Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass is the twenty-first episode of the second season of Angel and the forty-third episode overall. Written and directed by Tim MInear, it was originally broadcast on May 15, 2001 on the WB network.

Trapped in the Pylea dimension, Angel and the group work overtime to survive, starting when Cordelia finds herself appointed ruling princess of Pylea by an order of priests and ordered to mate with a creature called the Groosalugg. Meanwhile, Angel saves a runaway human slave, and Wesley and Gunn manage to escape from the castle only to end up as captives of human Pylean rebels plotting to overthrow the monarchy.

Synopsis
Angel, Wesley, and Gunn are shocked to see Cordelia has been crowned princess of Pylea. She jokingly demands their heads be cut off, but quickly clarifies she is joking. After she dismisses the guards, Cordelia recounts how she became princess due to her visions. Lorne confirms his people have a prophecy that a messiah will come who is cursed with the sight, and who will save them all. Angel discovers that he can see himself in mirrors, and becomes very unhappy about his hair.

Lorne takes Angel to his family's house, where his family starts to chase Lorne away, as they consider him to be a traitor. However, his cousin, Landok from Belonging, identifies Angel as a hero, and the people celebrate Angel, who is made the special guest of their upcoming village feast. He then tells stories of his adventures to the people of Pylea while Lorne is ignored. Landok offers Angel the honor of "swinging the crebbil in the Bach-nal," and Angel agrees to take part. But when he arrives, he discovers that it means beheading a human so the people of Pylea can feast on her. Winifred “Fred” Burkle is brought forth, but Angel refuses to kill her. Instead, he grabs her to escape, and Lorne makes good the escape by singing "Stop, In the Name of Love," which causes severe pain to the Pyleans--theirs is a world without music (but with dancing, albeit very bad dancing).

While perusing the castle library, Wesley discovers "the cursed one" will have to perform something called a "com-shuk" with a Groosalugg. He considers asking the priests to translate the book, until he realizes it is part of a three-volume book marked with a different animal on the cover of each volume. The three animals are wolf, ram and hart, meaning that the book likely has some connection to the demon lawfirm that plagues them back in Los Angeles. Wesley concludes that they cannot trust the priests. Silas, one of the priests, arrives to inform Cordelia that the Groosalugg has been summoned and that the "com-shuk" is a mating ritual. Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia try to escape through a sewer tunnel, but Cordelia is caught by the priests and dragged back to her throne. Heavily guarded, Cordelia worries about mating with the demon, until Silas introduces the Groosalugg, who turns out to be a handsome and muscular young male who looks fully human.

Fred leads Angel to a cave where she has been hiding for a long while. Fred talks nervously as she crazily scribbles on the cave walls. Angel finds Fred's driver's license and realizes she is the girl from Cordy's vision, and that her scribbles are advanced physics, as she had been a graduate student in the field back in LA. She doesn't believe him when he tells her of her life in LA and how she got to Pylea, because she is too traumatized--she thinks she has been decapitated in the square, or has gone crazy. Angel convinces her that this is not true, and that he can rescue her. They make their way to the castle, but are attacked by guards. To fight them, he shifts into his vampire mode, but instead of merely getting sharp teeth and a somewhat distorted forehead and nose, he becomes pure demon, a mindless green creature with spikes and ridges on his face, and he brutally rips through the guard's body with his super-sized teeth. The other runs and Angel takes off as well, leaving Fred frightened and alone. Wesley and Gunn wander around lost, looking for Angel, until they are attacked by a green demon wearing Angel's clothes. It takes a while before Wesley recognizes Angel's tattoo. A short distance away, Fred coats her hand in blood and is able to lure Angel away from his friends with the smell. Demon Angel sees his reflection in water at Fred's cave and is suddenly motivated to switch back to human form. Gunn and Welsey are surrounded and tied up by rebel humans who want to send a message to the castle--they believe that Wesley and Gunn are spy-cows. Gunn and Wesley try to convince the rebels that they know the princess and suggest they use them to contact her. The rebels agree, but their idea involves decapitating the men and putting a note in the mouths of their severed heads. Fred comforts Angel as he painfully deals with the aftermath of being controlled by the demon inside of him. He concludes that his friends saw what he really was and now he can never go back to them.

The Groosalugg tells Cordelia that his human qualities make him unappealing to his people, so he battled with demons to end his existence, but instead of being killed by them, he defeated them, winning great honor as a warrior and earning the title of Groosalugg for his bravery and strength. Cordelia is smitten! Lorne is brought before Cordelia for judgment and he is almost sentenced to death, but Cordelia pardons him and then kicks him out so she can be alone with her future mate. Cordelia explains to the Groosalugg that she is not a princess, but he doesn't believe her because he sees that she fulfills the prophecy. This emboldens her and she decides to start writing proclamations and laws for the people of Pylea. Silas tells his fellow priests that the princess has requested paper so she can write proclamations. He is angry at her independent will and goes into her chamber and kicks out Groosalugg. He tells her she and Groosalugg are just tools and she will do what she is told. Cordelia refuses to accept that, until she is shocked into silence as Silas reveals Lorne's severed head displayed on the platter.

Starring

 * David Boreanaz as Angel
 * Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
 * Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
 * J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

Guest Starring

 * Andy Hallett as Lorne
 * Amy Acker as Winifred Burkle
 * Brody Hutzler as Landok
 * Tom McCleister as Lorne's Mother
 * Mark Lutz as The Groosalugg
 * Michael Phenicie as Silas

Co Starring

 * Adoni Maropis as Rebel Leader
 * Brian Tahash as Constable
 * Andrew Parks as Priest #1
 * Danan Pere as Rebel #1
 * Joss Whedon as Numfar

Production

 * Joss Whedon performed the role of Lorne's brother, Numfar, who performed the dance of joy and dance of honor for a while on camera.

Continuity

 * This is the only episode not to have any scenes in the Earth dimension.


 * Cordelia complains that she keeps meeting demons who want her to spawn their offspring. This has actually happened twice to Cordelia: in Expecting and in Epiphany. It came to fruition in a sense as Cordelia gave birth to Connor's offspring by the end of the episode Inside Out.