''Not all monsters are demons. One beast he cannot fight.''

Synopsis

The Short: Part one of the four part Angel finale. Angel is trying to fit into the groups new public image, but is uncomfortable. Cordelia celebrates getting a role in a television commercial, but ends up disappointed that she's just another piece of cleavage for the camera. When a dimensional portal opens at Caritas allowing a killer Drokken Beast loose on the world, the host goes to Angel Investigations to stop it, but Cordelia has a vision of a woman at a library. When they arrive at the library they discover the woman, Winifred, was lost years ago in a similar portal after reading from a strange book. They read from the book and a portal opens letting in a warrior who looks strangely like the host. It ends up this is the host's cousin Landokmar, and the host confesses he is from another dimension. The cousin joins them in hunting the Drokken, and although Landokmar is wounded in the fight, Angel is able to slay the beast. They go back to Caritas with the book and open the portal to send Landokmar home before his poisoned wounds kill him, but Cordelia has fallen into the portal too. Cordelia awakes in a forest filled with strange noises and looks up to discover two suns overhead.

The Long: After a ''Previously on Angel'' segment (see

1. Cordelia: ''It's a beautiful shall ma'am, it's a beautiful $1000 Laura Mina original.''
   Laura Mina is...
   
   
2. Wesley: ''Incapable of traditional speech the Haklar has learned to communicate with each other via a pattern of carefully timed facial ticks, not dissimilar to our own Morse code.''
   Morse Code is a system of long and short clicks developed by Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872) to send messages over telegraph lines.
   
   
3. George: ''Pack of them making McKenzie park their new personal restaurant.''
   McKenzie Park is...
   
   
4. Angel: ''Haklar is living on the North shore of Lake Hollywood. We better hurry. They've got a five K race starting there in half an hour.''
   Lake Hollywood is an artificial lake created by Mulholland Dam. There is a good page devoted to Lake Hollywood at http://employees.oxy.edu/jerry/lholly.htm.
   
   
5. Seth: ''I didn't hire you to play Ophelia. Show the cleavage, save the line. Got it? Or you wanna waste more of our time?''
   Ophelia is an innocent character in William Shakespear's play Hamlet.
   
   
6. Host demon:: ''Elton's in town next month. What do you say, you and me, back row seats?''
   Elton John is a song writer whose works include the 1974 song The Bitch Is Back, which was mentioned by Cordelia in Rm w/a Vu. (Thanks to Starshine of the Watcher's Diary for the picture.)
   
   
7. Host demon: ''Mr. Elton John hits the first few keys of 'yellow brick road' I defy you not to feel like the only other person in the room.''
   AND
   Host demon: ''Toodles. See you and the Munchkins in the morning.''
   The Yellow Brick Road and Munchkins are features from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This film was referenced in The Yoko Factor by Willow, in Eternity by Angel, in What's My Line Part 2 by Xander, in The Pack by Buffy, and by Amilyn in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. This film was also the inspiration for the title of No Place Like Home and for the scenes in Fear, Itself and Nightmares. (Thanks to Poppedijn for finding this picture.)
   
   
8. Host demon: ''This reading room to die for. Great stage, rocking chair, fabulous colors. I'm tempted to just show up tomorrow morning with Harry Potter.''
   Harry Potter is character in a series of books by the same name authored by K.J. Rowling. They have an official web site at http://www.harrypotter.com/.
   
   
9. Cordelia: ''Yeah, Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel.''
   Pat Sajak is the host of the television game show Wheel of Fortune. On the show contestants attempt to solve word puzzles, where they guess consonants for cash, but vowels must be purchased.
   
   

1. Cordelia: ''Previously on Angel.''
   The Thin Dead Line - Gunn introduces his friends to Anne. They say he hasn't been around. A zombie cop tries to arrest Gunn then shoots Wesley.
   Epiphany - Gunn says Wesley took a bullet for him. Angel remarks how they have bonded. Angel says he wants to come back and work for Wesley.
   Dead End - Cordelia has a painful vision, Angel and Wesley comfort her. Gunn wants to know if the visions hangovers are getting longer. Cordelia wishes it would stop hurting.
   
   
2. Wesley: ''Yes, mum. Yes, well, put him on. Right. You too. Hello father. Happy Birthday. How are you? Good. No! It's going quite well actually. Yes. I have news. I've been put in charge of our group. Yes, as their leader. No, it's a permanent position. Well as permanent as these things... No, I certainly won't be fired. Ah. Well, yes, I was that one time, yes. Again... No, you're right. I see how... Yes, I'd forgotten, thank you. Yes. Ah, just recently. Uhm, it's going quite well so far. No, I think this time... I hope it will be different. No. No, you're right. I see how... I just thought you'd be... I thought you'd want to know, that's all. Right. Well, again, happy birthday. Okay.''
   Parting Gifts - We learned Wesley had been fired by the Council of Watchers.
   Reunion - Angel fired Wesley and the other employees from Angel Investigations.
   
   
3. Host demon: ''Call me crazy, but I'm getting the weirdest sense of deja vue here. How come every time you and me hit the big city we end up in a library? Snoresville. Next time why don't we do something fun?''
   Happy Anniversary - Angel and the host ended up at a library when they were looking for Gene Rainy.
   
   

The host demon sings Stevie Wonder's hit Superstition. You can listen to him sing it here. You can download a clip of the real song here.

George and Rondell are the 29th and 30th reoccurring non-star characters on the show. They were last seen in The Thin Dead Line.

This is the second character named Seth on the show. The first was Seth Anderson in I've Got You Under My Skin.

There is an inconsistency with the closed captioning in the very first scene with what Angel says at the table. The captions say ''Well, everyone can see you here. I mean that's okay... I don't mind everyone seeing me, but I can imagine a celebrity would find it a little exposed, kinda public.'', but he actually says ''Not like here, where it's brightly lit and open and everyone could stare at you... It's a little exposed, kinda public.''.

We learn Wesley has a living mother and father, who he spoke to on the telephone. Evidently it was his father's birthday.

Winifred disappeared May 7th, 1996, which is months before the first episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer aired.

Although it has been difficult to tell up to this point which of Gunn's friends is George and which is Rondell, in the scene where they leave Angel Investigations, the long haired one referred to the short haired one as ''Ron'', clearly establishing who is who.

Points Of View

Mathew:

This episode left a lot of unanswered questions. I didn't know going in that it was the first of a 4 part series! Yeah for Cordelia in a bikini! It's nice to see Gunn's friends as reoccurring characters instead of new faceless guys every week. Angel played a little over the top in the opening scene, which was bad, but the ending was unexpected. I look forward to seeing how Cordelia gets out of this one.

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Page by Webmaster Mathew - November, 2002

Special thanks to The Complete Buffy Episode Guide for inspiration and technical help, as well as Buffy episode links and all the readers of the Watcher's Diary for their feedback in making this page what it is.