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History Recap / AngelS01E03InTheDark

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* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Downplayed, if retroactive example with Spike and Doyle. While they interact, Spike never actually learns Doyle's name during this episode. This will have a major impact on Season Five when Spike joins the spinoff (as Lindsey poses as "Doyle" and Spike doesn't recognize the significance of the name and thus doesn't realize he's being had).
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** Cordelia, catching Spike as he's tossing Angel's place, calls it a "Johnny Depp-over." In the 90s, Johnny Depp had a well-publicized habit of causing property damage in hotel rooms and getting sued over it.
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* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. On returning to Sunnydale, [[spoiler:the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.]]

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* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. On returning to Sunnydale, [[spoiler:the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, killing (humans), and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.]]
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Cut trope


* ToTheBatnoun: Spoofed by Spike. "Quickly, to the Angelmobile! Away!"
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* GagDub: Spike's SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} of an introduction: he spies on Angel from a rooftop and dubs the conversation between Angel and the woman he just saved from a domestic abuser. Spike's narration is pretty spot-on.

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* GagDub: Spike's SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} of an introduction: he spies on Angel from a rooftop and dubs the conversation between Angel and the woman he just saved from a domestic abuser. Spike's narration is pretty spot-on.
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* GuestStarPartyMember: Oz helps out the fledgling Fang Gang in this episode, as Dingoes Ate My Baby is in town on a local tour and Buffy asked him to deliver the Gem of Amarra to Angel while there.
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Trope has been renamed.


* TheInformant: Manny the Pig and Frankie the [[BiggusDickus Tripod]].

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* TheInformant: Manny the Pig and Frankie the [[BiggusDickus [[GagPenis Tripod]].
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* GreenEyedMonster: Doyle is clearly jealous after Cordelia greets Oz warmly, though he has nothing to worry about there.
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** His attempt to approach some kids on the boardwalk in daylight is interrupted by Oz slamming his van into him, after Angel tells him about Marcus's predilections.

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** The very next thing he does is return to Sunnydale, get [[FailedAttemptAtDrama interrupted in mid-gloat]] and captured by the Initiative.
* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. On returning to Sunnydale, the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.

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** The very next thing he does is return to Sunnydale, get [[FailedAttemptAtDrama interrupted in mid-gloat]] and captured by the Initiative.
* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. On returning to Sunnydale, the [[spoiler:the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.]]



-->''"It's through the pain that we find the truth of who we are. It strips us of our defenses. We are made innocent again, like children. I like children, Angel. I'm here to help you find that innocence here with the light.

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-->''"It's through the pain that we find the truth of who we are. It strips us of our defenses. We are made innocent again, like children. I like children, Angel. I'm here to help you find that innocence here with the light."''



* TheTriple: From his rooftop vantage point, Spike tells Angel to enjoy playing the hero while he can, as he's got an eventful time coming up. "The Gem of Amarra, a visit from your old pal Spike and oh yeah, your gruesome horrible death."

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* TheTriple: From his rooftop vantage point, Spike tells Angel to enjoy playing the hero while he can, as he's got an eventful time coming up. "The
-->"The
Gem of Amarra, a visit from your old pal Spike and oh yeah, your gruesome horrible death."
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* OffscreenVillainy: Marcus had a reputation as a master torturer, but we neither get clarity about what techniques he created nor do we see other people aside from Angel get tortured.

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Natter, and inaccurate given that Boreanaz is wearing pale makeup in this episode and Green isn't.


** On the other hand this could be regarded as an InformedAttribute.
** Especially funny that redhead Oz is saying this, as he is likely much paler than Angel.
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Cordelia and Doyle worry that Angel hasn't checked in. Meanwhile, he is suspended by long, manacled chains from the ceiling of a large warehouse. Spike introduces him to his captor, Marcus, a master torturer with a taste for children. With classical musical playing, the reserved vampire prepares his instruments while Spike recites highlights from Marcus' gruesome curriculum vitae. To begin, Marcus inspects Angel, inside and out, then asks what does he want. When Angel is defiant, Marcus steps over to the brazier and returns with a red-hot poker, which he abruptly rams through Angel's bared abdomen. Time passes as Marcus works into a rhythm of hurting Angel, then asking what he wants, then hurting him again.

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Cordelia and Doyle worry that Angel hasn't checked in. Meanwhile, he is suspended by long, manacled chains from the ceiling of a large warehouse. Spike introduces him to his captor, Marcus, a master torturer with a taste for children. With classical musical playing, the reserved vampire prepares his instruments while Spike recites highlights from Marcus' Marcus's gruesome curriculum vitae. To begin, Marcus inspects Angel, inside and out, then asks what does he want. When Angel is defiant, Marcus steps over to the brazier and returns with a red-hot poker, which he abruptly rams through Angel's bared abdomen. Time passes as Marcus works into a rhythm of hurting Angel, then asking what he wants, then hurting him again.



Abandoning his fruitless search of Angel's apartment, Spike is confronted by Cordelia and Doyle, armed and waiting behind the door. Spike tells them that if they want Angel to live, they must find the ring and turn it over before sundown. Angel, meanwhile, endures the abrupt removal of two pokers and makes Marcus believe he's about to break. He lures his tormentor closer by whispering that what he most wants is forgiveness. Marcus draws near enough for Angel to make his move. Holding Spike's discarded stake between his booted feet, Angel brings his legs up high enough to plunge the jagged wooden point into Marcus' heart. Suddenly reappearing, Spike grabs Angel's feet and disarms him. Marcus punches Angel before Spike moves him out of Angel's reach. Selecting a pair of needle nose pliers, Spike chips in as Marcus resumes his interrupted torture session.

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Abandoning his fruitless search of Angel's apartment, Spike is confronted by Cordelia and Doyle, armed and waiting behind the door. Spike tells them that if they want Angel to live, they must find the ring and turn it over before sundown. Angel, meanwhile, endures the abrupt removal of two pokers and makes Marcus believe he's about to break. He lures his tormentor closer by whispering that what he most wants is forgiveness. Marcus draws near enough for Angel to make his move. Holding Spike's discarded stake between his booted feet, Angel brings his legs up high enough to plunge the jagged wooden point into Marcus' Marcus's heart. Suddenly reappearing, Spike grabs Angel's feet and disarms him. Marcus punches Angel before Spike moves him out of Angel's reach. Selecting a pair of needle nose pliers, Spike chips in as Marcus resumes his interrupted torture session.



* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: After valiantly fending off Marcus' torture, Angel casually admits to Doyle that he was [[TortureAlwaysWorks an inch away]] from spilling everything.

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* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: After valiantly fending off Marcus' Marcus's torture, Angel casually admits to Doyle that he was [[TortureAlwaysWorks an inch away]] from spilling everything.



* BreakThemByTalking: Part of Marcus' torture involves this. Angel responds with [[ShutUpHannibal an attempted staking]].

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* BreakThemByTalking: Part of Marcus' Marcus's torture involves this. Angel responds with [[ShutUpHannibal an attempted staking]].



* LivingLieDetector: Part of what makes Marcus' torture effective is that he knows when someone is lying, even if they just give up false information to make the pain stop.

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* LivingLieDetector: Part of what makes Marcus' Marcus's torture effective is that he knows when someone is lying, even if they just give up false information to make the pain stop.



* TortureTechnician: Marcus' entire thing is torture. It's his job, his hobby and his passion. He's legendary for it.

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* TortureTechnician: Marcus' Marcus's entire thing is torture. It's his job, his hobby and his passion. He's legendary for it.



* WouldHurtAChild: Children are Marcus' preferred targets.

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* WouldHurtAChild: Children are Marcus' Marcus's preferred targets.
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* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. [[spoiler:On returning to Sunnydale, the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.]]

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* TemptingFate: Spike mocks Angel for being "defanged" by love and a pesky curse. [[spoiler:On On returning to Sunnydale, the Initiative will implant Spike with a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from killing, and he eventually falls in love with the same woman that Angel did.]]
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* ThinkNothingOfIt: Angel's tendancy to do this is much-ridiculed by Spike, who sees it as a cheap act to impress women.

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Oz comes to LA to drop off a gift for Angel from Buffy: [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E3TheHarshLightOfDay The Gem of Amarra]], which makes a vampire invulnerable to all of his usual weaknesses. Unfortunately for our heroes, Spike comes too, seeking the gem. Angel is tortured but refuses to give Spike the ring. Doyle and Cordelia, with Oz's help, save the day and Angel, using the gem's magic power, gets some time in the sun. After watching his first sunset in 200 years, however, Angel destroys the ring, realising it's more likely to tempt him away from his path to redemption.

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A young woman, Rachel, runs down a dark alley, looking frantically over her shoulder for signs of pursuit, but no one is there. Puzzled, she stops and hides, then stands, looking back the way she came. Suddenly, a man, Lenny, grabs her from behind, threatens her, and slaps her to the ground. Telling her he can't take it anymore, Rachel's strung-out boyfriend Lenny points a gun at her head and starts to pull the trigger. Appearing out of nowhere, Angel grabs Lenny's gun hand, knocking his arm up and sending the shot high. Angel effortlessly disarms Lenny, then knocks him unconscious with one brutal punch. Standing on the rooftop of a neighboring building, Spike watches Rachel thank Angel in the alley below and improvises a cheesy narration for their gestures.

Listening to an L.A. radio station,
Oz comes parks his van in front of Angel's building. Inside, Cordelia gleefully prints up an invoice for Rachel, their first paying customer. When Oz opens the door and walks in, Cordelia is thrilled to LA see her old Sunnydale friend. After Angel and Oz's laconic greetings, Oz holds a ring out to drop Angel. He recognizes it as the Gem of Amara. Doyle explains that the ring is a priceless talisman which "renders the wearer one hundred percent unkillable, if he's a vampire" meaning Angel could, among other things, go out into daylight. Oz tells Angel that Buffy wanted him to have it. He also says that she's doing good, "just being Buffy." As the others leave to go to a pub, Angel stays behind to hide the ring under a loose brick in one of the sewer tunnels.

The next morning at the Angel Investigations offices, a tearful Rachel phones during Angel's tai chi practice to say that Lenny has been released on a technicality. Angel promises to be right over. Before he can get into his car, Spike springs an ambush in the parking garage and the two vampires exchange a flurry of words and blows. Angel defeats Spike before Cordelia and Doyle rush in to back their friend up. Spike recognizes and greets a flustered Cordelia, then threatens Angel one last time before taking off. Worried about his friends, Angel tells Cordelia she must stay with Doyle in case Spike decides to make her a target. Angel meets Rachel at her apartment, where he listens to her story, then encourages her to leave Lenny permanently.

On a tip from one of Doyle's unsavory contacts, Angel chases and corners Spike in a dead end blocked by a chain link fence. Hands locked behind his head, Spike turns and surrenders himself. Suddenly, a white-shirted figure whirling a long chain overhead appears from around the corner. Angel finds himself, abruptly, on his back on the ground, with the end of the heavy chain tightly wound around his neck, completely at the mercy of Spike's smiling henchman.

Cordelia and Doyle worry that Angel hasn't checked in. Meanwhile, he is suspended by long, manacled chains from the ceiling of a large warehouse. Spike introduces him to his captor, Marcus, a master torturer with a taste for children. With classical musical playing, the reserved vampire prepares his instruments while Spike recites highlights from Marcus' gruesome curriculum vitae. To begin, Marcus inspects Angel, inside and out, then asks what does he want. When Angel is defiant, Marcus steps over to the brazier and returns with a red-hot poker, which he abruptly rams through Angel's bared abdomen. Time passes as Marcus works into a rhythm of hurting Angel, then asking what he wants, then hurting him again.

Breaking
off a gift stake, Spike threatens to dust Angel then and there if he doesn't talk, until Marcus points out that, knowing Spike won't kill him before learning the ring's location, Angel therefore also knows that Spike is bluffing. Spike tosses the stake to the floor. Angel takes advantage of the reprieve to tell Spike he's an idiot for believing that Marcus, a vampire, has no interest in obtaining the Gem of Amara for himself. Spike answers dismissing Marcus as a threat, deeming him too single-mindedly obsessed with the art of torture to care about anything else. In the sudden silence of the symphony coming to an end, Spike then taunts Angel about his own obsession with Buffy, recounting news of her recent rebound disaster, which causes Angel to look pained. Marcus begins the record again and Spike, rolling his eyes, leaves "to get some air." Marcus plunges another hot poker into his captive. Listening to Angel's strangled screams, Spike smiles and says, "Now that's music." Marcus shoots holes in the building's ceiling so that Angel, agonized by any movement, must stretch and hold himself at the limit of his chains to avoid the beams of sunlight.

Abandoning his fruitless search of Angel's apartment, Spike is confronted by Cordelia and Doyle, armed and waiting behind the door. Spike tells them that if they want Angel to live, they must find the ring and turn it over before sundown. Angel, meanwhile, endures the abrupt removal of two pokers and makes Marcus believe he's about to break. He lures his tormentor closer by whispering that what he most wants is forgiveness. Marcus draws near enough
for Angel from Buffy: [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E3TheHarshLightOfDay The to make his move. Holding Spike's discarded stake between his booted feet, Angel brings his legs up high enough to plunge the jagged wooden point into Marcus' heart. Suddenly reappearing, Spike grabs Angel's feet and disarms him. Marcus punches Angel before Spike moves him out of Angel's reach. Selecting a pair of needle nose pliers, Spike chips in as Marcus resumes his interrupted torture session.

Having no more success than Spike had, Cordelia and Doyle conduct their own search for the
Gem of Amarra]], which makes a vampire invulnerable Amara in Angel's apartment. When Cordelia complains to Doyle that her list of cliched hiding places has inexplicably failed to yield results, it finally occurs to them both to search the sewers. Cordelia is dismayed that the two seemingly have a long search ahead of them with little time. However, Doyle, letting Cordy turn into the next tunnel ahead of him, quickly and surreptitiously uses his demon senses and immediately locates the ring under the brick where Angel hid it, claiming it to be pure good luck. Now all of his usual weaknesses. Unfortunately for our heroes, they need is a plan.

Before sundown, they meet with
Spike comes too, seeking at the gem. appointed spot and demand to see Angel is tortured but refuses to give Spike before they reveal where they've stashed the ring. Spike reluctantly agrees and takes them to where he and Marcus are holding the now barely-conscious Angel. When Spike gloatingly admits he has no intention of going through with the trade, Doyle pulls the ring out of his pocket and throws it across the warehouse floor. Just as Spike reaches for it, he is forced to duck and roll when Oz smashes his van through the warehouse wall. From the driver's side window, Oz holds Spike and Marcus at bay with two crossbows until Cordy and Doyle can get Angel into the back of the van. Once they're safely inside, Oz floors it in reverse and the van peels away. Spike then looks for the ring only to find it has disappeared — and so has Marcus. Outside, Marcus walks out onto the street and into direct sunlight without injury. Spike angrily smashes apart Marcus's record player. He declares that, from now on, he's going to work alone, just as a small ray of sunlight sets his hair on fire. After putting the small blaze out, Spike only hopes that Angel and Marcus somehow manage to kill each other.

Doyle and Cordelia, with Oz's help, save Cordelia are trying to tend to Angel's injuries, however he just wants to track Marcus down and, knowing his predilection for children, believes the day and Angel, vampire won't have gone far. In fact, Marcus makes his way along the boardwalk until he spots a cub scout troop clustered around a vending cart. While Marcus focuses on the children, Oz drives straight down the middle of the boardwalk, using the gem's magic power, gets some time van's speed and bulk to knock the invincible vampire flying. Cordelia shoots Marcus with a crossbow, however the ring protects him. Doyle then tries beating him back but is quickly swatted aside. Angel leaps out of the van, bursting into flame the moment sunlight touches him, and tackles Marcus off the pier, falling with him to the water below. In the shade under the boardwalk, the two vampires fight. Angel impales Marcus on a beam, but the Gem of Amara protects him — until Angel yanks the ring off his finger and Marcus crumbles to dust. Angel slides the ring onto his own hand, then steps out into the sunlight.

That evening, Angel watches the sun set. To Doyle's dismay, Angel has decided not to keep the ring. Angel tries to explain his feeling that the Gem of Amara only appears to be the redemption he seeks, and that keeping it would somehow make him forget about the many people forced to live
in the sun. After watching his first sunset in 200 years, however, darkness, needing a champion to defend them from what seeks to hurt them. Doyle is unconvinced, but sees that Angel destroys is determined to do what he believes to be the ring, realising it's more likely right thing. When the last sliver of sun disappears, Angel removes the Gem of Amara and smashes it flat with a chunk of brick. Doyle then remembers that Rachel called to tempt say "thanks, and that she found a little faith." Angel tells him away from his path he had "a pretty good day." He adds: "You know — except for the bulk of it, where I was nearly tortured to redemption.
death." Together, they leave the rooftop and head down the stairs.




* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: After valiantly fending off Marcus' torture in "In the Dark", Angel casually admits to Doyle that he was [[TortureAlwaysWorks an inch away]] from spilling everything.

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\n!!Tropes featured
* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: After valiantly fending off Marcus' torture in "In the Dark", torture, Angel casually admits to Doyle that he was [[TortureAlwaysWorks an inch away]] from spilling everything.
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* CarFu: Oz rescues Angel by driving through the wall of the villain's hideout and squashing him with his band's van.
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* DomesticAbuser: Lenny, Rachel's boyfriend.

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* DomesticAbuser: DomesticAbuse: Lenny, Rachel's boyfriend.

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Renamed trope


* LuckBasedSearchTechnique: Spike makes a half-hearted attempt to search Angel's quarters, runs into Doyle and Cordelia, and figures it's more effective to just threaten Angel's life so they'll find the Gem for him.



* ShaggySearchTechnique: Spike makes a half-hearted attempt to search Angel's quarters, runs into Doyle and Cordelia, and figures it's more effective to just threaten Angel's life so they'll find the Gem for him.
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Oz comes to LA to drop off a gift for Angel from Buffy: The gem of Amarra, which makes a vampire invulnerable to all of his usual weaknesses. Unfortunately for our heroes, Spike comes too, seeking the gem. Angel is tortured but refuses to give Spike the ring. Doyle and Cordelia, with Oz's help, save the day and Angel, using the gem's magic power, gets some time in the sun. After watching his first sunset in 200 years, however, Angel destroys the ring, realising it's more likely to tempt him away from his path to redemption.

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Oz comes to LA to drop off a gift for Angel from Buffy: [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E3TheHarshLightOfDay The gem Gem of Amarra, Amarra]], which makes a vampire invulnerable to all of his usual weaknesses. Unfortunately for our heroes, Spike comes too, seeking the gem. Angel is tortured but refuses to give Spike the ring. Doyle and Cordelia, with Oz's help, save the day and Angel, using the gem's magic power, gets some time in the sun. After watching his first sunset in 200 years, however, Angel destroys the ring, realising it's more likely to tempt him away from his path to redemption.
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* ShoutOutToShakespeare: In the third sequence showing Angel's torture, Marcus quotes ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'': "There is nothing either bad or good but thinking makes it so."


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* WhatDidIDoLastNight: According to Cordelia, Doyle drunkenly apparently quoted ''Literature/AngelasAshes'' and began to weep. He was also under the impression that the main characters were named [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Bam-Bam, Barney and Betty Rubble]].

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