Recap / Angel S 04 E 10 Awakening

"Illusion becomes reality."

The Beast has succeeded in his plan to block out the sun in Los Angeles, and in the hotel Fred tries to work out a way to bring it back and notes that she could use Wesley's help in the research. Gunn isn't impressed, as Wesley has gone missing while Gwen has completely skipped town. Connor points out than the answers lie with Angel, but Cordelia reminds him that her vision showed that it was Angelus who made a pact with the Beast in the past. Gunn reminds everyone of Wesley's earlier declaration that they needed to bring Angelus back to get answers, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon as the only way for Angel to lose his soul is to experience perfect happiness, and happiness of any kind is in short supply for any of them.

In his office, Angel has sang for Lorne in the hope that this could provide them with answers, but unfortunately Lorne's reading has shown nothing. Angel is confused, as he remembers every second of his time as Angelus and yet has no recollection of The Beast. Lorne points out that it seems only Angelus has the answers, but Angel is against bringing him back and even if he did approve of the idea, there's no way to do it.

Across town, Wesley breaks into the lair of a mystic named Wo-Pang knowing that he has the power to extract souls.

In the hotel, Fred informs everyone that she can't find any way to bring the sun back and Angel tries to rally round his demoralized team telling them they may be losing ground but they still need to protect the people in the city from the creatures that now have free rein. Connor snipes that this is exactly how Angel wanted it, and accuses his father of being in league with the Beast and that he is the reason he hates his life. Angel isn't impressed and tells his son to get over his issues, as Wesley walks in with Wo-Pang. As Fred goes to make the mystic tea, Angel wants to know what Wesley thinks he is doing by bringing in a dark mystic. Wesley tells Angel that Wo-Pang has the power to not only remove souls but to put them back, but Angel isn't interested and tells Wesley to get rid of Wo-Pang, refusing to have his soul removed.

Outside the hotel, Cordelia approaches and tells Angel she's on his side in this having experienced the horror of Angelus both personally in Sunnydale as well as seeing his actions while as a higher power. Angel then asks if she agrees with Connor in his accusation that he's working with the Beast. Cordelia admits that she thinks its possible, and Angel tells her that he's already a danger to them. Cordelia assures him that he isn't as big a danger as Angelus, but notes that Angelus is, in a way, smarter and as he's evil will think like the Beast. These words convince Angel that Angelus should be brought back and he starts to make arrangements for a cage to be built in the hotel's basement to contain him.

After the cage is constructed, the ritual to remove Angel's soul is ready to begin. Lorne decides not to watch, and Angel understands and asks that Cordelia and Fred don't watch either. He then talks to Connor, assuring his son that no matter what has happened or will happen that he loves him, and that he's in charge of protecting the group so if anything goes wrong with Angelus he'll have to kill him... to which Connor agrees a little too quickly for Angel's liking. Wo-Pang brings down a glass jar, which will house Angel's soul and Cordelia acts against Angel's wishes and comes to watch the ritual. Angel is strapped down, and Wo-Pang enters the cage and asks for it to be double-locked for safety. He then begins the ritual...

In the middle of chanting, Wo-Pang suddenly pulls out a sword and attempts to kill Angel with it while revealing he's actually working for the Beast who wants Angel dead. Angel manages to get free of his restraints, and Gunn is able to enter the cage upon which the two briefly fight Wo-Pang asking why the Beast suddenly wants Angel dead. Wo-Pang then commits suicide to prevent the gang from getting any information out of him, and while investigating his body the gang find it covered with symbols confirming he is an acolyte of the Beast and why there's no information on the Beast in the books, since the acolytes walk around wearing it. Reading the symbols, Wesley finds that an order called the Bosh M'ad, who were dedicated to destroying the Beast when he awoke, created a Sword that could do the job. Unfortunately, it's now a case of finding the sword when Cordelia has a vision showing her it can be found under LA.

Angel points out to Wesley that he wanted to bring Angelus back and brought in a shaman who tried to kill him, when all along there's a sword that can destroy the Beast. Wesley apologises for his error in judgement, and Angel notes that it's the first time he's apologised for any of his recent mistakes, allowing the two to finally come to an understanding. Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and Connor then set off to retrieve the sword.

As they head through the cave, Angel notes the convenience that the very sword that can destroy the Beast is located right under their feet but Cordelia explains that her vision told her the sword that be retrieved from over a hundred points around the world. They come to a passage filled with bells hanging from the ceiling that trip wooden stakes from the wall if rung. The gang carefully make their way through when, near the end, Wesley rings a bell accidentally causing them to run for it.

At the end of the passage is a dead-end, but Cordelia notes that dead-ends normally aren't booby-trapped. Wes notices a pattern to the symbols on the wall, and presses a panel that raises the wall a little. However, when he presses what he believes is the next symbol in the sequence, he gets a spike through his hand. Wesley then spots the correct pattern, and the door eventually raises enough to let everyone through.

Next, the gang decide to split up and Angel sends Connor with Wesley. However Connor wants to go with Cordelia, and Angel has to force him to go with Wes. Cordelia apologizes to Angel for her recent bad decisions when it comes to Connor, but before she can ask for forgiveness she and Angel come to a set of stone pillars in a room filled with light from an unknown source, but no sword. Angel suddenly reaches into an invisible portal, and realizes that the sword was hidden in a dimensional hub allowing it to be accessed from any number of locations. He pulls out the sword, however this causes the room to start to collapse around him and Cordelia.

The two barely make it out, and this brush with death causes Cordelia to break down and tell Angel that everything he did as Angelus doesn't matter and that she wants to be forgiven for sleeping with Connor, which Angel does and the two kiss. Connor sees this and storms out, with Angel closely following to explain. However Connor doesn't want to hear it and walks through a booby-trapped room which shoots darts at people. Angel narrowly saves Connor, but his son still angrily leaves.

Returning to the hotel, the gang claim that Connor is patrolling while Fred tells Angel that the only way to kill the Beast is to pierce his brain with the sword. This will also bring back the sun, but the sudden release of energy will surely kill any human and it isn't certain that Angel will survive it either. Angel tells the others that he needs to fight it alone, and tells them they've each made a difference and the gang are also there for each other when needed and that's why the forces of evil will never win; every one of them is a champion. Cordelia argues that she isn't willing to lose him now when they're just starting to really work things out, but Angel tells her he needs to leave and find the Beast. This task gets a lot easier when the hell-demon himself smashes his way through the hotel's front doors.

The gang run for weapons, but Angel orders them to leave. Cordelia isn't willing, and has to be carried out by Gunn and Wesley. The initial fight against the Beast doesn't go well, and the sword is smashed in half before the Beast grabs Angel's throat only to be hit from behind by Connor who has returned to help his father (as well as correcting the Beast when he refers to Angel as Angelus, showing he has finally accepted that Angel isn't like his alter ego). As Connor keeps the Beast distracted, Angel shoves what remains of the sword into the Beast's head. The Beast is destroyed, and the sun returns to Los Angeles. Connor admits that Angel is the one Cordelia truly loves, and the two finally make-up and establish a bond as father and son.

The gang emerges, and Angel tells them that the Beast is dead and they all had a hand in it. Everyone is overjoyed, and even Wesley and Gunn settle their differences with a handshake restoring their friendship.

Outside, the people of Los Angeles rejoice at the return of the sun while Angel watches from inside the hotel. Cordelia notes it must be hard for Angel to watch everyone so happy in the sun where he can't go, but Angel assures Cordy there's nowhere he'd rather be. The two kiss, and Angel initially hesitates only for Cordelia to tell him not to worry. Angel succumbs and the two are soon making love, and Angel starts to feel perfect bliss causing him to gasp out "Buffy!" as he begins to lose his soul...

...suddenly, the scene shifts back to Wo-Pang performing the ritual with Angel restrained in the cage as its revealed that everything that happened since he started the ritual (Wo-Pang's betrayal, finding the sword, destroying the Beast, restoring the sun and Angel working out his issues with Cordelia, Wesley and Connor) was all an illusion designed to make Angel feel a moment of perfect happiness. Wo-Pang tells everyone watching the vision has become reality. In the cage, Angelus wakes up and starts to laugh manically as the glass jar sitting nearby now contains his extracted soul.

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Tropes

• All Just a Dream: The Fang Gang hire a shaman to help unleash Angelus, but at the last moment instead of casting the spell he betrays them and attacks. The events that follow during the episode actually solve all the problems of the season's arc, right down to a soapy heroic happy ending. The episode reveals to the viewers that it was all "just a dream" when it climaxes with Angel experiencing a moment of perfect happiness, causing him to lose his soul, waking up as the evil Angelus still chained down to the table at the beginning of the episode. The dream was an illusion created by the shaman, to do exactly what they hired him for.
• Barehanded Blade Block: Well it's easy when your skin is made of rock.
• Booby Trap: And it nearly gets Cordy's boobies trapped.
• Building Is Welding: Constructing Angelus' cage.
• Call-Back: Wo-Pang, the mystic used to remove Angel's soul is dressed in a similar fashion to the one used for the same purpose in "Enemies". The previous one, however, was a blue-skinned Ambiguously Human man dressed in black, this is an Asian man wearing red.
• Contrived Coincidence: Which might clue you in the fact that its All Just a Dream
  Angel: How is it a sword from the 3rd Century is conveniently located here in Los Angeles?
  Cordelia: I don't think it is. I mean, I get the impression that somehow it's accessible from like a hundred points all over the world.
  Connor: How's that work?
  Cordelia: I don't know. I just get the visions, not the Cliff's Notes.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Connor turning up to help Angel fight the Beast.
• Creator In-Joke: Angel repeats Joss Whedon's famous saying about giving people what they need, as opposed to what they want.
• D-Cup Distress: Despite her usual Big-Breast Pride, Cordelia laments her endowments when the gang has to ease their way through a hallway without ringing the bells that are hung on leather straps.
  Cordelia: I knew you two would get me in trouble some day.
• Driven to Suicide: Wo-Pang kills himself so he can't be made to talk.
• Dynamic Entry: Wo-Pang is having a nice quiet incantation when some rude limey chucks one of his mooks onto his ceremonial circle.
• Evil Laugh: Played extremely straight (and sinister) when the episode ends with Angelus opening his eyes and...smiling. Then chuckling softly but continuously until the credits.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Errr, not any more. What happened to the Beast's gravelly voice?
• Friendship Moment: Wes apologizing to Angel.
• From Dress to Dressing: After bandaging Wesley when he gets an Impaled Palm from a Booby Trapped door, Cordelia points out that she doesn't have enough shirt for the rest of them.
• Good Is Not As Smart: Apparently
  Angel: You're saying Angelus is smarter than me.
  Cordelia: No, I mean....you're smart. He's just—
  Angel: Ingenious.
  Cordelia: But in that twisted, sadistic, ruthless kind of way.
  Angel: Like the Beast.
  Cordelia: Yes. Exactly. They think alike, always a step or two ahead of us. I mean, what is it about evil that jacks up the I.Q. points?^note Of course, this is possessed Cordelia talking.
• Heroes Prefer Swords:
  Angel: Did you hear that? There's a sword. A sword to kill the Beast. And you wanted to turn me into Angelus by having an evil shaman cut off my head, not that that wasn't a swell plan, too.
• Human Notepad: Wo-Pang, in Angel's fantasy
  Lorne: Is there any part of this guy that doesn't have writing all over it? Scratch that; I don't want to know.
• Impaled Palm: Wesley presses a symbol to activate the door — a stake pierces his palm.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue:
  Angel: I gotta do this. I gotta find the Beast— (the Beast bursts through the front door and walks into the lobby) Oh, there it is.
• Ironic Echo: Angel repeats Cordy's "Deal with it" to Connor. Plus Connor repeating back Angel's words to him from "Deep Down".
• It's All About Me: Angel's words to Connor "It's not all about you. What you want isn't always what other people need." take on another meaning when you realise this is all Angel's fantasy. The words apply equally to himself — Angel accepts Wesley's apology, but doesn't seem to think that he ought to do so for the Vorpal Pillow thing.
• Let's Split Up, Fang Gang
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Fang Gang hire a somewhat nefarious-looking shaman to cast the spell that would revive Angelus. The shaman, however, is revealed to be an assassin, and attempts to kill Angel, leaving the spell un-cast, though Angel and company decide they have to face the Beast regardless. Over the course of the episode, it plays out just like a normal episode, with gains and losses, things happening, until the Beast is actually defeated and everyone is happy. Then... everything starts getting freaky as too much happiness results, with far too many good things happening, culminating in a rewind back to the supposedly "failed" spell, which actually worked. The entire episode was an induced hallucination of Angel's, creating a day where everything fit together perfectly in such a way that it culminated in a moment of true, pure happiness. His soul was taken from his body, and we come face to face with Angelus (again).
• Love Confession: Cordelia finally tells Angel what he wants to hear.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Wo-Pang in Angel's fantasy
• Neck Lift: The Beast to Angel.
• Only Smart People May Pass: Wesley works out the letter combination to raise the stone wall. Eventually.
• Orbital Kiss: Cangel kissage.
• Our Souls Are Different: For one thing, they can be kept in jars.
• Properly Paranoid: Everyone is terrified of Angelus and the evil he's capable of. They're right to be.
• Put on a Bus: By the end of this episode, the protagonist and title character of the show is essentially gone, with David Boreanaz now portraying his evil alter-ego Angelus.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Wo-Pang when he turns evil.
• Rousing Speech: Angel's "pep talky thing". His The Power of Friendship speech is a lot more convincing.
• Schrödinger's Butterfly: Angel is seen to defeat the demon and (finally) go to bed with Cordelia. Then we realize it was a dream designed to make Angel lose his soul in a moment of perfect happiness. It intersects with Your Mind Makes It Real; it qualifies here because the audience doesn't realize it's a dream until it's over, and this event blurs the lines between (in-show) reality and dream.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gwen's reaction, apparently. She doesn't return until the sun is shining again.
• Series Continuity Error: In the first act, Angel emphasizes that there is "no way" to bring Angelus back. After Wesley comes up with a way, Angel tells him that he's never met Angelus, "all you know about him is what you've read in books." And Cordy refers to two previous run-ins with Angelus, when he ran rampant in Sunnydale (BTVS season 2) and when she saw it from her higher plane. All three of them have seemingly forgotten the events of "Eternity", in which Rebecca Lowell temporarily awakened Angelus by spiking Angel's drink with a euphoria-inducing drug. On that occasion, the drugs wore off and Angel was as good as new. If anyone in this episode had remembered that one, they would've had a (relatively) simple and harmless way to get a conversation with Angelus.
• Shout-Out: To Indiana Jones (lampshaded in the next episode). Gunn refers to Wesley as the Rogue Warrior which makes sense as he's become Richard Marcinko fighting vampires.
• Staking the Loved One: Spoofed
  Angel: If anything should go wrong with Angelus, you're gonna have to kill me.
  Connor: [Instantly] Okay.
  Angel: If... anything goes wrong.
• Spikes of Doom / Why Did It Have To Be Stakes?
  Angel: Wood. Why'd it have to be wood?
• Suggestive Collision: Cangel again. This one leads to a Big Damn Kiss.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Wesley is working out the code to raise the wall.
    Cordelia: This is it, you did— (the wall lowers back down) You didn't.
  • Angel removes the sword and says that things are starting to look— then the glowy ball thing turns red and giant stone support pillars start crashing to the ground.
• Wangst: Though justified In-Universe as this is Angel's fantasy, so it reflects how he sees Connor's feelings about him.
  Connor: Everything's going to hell because of you. You're the reason that the sun is gone, that I don't have a home to go back to. You're the reason that she— It's you. You're the reason my life sucks.
• We Can Rule Together / The Triple
  Beast: We could rule this world. Why do you oppose me?
  Angel: Rain of fire, blocking out the sun, and you just kinda piss me off.
• Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Gunn chopping a table in half while trying out the Sword of Bosh M'ad.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: Angel says Buffy's name - not Cordelia's - as he loses his soul. According to David Fury, this was simply Angel remembering when he last lost his soul in "Surprise".

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