In the dark

Plot

Rachel runs through a deserted alley in the dark. She turns into another small alley and looks back the way she came to see if she is still being followed. Not seeing anyone, she emerges from her hiding place. As she turns around to head out of the alley, she bumps into her boyfriend, Lenny who has been chasing her. She pleads with Lenny and tries to calm him, but he is inconsolable. He punches her and she falls back against a dumpster in the alley. Lenny pulls a gun and points it at Rachel. She begs him not to shoot and just as he’s about to pull the trigger, Angel lunges at him from out of the alley, grabs his wrist and knocks the gun to the ground. They fight and Angel knocks Lenny out. As he helps Rachel to her feet, he tells her Lenny is fine but won’t be “going anywhere for awhile.” The camera pans out and we see Angel and Rachel in the alley from the vantage point of a rooftop. We hear Spike’s voice providing a mocking dialog for the scene below. Spike pauses to light as cigarette as he watches Angel and Rachel leave the alley and head for Angel’s car. Even though Angel can’t hear him, he says: “Go on will you? Play the big strapping hero while you can. You have a few surprises coming your way. The Ring of Amarra, a visit from your old pal, Spike, and, oh yeah, your gruesome horrible death.” Spike breaks into a sly smile.

Oz is driving his van in from Sunnydale and listening to the radio. As Oz pulls up in front of Angel Investigations, the dj says: “It’s 11:05. Do you know what your karma is?” Oz turns off the van, picks up a small item, and gets out of his van.

In the office, Cordelia is typing on the computer and rejoicing over their first paying client. She holds up the invoice she just printed with a big smile on her face. Doyle reminds her that they haven’t been paid yet and that they should wait until they actually have the money to be excited about it. Oz walks in and Coredlia jumps up from her chair and hugs him. They chat about Sunnydale for a few seconds and Doyle clears his throat. Cordelia introduces Oz to Doyle and they shake hands. Oz asks about being detectives and they explain that Angel is the detective and they are just helping him out.

Cordelia, Doyle, and Oz take the elevator down to Angel’s apartment below the office. Angel greets them as they exit the elevator, says hello to Oz and they speak to each in short one or two word sentences. Doyle asks Cordelia if they are “usually like this” and Oz says that they’re “usually laconic.” Oz explains that he came for a gig but also to give Angel “this” as he holds out the ring that contains the Gem of Amarra. He says that Buffy wanted Angel to have it. Doyle wants Angel to put the ring on but Angel is hesitant. Cordelia doesn’t understand why the ring is so important and Doyle explains that it “renders the wearer 100% unkillable if he’s a vampire.” They discuss the fact that Angel would be invulnerable and could even go outside in the sunlight with the ring. Oz tells Angel that Spike dug up Sunnydale looking for the ring but “got a fistful of Buffy and left it behind. She wanted to be sure it was in good hands.” Doyle tries once more to convince a somber Angel to put on the ring, but Angel is adamant about not doing it. Doyle exits the scene saying he’s going to “celebrate by having a drink at the local pub.” Cordelia says to Oz as she exits that “he’d celebrate the opening of a mailbox by having a drink at the pub. She waves goodbye to Angel and asks Oz if he’s coming. Oz pauses before leaving and Angel tells him to ”go ahead.” Angel is alone with the ring contemplating the situation. He takes the ring and hides it under a brick in the sewer tunnels and walks down through a tunnel exiting the scene.

The next day, Cordelia and Doyle are in the office and he is suffering from a bad hangover. She gets him some water and aspirin as they discuss his behavior the previous evening. The scene cuts to Angel training in his apartment and the phone rings. It’s Rachel calling to tell him that they let Lenny out of jail. Angel says he’ll be right there and hangs up the phone. Spike is waiting for Angel in the garage and they fight. Angel tells Spike the Gem of Amarra stays with him and Spike mockingly asks him why “because you’re Angel vampire detective? What’s next, vampire fireman, vampire cowboy, vampire ballerina. Angel’s retort is: “I do like to work with my legs” as he kicks Spike. Doyle and Cordelia come into the garage as the fight ends. Spike leaves and Angel tells Doyle and Cordelia to go to Doyle’s so Spike won’t be able to find them. He tells them that he plans to find Spike before Spike has a chance to come back for him.

Doyle is making calls to locate Spike while Cordelia is pacing in his apartment. He invites her to sit down and get comfortable, but she says that she “couldn’t get comfortable here if the floor was lined with mink.” As the two of them discuss the state of his apartment, the ringing phone interrupts the conversation. After Doyle completes the phone conversation, he asks Cordelia how bad Spike is and if he should sweat about it. She starts to tell him Spike isn’t that bad, but changes her mind and tells him to “sweat.”

Angel shows up at Rachel’s and tells her he can help her go somewhere safe. She confesses to him that she calls Lenny sometimes and that starts the whole thing between them up again. Angel reminds her that Lenny would have killed her. He tells her that she is at a crossroads and can either “take the easy fix and wait for the consequences or take the hard road and go with faith.” She thinks he might be from a church but he explains that he means having faith in herself.

Cordelia is recounting tales of Spike’s exploits in Sunnydale to Doyle when the phone rings. Doyle answers: “House of Pies” to avoid the loan sharks but it turns out to be Angel. Doyle tells Angel that “Manny the Pig said he didn’t know anything about a vampire named Spike” before Doyle asked him about it and he tells Angel where to find Manny. Angel tests the spring loaded stakes he wears strapped to his arms under his coat as he prepares to go interrogate Manny. Angel beats up some of Manny’s thugs and grabs Manny by the collar to get him to talk. The rest of Manny’s men point guns at Angel and Manny tells them to put the guns down. Manny tells Angel that Spike will kill him if he talks and Angel asks Manny “How healthy you think it is to stay quiet?” Manny tells Angel that Spike is “out back” and Angel throws Manny to the floor and goes to the alley where he finds Spike biting a woman. He tells Spike to let her go and chases Spike down and alley after Spike throws the woman to the side. Spike stops at a fence and feigns defeat. Angel runs up and stops thinking that he’s cornered Spike and put an end to his plan. They exchange banter and Angel turns as he hears a noise behind him. Marcus lassos Angel around the neck with a chain.

Cordelia is worried that Angel might be in trouble because he hasn’t called and Doyle tries to allay her fears telling her that Angel has probably killed Spike, put on the ring, and gone surfing. Meanwhile, Angel is chained up in a warehouse as Marcus sets a phonograph stylus on a vinyl record album. Marcus opens a chest filled with various torture devices and begins to organize them on the table methodically. Spike’s silhouette is backlit by the sun as he tells Angel that “Marcus is an expert. Some say artist, but I’ve never been comfortable with labels. He’s a bloody king of torture he is.” Spike explains that Marcus isn’t particular about who he tortures, but that he does have a fetish for children. Angel becomes angry at the comment about children and tries to break free to hit Spike, but the chains hold fast. Marcus pulls open Angel’s shirt and marvels at the lack of external damage, given Angel’s age, while he wonders aloud about the internal damage. He says that Angel has known love and Spike offers that it was “with a slayer no less. How’s that for perversion?” Marcus notes that Angel has a soul and Spike asks him if that will be a problem. Marcus explains that a being with a soul has something to lose so it will be useful. Spike grows weary of Marcus’ assessment of Angel and urges him to begin the torture. Marcus asks Angel what he wants, Angel wants to know if Marcus is going to torture him or bore him to death. Marcus picks up a hot poker and says: “probably a little of both” as he stabs Angel in the side with it. Spike begins to grow impatient and taunts Angel. Angel tells Spike that he was stupid for hiring a vampire who will want the ring for himself, but Spike is convinced that Marcus has no interest in it. Marcus continues his methodical torture of Angel as Spike leaves.

Spike enters Angel’s apartment from the sewer tunnels and starts pulling everything off the shelves looking for the ring. The scene cuts back to Marcus torturing Angel. Marcus is slowly shooting holes in the roof allowing the sunlight to come through and burn Angel. The cuts back to the office as Spike comes upstairs from Angel’s apartment and is confronted by and armed Cordelia and Doyle. They threaten Spike and ask him where Angel is but he refuses to tell them. He makes a deal with them to exchange Angel for the ring by sunset or they won’t see Angel alive again.

Tauntingly, Marcus tells Angel that he can make the pain go away. He pauses to pull one of the pokers from Angel’s side and says: “and, as you know, I can bring it back again.” Angel tries to position a piece of broken wood between his feet while Marcus has his back turned. Again, Marcus asks Angel what he wants walking toward him. When Marcus gets close enough, Angel lifts his legs to stake him, but Spike appears and grabs his legs before he can do it. Angel screams as the scene cuts to Cordelia and Doyle searching for the ring in Angel’s apartment. They can’t find it and decide to search the sewer tunnels. Doyle slows and stops allowing Cordelia get ahead of him. When he’s certain she can’t see him, he morphs into his demon half and sniffs for the ring. Quickly, he morphs back to his human half and heads for the brick where Angel hid the ring. They decide they need a plan or Spike will just kill them and take the ring.

Spike is waiting for Cordelia and Doyle in the shade under a building. They walk up and Spike asks for the ring. They tell him they know where it is, but don’t have it on them. They insist that Spike take them to Angel first if he wants the ring. He does and they try to run toward Angel who is still chained to the ceiling of the warehouse. Spike stops them reminding them that the deal was the ring in exchange for Angel. Doyle lifts the ring out of his pocket and throws it over Spike’s shoulder to the floor of the warehouse. Spike backs toward the ring keeping an eye on them when Oz’s van crashes through the warehouse door causing Spike to have to roll away from the ring to keep from being hit. Oz leans out the driver’s side window and points two loaded crossbows at Spike while Cordelia and Doyle grab Angel and jump in the side door of the van with him. Oz speeds out of the warehouse in reverse and they drive away. Spike looks for the ring but it’s gone. Marcus walks out of the warehouse shielding his eyes from the sun and he’s wearing the ring.

In a fit of rage, Spike picks up Marcus’ phonograph and heaves to the ground as he swears. He’s talking to himself and gets so absorbed in what he’s saying that he walks under the bullet holes in the ceiling. As smoke begins to rise from the back of his head, his hair bursts into flames. As he extinguishes the flames he says: “I really hope the kill each other.”

Marcus is standing on the pier in his sunglasses surveying all the people on the beach. He begins walking down the pier and looks at each person that passes him. He focuses his attention on something ahead.

Oz’s van is speeding down the road. Oz asks how Angel is and Doyle says that “he’ll live.” Cordelia says he needs help and proposes that they take him to a hospital. Oz reminds her that hospitals “tend to specialize in humans.” Angel is lying in the back of the van with a poker still protruding from his side and tells Oz to turn around. They all try to talk him out of it, but he insists. He pulls the poker from his side with a look of extreme pain and tells them that “he’s got a thing for children. He can’t have gone far.” Oz whips the van around and speeds off in the direction from which they came.

Marcus is heading for the group of children he spotted. Just as he reaches them, Oz runs into him with the van and sends him reeling backward. Cordelia jumps out of the side door and hurries the children out of the way. Oz fires a crossbow at Marcus and hits him in the chest. Marcus, not phased by the wooden arrow, simply pulls it from his chest and casts it aside as Doyle runs out of the van at him. Doyle tries to punch him, but Marcus ducks, punches Doyle in the face and kicks him to the ground. Oz asks Angel if he’s “sure about this” and Angel says he is. Oz yanks the side door of the van open and Angel sprints towards Marcus. As Angel bursts into flames, he slams into Marcus and they both fall through the wooden pier railing into the ocean below. Cordelia, Doyle, and Oz look over the edge, but don’t see them.

Angel emerges from the ocean under the pier and Marcus does the same right behind him. They fight and Angel throws Marcus into a board which breaks it and causes a jagged edge that forms a slight point. Marcus is thrown off balance but recovers quickly and comes after Angel again. They struggle and Angel throws Marcus onto the jagged piece of wood so that it pierces his heart. It slows Marcus down and Angel comes toward him. Angel grabs Marcus’ wrist, holds up his hand, and pulls the ring from Marcus’ finger. Marcus screams as he turns to dust. Angel slips the ring on his finger and slowly walks out into the sun shielding his eyes from it. A small smile forms on his lips as he removes his hand and looks up at the sun. Cordelia runs over to him and asks if he’s ok. Angel advances slowly continuing to look up at the sun and smiles.

As the sun sets over Los Angeles Doyle asks Angel how long it’s been between sunsets for him. Angel says it’s been “two hundred years give or take.” They continue watching the sunset from the rooftop and start discussing the ring. Angel tells Doyle that he’s not going to use the ring because the world is designed for people who live during the day and someone needs to be there for the people who need to be protected during the night. As the sun dips below the horizon, Angel watches it with a small smile. He removes the ring and reaches down to pick up a brick. Doyle puts his hand out as if the grab the ring, but pulls away. Angel smashes the ring and a green light radiates around the brick. He lets go of the brick and turns around to lean against the wall with his back to the horizon. Doyle tells him that Rachel called “to say thanks and that she found a little faith.” Angel tells Doyle that he was “this close to telling him [Marcus] everything. I mean one more hot poker and I was giving him the ring, your mom, everything. As Angel opens the door and they step inside the stairwell to leave the roof Angel asks Doyle: “How is your mom?”