User:Paxomen/Angel behind scenes info

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=Season 1 (1999-2000)= = City of=

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 * Angel's mentor for the series wasn't initially intended to be Doyle. The original scripts featured Whistler, the benign demon who appeared in the Buffy episodes Becoming Parts one and two.



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= Lonely Hearts=

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= In the Dark=

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= I Fall to Pieces=

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 * I fall to pieces was originally a Buffy script that really didn't fit with the style of that show. It could probably have been slipped into The X-Files without anyone noticing, too.



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= Rm w/a Vu=

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 * Cordy's ghostly flatmate is nicknamed Phantom Dennis after the first Star Wars film. Writer Jane Espenson jokingly bemoans the fact that when a new character is created by a writer, they receive a small payment each time they are currently used. Sadly, as Dennis is never actually seen on screen after this episode, Jane doesn't get anything. (Espenson commentary)



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= Sense &amp; Sensitivity=

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= Bachelor Party=

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= I Will Remember You=

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 * The episode gets its title from a track by Canadian sing/songwriter Sarah McLachlan. Angel is a big fan of Cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream. -b



= Hero=

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= Parting Gifts=

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= Somnambulist=

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= Expecting=

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= She=

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 * A lot of publicity before the episode aired suggested that Jheira - played by actreass Bai Ling - was to become a regular character in the series. We're still waiting for her to show up again... -b



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= I've Got You Under My Skin=

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 *  - The episode is an obvious homage to classic 70's horror film The Exorcist, with a possessed child and talk of spinning heads.


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= The Prodigal=

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= The Ring=

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= Eternity=

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= Five By Five=

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= Sanctuary=

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= War Zone=

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= Blind Date=

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 * The credits for the episode state the blind assassin is named Vannessa Weeks. Strange that everyone calls her Vanessa Brewer throughout... must be alias



= To Shanshu in L.A.=

pd
Producer David Greenwalt revealed that Angel Investigations was blown up during the episode because the sets were too cramped to film in. The crew opted for a much roomier hotel set in season two.

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pd
Location filming took place at Griffith Park observatory, overlooking Los Angeles. The observatory is best remembered by film and TV fans for its use at the climax of Rebel Without a Cause.-b

Cultural references

 *  - "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" refers to a phrase used by interrogators during the House UnAmerican Comittee hearings of 1947 and 1951. Americans suspected of having left-wing tendencis were asked "Are you now or have you ever Been a Communist?"


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=Season 2 (2000-2001)= = Judgment=

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= Are You Now or Have You Ever Been=

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= First Impressions=

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= Untouched=

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pd
The scene where Bethany telekinetically blows out all the top floor windows of the Hyperion Hotel was acheived by the effects team filming a pane of glass exploding, then digitally mapping multiple copies onto footage of the hotel.

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= Dear Boy=

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= Guise Will Be Guise=

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= Darla=

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= The Shroud of Rahmon=

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= The Trial=

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= Reunion=

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pd
Julie Benz allowed herself to be buried in real topsoil for the scenes where she rises again as vampire Darla.

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= Redefinition=

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= Blood Money=

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 * Co-writer Mere Smith considered having Angel recognise Anne, as the two had met briefly during the Buffy episode Lie to Me. She ultimately decided not too, explaining that she had trouble remembering people she'd met three days ago, let alone three years



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= Happy Anniversary=

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= The Thin Dead Line=

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= Reprise=

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 * One of the people sacrificing the goats at the beginning of the episode is Buffy writer/producer David Fury, later to acheive greater fame as the singing 'Mustard Man' in the Buffy musical.



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= Epiphany=

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pd
The opening scene, reprised from the previous episode, is an almost shot-for-shot restaging of the moment lost his soul after making love to Buffy in Surprise. Despite making love 'professionally' before she became a vampire, Darla fails to turn our hero this time.

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= Disharmony=

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= Dead End=

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 * Caritas has a sign stating: "Eating the Clientele is strictly prohibited".



= Belonging=

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= Over the Rainbow=

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pd
The portal through which Angel drives to get to Pylea is situated at the gates of Paramount Studios, where Angel is filmed.

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= Through the Looking Glass=

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 * Joss Whedon gets to have fun in front of the camera for a change - playing the Host's cousin Numfar. The cameo came about during production meetings, where Whedon would demonstrate the Dance of Joy he envisaged the character performing.

Eventually fellow producers David Greenwalt and Tim Minear suggested Whedon play the role himself, much to the shock of Andy Hallett, who had no idea who was under the green make-up until filming had been completed.

Charisma Carpenter's royal attire may have been a metallic marvel, but it was far from comfortable to wear on location. "I was scantily clad wasn’t I?" Charisma told us. "It was tremendously cold. In [the scene where] I realise my love for Groosalugg and I go to hug him, he’s wearing a metal plate, and there was snow on the camera cases. So I’m in a bikini top with coins all over going brrrr - so cold."



Cultural references

 *  - "Who knew William Shatner could sing?" says the Host, before admitting that it's a bad example. The Kirk actor really can't sing, but it's never stopped him trying. Particularly fascinating is his strange version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which he doesn't so much croon as chant.


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= There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb=

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=Season 3 (2001-2002)= = Heartthrob=

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= That Vision Thing=

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= That Old Gang of Mine=

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= Carpe Noctem=

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 * The title, Carpe Noctem, is latin for "Seize the Night."



= Fredless=

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= Billy=

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 * Wesley's apartment number is seen to be 105.



= Offspring=

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= Quickening=

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= Lullaby=

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= Dad=

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 * Baby Connor is played by a set of triplets. That way no single baby had to be on set for too long.



Cultural references

 *  - Wesley and Gunn gee themselves up during a tense siege situation by imagining themselves as action heroes. Wes goes for John Wayne in 1959 Western Rio Bravo, while Gunn goes for a role from John Carpenter's 1976 thriller Assault on Precinct Thirteen.


 *  - Lilah quotes Shakespeare, comparing the birth of Angel's son to that of MacDuff in Macbeth, also know as the Scottish play. Both were "ripped untimely from their mother's womb," though in MacDuff's case it was via Caesarian section.


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= Birthday=

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 * Much more of Cordy, the sitcom shown in this episode, was recorded than appears here. The additional footage is included on the Angel season three DVD set. The theme tune to the sitcom was written by Angel producer David Greenwalt, who sings it along with Buffy Executive Producer Marti Noxon.



= Provider=

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 * Angel Investigations' phone number is revealed to be 313 555 0162. Not 0126, which is actually Fabrino's pizza. Don't bother dialing the number though - in reality, area code 313 is nothing to do with Los Angeles.

The host drinks Kahlua, a fabulously sweet coffee liqueur. Mixing it with baby formula would almost make a White Russian cocktail, though minus the vodka.



= Waiting in the Wings=

Writing and acting

 * This episode was originally designed to showcase the dancing skills of Amy Acker (Fred), who studied ballet and modern dance for thirteen years. Ironically her big dance scene with Wesley was cut from the final version, though it appears on the season three DVD as an extra.


 * The prima ballerina is played by Summer Glau, who went on to play River Tam on Joss Whedon's space series, Firefly.

Cultural references

 * Giselle - The ballet the team go to see is Giselle, first performed in Paris in 1841. It's a deeply sad romantic tragedy, about infidelity, madness and hauntings.


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= Couplet=

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 *  - Cordelia refers to biblical hero Sampson when she checks that the Groosalugg won't lose his strength if he has his hair cut. As it's not so, he's able to "loose the Battlefield Earth hair," a reference to John Travolta's sci-fi mega-flop


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= Loyalty=

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 * The term Loa comes from the African/Caribbean religion of Voudoun. Loa's are powerful, godlike beings, each with their own sphere of mystical influence. One of the best known in Baron Samedi, the Loa of the Dead.



= Sleep Tight=

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 * The Wreck of the Hesperus - Angel describes his room as looking like the "wreck of the Hesperus." A poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Wreck of the Hesperus is a famous poem about a schooner destroyed in a storm.


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= Forgiving=

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= Double or Nothing=

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= The Price=

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 * Vincent Kartheiser exposed a whole new aspect of Connor during his first big fight scene out on location. An over-ambitious kick ripped a hole in the crotch of his trousers - on the one day he happened to be going Commando.

"From about the base of my butt all the way around to about the nape of my tummy there was a big old gaping hole. It was one of the days, I don't know what happened to me that morning, but I hadn't worn underpants. So I looked down and everything was quite exposed," he told us. We'll have a full interview coming soon. -b



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con
bit more of the Hyperion Hotel's geography is revealed in this episode. There's a pool and a huge kitchen, as well as many creepy corridors.

Groo's mother's name was Pomegranate. But he's never heard of the colour purple before.

Cordelia's correction of Angel when he says that it never snows in Southern California is a reference to the Buffy episode Amends. "Did once", she says, reminding him of the mystical snowfall that prevented him killing himself by sunlight in a torment of regret back then.

= A New World=

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= Benediction=

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 * Holtz and Connor stay at the French Cottage Motel, in room 204. The actual motel used is located at 6757 West Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles.



= Tomorrow=

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 * The location of Angel and Cordy¹s tryst is Point Dume, a State Preserve operated by Los Angeles County. It's apparently a great place to swim, surf, scuba dive, fish and watch for California grey whales during their migration period. It's less great for being buried (un)alive at the bottom of the sea in a big metal box.



=Season 4 (2002-2003)= = Deep Down=

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Cultural references

 *  - Justine sneers at Wesley's search for Angel by calling him "Captain Ahab," after the crazed whaling ship captain in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. Ahab scoured the seven seas for a lifetime searching for the white whale which ripped off his leg, a quest which ultimately spelt disaster for him.


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= Ground State=

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 *  - Gwen's second name is Raiden - possibly a reference to the Japanese thunder god Raiden, who apparently also likes to devour people's navels. Yes, he's concerned with thunder, lightning and belly buttons. A possibly more familiar version of Raiden is the character Rayden in Mortal Kombat, who also controls electricity.


 *  - Both the Elusian mystery, Dinza and the Pythian Axis come with Classical Greek references. The Elusian mysteries were a series of secret rituals followed by one Greek cult. The Pythian Axis is said in this episode to be forged out of the Delphic oracle, which sounds a bit harsh as the oracle was a priestess, based at Delphi, who uttered cryptic prophesies.


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= The House Always Wins=

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 *  - Rat Pack in the 50s. The core members of the Pack were Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr, and Dean Martin.


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= Slouching Toward Bethlehem=

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 * The Second Coming - The title is a quote from the W B Yeats' poem The Second Coming. Other telling lines in the poem include:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world The blood-dimmed tide is loosened.

The poem ends with the lines:

And what rough beast, it's hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

A hint of things to come, perhaps?


 * Black Russian - Cordelia suggests that Gunn is a Black Russian. As Angel points out, that's actually a drink, made as follows:

Two measures vodka One measure Kahlua Ice And, the Cult team would suggest, a generous slug of coke, if you don't want to have a very bad head in the morning.


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= Supersymmetry=

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 * Supersymmetry - The supersymmetry of the title is a branch of very very complicated physics called string theory that tries to tie all theories together with one Unified Field Theory. It involves lots of dimensions and big long difficult equations.


 * Elektra - There's a whole raft of comics references in this episode. Gunn mentions Daredevil 181, in which issue, as his threat suggests, Elektra dies. But don't worry kids, she's got her own book now.

Comics publisher Dark Horse is also referred to. One of the largest US comics companies, their title include none other than the Buffy series. They have also published an Angel series.


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= Spin the Bottle=

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con
What the personality disorder test involving questions about wanting to be a florist that Fred mentions is, who knows, but it's not the first time it's been referred to in the Buffy universe. In season three Buffy episode Doppelgangland, Buffy tells Willow that Giles "even has that test to see if you're crazy that asks if you ever hear voices or you ever wanted to be a florist." And in season two episode What's My Line part one one of the questions on the careers aptitude test everyone takes asks whether they like shrubs.

= Apocalypse, Nowish=

Writing and acting

 * Vincent Kartheiser found filming his sex scene with Cordelia a little tricky, due to the fact that Charisma Carpenter was four months pregnant at the time. In an interview, he told us, "I was hovering about two and a half feet over Charisma throughout the sex scene, just to make double sure that I wouldn't harm her or her child."



Cultural references

 *  - This episode title nods to Francis Ford Coppola's infamous film about the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now, which is almost as famous for the disasters that beset the production as for the movie itself - it went 100 percent over budget, leading actor Martin Sheen had a heart attack, and the filming took place in the middle of a civil war.


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= Habeas Corpses=

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= Long Day's Journey=

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 *  - The five totems in this episode are Mesektet, Ashet, Ma'at, Sekhmet and Manjet, said by Wesley to represent stages in Ra's journey across the sky. Ra was the ancient Egyptian god of the sun. Ma'at was the goddess of truth, Sekhmet a fierce, lion-headed war and sun goddess, Ashet (or Akhet) and Manjet (or Manu) places associated with the sun, and Mesektet a vehicle of the sun.


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= Awakening=

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= Soulless=

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 *  - Angelus shows off his knowledge of literature a couple of times in this episode. He calls to Gunn and Fred as Othello and Desdemona, referring to the Shakespeare play, and also makes a reference to the classic. "The first woman you boned is the closet thing you've ever had to a Mother. Doin' your Mom, and trying to kill your Dad... there should be a play," he tells Connor. Well, that's pretty much the plot of Oedipus Rex, by Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles.


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= Calvary=

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 *  - The title is a biblical reference - according to the Gospels, Calvary was the hill upon which Jesus was crucified.


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= Salvage=

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 * Faith's prisoner number is 430019. She's held at North California Women's Facility, which is a real institution, housing 800 prisoners. It's only medium security though, so it's not surprising it couldn't hold Faith once she wanted to leave.



= Release=

Writing and acting

 * By the time this episode was filmed, Charisma Carpenter's real pregnancy was becoming very obvious indeed - and was a major factor in the Connor/Cordelia pregnancy storyline. A real professional, she continued working until nine months and one week into the pregnancy. Her son, Donavan Charles Hardy, was born on March 24th 2003.



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= Orpheus=

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Cultural references

 *  - The title refers to the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus. A legendary musician, Orpheus followed his wife, Euridice, into the Underworld when she was killed on their wedding day. His divine music and pleas melted the heart of Persephone, queen of the Underworld, and she allowed him to take Euridice back, on one condition. He must not look back at her until they were back in the world of the living.

As they reached the exit from the Underworld, Orpheus could resist no longer, and turned to look at Euridice. At his gaze, she melted away completely. Orpheus, crazed by grief, was later ripped apart by frenzied female worshippers of Dionysis, the god of wine.


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= Players=

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Cultural references

 *  - Gunn compares his tuxedo'ed self to James Bond, the classic British super agent. He even adjusts his black tie after fighting in a very similar way to current Bond Pierce Brosnan.

Fifties paranoia chiller Invasion of the Body Snatchers is mentioned by Gunn, when he sees the creepy way the L.I.S.A. insinuates itself into Gwen's back. The story - of a group of aliens who start their takeover in a small town by replacing the inhabitants with controlled pod people - has been filmed twice, in 1956 and in 1978.


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= Inside Out=

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Cultural references

 * Lizzie Borden - Wesley makes a comparison between Cordelia and Lizzie Borden, the suspect in a famous case of axe murder in 1892. So notorious was the case that it became a playground rhyme:

Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one.


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= Shiny Happy People=

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Cultural references

 * Shiny Happy People - The title of this episode is taken from REM's 1991 hit of the same name, from their album Out of Time.


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= The Magic Bullet=

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Cultural references

 * "magic bullet" - The term magic bullet comes from medicine, where it was used to mean a way of delivering drugs very accurately, such as using viruses to deliver genes to a particular part of the DNA. Here it is also a reference to a Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory, after which the bookshop in the episode is named.


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= Sacrifice=

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Cultural references

 * Kabbala - The idea that saying someone's name will give you power over it is an old one, and has been used in many fantasy books including Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. It's central to the Ancient Jewish form of mysticism called Kabbala, in which every letter has a value and a meaning, and their combinations have power. Hence the name of god is never said out loud in Judaism, as it is held to have enormous power.


 *  - Commenting on Jasmine's control of LA, Lorne says he feels like, "the last feisty wife in Stepford." He's referring to the 1975 film about a town where all the women are completely submissive, because they've been replaced by robots.


 * Miracles - "God is nowhere," seen written on a sign outside a church was the catchprase of Angel co-creator David Greenwalt's show Miracles. It centred on the investigations of one Paul Callan into a series of unexplained miracles, but was cancelled early by US network ABC.


 *  - Gunn pays homage to 1999 sci-fi spoof Galaxy Quest with the words, "Never give up. Never surrender." In the movie, it's the motto of a long-cancelled Trek-like TV series with a fanatical following - one that also includes real aliens. The film starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman.

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= Peace Out=

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= Home=

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=Season 5 (2003-2004)= = Conviction=

Writing and acting

 * Angel gets a new, non-spiky haircut for this season. David Boreanaz had grown his locks for a role in the latest Crow movie, and the stylists decided to work with it to create a more slicked-back look.


 * With Cordelia's character having matured so much that Joss Whedon had allegedly run out of stories to tell about her (Ed- Hmmm...), Charisma Carpenter is now absent from the cast. In her place comes Mercedes McNab as delightfully ditzy Harmony. With Charisma gone, Mercedes becomes the longest serving of the Buffy/Angel characters, having debuted in Buffy's unscreened pilot episode.


 * Blondie Bear is back, due to network insistence rather than any master plan dreamed up by Joss. The amulet used to bring him back first appeared in the season four finale, Home, in which Lilah informed Angel that it was important to the events in Sunnydale over on Buffy. In the Buffy series finale, Chosen, Spike donned the amulet, causing him to radiate a kind of solar energy which wiped out the Turok-Han ubervamps before destroying him too. Marvel at how he steals every scene and effectively takes over the show from now on.

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= Just Rewards=

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Cultural references

 *  - Former Firefly writer Ben Edlund reportedly incorporated the spoon death scene as an homage to his comic creation The Tick. Star of his own short-lived comedy show, The Tick's battle cry was "Spoon!"


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= Unleashed=

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con
Angel is told that leprechauns don't exist, backing up Giles' belief in the Buffy episode Faith, Hope and Trick. Seemingly nobody told author Nancy Holder, who features the little Irish mischief makers in her Buffy novel Blood and Fog. Oops!

= Hell Bound=

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Cultural references

 *  - Spike pokes fun at Angel's love of Barry Manilow. Angel had previously sung the Manilow standard Mandy at Caritas in season two's Judgement, and reworked the lyrics in tribute to season four's big bad, Jasmine, which he sang with Connor in Magic Bullet.


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 * Shanshu Prophecy - Spike becomes aware of the Shanshu Prophecy - that claims a vampire with a soul will be a key player in an upcoming Apocalypse - and thinks that it could apply equally well to himself, as well as Angel. The Prophecy has been around since the end of Season One, and is a key reason why Wolfram and Hart have resisted killing off Angel - in case he's destined to be working for the bad guys during this Apocalypse.

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= Life of the Party=

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 * Although Buffy traditionally featured a Halloween-themed story every other season, Life of the Party is Angel's first.

= The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco=

Writing and acting

 * The inspiration for the episode is partly El Santo, an actual masked wrestler who played himself in several action films. Think of him as Hulk Hogan, south of the border style.



Cultural references

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Trivia

 * The episode was originally titled Night of the Luchadors. The English translation of 'Luchadore' is 'fighter'.



con
In the flashback to Numero Cinco being offered a job at Wolfram and Hart, the business card of the lawyer shows that he's none other than Holland Manners, head of the Los Angeles branch until an unfortunate lock-in drinking session with Dru and Darla cost him his life.

= Lineage=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

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Trivia




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Father figure: Although Wesley's dad has been mentioned before, this marks the first appearance of Roger Wyndam-Pryce. He's played by Roy Dotrice, father of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em actress Michelle Dotrice, and possibly best known to fantasy fans for playing Father in Beauty and the Beast. The episode also marks another debut, that of former Buffy writer Drew Goddard.

Cybersex: Spike notes that "having sex with robots isn't as unusual as people may think." This is a reference to season five of Buffy, where Spike ordered a replica of the Slayer - affectionately referred to as the Buffybot - do things for him that the real one wouldn't. And we don't mean cooking his dinner and the ironing…

= Destiny=

Writing and acting

 * Wesley is absent for the first since he joined Angel midway through season one. Despite the claim that this was to recover from the events of Lineage, it was really to allow Alexis Denisof to marry his former Buffy co-star, Alyson Hannigan.


 * Dru's back: Also back on Angel is Juliet Landau as Drusilla. It's her first episode on the show since season two. Dru appears in flashbacks to Spike's early days although, unusually, Darla doesn't appear with her. "It's always fun to visit London 1880," Landau told the Zap2it media website. "I have some different wardrobe that's really gorgeous. I'm always excited to go back and work, and this is a particularly fun episode, because I'm back with the boys."


 * Nice Tatts: Christian Kane returns to Angel, sporting some impressive tattoos. They're not Christian's own, but are fakes - reportedly of mystical symbols that are likely to become significant in future episodes. Eliza Dushku sported a fake tattoo to play Faith, whilst Charisma Carpenter, Alyson Hannigan and Sarah Michelle Gellar all have one or more real ones.

Cultural references

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Trivia




= Harm's Way=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 * Flunitrazepam - Tamika tells Harmony the reason she can't remember a thing about her night because her drink was spiked with a "roofie" - the slang name for the drug Rohypnol (brand name for the drug Flunitrazepam). Sometimes known as the date rape drug, Rohypnol causes sleepiness and memory loss, and is tasteless so can't be detected in a spiked drink. For advice on keeping safe whilst out drinking, see the Radio OneLife site.


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Trivia




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Horny: Eagle-eyed viewers may notice the unicorns on Harmony's desk. Buffy fans may recall the working vamp's penchant for unicorn ornaments, as seen in the season five episode Real Me and others.

= Soul Purpose= - Only episode to have been directed by a cast member (David Boreanaz=).

Writing and acting




pd
This is the first episode to be directed by David Boreanaz himself, something he obviously enjoyed. Talking about the experience to the SciFi Wire website, he said, "I've always been fascinated with the camera and the movement and communicating with other actors. Directing is really about telling someone to put applesauce on the table. ... And some people know how to do it, and some people don't."

Cultural references

 *  - Fred's discovery of a numberplate, and her comment, "Came up the Gulf Stream, huh?" are straight out of the 1975 blockbuster Jaws.


 *  - Spike refers to Wesley as Crockett and Tubbs - the pastel-suited cop duo at the heart of 80's show Miami Vice.


 * Matchabelli - Matchabelli, for those who didn't get Harmony's goofy reference, is the name of a range of women's perfumes. And actually, some of them do come in a can.

Trivia

 * When Spike is shown getting jiggy with Buffy, the lines heard are from the season three episode The Prom. Needless to say, Sarah Michelle Gellar herself doesn't actually reprise her role as Buffy in this scene - that's taken care of with some pillows and imagination.



con
Lindsey claims to Spike that his name is Doyle. He's obviously got Angel's first visionary partner, Allan Frances Doyle, in mind. Half-human and half-demon, the original Doyle was Angel's connection to the powers that be, but he sacrificed himself to save a clan of demons back in the season one episode Hero.

= Damage=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 *  - After the shenanigans of last episode, Lorne dubs Eve "Parasite Eve" - after the 1998 survival horror videogame perhaps?


 *  - Harmony, rather un-politically correctly, tells Angel a girl has gone "all Cuckoo's Nest" when describing Dana's escape from the asylum. She's referring, of course, to the 1975 Oscar-winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jack Nicholson as an inmate at a mental hospital presided over by the malevolent Nurse Ratchet.


 *  - Andrew, we still love you!: Still the geekiest of them all, Andrew makes nerdy references to The Lord of the Rings (comparing Spike's return to that of Gandalf, and his abs to Aragorn actor Viggo Mortensen's), The X Men and Star Trek (telling Angel, "Check the view screen, Uhura").

Trivia




con
Spike's comment to Dana when she starts speaking Chinese to him is exactly the same thing he told the Chinese slayer he killed back in 1900, as seen in the episode Fool For Love. Dana also taps into the memory of Nikki Wood, the other slayer Spike killed, in 1970s New York.

Andrew's explanation of how Buffy had Willow create slayers out of all the Potentials refers to the last ever Buffy episode, Chosen. He also brings us up-to-date on what's been going on since then - Buffy and Dawn are in Europe, and Giles is heading up a new Watchers' Council.

= You're Welcome= - 100th episode

Writing and acting

 * Charisma Carpenter briefly reprises her role as Cordelia to mark Angel's 100th episode. The actress had been absent from the show since the end of season four, partly because of her pregnancy, and partly becaude Joss Whedon felt Cordy's story arc had been played out.



Cultural references

 *  - The videogame Spike is playing is Donkey Kong - a real classic that introduced Mario to the world.


 *  - Cordy quickly identifies Eve's shoes as being Manolo Blahniks - a top designer make that's the favourite of models and actresses, including Linda Evangelista and Sarah Jessica Parker.


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Trivia




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Lindsey reveals to Spike that he too has lost a hand, though he doesn't explain that it was Angel who cut it off, back in season one episode To Shanshu in L.A.

Cordy watches the video she made with Doyle to advertise Angel Investigations. It was first seen in the episode Hero, the same episode that saw Doyle's death.

= Why We Fight=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 * Why We Fight - The title of this episode is a reference to a series of World War II US propaganda films.


 *  - Steve Rogers, aka spandex-suited superhero Captain America, gets a mention. A hyper-patriotic hero who literally wore the flag in the fight against Nazism, Captain America was created in 1941 by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.


 *  - Nostroyev and The Prince of Lies seem to have been created for this episode, though The Prince looks an awful lot like Nosferatu, the terrifying vampire in FW Murnau's famous 1922 film of the same name. The name itself is more usually associated with the Devil.

Trivia




= Smile Time=

Writing and acting

 * Gregor Framkin is played by Angel writer, producer and director David Fury - his fourth cameo in the Buffyverse. Previously he played a goat-sacrificing worshipper in Angel episode Reprise and as the Mustard Man in Buffy episodes Once More, With Feeling and Selfless.



pd
This was the first episode of Angel to be aired after the shock news that The WB network would not be renewing the series after the end of season five.

Cultural references

 *  - Smile Time is obviously based on long-running children's TV show Sesame Street, beloved of small kids and lazy students everywhere. First aired in 1969, Sesame Street uses puppets, songs, animations and games to teach children their letters and numbers. The best known of their many puppet characters include Bert and Ernie, Kermit the Frog, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and a possible acquaintance of Angel, Count von Count.


 *  - The creepy doctor Gunn visits refers to Flowers for Algernon syndrome, after Daniel Keyes novel of the same name. It tells the story of a man with learning disabilities whose intelligence is raised to genius level by an experimental treatment, previously tested only on Algernon, a mouse. Eventually it fails, and he returns to his old intelligence, but aware that he has lost something. The book was filmed as Charly in 1968, starring Cliff Robertson.


 *  - Lorne yells "Is there a Gepetto in the house?" when trying to find treatment for the injured puppet Angel. Gepetto was the creator of Pinnochio in the well known fairy tale.

Trivia




= A Hole in the World=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 *  - Lorne compares himself to boxer Jake LaMotta after punching Eve. A former middleweight champion, LaMotta was the direct inspiration for the film Raging Bull, in which he was played by Robert DeNiro.


 *  - The story that Wesley reads out to Fred is much-loved children's story A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's the story of how little Sarah Crewe is mistreated at boarding school after falling on hard times, but is eventually rescued from poverty.


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Trivia




con
We meet Fred's parents again at the beginning of this episode, for the first time since season three episode Fredless. You'd have think they'd have popped in to visit their daughter a bit more often.

= Shells=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 * Poindexter - Harmony dubs Knox "Poindexter" - an American slang term for nerd, after a character in the Felix the Cat cartoons. With an IQ of 222, Poindexter tended to speak in scientific jargon.


 *  - Harmony notices with a sneer that Knox has a Rick Springfield screensaver on his phone. It's not surprising - Springfield is a massively popular middle-of-the-road soft-rocker, who sports a Michael Boltonesque bouffant barnet.


 *  - Commenting on Illyria's speed, Gunn mentions the names Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, but gets no recognition from the rest of the gang. They're the real names of DC superheroes The Flash, versions I and II. Just before giving up, Gunn also mentions the name Wally - probably Wally West, aka The Flash III.

Trivia




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Searching for a way to bring Fred back to life, Angel of course tries to call Willow. After all, she's one of the very few experts around - but unfortunately she's astral projecting in Tibet.

= Underneath=

Writing and acting

 * Marcus Hamilton, new liaison to The Senior Partners, is played by Adam Baldwin. Adam is the third refugee from Joss Whedon's cancelled Firefly series, where he played duplicitous lug Jayne. The other two were Gina Torres, who played Jasmine last season, and Nathan Fillion, who played Caleb on Buffy.



Cultural references

 *  - Angel mentions "Trista and Ryan's big baby plans", referring to the ABC reality show Trista and Ryan's Wedding. The series follows the matrimonial mayhem of an American couple as they prepare to wed on a tropical island paradise.


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Trivia




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Illyria reveals that she once encountered a world populated with nothing but shrimp. This is a Buffy in-joke, referring to season four's Superstar. In it, Anya describes a world without shrimp as something that could exist in an alternate dimension.

= Origin=

Writing and acting




pd
The title sequence now shows Amy Acker in the role of Illyria, rather than as Fred.

Cultural references

 * Lagavulin Single Malt - Wesley's been knocking back the Scotch - 12 year old Lagavulin, from one of Scotland's oldest distilleries, located on the isle of Islay.


 *  - Connor mentions Anne Rice, the author of numerous vampire novels including Interview With The Vampire and Queen Of The Damned. Angel does bear a marked resemblance to some of her brooding, guilt-ridden characters.
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Trivia




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back from the past is demon Sahjhan, last seen being trapped in a Resikhian Urn in the season three episode Forgiving. After all the effort he put in to trying to kill him, he finally meets his fate at Connor's hands.

Angel's son, Connor, is back! But instead of the moody, psychotic teenager we knew back in seasons three and four, now he's a nice, sweet lad. Of course, he doesn't remember that Angel's his father at all, thanks to the memory mojo worked on him and everyone else in the episode Home.

= Time Bomb=

Writing and acting

 * Amanda, the pregnant woman, is played by none other than Jaime Bergman, also known as Mrs David Boreanaz.

Speaking to the Cult site, David Boreanaz said, "It [was] just an opportunity for a character [where] it would be great to have her come on to the show, and have our son look at that, and see the two of us actually play opposite one another for a brief moment. We had fun with it."



Cultural references

 *  - Gunn's statement that things have gone Poseidon on him is a reference to 70s disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure, in which a cruise liner completely capsizes, only a few passengers escaping under the leadership of Gene Hackman. In the sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, some passengers are discovered still living in the sunken ship years later, surviving on fish and budgies. This time Michael Caine rescues them


 *  - The many blue-themed names Illyria is called during this episode include Shiva, after the azure-skinned Hindu god of destruction and rebirth, Our Lady of the Blue Bummer, a variation on the way the virgin Mary is normally addressed, and Blue Bird.

Spike also dubs her Babe the Blue Ox. A bizarre character of American folklore, Babe was said to be so large his footsteps made all of Minnesota's lakes. His owner was mythical enormous lumberjack Paul Bunyan, and his partner was the Great Yeller Cow. He's memorialised in several huge statues in the US.

Trivia




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= The Girl in Question=

Writing and acting

 * Ilona, the fabulous CEO of Wolfram and Hart's Rome office, is played by Carole Raphaelle Davis. Believe it or not, she's actually English. Throughout her varied career, Carole has been the lead singer for French rock band Les Variations and a Penthouse Pet. Her previous films include Mannequin and Piranha Part Two: The Spawning.



Cultural references

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Trivia




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In the flashback to 1894, Spike notes that nuns are Angelus' thing. This is a reference to Drusilla's origins, as revealed in Buffy's second season. We learned then that Dru fled to a convent after Angelus had killed her family. The vampire eventually sired Dru on the day she took her holy vows.

Other continuity nods include Angel's reference to Buffy’s "cookie dough" speech in Chosen, talk of Angel's werewolf girlfriend Nina, Fred's parents - and a second raiding of the minibar in the Wolfram and Hart jet as first seen in Shells.

= Power Play=

Writing and acting




Cultural references

 * Yellow Submarine - This week, Spike refers to Illyria as a Blue Meanie. He's probably refering to the villains in animated Beatles adventure Yellow Submarine.


 * Leona Helmsley - Lorne comments that Angel is channelling Leona Helmsley. The widow and heir of New York real estate tycoon Harry Helmsley, Leona was one of the richest women in the United States. In the early 1990s she was convicted of mail fraud and tax evasion. Dubbed "the Queen of Mean" by the media, Helmsley's apparent lack of contrition was summed up in a quote attributed to her by a former housekeeper: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."


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Trivia




con
Izzy, the red-skinned, devil-like demon who plays raquetball with Angel, returns after first appearing in the show's 100th episode, You're Welcome. Seeing as he set up a raquetball game with Angel in that episode too, it would seem that they are regular patners.

= Not Fade Away=

Writing and acting

 * Most rumours that have emerged about Angel season six suggest that the gang would have continued fighting on in a post-Apocalyptic scenario. Sounds fantastic - but expensive.



pd
After the episode screened in America, the WB network played a montage of scenes from the show's history as a 'Thank You' to all its loyal viewers. We think they may have preferred a message that simply said "Angel returns next season". Ratings for Not Fade Away actually beat those for the Buffy series finale by quite a margin, by the way.

Cultural references

 *  - Spike compares the Angel gang to the Manson family - a very unsavoury gang of hippie-style mass murderers led by the notorious Charles Manson, who were responsible for the death of Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate.


 *  - Gunn dubs Illyria Blue Thunder, after the early 80s movie and TV show about a super-advanced helicopter. Blue Thunder lasted only 11 episodes, possibly finding that, with Airwolf as a competitor, the market for action series about helicopters just wasn't large enough.


 *  - Angel tells Connor he was at the first ever recording of the Carol Burnett show, a massively popular variety show which ran on CBS between 1967 and 1978. Comic actor Tim Conway was a regular on the show, for which he earned three Emmys. He's still in the business today, after a career spanning over fifty years.

Quotes
Despite being mocked by London’s 19th Century social elite for his bloody awful poetry, Spike finds more success with it at a biker bar. There, he recites an ode to former infatuation Cecily, previously heard in part during the Buffy season five episode Fool for Love:

"My soul is wrapped in harsh repose, Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes, But soft... behold! A sunlight beam Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam. My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in't, Inspired by your beauty... Effulgent."

Trivia




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It looks like we'll never find out how the Shanshu Prophecy, first mentioned in the Angel season one finale To Shanshu in L.A. works out then. But as it's not Angel anymore, does that mean Spike's the man?

Anne from the homeless shelter makes her final appearance on Angel. She hasn't been seen since season two's The Thin Dead Line, but the character, played by Julia Lee, has featured on both Buffy and Angel many times previously. Anne's first appearance in the Buffyverse was as a wannabe vampire in the episode Lie To Me. She called herself Chanterelle then.