''Angel is back to stop an invincible foe.''

Heartthrob - 3ADH01

Written by David Greenwalt - Directed by David Greenwalt - First Aired on September 24th, 2001
Synopsis - Creature Feature - Cool Quotes - References - Continuity - Goofs - Trivia - The Morgue - Cast - Famous Faces - Points Of View

Synopsis

The Short: After a rough trip to try to come to terms with Buffy's death, Angel returns to Angel Investigations. He stakes a female vampire he recognizes from his past, provoking her anguished lover James to seek vengeance against him. James goes to a demon doctor who removes his heart in an operation that leaves James unkillable for a short period of time, until it kills him. James attacks Angel and Cordelia, forcing them to run. Eventually Angel is able to incapacitate James until his time runs out. Meanwhile Darla seeks answers about her unprecedented pregnancy.

The Long: After a ''Previously on Angel'' segment (see Continuity #1) we open on the Hyperion where Fred lurks the halls as Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley return from slaying some demons. They clean up and discuss how they have no social lives (see Cool Quotes #1). They mention how they never talk to Fred, she's been hiding since Angel left three months ago. Wesley admires her, but Cordelia thinks she just traded one cave for another. Gunn insists Angel will need more then a vacation in Sri Lanka it recover from Buffy's death, he suggests getting drunk in Las Vegas (see Reference #1-#2). Wesley says it is more then a vacation, it is a spiritual retreat (see Reference #3). Switch to Angel in temple fighting a bunch of monks in red robes to the death. After Angel dispatches the monks he walks out to find a pilgrim waiting. Angel says the monks were demons and he should have gone to Vegas. (Listen to the teaser here.)

At Angel Investigations Cordelia is setting rat traps when Angel walks in surprising her. They hug and everyone is glad to see him. He mentions the monks were life-sucking demons. Angel gives gifts to the crew, a shrunken head for Gunn, a necklace for Cordelia and an ancient dagger for Wesley (see Reference #4 and Goof #1). Angel asks how Fred is, but she hasn't come out of her room often. Angel goes to settle in. In her room Fred is talking to herself and writing on the wall when Angel stops in. She invites him in and they talk. Fred is very happy he's back. Angel wants her to take small steps to get out more, like hanging with the crew downstairs. Suddenly Cordelia screams as she experiences a vision. Angel runs to her, and the crew hold her as she sees vampires crashing a party at Wilson college (see Reference #5). Angel, Wesley and Gunn show up at the college, finding bodies. Wesley calls the paramedics as Angel jumps from the window to track the escaping vampires. In a car the vampires terrorize a boy and girl they kidnapped. Angel jumps on to the car and they stop, Wesley and Gunn join in as the group fight the vampires (see Goof #2). One vampire gets away as the rest are slain. The last vampire slain in a blonde woman who recognizes ''Angelus'' just before she dusts. Angel is left holding her locket.

Cordelia get's clean.

At Cordelia's place, Cordelia takes painkillers and a bath, as Dennis assists her. She says her visions are getting worse every time. As she bathes the phone rings. Flash back to Marselles France, 1767, as firemen race to put out a fire (see Reference #6). We find Angelus, Darla and two vampire lovers named James and Elizabeth on their way to catch a boat before Holtz finds them. They killed a count and James set the fire. Angelus and Darla appear genuinely fearful of Holtz (see Continuity #2). James steals a locket from a shop window and gives it to Elisabeth, but police hear the commotion. The police run off as a band of men on horseback ride in, with Holtz leading them (see Reference #7-#10). In the present, Angel holds that same locket as he tells Gunn and the others the tale. Cordelia is worried if James is still around he will want revenge for Angel killing Elisabeth. Wesley and Gunn go to check with their contacts. In a parking garage the escaped vampire tells James what happened to Elisabeth. James borders on breaking down and kills the other vampire. At Angel Investigations Cordelia wants to talk about Angel's recovery from Buffy's recent death. After Angel won't speak, she wants to know what happened with Holtz. Back in the past Holtz confronts Angelus, looking for Darla. Angelus taunts Holtz about raping and killing his family. Angelus tells Holtz where to find Darla and Elisabeth, but a fight breaks out and Angelus and James take off on a horse. In an alley James dumps Angelus and tells him off as he races off to save Elisabeth. In the present James rushes into a demon doctor's office, asking for ''the cure''. The doctor starts an operation where he opens James' chest.

The host sings.

At Caritas the host demon sings a slow song as Wesley and Gunn sit waiting to contact Merl. Merl is still hurt over how Angel used to beat him. Merl tries to get more money out of Wesley, but Wesley threatens to pay less. Merl confirms James is in town and looking for Angel. They call Angel and inform him. Angel sends Cordelia home, but before she can leave James walks in on them and attacks. As Angel fights James, Fred decides to come out and visit the crew, but he sends her back to her room. At Caritas Merl tells them where James went, to Doctor Gregson. Angel manages to stake James in the fight, but James pulls out the stake and the wound heals up.

Crew

Angel and James continue to fight and Angel is able to throw James out into the sunlight, but he doesn't burst into flames. Angel and Cordelia run to the basement and make their way to the sewer access. James follows. Angel tries to throw off James' tracking scent with false blood trails, buying them time. Cordelia wonders if James has the gem of Amarra, but Angel says their was only one (see Continuity #3). Cordelia gets a call on her cell phone from Wesley saying that Gregson did something to James that makes him invulnerable for a shot period, but will kill him. Sadly she can't hear how long it will last because the cell call drops out. Angel and Cordelia plan to just sit and wait, but James smashes in. They run off to catch a subway car, losing James, but he grabs the last car and climbs the cars to get to them (see Goof #3). As Angel protects Cordelia, James is surprised that Angel can care for anyone. James says he will kill the woman Angel loves, but Angel says the woman he loves is already dead. James doubts it because he feels loss of true love wouldn't let him keep going. Angel is able to fight James and breaks both his legs and pins him to the wall. As James dies he says Angel never lived, he just existed. Later at Angel Investigations Angel has a talk with Fred, and then talks with Cordelia about losing Buffy. Angel is worried that maybe he took Buffy's death too well, that he can survive. Cordelia says he honors her memory by fighting and trying to help people (see Reference #11). Wesley and Gunn walk in asking what Angel knows about Nester demons. Seems they killed some months ago in a park, but didn't get the queen and they are back (see Reference #12). They take up weapons and head out. At night in Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua Darla sits at a bar, getting information on a shaman she wants to find from a man (see Reference #13). She drains the man, turns and walks off, very obviously pregnant.

Creature Feature

Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn fought a Mur-ite demon, which is a subspecies of a Lur-ite demon. Gunn describes it as a prince of the underworld. It had human worshipers. Wesley says that the way to tell Mur-ites from Lur-ites is that Mur-ites have a fin under the third shoulder of the male.

The monks Angel encountered were life-sucking Shur-Hod demons. They appeared human.

Doctor Gregson is a Slod demon, who seems human except he Sloughes each month, pulling off slimy skin in the process. He collects rare organs.

Nester demons live in the walls of people's homes, they hatch several times a year. You have to kill the queen or they infest again, worse than ever.

We will have to wait and see what's up with Darla's seeming pregnancy. It was stated by Angel once that vampires don't have children. If this is a pregnancy I guess we have to wait to find out who the father is.

Cool Quotes

Wesley: ''I realize we sacrifice a great deal of our... social lives, but we have to. Work demands it.''
Gunn: ''True. I mean, who's got time for love when you're out there doin' it with the demons? Didn't that come out sad and wrong.''
Cordelia: ''Yeah.''
I still say there was a Gunn/Harmony vibe.

References

Gunn: ''The B word was the love of his life, and he's what, two hundred and fifty? That ain't no short life. This grief-work's gonna take more than a vacation in Sri Lanka.''
Sri Lanka is an island country in the Indian Ocean off southeast India. Inhabited originally by the Vedda, the island was later invaded by the Singhalese (6th century B.C.) and the Tamil (11th and 12th centuries A.D.). The lucrative spice trade on the island was controlled successively by Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British traders from the 12th century. It became a British colony in 1798 and achieved independence in 1948. In 1972 the island was declared a republic, and it adopted the Singhalese name of Sri Lanka.

Las Vegas

Gunn: ''Should have got hammered and gone to Vegas like I told him.''
Las Vegas is a city of southeast Nevada near the California and Arizona borders. It is a major tourist center known for its casinos. Also referenced by Buffy in Surprise.
Wesley: ''He doesn't need a lap dance, he needs some peace and quiet to work through this.''
A lap dance is an erotic dance that a stripper performs while straddling a customer's lap. Also reference by Xander in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
Wesley: ''Angel, Murshan Dynasty? I've always wanted one of these!''
The Murshan Dynasty appears to be a creation of the writers.
Cordelia: ''Wilson College. Bonner Hall.''
Although there are several Wilson Colleges, none are in California. The one is Pennsylvania has a web site at http://www.wilson.edu/.
''Marseilles - 1767''
Marseilles is the second largest city of France and one of its most important seaports. An underground canal links it with the Rhône River.
Darla: ''He knows other things. Marvelously vile and ripping things. Didn't we eat a poet in Madrid?''
Madrid is the capital of Spain and of Madrid prov., central Spain, and the focus of its own autonomous region, on the Manzanares River. The newest of the great Spanish cities, it lacks the traditions of the ancient Castilian and Andalusian towns.
Angel: ''Troubadour.''
Troubadour is a french word and it means a medieval poet that wrote in the Oc language. The Oc language was a collection of roman dialects spoken in a region in France called the Midi. (Thanks to Verdun from the Watcher's Diary for helping with this.)
Darla: ''You would if you knew him. He's killed scores of us. Hunted Angelus and I across half of Europe. God, if he follows us to Morocco, what then? The New World?''
Morocco is in northwest Africa. Morocco is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, Western Sahara, and Algeria. Ifni, formerly a Spanish-held enclave on the Atlantic coast, was ceded to Morocco in 1969.
The New World is a nickname for the Americas.
Darla: ''Of course, when he finally did catch up to me in Vienna I had to pay for my sins. Again and again.''
Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and administrative seat of Lower Austria, northeast Austria, on the Danube River.
Cordelia: ''...and don't say okay. Angel, please, I know you, and ever since you came back from your grief-trip I can tell something's not right, and, and obviously, it's not. Buffy's dead, I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her, too. I just want to say, I know that James, with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay.''
Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespear, where young lovers commit suicide rather then be apart.
Cordelia: ''We killed a bunch of 'em in Hancock Park a couple of months ago.''
Hancock Park's boundaries are Highland Ave, Melrose Ave, Wilshire Blvd and Larchmont Blvd. Once the most exclusive residential community in the city, this area was developed by Captain G. Allan Hancock circa 1910. His father, Henry Hancock, owned the entire Rancho La Brea area and ran it as a farm until 1905, when Edward Doheny struck oil shoveling into a hillside. The Hancock family then jumped in on the oil craze, which was quickly exhausted, but which also led to the discovery of the La Brea Tar Pits. Besides the Doheny and Hancock families, many other prominent Southland families once owned (or still do) estates here, including the Huntington, Crocker and Van Nuys families. This neighborhood is made up on private homes which are obviously not open to the public; however, the area makes for a great walking or driving tour at your own pace.
''Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua''
The Republic of Nicaragua, Central America, is bordered on the north and northwest by Honduras, on the east by the Caribbean Sea, on the south by Costa Rica, and on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean. The capital and largest city is Managua.

Continuity

Angel: ''Previously on Angel.''
Rm w/a Vu - Cordelia tells Aura on the phone she has a roommate she never sees. Phantom Dennis pokes his face through the wall.
Over The Rainbow - The crew drive a car through a portal.
Through The Looking Glass - Cordelia says they made her ruler. Fred is grateful for Angel saving her.
There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb - Angel fights the Captain of the Imperial Guard.
Judgement - Darla senses Angel and want to see him.
Reprise - Angel pushes Darla around, then they have sex. Angel wakes up.
Epiphany - Angel kicks Darla out and tells her if he ever sees her again he will kill her.
Elisabeth: ''I hear he trapped you both in a barn, and you fled leaving him to die.''
The Trial - Holtz wasn't seen in the flashback, but he was mentioned as Angel and Darla fled.
Cordelia: ''The ring of Amarra, when you had that, you were invincible. Does he have a ring?''
Angel: ''No!''
Cordelia: ''Hmmm. Did the Amarra people make cuff links or belt buckles?''
Angel: ''There was only one.''
Cordelia: ''...and you had to smash it.''
In The Dark - Daniel Osborne gave Angel the gem of Amarra, which made vampires unkillable as long as they wore it, but Angel smashed it.

Goofs

When Cordelia puts the necklace on they keep switching the camera from in front and behind her, where her arms are in completely different positions.
When Wesley and Gunn jump out of Angel's car to fight the vampires, Wesley opens then shuts the passenger side car door as he gets out, or does he? During the fight you can see that door appears open and closed again several times. It would seem they shot the fight scene at least twice, once with the door open and again with it closed, then spliced the fight sequence together. The door just keeps popping open and closed by itself!
Reflections of Angel and James abound in the subway scene, even though they are both vampires and should cast no reflection.

Trivia

The official WB photo gallery for this episode is at http://www.thewb.com/Popups/PhotoGallery/0,8200,18923,00.html.

You can download the official trailer for this episode at http://www.thewb.com/Popups/Trailers/0,8204,18859,00.html.

The host demon sings Tony Bennett's hit I Left My Heart In San Francisco. You can listen to him sing it here. You can download a clip of the real song here.

Amy Acker, who appeared as a reoccurring guest star last season now joins the stars of the show.

We learn Angel speaks Tibetan.

When Angel stakes Elisabeth, it's in front of the Shrine Auditorium. (Thanks to Marsia from the Watcher's Diary for helping with this.)

When Cordelia bends over to get the stake for Angel to stake James you get a glimpse of the tattoo on the small of Charisma's back.

The subway station Cordelia and Angel fled to is the Hollywood Blvd Station. There is a web page with information on it at http://www.mta.net/metro_transit/metro_rail/redline.htm. (Thanks to Marsia from the Watcher's Diary for helping with this.)

It should be noted that the flashbacks in this episode take place after the flashback to 1765 France we saw in The Trial and before the 1800 flashbacks we saw in Somnambulist.

New name for Buffy: The B Word (by Gunn).

The Morgue

Anonymous vampire: In the street, staked by Gunn.
Anonymous vampire: In the street, staked by Wesley.
Elisabeth the vampire: In front of the Shrine Auditorium, staked by Angel.
Anonymous vampire: In a parking structure, immolated by sunlight thanks to James.
James the vampire: Died due to complications of surgery, in a subway. The surgery was done by Doctor Gregson.
Anonymous man: In a bar in Puerto Cabazas, drained by Darla.

Note: Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia killed a Lur-ite demon just before the episode started. Angel killed at least 10 Shur-Hod demon monks off camera. The Count de Leon was killed by Elisabeth just before the flashback began.

Cast

Starring:

David Boreanaz as Angel

Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase

Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

Amy Acker as Winifred "Fred" Burkle

Guest Starring:

Julie Benz as Darla

Andy Hallett as the Host Demon (Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan)

Ron Melendez as James

Kate Norby as Elisabeth

Keith Szarabajka as Daniel Holtz

Co-Starring:

Matthew James as Merl the Parasite Demon

Koji Kataoka as the Pilgrim

Sam Littlefield as the Young Man Hostage (Bobby)

Dalila Brown-Geiger as Sandy

Christian Hastings as Vamp #1 (Left)

Bob Fimiani as the Codger Demon

Bob Morrisey as Doctor Gregson

Lee Reherman as the Captain (Uncredited, seen in flashbacks to There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb.)

Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald (Uncredited, seen in flashbacks from Judgement.)

Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan (Uncredited, seen in flashbacks from Judgement.)

Famous Faces

Ron Melendez, who played James, played Joshua Porter in the 1994 horror film Children of the Corn III, which featured a small appearance of Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon as a basketball player.

Keith Szarabajka, who played Daniel Holtz, played Dan in season 2 of Roswell. He also played Anthony Tipit in the X-Files episode Via Negative 8.07 and Teero in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Repression 7.04. You might recognize him from his starring roll as David in the 1989 vampire film Nightlife.

Bob Fimiani who played the Codger demon, played Mister Ward in season 4 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the groundskeeper in The Prodigal.

Bob Morrisey, who played Doctor Gregson, played a crazy man in season 5 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He also played Doctor Vinet in the X-Files episode Emily 5.07

Points Of View

Mathew:

I liked seeing Holtz show up finally. James and his girlfriend were interesting. A vampire in love. I like the idea of a vampire hunter who isn't the Slayer. Neat back story, but what the hell is up with DARLA!?!

Page by Webmaster Mathew - July, 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.