The Prodigal

"The Prodigal" is the fifteenth episode of the first season of Angel and the fifteenth episode overall. Written by Tim Minear and directed by Bruce Seth Green, it was originally broadcast on February 22, 2000 on the WB network.

In this episode, Detective Kate Lockley learns her father has been spending his retirement working as a middleman for a syndicate of demon drug-runners. In response to investigative pressure from Angel, the demon drug-lord orders Kate's father killed. Flashbacks show the human Angel struggling with his own father in 1753, incorporating scenes first shown in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Becoming, Part One", and showing how Angel killed his family after being turned into a vampire by Darla.

Synopsis
In a flashback to Galway, Ireland, 1753, Angel - at that point, still known as "Liam" - is fighting with his father. Enraged by his son's chronic fecklessness and current mocking demeanor, Liam's father slaps his son in the face, shouting that he'll always be a layabout and a scoundrel. In the present, Angel is fighting a demon that is dressed like a homeless person on the train tracks in a L.A. subway tunnel. As Detective Kate Lockley arrives on the scene, the demon clutches its chest, sinks to the ground and expires. Forced again to deal with L.A.'s dark side and Angel's place in it, Kate ironically wonders whether she should call the coroner or Hazardous Materials, while Angel tries to convince her not to report the supernatural aspects of this case. Later, as an officer interviews the Blue Circle courier who pulled the emergency cord after allegedly being attacked by "your average Joe-stink homeless guy," Angel's instincts are immediately aroused when he spots Kate's dad, retired police detective Trevor Lockley, take a package from the crime scene.

At Angel Investigations, Angel identifies the demon in one of Wesley's reference books as a Kwaini Demon, an inherently non-violent race. Angel visits Kate at the precinct, but as he explains that something must have set off the Kwaini demon in the subway, Kate interrupts, preferring that he say "evil thing" instead of "demon." He is unable to convince Kate that the demon she saw dead in the subway is not an evil evil thing. Kate is reluctant to admit that his news means that this case is not as routine as they initially believed. The AI team splits up to pursue their two leads. Angel follows the Blue Circle courier to an apartment building, where Trevor Lockley opens the door to the courier's knock and shoves a brown-wrapped package into the man's hands. Once the courier leaves, Angel confronts Trevor about the exchange, theorizing Trevor was returning the parcel he removed from the crime scene that morning. Intending to discover who Trevor is working for, Angel gives Kate's father a chance to come clean so they can take care of the problem without further police involvement. Taking umbrage at Angel's angry implication that he cares nothing for his daughter, Trevor tells Angel that he can't possibly interpret a father's actions, and slams the door in his face.

Trevor Lockley invites his daughter to lunch. He asks her questions about Angel. She tells him that Angel is a private investigator and a good one.

After locating the Kwaini's body in the subway tunnel, Wesley performs an autopsy which reveals the demon was on drugs, and attacked the train because someone on board had more of the drug. The drug not only made the normally peaceful Kwaini demon violent, but also enhanced its strength. Angel is concerned that the same drug might also enhance the strength of an already-powerful battle demon. Cordelia, who has been tailing the Blue Circle delivery driver, comes through the door. She has photographs that show the building from where the drug is coming, a business called Kel's Exotic Auto.

Trevor reports on Angel to the drug dealers. He does not know that Kel's Exotic Auto is in the drug business. He believes he is helping them to transport auto parts that have been illegally imported into the United States so as to avoid import duties. He resents being asked to remove objects from a crime scene and to pump his daughter for information, which he had never agreed to do, and advises his employers to "dial back" for a while.

In Galway, Liam tearfully bids goodbye to his mother and younger sister,and exchanges more harsh words with his father. Making his way back to the pub, Liam spends the remainder of the day carousing wildly. An elegantly dressed Darla watches in fascination as a very drunk Liam brawls with beautiful abandon, besting several men in quick succession. That night, luring the vulnerable young man into a dark alley with promises of exotic experiences and places, Darla sires Liam, first biting him, then drawing her own blood for him to drink in turn. That night, Angel rises from his grave and is greeted by Darla. She watches as he morphs and kills his first human, after which he visits his home and kills his family.

Two men in suits visit Trevor Lockley to make sure he hasn't said anything to his daughter. Angel arrives to warm Trevor of the danger in which he's involved, but before he can convince Mr. Lockley to invite him inside, the men in suits reveal themselves as vampires and kill Trevor. Angel tries to stop them, but is only able to enter after Lockley is dead although he does manage to stake one of the vampires. Kate arrives and finds her father dead. She trails the vampires to the demon drug lord's base, then stakes the vampire who killed her father. Angel shows up and helps her fight and kill the remaining vampires and finally chops off the head of the lead demon. Kate walks away, saying that Angel doesn't know anything about being human. Back in Angel's past, Darla finds that Angel has killed all of his family. She reminds him that even though his father is dead, his memory will always haunt him. Kate visits her father's grave while Angel watches from the safety of the shadows.

Continuity

 * 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 ("Innocence").


 * 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 the season one Buffy episode, "The Harvest", 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."


 * Some of the 1753 scenes were originally from Becoming, Part One.


 * We learn Angel's first name is Liam and he was born in 1727. He had a younger sister named Kathy.


 * Trevor Lockley was born in 1938.


 * According to Trevor Lockey's gravestone, this episode is one of the first (if not first) episodes to take place in (or at least reference to it being) the year 2000.

Production

 * This is the first appearance of Darla (Julie Benz) on Angel. Darla will become a key figure in the series, beginning with "To Shanshu in L.A.".

Pop Culture References

 * West Hollywood: Kate's father tries to guess what's "wrong" with the "tall, good looking" guy she brought to the retirement party, alluding to the city's homosexual population.

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

 * The cemetery groundskeeper who is Angel's first kill as a vampire recites the Lord's Prayer before he is bitten. However, he recites it improperly, omitting the phrase "on Earth as it is in Heaven."


 * It is implied in this episode that Cordelia had her 19th birthday two weeks earlier This would be later slightly contradicted in "Birthday", which sets her birthday in the second week of January.


 * When Angel rises from the grave, his breath (and Darla's) is clearly visible. Since vampires have no body heat, they are always at air temperature. Without a temperature differential, vapor cannot condense. 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.


 * In the scene between Kate and Angel in her office, talking about "evil evil things" the tip of a boom mike droops into scene