Recap / Angel S01E19 "Sanctuary"

Directed by Michael Lange

Written by Tim Minear & Joss Whedon

Angel attempts to save Faith's soul, but things are complicated by the unexpected arrival of Buffy.

Angel takes Faith to his apartment, tucking her into bed. As Angel retreats, Faith has a brief, violent vision where she charges at him with a knife and cuts up his face. When Angel comes up to get Faith food, Wesley argues about giving Faith another chance, and Cordelia gets Angel to sign several checks to fund her vacation, so she can be gone for as long as Faith is around.

After Faith starts reliving her past crimes, she attempts to leave Angel's. However, he extends another invitation to help her and she returns. Downstairs, Faith confesses to Angel that she is haunted by visions of her violent past in Sunnydale and inadvertently reveals that Buffy is dating someone else. Angel talks to Faith about redemption, saying she has to make amends for her crimes, no matter how hard it is. Meanwhile, Wesley plays darts at a bar, and encounters Weatherby, a member of the Watchers Council Special Operations Team, on the hunt for Faith. The council members give Wesley an opportunity to come back to the Watchers Council if he's willing to turn in Faith. They give him a syringe that, if injected, will sedate Faith and let them take her back to England. Wesley agrees to the plan on the condition that Angel remains unharmed, and Weatherby reluctantly agrees.

Lindsey McDonald, Lilah Morgan, and Lee Mercer, upset that Faith has teamed up with Angel, hire a demon to have her killed. In Angel's apartment, Angel comforts Faith after she hears a warrant for her arrest on the news. Suddenly, the demon sneaks into Angel's apartment and attacks. Faith kills it with a knife, and then is frightened by the sight of the demon's blood on her hands. Without warning, Buffy arrives at Angel's place and is shocked to find Angel hugging Faith.

Buffy is determined to turn Faith in to the police as revenge for all the trouble she recently caused in Sunnydale, and is eager to dole out some physical payback in particular for what Faith did to Riley, but Angel refuses to allow this. Buffy hits Angel and when he hits her back, both she and Angel are in utter shock and Buffy is offended that he would punch her for Faith. He immediately apologizes to her. Wesley arrives with the news that the Council is looking for Faith, and Buffy confirms that they'll kill her if they get their hands on her. The two Slayers escape to the roof, where they argue about everything that has happened. Though Faith is genuinely sorry for what she has done and asks for another chance, Buffy is unwilling to forgive her for what happened. She claims that all Faith has ever done is screw up her life by targeting Angel and then Riley, bitterly stating that while she's lost fights before Faith is the only person who ever made her feel so helpless. All of a sudden, Collins attacks Buffy and Faith as Smith hovers above the roof in a helicopter. Inside the apartment, Wesley stabs Weatherby with the syringe while Angel runs upstairs and as the two Slayers seek cover against their attackers. Angel bursts through the roof skylight and gets inside the helicopter, throwing Smith out on the roof and ordering the pilot to take the helicopter down.

Detective Kate Lockley — guided by Lindsey's information — arrests Angel for harboring the fugitive Faith. When Angel and Kate, with Wesley and Buffy in tow, arrive at the police station, they are surprised to see Faith is voluntarily confessing to her crimes. Later, Buffy admits to Angel how hard it was for her to see Faith with him. Angel counters by saying it was not about Buffy — it was about saving Faith's soul. Buffy claims that she had come because he was in danger, but Angel is not fooled and accuses her of looking to get revenge on Faith. She does not deny his accusation, and Buffy lashes out by telling Angel she has someone else in her life. Unlike her relationship with Angel, she can actually trust her new boyfriend.

Infuriated and hurt, Angel launches a tirade against Buffy, reminding her that, while it's great that she has moved on, he himself cannot and has no one to share his pain, climaxing when he informs Buffy that she doesn't know him anymore and that she has no right to just show up with her "great new life" and tell him how to do things before harshly demanding that she go back to Sunnydale immediately. Buffy complies after a slight hesitation, complaining that "Faith wins again." As soon as she is gone, Angel regrets his harsh words and decides to head to Sunnydale to make his own amends. Wesley assures him that he thinks Angel was right in believing Faith could still be rehabilitated. Meanwhile, Faith manages to find peace in her jail cell.

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Tropes in this episode:

• Agent Mulder: When Detective Kate Lockley turns up at the apartment where Faith fought Angel, the detective in charge of the case realizes she's there because everyone knows Kate has gone "Agent Scully" investigating cases involving the supernatural. Kate patiently explains that makes her more like Mulder, which only confuses him. "Scully was the chick, right?"
• And This Is for...: Wesley jabs Weatherby with the tranquilizer syringe, and then walks up to his doped face and punches it. "That's for calling me a ponce."
• Anti-Hero BSOD: Faith spends the early portion of the episode slipping in and out of a fugue state, to the point she is shocked when she finds herself holding a butcher's knife.
• Apologetic Attacker: Buffy decks Angel across the face when he stops her from going after Faith, and is genuinely shocked when Angel punches her back; Angel is just as shocked and says "I'm sorry" twice. This is later inverted, however, since when Buffy later tries to throw it in his face during a different argument Angel points out that she hit him first, she's stronger than he is, and she hasn't apologised yet.
• As You Know: Done between Angel and Wesley to explain to the audience what happened between the end of the previous episode and the start of this one.
  Angel: Wesley, we went through all this last night.
  Wesley: Yes, you were right. The police would be ill-equipped to hold a Slayer against her will. I understand why you chose not to turn her over to them.
• The Atoner: Faith begins making a genuine effort to become one.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Buffy tries to invoke this; after Angel has apparently taken sides with Faith against her, Buffy says, "See? Faith wins again." Given that Faith is now legitimately trying to reform, she doesn't really count as The Bad Guy anymore, which Angel knows and thus tells Buffy to shut it.
• Being Evil Sucks: For Faith, though she didn't see any way out until now.
  Faith: You have no idea what it's like on the other side! Where nothing's in control, nothing makes sense! There is just pain and hate and nothing you do means anything!
• Big Damn Heroes: The helicopter gunner has Buffy dead to rights when Angel bursts through a skylight to grab the helicopter skid, throws out the gunner and forces the pilot to land. Watching from below, Buffy can only gape in amazement.
• Blatant Lies:
  • The spec ops team claim they're going to take Faith back to England to be rehabilitated. Anyone who's seen "Who Are You?" would know they've already received the Council's approval to kill Faith, as getting her out of the country is too difficult. Considering this, its quite likely Collins was full of shit when he previously told Wesley that if he aided them, the Council would reinstate Wesley as Watcher.
  • Buffy tells Angel that she came to L.A. to save him from Faith because he was in danger. Angel states he's in danger every day, and knows that Buffy was just using that as an excuse to come to L.A. to get revenge on Faith; Buffy doesn't deny it and says she's entitled to revenge.
  • There is also Buffy's claim that she tried her best to help Faith, when her efforts were pretty variable. She didn't like Faith when she first showed up and took out some of her insecurities on her, although Buffy did stick up for Faith to Giles about the Alan Finch scenario and tried to reach out to her after Gwendolin Post tricked Faith.
• Book Ends: "Who Are You?" ends with Faith hiding in a boxcar looking lost; "Sanctuary" ends with Faith in prison looking like she's finally at peace.
• Both Sides Have a Point:
  • Wesley and Angel's argument about Angel housing Faith. As Wesley points out, Faith has a reputation for killing or attempting murder, just tortured him and hurt Cordelia the night before and can't be trusted. The most sensible thing would be to lock her up with restraints that can hold a Slayer, something the police lack. Angel retorts that their investigation doesn't play judge and jury, and Faith has the potential to become a good person. After all, Angel was once worse than she was, when he lacked a soul. Ultimately the point becomes moot when Faith willingly surrenders to the police at the end of the episode, removing the moral dilemma from both parties. Wesley admits in the end that Angel did the right thing in believing in Faith.
  • Buffy has more than enough reason to believe that Faith is using Angel to get away from the consequences of her actions. After all, that's what Faith did in the arc on Buffy that led up to this: switching bodies with Buffy and using her body to try and take over her life. Even without including that, Buffy has several very good reasons not to trust Faith or want to forgive her. Kate has the added bonus that Faith is a wanted fugitive and Angel is breaking the law by housing her. On the other hand, Angel knows that Faith is in a bad place and needs help to start redemption, and he can take care of himself if she tries any funny business.
• Bullying a Dragon: The special operations team tries to fight Angel, Buffy, Faith, and Wesley ^note That is, a centuries old vampire descended from The Master, two Slayers, and a sharpshooter. Predictably, they do not do well.
• Call-Back:
  • Buffy's anger over Angel helping Faith needs to be understood not only in the context of "Who Are You?", but also the BtVS episode "Enemies" where Faith went to Angel for help (also involving Last-Second Chance, These Hands Have Killed and a Cooldown Hug) as a ploy to seduce him in an attempt to turn him evil. Buffy naturally assumes Faith is playing Angel this time as well.
  • Buffy and Faith face off on a rooftop as in "Graduation Day", with hints that Faith was planning to take the same way down as last time.
    Faith: It'd make things easier for you.
    Buffy: Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing, decided to come back to shake things up?
    Faith: That's not gonna happen.
• Can't You Read the Sign?: Collins lights up in front of the NO SMOKING sign.
• Ceiling Cling: The demon contract killer.
• Character Shilling: Faith possibly does this in regards to Buffy at one point, claiming that Buffy was the only person in Sunnydale who was there for her and tried to be her friend. The same Buffy who picked a fight with Faith on their very first patrol together and had to be talked into including Faith on several different gatherings. The only possible justification is Faith is majorly guilt-tripping into revisionist history, given the whole hijacking Buffy's body and raping her by proxy.
• Chekhov's Skill: Wes throwing darts. Later he throws the Tranquilizer Dart into Weatherby's neck.
• Contract on the Hitman: After their plan to use Faith to kill Angel fails, Wolfram & Hart hires a second assassin, this time a demon, to try and clean up both loose ends. That one doesn't work out either.
  Mercer: This is getting ridiculous. The first assassin kills the second assassin, sent to kill the first assassin, who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired the second assassin to assassinate the first assassin!
• Cooldown Hug: Faith kills an assassin sent after her by Wolfram and Hart, freaking out when she sees the blood on her hands. Angel hugs her to calm her down, right as Buffy walks in the door.
• Curbstomp Battle: The Special Operations Team from the Watcher's Council very stupidly tries to pick a fight against Buffy, Faith, Angel, and Wesley, all of whom have plenty of reasons to distrust and dislike them ^note Buffy has quit the Council at this point and they tried to capture Buffy-as-Faith shortly before; they want Faith dead or captured; they refused to help Angel, a vampire, when he was poisoned; and they fired Wesley for a situation mostly out of his control and all four are vastly more combat capable than most Watchers. Predictably, the Council does not do well.
• Death Glare: Buffy—it's surprising Angel Investigations doesn't burn to the ground.
• Did They or Didn't They?: It's finally confirmed that Faith didn't have sex with Angel when they were trying to Honey Trap each other in "Enemies".
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Another addiction metaphor, with Faith as the rehabilitating junkie, Angel as her sponsor, and Buffy, Cordelia and Wesley as the victims of the addict's actions. To complete the metaphor, prison as the rehabilitation clinic.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Subverted. Buffy is hunting Faith and intending to kill her, however, Angel is protecting her so Buffy punches him. After he ignores the first blow Buffy tries to punch him again, but Angel blocks and punches her back. Buffy is almost too shocked to speak, but when she later tries to throw the fact that he hit her in the face during a different argument, Angel calls her out on this trope, pointing out that she threw the first punch and is stronger than he is.
  "Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first. In case you've forgotten - you're a little bit stronger than I am."
• Downer Ending: Buffy and Angel's Amicable Exes status is shattered when Buffy tries to murder Faith, and Angel exiles her from the city for rubbing her new relationship in his face. Wesley has also alienated the Watcher's Council once and for all, while Faith has only found peace in prison. Even though Angel and Buffy could have helped each other with their problems, this episode confirms that they are in different worlds now. The two patch things up in ""The Yoko Factor".
• Dramatic Irony: Downplayed, but the Watchers Council team wants payback after Faith kicked their asses and humiliated them on Buffy. That was actually Buffy-in-Faith's body.
• Dramatic Shattering: Faith knocks her glass off the chair when her face comes up on TV as a wanted murderer.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Wesley walks in on Angel right as the latter is angrily letting off steam following his final argument with Buffy over Faith's fate. Wesley, who had similarly been angry with Angel over his attempt to help Faith earlier in the episode, attempts to make him feel better by admitting that Angel was in the right. Angel, still stewing, briefly misinterprets.
  Wesley: I don't know how much my opinion counts for, but - I think you did the right thing.
  Angel: Yelling at Buffy?
  Wesley: No. The other thing.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Buffy at first mistakenly believes that Faith is trying to seduce Angel again when she catches them hugging, since she heard from Giles that Faith tried to kill Angel. Angel clarifies, but it doesn't soften Buffy's murderous rage.
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  Angel: I once told you that you didn't have to go out in that darkness. Remember? That it was your choice. Well, you chose. You thought that you could just touch it. That you'd be okay. Five by five, right, Faith? But it swallowed you whole. So tell me—how did you like it?
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Buffy's crinkly hair shows that she is the vengeful rape victim villain of this episode.
• Face–Heel Turn: The Council tries to get Wesley to perform one, helping them to kill Faith. He trusts Angel more than he trusts them, however, and aids Faith in escaping. Buffy does this for this episode, going to L.A. out of a purely personal vendetta and attacking those who are the good guys on this show, although it doesn't last and she ends up joining their cause (begrudgingly).
• Fake Defector: Wesley, who pretends to betray Angel in order to turn the tables on the Council assassins.
• Fanservice: Another scene of Angel stepping out of the shower dripping wet.
• The Farmer and the Viper: Discussed. When Faith pleads for a chance to make it up to her, Buffy retorts that she gave Faith plenty of chances and tried to help her, and every time, Faith either tried to kill her or ruin her life. Now, she's done with it.
• Flag Drop: Weatherby is introduced holding a dart with the British flag on it, naturally.
• Flashback Cut: To Faith killing the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale, the event that set her on the path to evil.
• The Fundamentalist: Weatherby is the member of the black ops team that most fervently believes in the Council's cause.
  Wesley: Weatherby, listen to reason.
  Weatherby: Reason? A Watcher working for a vampire. It's perversion.
• Get Out!: Angel does this to Buffy of all people once he gets fed up with her refusal to understand why he wants to redeem Faith, as well as her taking the opportunity to rub her "great" new boyfriend in his face:

  Angel: That's great. It's nice. You moved on. I can't. You found someone new. I'm not allowed to, remember? I see you again, it cuts me up inside, and the person I share that with is me. You don't know me anymore, so don't come down here with your great new life and expect me to do things your way! Go home.

• "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Averted; though Angel promises to protect Faith from those hunting her, including the LAPD, she turns herself in at the end.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Collins looks downright sinister as he's puffing on a cig.
• Green-Eyed Monster: As seen in BtVS "Enemies," Buffy worries about Angel's supposed attraction to Faith, and she makes a point of mentioning her new boyfriend back in Sunnydale, who (unlike Angel) she loves and trusts. This seems to tick Angel off and cause him to become a green-eyed monster himself, as he tells Buffy she's no longer welcome in LA.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Both Faith and Buffy join with Angel and Wes to fight off the forces hunting Faith down. Naturally, there is a lot of animosity from both Buffy and Wes against Faith.
• Guns Akimbo: Faced by both Wesley and Angel, Weatherby has a gun in one hand and a pistol crossbow in the other.
• Heel–Face Turn: Angel gets Faith to perform one, and the assassination bid is enough for Wesley to be fully on board with Angel, putting aside his misgivings about Faith.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: The spec ops team all wear black leather jackets. Faith still has her Black Leather Pants of Evil, but wears the Brown Leather Jacket of Moral Ambiguity towards the end.
• Hero Antagonist: Buffy is one of the antagonists in this episode, as Angel wants to save Faith and Buffy apparently wants to kill her. When she calms down she wants Faith to go to jail instead, but as Angel notes it's touch and go.
• Hourglass Plot: During "Five by Five," Angel was fully prepared to kill Faith for whatever she did to Buffy in Sunnydale, while Wesley insisted that Faith was a "sick, sick girl" and they could rehabilitate her. Now, Angel's the one making the case for Faith's rehabilitation while Wesley, having been the victim of Cold-Blooded Torture at Faith's hands, is now firmly convinced that Faith can't be redeemed, openly regarding her as a "rabid animal." The arc goes even further back to Buffy season 3, in which Angel's attempt to rehabilitate Faith is interrupted by Wesley getting her arrested by the Council, meaning they have switched roles twice on the subject.
• Hypocrite: Buffy tries to claim the moral high ground with Angel at one point, calling both him and Faith killers. The problem with this is Buffy would be a killer herself if Faith hadn't survived Buffy's attack on her in "Graduation Day Part 1", and she was only in Los Angeles to finish the job.
• I'll Kill You!:
  Faith: Buffy... [Buffy whips around to face her] I'm sor—
  Buffy: Apologize to me and I will beat you to death.
  Faith: [quietly] Go ahead.
• Imagine Spot: Faith, now back in her own body, and having suffered a serious mental breakdown and very much suicidal, is led to Angel's bed. Angel leaves a barely even functioning Faith, when she calls his name. Angel turns around only to be stabbed in the face by an enraged Faith. Only for the scene to cut back to Faith, still lying in the bed, where she says nothing, and Angel walks out.
• In Love with the Mark: Wolfram & Hart assume this has happened when they discover Faith spent the night at Angel's place without killing him, especially given rumors that Angel used to date a vampire slayer.
• Instant Sedation: The Watcher's Council operatives give Wesley a syringe containing a sedative "powerful enough to bring down a man twice your size—or a Slayer." (i.e. Faith) What's more, all it requires is "a little pressure on the flesh" to work.
• It's All About Me: Buffy doesn't take Angel's wishes, or what Faith did to him, into account. Nor is what Faith did to her friends brought up. She wants Faith dead because of the body swap that enabled Faith to sleep with Riley. When Angel calls her out on it, Buffy blows him off and states that she has a right to want revenge on Faith after what she did.
• I Want Them Alive!: Averted; when briefing the next assassin Lindsey stresses that they just want Faith dead—"no slow and painful death." Lee Mercer, however, mutters that "some pain would be good."
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: As Wesley and Cordelia compare bruises from the previous night's tangle with Faith, Cordy says, "If it's any consolation, it really does look like you were tortured by a much larger woman."
• It's Personal: Buffy has handled a lot of Faith's betrayals and attempts to hurt her in Season Three... until Faith tried to kill Angel back in "Graduation Day" and slept with Riley while in her body. Then she learns from Giles that Faith tried to kill Angel again after running from Sunnydale. By the time she arrives in Los Angeles, she has murderous intent.
• Jabba Table Manners: Lilah is preparing a coffee tray for someone she's talking to off-screen, whom we don't see until a four-eyed demon contract killer throws itself on the sugar bowl and messily devours the contents.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: When Angel refuses to tell Kate where Faith is.
  Kate: I think you're gonna like the cell we have for you, Angel. It faces east. It'll give you a great view of the sunrise in about four hours.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • After getting beaten up by Faith, Cordelia can hardly be blamed for wanting nothing more to do with her. So she hightails it out of there and leaves Angel and Wesley to clean up the Slayer mess.
  • Buffy and Wesley have their reasons in wanting Faith dead or locked up without a key, but Angel thinks trying to reform her is better. While the two have a point, and as we saw on Buffy Faith did what tantamounts to rape Buffy's body (and her boyfriend), the show is about Angel, who was one of the biggest bastards ever when he was evil, and for him or the show to accept Buffy and Wesley's views of death over redemption as valid would be hypocritical to the max.
  • Buffy points out that no matter how genuine Faith's desire for redemption is now, she's likely to get bored eventually and revert to her thrill-seeking ways.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Angel knows the evil things Faith had done, perhaps even more than Buffy, as he had witnessed at least Faith's attack of Xander and it's never shown whether he shared this. Despite this he offers Faith sanctuary when she is so disgusted at how evil she had become she wants Angel to kill her. Buffy, on the other hand, is more than happy to honor that request, enraged at what Faith has done and enraged that Angel wants to reform her.
• Karma Houdini: Played with. At least in Buffy's eyes, Faith is getting away with the rape-by-proxy she did of her and Riley while in Buffy's body by not getting some sort of comeuppance, so Buffy remains a victim and "Faith wins again". However, short of killing her (which Buffy herself was ambivalent on, seeming to be content with jail time), there was no way that Faith would have had rape charges stick due to the supernatural nature of what she'd done. That said, it seemed that Faith was penitent for all of her crimes, including (and especially) those done to Buffy, so in Faith's mind, her being in jail was her karma for the rape.
• Kick the Dog: During their argument after Faith turns herself in, Buffy takes the time to rub her new relationship in Angel's face, stating that unlike what she had with him, she actually knows and trusts Riley. Angel gives her one hell of a tongue-lashing in response.
• Mathematician's Answer: After Buffy storms off, Wesley asks Angel if he wants to go after her. Angel replies "Yes," and doesn't move. He does stop by Sunnydale to apologize in "The Yoko Factor."
• Mêlée à Trois: Buffy, Faith, Wesley, and Angel make up Team Hero. The Watchers Council elite operations squad make up Team Anti-Hero. The reason for trois? Because Buffy and Wesley are very, very unhappy about helping Faith and spend a good chunk of the episode heavily antagonistic to her.
• More Dakka: After the fiasco in Sunnydale, the spec ops team have upgraded from pistols to automatic weapons and a helicopter.
• Mundane Solution: After Faith does a Heel–Face Turn, and she ends up killing the next assassin Wolfram & Hart send (see Contract on the Hitman above), Lindsay decides they've been doing things all wrong; instead of trying to kill Angel, they'll sic Kate on him by telling her he's harboring a murderer. As it happens, Faith ends up confessing to the crime and allowing the police to take her in.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After Angel exiles Buffy from Los Angeles, he stands for a few minutes. Then it sinks in that he ruined his and Buffy's relationship beyond repair, and they can't even be friends. He punches a wall and curses his big mouth. While he does apologize in "The Yoko Factor," he understands that whatever relationship he and Buffy have, it won't be the same.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Buffy storming into Los Angeles to take revenge on Faith ruins any amicability between her and Angel after their breakup. She ends up worsening the dilemma of what Angel needs to do with Faith.
  • Angel exiling Buffy from Los Angeles means that, even if he needed her help, she's less than likely to give it, depriving him of a free Slayer ally. It also means he's officially done with helping out in Sunnydale, and with Buffy's problems.
  • To cement that they both messed up, Buffy admits in "The Yoko Factor" that they can't go back to what they had before. Even though she and Angel talk about what happened, they acknowledge that their lives are too different now and lose any amicable closeness.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Wesley spends the first part of the episode seriously angry at Angel for harboring Faith and ignoring the pain she inflicted on him and Cordelia. The Watchers' Special Ops Team tries to take advantage of this by recruiting him to take down Faith, but Wesley's interactions with them just cause him to cement his loyalty to Angel and fight against the Special Ops Team in the climax.
• Not Actually the Ultimate Question
  Faith: So, how does this work?
  Angel: There's no real simple answer to that. I won't lie to you and tell you it'll be easy. Because it won't be. Just because you've decided to change doesn't mean the world's ready for you to. Truth is, no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past, you may never balance out the cosmic scale. The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted, and maybe for the rest of your life.
  Faith: [indicating the microwave] So, how does this work?
  Angel: Uh, power level, time, start.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Lampshaded by Joss Whedon in writing the Buffy/Angel fight scene—it confirms the two Star-Crossed Lovers have moved on with their lives and are two different people, just as Angel has now forged a separate identity from its parent series.
  • This divergence between Buffy and Angel is also reflected in the Buffyverse Continuity Overlap moving forward. Despite our heroes patching things up the following week in "The Yoko Factor", Buffy and Angel will never again be so closely entwined as they were during the 1999-2000 broadcast season (though part of this will also eventually be because of Buffy moving to UPN). While there is still some overlap for the remainder of their runs, both the Scoobies and the Fang Gang will be on separate paths from hereon out.
• Not So Stoic: Angry at how Buffy refuses to understand why he's helping Faith (not to mention talking about her great new boyfriend), Angel blows his stack, telling Buffy that she's no longer part of his life and to get out of his city. Afterwards he punches the wall and mutters, "For a taciturn, shadowy guy—I've got a big mouth."
• Not What It Looks Like: Buffy arrives just in time to see Angel (with his shirt unbuttoned, having just come out of the shower) giving Faith a Cooldown Hug.
  Angel: It's not what you think.
  Buffy: You actually think that I can form a thought right now? Giles heard that—that she tried to kill you.
  Angel: That's true.
  Buffy: So you decided to punish her with a severe cuddling.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Angel and likely the viewer have this reaction when looking up from comforting Faith to see Buffy, clearly enraged.
  • Buffy tells Faith they should escape a submachine-gun-toting Collins by Roof Hopping to the next building. As they run for the edge, a helicopter lifts up over the roof and starts firing on them.
  • Despite her anger at Angel, Buffy starts to freak out when Kate tells them that the prison cell faces east, obviously threatening Angel with a fiery death if he doesn't cooperate before dawn.
• Persona Non Grata: At the end of the episode, after everything that's happened, as well as Buffy's blatant refusal to accept or understand Faith's remorse or why Angel would want to help her, along with her rubbing her new boyfriend in his face, Angel loses his temper, bluntly telling her that she doesn't know him anymore and that she has no right to just show up with her "great new life" and tell him how to do things before harshly ordering her to Get Out! of Los Angeles.
• Political Overcorrectness: When Lilah uses the phrase "handshake deal" when bartering with an insectoid assassin, Lindsey quickly jumps in to emphasize that she meant metaphorical hands.
  Lilah: That was species-ist of me. I apologize.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Every attempt at killing Angel or Faith having failed, Lindsey decides to turn to the law and gives Faith's whereabouts to Kate.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: As Angel is The Hero of this show, he's shown as in the right for wanting to rehabilitate Faith, while Buffy is a Hero Antagonist depicted as in the wrong for wanting Faith imprisoned or killed for her crimes. If Buffy was the point-of-view character, Angel would be the one in the wrong for harboring a criminal who swapped bodies with Buffy and used it to have sex without her consent, just because he identifies with Faith and wants her to be redeemed like he wished he could be.
• Professional Killers: The Council Operations Team.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Faith turns herself in for her cross-series crime spree and gets sent off to prison. Aside from a cameo in "Judgment", that's the last she's heard from in either series until season four.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Zigzagged. Buffy calls out Faith for sleeping with Riley in Buffy's body, pointing out that it was rape and she turned Buffy into a victim. Faith, in My God, What Have I Done? mode, doesn't have a defense and is perfectly willing to let Buffy kill her. On the other hand, Faith turns herself in when the cops come and feels at peace, while Wesley tells Angel that he did the right thing in believing Faith could be redeemed. Angel also admits that Angelus wasn't a rapist in the physical sense, but he did Mind Rape women and treat them as toys, and yet Buffy forgave him for his sins. Ultimately, the ending is ambiguous about how that path for redemption will go.
• Rage Breaking Point: Angel manages to keep it together even as Buffy breaks into home wanting to kill Faith for her crimes, firmly convinced that Faith is beyond redemption and Angel is wasting his time trying to help her. After Faith turns herself in to the LAPD, Buffy takes the time to rub her new relationship in Angel's face, stating that unlike what she had with him, she actually knows and trusts Riley. At this point, Angel loses his temper and gives Buffy one hell of a tongue-lashing, bluntly telling her that she doesn't know him anymore and that she has no right to just show up with her "great new life" and tell him how to do things before harshly ordering her to Get Out! of Los Angeles.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Buffy gives one to Faith after the latter remarks that Angel himself told her that Buffy wouldn't give her a chance:
    Buffy: I gave you every chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me! My life was just something for you to play with. Angel, Riley... anything that you could take from me, you took! I've lost battles before, but nobody else has ever made me a victim.
  • Angel gives Buffy one after she tells him that she's moved on and actually trusts her new boyfriend, unlike him:
    Angel: That's great. It's nice. You moved on. I can't. You found someone new. I'm not allowed to, remember? I see you again, it cuts me up inside, and the person I share that with is me. You don't know me anymore, so don't come down here with your great new life and expect me to do things your way! Go home.
• Redemption Earns Life: What Angel is pushing for, and what Faith eventually gets with the help of him, the police, and a grudging Buffy and Wesley.
• Redemption Equals Death: As Faith couldn't get Angel to kill her, she is prepared to let Buffy do it. Angel's having none of it though.
• Rejected Apology: While Faith is genuinely remorseful for her crimes, Buffy does not care, going so far as to openly threaten to beat Faith to death if she tries to apologize to her for her actions. To be fair, Faith had recently used a device left to her by Mayor Wilkins to swap bodies with Buffy and used it to her advantage to sleep with Buffy's new boyfriend, and Faith had rejected Buffy's other offers of redemption beforehand:
  Faith: Angel told me there was no way you were gonna give me a chance.
  Buffy: I gave you every chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me!
  • Eventually, later in the episode, this gets subverted. Buffy and Faith have an angry talk on the roof, wherein Faith finally and tearfully asks Buffy to tell her how to make things right after everything that Faith did to her. This act of sincere remorse causes Buffy to soften up just a bit and help protect Faith from the Watchers.
• Required Spinoff Crossover: Buffy appears on Angel for the last time, hunting Faith. Angel returns to Sunnydale to apologize to Buffy in "The Yoko Factor".
• Reveal Shot:
  • Happens twice with the Wolfram & Hart lawyers talking to someone off-screen—first Lee Mercer with a neck brace and wired jaw, later the demon assassin.
  • Also this scene:
    Angel: I understand what you're going through, and I want to help, but there are a few things you have to do. First... I need you to give me that knife.
    [camera pans down to reveal that Faith is holding a large butcher knife]
• Revenge: Wesley wants revenge for being tortured, Lee Mercer wants revenge for Faith beating him into a neck brace, Kate wants revenge for her father being killed by vampires, Buffy wants revenge for Faith's Grand Theft Me (particularly sleeping with Riley), and the spec ops team want payback for Faith making them look like pillocks—ironically it's actually Buffy-in-Faith's-body who did that.
• Rooftop Confrontation: Neither Faith nor the Council team knows about Angel's sewer access, so when the team surrounds Angel Investigations, Faith flees to the roof. They're ready for her.
• Sarcasm Mode:
  • Wesley's recent torture brings out the snarker in him.
    Collins: That was a nasty business back in Sunnydale, but nobody blames you.
    Wesley: Really. Because I rather got the impression they did when they sacked me.
  • "Won't she have trouble enjoying delicious jelly donuts if she is (one assumes) Bound and Gagged?"
  • Angel describes Faith's attempt to kill him as "a cry for help." Buffy replies that a cry for help is when you shout "help" in a loud voice.
• Save the Villain: Despite everything, Buffy instinctively pulls Faith to cover when Collins opens fire on them.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Cordelia sees no point in hanging around just because her boss wants to keep Faith in the same basement where he keeps "three tons of medieval weaponry," tricking Angel into signing off on a paid vacation for her. Subverted with Faith, who appears to have run off, but turns up later at the police station to confess her crimes.
• The Scrooge: The spec ops team gripe that they're made to fly coach even though the Council has alchemists on the board of directors (presumably turning lead into gold).
• Ship Sinking: Angel and Buffy have been broken up for almost a year, but this episode confirms that their bond is now torn to shreds. Even when Buffy is dealing with the apocalypse several times over, and Angel has to deal with his problems, they never involve each other again.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Cordelia leaves right before the whole of Angel Investigations becomes a war zone. Given that she wasn't combat capable at this point of the series, it was a smart move.
• Suicide by Cop: After Faith couldn't get Angel to kill her, she tries to get Buffy to do it. Angel's not about to let her.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: At the end of the episode Angel exiles Buffy from Los Angeles, and she doesn't return for the rest of the series.
  • Conversely, the schism here also excuses and justifies Angel's absence from any further crises in Sunnydale. While Buffy and Angel do patch things up in "The Yoko Factor", the Scoobies and Fang Gang will never formally team-up (and will have their own crises keeping them busy, such as being in Pylea to rescue Cordy concurrently with the fight about Glory next Season). Angel will only return to aid Buffy at the beginning of the series finale 4 years later.
• Surprise Vehicle: Though we do hear the helicopter approaching earlier.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cordelia, Wesley, and Buffy are not thrilled that Faith is Angel's rehabilitation project, but they're forced to tolerate it - and her - for various reasons, although Cordy justifiably decides to up and leave Los Angeles on Angel's dime early in the episode because she wants to be nowhere near Faith.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Angel tells Faith she's safe just before a demon hitman drops off the ceiling to attack them.
  • Before departing L.A., Buffy makes a passing laceration at Angel by comparing him to her new boyfriend (Riley), whom she "knows" and "trusts." As she discovers in "The Yoko Factor" and "Into the Woods", she doesn't know the real Riley very well at all.
• There Is Only One Bed: Cordelia notes incredulously that Angel let Faith have his bed.
• These Hands Have Killed: Faith drops the knife in shock after seeing the demon assassin's blood on her hands.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Faith spends much of the episode in this state and is so detached from herself, that she picks up a butcher's knife without even realizing it at one point.
• Villainous Rescue: The Council assassins try and take out both Buffy and Faith, just when the latter is about to let the former kill her. May not count, as it's unlikely Buffy would have actually gone through with it, despite what she claimed.
• We Need a Distraction: Cordy gets Angel to sign off on a paid vacation for her while he's busy justifying his actions with Faith.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Wesley and especially Buffy have this reaction when Angel won't kill Faith or at least lock her up for everyone's safety. The Council have this reaction with Wesley insisting that Angel not be killed, which shuts down a teased Face–Heel Turn. Angel has this reaction to Buffy wanting to kill Faith, and Buffy has this reaction for Angel trying to save Faith, defending himself when she attacks him, and when he tells her she's not welcome in LA.
  • Wesley and Angel's debate at the office over Faith's future is them taking turns with this trope.
    Angel: Wesley, we went through all this last night.
    Wesley: Yes, you were right. The police would be ill-equipped to hold a Slayer against her will. I understand why you chose not to turn her over to them. I do not, however, understand why the woman who brutally tortured me last night - this morning - gets pastries!
    Angel: I don't really have anything else downstairs. What do you want to do, Wesley? Let her starve?
    Wesley: Certainly not. There are far more humane ways to deal with a rabid animal.
    Angel: She is not an animal.
    Wesley: No?
    Angel: She's a person. In case you've forgotten - we're not in the business of giving up on people.
    Wesley: (shoots him a Death Glare) Don't you dare take the moral high ground with me after what she did. I believe in helping people. I do not believe in coddling murderers!
    Angel: It wasn't too long ago that you were the one making the case for her rehabilitation.
    Wesley: It wasn't too long ago I had full feeling in my right arm!
    Angel: She wants to change.
    Wesley: There is evil in that girl, Angel. It doesn't matter what she wants, or says she wants. You set her free, she'll kill again.
• Would Hit a Girl: Angel decks Buffy in the face in a knee-jerk reaction to Buffy punching him in the face. They're both immediately shocked at what he did.
  Angel: Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first. In case you've forgotten, you're a little bit stronger than I am.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Wesley insists that he'll only go along with the spec ops team if Angel isn't harmed. Collins agrees, but Wesley isn't stupid enough to trust his word and is just playing along until he can warn Angel.

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