Recap / Angel S01E18 "Five by Five"

Angel rescues a gangbanger from the demons who have killed the other members of his gang. He attempts to 'persuade' the obstinate gangbanger, a key witness whom Angel has tracked down to testify in court against a shady Wolfram & Hart client, to do his civic duty.

Elsewhere, Faith, last seen in "Who Are You," arrives in Los Angeles on a bus. She mugs the first man she meets.

"I think I'm gonna like it here."

In a flashback to to Borşa, Romania, in 1898, Darla leads Angelus into a home. After removing Angelus's blindfold, Darla wishes him a happy birthday and lets him vamp out on a bound and gagged Romani girl.

Outside Angel's office, Cordy and Wesley argue over whether or not Marquez is going to do it. Cordy believes that her vision that helped save Marquez life was a waste of a vision. Wesley believes Marquez will testify.

In court the next day, Lindsey McDonald, on behalf of Wolfram & Hart, moves for dismissal of a murder charge as there are no witnesses, but Angel shows up in the nick of time with Marquez, who is a key witness for the prosecution and is now willing to testify. As Lindsey takes heat for his failure in court, Lee Mercer presents Lindsey with some papers, claiming a solution to their problem. Together with Lilah Morgan, who knows how to find Faith, he makes the contact.

The next night in 1898, Darla returns to find that her darling boy, Angelus, is no longer the demon she created. Angel reveals that the Romani girl he ate on his birthday had a family, who found out about her death and did something to him. Darla is disgusted, breaks a chair, and tries to stake Angel. After she fails to kill Angel, Darla kicks him out of the home.

In Wolfram & Hart, Lilah, Lindsey, and Mercer are explaining that it would be in their best interest if Faith killed a man named Angel, but they don't want to be connected to his death. In return, Wolfram & Hart can get Faith off of her murder charges. She asks what they will pay. When Lee fails to answer right away, she grabs him by the scruff of the neck and beats his face into a table. His co-workers beam at their new trainee's can-do initiative.

The next day, Cordelia, Wesley and Angel are in the lobby of an office building on their way to a luncheon meeting. Faith attempts to shoot Angel in the back with a crossbow, but Angel turns around in time to catches the bolt in mid-air a few inches from his heart. Faith issues her challenge and runs for the door. Cordy notes Faith looks fit as a fiddle for somebody in a coma.

Back at his office, Angel phones Giles in Sunnydale to learn that Faith got loose a week ago. Angel pulls rank and instructs Wesley and Cordelia to make themselves scarce. Cordelia wholeheartedly agrees, but Wesley balks at having to run and hide. He tries to convince Angel that there may still be a chance that Faith could be helped, but Angel interrupts by reminding Wesley that he had ruined Angel's one chance at rehabilitating Faith the year before. Wesley looks abashed.

Later, Angel finds Faith in his outer office, where she stands protected from immediate attack by sunlight streaming through the raised blinds. She tosses Angel a gun, which he immediately aims at her leg and shoots. The bullet is a blank, however, and he tosses the gun back. After mocking him for only trying to wound her, Faith says she wants to "up the stakes" by playing for Angel's soul as well as his life. She shoots him in the shoulder with a real bullet, then escapes by crashing through the sunny window.

Angel, wearing a suit and spouting corporate double-speak, sneaks into Lindsey's Wolfram & Hart office. Lindsey interrupts Angel in mid-snoop. He denies knowing anything about Faith. He also informs Angel that Wolfram & Hart has advanced security systems both electronic and mystical—Angel's every move has been documented in digital hi-def since he crossed the building's threshold. After disabling the first security guard on scene, and with a parting promise to Lindsey, Angel chooses discretion and leaves.

In the meantime, Cordelia tries to get into her apartment, but her ghost Phantom Dennis makes it difficult. Cordelia thinks Dennis is jealous of Wesley until they discover that Faith has broken in. Faith knocks Cordelia and Wesley out, and takes Wesley back to her apartment, where she ties him to a chair and tortures him. Faith has correctly calculated that Angel, indifferent to being targeted himself, will be unable to ignore threats to his friends. Finding Wesley still defiant, Faith recites the list of the "five basic torture groups," blunt, sharp, hot, cold, and loud, and decides to move from blunt to sharp. Meanwhile, Angel and Cordelia feverishly work to locate Faith before she kills her bait.

In 1898, a shabby Angel begs for food on the streets of Borşa. He encounters a group of well-dressed people but rejects the coin they toss into the mud, telling the men that he wants the lady in their company. The men rush Angel and force him into a dark alley as he shouts, "I'm a monster!" Soon the men come sailing back out to the street, followed by Angel, staggering but still upright. He grabs the shrieking woman, drags her deeper into the alley, backs her up against the wall and bites her, then mutters, "I can't, oh God, I can't." As he stumbles away down the muddy street, the girl he wanted to eat staggers out after him, bitten but alive.

Faith sits disconsolately in an open window, waiting for Angel. Sighing, she drops the now-bloody glass shard on the pavement below. Turning back into the room, she continues to torment her former Watcher. Apparently ready to switch to "hot," she goes to the kitchen for a flame wand and a can of non-stick spray. Before she can have her fun, Angel smashes down the door and charges into the apartment. Wesley throws his chair back, and Angel kicks Faith away from Wesley. They continue to batter the furnishings and each other, then crash out a window together, only to resume combat in the alley three stories below. Rain begins to pour down and it becomes increasingly clear that Angel has no intention of killing Faith. Meanwhile, Wesley cuts himself loose and staggers downstairs, armed with a kitchen carving knife. Faith, more and more distraught, tries wildly to force Angel to fight back. Faith breaks down completely, confessing her self-loathing and begging Angel to punish her.

"I'm bad, I'm bad. Please Angel, do it. Just kill me."

Angel finally takes Faith in his arms and goes to his knees with her, holding her close as she collapses in the dark downpour. Behind them, Wesley drops his knife.

---

Tropes in this episode:

• Aerosol Flamethrower: Faith threatens to torture Wes with a stove lighter and a can of cooking oil. Fears of children imitating this meant that this episode was the only one in the whole of Buffy and Angel to be rated 18 for home video release by the British Board of Film Classification.
• Aesop Amnesia: Phantom Dennis, despite sensing the evil intent of Cordy's last visitor, goes unheeded yet again.
• All According to Plan: Angel kicks down the door to rescue Wes. Faith says, "About time."
• Always a Bigger Fish: Marquez walks up to some hoodie-wearing guys sitting around a fire and warns them they better clear out before his gangbanger buddies get here—only to realize they're demons, holding the severed arm of one of his buddies.
• Arc Words: Wesley insisting that Marquez already has a soul, "and therefore somewhere, deep down inside, an urge to do what's right."
• Armor-Piercing Question: After an episode of "I'm-Evil-And-Loving-Every-Minute-Of-It" posturing, Faith claims to Angel that her torture of Wesley was "payback". Angel immediately leaps on the slip-up:
  Angel: For what? I thought you were happy with the way you are.
• Asshole Victim:
  • A man implied to be a pimp offers Faith a place to stay. She stabs him, leaving him hospitalized, then steals the keys to his house and moves in while he's hospitalized.
  • A bunch of upper-class men mistake Angelus for a drunken beggar and hurl coins at him. "Have a pint on us!"
• Arrow Catch: Angel twirls around in time to catch a crossbow bolt a few inches from his heart.
• Badass Boast: "You can't take me. NO ONE can take me!"
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Angel dresses up to pay a visit to Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey likes the cut of his jib.
• Baddie Flattery:
  • Faith gushing over Angel's Arrow Catch. "That was so cool!"
  • "You know, just when I think I have you figured out, you show up in a suit."
  • Faith is impressed when Wesley hauls off and hits her. Now he's speaking her language.
  • Averted before the big fight: Angel is appalled by the minuscule bounty on his head.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  Wesley: I was your Watcher, Faith. I know the real you, and even if you kill me, there is just one thing I want you to remember.
  Faith: What's that, love?
  Wesley: You... are a piece of sh— [Faith gags him]
• Bar Brawl: Faith sparks a melee in a nightclub after punching the girlfriend of a man she begins to seductively dance with.
• Battle in the Rain: A one-sided bout between Faith and Angel, who refuses to put up his dukes. The original script called for a rain machine in the battle scene, but this was dropped for cost reasons—and then the skies cooperated with the producers anyway. (Filming of the Buffy episode "Superstar"—which aired on the same night in 2000—overlapped shooting for "Five by Five," which is why much of that Buffy episode also takes place during a torrential downpour that struck Los Angeles at the time.)
• Beard of Evil: Dick, the pimp, sports heavy stubble. Unfortunately for him, Faith is a hot chick with superpowers.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Wesley fears that Angel will let emotion control him, which means that "one of you will certainly wind up dead."
• The Berserker: To go down the list, Faith: beats a man up far beyond what she needs to, takes up residence in his apartment (which is easily tracked), provokes bar fights, beats Lee to a bloody pulp over a petty remark, fires a crossbow at Angel's back in broad daylight, and most shockingly, tortures her hostage to near-death when simply tying him up would suffice. This is a far cry from the girl who took long-distance potshots from sniper nests.
• Best Served Cold: Faith hints at some resentment toward Wesley, though Angel zeroes in on the obvious question: "For what? I thought you were happy with the way you are."
• Bluff the Impostor: Inverted with Lawyer!Angel, who somehow coasts by on his feeble jargon.
  Lawyer: We have to close Gruber now, before the soft offer becomes hard and the stock goes—"
  Angel: [waves arms] Through the ceiling!
  Lawyer: —In the toilet.
  Angel: Right.
• Bond One-Liner: "Never know who you're gonna meet in this part of town."
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: "Successful lawyer in a big law firm, company car, nice office, bonus, can hire a killing whenever you want—kinda got it made, right?"
• Briar Patching
• Brick Joke: Lee's lack of "people skills."
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Averted, unfortunately for the recently-ensouled Angel.
  Angel: Funny. You would think, with all the people I've...maimed and killed, I wouldn't be able to remember every single one.
• Call-Back: Faith's torture of her Watcher is a callback to Angelus torturing Giles in the BtVS episode "Becoming, Part 2". This is lampshaded by Faith herself, who cracks about Giles switching places with Wesley.
• Car Fu: Angel wielding a sword from the back of his convertible like some modern-day knight.
• Characterization Marches On: Lilah gets threatened by Faith. Season 2 Lilah certainly wouldn't have been intimidated.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Wesley in the apartment.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Angelus's horror at all the children he's murdered, and Darla excitedly asking if he's brought her some.
    Darla: Do you think I won't share? I can't believe you think I'm that insensitive.
  • Angelus snivels about how the two of them have been feeding and killing for over one hundred and forty years. Darla finally begins to be concerned, and demands, "Have you met someone else?"
  • Angel angrily points out to Wesley that he almost had Faith redeemed once before. Cordy misunderstands.
    Cordelia: Angel, it's not Wesley's fault that some British guy ruined your— oh, wait. That was you! [Wesley looks abashed] Go on.
• Continuity Nod:
  • "You Marquez? Good. I hate saving the wrong guy."
  • Lindsey explaining that there's a murder warrant out against Faith in Sunnydale.
  • Wesley grumbling that Giles should have told him about about Faith's recovery, since he was Faith's Watcher.
  • Wesley asks if Faith did something to Buffy, and Angel hesitates before admitting, "Giles just said it was rough."
  • Angel angrily reminding Wes of the time "some British guy" burst into his house with a special ops team and dragged Faith away for some intensive rehab.
  • "While we're on the subject, I remember you throwing one of my clients through a window."
• Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: When Angel pulls a Big Damn Heroes on a Bound and Gagged Wesley, Faith's dropped switchblade sticks in the floor and Wes naturally uses it to cut his bonds.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • When Angel refuses to kill Faith, she reacts by flying into what the script literally dubs a "I'm-Gonna-Get-You-Motherfucker-If-It's-The-Last-Thing-I-Do" rage, clawing at the air and screaming. Finally, her body gives out, and she ends up sobbing in Angel's arms as the rain pours.
  • Noticeably averted when Ensouled!Angelus tries to get a hug from Darla; she recoils from him like he's infected.
• Coolest Club Ever
• Corner of Woe: Darla coming home to find Angelus crouched in a dark corner and muttering, "Not everybody screams." Never a good sign.
• Corporate Samurai: Faith fancies herself moving up in the world.
• Covered in Gunge: Angel, hopping out of his car to greet Marquez, nonchalantly decapitates a demon rushing up from behind. Goo splatters both the car and Wesley.
• Curse Cut Short:
  Wesley: I was your Watcher, Faith. I know the real you. And even if you kill me, there's just one thing I want you to remember.
  Faith: What's that, love?
  Wesley: You...are a piece of shi— (Faith stuffs a gag in his mouth)
• Dance Battler: Faith dances about as the clubgoers get involved in various fights, working in some good punches and kicks as she gyrates.
• Death Seeker: Faith during the Battle in the Rain.
• Decoy Damsel: Faith in the teaser. Subverted: By the end of the episode Faith has become the lost soul Angel must save.
• Description Cut: Wesley ominously wonders how Wolfram & Hart will react to their courtroom defeat. As if on cue, Lilah strolls through an alley with Faith in tow.
• Destination Defenestration: Angel tries to wrestle Faith's stake away from her, and finally they both crash through the window and down into the alley.
• Defiant to the End: Wes under torture—counts as Took a Level in Badass when one remembers how just the threat of torture made him crack in his introductory episode "Bad Girls".
  Faith: Y'know, I think I wanna hear you scream.
  Wesley: You never will.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Lee using some big words to make Faith feel stupid is not an especially bright move on his part.
• Dissonant Serenity:
  • Faith continues to dance while chaos rages around her, choreographing kicks and punches without missing a beat.
  • Lee gets his head pulverized while his co-workers look on with tranquility.
• Dramatic Gun Cock: As Lindsey gloats over his surveillance system, a security guard suddenly appears behind Angel with a gun raised.
• Dramatic Irony: Darla proudly saying that she "looked everywhere" for Angelus's prey.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Angel wearing a suit and toting a briefcase.
• Dual Wielding: Faith comes at Angel with dual stakes.
• Duel to the Death: What Faith is after. Angel is happy to oblige, until he realizes that she's undergoing a Villainous BSoD much like he did a century ago.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Angel sneeringly comments on Faith looking "worn out."
• Exact Words: "Please understand that we would never advocate the killing of another human being. His name's Angel."
• Fake Kill Scare: Angelus dragging a Romanian girl into an alley and biting her. In the following flashback, Angel staggers out of the alley muttering, "I can't, oh God, I can't...", closely followed by the girl, who looks dazed.
• Feet-First Introduction: Faith stepping off the bus.
• Femme Fatalons: Angelus tries to hug Darla—Darla scratches his cheek and shoves him away.
• Finger-Lickin' Evil: With Wesley tied up, Faith hops on his lap like Santa and starts licking her fingers... then digging them into his open face wounds.
  Faith: All these cuts and bruises... just bring out the mother in me.
• Five-Finger Discount: Faith taking the scuzzball's wallet, keys, and jacket, and then turning to leave without bothering to pick up her bag.
• Flashback: Several to Romania in 1898, when Angelus feeds on his final, fateful victim—the Romani whose family curses him with a soul.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Faith has loads with Wes and Angel—just check out the Double Entendre in this scene.
  Angel: Ever occurred to you this might be more fun for me?
  Faith: You think? Because what if you kill me—and you experience that one true moment of pleasure? Oops! I'd get off on that. Go ahead. Do me. Let's take that hell ride together. Come on, Angel, I'm all yours! I'm giving you an open invitation. [Angel doesn't move] Jeez, you're pathetic! You and your little tortured soul, got to think everything through. Well, think fast, lover. You don’t do me, you know I'm gonna do you!
• For the Evulz: Faith's philosophy used to be about survival of the fittest, where right and wrong didn't enter into it. Now she is being actively evil. She has discovered her moral compass. And she's not happy about it.
• For Want Of A Nail: Faith picks up a lighter and an aerosol can as she speculates on predestination and free will; most notably, whether things would have different if she and Buffy had swapped Watchers. Faith laughingly concludes that Giles would be in the torture seat instead.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Lilah becomes the Trope Namer in reference to Angel.
  Lilah: I heard you came up with a good idea. How to deal with our friendly neighborhood vampire?

• Glad I Thought of It: Lilah approaches Lee and applauds his idea of hiring Faith to kill Angel. Unfortunately for Lee, Lilah is the only one who knows where Faith is, so Lilah gets to be his representative.
• Good Hurts Evil: Darla recoils from ensouled Angelus' attempt to hug her and throws him out of the house, threatening to stake him if he returns.
• Guns Do Not Work That Way: Faith tosses Angel a revolver that he immediately fires, because he knows she'd never give him a loaded gun. He tosses it back and she shoots him. Thing is, the rounds loaded in a revolver are visible from the front, and you can see the bullet of a live round, whereas a blank is just a casing loaded with primer and powder and crimped shut, meaning it should have been obvious that there was at least one live round in the gun.
• Half-Truth: Wesley and Angel berate Cordelia for dragging them into a divorce case. Cordy makes a valiant effort, saying, "According to the husband, the wife's a real witch!"
• He Knows Too Much: Marquez is the witness to a murder committed by one of Wolfram & Hart's clients. The firm sent demons to prevent him from testifying in court.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Faith looks delicious in her black leather pants.
• Hey, Wait!: In Wolfram & Hart's lobby, a random lawyer points at Angel, shouting, "You!" Phew, the lawyer has confused Angel with someone else, and begins jabbering about the "Gruber meeting."
• History Repeats: Faith's self-destructive spiral is mirrored by Angel's flashbacks to 1898. Examples: Angel and Faith's declaration of self-hatred, Angelus's "birthday present" being Bound and Gagged in a similar manner to Wesley.
• Hollywood Law: Angel's prejudicial outburst in court—while dramatic—was probably overheard by the jury, which is grounds for an appeal.
• Human Shield: At Angel's entrance, Faith immediately whips out her knife and holds it to Wesley's throat.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Wesley firmly believes that Marquez will do what's right. Suddenly, Marquez bursts out of Angel's office, shouting, "No way! I'm gone!" before Angel drags him back inside by his shirt collar.
    Cordelia: I guess you're right, Wesley. He's just like the Dalai Lama.
  • Lindsey's nonchalance at finding Angel in his office. "Don't you have any respect for the law?"
• I Am a Monster:
  • A starving and ensouled Angelus beats up a woman's protectors and tries to feed on her, all the time shouting "I am a monster!" He is unable to go through with killing her.
  • Likewise, Faith is reduced to flailing ineffectually at Angel's chest while shouting "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad!"
• Idiot Ball: When the ghost in Cordelia's apartment tries to stop them from going in, Cordy just assumes he's jealous because Wesley is with her. It's actually because Faith is lying in wait.
• I Have Your Wife: Besides her torture for kicks, Faith kidnaps Wesley to lure Angel to her.
• I Shall Taunt You: Faith drops by Angel Investigations to deliver her ultimatum.
• Improvised Weapon:
  • Angelus points out that Darla brought the Romani girl to him, which raises a good point, but Darla retorts by smashing a chair and picking up one of the legs to use as a stake.
  • According to a police report, Faith broke an officer's jaw with his own cuffs.
  • Faith smashes a handy picture frame to make incisions on Wesley's face.
  • During the indoor fight, Faith kicks a coffee table at Angel, followed by a lamp and vase. Eventually she finds a bit of broken something that's reasonably stake-like.
• In the Back: Faith strolling into view behind Angel and leveling a crossbow at his back.
• Innocuously Important Episode: The flashbacks to Angel's struggles with being cursed with a soul aren't just there for the parallels between Angel and Faith's quests for redemption. They're also used to remind the audience of Darla, who will be resurrected in the season's final moments and strongly impact the rest of the series.
• Insult Backfire: Cordelia, interpreting Dennis' door-slamming as jealousy, declares that "Hell will freeze over" before she has sex with Wesley.
  Wesley: [under his breath] Thank Heaven for small favors.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence
• Ironic Echo:
  • "Now I got money. And a place to stay."
  • "I don't want you to make me look bad." We all know what's going to happen, and it does.
    Faith: [POUND POUND POUND] How do you look now? [POUND POUND]
• It Works Better with Bullets: The round Angel fires turns out to be a blank, so he tosses the gun back to Faith. She reveals she was just testing Angel to see if he would kill her, then shoots him in the shoulder with a real bullet.
  Faith: Gosh. That one wasn't a blank.
• It's Personal:
  • After Angel telephones Giles to learn what horrors Faith inflicted on Buffy, Wesley notices that Angel is absolutely fuming. Faith then tries to up the ante by torturing Wesley.
  • Faith takes the kill contract the moment Angel's name is mentioned, without haggling over the cost.
  • Darla casting out Angel after he's been ensouled puts another layer on his decision to stake her in favor of Buffy.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Faith promises to kill Angel "slowly and inventively" when the time comes, then tosses him a gun. Angel immediately fires before she's finished talking.
• Linked List Clue Methodology: Cordy pinpoints various locations on a map as she tells Angel where all the recent unexplained beatings have occurred. Angel narrows it down to the first incident, where a man's apartment keys were taken, and deduces that's where Faith stashed Wesley.
• Locked Out of the Loop: It's revealed that Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley were unaware of Faith's return over on Buffy. They don't find out until a week after Faith tries to shoot Angel with a crossbow. Wesley's justifiably angry that as Faith's Watcher, Giles didn't even notify him as a courtesy. In their defense, the Scooby Gang had no reason to suspect Faith was heading for Los Angeles and Giles had been distracted by Buffy's recovery from what Faith put her through.
• Loud of War: Faith mentions using "loud" as one of the basic torture methods when she kidnaps Wesley, but she never gets to use it.
• Madness Mantra: "I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! [sobbing] I'm bad. Do you hear me? I'm bad... I'm bad..."
• Meaningful Echo: Various Call Backs to Buffy with "a busy little beaver", and "It's not too late".
• Mating Dance: Faith starts a Bar Brawl when she dances intimately with another girl's date. She doesn't stop dancing even while throwing punches.
• Mugging the Monster: Dick, the sleazy-looking pimp guy sees a vulnerable-looking attractive teenage girl get off the bus, and offers money and a place to stay. Faith says she's cold, and when the guy takes off his jacket she beats him up while his arms are restrained and steals his wallet.
  Faith: Now I got money—and a place to stay.
• No Smoking: A scuzzy guy outside the bus depot lights a cigarette, which is the international sign that he's either evil or dead meat.
• Noodle Implements: Cooking oil, a flame wand, and a sizable shard of glass.
• Noodle Incident: From the sound of it, Angel must've missed one hell of a Gruber meeting.
• Not So Stoic: Wesley is initially Faith's advocate, chiding his teammates for their lack of compassion. He changes his tune soon enough.
• Off with His Head!: Angel, riding shotgun, has decided that rather than muss up his clothes, he'll just use his trusty sword to perform a drive-by beheading.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Faith mocks Angel for aiming at her leg.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Marquez approaches a few bums who are camped out around a flaming barrel. One of the bums is holding a gun—but then he stands, and we see he's actually holding a severed arm, which is holding a gun. Someone was taking the idea of being "fully armed" a bit too literally.
• Perp Sweating: Angel warns Marquez to do the right thing, or else next time demons will be chopping Marquez up and incinerating his remains.
  Angel: You're gonna have to face your demons sometime.
  Marquez: What if I don't want to face my demons?
  Angel: Then you'll have to face mine.
• Poor Communication Kills: Zigzagged with the Scooby Gang's failure to notify Angel Investigations about Faith's return until a week later. On the one hand, the Watcher's Council team had lost Faith's trail after she fled Sunnydale. Giles similarly had no idea or reason to suspect Faith was heading for Los Angeles (plus he was distracted with helping Buffy recover from her ordeal). On the other hand, if Faith was going after Buffy and the Scoobies for the events of the previous year, then the Fang Gang were also logical and potential targets (Wesley and Angel especially) for their role in her downfall. Wesley is absolutely correct that Giles should have called to update them and warn the Los Angeles team to be on their guard just in case.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Admit it, Wesley. Didn't you always kind of have the hots for me?" [ignites cooking spray]
• "Psycho" Strings: Plays during Wesley's torture.
• Punched Across the Room: As a reminder of Slayer strength, Angel is sent bouncing around the apartment like a pinball.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: It's clear that Wesley is still trying to make up for his failure as Watcher, to his own peril.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Angelus pushes up the skirt of the Bound and Gagged Romani girl and bites her inner thigh, implying he intends to rape her as well as feed on her.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: "Geez, you're pathetic. You and your little tortured soul, gotta think everything through."
• Redemption in the Rain: Faith falls apart in Angel's arms as the rain beats down in the final alley fight.
• Required Spinoff Cross Over: From the Buffy episode "Who Are You?"
• Revenge by Proxy: Faith torturing Wesley.
  Faith: Since this may be the last chance we have to unload on each other, I feel it's kind of my duty to tell you that if you'd been a better Watcher, I might've been a more positive role model.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: Faith lends hers to Angel as a way of testing his capacity to kill.
• Riches to Rags: And so Angelus was cast out into the streets of Romania, to wander alone as a vagrant.
• Run or Die: With a rogue Slayer in town, Angel instructs Wesley and Cordelia to make themselves scarce. "I don't want to give her any free targets."
• Sadistic Choice: Wesley gets the privilege of choosing which torture method Faith is going to try next. "It's always more fun with audience participation."
• Scare Chord: Faith dropping in on her two amigos, Cordelia and Wesley.
• Secret Test of Character: Faith tosses a handgun to Angel to give him, in her words, "one free shot." It was to see if he would try and kill her. When he doesn't (he attempts to shoot her in the leg instead), she tries to force him to.
• Sequel Episode: To Buffy's "Who Are You?"
• Sheathe Your Sword: Faith keeps whaling on Angel until she eventually tires herself out. Echoed by Wesley's knife drop.
• Shout-Out: Faith's first words to her former Watcher, the Closet Geek that she is, is the popular meme "Shut up Wesley!"
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Wesley tries to speechify, and Faith interrupts by using her patented elbow-to-the-face move to knock out Cordy. Whereupon Wesley slugs her in the face.
• Sinister Silhouettes: Hobo Angelus in flashbacks. "I'm hungry."
• Slow-Motion Drop:
  • Faith drops the bloody shard of glass she used to torture Wesley out a window.
  • Later, Wesley drops the knife he's carrying when he sees Faith is no longer fighting Angel.
• So Was X: Wesley observing, "One could have said that about Angel," after Cordy says it's impossible to change people. (Cordy scoffs, adding that Angel was cursed by Romani.)
• Suicide by Cop: Faith's true motive all along is to get Angel to kill her. A vampiric Occult Detective is the closest thing to a cop that has a chance of killing a Slayer.
• Super Window Jump: Faith's not a big fan of doors. Presumably, she didn't want to give Angel a chance to chase her down.
• Surprise Witness: Angel unexpectedly drops in on a courtroom proceeding with an eyewitness in tow—the same kid who was thought to have been intimidated by Lindsey into silence.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Lindsey is unfazed by Angel's breaking-and-entering; he says the silent vampire alarm has gone off, more guards are on the way, the police have been called, and their conversation is being recorded. On Hi-Def.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: Faith commencing a bar fight while dancing to the sound of "Living Dead Girl".
• Swiss-Cheese Security: Averted, as Angel's attempted search of Lindsey's office is detected immediately—ironic given that Wolfram & Hart's lousy security becomes a Running Gag in later seasons.
• Tap on the Head: Lindsey, your security system is just terrific, honest, but maybe you should tell your guards that guns aren't really effective on vampires.
• Tattooed Crook: Cordy grouses about how saving's Marquez life was "a waste of a good vision," since "someone with that much body art is going to have a different definition of civic duty."
• Tears of Remorse: Faith collapsing into tears and begging Angel to kill her.
• Terms of Endangerment:
  • Faith greets Angel by asking for a hug. He says it's good to see old friends.
  • "Think fast, lover. You don't do me, you know I'm gonna do you."
• That Came Out Wrong: Lindsey explaining that they have a problem they need help with, adding, "If a service is rendered, we can get you off." Predictably, Faith responds, "You don't know how many men have promised me that."
  Lilah: [slyly] I'm certain you won't be disappointed in our performance.
• Took a Level in Badass: Wesley. After Faith gives Cordy an elbow to the face, Wes actually hits her. He still doesn't stand a chance in a fight with a Slayer, but even Faith is impressed ("All right, Wes!"). Then he braves a night of Cold-Blooded Torture without once begging for his life, a far cry from the Wes back in Sunnydale who cowered behind Giles and was willing to divulge crucial information in exchange for not being tortured. And his response to Faith saying that she wants to hear him scream? "You never will." Not to mention that Wes is fully prepared to have to kill Faith if she gets the upper hand in her fight with Angel. Working as a "rogue demon hunter" in LA has really paid off.
• Torture Technician:
  • Faith has a system for separating torture into five groups (à la the Food Pyramid), which Wesley gets to experience firsthand.
    Faith: We've only done one of the five basic torture groups. We've done blunt, but that still leaves sharp, hot, cold, and loud.
  • In "Release", it is revealed that Faith restricted herself to shallow cuts, to ensure that Wesley remained conscious.
• Trouble Entendre: "Nice to see you again, Lindsey. We'll do this real soon."
• TV Never Lies: When reading an online discussion of the legality/morality of torture, you might find someone making a reference to Faith's five classes of torture. This was made up by the writers; it has no basis whatsoever in reality.
• Twisted Echo Cut: Angel quipping about bad neighborhood elements, then offering to give Marquez a lift. Cut to a seedy fellow making a similar proposition to Faith as she walks along; she looks like she's new in town, it's dangerous around here, etc.
• Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: Immediately before a case is thrown out because the prosecution can't produce a witness, Angel shows up with one.
• Unusual Euphemism / Last-Second Word Swap
  Faith: Face it, Wesley, you really were a jerk. Always walking around as if you had some great big stake rammed up your... English Channel.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: After Angel catches the arrow, businessmen continue traipsing back and forth in the lobby, unfazed by the strange girl who just fired a crossbow in their midst.
• Use Your Head: Faith headbutts Angel during their duel.
• Villain Team-Up: Wolfram & Hart hire Faith to take care of their vampire problem.
  Angel: What's "the game" exactly, Faith? Boredom? Revenge?
  Faith: Dude, I'm getting paid. They hate you almost as much as I do.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Angel and Marquez enter just as Lindsey declaims that his client is a swell citizen.
  Angel: ...Except for that pesky drug dealing and murder stuff.
• Villainous Breakdown: Faith suffers one in the middle of her fight with Angel and begins to hit him, cry, and beg him to just kill her.
• Warrior Therapist: Angel to Faith in this episode. While it may initially look like Angel is trying to stop Faith, their final confrontation shows that Angel was pulling his punches the entire time and essentially letting Faith work through her aggression. When Angel calls Faith out on what she's doing, she collapses into a heap into his arms, pleading for him to kill her to end her pain.
• We Have Reserves: Lilah, watching Lee's beating from the sidelines, praises Faith's "initiative." Lindsey buzzes his secretary to change their reservations to three, not four, for dinner.
• Welcome to the Big City: Inverted; it's Faith, newly arrived in the City of Angels, who does the mugging.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • When a girl objects to Faith dancing with her boyfriend, Faith nonchalantly elbows her in the face. The guy apparently feels that's going too far, and takes a swing at Faith, who hurls him into some other dancers.
  • Justified in Wesley's case. He knows he's dealing with a Slayer.
• You Must Be Cold: Subverted. The sleazy hood that tries to put the moves on Faith starts to remove his jacket ("Warm is my middle name"), whereupon she pummels him into unconsciousness and rips it off of him.
• You Fight Like a Cow: "That all you got, vampire? Get in the game."
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Invoked by Angel when he learns that Wolfram and Hart's bounty on him is actually only $15,000. Angel can't believe both that it's that low (especially after all the trouble he's caused the firm this Season), or that Faith is selling herself for so little. Faith counters she's young and willing to work her way up the chain with small jobs like this.
• Your Door Was Open:
  • Faith showing up unannounced at Angel's office.
  • Cordy goes to her place to pack up some things, but Faith pops out of a doorway and begins complaining about Angel not being pissed enough yet. That can't bode well.

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