if Kate can help (see Reference #1). Angel is so out of it he almost walks out in daylight before he realizes what he is doing. Meanwhile Wesley is shown spying on them. At the police station Kate says she will look up the license. She says she is working on a case about a serial killer. Angel recognizes the photos as the victims from his dreams. Angel leaves and Kate goes to give a probable profile on the killer to other police, which is surprisingly similar to a profile of Angel himself, although she doesn't realize it (see Cool Quote #1). As she speaks they show Angel walking around the city where he notices a girl who looks like Buffy. Back at the office Wesley walks in on Cordelia with a stake and a file on Angel's past (see Continuity #3). He tells Cordelia that the way the victim was marked was similar to the way Angel used to kill. Cordelia defends Angel and tells Wesley to leave, but then Angel walks in and says Wesley is right. They quickly turn on Angel, but Angel explains he had been having rather pleasant killing dreams of the murders. Wesley suggests he is sleepwalking. They agree to chain Angel up that night, so they can see if there is another death. Wesley watches Angel as Cordelia goes home. Angel dreams of a woman in the past who he hunted, then wakes to find Cordelia walking in. She happily announces there was another murder. As Wesley goes to unlock Angel, Angel says he did do it, shocking them both.

Kate

Back in the past from Angel's dream, we find Angel and a newborn vampire standing over the body. The new vampire was the one who killed the girl, his sister. They plan to kill the rest of his family (see Goof #1). In the present in an apartment the same vampire collects newspaper articles for his wall that report his killings. At Angel's place Angel tells Cordelia and Wesley about how he instructed the vampire years ago (see Reference #2-#4). They are worried Kate will find him first, not be able to stop him and get herself killed. Angel shows up at the station to talk to Kate. He talks to her privately. Angel realizes the killer is recreating the killing spree he and Angel went on years ago (see Goof #2). Angel asks if she trusts him and gives her a drawing of the vampire, but won't tell her how he got it. Then he describes how the next killing will happen. Angel leaves with Wesley waiting in the car. They set up a stolen police radio to listen in on the search, and plan to follow the police. Outside a liquor store a teenage boy tries to get people to buy beer for him. He approaches the killer. The killer takes him into an alley and attacks, but police interrupt before he can finish. The killer jumps into a building. Angel hears of it on the radio and rushes to the scene. Kate shows up and goes into the building. Angel sees this and climbs secretly into the building himself. In the building Kate finds the killer and shoots him three times in the chest. She moves to inspect the body and although he seems dead he jumps up and attacks her. Angel falls in and is immediately recognized as Angelus by the killer. They were to meet in Italy, but Angel says he was held up in Romania by gypsies (see Continuity #4). The killer offers to share drinking Kate's blood, but Angel says he's here to kill him. Angel vamps out and they fight. Kate sees everything, including the vamping out! The killer wonders what happened to Angel, why he cares about this woman (see Goof #3). Angel is thrown into Kate, and the killer escapes. Kate stares dumbfounded at Angel in vampire face.

Book

At the crime scene the police are taking pictures as Kate deals with Angel. She doesn't believe what she saw. Angel tries to convince her by holding a cross she is wearing causing his hand to smoulder. In the police headquarters Kate looks up past killers with the same modus operandi. At Angel Investigations Cordelia is giving the ''hard sell'' to a customer. While talking to him she mentions Kate's name, then realizes he is a vampire and the killer they are looking for (see Reference #5). He says he can kill her, but she pulls up a shade and he has to duck in a corner. Angel walks in and asks Cordelia for a stake (see Reference #6). They talk and Angel apologizes for turning him into a vampire, but as he goes to stake the vampire, named Penn, Wesley walks in a becomes Penn's hostage (see Reference #7). Penn tells him to think of the worst possible thing he can imagine and he will be there. A musical interlude shows Kate looking up info on Angel's past in an occult book store, Angel searching for Penn, and Penn planning his next crime. Angel shows up at Kate's home, but she refuses to invite him in. She says the killer was in Los Angeles twice before, and once in Boston (see Reference #8). She also reveals she looked up Angelus in some occult books. Kate blames Angel for all the deaths, and tells him that after she stakes the killer she will stake Angel. At the office Angel, Cordelia and Wesley are looking up the previous visits to Los Angeles by Penn. Seeing pictures of the places the killer stayed the last two times he was in Los Angeles they realize it was the same place with a different name. That place still exist under yet a third name, Angel and Wesley investigate. They discover evidence at the apartment that Penn plans to kill a school bus full of children (see Goof #4).

Cordelia

At police headquarters Kate plans to find the killer by following Angel. As Kate passes out a sketch of the killer, someone blurts out that it is a terrible likeness. Kate realizes the killer is among them and the police try to jump him. They don't stand a chance and as Kate tries to pull a stake out he grabs her. Angel and Welsey drive in the parking lot of the police station and hear the commotion. They realize Penn tried to put them off his trail with a false lead. Angel jumps through a sewer cover to follow Kate and Penn. Penn drags Kate around the sewers and vamps out, intending to make her a vampire so Angel has to kill her. Angel walks in on them and Kate reaches for some holy water and splashes it on Penn's face. Angel and Penn fight and exchange taunts. Penn gets the upper hand in the fight and pins Angel between him and Kate, who finds a long sharp piece of wood to stake him with. Kate thrusts the wood through Angel's stomach at an angle so it pierces Penn's heart but only wounds Angel. Angel says she missed, but she says she didn't. Later that day Angel is being broody on the top of his building and Cordelia shows up saying she had a vision. She then consoles him telling him he's changed from the man who made Penn a vampire. He warns people sometimes change back, and Cordelia quickly says she would kill him dead, what are friends for?

Creature Feature

Angel states that he has a link with those he sired. This link lead to him seeing through the eyes of Penn while he was sleeping. Penn displayed superhuman speed and agility, more so then just about any vampire depicted so far. He also is seen making incredible leaps. Angel displays great climbing ability.

One odd thing is that Wesley tries to invite Angel into Penn's hotel room. First is was a public accommodation, so there is no need for an invite, secondly it was the home of a vampire, who is technically dead, and thirdly only a resident can do the inviting into a home for a vampire. How is it a Watcher like Wesley didn't know this?

Cool Quotes

Kate: ''Our suspect will be a white male. To the observer he will not seem a monster. His victims put up little or no struggle, so it's likely that he is charming, attractive, but at his core he is a loner. Possibly a dual personality, who once the crime has been committed, retains no memory of the act. He will not view his victims as subhuman, rather it's himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species. Stalking his prey, getting to know them. It's unlikely that he'll be married though he may have recently come off a long-term relationship that ended badly. We look for a precipitating event in cases such as this, and a painful breakup is always at the top of the list. Prior to failing this relationship may have marked an inactive period in our suspects life. He would have regarded it as a lifeline, his salvation, but once ended, it resulted in his recidivism. What is not in question is his experience. He's been doing this for a very long time, and he will do it again.''
So I guess Kate used to watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Listen to the quote here.

References

Cordelia: ''No go, D.M.V. is totally stalker-phobic.''
The D.M.V. is the Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues vehicle licenses for automobiles.
Angel: ''I taught him well.''
Cordelia: '' A real Psycho-Wan Kenobi.''
Psycho is a 1960 film starring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, a mild mannered motel owner who kills unsuspecting women. Plot: Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Sir Alec Guinness, was the teacher of Luke Skywalker in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Plot: Farm boy Luke Skywalker finds more than he bargained for when he gains possession of two androids, who lead him on the adventure of his life to save a beautiful princess, befriend a devil-may-care space smuggler, and save the galaxy from the evil clutches of Darth Vader. Tutored by the mysterious Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke must learn the ways of the Force.
Cordelia ''No lie, Gallagher's changed his act more times then this dude has in the last two centuries. Why do you think he's still doing the same old schtick?''
Wesley: ''Well, I mean, it's a classic, isn't it? Every time he smashes that watermelon with a sledgehammer I just...''
Gallagher is a stand-up comedian who is famous for his rather messy physical comedy, including the smashing of a watermelon with a large hammer called the Sledge-O-Matic on stage.
Wesley: ''You'd be locked up faster then Lady Hamilton's virtue.''
Lady Hamilton, wife of Sir William Hamilton, was born Emma Hart (1765-1815), a woman of great beauty and charm who rose from humble origins to international fame. Emma attracted the attention of Lord Horatio Nelson, with whom she had a notorious romantic liaison until his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Although she inherited money from both Hamilton and Nelson, her extravagance led her into debt, and she died in poverty. Depicted here in a 1782 painting by George Romney.
Cordelia: ''Oh crap, you're him, he, the guy, Apt Pupil-boy.''
Apt Pupil was is a book written by Stephen King in 1982. It was made into a film in 1998. It concerned a boy who discovers a Nazi war criminal in his neighborhood and forces him to tell him stories of the concentration camps.
Penn: ''Well, look who's back from his Up With People meeting.''
Up With People is a non-profit organization in which a group of students travel around the world for a year spreading friendship and understanding through educational musical performances. They have a web site at http://www.upwithpeople.org/. Also referenced by Xander in The Zeppo. (Thanks to the BuffyGuide for this entry.)
Penn: ''Oh, oh I understand. I was a Puritan remember?''
The Puritans were an off shoot of the Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who wanted simpler forms of church ceremony and strictness and gravity in behavior.
Kate: ''Want to quiz me? I'm just full of fun facts. For instance, I learned that your friend has been in Los Angeles before, did you know that? Yeah, at least twice. Once in 1929 and again in 1963. Oh and there is something in Boston in 1908. I think he was there, too.''
Boston has it's own official web site at http://www.boston.gov.

Continuity

Angel: ''Previously on Angel.''
Parting Gifts - Angel learns Cordelia can have visions, which she says was passed on to her when Doyle kissed her. Wesley becomes a rogue demon hunter and introduces himself to Angel and Cordelia.
Wesley: ''Quiet all around then. Well, I'll keep myself available. The situation can only escalate. We made a most effective team, I felt. Vanquishing that empathy demon in such short order.''
Cordelia: ''Yeah, well, nobody gauged out my eyes, so I'm happy.''
Parting Gifts - Barney the Empath demon tried to sell Cordelia's eyes at an auction. Angel and Wesley tracked the auction down and during the fight Cordelia slew Barney.
Wesley: ''I think you better sit down. While executing my duties as Watcher in Sunnydale, I did extensive research. Specifically on Angel, given his uncomfortable proximity to the Slayer.''
Bad Girls - Wesley was assigned to be Watcher for Buffy and Faith after Rupert Giles had been fired from the position.
Graduation Day Part 2 - Wesley left Sunnydale after one of his Slayers had quit and the other was in a coma in the hospital.
Angel: ''Got held up in Romania.''
Penn: ''Romania? What's in Romania?''
Angel: ''Gypsies.''
Angel & Becoming Part 1 - Angel's run in with gypsies in Romania was first described in Angel and depicted in a flashback in Becoming Part 1.

Goofs

Okay, this may be a little nit-picky, but when Penn and Angel are standing over the dead body in the flashback, they not only are breathing very heavily (as usual) but you can see their breath, because it's so cold. This is a bit of a contradiction with the established facts that vampires have no body heat and don't breath. Then again they probably both recently drank some hot blood, and they always breath on the show.
There is a little problem with Angel's explanation of the killing spree Penn went on. Angel says he was recreating the killing spree from when Penn was sired, but the first victim in Los Angeles was a male crossing guard. When they flash back to Penn's first killing it was his sister, in a death that looked more like the third killing in Los Angeles.
During the first fight between Angel and Penn, Penn grabs Angel by the shirt at one point. During a camera angle change the hand is suddenly not holding the shirt, but Angel's coat instead.
When Angel picks up the pictures of the school bus off Penn's table you can see his reflection in the glossy finish, but he shouldn't have a reflection, being a vampire.

Trivia

Angel Investigations has a dentist office next door, belonging to Doctor Folger.

Although they don't give a year for when the flashbacks take place, they can be estimated to take place in 1800 because they say Penn has been a vampire for 200 years.

The newspaper Wesley looks in at the beginning was the Los Angeles Globe. The same as the paper Cordelia looked into to find Penn in 1929 and Wesley look in from 1963. The cover story about the forth victim was also in the Globe. One of the papers on Penn's wall was the Los Angeles Post Herald.

Cordelia: ''Uh, right. I thought maybe you could have police woman run it for us on the Q.T.?''
Q.T. means quite time.

Los Angeles has an occult book store called the Ancient Eye, which contains books on Angel's past, which include drawings of him feeding.

The events of the later episode Birthday would imply that Cordelia turned 19 just before this episode took place.

New names for Angel: Mister I'm-So-Tortured (by Cordelia), Psycho-Wan Kenobi (by Cordelia), Brooding Man of Mystery (by Kate), and The Demon With The Face of An Angel (by Kate).

New name for Wesley: Smart Ass Rogue Demon Hunter (by Cordelia) a Solitary Soldier (by himself).

The Morgue

Jessica Halprin: In an alley, drained by Penn.
Penn's sister: In an alley, drained by Penn in a flashback to 1800.
Penn: In the sewers, staked by Kate Lockley.

Note: Penn had killed two people just before the episode started. Reggie Sparks and Jinny Markem. Penn killed one person off camera the night Angel was chained to the bed.

Cast

Starring:

David Boreanaz as Angel

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

Guest Starring:

Elisabeth Rohm as Detective Kate Lockley

Jeremy Renner as Penn

Co-Starring:

Nick McCallum as the Skateboard Kid

Kimberleigh Aarn as the Prectinct Clerk (Chris)

Paul Webster as Uniform #1

Brian DiRito as Task Force Member #1

Maury Sterling as Barney (Uncredited, voice heard in flashback to Parting Gifts.)

Famous Faces

Jeremy Renner, who played Penn, would go on to appear in a Duracell battery commercial. He has his own web site at http://www.jeremyrenner.com/.

Points Of View

Mathew:

Was I the only one who watched this show with the sneaking thought that it was written for Dru? At least to me if felt like Juliet Landau was not available, so they made up another dream influencing, religious psycho vamp Angel sired for this ep. I was glad to see Cordelia giving Wesley the cold shoulder and Kate not be so accepting to Angel's past as most others had been. Penn out fighting Angel at every encounter was refreshing, Angel had become too unbeatable for my taste. What I didn't like was how long it took Cordelia to figure Penn out and her stake comment. She's smarter then that. I'm glad she did open the window shade, shocking Penn with her resourcefulness. He was probably not used to fighting people who knew about vampires. Now if we can just get rid of Wesley, things will look a lot better. Maybe Kate or Harry can take his place.

Page by Webmaster Mathew - March, 2002

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