Birthday

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"Birthday" is the eleventh episode of the third season of Angel and the fifty-fifth episode overall. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Michael Grossman, it was originally broadcast on January 14, 2002 on The WB network.

Synopsis

On her birthday, Cordelia's visions become so painful that they propel her into an astral state and a life-threatening coma. Visited by a demon guide, astral Cordy is mystically granted the opportunity to live her dream of a rich and famous actress if she is willing to give up her history with Angel and her visions.

Summary

The Angel Investigations team holds a surprise birthday party for Cordelia, featuring a cake with an image of her as a superhero drawn in frosting. Cordelia has a vision and crashes into the weapons cabinet. When she wakes up, she watches the AI team pick up her body and place it on a couch. She tries to speak to them, but they can't hear her. When Lorne comes downstairs, he not only fails to see or hear Cordelia, but walks right through her.

Angel discovers a vial of pills. Cordelia has been taking Seltrax, a powerful migraine medication, without telling her colleagues. The AI team splits up into squads. Fred and Gunn go to Cordelia's apartment to search for clues to her condition, where they find that Phantom Dennis has prepared his own birthday party for Cordelia. At the Hyperion Hotel, Wesley reads up on astral projection, guessing that Cordelia might be on the astral plane and unable to communicate.

At Cordelia's apartment, Fred and Gunn cannot find any medications. Fred guesses that Dennis is covering up for Cordelia. When Gunn asks Dennis for help, explaining that Cordelia might die, Dennis moves a plastic box from under her bed. It contains medicines with prescription dates of a year before.

At the hotel, Angel tells the sleeping Cordelia that he is angry at her for keeping secrets from him when he might've been able to help. Lorne enters, places his fingers on Cordelia's temples, and tries to sense her presence. He says Cordelia is not in her body. Angel pressures Lorne to use his connections with The Powers That Be to help Cordelia.

After Lorne leaves, Angel nods off in his chair and Cordelia's astral projection enters his body. Angel's body, now under Cordelia's control, rises, picks up a marker, and begins writing an address on the wall. Before the number is finished, a swirling black shape appears and Cordelia is expelled from Angel's body.

Wesley enters. Angel says he dreamed that Cordelia was trying to tell him something. Wesley says he has examined Cordelia's CAT scans, and she is dying. Angel leaves, while Wesley takes his place watching Cordelia's body. Skip appears and addresses Cordelia's astral projection. She has many questions, but Skip insists on leaving the hotel before answering.

In the office, Angel, Gunn, and Fred examine Cordelia's CAT scans. It appears that most of her brain is dead. Lorne enters, fresh from his consultation with The Powers That Be. He is bound by a spell and unable to speak of what he learned, but he manages to write something on a slip of paper that will enable Angel to find the Conduit to The Powers That Be. Angel takes the paper and leaves.

Cordelia and Skip appear in a deserted shopping mall. Skip tells her it is actually a construct of a mall, similar to the virtual reality setting of the film The Matrix. He explains that The Powers That Be never intended for her to receive visions, which are an "ancient, powerful force" that only demons can withstand. He introduces Cordelia to Tammy, an English girl from the 17th century who had the visions for about a year, until one of them blew out the back of her skull.

Angel falls into a circular chamber with a fire pit at the center. He hears voices telling him his mission is futile and his death is certain. When he asks to see the Conduit, the voices say they are it. Angel demands that The Powers take back the visions they gave to Cordelia. The invisible beings throw him about the room.

At the mall, Skip reminds Cordelia of the night when she met Angel at a Hollywood party. Skip says that if she had not talked to Angel that night, but to a certain talent agent instead, she would have become a famous and wealthy actress. He adds that The Powers that Be could "write over history" so that she would have the life she was meant to have. If she refuses this, and returns to her body, she will be paralyzed and helpless until the next vision comes to her, and then she will die.

Cordelia objects that Angel needs the information from her last vision, so Skip leads her to the chamber where Angel is disputing with the Conduit. Angel, unable to see Cordelia or Skip, argues that Cordelia is "weak" and only a "rich girl from Sunnydale who likes to play superhero." Cordelia asks to leave, missing Angel admitting to the Conduit how much he doesn't want to lose her.

Back at the mall, Cordelia makes her choice and Skip sends her into her alternate life as two-time Emmy-winning star of a television show called Cordy!, created by Phlegmont and Mendoza. After a filming, TV star Cordelia tries to remember something. After several guesses, she remembers the Hyperion Hotel and tells her personal assistant that she wants to go there.

In this reality, the Hyperion is a working hotel. The desk clerk checks Cordelia into the luxury suite, but she insists on entering a standard room nearby. Alternating with the room, Cordelia sees glimpses of the same room in the other reality. She tears the wallpaper away at a certain spot, where she sees the address "171 Oak," which comes from her vision.

Cordelia goes to that address and knocks on the door. The resident, Cynthia York, is a fan of hers who recognizes her and immediately admits her, though she is puzzled as to why a famous TV star would show up at her door. Cynthia shows Cordelia a pentagram inside a magic circle. She is planning to perform a retrieval spell so that her father, who has left the family, will return. Suddenly, a demon appears in the magic circle and attacks the two women. As Cynthia flees and Cordelia fights back, the Wesley and Gunn from this reality appear at the door and kill the demon.

Cordelia and Wesley get reacquainted, and he introduces her to Gunn. Wesley has only one arm, having lost one in a fight with a Kungai demon two years earlier. She tells the story of how she came to the house. The three return to Angel's dwelling. Wesley explains that Angel now has the visions, and has become a recluse who communicates with Gunn and Wesley only to tell them what he has seen. Cordelia enters Angel's room, where she finds him babbling and incoherent. She assumes that "everything will be ok" and kisses him. A spark appears between their lips. Cordelia rises and sees that Wesley and Gunn are motionless.

Cordelia addresses Skip, who is present but invisible to Wesley and Gunn. Cordelia tells Skip that having the visions is part of her mission, and demands them back. Skip tells Cordelia that the only way she can have the visions without dying is to become part demon. Despite Skip's warnings that the process is painful and dangerous, Cordelia insists on it. Skip does as she asks.

At the Hyperion Hotel, in the original reality, Cordelia wakes up. She checks for horns and a tail, but finds none. She suddenly gets a vision, but now without any pain. As she calmly recites the details, her friends watch her puzzled; not because of the painless vision, but because she is now levitating above the ground.

Continuity

• In "The Prodigal," Cordelia suggests that the code for the AI security system should be her birthday; Angel tells her that he doesn't know the date, SO she replies, that after punching in 05-22 for "11 1/2 months," he will definitely remember her birthday. However, this episode is set on Cordelia's birthday, but is apparently in January instead of the previously established May 22 date.
• The uprising of a demon in Reseda was actually predicted by Wesley in the episode "To Shanshu in L.A.."
• Wesley says he lost the arm in an encounter with a Kungai demon, which refers to the first Angel episode he appeared in, "Parting Gifts".
• Cordelia becomes part-demon. Her transformation, and the motivations behind it, play an important part in the events of season four.
• Skip's warns to Cordelia that, if she keeps the visions and stays human, she'll stay in the coma and her next vision will kill her, foreshadows "You're Welcome."
• Cordelia had a similar experience in the Buffy episode "The Wish": a dissatisfied and disillusioned Cordelia makes a pact to have history rewritten, resulting in a future which Cordelia initially appreciates, but soon regrets due to the tragedies that resulted from her decision, and the timeline is eventually returned to normal.
• When Cordelia wakes up after being made part demon, she checks for horns and a tail. This is exactly what Buffy checked for in "Earshot" when she learned she would gain an aspect of a demon.

Appearances

Individuals

• Angel
• Angel (Cordy!verse)
• Winifred Burkle
• Cordelia Chase
• Connor
• Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan
• Allen Francis Doyle (Only in archive footage)
• Gregory Dunne (Only mentioned)
• Charles Gunn
• Charles Gunn (Cordy!verse)
• Josh (Only mentioned)
• Nevin
• Dennis Pearson
• Elliott Simms
• Skip
• Tammy
• Carol Wright
• Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
• Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Cordy!verse)
• Cynthia York

Species

• Demon
  • Deathwok Clan
  • Kungai demon (Only mentioned)
  • Skip's species
  • Unidentified demon (Birthday)
• Half-demon
• Human
• Spirit
• Vampire

Organizations and titles

• Angel Investigations
• Champion of The Powers That Be
• Conduit to The Powers That Be
• The Powers That Be (Only mentioned)
• Seer
• Wolfram & Hart (Only mentioned)

Locations

• Los Angeles
  • Hyperion Hotel
  • Pearson Arms apartment
  • Wesley Wyndam-Pryce's apartment
  • York residence
• Sunnydale (Only mentioned)

Objects

• Charles Gunn's truck
• Cordy!
• Seltrax

Rituals and spells

• Retrieval spell (Only mentioned)

Death count

• Unidentified demon, killed by Wesley and Gunn (in another reality).

Behind the scenes

Production

• The theme song to Cordy! was written and sung by Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt. Noxon, who sang as well in "Once More, with Feeling," also makes a cameo as Cordelia's friend in its opening credits.
• The Cordy! series was filmed on the redressed set of Dharma & Greg (1997).
• This episode marks the halfway point of the series.

Deleted scenes

• The Angel DVDs include a scene in which Cordelia acting for Cordy!. Her character shows the dress she's going to wear at a Buyer's Ball to showcase her fashion brand, but three suitors appear at her door at the same time.

Pop culture references

• Cordelia mentions the actor Jude Law as her birthday wish.
• Cordelia's bathroom cabinet includes products of the brands Solaray, Eucerin, and Bioré.
• Skip describes the mall being a construct like in the film The Matrix (1999).
• Cordelia's sitcom introduces her as a winner of two Emmy Awards.
• Cynthia mentions having spilled Diet Coke soft drink on her book.
• Skip relates her list of "noble and heroic" with the film Gladiator (2000), also mentioning its actor Russell Crowe.

Goofs

• When Wesley is bent over after having stabbed the demon, his left arm is visible beneath his shirt, bent behind his back.

Music

• Robert J. Kral — original score 
• Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt — "Cordy Theme Tune"

International titles

• Finnish: "Paljon onnea, Cordy" (Congratulations, Cordy)
• French: "Anniversaire" (Birthday)
• German: "Die Qual der Wahl" (The Agony of Choice)
• Italian: "Buon compleanno Cordelia" (Happy Birthday Cordelia)
• Portuguese (Brazil): "Aniversário" (Birthday)
• Russian: "День рождения" (Birthday)
• Spanish (Latin America): "Feliz Cumpleaños Cordelia" (Happy Birthday Cordelia)
• Spanish (Spain): "Cumpleaños" (Birthday)

Adaptations

• This episode is included in The Vampire Anthology: Cordelia DVD.