Angel

Season 2

Judgment

1. J. August Richards joins the regular cast and is billed in the opening credits as of this episode. This is also Andy Hallett's first appearance as The Host, later known as Lorne. Hallett is a regular guest star from this episode on, and eventually joins the regular cast during the fourth season.
2. This episode marks the first appearance of the Hyperion Hotel, which would later become Angel Investigations' base of operations.
3. Edward James Gage, who plays Mordar the Bentback, also played one of the movers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy vs. Dracula (2000), which aired immediately before this one when originally broadcast.
4. First appearance of 6, throughout seasons 2 and 3, for Merl the demon snitch.
5. This episode introduces the "champion" aspect of the show that stays until the final episode. The ideals of a champion are introduced and are explored for the rest of the series.
6. Angel's rendition of "Mandy" is the first indication that he is familiar with contemporary American pop culture; throughout his appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), he was consistently depicted as a "cultured" sort, collecting highbrow art and reading centuries-old literature, in direct contrast to thoroughly modern Spike. Angel's love of Barry Manilow songs would also go on to be an occasional running gag during the rest of the series' run. As seen in Angel: Orpheus (2003), "Mandy" was playing on a diner's jukebox when Angel, circa 1976, fed upon a dying man's blood; Angel felt such self-loathing from the act that it sent him on a twenty-year downward spiral, ending with him living as a derelict, feeding on rats. His use of the song on this occasion can be interpreted as self-recognition of how far he has come in his quest to redeem himself and how much farther he has yet to go.
7. One of the demons seen in Caritas belongs to the mouthless telepathic demon species previously seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Earshot (1999), though this one wears a robe while the ones in "Earshot" were naked. Another demon, sitting alongside Mordar the Bentback, looks quite like the reptile-headed demon trapped in the Initiative in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Moon Rising (2000).
8. This is one of the first episodes in which demons are shown of being capable of doing good. Angel experiences guilt after killing Jo's demon protector because he killed "an innocent being" and "a soldier like [him]self", and because it never occurred to him that a demon could be either of those things.
9. Starting with this episode, the series appears in widescreen (16:9) on the DVDs in the United States. The second season is still designed for standard definition televisions (4:3) and some syndicated airings show the 4:3 versions.
10. Eliza Dushku is credited in the closing credits of this episode instead of the opening ones. Although closing credits cast listings are usually reserved only for background characters with unimportant parts, or those with minimal or no speaking role, Dushku was placed here to keep Angel's visit to prison a surprise for the viewers. This same trick is used several other times in the series for the same effect.
11. This episode introduces the character of Lorne, known only as "The Host" until the last few episodes of the second season, at first a recurring friend and ally of Angel's team and then later a member of it. Lorne is the first truly good demon on the show and unlike the rest of the team, does very little fighting on the series. The only time Lorne takes an active role in the fight is during the Destruction of the Circle of the Black Thorn when he helps Lindsey destroy the Sahvrin Clan and then kills Lindsey himself on Angel's orders.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been

1. Alexis Denisof has cited this as one of his personal favourite episodes of Angel.
2. One of David Boreanaz's favorite episodes.
3. The phrase "are you now or have you ever been..." is strongly associated with the Red Scare/Blacklist era of the 1950s, when it was a commonly heard introduction to questions posed by the House Un-American Activities Committee to defendants they suspected of being Communists. The question can be heard during the 1950s section of the episode when footage (containing infamous Communist-hunter Senator Joseph McCarthy) is briefly visible on a television in the hotel lobby.
4. Cordelia and Wesley mention that the hotel bellhop's name was Frank Gilnitz. "Gilnitz" is a name that was often used for incidental or unseen characters on The X-Files (1993) (usually with the first name John); it became a running joke on that show. The name was an amalgam of the names of longtime X-Files writers John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz. The writer of this Angel (1999) episode, Tim Minear, was a writer and story editor for "The X-Files".
5. Joss Whedon considers this one of the best episodes of the series.
6. When the bookstore owner, Denver, asks Angel how old he was when he was made, Denver suggests that he was just over 30. Angel looks offended and says no. At the time of filming this episode David Boreanaz was 31, though the character of Angel was turned into a vampire at 26, supposedly staying that age for eternity.
7. The close-up of the article about Judy shows the first paragraph is about Judy, while the rest of the article contains generic sentences not specific to any event and appear to repeat.
8. When Angel enters the store, the shopkeeper throws a Bible at him and when Angel catches it, it burns him. This is the first instance where it is shown that Bibles are also harmful to vampires.
9. This is another episode by Tim Minear that explores Angel's background. "He's cynical, I-don't-get-involved guy, and I thought that was a very interesting place to be," says Minear. "Although he does reach out to help someone in the episode, it doesn't take much to push him out of that light." When fans point out the flashback scene in Buffy in which Angel is living on the streets of New York City, Minear deflects the accusation of employing retroactive continuity by saying, "I don't believe he was thrown out of that room in Romania by Darla in 1898 and has been on the street ever since... In the 1950's, that was the beginning of his descent into the streets."
10. Room 217 is the same room Jack Torrance visits in Stephen King's novel 'The Shining'.
11. This episode introduces the Hyperion Hotel, which will be Angel's main set until the end of season 4. Production designer Stuart Blatt explains that after blowing up Angel's cramped office in the season 1 finale, he had the opportunity to create a bigger, more "film-friendly" set that the crew and cameras could move through freely. Joss Whedon suggested an abandoned hotel, something similar to the hotel in Barton Fink (1991). The exterior shots of the Hyperion are of a historical building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles called the Los Altos Hotel & Apartments, which Blatt had previously used in Angel: I Fall to Pieces (1999). The Los Altos was home to many Hollywood celebrities - including Bette Davis, Mae West, and William Randolph Hearst - before the Great Depression, similar to the fictional history of the Hyperion featured in this episode. Blatt says the front doors of the Hyperion are "exact duplicates" of those at the Los Altos, and the back garden closely resembles the back garden in the apartments, which allows the crew to film the characters entering and exiting the building on location. "Then we cut to the interior of the hotel," Blatt says, which is on a sound stage, "and it all works fairly seamlessly".
12. The hotel manager in the flashback is played by actor John Kapelos, who was a regular cast member of Forever Knight (1992). The show was about a vampire cop/detective trying to atone for his past sins by solving murder cases.
13. The episode makes several references to the horror novel The Shining, particularly the guests at a hotel being driven to insanity by unseen forces. Series creator Joss Whedon is a huge fan of the film version.
14. The first cut of this episode ran 9 minutes longer than broadcast requirements.
15. Denver will make a reappearance in Angel: Reprise (2001) as an old man in the present.
16. The actor resident of the hotel is pretty obviously based.on on Rock Hudson. Specifically his Male Room guest and the threats of a journalist to expose his peccadilloes.
17. When discussing the guy in 215's suicide, Angel suggests to Judy that "the wallpaper drove him to it." This is a reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Juliet Landau (Drusilla) would go on to star in The Yellow Wallpaper (2012).
18. Tim Minear, the writer of this episode, says that he often gets asked about what Angel did with the stolen money that he recovered from its hiding place fifty years after stashing it in the hotel (since the money is never again mentioned in a subsequent episode). Minear says that as far as he is concerned, Angel did not keep the money or use it to buy the hotel - instead, Minear says that Angel sent it back to the bank in Salina, Kansas, from which Judy stole it in 1952.
19. In this episode, we see that Angel drank human blood (albeit from a bottle and not live victims) in the '50s, instead of pig's blood as he does in the present day. This could explain his less than moral decision to leave the residents of the hotel to the Thesulac demon. Later, in Angel: Sleep Tight (2002), we see that drinking human blood again results in a less empathetic Angel.
20. The flashback scenes reveal that in the 1950's, Angel bore "a contempt for humanity that is reminiscent of Angelus but without the sadism". His decision to allow Thesulac demon to feed on the hotel residents foreshadows his decision later in the season to allow Darla and Drusilla to slaughter the Wolfram & Hart lawyers. Both times Angel deems that the humans in jeopardy aren't worth saving.

First Impressions

1. In Angel: Parting Gifts (1999), Wesley rides Avery American Big Dog motorcycle. In this episode he rides a very British Triumph motorcycle.
2. This episode marks the beginning of Darla's mental games against Angel, starting by interfering with his dreams.
3. Cordelia sports an outfit identical to the one Buffy wore in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001) and Angel: I Will Remember You (1999).
4. Cordelia's vision foreshadows Gunn's death at the end of Angel: Not Fade Away (2004).

Untouched

1. The first time series creator Joss Whedon directed an episode he didn't write.
2. Angel asks Cordelia if she knew what it was like to be run through with a rebar and she says she does. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lovers Walk (1998) she fell through a set of stairs and was run through by a piece of rebar. Also, Charisma Carpenter actually was run through by a piece of rebar when she was a child. The scar is visible on her stomach.
3. This is the first appearance of Gunn's hubcap axe.
4. When Angel awakes and heads downstairs, you can hear Cordelia and Wesley arguing in the background. Cordelia calls Wesley "a sheep" and he says he's "not a sheep!" In Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (1998), Cordelia breaks up with Xander because her friends disapprove thinking Xander is not "cool". At the end of that episode, Harmony is verbally abusing Xander when Cordelia tells her to shut up and calls her a sheep; because she's a follower and does and likes what everyone else does rather than having an opinion of her own.
5. This is the first episode to be written by Mere Smith, who would remain as one of the show's main writers until the end of the fourth season.
6. Gunn officially joins Angel Investigations in this episode.
7. The dream Darla is giving Angel is of his murder of a gypsy girl. Though not explicitly stated, this is likely supposed to be the same event shown in flashback in Angel: Five by Five (2000), the turning point in Angel's life, although the dream sequence does not match exactly with the flashback. The aftermath of this event is shown in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998) - the gypsy girl's family curses Angel by restoring his soul.
8. When Lilah responds to Angel's remark about finding someone else's brain to play with (she replies "Yeah, we have someone in mind"). She is referring to the games they're currently playing Angel's mind through Darla.
9. Cordelia claims "You can't fire me", foreshadowing Angel doing exactly that: he fires all of his employees a few episodes later.

Dear Boy

1. When Angelus tells Darla his plan to turn Drusilla, even she seems appalled. It's a testament to just how twisted Angelus really was when his evil deeds made other evil things cringe.
2. First appearance in the series by Juliet Landau playing Drusilla.
3. Marti Noxon made some uncredited script contributions to this episode.
4. The flashback scenes take place in England in 1860.
5. Kate sends a police SWAT team to search the Hyperion Hotel. In real life the Ambassador Hotel which substituted for the Hyperion was used as a training ground for police SWAT team exercises.
6. Elisabeth Röhm's first appearance as Detective Kate Lockley in Season 2.
7. The conversation Wesley and Cordelia have about Cordelia's visions (and how they affect Wesley's salary) mirrors one between Cordelia and Doyle at the end of Angel: I Fall to Pieces (1999).
8. Cordelia says that Angel is 248; he corrects her to 247. This indicates that Angel is counting from the day he was sired (and not including the hundred years spent in Acathla's Hell dimension), in 1753 (he was already 26 years old at the time).
9. The German episode title, "Wiedersehen macht Feinde" ("Reunions make enemies"), is a play on words with the expression "Wiedersehen macht Freude" ("Make sure you give it back").

Guise Will Be Guise

1. First appearance in the series of Brigid Brannagh playing Wesley's on-off love interest Virginia Bryce.
2. While Cordelia is looking through the criminal database, series producer Kelly A. Manners can be seen on a photo under the name Irwin Oliver.
3. This marks the start of Wesley becoming a more fully developed, independent demon fighter in his own right, rather than simply providing the team with information and getting in the way of his allies.
4. Angel is able to enter Bryce's house without being invited in. In Angel: Rm w/a Vu (1999), he is able to enter Cordelia's house before she invites him in, explaining that she had told him he was always welcome once she found a place - the invitation had taken effect once she signed the lease. This suggests that when Wesley had been invited in, the fact that the invitation had been intended for Angel was sufficient enough to allow him to enter the house.
5. Wesley becomes the third member of Angel Investigations to drink blood, as Cordelia was the second in Angel: Expecting (2000).
6. In Angel: Heartthrob (2001), Angel again tries to seek out spiritual guidance after Buffy's death at the end of Season 5. This time, he visits a group of Sri Lankan monks, who turn out to be Shur-hod demons.
7. llink=nm0219206] enjoyed playing Angel in this episode, although when the BBC asked him what the props team used for the fake blood he had to drink, he was unsure. "I should find out," he says. "I haven't been feeling well ever since."

Darla

1. The crossover episode Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000) aired earlier the same night: November 14, 2000. Complementing each other, the Buffy episode features flashbacks to the events at the Boxer rebellion from Spike's point of view. However, the episode also has a shot that mirrors a shot from the previous Buffy episode, [link=tt0533463, where Buffy jumps through a high window with the dying monk in her arms to protect him from Glory. The Angel episode has a shot of Angel jumping through a window, carrying the missionaries' baby while fleeing from Darla.
2. This episode was Tim Minear's directorial debut. He says he felt it was time to explore Darla's history, which "should really be her story with Angel throughout the 150 years that they were together." When Joss Whedon pointed out that they were already doing a Spike origin story on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Minear suggested they do both.
3. This is the only episode of either Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) or Angel (1999) in which Spike appears in flashbacks but no present day scenes.
4. The first Angel (1999) episode to be named after a character.
5. The flashback scenes take place in the Colony of Virginia in 1609, London in 1760 and 1880, Romania in October 1898 and Beijing in 1900.
6. This episode marks the only appearance of the Master in the series.
7. Although this episode shows Angel and Darla's romantic history, Tim Minear cautions, "at no time was I trying to play this as being Angel's true love. It's more like the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; this troubled, old married couple with secrets. I wasn't trying to take Buffy's place in his heart by any stretch of the imagination. But here's a guy who's been around for a couple of hundred years before he ever met Buffy and certainly he was shaped in some way." He explains that despite cries of retconning from fans - who saw in the Buffy episode "Becoming, Part One" that Angel was living on the streets of New York in the early 1990s - he doesn't believe Angel was "thrown out of that room in Romania by Darla in 1898 and has been on the street ever since."
8. Composer Robert J. Kral says this is his favorite episode to have scored, as he was able to write several different themes for the character of Darla. He was asked by Tim Minear to write music that was "epochy. Something with horns...something Wagnerish." Kral and Thomas Wanker deliberately choose not to collaborate, so that the cross-over scenes would "maintain a different perspective," Kral says.
9. Gaffer Dan Kerns' girlfriend Heidi Strickler played the frightened mother in the alley whom Angel attempts to shelter.
10. The flashback to Romania, in 1898, reveals more of the events surrounding the return of Angel's soul. The events take place soon after those from a flashback from Angel: Five by Five (2000), where Darla first realizes Angel has a soul. The murder of the Romani girl is also shown in that episode, and the return of his soul itself is shown in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 1 (1998).
11. During the flashback to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, Spike mentions killing a Slayer. This would be Xin Rong, the first Slayer he killed, which he recounts in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fool for Love (2000). This fight is the source of Spike's scar, which is still freshly bleeding in the flashback.
12. Julie Benz says the flashback scenes are "the high points" of playing Darla; her favorite scene is the Boxer Rebellion.
13. Darla is sired by the Master, and initially brings Angelus to him and the Order of Aurelius. Although she leaves the Order with Angelus in 1760, by the time Buffy arrives in Sunnydale in Welcome to the Hellmouth (1997), Darla is once again with the Master. Presumably, Darla returned to the Master at some point after kicking Angel out at the beginning of the 20th century for having been cursed with a soul.
14. Tim Minear likens the storytelling approach in this episode to the non-linear, looping technique exhibited by Pulp Fiction (1994): "It's a different story happening in the same universe."
15. This is the first mention of Holland's last name on the show.
16. Joss Whedon stated this episode as his all-time favorite episode, during an "Attack of the Show" interview.
17. In flashback, when Angelus meets The Master and is unimpressed that he lives in the sewers, The Master replies, "We wait below and pay tribute to The Old Ones." Although it doesn't seem significant at the time, The Old Ones are finally explained in Angel: A Hole in the World (2004) and are a huge plot point for the remainder of the series.
18. Gunn's deduction and explanation on where Wolfram & Hart could be housing Darla foreshadows the personality he would adopt on Season 5 when he becomes a lawyer after having a brain "upload".
19. Drusilla's line "Don't be cross. I could be your mummy" foreshadows her siring of Darla in Angel: The Trial (2000).

The Shroud of Rahmon

1. When Gunn and Angel begin to argue as a result of the effects of the Shroud, Angel mentions Gunn's sister. This is a reference to the events of Angel: War Zone (2000) in which Alonna, Gunn's sister, is captured and turned into a vampire. The mention of Alonna is further suggestion that Gunn's continued fight against demons is fueled by his guilt over her death and his failure to protect her.
2. In the opening scene when Cordelia and Wesley are discussing how much time Angel spends thinking about Darla, Cordelia comments on Wesley's suit and assumes he's going to "yet another glamorous celebrity filled gala with Ms. Virginia Bryce." This is the first indication that Wesley and Virginia continued their relationship after Angel: Guise Will Be Guise (2000). Their relationship will continue for several more episodes before Virginia leaves to distance herself from Wesley's demon filled lifestyle.
3. When Kate interrupts the heist and Angel mentions her obsession with her father's death, he is referring to Angel: The Prodigal (2000) in which Kate's father, Trevor, is killed by a vampire associate of Wolfram & Hart.

The Trial

1. Holtz is mentioned for the first time in one of this episode's flashbacks. He would later appear in the first episode of the third season, and become that season's major threat.
2. Darla foreshadows the season four villain, Jasmine, when she is outside the Hyperion and notices jasmine flowers. She says "Jasmine, it blooms at night. I remember what that was like." The character Jasmine took the name after noticing the flowers in Angel: Shiny Happy People (2003), soon after she was born. The comparison between jasmine flowers and vampires was previously made in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I Only Have Eyes for You (1998).
3. Tim Minear insisted that Julie Benz do her own singing for the song "Ill Wind" during the scene at Caritas, the nightclub owned by The Host. She says she suffers "horrible stage fright" when trying to sing. David Greenwalt convinced her she could do it; she claims it "took a lot of courage for me to go in and do it, 'cause I am not a singer."
4. Angel is invited into Lindsey's apartment. However, Lindsey moves out of his apartment in the next episode, rendering the invitation useless again.
5. One of the reasons Cordelia doesn't trust Darla may be that she was the one who handed her over to Luke to feed on in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Harvest (1997).
6. Angel theorizes that because he has a soul, the siring process might be different. In Angel: Why We Fight (2004) we learn that Angel sired someone during World War II. It turns out that, though it is different, it isn't in the way Angel would have wanted.
7. Production designer Stuart Blatt says, "The long hallway we built with the crosses emblazoned on the floor and embedded on the walls was one of my favorite sets we'd ever done."
8. Juliet Landau's name is only in the end credits to make sure the audience is surprised when Drusilla shows up at the end to sire Darla.
9. Jasmine seizes the life Angel earns from the trials to ensure Connor's conception and her ultimate arrival on earth.

Reunion

1. Angel's decision to let Darla and Drusilla slaughter the lawyers was similar to Buffy Summers' choice to leave Billy Fordham at the mercy of Spike, Drusilla, and their gang of vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lie to Me (1997).
2. Drusilla sings "Run and Catch" while standing over Darla's body, a song she says her mother used to sing to her in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lie to Me (1997).

Redefinition

1. Angel does not speak aloud during this episode, only in voiceover. This is the only episode of the series in which he does not have any dialogue.
2. Living up to its title, this episode resets all the characters. Joss Whedon did some major rewrites to Mere Smith's screenplay to accommodate these changes. Smith was very happy with the amendments.
3. Multiple shots from this episode were used in the opening credits for seasons 3, 4 and 5, including at least two shots of Angel and one of Lorne.
4. This is the first episode in the Buffyverse where we hear Drusilla call Darla by name. It's one of only two episodes where she does so, the second being Angel: Destiny (2003).
5. Wesley tells Angel that "someone has to fight the good fight," ironically echoing a sentiment that Angel himself taught Doyle.
6. Drusilla's pre-cognitive abilities are shown earlier in the episode when she sees "Such pretty fire and pain!" This was an accurate prediction of Angel setting Darla and Drusilla on fire.
7. This marks the beginning of Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn forming an agency separate from Angel. This split will be reconciled in Angel: Epiphany (2001).
8. Lindsey and Lilah are appointed the joint co-Vice Presidents of the Special Projects Division at Wolfram & Hart.

Blood Money

1. The character of Anne was the vampire worshiper Chanterelle in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lie to Me (1997) and the runaway Lily in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998). In the latter episode, she assumed Buffy's alias, apartment, and job at a diner.
2. Angel and Anne Steele had met briefly in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Lie to Me (1997) when he, Willow, and Xander investigate Ford's vampire-worshiping cult. At the beginning of the episode, when Angel pretends to accidentally run into Anne the two appear to be unfamiliar with each other. Given that it's been three years, the two only met very briefly and Anne is going by a new name, it's likely (but not certain) that the two do not recognise each other (something Mere Smith confirmed to be a conscious decision on her part).
3. On video, Wes does an impression of Sean Connery. In real life, Alexis Denisof starred with Connery in First Knight (1995). Furthermore, the original outline for Wesley describes him as a man who thinks he's James Bond, when he's really George Lazenby.
4. During the fundraiser, a woman asks one of the TV actresses why her character had been made gay and if it had just been for the ratings. This is a reference to Willow Rosenberg, who came out in the previous season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
5. First appearance of Nathan Reed.
6. When Anne confesses that she used to think that vampires were the coolest, Angel asks her what happened and she replies she met one. This vampire she refers to is Spike.
7. This episode reveals that the Senior Partners know Angel will play a vital role in the future apocalypse, but they are unsure if he will fight for the side of good or the side of evil.

Happy Anniversary

1. When Angel was attacked by a Lubber Demon in the physics lab, it was wielding a Hunga Munga, an African blade. It was previously used by Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne (1998).
2. When Angel says he can relate to love and how it might destroy the world, he is referring to the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998), and the culmination of said events in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Becoming: Part 2 (1998).
3. The first episode in Angel that introduced the theme of Angel being a "Champion," affirmed in this instance by the Host.
4. The library is called "Reynolds Library" Malcolm Reynolds is a character in Firefly (2002).
5. When the scientist jokes about submerging her colleague's face in liquid nitrogen, this is a reference to Jason X (2000)
6. The lab shown is reused when Angel and the team move to Wolfram & Hart in series 5.

The Thin Dead Line

1. When she's at the shelter, Cordelia exclaims that a girl is wearing her shirt - "Hey, that's my--sorry. I have a shirt just like that." Cordy is indeed correct, as it's one of the pieces of her clothing Angel (un)kindly donated to Anne in the previous episode Angel: Blood Money (2001).
2. The plotline of Stephanie Sharp's extra eye will continue in the next two episodes.
3. It is revealed that Gunn and Anne had met off-screen during Anne's stay in LA.
4. Cordelia meets Angel for the first time since he fired his entire team and tells him to "stay away."
5. Wesley was shot in the stomach. He will later suffer a fatal stab wound in the same location in Angel: Not Fade Away (2004).
6. Anne Steele makes her second appearance in the series. She will make one more appearance in Angel: Not Fade Away (2004).

Reprise

1. One of the people sacrificing goats at the beginning of the episode is writer/producer David Fury, who later has a larger acting role in Angel: Smile Time (2004).
2. This episode marks the first (and only) time that one of the Senior Partners appears on-screen.
3. The ending to this episode mimics the ending of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Surprise (1998). The titles of the two episodes are also similar, further demonstrating the link between the two.
4. This episode marks the last appearances of Holland Manners and Virginia Bryce.
5. This episode was originally set to end with the death of Darla but Joss Whedon overruled that decision.

Epiphany

1. This marks the final appearance of Elisabeth Röhm as Kate Lockley in the series. Röhm left the show to join the cast of Law & Order (1990), where she starred until 2004.
2. When Darla realizes that Angel's soul remains intact, she asks, "Was I...not good?" This echoes Buffy's dismay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Innocence (1998), when the newly unleashed Angelus gives her the brush-off the morning after.
3. On Wednesday, February 12, 2014, Comedy Central's program "The Daily Show" aired a segment about Russian crackdowns on gay rights activists before and during the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones interviewed one of the few gay rights activists he could find in Sochi and asked her, "are you hopeful that Russia can change?" Her response was: "I have to hope, because otherwise it's too depressive....I really do it just to not be ashamed of me, of my way of living. I want to look at the eyes of my children and my grandchildren, and say, I did all I could. As a quote from your--from an American TV show--it's called 'Angel'--there is a wonderful phrase there: 'If nothing we do matters all that matters is what we do.'" This line comes from the episode "Epiphany," during the scene when Angel is telling Kate about his recent realizations about how to help ease suffering in the world.
4. This is the second occasion Cordelia is impregnated by a demon, the first being Angel: Expecting (2000).
5. It is not revealed if Angel's ability to enter Kate's apartment without an invitation was because she briefly died or because the Powers That Be intervened to allow him to save her.
6. Angel's speech to Kate about fighting evil is reminiscent to the one he gives Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread (1999).
7. Lindsey McDonald is shown driving an old pick-up truck with an Oklahoma license plate. In real life actor Christian Kane who plays Lindsey drove to Hollywood, CA in an old pick-up truck from his home in Oklahoma. When the character of Lindsey left the show, he drove away in this same truck.
8. Angel rejoins the Angel Investigations team, albeit as their employee rather than as their employer. This will continue until Angel: Forgiving (2002), when Wesley kidnaps Connor after being tricked into believing that Angel will kill him and is subsequently kicked out of the agency. When he eventually returns after Angel: Habeas Corpses (2003), Angel remains in charge.
9. Angel and Darla's night of passion has far-reaching consequences, as she becomes pregnant with Connor.
10. This episode is a small homage to Lethal Weapon. The house used in this episode is the same house used in the Lethal Weapon movies. It is Detective Murtaugh's home (Danny Glover). The house once again has a car crash through the front window similar to the first Lethal Weapon movie when Detective Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Detective Murtaugh did it as a distraction.

Disharmony

1. Cordelia's warning to Harmony is a paraphrase of what Angel says to the vamps in Angel: War Zone (2000).
2. This also marks the first appearance of Harmony Kendall in the series. Harmony will not appear again on either show until the fifth season where she eventually becomes a main character.
3. Cordelia's immediate reconciliation with Angel after he buys her new clothes is reminiscent of how she made peace with Xander when he paid for her prom dress in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999).
4. Cordelia becomes aware of Willow's lesbianism for the first time.
5. This marks the first appearance of Willow Rosenberg in the series. She will appear in two more episodes - Angel: There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb (2001) and Angel: Orpheus (2003).
6. The bookcase in Willow's dorm room is located on the wall it was originally on. Starting from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Forever (2001), the bookcase is on a different wall in Buffy.

Dead End

1. Christian Kane recalls the scene in which he and Angel are driving to the Wolfram & Hart clinic as another of his favorite moments from his time on the series. "When we're driving in the car, it was five o'clock in the morning, the sun was getting ready to come up and it was the last shot of the day and it's colder than shit," he jokingly recalls. "We're in a convertible car and it was so easy. It's very easy to act with him and it's really not a big scene but it was just me and David. Five o'clock, very tired, very cold and we're driving in this car and we got it done. There was a lot of dialogue and there were a lot of emotions going on in that time and it was very simple."
2. In the final scene Angel warns Lindsey not to return to LA and Lindsey warns Angel not to play Wolfram & Hart's game. Neither listen to one another's advice and both regret it.
3. This episode marks the beginning of the visions starting to take a more serious toll on Cordelia's physical and mental health. In fact, in Angel: Birthday (2002), the gang discovers that Cordelia has been having medical tests on her head for over a year.
4. Final appearance of Nathan Reed.
5. "L.A. Song", the song Lindsey sings at Caritas, was written by Christian Kane and producer David Greenwalt. The guitar was recorded with Steve Carlson playing, but Kane is actually singing.
6. Lindsey has decided to "retire" from Wolfram & Hart, leading to Lilah's promotion and increased prominence for her on the show in seasons to come. Lindsey himself will not return until Angel: Destiny (2003).

Belonging

1. This is one of the first times Angel shows that he might have deeper feelings for Cordelia, given the way he reacts after witnessing commercial director Seth making flippant, rude comments about her appearance, diet and desirability in a moment of anger.
2. Cordelia is the first to travel to Lorne's home, Pylea, but the others would soon follow.
3. This episode marks Fred's first appearance (albeit in flashback). She would go on to join the regular cast until the she is replaced toward the end of the fifth season by Illyria, also played by Amy Acker.
4. This is the final episode in which Cordelia tries to gain an acting career. After this, she purely focuses on "helping the helpless" and accepts her visions as her responsibility. In Angel: Birthday (2002), she discovers what her life would have been like if she became a famous actress and never met up with Angel in L.A. In this reality, Cordelia still chooses to help people and turns away from acting.
5. Wesley's telephone conversation displays his strained relationship with his father, which is revisited in Angel: Lineage (2003).
6. The Host's real name was revealed as "Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan" or Lorne as he is mostly referred to.

Over the Rainbow

1. The hell beast that chases Cordy when she first arrives in pylea is the same kind of creature that Tucker uses to attack the prom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Prom (1999).
2. The actor playing the Hell Beast (Lee Whittaker) had to endure 4 hours of costume and prosthetic fittings to transform his appearance. Once in costume, Whittaker was unable to go to the bathroom.
3. This episode is the first appearance of Gavin Park, who became a recurring character in the third and fourth seasons.
4. Despite fan speculation that the Pylea episodes were due to Julie Benz being unavailable for the conclusion of the Darla storyline, Tim Minear says the writers decided they were "weary of the Darla drama" and wanted the finale to be something "totally unexpected" instead. Julie Benz confirmed that she left because the writers had "played out the storyline as much as possible."
5. It is established that Angel was in the Tower of London at some point.
6. Among the things he lists as things he'd rather have to do instead of return to his home dimension, Lorne says "I'd rather sit through a junior high school production of Cats." Lorne's dislike for the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber was made known in Angel: Reprise (2001).
7. Persia White plays a psychic in this episode. She later played a witch who then became a vampire on The Vampire Diaries (2009) and married the star of the spinoff The Originals (2013), Joseph Morgan.
8. The scene in which Angel opens the portal to Pylea was shot outside Paramount Pictures, where the series is filmed.
9. Production designer Stuart Blatt says the location department had found a movie ranch with a standing set for a "Tijuana town," which they dressed for the Boxer Rebellion scenes of Angel: Darla (2000) and used again for the village of Pylea. He says, "it just so happens that the Chinese province town which looked a lot like Mexico also happens to look a lot like England, or Pylea or any other medieval pseudo Euro-space, alternative dimension with two suns kind of world". The set designers added timbers to the existing clay buildings, put thatching on the roofs, and created stalls for merchants and vendors. Blatt says their animal wranglers brought in "medieval chickens and goats and pigs and yaks" and old chariots were reconstructed to create the vehicles.

Through the Looking Glass

1. The title is from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. It is the sequel to Alice In Wonderland. Through the Looking Glass is most well known for The Jabberwocky. Another ode to Lewis Carrol is Cordelia saying, "Off with their heads!" said by the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland who later blends with the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass. Alice also goes through the mirror to enter another world just as the main characters have entered into another world.
2. This is the only episode of series not to have any scenes in the Earth dimension.
3. As was pointed out as recently as Angel: Disharmony (2001), soulless vampires are not truly humans who have been transformed into vampires, but demons who inhabit the bodies of dead humans to become vampires, their personas shaped by the humans' memories. Prior to regaining his soul, Angel, originally named Liam, was such a being, a demon who, in combination with Angel's original personality, became Angel's evil persona Angelus; only the restoration of Angel's human soul (e.g. the original Liam whom the demon supplanted) suppressed the demon/Angelus. Angel's demonic form in this episode, which he inadvertently assumes when displaying his vampiric nature, is thus presumably the demon who originally possessed Liam's dead body, looking as it would without the human influence that originally caused it to become Angelus.
4. When Angel is telling stories to the Pyleans, he refers to the events of the first season finale, Angel: To Shanshu in L.A. (2000), in which Angel cuts off Lindsey McDonald's hand in order to save the Scrolls of Aberjian. In the story, he refers to Lindsey as a "lawyer-beast." There is also a reference to the events of Angel: I Fall to Pieces (1999); Landok asks Angel to tell the story of the "sorcerer who could remove his limbs and reassemble at will."
5. Angel is encouraged to behead Fred in the village center, with Landok telling him, "It is a great honor to swing the crebbil at the Bach-nal." Landok also says, "Strike quickly and true, Angel, then we can eat." The word suggests bacchanal, a revel for the Greco-Roman god Bacchus. Certainly the bacchanalia festivals included eating and drinking. It is typical of Pylea - which is apparently tainted by the Wolf, Ram, and Hart - that the party would start by killing a "cow," as the humans are called.
6. Cordelia mentions that her parents were busted for tax fraud and that her trust fund dried up.
7. This episode gives the first hints to the real meaning of the name "Wolfram & Hart", and thus the true nature of the "Senior Partners". It also shows that they have vast reach and influence: not just on earth, but in other dimensions as well.
8. When Angel looks in to the mirror, he attempts to flatten his hair. Ironically enough, the general poofiness of his hair is something Spike mocks him for many times.
9. This episode marks the first appearance of the Groosalug.
10. Joss Whedon: Plays Numfar the character doing various dances in the background of scenes.
11. Cordelia complains that she keeps meeting demons who want to impregnate her with their spawn. This has actually happened twice: in Angel: Expecting (2000) and in Angel: Epiphany (2001). It came to fruition in a sense as Cordelia gives birth to Connor's offspring by the end of Angel: Inside Out (2003).

There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb

1. To get the effect of Lorne's detached head, Andy Hallett's body was digitally removed from many scenes. In other situations, an animatronic radio-controlled head was used.
2. When Cordelia originally received the power to have visions from Doyle, she tried to pass them on to anyone available, including Wesley when he first arrived in Los Angeles. In spite of, or perhaps because of, having experienced the pain and emotional suffering of the victims she has seen in her visions, by this episode she refuses to give up the power, describing it as "an honour."
3. Alyson Hannigan's name was placed at the end credits to keep her appearance as a surprise.
4. Fred's travel to and from Pylea is one factor in the eventual rise of Jasmine, as explained in Angel: Shiny Happy People (2003).
5. When Angel mistakenly believed Cordelia said she loved him, she angrily retorts, "Not you, dumbass!". This is the exact opposite of her realization she's in love with Angel in Angel: Tomorrow (2002).
6. It is established that Lorne, as a Pylean, has 3 toes and can survive having his head removed as long as his body isn't mutilated. In contrast, Silas and his species of demons cannot survive without their heads, something the rebels confirmed.
7. Willow's hair is straight in this episode, changing from the usual curled/wavy style that she wears through the majority of Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997).
8. The Groosalugg says that Cordelia, as a human, is not meant to have the visions, reiterating what Wesley and Angel said. As a half-demon, Doyle could cope with the visions, but as a human, Cordelia is becoming increasingly sick as a result of the visions.
9. Willow comes to tell Angel that Buffy has died, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Gift (2001).