History Recap / AngelS01E21BlindDate

* PsychicRadar: Among the security measures at Wolfram & Hart are demons shamans who monitor the threshold of their office building for vampire intruders. They squeal when they sense a vampire, but they can't pinpoint a location or sense numbers. The system's poor performance record is lampshaded throughout the series.

* LogicalWeakness: Vanessa's DisabilitySuperpower works by detecting energy sources, heartbeats, and breathing around her. As a vampire, Angel is faster than she is, and also doesn't have a heartbeat, body heat or need to breathe, so he moves in lightning-fast spurts to attack and then holds still so she can't sense him.

* LogicalWeakness: Vanessa's DisabilitySuperpower works by detecting energy sources, heartbeats, and breathing around her. As a vampire, Angel is faster than her, and also doesn't have a heartbeat or need to breathe, so he moves in lightning-fast spurts to attack and then holds still so she can't sense him.

* HoldingTheFloor: Gunn standing in the center of Wolfram & Hart's lobby playing MalcolmXerox and declaiming, "Damn, here it is! Evil white folks really '''do''' have a Mecca!" It really needs to be seen to be believed. SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.

* GlassCannon: Angel opens the vault and is jumped by a Preggothian demon. He merely blows a powder in its face and the demon collapses. "Thank you, Wesley."

* DefectorFromDecadence: Lindsey, a man of stout stomach, draws the line at ordering a hit on children. {{Subverted|Trope}} when Holland dangles a bigger paycheck and a promotion over his head.

* FreudianExcuse: Born into a dirt-poor dysfunctional family in the southwest, Lindsey worked hard to overcome his beginnings. He grew up alongside five siblings, two of whom died of the flu.

* ProfessionalKiller: Vanessa works as a freelance assassin for some of Wolfram & Hart's biggest clients.

* BloodSplatteredInnocents: Averted as Lindsey isn't innocent. He does get Lee Mercer's blood over his nice white collar though.

* HandicappedBadaass: Vanessa is blind, yet manages to easily out-fight Angel.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Lindsey undergoes one.

* CreepyTwins: Most companies have drug tests. [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou Wolfram & Hart has random mind-sweepings.]] Lindsey and his colleagues--including Lilah Morgan and Lee Mercer--are lined up against the conference room wall (in a scene highly reminiscent of a firing squad) while a pair of [[Film/AViewToAKill Grace Jones]]–like identical twins dressed like [=PsiCops=] of ''Series/BabylonFive'' pace around the room menacingly.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Lindsey, a man of stout stomach, draws the line at ordering a hit on children. {{Subverted|Trope}} when Holland dangles a paycheck over his head.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Vanessa was previously under the tutelage of monks who believed seeing with the heart instead of the eyes was the way to truth--thus explaining her [[Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} Matt Murdock]] superpowers. The irony of somebody becoming a serial murderer because she ''found enlightenment'' is not lost on Cordelia.

* FauxAffablyEvil

* PsychoForHire: Vanessa

* WouldHurtAChild: Vanessa

* SuperReflexes: When Lindsay dismisses the allegations against his blind client as "childish, if they weren't so sad," Angel hurls an object directly over her head. Vanessa instinctively jerks her arm up and snags the glasses, exposing her super-awareness for all to see. Despite all this, Vanessa is acquitted thanks to Lindsey's maneuvering, much to Angel's frustration.

* CreepyTwins: Most companies have drug tests. [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou Wolfram & Hart has random mind-sweepings.]] Lindsey and his colleagues--including Lilah Morgan and Lee Mercer--are lined up against the conference room wall (in a scene highly reminiscent of a firing squad) while a pair of [[Film/AViewToAKill Grace Jones]]–like identical twins pace around the room menacingly.

* ADayInTheLimelight: For Lindsey MacDonald.

* ShoutOut: Gunn's "WHAT ABOUT THE BLACK MAN?" speech is probably a shout-out to the famous "black skins" speech in ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''. Since it is later revealed that Gunn is a superhero comic fanboy, it may be a shout-out in canon as well.

Angel is playing exterminator with some vamps in a warehouse. Once they're all dust, he hears somebody wail in pain. Inspecting the noise, Angel sees a wounded man crawling out onto the floor and collapsing. Angel examines the body, only for a woman wearing sunglasses to grab him by the throat. Her sunglasses are knocked off, and she's got spooky white cataracts in place of pupils. This time, Angel's opponent effortlessly dodges his fists every time he swings, as if anticipating his movements. She manages to toss him through a wooden partition, and by the time Angel gets to his feet, she's gone.

Flash-forward to Angel's office: A frustrated Wesley shuts his ''Encyclopedia Demonica'', having failed to dredge up any info on blind demons. Cordelia suggests he look up Helen Kellerus Homicidalus. It hits Wesley that maybe the woman isn't a demon at all - that perhaps she's merely honed her senses around her disability. Cordelia uses a search engine and pulls up one Vanessa Brewer, a blind woman who has been spotted fleeing the scenes of various homicides, and is currently on trial. It gets better: Wolfram & Hart is representing Vanessa pro bono, so she's probably working for them in some capacity.

Angel is upset that Vanessa was acquitted and he can't legally testify in court. He tells Wesley he remembers living in a world like Wolfram & Hart's, where there's only power and no consequences; He misses that kind of clarity. But he ''doesn't'' miss the 'killing your friends' part, Cordelia nervously chimes in. As if on cue, the door opens, and Lindsey steps into the office. He tells Angel that he "wants out" of Wolfram & Hart.

When Angel expresses skepticism at his "born again" attitude, Lindsey explains he grew up in abject poverty, and swore to himself that he'd never again-- Angel acts like he's about to nod off from boredom, before snarking to Lindsey to get to the part about being evil. Lindsey mentions that Vanessa has been hired to assassinate children. Later, the group plans Angel and Lindsey's break-in at Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey plans to leave his security card for Angel to find, allowing Angel to slip into the demon-guarded vault. Lindsey suddenly remembers the firm's vampire alarms, which will go off as soon as Angel enters at the building, but Angel assures him it won't be an issue.

That night, Angel meets with Gunn, who is reluctant to help him. "Not really interested in some rich guy's heartbreak." Angel can relate, but says there are bigger things at stake. Gunn challenges Angel him to give one good reason why he should bother. Well, it'll be extremely dangerous! Gunn grins mischievously - he's in.

The next day at Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey leaves his security pass under a fire extinguisher then heads back upstairs as Angel waits for the right time to move. Gunn steps into the lobby carrying a burlap bag, distracting the guards with a hilarious rant against The Man. As the vampire alarms go off, Gunn cuts the cord holding the sack, revealing a captured vampire inside. The guards are too busy with the decoy vampire to notice Angel is on the premises.

Angel phones Lindsey and tells him to get out. Unfortunately, Holland is herding everyone into a conference room for a surprise mind-reading. Lindsey fears that he’s been caught, but Holland sidesteps him and announces that Mercer is planning to jump ship to a rival firm. Lee protests his innocence, but doesn't get very far before he gets a bullet to the head. Holland laments the sad task of terminating an employee and dismisses the others - but unexpectedly asks Lindsey to stay behind. D'oh. Lee's body is dragged out the door by some guards, leaving a bloody streak behind. Holland chalks up another ruined carpet and asks Lindsey if he’s scared; Lindsey admits that he is. Holland says that's understandable, since he defected to Angel's camp, stole from the vault, tried to sabotage a case, and generally screwed Holland over. A jittery Lindsey insists that he didn’t want to lie or betray the firm, he just wanted to leave. Cryptically, Holland decides not to have Lindsey killed, instead giving him a few vacation days to contemplate his future.

Angel returns to his office and is surprised that Lindsey isn’t already there. Cordelia asks if Angel is going to go back for him, but he says that there's no point. The discs reveal that Vanessa is slated to murder three immigrant children - blind seers considered to be a powerful triumvirate. Lindsey wanders in as they mull over the details, apologizing for being late. Not bothering to glance at him, Cordy answers that they just figured he was worm food.

Vanessa arives at a safe house, stabbing the man guarding the children with her cane. Angel tells Lindsey to get the kids out. After being thrown against a wall, Angel lies motionless on the ground and watches as for the first time Vanessa seems unable to detect him, since Angel lacks both a pulse and body temperature. Having finally realized her weakness, Angel pummels her for a bit before grabbing the cane and skewering her with it.

Lindsey returns to Wolfram & Hart with the disks Angel stole and apologizes to Holland, saying he did what he needed to. Holland mutters that his rescue of the children was noble, or whatever, and notes that Lindsey probably made copies of what was on the disks. He tells Lindsey that he stood up to the firm and won; the firm needs people with that kind of chutzpa. In fact, he’s giving Lindsey his old office, since Holland is getting a promotion. He tells Lindsey that it's his choice, then leaves. After pondering for a moment, Lindsay instead closes the doors and takes a seat at the beckoning desk of power and evilness. Lindsey gazes out the window at the city lights as Angel does the same thing elsewhere.

!!Tropes

* AmbitionIsEvil: Lindsey's ambition is to never be powerless again - like his destitute father, who stood there meekly while the repo men seized his foreclosed home, cracking jokes with them the whole time.

* BadBoss: Holland Manners orders Lee Mercer to be 'terminated' permanently for trying to join a competition law firm and take some of W&H's clients from them.
* BlindSeer: Vanessa, the seer kids all have cataract-eyes, and their powers increase as they mature.

* TheCaper
* ContinuityNod: Lindsey gets snippy after Angel tells him he " sold [his] soul for a 5th-floor office and a company car." He says Angel doesn't know a thing about him, then demonstrates that he knows a lot about Angel: his father was a linen merchant, fairly well-to-do? Had a couple servants, until Angel killed them? "Just the one.", Angel corrects him, a sly smile appearing on his face. "The Prodigal" had a flashback of Angel (under his human identity, Liam) trying to seduce his father's serving wench.
** Cordelia calls up Willow to enlist her help in translating the encrypting discs. "Guess what ''they've'' been doing all week?" Actually, the Scoobies have been busy decrypting Adam's files (a plot point in the ''Buffy'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E21Primeval Primeval]]", which aired concurrently with this one).
* CreepyTwins: Most companies have drug tests. [[BigBrotherIsEmployingYou Wolfram & Hart has random mind-sweepings.]] Lindsey and his colleagues - including Lilah Morgan and Lee Mercer - are lined up against the conference room wall (in a scene highly reminiscent of a firing squad) while a pair of [[Film/AViewToAKill Grace Jones]]-like identical twins pace around the room menacingly.

-->'''Angel:''' "zzzzzzzz...I'm sorry. I nodded off. Did you get to the part where you're evil?"

* DressingAsTheEnemy: Angel suits up to impersonate a Wolfram & Hart's lawyer. This is the second time he's waltzed right into their headquarters with nothing but a suit and briefcase - the first instance was in "Five By Five".
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Vanessa was previously under the tutelage of monks who believed seeing with the heart instead of the eyes was the way to truth - thus explaining her [[Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} Matt Murdock]] superpowers. The irony of somebody becoming a serial murderer because she ''found enlightenment'' is not lost on Cordelia.

* HeyItsThatGuy: That vampire Gunn and his crew are lugging into Wolfram & Hart? That's [[Creator/RoosterTeeth Joel]] [[Machinima/RedVsBlue Heyman]]! Caboose is a vampire!
* HilariousInHindsight: All this bother to break into Wolfram & Hart; because so many plots required Team Angel to break into their offices for one reason or another, by the final season it had actually become a RunningGag how lousy their security was.

* HoldingTheFloor[=/=]MalcolmXerox: Gunn standing in the center of Wolfram & Hart's lobby declaiming, "Damn, here it is! Evil white folks really '''do''' have a Mecca!" It really needs to be seen to be believed. SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}.
* HopeSpot: Lindsey ''almost'' squeaks by unnoticed during the mind scan - or so he thinks. Lilah offers him a brisk pat on the shoulder after Holland calls back him over. Uh oh.

* InstantSedation

* TheLittleDetecto[=/=]PsychicRadar: Among the security measures at Wolfram & Hart are demons shamans who monitor the threshold of their office building for vampire intruders. They squeal when they sense a vampire, but they can't pinpoint a location or sense numbers. The system's poor performance record is lampshaded throughout the series.

* LivingMotionDetector: The camera switches to Vanessa's perspective to demonstrate her ability to 'see' movement. The crew couldn't afford a special effects shot for this episode, so someone came up with the "crazy idea" of painting the actors in glow-in-the-dark paint and then shooting the scenes in the dark.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "Y'all can cater to the demon, cater to the dead man, but '''''WHAT! ABOUT! THE BLACK! MAAAN?!'''''
* ShoutOut: Gunn's "WHAT ABOUT THE BLACK MAN?" speech is probably a Shout Out to the famous "black skins" speech in ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''. Since it is later revealed that Gunn is a superhero comic fanboy, it may be a Shout Out in canon as well.

* SuperReflexes: When Lindsay dimisses the allegations against his blind client as "childish, if they weren't so sad.", Angel hurls an object directly over her head. Vanessa instinctively jerks her arm up and snags the glasses, exposing her super-awareness for all to see. Despite all this, Vanessa is acquitted thanks to Lindsey's maneuvering, much to Angel's frustration.

* WalkInChimeIn: As Wesley goes into detail about how the Holy Triumvirate is in seriously hot water, Lindsey appears in the doorway to finish his thought - revealing himself to be very much alive.
* WorthyOpponent: Far from ordering Lindsey to be killed (or at the very least firing the thieving twerp), Holland offers Lindsey a ''promotion'' - anybody who can outmaneuver Wolfram & Hart could be a valuable asset.

** Holland's reasoning here is analogous to the Senior Partners' plans for Angel.

----

* HolyChild: And they come in threes.

* HeyItsThatGuy: That vampire Gunn and his crew are lugging into Wolfram & Hart? That's [[Creator/RoosterTeeth Joel]] [[RedVsBlue Heyman]]! Caboose is a vampire!