History Recap / AngelS05E22NotFadeAway

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Downplayed, but it turns out that Eve unsurprisingly and understandably did ''not'' tell Lindsey about her and Angel's sexual intercourse at the Halloween Party earlier in the Season.

** Spike recites, "My heart expands / 'Tis grown a bulge in it" and then hesitates for a second before the awful conclusion of "[[InherentlyFunnyWords Effulgent]]." He waits again, presumably for the riotous laughter. But there isn't any, and the crowd goes wild. Genius recognized at long last!

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During the war planning session, Angel doles out jobs to his teammates and turns to Lorne, who sighs, "I'm not a fighter, Angel-wings. Never had the stomach for it. Looks like I'm your weak link." Angel smiles reassuringly and says Lorne is simply providing "backup" for Lindsey.

** Likewise, Lorne's scenes after Angel's pre-strike briefing and being told he's Lindsey's backup. Lorne's actually despondent and angry not because of the violence and toll of the last year; he's more angry because his ''real'' orders are to kill Lindsey once the mission objective's achieved (thereby doing something so fundamentally against Lorne's nature).

* RewatchBonus: Subtle, but Angel's reaction at the end of his pitch to Lindsey when it becomes clear his old rival didn't hear a word of the recruitment speech and his reasons for joining the Black Thorn strike are selfish rather than selfless. It becomes clear on the rewatch that Lindsey's unwittingly sealed his fate and Angel's made his decision to add Lindsey to the hist list (if he hadn't already, in which case Lindsey's unwittingly vindicating that decision).
** Likewise, Lorne's scenes after Angel's pre-strike briefing and being told he's Lindsey's backup. Lorne's actually despondent and angry not because of the violence and toll of the last year; he's more angry because Angel's ordered him to kill Lindsey once the mission objective's achieved (thereby doing something so fundamentally against Lorne's nature).

* TakingYouWithMe: A complicated variation with Angel recruiting Lindsey for the strike on the Black Thorn. Officially, Angel wants Lindsey because if they actually win and survive, ''someone'' will have to fill the power vacuum left at W&H and Angel would rather have it be the devil he knows. Unofficially, Angel knows they're likely all going to die -- and there's a good chance that Lindsey, cockroach that he is, will find a way to survive. More, Lindsey's proven time and again his ego and ambition are his greatest flaws; letting him take charge of that power vacuum would almost certainly would be a ''very'' bad idea. So Angel's ensuring Lindsey will go down with them one way or the other (either dying in the strike or being executed by Lorne on Angel's secret orders).

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Lindsey. He turns out to be on Angel's hit list, but Angel doesn't have the trigger pulled until ''after'' he and Lorne have achieved their mission objective (since Lindsey is useful as another body to throw at the Black Thorn, plus the Sahrvin Clan ''needs'' to be taken out anyway).

* TakingYouWithMe: A complicated variation with Angel recruiting Lindsey for the strike on the Black Thorn. Officially, Angel wants Lindsey because if they somehow win, someone will have to fill the power vacuum left at W&H and Angel would rather have the devil he knows in that position. Unofficially, Angel knows they're likely all going to die -- and there's a good chance that Lindsey, cockroach that he is, will probably survive. More, Lindsey's proven time and again his ego and ambition are his greatest flaws; letting him take charge of that power vacuum would almost certainly would be a ''bad'' idea. So Angel's ensuring Lindsey will go down with them (either dying in the strike or executed by Lorne on Angel's secret orders).

* ExactWords: Angel's assurance that Lorne is just providing "back up" to Lindsey. That ''is'' technically true, since taking on the Sahrvin Clan will not be easy even for Lindsey (and indeed, from Lindsey's post-battle dialogue, Lorne's assistance was invaluable). However, Angel never actually says Lorne's support role will continue ''after'' Lindsey's mission objectives have been achieved.

* TakingYouWithMe: A complicated variation with Angel recruiting Lindsey for the strike on the Black Thorn. Officially, Angel wants Lindsey because if they somehow win, someone will have to fill the void left by W&H and Angel would rather have the devil he knows in that position. Unofficially, Angel knows they're likely all going to die -- and that Lindsey, cockroach that he is, might survive and is untrustworthy and corruptible. So Angel's ensuring Lindsey will go down with them (either dying in the strike or executed by Lorne on Angel's secret orders).

** Conversely, the Circle's weakness also presents two key flaws for Angel's endgame. First, Angel and company ''need'' to hit all the players simultaneously to ensure nobody can warn the others; otherwise they'll regroup, circle the wagons, and the Fang Gang won't get another chance at this (as they'll be fighting for their lives and likely dying when the Senior Partners retaliate). Second, even isolated, all the individual Circle members ''are'' still formidable. If the Fang Gang was hitting each individual member collectively, their chances of winning would be greater. But because the plan hinges on splitting up the team, everybody's on their own and in danger of being overwhelmed without backup (which is what happens to Gunn, Wesley, and Angel).