Angel

Season 1

Unaired Pilot

1. This unaired pilot was made for The WB to pick up the show it featured footage from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and new footage of the three main stars David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter and Glenn Quinn.

City of...

1. The vampire prosthetics (excepting Angel's) were a newly-created prototype design for this episode, as the production team wanted to try a darker, scarier look. However, they were unhappy with the effect, and soon returned to Buffy-style vamp-faces.
2. When this episode originally aired, it followed Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Freshman (1999) on the same night. At 29 minutes into the earlier program, Buffy answers the telephone and says, "Hello? Hello?" But no one responds. At 41 minutes into this episode, Angel makes a phone call, and Buffy's voice at the other end says, "Hello? Hello?" Angel hangs up without speaking.
3. David Greenwalt and Joss Whedon say in the DVD commentary that the scene of Angel slipping off the bar stool and walking through the bar with the overhead shot of the ceiling fans was inspired by John Woo films.
4. Joss Whedon and David Boreanaz did not intend to put flashbacks of Angel's life in this episode but the studio wanted it for a smoother transition for viewers who had not previously watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
5. First TV appearance for Josh Holloway.
6. The building used as Russel Winters Enterprises is the same building later used as the Wolfram & Hart building.
7. Christian Kane, who plays the unnamed lawyer later known as Lindsey McDonald, was close friends with David Boreanaz before joining the cast. Instead, in the show, they clearly hate each other, making just some truces and alliances when in need.
8. Meeting up with Cordelia at Margo's party, Angel explains that "there's not actually a cure" for vampirism. In fact, before the year is out he discovers that there exist at least two cures, a Mohra demon's Blood of Eternity and a summoning ritual recorded in the scrolls of Aberjian.
9. This episode contains the first mention of The Powers That Be.
10. The first draft of the shooting script featured the character of Whistler playing the part of Angel's mentor, rather than Doyle. This was changed when Max Perlich became unavailable.
11. Angel, in a drunken state, mentions that Buffy has great hair. Spike would later say the same thing to her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gone (2002).
12. This was the only episode directly novelized, unlike the many collections of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) episode novelizations. However, the novel contains several scenes not in the episode, including flashbacks of Angel's backstory that were similar to later flashbacks in Angel: The Prodigal (2000) and Angel: Darla (2000). Apparently, Angel's human name, Liam, had not been established when it was written, as he is referred to as 'Master Angelus' during the flashbacks.
13. This was one of the pilot episodes of several popular series (along with Felicity (1998), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and Dawson's Creek (1998)) that were featured in The WB's farewell broadcast on September 17, 2006.
14. Josh Holloway and Tracy Middendorf both appear in this episode. On Lost (2004), Holloway played a regular character Sawyer, while Middendorf played Bonnie in the final 3 episodes of Season 3. Daniel Dae Kim (Gavin), Sam Anderson (Holland), and Marc Vann (Dr Sparrow), all appeared as members of Wolfram & Hart later in the series, and also went on to portray characters on Lost. Kim and Anderson playing regulars and Vann playing a recurring character.
15. When Angel asks Doyle, "Why me?", Doyle's reply - that the "balance sheet" isn't exactly in Angel's favor - thumbnails the main theme for Angel Investigations. When Angel next asks, "Why you?", Doyle replies, "Well, we've all got something to atone for." Angel later follows up on this lead-in to Doyle's history and Doyle makes good on his promise to open up.
16. This is the first introduction to Wolfram & Hart, the powerful law firm (fronting for its Senior Partners) that becomes Angel's primary opponent. Though not named until Angel: Five by Five (2000), Lindsey McDonald is the "smart young lawyer" who provides legal and business representation for Russell Winters. In future episodes and seasons, Lindsey becomes one of Angel's most insidious rivals.
17. Angel drives a Black 1968 Plymouth Belvedere GTX convertible.
18. This marks the first appearance of stake bracers, which will make further appearances in the series.
19. As Angel leaves the bar, a rainbow flag can be seen in the background.
20. Both Tracy Middendorf and Vyto Ruginis have had roles on The X-Files (1993).
21. Originally the scene of Angel finding Tina dead and touching her neck was shot with Angel unable to resist tasting her blood. It had to do with Doyle urging Angel to get around people so he would not think of them as food. But Joss Whedon felt as if that moment had not been earned and decided not to keep the shot.
22. Besides Angel, Lindsey is the only character to appear in both this episode and the series finale.
23. Doyle was the second of three demon guides sent to Angel by The Powers That Be. The first was Whistler who sets Angel irrevocably on the path to his destiny. The third is Lorne, who took the place of The Oracles. Cordelia later became part demon and could arguably represent yet another demon guide for Angel.
24. Vyto Ruginis' make-up was done to make him look more like a diseased vampire.
25. Tina tells Angel that he's "just like" Russell. This foreshadows the revelation that Russell, like Angel, is a vampire.

Lonely Heart

1. Originally, David Fury had written a darker script called "Corrupt." In that script, Kate was undercover but working as a prostitute, and Angel licked blood off of a murder victim. Copies of the script are floating around on-line.
2. The phone number on Angel's business cards is; 213-555-0162. The "555" exchange is commonly used in entertainment because it is reserved for information services. This means that no active number will use the exchange. The "213" area code identifies the location as Los Angeles.
3. When Angel busts his way through the apartment door, he is momentarily surprised that he got in. Then he realizes that the place is not somebody's residence; it is merely a place that the demon, Screech, is using.

In the Dark

1. This episode marks the only appearance of Seth Green (Daniel "Oz" Osbourne) on the series.
2. Spike referring to Angel as "a big fluffy puppy with bad teeth" is similar to Buffy's comment in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harsh Light of Day (1999), where she tells Parker that the bite Angel gave her was given to her by an "angry puppy". Interestingly, Vampire Willow also refers to Angel as "Puppy" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Wish (1998).
3. In this episode, Spike recognizes Cordelia the moment he sees her, although the two never socialized on screen while in Sunnydale. However, they were in a few battles together, such as the ones in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: School Hard (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween (1997), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: What's My Line?: Part 2 (1997). Also, it is likely that Angelus spoke of the Scooby Gang to Spike and Drusilla. They may have met off-screen as well.
4. Arguably this episode would be the third instance of Angel walking openly during the daytime, if taking into account Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999) where Angel took part in the Graduation Day Battle which occurred during an eclipse.
5. Despite editing 5 minutes, when this episode aired in the UK it angered the ITC due to the violence and adult themes. The network quickly moved it to a later time slot than its usual 6:00 p.m.
6. Cordelia tries to give Doyle some idea of what they're up against with Spike, and her catalog of evilness includes the "whole deal with this arm in a box." This is a reference to Spike and Drusilla releasing the demon Judge during events in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998).
7. Angel walks into the sunlight for the first time since his siring; technically it would be his second time walking during the daytime, if Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amends (1998) is taken into account (sunlight blocked by snowfall).
8. Responding to the statement that Angel's decision to destroy the ring is reminiscent of Rose throwing the priceless diamond into the ocean at the end of Titanic (1997), producer Tim Minear says the difference is that "she throws it in the water as if that means something about Jack [but] it was the other guy's diamond, and I have no idea why she's throwing it in the water." However, "it makes perfect sense for [Angel] to destroy the ring. Can he be trusted? That is the point of the series," Minear says. "If he has the power to be invincible, what would happen if he spent eternity as Angelus? Angel knows that he can't be trusted - think about Jenny Calendar. In that light, the ending makes perfect sense to me."
9. David Boreanaz actually was in a fair amount of pain during the torture sequences, as he had been in a car accident just before the episode was filmed. The accident did not severely injure him, but he is known to have sued the driver who caused the accident for the problems his injuries caused during his work.
10. Angel practicing Tai chi (with the accompanying score) is poignantly evocative of his long, painful rehabilitation after being returned to Sunnydale in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Faith, Hope & Trick (1998). Bringing him pig's blood in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Band Candy (1998) Buffy for the first time sees Angel, still in significant pain but clearly on the mend, practicing the forms with utter concentration. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Revelations (1998), they have regular "training" sessions together, during which they are both keenly aware that Angel's physical health has vastly improved. In this episode, Angel is clearly trying to work through his anguish at losing the Slayer, made freshly acute by the arrival of (only) Oz. The expectation that Angel's kata is being interrupted by a phone call from Buffy is reinforced by the initial silence on the line, reminiscent of the silent call he made to her near the end of Angel: City of... (1999), which she answered unaware in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Freshman (1999).
11. This is the only episode in which four Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) main characters appear: Angel, Cordelia, Oz, and Spike.
12. This episode is a follow-up to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harsh Light of Day (1999). In that episode, Spike got his hands on the Gem of Amara, a magic ring that makes vampires indestructible. However, Buffy battled him and managed to defeat him, taking the Gem for herself. Knowing that Angel could do some good with the Gem, Oz volunteers to take the Gem to Angel while he plays a gig in L.A. In this episode, Oz arrives at Angel Investigations office and delivers the Gem to Angel while also helping the gang out in the process. Spike also arrives in L.A. so that he can get the Gem back from Angel. Spike and Oz are the only characters to appear in both episodes.
13. It has been at least a week since Angel: Lonely Heart (1999) with Doyle mentioning being in Cordelia's apartment "last week".
14. This marks the first time a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) character crosses over into the series.
15. A scene in which Marcus kills a sunglasses vendor was deleted, though in his next scene, Marcus still appears wearing sunglasses. Nevertheless, the actor portraying the vendor was still credited.
16. Doyle mentions on the phone "Spike... like railroad." to "Frankie Tripod." This could be an allusion to how Spike got his name, by torturing his victims with railroad spikes.
17. In the alley, Spike tells Angel "caught me fair and square, white hat." This appears to be a reference to classic Westerns, where the bad guy wears a black hat and the good guy wears a white one. A reference that he continues a bit and Angel plays along with, taking the roll of the "good guy sheriff." However this isn't the first time we have heard this term being used to describe someone going up against vampires in the Buffyverse. In Buffy's "The Wish" the White Hats are the Wishverse version of the Scooby Gang. While Angel was not a member of this group, Oz - who guest stars in this episode - was.
18. Spike mocks Angel for having a soul, being in love with a slayer (Buffy) and for being captured and tortured. Ironically all of these things will happen to Spike, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of My Mind (2000) Spike realizes he has fallen in love with Buffy, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Intervention (2001) Spike is captured "chained to the ceiling" and tortured by Glory, and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Grave (2002) he gets a soul.
19. This is Spike's first appearance in the series. Although he is portrayed as the Big Bad for this episode, he returns as a main character in Season Five as an ensouled Champion. Spike would also go on to appear in flashbacks in the second season.
20. This is the first time that Angel and Spike are shown fighting. Although Angel overpowers Spike quite easily, their fight in Angel: Destiny (2003) has Spike winning in a more vicious battle.

I Fall to Pieces

1. There are scenes where the evil doctor is prowling around an apartment complex. This location is actually the historic Los Altos Apartments of Los Angeles, and later becomes the exterior model for Angel's Hyperion Hotel where Angel takes up residence in seasons 2 through 4.
2. Andy Umberger, who plays the doctor in this episode, also guest starred as D'Hoffryn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). He is one of five actors to have appeared in all three Joss Whedon series, having also guest starred on Firefly (2002).
3. Angel now drinks coffee, presumably having taken it up after the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999) where he tells Joyce he doesn't.
4. This episode is unique in that Cordelia actually tries to 'Scully' Angel as he tries to figure out how Meltzer is constantly watching Melissa, suggesting a non-supernatural explanation, that he may have an accomplice or be using hidden cameras. Angel is actually open to the idea although he points out that it is unlikely as the Powers-That-Be sent Doyle a vision for them to help her.
5. This is Kate's second meeting with Angel, whom she still doesn't know is a vampire. She is also unaware of the mystical component to the LAPD cop's death (literally at Ronald Meltzer's hands) and won't learn about L.A.'s supernatural side for several more weeks (Angel: Somnambulist (2000)).
6. Doyle has his first vision since Angel: Lonely Heart (1999); this is confirmed by Cordy when she refers to the events of that episode, as the result of his previous vision.
7. This is not the first time that Cordelia finds herself locked in a basement while her companion duct tapes around the door to prevent pieces of the bad guy from crawling underneath. In season two of Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: What's My Line?: Part 1 (1997)), Cordy and Xander barricade themselves in the Summers' basement to escape an assassin demon able to take human form, but who is actually composed entirely of thousands upon thousands of mealworms. The two later kill the assassin by trapping his mealworm form in glue and stomping on him.
8. Dialogue between Cordelia and Doyle suggest that (part of at least) this episode takes place a month after Angel: City of... (1999), more specifically, Cordy mentions that she has been working for Angel for a month.
9. The episode shares its name with a Patsy Cline song. This song was featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997).

Rm w/a Vu

1. Although BJ Porter appeared in Angel for just a few moments in only this episode (in the other ones Dennis is a friendly but invisible ghost), the shot of his face looking upward in despair was so powerful and moving that it remains in the opening credits through the rest of the series' run, including the final episode.
2. Cordelia's friend Aura is first seen in the series premiere, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth (1997), in which the Buffyverse's first dead body, a boy bitten and drained by Darla, falls out of her gym locker. Aura is mentioned again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997).
3. The flashback scenes take place in Los Angeles in 1946.
4. This episode introduces phantom Dennis, who will be Cordelia's "roommate" for the next three years. Friendly with Cordelia's friends (Angel: She (2000)) and exhibiting caring feelings for Cordelia herself (Angel: Expecting (2000)), Dennis warns his roomie repeatedly about dangerous intruders (Angel: Five by Five (2000)).
5. Despite Angel commenting that Cordelia's friends were called the "Cordettes," that term was never used in the canonical series (although it does feature in scripts and credits).
6. The episode is "really all about Cordelia regaining her inner bitch," says supervising producer Tim Minear.
7. Kate teases Angel for having - like "Popes and rock stars" - only one name; Angel replies, "You got me, I'm the Pope." Later, in Angel: Somnambulist (2000), the serial killer whom Angel suspects may be himself is dubbed "The Pope" by the tabloids. Minear says, "That was completely unintentional...a happy coincidence that worked out wonderfully for the show."
8. Charisma Carpenter lists this episode as one of her personal favorites.
9. Doyle mentions that Cordelia's diploma is burnt, to which Cordy replies it was a rough graduation, referring to the battle against the Mayor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999), and how the diplomas were toasted when Sunnydale High School was destroyed. A closer examination of the diploma shows an R. Snyder signed under "principal", and there is a blank spot for the signature of the Mayor of Sunnydale, who, rather than sign the diplomas, ascended into a demon and tried to eat the students.
10. Writer Jane Espenson intended the episode's title to match the format of a classified ad. She also considered "Re: Lease" as a possible title.
11. Cordelia mentions Buffy Summers when back-talking to Maude, claiming she wasn't a 'little cry-Buffy'.
12. Cordelia's apartment is pressed into service as Angel Investigations's HQ at the beginning of season two and remains part of the show until season four.
13. Markus Redmond, who plays the bounty hunter demon Griff in this episode, appears again as the gladiator demon Tom Cribb in Angel: The Ring (2000).

Sense and Sensitivity

1. The lawyer threatens the police that if his client's rights are not respected, he will "shine a light in the darkest corners of this precinct and give the people a view of the brutality and callousness of this police force that will make Mark Fuhrman look like gentle Ben". Mark Fuhrman is the allegedly racist LA cop that was accused of planting evidence against O.J. Simpson in his double murder trial.
2. Tim Minear says his original idea was of cops who become so sensitive that they were unable to perform their jobs, but after discussing the idea with Joss Whedon, it became "something far more interesting than what I had originally pitched," Minear says. "Instead of just super sensitive cops, you have people whose emotions are completely on the surface."
3. Doyle's growing attraction to Cordelia comes out in the open between them when Kate singsongs, "Someone's got a cru-ush." Despite her instant defensive remark, "We just joke around," Cordelia appears to consider Doyle and his feelings seriously for the first time.
4. This is the second episode written by Tim Minear-his first script, Angel: Somnambulist (2000), went into production later in the season.
5. The final scene, in which Kate and her father meet, Tim Minear originally wrote as a "big TV ending where they hug." Joss Whedon suggested that instead, Kate's father acts as though nothing has changed. "If it had gone the other way," Minear says, "I think the whole thing would have collapsed. That's really Joss knowing best."
6. Lee Mercer's interest in a certain image on the precinct surveillance tapes provides yet another indication that the Senior Partners at Wolfram & Hart have a growing interest in Angel's activities-an interest which will continue through the series finale, Angel: Not Fade Away (2004).
7. The detective's remarks to Kate while under the sensitivity spell closely resemble those that Wesley Wyndam-Pryce makes to Fred under Billy's influence in the season 3 episode Angel: Billy (2001).
8. The memo regarding the Sensitivity training indicates it takes place within November 1999, at least as of Kate's attendance of the sensitivity classes.
9. This episode is the first appearance of Kate's father, Trever Lockley
10. Kate's father, upon meeting Angel at his retirement party, remarks that it's good to see her with a man, as he was "starting to wonder if she was leaning in the other direction." Elisabeth Röhm later starred on Law & Order (1990) as ADA Serena Southerlyn, and in her last episode in 2005, was outed as a lesbian.
11. Tim Minear regrets the actor they cast in the role of mobster Little Tony, saying although John Capodice was "very good", the character was "clichéd ... a Sopranos knock off."

The Bachelor Party

1. Carlos Jacott, the actor who plays Richard Straley (Harriet Doyle's fiancé), was also in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998) as Ken, a demon who worked people to death. He later appeared in Firefly: Serenity (2002) as Lawrence Dobson, making him what Joss Whedon calls one of his "hat-tricks" - someone who appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Angel (1999) and Firefly (2002).
2. This episode reveals that Doyle's full name is Allen Francis Doyle. Glenn Quinn's middle name is Francis. Ironically, this episode aired just after Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Initiative (1999) which also revealed a main character's full name (that being the recently-departed Daniel 'Oz' Osborne).
3. This episode crosses over with sister show. In the last scene, Doyle has a vision of Buffy in danger. Angel goes to Sunnydale in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs (1999).
4. Cordelia's attempt to break free of the stalker vamp by biting his arm is reminiscent of the final battle in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Prophecy Girl (1997). Cordelia, trying to barricade the library door from a horde of attacking vampires, bites a vamp's reaching arm and shouts, "See how you like it!"
5. Cordelia's statement that she "says just what she thinks", was previously acknowledged by Buffy when she read Cordelia's mind in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Earshot (1999).
6. This episode contains the first evidence of Angel's stinginess which will become a running joke on the show. Here, he complains of having to pay for the replacement of the demon restaurant's "surprisingly expensive windows."
7. Doyle fulfills the first half of his promise (Angel: Rm w/a Vu (1999)) to tell Angel the story of his life by confessing salient points of his failed relationship with Harriet.
8. Doyle has at least two significant opportunities to show Cordelia his demon face, neither of which he takes. The first is when he fights the stalker vamp and chooses to struggle unaugmented rather than reveal his mixed heritage. The second comes when Harriet and Cordelia walk in on the boys' melee. Doyle has just been knocked flying and is lying out of sight under the table in one of the restaurant booths. He groggily sits up during Harriet's tirade-still in demon form. Cordelia, in an excess of concern for her friend, vents some of her anger and anxiety by grabbing a handy serving tray and repeatedly bashing the blue-green, spiny thing she believes to be one of the evil, brain-eating demons. Angel hastily comes to Doyle's rescue, both pulling Cordy off and distracting her so she won't see him morph back to human form. It remains unclear whether Cordelia recognizes him as the same person when Doyle deliberately shows her his demon face in Angel: Hero (1999).
9. This episode is one of two Doyle-centric episodes, the other being Angel: Hero (1999).
10. Doyle has his brains almost eaten out by a shrimp fork. "Shrimp dimensions" are also referenced in some Buffyverse shows.
11. This episode etablished a similar concept to the future show Angel (1999), produced by David Greenwalt. The Ano-Movic Clan have a similar modus-operandi to Wesen, recurring creatures on the show.

I Will Remember You

1. This is the second part of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) / Angel (1999) crossover. The first part is Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs (1999).
2. When Buffy and Angel are hugging and crying as the time ticks away, Buffy says 'Oh, god it's not enough time." and turns back to Angel, you can hear David Boreanaz say "Please, Sarah, please." right before the time goes back.
3. When Buffy snarks at Angel, "I was really jonesing for another heartbreaking sewer talk," she refers to events in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999), where Angel breaks up with her while they are patrolling Sunnydale sewers.
4. The outfit Buffy wore for the majority of this episode (white sweater and gray slacks) was later donned by Cordelia in Angel: First Impressions (2000) and worn by Buffy once again in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).
5. This is the second time in the series Angel gives up a chance at happiness. In Angel: In the Dark (1999), he relinquishes the ability to walk in the sun by destroying the Gem of Amara; it is also the third episode of the Buffyverse that Angel has protection for the sunlight (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Amends (1998) and Angel: In the Dark (1999)).
6. Buffy notes that her stake is "a lot handier" than Angel's ax. Buffy, however, would later wield a weapon that partly acts as an ax rather effectively.
7. This is the only occasion where we see Doyle and Buffy meet and the last meeting we witness between her and Cordelia.
8. It is never established who exactly sends the assassin after Buffy and Angel. However it foretells 'A great darkness coming' which Angel Investigations will experience in season 4. Coupled with the death of Cordelia's plant this may suggest it is The First Evil which may also attempt to thwart Jasmine's plans disguised as Darla.
9. Buffy and Angel's kiss on the beach was foreshadowed in the dream sequence at the beginning of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998).
10. When Angel first returns to the office after becoming human, Cordelia worriedly demands "Did you do it with Buffy?" And as Doyle steps up to stare into Angel's eyes she warns "Watch it, Doyle. Don't get too close." This is a reference to the events of the last half of season two of Buffy, beginning in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998), when Angel's curse is broken by his moment of happiness with the Slayer, thus causing him to lose his soul and reverting him to the evil Angelus.
11. Some of Buffy's pleasure comes from her sense of being a "normal girl falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend" underscores one of the Slayer's fundamental internal conflicts, which she first expresses to Giles in the Buffy premiere, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth (1997).
12. The dialogue suggests that Angel was in Sunnydale for a period of three days, ending the night prior to the episodes start, when Angel returned to Los Angeles.
13. When mortal Angel is fighting the Mohra demon, the same music that was played in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Helpless (1999) when Giles goes to the Sunnydale Arms building looking for Travers, but finds that Kralik has escaped, and killed Hobson , can be heard.
14. Cordelia explained that when Buffy and Angel slept together, the world would end. While this was a reference to Angel losing his soul and becoming Angelus, this trend would continue in a more literal way. In the comics, Buffy and Angel sleep together about six years later, manipulated for a recreation prophecy, only to accidentally nearly destroy the existing universe in the process. In addition, Angel also mentioned that Buffy losing her focus to protect him as a human would cause the slayer's death, thus causing Angel to give up his humanity. Angel would later take on a villainous identity called Twilight also to allow to Buffy focus on her fights.
15. This is the first appearance of The Oracles, a pair of humanoid beings, brother and sister, both unpredictable and self-important, that serve and speak for The Powers That Be. The Oracles last appear at the end of season one, in Angel: To Shanshu in L.A. (2000).
16. The use of clocks was purposely added into the story, to foreshadow later events. Angel giving the Oracle the watch alludes to when he gives them the time he could have had as a human so Buffy can live.
17. This episode is the best evidence ever against the "Normal Again alternative" (that Buffy is a mad girl in an asylum as depicted in that episode, being the Slayer purely her delusion and that the end of the series finale Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen (2003) actually represents her regaining her sanity after 7 years). Here, events take place which she is not only unaware off but never learns about which would be impossible if Asylum Buffy were real and this was simply all in her mind.
18. Buffy's future death was foreshadowed for the first time. While Angel believed making himself a vampire again and turning back the day would save her life, she would later die anyway in two years time (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001)).
19. This episode is the first time that Angel makes an arrangement that causes those around him to forget something significant in order to protect those he loves. In the season four finale, Angel: Home (2003), Angel alters everyone's memories so that his son, Connor, can have a normal life.
20. During Angel's second visit to the Oracles, they foreshadow Buffy's death the following year in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001). When Angel asks what happens to The Slayer when the soldiers of darkness continue to come, the female answers "What happens to any other mortal... Though in the Slayer's case, sooner.

Hero

1. Joss Whedon said that Doyle was never going to be a long term character, and Glenn Quinn knew that going into the role. However, the show writer Tim Minear sets the record straight on the RedemptionCast podcast episode 1.09. Minear states that the story about Quinn knowing his character would be short lived was the diplomatic version that they put out at the time. In fact, Quinn was given the opportunity to get his substance problems under control, but when he unfortunately could not, they had to let him go in order to protect both the show and the actor himself. This gave Whedon the opportunity to remove a leading character early on in a show's run, which he had been wanting to do for some time.
2. This is the first appearance of Sean Gunn in the this season. In this episode, he appears briefly as a demon named Lucas. Later in the season, in Angel: She (2000) he appears as a character named Mars.
3. The videotaped commercial Doyle makes with Cordelia is seen again in Angel: Birthday (2002), and in Angel: You're Welcome (2004).
4. The Scourge are reminiscent of the Nazi Party in Germany, who believed that pure races, specifically the Aryan race, were superior. To protect their purity, they persecuted the Jews like the Scourge persecute half-demons. Their uniforms too are similar as is the way that Angel styles his hair whilst undercover.
5. The murderous Drill Sergeant demon who tries to break Buffy's spirit in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998) appears identical to the "football head" pure-blooded soldiers in this company of The Scourge.
6. Although the Scourge never reappear in the series, they are mentioned as one of the groups who may pose a threat to Connor's existence in Angel: Dad (2001), shortly after his birth.
7. Special Effects Supervisor Loni Peristere explains David Greenwalt described his vision of Doyle's death as "I want him to melt to death...I want his flesh to melt off and muscle and then bones." Peristere was concerned that that effect would be too graphic for television. He shot Doyle in his demon form, and Doyle with half-burned make-up then used mat elements to digitally "chew through his skin", including an element of acetone poured on Styrofoam.
8. Although Doyle himself never returns to the series, Angel and Cordelia's grief over his passing is tackled in various subsequent episodes such as Angel: Parting Gifts (1999) and Angel: I've Got You Under My Skin (2000), with the episodes Angel: Birthday (2002) and Angel: You're Welcome (2004) including a clip of Doyle's kiss with Cordelia and Cordelia watching the advert Doyle makes here respectively. During Season Five, Lindsey McDonald adopts the name 'Doyle' to try and discredit Angel as a Champion while setting things up to make it appear that Spike has taken Angel's place.
9. This is the episode in which Doyle passes his Powers-given-gift of vision to Cordelia. This gives her character a new dimension and enhances her protagonism from now on. Later, before she dies, Cordelia passes on the visions to Angel so he can learn of the Circle of the Black Thorn although he only ever gets the one vision.

Parting Gifts

1. Glenn Quinn as Doyle appears for the last time in the main titles, despite Doyle having died in the previous episode. Doyle's next appearance is in Angel: Birthday (2002), where Skip shows Cordelia an image of Doyle when explaining the visions. His last appearance is in Angel: You're Welcome (2004), where Angel and Cordy review the tape of the commercial Doyle helped with in Angel: Hero (1999).
2. This is the first time we see Wesley in the series. From this time onwards, he appears in every episode except Angel: Destiny (2003).
3. Cordelia receives her first vision from The Powers That Be. When she tries to follow through with her avowal to Doyle in Angel: Lonely Heart (1999) to "give it back," she discovers that there's some trick besides just kissing to passing "the gift" along. Initially an unwilling recipient, Cordelia actively chooses to keep the visions in Angel: Birthday (2002). Ultimately, she learns the "trick" of passing the gift to another in her last appearance in Angel: You're Welcome (2004) which she uses to pass it to Angel, although he only ever gets one vision. This single vision ends up proving crucial to Angel destroying the Circle of the Black Thorn.
4. Wesley's moment of self-realization (and self-loathing) ignites Angel's compassion. The former Watcher indeed alienates two Slayers during his tenure in Sunnydale, when Buffy declares her independence from The Watchers Council in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999), the same episode in which she believes she's killed renegade Faith. This subject comes up between Angel and Wesley again in Angel: Five by Five (2000).
5. Only two main characters appear in this episode, the lowest count in either Buffy or Angel. This ends with the next episode, when Wesley becomes a main character.
6. In Angel: Birthday (2002), the Wesley in the alternate future says he lost his arm fighting a Kungai demon, whose only appearance is in this episode.
7. Cordelia hangs the sketch if her first vision on the wall in tribute to Doyle, though it will eventually be destroyed along with everything else in the office in Angel: To Shanshu in L.A. (2000).
8. Wesley once again ends up in trouble and has to be saved: during his first appearance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Girls (1999), he's nearly killed by a vampire and Giles has to save him. During the Graduation Day battle he's knocked out quickly and has to be taken away in an ambulance in a lot of apparent pain. However, his fighting skills get better over the course of the series.
9. The Korean woman was played by a Japanese woman (which would explain her poor accent).
10. Cordelia says that she is really not a seer when Barney intends to auction her. Ironically, Charisma Carpenter later plays a Seer named Kira in Charmed (1998).
11. This episode marks Cordelia's first demon kill: Barney. She staked a vampire before in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 2 (1999) but never killed a non-vampiric demon before.
12. Cordelia receives her first vision from The Powers That Be. This is pivotal to Jasmine's plot for control of the mortal coil.
13. Wesley announces he was fired from The Watchers Council following the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Graduation Day: Part 1 (1999). He later shows fear of being fired by Angel in Angel: She (2000). Its unclear if his firing is before or after the Graduation Day Battle however when he stayed and fought even after Buffy quit the Council.
14. Wesley is driving a Big Dog brand motorcycle.
15. This episode is the first to feature an empath demon in Angel before the later introduction of Lorne in the series.

Somnambulist

1. The script was originally called "The Killer I Created", until a detailed summary appeared online, prompting Tim Minear to alter the title. "I went on to the Buffy message board... changed the title and said it was about dreams and about horrible things that you do in your sleep, which completely fooled the fans," says Minear.
2. After writing the first draft, Tim Minear had to rewrite parts of the script to accommodate Wesley's arrival and Doyle's departure; the final scene on the rooftop was originally between Angel and Doyle.
3. Elisabeth Röhm and Jeremy Renner would later reunite to play husband and wife in American Hustle (2013).
4. Title reference: "Somnambulist" is the technical term for a sleepwalker.
5. In spite of three centuries spent until 2000, Penn has never known that his sire Angel has a soul. This implies that Penn has never had knowledge or a link with "his sister" Drusilla, or even with "his family" The Master, Darla and Spike.
6. Alexis Denisof replaces Glenn Quinn in the opening credit sequence.
7. Angel comments that he maintains a link between himself and those he sired, explaining the dreams he has of Penn's kills.
8. Vampires have heightened sight and hearing. Yet, Jeremy Renner's vampire character "Penn" still wears glasses occasionally.
9. At the end of the episode, Angel and Cordelia are talking about people "changing", and Angel says, "Sometimes they change back. If the day ever comes.", to which Cordelia replies, "Oh, I'll kill you dead." Ironically, when he does "change" later in the series, she's directly responsible.
10. Tim Minear says Kate finally discovering Angel is a vampire is "sort of the point of the episode." Another pivotal scene, which was conceived early in the breaking stage, is when Kate goes through Angel to stake Penn. Minear calls this "the perfect moment. Because it's Angel opening himself up and actually sort of taking responsibility in a visceral movie kind of way for this horrible thing that he's done."
11. Jeremy Renner would later go on to play Clint Barton / Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Alexis Denisof also appears in Joss Whedon, playing Thanos in the post-credits scene.
12. The profiler's packet Kate hands out to her search teams contains black and white still photos, which identify Angel. The photos seem to be taken from the same precinct surveillance tape of Angel that Lee Mercer viewed with such interest in Angel: Sense and Sensitivity (1999).
13. Kate learns that Angel is a vampire, permanently altering their relationship.

Expecting

1. At the OB-GYN, Wesley and Cordelia are pretending to be Mr. and Mrs. Pangborn. This appears to be an homage to science fiction writer Edgar Pangborn (1909-1976), who is famous for his classic novelette "Angel's egg" (1951). (See also Angel's Egg (1985).)
2. Wesley would later refer to the events of this episode in the Season Four episode Angel: Players (2003) in which Cordelia is likewise the subject of an accelerated mystical pregnancy. In total Cordelia would be impregnated three times during the course of the series by different demons.
3. Both Charisma Carpenter and Ken Marino appeared in Veronica Mars (2004).
4. Cordy is reluctant to introduce her dates to Angel because she doesn't want him to behave like a forbidding father and interrogate them as he did Pierce in Angel: The Bachelor Party (1999).
5. This episode is the first time that we see Dennis object to an unwelcome entity in Cordy's apartment. It is also the first time we see him make caring gestures (e.g., offering a tissue, tucking up her covers) instead of annoying ones (e.g., sliding her soda when she's on the phone).
6. In the conversation between Cordelia and Angel at the end of the episode, she lists what she learned from her impregnation experience: "I learned, um, men are evil? Oh wait, I knew that. I learned that L.A.'s full of self-serving phonies? Nope, had that one down, too. Uh, sex is bad?" Angel agrees, "We all knew that." referencing the loss of his soul following sex with Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998).
7. The bonds of trust and friendship deepen significantly among Angel, Cordelia and Wesley. When the bartender at La Brea asks if Angel is "the boyfriend," Angel replies, "No. I'm family."
8. Tim Minear says this episode is fundamentally about "body horror." Originally, it was written in a more comedic style, but Joss Whedon insisted the writers "should play [it] straight." Minear says this episode begins to show Wesley as being "more than he appeared to be on Buffy", as well as demonstrating that the members of Angel Investigations are forming a family.
9. Having Cordelia file their problematic client, Mrs. Bensen, under 'F' because she came from France also harks back to Angel: Rm w/a Vu (1999), where Angel despairs of Cordy's secretarial skills.
10. This is the first time in the Buffy universe that Cordelia has sex. It's not specified if she was actually a virgin before this episode though.
11. Ken Marino played a demon in Reaper (2007).

She

1. Tim Minear had originally put the dance Angel performs in his imagination into Angel: Sense and Sensitivity (1999) but removed it on Joss Whedon's request; "Plus," Minear says, "we wanted to save it until it was just right. Here's this guy who looks like this, and he's a complete social retard. I think we've had a lot of success playing that aspect of the character."
2. Bai Ling said of Jheria, "[she's] so cool. She seduced Angel, and yet she's very dangerous and independent. She's got all those things that a modern woman wants, yet she's a princess. She has her own duty to do good things for the people in her land. She's got all this complexity and beauty." She also said that the character was considered for a return "after that episode aired, David called me. They were so pleased by it, they wanted me to come back. I'd very much like to go back to Angel, because we all had a great time, and they loved the character. I don't know what the schedule is; I guess they're still working on it, so we're gonna talk about it when it is ready. I'm looking forward to contributing something."
3. While "lecturing" about the Manet artwork, Angel points out a figure in the painting: it is Charles Baudelaire, of whom Angel remarks, "Baudelaire - interesting fellow. In his poem 'Le Vampire' he wrote: 'Thou who abruptly as a knife didst come into my heart.'" (This poem has been translated by many; Angel uses the translation by George Dillon.) He adds, "... some even speculated that the poem was about a real vampire." Angel chuckles. "Oh and, ah, Baudelaire was actually a little taller and a lot drunker than he's depicted here." The implication, of course, is that Angelus and Baudelaire knew each other and that the poem was written about Angel.
4. This is the second appearance of Sean Gunn in this season. In this episode, he appears as a character named Mars. Earlier in the season, in Angel: Hero (1999) he appeared briefly as a demon named Lucas.
5. In this episode, Wesley becomes an official member of Angel Investigations.
6. Angel tails Jhiera into an arts center, where she immediately tells a guard that she is being followed by a man in a black coat. More guards are dispatched, and Angel realizes he is being followed. At once he steps over to a painting on the wall and begins lecturing about (Édouard Manet)'s "incomparable 'La Musique Aux Tuileries.' First exhibited in 1863..." Sometime during the 1860s, Angelus visited France and might have recognized the painting first-hand. The painting was acquired by The National Gallery in London in either 1862 or 1863, according to that Gallery's website. Angelus might have seen it there, too; and might be surprised (and relieved, under the circumstances) to find that it has been loaned to a lightly guarded gallery in Los Angeles.
7. The end credits feature additional footage of Wesley and Angel's dancing skills.
8. Jhiera's mission is an allusion to ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) because women in some societies undergo the procedure to make them marriageable. Women on and off screen are having the source of sexual arousal removed to 'control' their behavior and ultimately them. When they first meet, Jhiera is skeptical that Angel will understand or even care about her mission because he is a man. The source of his sexual pleasure is not being removed by his culture.
9. Steve Paymer, who in Angel: Rm w/a Vu (1999) is actor David Paymer's brother, graces Cordelia's party with his (unseen) presence.
10. When Angel concludes that the Tae must have arrived by portal, Cordelia says "there are portals now?!". She will later be sucked into Lorne's dimension through a portal at the end of season 2 in Angel: Over the Rainbow (2001).

I've Got You Under My Skin

1. The nun at the church seems to immediately know that Angel is a vampire. This is the only time we see anyone of the church to be aware of vampires (other than Caleb) and possess this ability.
2. This was "one of the very early scripts that we wrote before Doyle was killed," says writer Tim Minear. He struggled with the story until coming up with the idea that Angel should accidentally call Wesley "Doyle", which gave the script a cohesive theme about the pain of losing a family member. At the end of the episode Seth Anderson loses his son, and at the beginning Angel has lost someone like a son; Minear says both are "desperately trying to keep their family together, and through no fault of their own, they can't."
3. From the description the Ethros Demon gives of Ryan and his exhibited behavior, it is very likely that Ryan is a sociopath, which is a person with extreme antisocial attitudes and a complete lack of conscience, making them extremely dangerous.
4. Wesley points out that "A father doesn't have to be possessed to terrorize his children." This one of the earliest hints at Wesley's issues with his own father.
5. This episode marks the second instance of a human being fully or partially soulless; the first was Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Living Conditions (1999).
6. The title of this episode is similar to Jenny Calendar's line in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Dark Age (1997) when she is possessed by a demon and says to Giles "You've got me under your skin." Both are, of course, references to the classic 1936 Cole Porter song "I've Got You Under My Skin".
7. Angel and Wesley each seem to possess a double-bladed Bavarian fighting axe. Cordelia asks Buffy about Angel's in Angel: I Will Remember You (1999) when, believing Angel Investigations is closing its doors forever, she begins tagging items for inventory. Wesley brings his new one into the office in "Expecting," prompting Cordelia's friend Serena to remark, "nice ax."
8. Just as he indicates to Cordelia at the end of Angel: Somnambulist (2000) Angel here tells Wesley that being prepared to kill him if he turns evil again is a good thing.
9. Doyle's voice is mimicked by the demon. This could be considered the first appearance of Doyle since his death in Angel: Hero (1999).
10. Joss Whedon came up with the twist that Ryan Anderson was more evil than the demon who possessed him. He also cut the priest who, in the first draft of the script, performed the exorcism. Whedon questioned why Wesley couldn't perform the ritual, and Tim Minear says, "Suddenly it makes perfect sense, because Angel's problem at the beginning of the story is, 'I let Doyle die... because he did something that I couldn't do.' Now you have Wesley saying, 'I can perform this exorcism; you can't.'" When Angel later saves Wesley's life, Minear says, "he's sort of atoning for the Doyle thing."

The Prodigal

1. Since Angel's real name is Liam, which is Irish for William, and Spike was known as William the Bloody, they essentially have the same name. This was intended by Joss Whedon and the other writers. James Marsters, who played Spike, can be found in many YouTube interviews and conversations with fans at conventions saying that Angel was the right boyfriend for Buffy, and that Spike was the bad boy, and therefore the bad boyfriend for Buffy.
2. Liam's funeral is interesting because of his eulogy. The priest might speak many more words, but we hear him speak only a few phrases: "Taken too soon from the bosom of his family, a man of just 20 years and 6, Liam was well-loved by everyone he met. Receive this your humble servant. We pray that you may take his eternal soul into your care, Father." Liam was turned into vampire Angel in 1753. Not long before that, funeral orations were philosophical and theological in nature. They were often given in Latin for Catholics, in places where Latin was familiar to commoners. These eulogies said, more or less, "Now, the rest of you, try to avoid the sins of this sinner." But in the late 18th century, they began to focus on praise and memory of the departed. So the ceremony represents a transition between the old and the new traditions, just as Angel does himself.
3. Christina Hendricks also guest-starred on another Joss Whedon show called Firefly (2002).
4. Some of the 1753 scenes were originally from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998).
5. When Angelus rises from the grave, his breath (and Darla's) is clearly visible. Since vampires have no body heat, they are always at air temperature. Furthermore, vampires do not need breath to live. (Producer Tim Minear explains it was cold while they filmed this scene, shot on location at Hollywood Forever Cemetery behind Paramount Pictures, and there wasn't a large enough budget to digitally remove the actors' breath.)
6. Darla's line to Angelus "What we once were informs all that we have become" stands in direct contrast to Buffy's insistence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doppelgangland (1999) that "a vampire's personality has nothing to do with the person it was". In the same episode, Angel almost corrects Buffy on this point, but decides better of it.
7. Before Kate questions the delivery guy witness, Angel tells her "People have a way of seeing what they need to." This recalls Giles's response to Xander's shock, near the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harvest (1997), regarding the lack of public reaction after the previous night's showdown with the Master's minions at The Bronze. Giles tells the three friends "People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't."
8. Liam standing in shadow, softly coaxing confident Anna closer, is eerily reminiscent of Angelus standing in shadow (in the middle of the Sunnydale High hallway) softly luring trusting Willow closer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998)).
9. John Mahon (Trevor Lockley) previously appeared in an episode of MacGyver (1985) with the same title: MacGyver: The Prodigal (1985).
10. This is the first appearance of Darla in the series. Darla will become a key figure in the series, beginning with Angel: To Shanshu in L.A. (2000)

The Ring

1. When Cordelia is browsing the demon database, Wesley asks her if they have "the Vigories of Oden Tal." This is a reference to the main antagonists of Angel: She (2000).
2. When Wesley is talking to Ernie there are two signs behind him, one says "Danger! Hot girls" the other says "We have ice!"
3. When Cordelia and Wesley are trying to find a way into the illegal demon fighting gladiator arena to save Angel, they stop a couple that's about to enter and, in an effort to acquire their tickets, Cordelia states "I'm Detective Andrews, this is Detective Yelsew...". Yelsew is actually Wesley spelled backwards.
4. This episode marks the first appearance of Lilah Morgan, who would be a recurring character for the next three seasons.
5. The gladiator-like premise of this episode is similar to Star Trek: Voyager: Tsunkatse (2000) which aired only 20 days before it.
6. The character of Tom Cribb is based on the boxer Tom Cribb (1781-1848), who was one of England's most celebrated champions of the bare knuckle era. He made "milling on the retreat" acceptable as a mode of fighting. He held the title throughout the years of the sport's peak in popularity. Upon his retirement in 1822, he was awarded a lion-skin championship belt, the first "title belt".
7. During the scene in which a demon rushes at the organiser, someone calls Angel "Captain America". Joss Whedon, would go on to write and direct The Avengers (2012).
8. Producer Tim Minear comments on the contradiction exhibited by Wolfram & Hart in this episode: they offer to free Angel provided he leaves them alone, yet later hire an assassin to kill him in Angel: Five by Five (2000). "At the point Faith was involved, they wanted him dead, but not now," he says. "I think if you have a little patience, it will all make sense."
9. Actor Markus Redmond (Tom Cribb) also played Griff in Angel: Rm w/a Vu. When Angel wakes up after being captured, he looks around his cell and jokes "I asked for a room with a view."
10. Markus Redmond played Tom Cribb in this episode about a demon fight club of sorts, he also appeared in Fight Club (1999).

Eternity

1. According to Tamara Gorski (Rebecca) this was the first episode Joss Whedon showed J. August Richards (Gunn) to convince him to be on the show.
2. The first mention of Wesley's inferiority complex, which derives from his relationship with his difficult father.
3. Oliver Simon, Rebecca's manager, was seen in a brief and uncredited appearance in Angel: City of... (1999). At Margo's party, he plays the manager who gives Angel his card and disclaims any effort at a come-on.
4. Rebecca Lowell lives in the the same mansion where Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" music video would later be shot in 2008.
5. This episode demonstrates that the "moment of perfect happiness" that triggers Angel's curse does not have to be sexual. As Wesley points out, Angel became Angelus in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998) not because he had sex, but because he was with Buffy. "It is a very fine line that he walks," Tim Minear says. "And if he goes a little bit too far, there is the danger that he will destroy the very people he's connecting with."
6. This marks the first real reappearance of Angelus since Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998). The vampire's return triggers the idea among Cordelia and Wesley that Angel's soul is a very fragile thing and he could turn on them at any time. Their mutual mistrust of Angel is heavily explored in season 2.
7. This marks one of the first times in the series that Cordelia is shown to have decent acting skills in times of need, shown when she convinces Angelus she is holding holy water.
8. Originally, the series was envisioned as being an anthology, with the client of the week providing the emotional center for each episode. However, as the first season progressed, the writers began to concentrate on the emotional interplay between the main characters instead. As Tim Minear explains, "You can have an interesting plot and an interesting client, but it's difficult to create sympathy for someone you're introducing for one episode." This episode at first presents events from the guest character's point of view, but "if you look at how the episode ended up," Minear says, "it's really about our core people, and by the end of the episode the client's gone. There's not even a wrap up scene at the end with the actress. It's all about Angel being chained to the bed and Cordelia not untying him." In the first versions of the script, the emotional focus remained on Rebecca for the entire episode, until Joss Whedon decided to add the element of Angel going bad. "If that episode had gone before the cameras earlier in the rotation, I think you would have probably seen a different ending, with more emphasis placed on the actress and her problem than on Angel," Minear says.
9. Minear says, "I know there was a lot of criticism on the Internet about the way he went bad, and did he really go bad?" However, he feels the drug was a good plot device to bring Angelus into the series "so that he could interact with our characters without doing some big 'Angel has turned evil' arc. You sort of get to have your cake and eat it too in that episode." He adds, "I saw some criticism about Cordelia reacting too Cordelia-like in the first half of the episode with her star-struckness. But that would be her."
10. Angelus later returns in Angel: Awakening (2003) through Angel: Orpheus (2003) after the gang purposefully removes Angel's soul in order to question Angelus on The Beast. Later, Willow restores Angel's soul again, and Angelus never makes a return on the series.

Five by Five

1. The rain during the fight scene, was actually scripted, but cut because of the budget. However when they went to go film that scene it started raining anyway.
2. This is the only episode of Angel (1999) to be certified 18 in the UK.
3. Producer Kelly A. Manners has said this is his favorite episode from Angel.
4. The title of this episode comes from the turn of phrase Faith used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
5. The song playing in the club is "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie.
6. The flashback scenes take place in Romania in October 1898.
7. During Wesley's torture scene, Dushku actually says "British Channel" which is incorrect. It's been dubbed in post to "English Channel" which is correct.

Sanctuary

1. This is the only time in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, that Buffy says she loves Riley.
2. This is the only episode of the series in which both Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers) and Eliza Dushku (Faith) appear.

War Zone

1. Joss Whedon wanted to introduce another character who would be very different from both Wesley and Angel, and when writer Garry Campbell pitched the idea of street kids battling vampires, the character of Gunn was conceived.
2. First appearance of Charles Gunn.
3. This episode is the first time that Angel willingly introduced himself as Angelus, something he refuses to identify as when he has a soul. The only other time he has done so with a soul was when he was drugged and believed himself to be Angelus.
4. While Angel is running from Gunn and the others, the theme playing throughout the chase sequence is the same one that was previously used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998) when the gang are attacked in the library.
5. David Straiton suggested to Michele Kelly that in the scene where Alonna pushes Gunn onto the ground, she should "enjoy that more" - "and that's when a laugh came out," Kelly says. The actress explains that the director knew at that point, her character was "relishing in all this new-found strength and freedom, even if it was for evil."
6. Special Effects Supervisor Loni Peristere refined the dusting effect used when a vampire is killed, showcased by Gunn's "fly-through dusting" in the opening scene of this episode. This technique, which costs $5,000 per use, depends upon a CGI skeletal frame surrounded by simulated dust, carefully matched to a projection of the live action footage. This allows for a "complete organic transition" from vampire to dust, says Peristere.
7. Michele Kelly, who played Gunn's sister Alonna, said she "literally shouted" with excitement upon reading the script. "Getting to play someone as unrestricted as a vampire is a thrill," she says. Kelly found the vampire make-up and prosthetics uncomfortable, but the most difficult aspect of the role was Kelly's pre-existing friendship with J. August Richards, which "made a part of me not want to hurt him." Kelly explains she twisted that connection by imagining the isolation and "raging despair" her character would feel after being made a vampire: "All I wanted is my brother... that's where I got the impetus to go into that ugly space - it was just the other side of loving."
8. Angel: War Zone (2000) liked the concept of an "entire subculture living under Los Angeles that you don't really see," which is a metaphor for the wealth stratification in LA: "You'll have upper class neighborhoods and a block away poverty... The upper class people sort of don't notice the poverty, or choose not to." He also liked the scene in which Angel is rescued from the meat locker by Wesley and Cordelia, who ask, "Why didn't you call us on your cell phone?", because it turns the concept of the action hero "on its head a little bit." The defining moment of the episode, Minear thinks, is when Angel - rather than offer his help - instead indicates he may later need Gunn's help.
9. David Nabbit was originally intended to be a recurring character, but only appears in two additional episodes. David Herman had difficulty fitting the show into his schedule, and so the writers stopped writing scenes for him.
10. Angel is asked if he is familiar with Dungeons & Dragons. He replies, "I've seen a few." Wesley then clarifies they were discussing the tabletop role playing game. With the last line of the on air Buffyverse being delivered by Angel: "Well, personally, I kinda wanna slay the dragon. Let's go to work." It is the established he was not likely kidding here, since clearly dragons are real.

Blind Date

1. Jennifer Badger (Vanessa) also played Charisma Carpenter's and Eliza Dushku's stunt double for both Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and Angel (1999).
2. The names of the investigating officers on the arrest record for Vanessa Brewer are those of crew members who worked on the series: Will Batts - Set Designer, Sandy Struth - Set Decorator and David M. Burns - Assistant to Kelly A. Manners, Second Unit Director.
3. While on the phone with Willow, Cordelia tells her that Wesley is there and then tells him that "Willow says hey." Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof became close friends while working together on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), started dating after Denisof left for this series and were married in 2003.
4. Cordelia phoned Willow to hack codes and find information on Vanessa Brewer, and it is implied that Willow and Tara were at that very same time working on getting information on Adam through hacking, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Primeval (2000). However, this timeline is somewhat skewed, because Willow finished hacking those files in "Primeval" less than a day after Angel left Sunnydale. Angel returned to LA before the beginning of Angel: War Zone (2000), which spanned at least four days. This means that Willow had to have been done hacking Adam's files before the events of "War Zone" were over, and therefore long before this episode even began.
5. Special Effects Supervisor Loni Peristere says they couldn't afford to shoot Vanessa's perspective using green-screen, so instead they came up with the "crazy idea" of painting the actors with glow-in-the-dark paint and shooting the scenes in the dark. The effect was intensified by offsetting the footage to create tracers, and then reversing the image - "it was supposed to tell the story that she sees the action before it actually happens," explains Peristere. "It was such a wacky idea and it really worked out well."
6. When Lindsey asks Angel for help, Angel pretends to be asleep to show that he does not take Lindsey seriously. In Angel: Not Fade Away (2004), Lindsey does the same with Angel.
7. First appearance of Holland Manners.
8. Last appearance of minor Wolfram & Hart baddie, Lee Mercer.
9. Holland Manners mentions it not being about good or evil, but it being about having the most power; the First Evil (in the guise of Buffy Summers) says the exact same thing in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lessons (2002).
10. The assignment details that Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley read indicates that the children arrived on April 28, 2000. This dates the final act, from when Angel breaks into Wolfram & Hart's Los Angeles offices to the rescue of the children on the date, and setting the episode itself likely entirely within just a few days of each other in April 2000.
11. Wesley first discovers the Shanshu Prophecy in this episode, an extremely influential action that will heavily affect Angel and his actions throughout the rest of the series. It also indicated for the first time that Angel truly had some greater destiny in store for him, since a prophecy was focused on him.
12. Producer Tim Minear explains that this episode provides a "detailed exploration of Wolfram & Hart, establishing the power base there and laying the groundwork for Season Two." It also provides backstory for the character of Lindsey, including his motivations for working at Wolfram & Hart.

To Shanshu in L.A.

1. The Vocah demons' name is the word havoc rearranged.
2. Final appearance of the Oracles.
3. This is the 100th episode of Buffy/Angel overall to be aired.
4. This is the only season finale not to feature Lorne and Fred.
5. On the DVD commentary, David Greenwalt said the reason the writers had the offices blow up was because it was very cramped and there wasn't much room to film.
6. This episode sets the stage for the Shanshu plot line that will continue through both the show and the subsequent comic book series. Angel learns of the Shanshu Prophecy, foretelling of a vampire with a soul playing a pivotal role in the Apocalypse, and in doing so, earning the right to live as human again. It is assumed this means Angel but the prophecy never refers to him by name and it is equally possible that it refers to Spike who also acquires a soul in the later seasons. However, the comic book continuation of the series, Angel: After the Fall, reveals that it is exclusively Angel whom the prophecy refers to. The Shanshu Prophecy also has an illustration of a firebreathing dragon on it which Angel will acquire at the end of the 5th season.
7. Julie Benz's name was placed at the end credits to keep her appearance as a surprise. Here, she is credited as a Special Guest Star.
8. Darla is resurrected by Wolfram & Hart, which will also play heavily into the entirety of the series.
9. Lindsey loses his hand, which proves pivotal for the gang to identify him by in his return in the fifth season.