Reprise

"Reprise" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of Angel and the thirty-seventh episode overall. Written by Tim Minear and directed by James Whitmore, Jr., it was originally broadcast on February 20, 2001 on the WB network.

While Lilah, Lindsey and the other lawyers of Wolfram &amp; Hart prepare a ritualistic gatherings for the demonic firm's impending 75 year review, Angel learns from various sources, including the Host, that the historically deadly event involves a visit from one of the Senior Partners. Things get more complicated when a revenge-seeking Darla shows up and gains possession of the glove. Meanwhile, Kate's life begins to fall apart when she is forced to resign from the police force due to her increasing involvement with the occult. Also, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn's new agency's business slows down, which leads to them being apart from each other.

Synopsis
Angel is becoming increasingly isolated and depressed, as incidents conspire to remind him of his failures and shortcomings. He prevents a sacrificial rite from being performed by two Wolfram & Hart employees who are nervous about something called "the Review". He asks Kate for information about the Review, but Kate&mdash;under investigation due to her connection with Angel&mdash;bitterly refuses, showing him crime scene photos from Holland Manners' wine cellar illustrating his involvement in the slaughter. Angel turns to Lorne, who tells Angel that a Wolfram & Hart Senior Partner is coming to earth for the historically deadly Review.

Lindsey returns home, where Darla has been recuperating. He gives her a container of human blood. When he goes to the shower, she stops feigning weakness and searches his briefcase.

In his single-minded obsession with taking down Wolfram & Hart, Angel shows up at the office of his former employees, needing a book, but when Cordelia refuses to let him take it, Angel grows cold and menacing. Wesley rises from his wheelchair and tells Cordy to let Angel have the book so he can remove himself from the premises. Cordelia vents about Angel until Wesley catches her attention: six stitches from his healing gunshot wound tore open when he stood up.

Kate faces a review board at her Internal Affairs investigation&mdash;the specific precipitating event was charges brought against her by the cop who had created the zombie policemen. He blames her for Angel's intrusion, and Kate cannot explain the true circumstances. The board believes she has become unstable due to her father's death. They fire her and demand her badge and gun.

Angel returns to the bookstore he had visited fifty years earlier when he had sought a way to exorcise the demon infesting the Hyperion Hotel (in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been). Now, he is in search of information on the Senior Partner. A decades-older Denver enthusiastically greets Angel, saying that seeing a vampire wanting to help humans against a demon changed his life. This reminds Angel of how he abandoned all of the humans to be slaughtered by the demon. Denver tells Angel that the demonic Senior Partner wears a ring that allows passage to Hell. To take the ring, Angel needs a one-of-a-kind magic glove that will allow him to touch the demon without being incinerated. Denver gets the glove from his kitchen, as he continues to talk about the positive effect Angel has had on his life. But before he can give the glove to Angel, Darla stabs him and Angel with a sword and takes the glove.

Virginia tells Wesley she is upset about the dangers he must often face. Having been raised by a sorcerer, she is used to monsters, but guns "make it too real." Wesley realizes that she is breaking up with him, and acknowledges how difficult it must be for her.

At her apartment, Kate is getting drunk on liquor. She has two shelves full of plaques and trophies celebrating her police career, which she throws to the floor. She sees a picture of her father and cries.

Wesley and Cordelia talk on the phone, both depressed about their lives and lack of work. Cordelia gets a call from Mrs. Sharp, who had earlier refused to pay Angel Investigations for removing the third eye from the back of her daughter's head because, she said, such things aren't possible and it must be a scam. Mrs. Sharp now offers to pay if Cordelia will come over. What Cordelia doesn't know is that Mrs. Sharp was being threatened into calling by a demon that kills her after she tells him Cordelia is on her way.

Angel arrives at the Review, and when he spots Darla in the crowd, the two fight while the Senior Partner materializes. Security guards attack Darla after Angel exposes her as a vampire by dousing her with holy water. In the confusion, Angel gets the glove away from Darla, dons it and flies at the demon's throat. The Senior Partner implodes, but the force of Angel's leap carries him crashing out the window. When he hits the ground, Angel puts on the ring, causing elevator doors to open in the foundation of the Wolfram & Hart building. A dead Holland (whose "contract extends well beyond death") offers Angel a one-way trip down to the "Home Office," which Angel assumes is Hell. Holland explains that Wolfram & Hart has been in existence since the dawn of humanity, in one form or another. After passing through nether realms of darkness and fire, the elevator comes to a stop and its doors open&mdash;right back where they started. The "Home Office" is Earth.

Angel walks away, feeling despair and hopelessness around him. Returning to the hotel, Kate is calling. When he doesn't pick up, Kate begins a message on the answering machine, in which she explains why she is killing herself. Angel mutes the machine. Upstairs, Angel finds Darla lying in wait for him and, realizing that he wants to feel something, anything, Angel kisses her. He has decided that nothing means anything, nothing matters. It's all futile, so he might as well do what he wants. At first, she pushes him away, but he takes her roughly and soon the two are having sex. Later, as a storm crashes outside, Angel wakes with a gasp and clutches his chest.

Continuity

 * This episode marks the first (and only) time that one of the Senior Partners appears on-screen.


 * The ending to this episode mimics the ending of the Buffy episode Surprise. The titles of the two episodes are also similar, further demonstrating the link between the two.