Wesley takes another look at his notes, where he wrote that, according to the prophecies, "The father will kill the son." He walks over to Connor's crib, where the baby is fussing. With his attempts to prove the prophecy wrong having failed, he begins to consider his next move.
Angel enters, picks Connor up, and walks around the room with him while drinking from a glass of blood. Angel says he feels unusually energetic, despite very little sleep.
In the courtyard, Lorne is listening to a young woman singing a folk tune, trying to read her aura. He says she is "plenty scared."
Angel hands Connor over to Wesley. Noting that Connor will be crawling soon, Angel examines the weapons cabinet and suggests it be chained and locked so it will be baby-proof. Wesley suggests that he might take Connor to a park or beach in the next few days. Angel approves.
Lorne enters and asks the AI team to follow him to the courtyard. Kim, the singer, as she finishes a chorus, seems to transform into a demon and threatens to "hack your eyeballs out and rip your children in two." Kim explains that all the members of her band, which she joined only a few weeks before, seem to be turning into demons. Wesley explains that the band members are not human, but Kim is. Her condition is just an infection. Fred says she can cure it by taking cylenthiam powder, a mystical antibiotic.
While this is going on, Angel appears uncharacteristically loose, as if he were slightly intoxicated. He suggests hunting and killing the demons.
At Holtz's headquarters, Justine and the other soldiers are training to fight vampires. Justine tells Holtz she is reluctant to kill the human members of the AI team. Holtz shows a knife from his cuff, apparently intending to stab Justine. Justine adds, "They chose Angel. That makes them enemy soldiers."
Wesley appears in the doorway. Holtz and Wesley begin to talk.
Angel, Fred and Gunn break into a rehearsal of the demon band. Angel puts on his demon face and attacks the band with unusual fury. At the end, he holds an arm he has torn off a demon body and remarks, "that was fun!"
Wesley returns to Holtz for tense negotiation. Holtz says he does not intend to let an innocent child (Connor) get hurt, and intends to act, but will wait one day.
Angel, Fred and Gunn return to AI headquarters. Fred seems upset with Angel's excessively violent behavior. Angel heads straight for a refrigerator to get more blood, while complaining that Connor is far too needy for his liking. As Connor begins crying, Angel starts to get angrier and yells at his baby son to shut up. When the others argue, Angel violently throws his glass of blood against the wall. Gunn steps forward ready to fight, but his own actions make Angel realize there's something wrong with him.
Lorne asks why Angel has been drinking more blood than usual. Angel says the last batch was unusually tasty. Lorne speculates that the blood is spiked.
Wesley is walking at night in a residential neighborhood. He spots Justine tailing him. She says she wants to talk and that Holtz does not know what she is doing. As Wesley walks away, Holtz appears behind Justine.
Fred finds a trace of human blood in the pig's blood Angel has been drinking. Angel says it is Connor's blood; he knows because for the past two days, Connor has smelled like food. They guess that Wolfram & Hart has been feeding Connor's blood to Angel, so he will acquire a taste for it and want more.
Angel confronts Lilah in a bar. Lilah describes her life, including her mother who no longer recognizes her. Sahjahn appears, and upbraids Lilah for drinking with his enemy. Angel does not recognize him and has no idea what his grudge is, but Sahjhan promises revenge anyway.
Wesley goes to AI headquarters where he prepares to take Connor away. Lorne appears. Wesley picks up Connor and, just before Lorne can inform him about Wolfram & Hart spiking Angel's blood, hums a lullaby. Lorne immediately knows what Wesley plans to do. Wesley chases Lorne, tackles him and knocks him out. Angel comes in. Wesley fools him with a story about taking Connor to a park. Fred and Gunn also come back. Wesley manages to talk his way past all of them and leaves with the baby.
Holtz and his soldiers, not including Justine, enter AI headquarters. Battle commences, but Holtz does not take part. As soon as it is clear that Holtz's forces will lose, Holtz himself slips out. Lorne awakens and explains what Wesley did and plans to do.
Wesley is about to put Connor into his car when Justine staggers toward him holding her midsection. She claims Holtz betrayed her and his other soldiers. When Wesley tries to carry her to his car to take her to a hospital, Justine cuts his throat, takes Connor and runs.
At Angel Investigations, the gang are beyond shocked at Wesley's actions, yet Lorne's reading and Wesley's response proves what he is telling them is true. Angel realizes that Holtz knew walking in that Connor wouldn't be there, as he wouldn't have left without him otherwise. The 'attack' was just a distraction. By now Angel is desperate to get Connor back, even if he has to tear through Holtz and Wesley to do it. Angel threatens one of Holtz's soldiers and learns where their lair is.
Wolfram & Hart already have a commando team at Holtz's lair. Lilah arrives. She learns that Holtz is not there. The commander of the Wolfram & Hart forces learns by radio that Holtz has been spotted near the Sixth Street Bridge. As the commandos leave to go there, Angel hijacks one of their jeeps.
Justine picks up Holtz. Holtz tells Connor that his (Connor's) name is Steven Franklin Thomas, that he (Holtz) and Justine are his parents, and that he (Connor) will grow up on a ranch in Utah. They drive off.
Angel, in his jeep, overtakes them and forces off the road near the Sixth Street Bridge. The Wolfram & Hart commandos arrive just a few seconds later, led by Lilah who intends to take Connor for the firm. Holtz leaps out of his car holding Connor and threatening to snap Connor's neck if anyone gets too near. Sahjahn materializes and demands that Connor die. Lilah tells her men to ignore him, since he's impotent in this dimension. Angel agrees to let Holtz take Connor, since that seems to be the only way to save his life.
Sahjahn recites a spell that opens a portal to Quor'toth, the darkest of dark worlds. He threatens to open the portal wider, so it will swallow the world, unless Holtz kills Connor. Lilah immediately commands that Connor be killed, so Holtz runs for the portal, carrying Connor, with Angel at his heels. Holtz and Connor make it through, but a blast of lightning throws Angel back. Sahjahn, considering Connor as good as dead, closes the portal.
Lilah, more than happy to let Angel suffer, withdraws herself and her troops from the area. Angel is left alone with his grief.
Tropes
- An Arm and a Leg: Angel puts on his demon face and attacks the band with unusual fury. At the end, he holds an arm he has torn off a demon body and remarks, "that was fun!"
- Becoming the Mask / Game FaceLilah: "It's a survival thing. I made a lot of devil's bargains and I stuck to them. As a result, I live somewhat dangerously, and quite comfortably. My mother, who no longer recognizes me, has the best room at the clinic. I get up every morning, put on my game face and do what I have to."
Angel: "Thing about a game face, Lilah, you wear it long enough, it stops being something you can put on and take off."
Lilah: "Wow. We've spent so much time and money on you. You're so pivotal to the coming cataclysm, that I sometimes forget how dense you can be. The game face - the one I worked so hard to get - I became that years ago. Just like you've become simpering and good from yours. You're the new poster boy for human. Thank you very much. I don't want it." - Big "NO!": Angel when Holtz jumps into the hell dimension carrying his child.
- Call-Back: Angel lying there, flames and chaos around him looks awfully like that same vamp looked when he first got his sould a hundred years earlier
- Chain Pain: Justine strangles one of their training vamps with his chain.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder / Evil Lawyer Joke: Lilah tries to seize the baby for Wolfram & Hart. Sahjahn materialises saying they had an arrangement in which Connor dies. Lilah retorts, "Yeah. I'm a lawyer. Have you met me? We have a new arrangement."
- Cruel Mercy: At the end, when Holtz escapes into Quor'toth with Connor, one of Lilah's grunts asks what they do about Angel, who is left grief-stricken and in shock. Lilah says that they should just let Angel suffer and drives off.
- Cult: Wesley (like Sahjahn in the previous episode) compare Holtz's gang to a cult.
- Death World: Sahjahn opens a portal to Quor'toth, "the darkest of the dark worlds".
- Didn't See That Coming: Sahjahn shows up at the Mexican Standoff and opens up a portal to a hell dimension just as a way to threaten either Lilah or Holtz into murdering Connor. To the surprise of everyone, Holtz simply decides to jump into the portal with Connor as a way of escaping everyone. Sahjahn doesn't mind, however, since it got Connor out of the way for him anyway.
- Dissimile: "I could drink a horse."
- Dramatic Shattering / Not Himself: Angel has been acting unusually aggressive and hyper. After taking another glass of pig's blood he suddenly starts ranting on about Connor's constant demands for his attention, eventually hurling the glass of pig's blood against the wall.
- First-Name Basis: Justine calls Holtz 'Daniel', hinting that their relationship has become more intimate.
- Foreshadowing: Justine declares she'll follow Holtz to the gates of hell.
- Forgot About the Mind Reader: Wesley sings a lullaby to soothe the baby, then realises that Lorne has just read his intentions from his singing.
- Idiot Ball:
- Wesley beats up Lorne when Lorne got a partial reading of him while Wesley was singing instead of continuing to sing, letting Lorne carry on reading him and figuring out just why Wesley was abducting Connor.
- Just as Wesley is about to walk out the door with the baby, the gang already learned most of the evil plot, yet rather than say walk in the door and say "Hey the bad guys have been feeding Angel his own son's blood, making him act crazier than usually," for no reason the whole crew remains silent on this important information, not one of them even brings it up, to Wesley, who at the time was the boss.
- Immune to Bullets: When Angel grabs a submachine gun off Lilah's mooks, he points out that he can kill them, but not vice versa.
- In the Back: Fred shoots one of Holtz's soldiers with a crossbow.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: When drinking with Lilah, Angel orders whiskey — straight and lots of it.
- Last Note Nightmare: Kim's song, which ends by her turning into a hideous demon and shouting threats.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Sahjhan says "have a good summer" before disappearing, as the series went on hiatus for six weeks before airing the next episode.
- Mexican Standoff: Holtz threatens to break Connor's neck if Angel tries to stop him. The Wolfram & Hart Spec Ops Team can't shoot Angel cause he's Immune to Bullets. Sahjahn opens a portal to a hell dimension and threatens to let it swallow everyone unless someone kills Connor.
- Mood Whiplash: Lorne takes the gang out to the garden where a pretty girl is playing her guitar so he can read her aura.Kim: (singing) "My heart is breaking - in two. No love, no light left - no you..."Demon-Kim: "I'll hack your eyeballs out and rip your children in two!"Lorne: "Catchy finish, huh?"
- My God, What Have I Done?: Angel freaks out about Connor crying, slings his blood across the room, and realizes something has gone horribly wrong. So does everyone else, so they check the blood he's been drinking to see what's wrong.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Wesley steals Connor to protect the baby — away from his friends' protection, they are an easy target for Angel's enemies.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Wesley taking pity on Justine when she fakes being hurt by Holtz is what allows her to cut his throat.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Specifically Wesley, who... changes after getting his throat cut.
- Oh, Crap!: Wesley is in the midst of kidnapping Connor when Lorne arrives and hears him singing a lullaby to calm the child, thereby reading his intentions. Wesley beats Lorne unconscious, only for the rest of the gang to turn up. Wesley has to talk Angel into letting him take Connor to his apartment before someone looks in his office and finds Lorne there.
- Papa Wolf: Angel after finding Connor has been snatched.
- Revenge by Proxy: Holtz and Justine plan to steal Connor and raise him in Utah as their own.
- Saying Too Much: Sahjahn appears, sees Angel drinking with Lilah and immediately accuses her of betraying him to his sworn enemy. As Angel has never even met Sahjahn before, this fills in a lot of gaps.Angel: "So — you all are in cahoots. Ethereal time-traveling demon — you're the screwball that brought Holtz back. How's that working out? He's not very fond of demons, is he?"
Sahjhan: "You will learn nothing from me."
Lilah: "Other than that you're his sworn enemy, who brought Holtz back, and when that didn't work out, you came to me. Idiot." - Short-Distance Phone Call: Fred and Gunn are flirting over their cellphones, when Gunn walks through the door and they finish the conversation facing each other, but still talking over the phone.
- Slashed Throat: Justine cuts Wesley's throat. He survives, though he is unable to speak for some time afterwards
- Stab the Salad: When Justine questions the morality of killing Angel's human friends, a knife drops out of Holtz's sleeve into his hand. When Justine ends up agreeing with him, Holtz uses it to peel an apple.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Averted — Lilah looks in the bar's mirror and sees no-one there, but starts talking to Angel anyway.Lilah: "Like a cat. Can't hear you. But I'm starting to feel you when you're near."
- Take a Third Option: Holtz breaks the Mexican Standoff by leaping into the hell dimension with Angel's child.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: As part of her Villain Team-Up with Sahjhan, Lilah has been spiking Angel's pig blood supply with traces of Connor's blood she swiped from the hospital, so he will develop a taste for his own child.
- That Came Out Wrong: Fred and Gunn are flirting when Angel says to chain them up. Everyone gapes at this kinky suggestion until Angel explains he's referring to kid-proofing the weapon cabinet.
- This Is the Part Where...: When Justine approaches Wesley without Holtz knowing, Wes says sarcastically, "Is this where you offer to help me behind his back?"
- To the Pain: Angel threatening Lilah. "With transfusions I could keep you alive indefinitely."
- Villainous Demotivator / Perp SweatingLilah: "How'd you find me?"
Angel: "Your assistant."
Lilah: "I'll have his arms broken."
Angel: "Already taken care of." - Wham Episode: The episode takes the status quo that had been built up in Season 3 and straight up murders it. Wesley kidnaps Connor in a misguided attempt to keep him safe, only to get his throat slit and left to die as a reward. A four-sided confrontation goes down between Angel, Lilah, Sahjahn and Holtz over what happens to the boy, and Holtz winds up taking Connor with him through a portal into a hell dimension. Cue two months of reruns.
- With Us or Against Us: Justine is reluctant to kill the human members of the Fang Gang, but accepts that they joined with 'Angelus' of their own free will, making them soldiers of the opposite side.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: A bruised and battered Justine staggers up to a gun-toting Wesley saying that Holtz has betrayed them, then cuts his throat when he lowers the gun to support her.
