Recap / Angel S 04 E 21 Peace Out

The gang, minus Angel, are fighting Connor and his band of Jasminites in the mantis demons lair. Angel and the blue orb are in the demon world, where he's spotted a bridge to a city that holds a temple. Connor takes Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne captive and announces that he has to kill them. He says that the heroes are all alone and don't belong there. Gunn is happy not to belong, since everyone else is worshiping a false god. Before Connor can kill anyone, a guard speaks in Jasmine's voice and tells him to bring the others back to the Hyperion. As Angel climbs a cliff to the temple, Jasmine thanks some of the Jasminites for being loyal followers. Connor brings in the gang and Jasmine tells them that they've caused themselves pain by abandoning her. She asks where Angel is and Wesley taunts her, saying she should know since she's omniscient. Wesley asks about mantis demon and she compares his past world to the humans' world. She says that when she came along, she "kicked their evolution up a few ticks," but it obviously didn't work out (also that she has a better chance in this world as it can be taken over quickly). She adds that Angel is wasting his time in the demon world, but Wesley says that if she really believed that, she would have killed them already. Jasmine tells a follower to tell the media that she'll be down soon; Wesley realizes that she's about to beam out her "love" to everyone. Fred tries to get Connor to stop her, telling him that Jasmine will enslave everyone, but he says that she'll bring everyone together. Fred says that they tried to show him what Jasmine really is; he tells her that he knows. He looks at Jasmine, and we see that he sees what they have been seeing - her maggot-infested flesh. "She's beautiful," Connor says, having never been under her thrall but instead choosing to follow her. Jasmine heads for her press interview, telling Connor that she won't be able to keep an eye on everyone while it's going on, so he'll have to do that for her. Connor asks what Angel has gone after and Jasmine replies, "The unattainable."

Angel makes it to the temple, where he encounters the high priest. The priest says that he's come this far only to die. He calls himself "guardian of the word, caretaker of her most blessed temple" and Angel notes that there don't seem to be any other followers. The high priest is sure that Jasmine will return when she's done with the human world. Angel tries to get the priest to say Jasmine's real name, but the priest won't say it. Angel tries to intimidate him and the priest tells him, "You can take away her power, but you've already lost…everything." Connor sticks Wesley and company in Angelus' cage in the basement and Wesley notes that the blood ritual didn't work on Connor because he's seen Jasmine's true face all along. Connor says that appearance doesn't matter to him, since he grew up in Quor-toth. Fred tries to get Connor to feel badly about Cordelia; Connor tells her that Cordelia has been moved. Wesley asks Connor what Jasmine eats, since the demon called her "the devourer." Connor denies that he knows, but Wesley has already figured out that she eats her followers. Gunn worries that Cordelia has already been eaten. Angel demands that the priest give him Jasmine's true name, but the priest reveals that he can't - only the Keeper of the name has it. The priest is the guardian of the word, but the guardian of the word is not the keeper of the name. The word is the name, so the priest is the guardian of the Keeper - the keeper of the Keeper. The Keeper happens to be in the corner of the room, but the priest warns that he'll only speak Jasmine's real name with his last breath. Turns out he's right, since the Keeper's mouth is sewn shut.

Connor heads to the banquet hall, where Jasmine is chatting with some of her followers who have no idea that they're about to be eaten. He pulls her aside and asks where she took Cordelia. Jasmine assures him that she didn't eat Cordelia; Connor tries to pretend that he didn't think that, but he's relieved. However, Jasmine won't tell him where she took Cordelia. Angel fights the Keeper as the priest taunts that his friends are probably dead by now, so there's no reason for Angel to try to fight for his world. The priest points out that his world doesn't care about him or want him, but Angel counters that it needs him. The priest says that he's actually fighting for Connor; he's already lost Cordelia, and he's going to lose Connor as well.

Meanwhile in the human world the press sets up for the conference, excited to be sharing Jasmine with the rest of the world. A reporter tries to get an interview with Connor, but he's not up for it. He finds a couple of followers who moved Cordelia and demands to know where she is. Back at the temple, the priest wonders why Angel keeps trying to make things right with Connor. The priest points out that Connor was only brought about to bring Jasmine into the world. "He will never love you," the priest taunts. Angel says that it doesn't matter. He ducks a swing from the Keeper and lets the priest get knocked into a wall instead. In the basement of the Hyperion, Gunn is kicking the cage to try to break out of it, but he's mostly just succeeding at annoying Lorne. Fred notes that Connor left them unguarded. Wesley wonders why Jasmine had Cordelia moved, since the gang were the only people using her blood to turn others. He asks why Jasmine doesn't just kill Cordelia. Fred thinks that she can't and Wesley agrees that Jasmine is dependent on Cordelia - she can't hurt her without hurting herself. However, Cordelia might be able to hurt Jasmine. The gang decide that they should figure out how to wake up Cordelia, though first they'll have to find her.

Connor finds a church (with a sign reading, "God is nowhere. Jasmine is the way") and tries to get past the police officers outside. Connor knocks the cops out and goes into the church, where he finds Cordelia. Back at the banquet hall, Jasmine eats a large group of people and then prepares for her press conference. At the church, Connor gives a little impassioned speech to Cordelia about needing a reason to fight. He says that he doesn't have one now and wants to just stop. He admits that he never believed in Jasmine but went along because everyone else did and he wanted to belong. She's bringing peace to everyone and helping them get rid of their hatred, but it's not working for him. He says that his whole life has been built on lies, but he thought this one was better than the other ones. In the lobby of the Hyperion, the media prepares for the press conference. Upstairs, one of the men Connor attacked for info on Cordelia alerts Jasmine. Jasmine heads to the press conference and starts talking about love, her image broadcast around the world. From the basement, Wesley and company hear the audience cheering and realize that Jasmine has started her world broadcast. They realize that they really are alone now. Back at the conference, Jasmine tells everyone that they don't have to give her anything, just show her love along with a large temple to stand as a beacon of hope.

As Angel suddenly appears during her speech she orders her followers to attack him. They do but Angel cuts the sewn mouth of the Keeper and a long hissing sound is heard. With her name revealed, Jasmine glows and screams are heard as her face switches between her beauty and true form until it settles in the middle. Now with purple eyes and covered in boils Jasmine begs her followers to calm down as they erupt into chaos and despair. Convinced that something has gone terribly wrong Gunn kicks open the door to the cage and they head upstairs. Out in the streets of L.A., everything is chaotic and Jasmine is upset that no one is worshiping her anymore. She contacts Connor through one of the cops at the church; Connor runs off to find her. Angel catches up to Jasmine and tells her that she lost. She replies, "There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for the Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise. You chose this!" He counters that he chose this world because he could; she had taken choice away from everyone. "And look what free will has gotten you," Jasmine says. Angel responds that free will is what makes humans human; Jasmine points out that he's not human. "Working on it," he says. She heads off, wanting to be alone, and Angel says that he's not going to let her hurt anyone else. He lists the things she's done, pointing out that thousands of people are dead because of her. Jasmine asks how many people will die because Angel stopped world peace. She argues that she murdered thousands in order to save billions, but now the world has to fend for itself. "The price was too high, Jasmine," Angel says. "Our fate has to be our own, or we're nothing." He tells her that everyone has done horrible stuff, but they can make up for it; she doesn't have the world she wanted, but she can still try to make it better. Jasmine doesn't want to. She punches Angel off of a bridge and then uses a car as a weapon. She tells him that she loved the world and sacrificed everything to be there. Angel counters that she did so in order to run the world. Jasmine says that the other The Powers That Be didn't care enough unlike her and he knows it.

The fighting continues and Jasmine reminds Angel of the prophecy that said he would play a role in the apocalypse. He never knew which side he would be on, but now he does - she's going to wipe out the human race with the last of her energy, and the blood will be on his hands. He tells her to go to hell; she replies, "You first, baby," then kisses him. Connor arrives, noting that once again Angel is involved with a girl who was Connor's first. Jasmine is thrilled that Connor is finally there. Wesley, Gunn and Fred search the hotel but find that everyone has taken off. Lorne notes that all of the TV stations are off the air, which means that something big happened. Wesley realizes that Angel came back and that they need to find him and Cordelia before Jasmine does. Before the gang can get out the door, they're met by something - or someone - surprising. On the bridge, Jasmine tells Connor that Angel can't defeat both of them. "You still believe in me, don't you?" she asks. "You still love me?" "Yes," Connor replies, before punching her through her maggoty head and killing her. Angel tries to comfort Connor, but he runs off. Angel heads back to the Hyperion, where he's shocked to see that the others are still alive. He tells them that Jasmine is dead and Connor killed her. As Wesley tries to interrupt and tell him something, Angel says that he's never seen Connor like that before. "I think he's gonna do something," Angel says. "You know, he might—." "End world peace?" a woman replies. Angel looks over to see Lilah in the office doorway. "Well, you already took care of that," she says. "Congratulations."

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Tropes

• Above Good and Evil:
  Jasmine: There are no absolutes, no right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for The Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise; you chose this!
• A Million Is a Statistic / Utopia Justifies the Means: The atrocities committed by Jasmine's cronies are shrugged off by her as "birth pains."
  "Yes. I murdered thousands... to save billions!"
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
  Jasmine: (crying) Why do you hate me so much?
  Angel: Let's run down the list, huh? Rain of fire, blotting out the sun, enslaving mankind, and, yeah, oh, yeah, hey, you eat people!
• Assimilation Plot: Jasmine intends to use satellite broadcasting to spread her message all over the world.
• Battle Discretion Shot: The last thing we see of Angel's battle with the Keeper of the Word is a Hoist Hero over Head. This does not look good. But then Angel turns up at the eleventh hour to stop Jasmine, holding the Keeper's head.
• Big "NO!": Jasmine just before her true name is revealed, destroying her power.
• Black Speech: Jasmine's true name doesn't sound like anything that can be pronounced by a human voice.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Jasmine is all set to double-team against Angel with Connor — who immediately turns on Jasmine, killing her instantly. Especially cold given that Jasmine was elated to see him again, having had everyone else reject her.
• Car Fu: Jasmine tries to drop a station wagon on Angel.
• Cliffs Of Insanity: Angel has a long climb up to the temple. When he gets there, the High Priest tells Angel not to worry as his return journey will be a lot quicker.
• Converse with the Unconscious: Connor finds where Jasmine has been hiding Cordelia's unconscious body and pours out his angst to her. There's a lot to angst about.
• Crapsack World: Los Angeles falls into chaos and rioting the moment Jasmine's control is destroyed.
• Cryptically Unhelpful Answer / The Trope without a Title: Angel is Perp Sweating the High Priest to find out Jasmine's true name.
  High Priest: (choking) Keeper!
  Angel: (lets the priest go) That's it? Caper?
  High Priest: The true name is known only by the Keeper of the Name.
  Angel: Right. (grabs the priest's neck again) That's you!
  High Priest: No, I am the Guardian of the Word!
  Angel: You said the word is the name.
  High Priest: Yes, and I guard the Keeper of it.
  Angel: So you're the Keeper's keeper?
• Debate and Switch: The issue of whether Utopia Justifies the Means is conveniently put aside by Jasmine eating people, and later deciding to destroy the world in an act of pique.
• Despair Speech:
  Connor: I want to stop. Stop fighting. I just want to rest. God, I want to rest. But I can't. (looks at Cordelia with tears in his eyes) It's not working, Cordy. I tried. I tried to believe. I wanted it. Went along with the... the flow. (paces) Jasmine, she's...she's bringing peace to everyone, purging all of their hate and anger. But not me. (chuckles, then angrily) Not me! I know she's a lie. Jasmine. My whole life's been built on them. I just... I guess I thought this one was better than the others.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Jasmine's on every channel.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu:
  Jasmine: Where's Angel?
  Wesley: You're omniscient. You tell us.
  • Played straight after Jasmine loses everything — at first she's too distraught for revenge, but when Angel follows her she starts tossing him about the place and declaring she's going to kill all life on Earth.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: With a single punch too.
• The Easy Way or the Hard Way:
  Angel: (walks up to the Keeper of the Word) Ok, big guy, you got a name I need. So we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. (the Keeper stands) But you're gonna give me her name or— (the Keeper growls menacingly at Angel) Right. The hard way.
• Egopolis:
  Reporter: What can we do to show our love for you?
  Jasmine: You don't have to do anything except love one another. (smiles broadly) Although a temple would be nice. Something massive and awe-inspiring, yet warm and nurturing.
• Empty Shell: Connor killing Jasmine.
  Angel: I've never seen him like this. He wasn't hurt or angry, he just... killed her. And his face, it—it was just blank, like he had nothing left.
• False Reassurance: A girl stripping off so she can be eaten by Jasmine pours out her woes. Jasmine reassures her she'll never be bothered by her problems again.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite her dislike of the Fang Gang for interfering in her plans, Jasmine tells Connor that she doesn't want to see him beating Wes up.
• Evil Gloat-y: Jasmine after capturing the Fang Gang.
• Evilutionary Biologist: Before crossing over to Earth, Jasmine first took over a race of insectoids. Some of her chosen followers were evolved into scaly two-legged humanoids with telepathic powers.
  Lorne: Uh huh, and how'd that work out for them?
  Jasmine: (beat) It was a trial run.
• Facial Horror: Mass hysteria ensues when Jasmine's Nightmare Face is revealed; she tries to shapeshift to a more appealing form, but her face is still covered in boils and lesions. A bit of Fridge Horror: Connor always saw Jasmine's true face, and still allowed her to hug him. A bit of Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you remember that Connor was raised in one of the darkest dimensions in existence. Considering the kind of demons and monsters he grew up with, Jasmine's appearance wouldn't even faze him.
• Hannibal Lecture: The (captive and being interrogated) High Priest tells Angel he's not fighting for his friends (who Angel assumes are already dead) or a world that doesn't care for him, but for his son — whom he's already lost.
  High Priest: So much effort, always struggling, trying to make things right for the boy, for Connor, but it's never enough. Why do you bother?
  Angel: (struggling with the Keeper of the Word) I can see you never had kids.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Angel removes Jasmine's cloaking spell during her televised broadcast to the world.
• I Did What I Had to Do
  Angel: Jasmine, it's over. You've lost.
  Jasmine: I've lost? Do you have any idea what you've done?
  Angel: What I had to do.
• If I Wanted You Dead... (Inverted Trope)
  Jasmine: I know where Angel is, and I know what he's looking for. He's wasting his time.
  Wesley: If you really believed that, you'd have killed us already.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Implied to be Jasmine's true motivation for enslaving the human dimension. When Angel breaks her hold over mankind, she's visibly saddened when her once-devoted worshipers flee her in revulsion and panic.
• I Know Your True Name: One of the few ways to break Jasmine's control in Angel is to hear her true name spoken. More specifically, hearing her name spoken strips her of much of her power, and one of the abilities she loses is her ability to brainwash people.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During Angel's fight with the Keeper, the High Priest gets knocked onto some spikes.
• Insult Backfire: Angel says the free will is what makes people human.
  Jasmine: But you're not human!
  Angel: Working on it.
• Killed Mid-Sentence / Friend or Foe?
  High Priest: [Connor] will never love you.
  Angel: It doesn't matter.
  (The Keeper grabs a torch and swings it like a baseball bat at Angel.)
  High Priest: Foolish dead th—
  (Angel ducks, and the Keeper misses him, knocking the High Priest into spikes on the wall.)
  Angel: Oh, that'll work.
• Last Villain Stand: After her brainwashing powers are lost, Jasmine declares that if she can't rule the world she's going to destroy it. She shrugs off everything Angel tries to throw at her, but she doesn't get to enjoy her spree for long because Connor, whose immunity to her powers apparently stretch to ignoring her invulnerability, swoops in and kills her.
• Losing Your Head: The Keeper of the Word has his mouth sewn shut. After cutting off his head, Angel cuts the threads and the name issues forth.
• Malicious Misnaming: The High Priest repeatedly calls Angel "Dead Thing".
• Meaningful Echo: In the season premiere Angel told Connor, "Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and cruel. But that's why there's us."
  Connor: You know...what this was all about? Protecting our baby—Jasmine—so she can...be, and make this world the kind of place you wanted. And it is better. Not harsh and cruel; the way that Angel likes it so he has a reason to fight. Cause you know that's what he's about, him and the others. Finding reasons to fight. Like that's what gives their lives any meaning.
• Mundane Solution: Gunn keeps kicking the door to their cage until it finally opens.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast / Spell My Name with a "The": The Blessed Devourer.
• Neck Lift
• Neglectful Precursors: Jasmine has abandoned her 'trial run' dimension, and only a dedicated few still believe in her.
• The Nose Knows: Connor picks up Cordelia's scent on the men Jasmine used to hide her body.
• Not Brainwashed: Due to their blood relation, Jasmine's powers never worked on Connor. He was just so jaded and messed up by that point that her "peace at the cost of free will" plan seemed like a good deal, even if he never actually felt the same bliss everyone else did. Nor does her Nightmare Face freak him out, as he'd seen worse horrors growing up in a hell dimension.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Jasmine's argument about the ends justifying the means are marred by the two facts. Firstly, she's implied to be driven less by altruism and more a narcissistic need to be loved and praised by everyone, with the world peace from brainwashing everyone into doing so being a consolation for the worshippers. Secondly, she's taken over worlds before and abandoned them for one reason or another when she grew dissatisfied. Pretty much all Team Angel did was cut out the middleman of that inevitability, and probably saved mankind from obsessively pining for her return like the spider demons.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
  Jasmine: Remember the prophecy, Angel? The one that says in the time of the apocalypse, you'd play a major part? How you never knew whether you'd be on the side of good or evil? Well, now you know. Thanks to you, this frail, little Power That Was has just enough strength in her to wipe out your whole species. And it's all on your hands.
• Oh, Crap!: When Jasmine sees that Angel has the Keeper's head, all she can do is weakly protest with a "don't..." before he cuts the creature's mouth open to reveal her true name, breaking her thrall over the people.
• Omnicidal Maniac: With her powers stripped and followers gone, Jasmine decides to take up Angel's offer of helping him make the world a better place... One body at a time.
• "Open!" Says Me: Connor arrives at the church where Cordelia's body is lying in state to find the entrance boarded up and two police officers who politely ask him to leave. Smash Cut to both of them being hurled through the barrier by Connor.
• Perp Sweating:
  Connor: Tell me, and I'll crush your windpipe.
  Man: You mean "or," right? Or you'll crush my windpipe?
• Pseudo-Crisis: Angel just holds out the Key and hundreds of spider demons walk off and leave him alone.
• Redemption Rejection: Even after all she's done, Angel still tries for a reconciliation. Jasmine clobbers him in response.
• See You in Hell
  Angel: Go to hell!
  Jasmine: You first, baby.
• Shock and Awe: Averted when Angel tries to zap Jasmine with a power line.
  Jasmine: I was forged in the inferno of creation, vampire. Do you really think a little electricity would destroy me?
  Angel: Worth a shot.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Never give up, never surender"
  • The gang find the Hyperion deserted and comment on how creepy it is "in a post-apocalyptic Night of the Comet kind of way." Night of the Comet is believed to have been a major inspiration for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • "To Serve Man! It's To Serve Man all over again!"
• Smoke Shield: Jasmine, after getting zapped by a downed power line. Turns out once you've endured the Big Bang, electricity isn't a much of a hindrance.
• Stepford Smiler: Connor, who can't feel any of the peace and love inherent in Jasmine's followers.
• Take It to the Bridge: Angel tracks the depowered Jasmine to an overpass, where she proceeds to Motive Rant as the city erupts into chaos.
• "Take That!" Kiss; Jasmine plants one on Angel during their final confrontation. Considering all those oozing pustules... and her being his granddaughter... ew.
  Connor: Always the same, Dad. I get a girl, you gotta make a play for her.
• Tempting Fate: Jasmine stands on a bridge, watching the City of Angels tear itself apart.
  Angel: OK, it's not the world that you wanted, but maybe you can still help us make it better, even if you have lost your powers.
  Jasmine: Not all of them. (punches Angel over the side of the bridge)
• To Serve Man: Jasmine needs to regularly eat humans whole for nourishment. When Gunn finds out about this, he screams "To Serve Man! It's To Serve Man all over again!" When Angel mentions this as one of his reasons for opposing her, she quickly retorts "Like you never have?"
• Thwarted Coup de Grâce: Connor has taken the Fang Gang prisoner and is about to cut them down with his sword, when Jasmine interrupts with a Bring Them To Me.
• Utopia Justifies the Means
• Walk-In Chime-In / Schiff One-Liner
  Angel: I've got a bad feeling. [Connor]'s just...given up. I think he's gonna do something. You know, he might—
  Lilah Morgan: End world peace? Well, you already took care of that. Congratulations.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Jasmine holds the Fang Gang as bargaining chips in case Angel turns up. Averted when he does show up — Jasmine shouts at her followers to kill him immediately, only to back off when Angel shows them the Keeper's head.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Gunn's reaction when it's revealed that Connor knows what Jasmine's true face looks like, but doesn't care.
• Your Head Asplode: Connor puts a fist through Jasmine's head. Splat.

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