Waiting in the Wings

Plot

The episode begins with Wesley and Cordelia discussing his crush on Fred. He explains that he is waiting for the right moment and she suggests she just go ahead and ask her out. She thinks it is sad how she was the ditziest girl in high school and could have anyone she wanted and now that she is a superhero the only thing she has is a ghost that is good with a loofah. Angel interrupts them and says he has great news. Gunn and Fred come in, all flirting with each other, and Angel announces he has tickets to the ballet. Gunn is very disappointed that they aren’t tickets to see Mata Hari. Instead, they are going to see the very same company that Angel saw in 1890 perform “Giselle.”

Cordelia and Fred shop for dresses. Fred talks about maybe having a crush on Gunn and Cordelia thinks she is talking about Wesley. Cordelia says that “he” definitely has feelings for her. Fred thinks Angel will want to look his best for Cordelia tonight.

While Lorne tries to get baby puke out of Angel’s tux, he tells Angel that he knows he likes Cordelia. Angel tries to deny it but Lorne encourages him. Cordelia interrupts them in her sexy new dress and both men almost drool.

Downstairs, Fred is very impressed by the sight of Gunn in a tux. Gunn is equally wowed by the sight of Fred in a dress. Wesley puts a shawl around Fred and they all leave to go to the show.

At the ballet, Cordelia falls asleep and snores. Gunn seems to really start to get into the show. At intermission, Angel tells the gang that not only is it the same show he saw in 1890, it is the exact same people performing the show. He and Cordelia decide to snoop around while the others go back to their seats.

When Angel and Cordelia arrive backstage, they find it goes on forever and that the way out has disappeared. Angel says it is some kind of spell or time flux. They find the dressing room of the prima ballerina and suddenly start acting like other people. Cordelia is behaving like the ballerina and Angel is acting as her lover. They start getting hot and heavy with the smooching, despite the fact that “the ballerina” is afraid of someone finding out, until the cross necklace she is holding burns Angel and they are jolted back into reality. When they escape the room, Angel explains that they were possessed by the energy of spirits trapped in time.

Back at the hotel, Lorne is singing a lullaby to Connor. He is interrupted when someone he recognizes shows up at the door.

Cordelia and Angel are still trapped in the never-ending hallway when they realize the only way to figure out who is behind this is to go back in the room and continue the scene.

While watching the ballet, both Wesley and Gunn start to move their hands subtly in order to hold one of Fred’s. Just as they are both about to make their move, she points out that Angel and Cordelia have been gone for too long. The three get up to go find them.

Back in the dressing room, Angel and Cordelia start reenacting again. They are making out while the ballerina confesses that she feels that Kurskov, the troupe leader, owns her because he made her what she is. He is an obsessive fan who thinks she should only dance for him. Angel (as Stefan, her lover) says that he owns the ballet, not her, and that she should come away with him. She says she doesn’t want to leave dancing just yet.

Meanwhile, some laughing/crying guys with white gloves notice Wesley, Gunn and Fred going into the hallway and report to Kurskov in the box seat. He tells them to take care of it; he can’t be bothered.

When Angel starts getting Cordelia naked, the white glove guys, who turn out to be minions wearing either the happy drama or sad drama facemask, interrupt them. Angel fights and kills them and they escape.

At the same time, more masked minions attack the other three. Gunn is stabbed and Fred freaks out. She beats the mask guy who stabbed Gunn senseless while Wesley disposes of another with a fencing foil. Fred shows how worried she was about Gunn while patching him up. He says it was just a scratch, but is deeply moved by her concern. They start smooching. Wesley walks by and sees them. He walks off to somewhere else where he suddenly falls to the ground, looking possessed.

Angel and Cordelia find Gunn and Fred and explain what is going on with the ballerina and her lover. Wesley shows up and finishes the explanation by saying that the Kurskov was so jealous when he caught the two lovers together that he used his wizard powers to pull her out of time and any reality beyond his theater. He then suggests that they overload the wizard’s powers by killing off more smiling/crying minions because they reproduce when killed. He tells Angel to find a way back to the stage and to destroy the wizard’s power source.

The gang starts killing minions and they start reproducing, which weakens the barrier in time. Angel finds a way to backstage at the theater. He finds the prima ballerina and tells her he knows what is going on. She says she waited too long, that she should have gone with Stefan when he asked but she still wanted to dance so she hesitated and lost everything. All she does now is wait. She explains that it isn’t just the same ballet; it is the same performance. She doesn’t dance anymore, she just echoes. Angel tells her that he can help, but she will have to change the performance by dancing something new onstage. She goes out onstage and dances something different. The other dancers start disappearing.

Angel jumps up to Kurskov’s box seat and destroys his power center. Everything onstage fades, including the ballerina. Kurskov is upset, but Angel punches him.

Back at the hotel, Wesley checks Gunn’s wound while Gunn and Fred make googly-eyes at each other. This visibly disheartens Wesley. Angel and Cordelia decide not to talk about what happened. It looks like Angel is about to tell Cordelia that he likes her when the Groosalug from Pylea comes down the stairs. Cordelia immediately runs over and smooches him. Lorne tells Angel that he was deposed in Pylea so he came looking for his true love. Angel looks choked up but he tells Lorne it is good for Cordelia and leaves to go check on Connor. Fred says to Wesley that she is surprised because she thought for sure that Angel and Cordelia would get together. She says that you never can predict these things. Wesley sadly agrees.