"The Trial" is the ninth episode of the second season of Angel and the thirty-first episode overall. Written by Douglas Petrie and Tim Minear and directed by Bruce Seth Green, it was originally broadcast on November 28, 2000, on The WB network.
Synopsis[]
IN THE NAME OF LOVE — Angel is still haunted by flashbacks of his 150-year love affair with Darla and has Gunn help track her down, but he soon discovers that he is faced with an impossible choice: watch her die from a terminal illness or use his dark powers to turn her back into a vampire and give her eternal life.[1]
Summary[]
Cordelia and Wesley discuss Angel's obsession with Darla. Gunn, under Angel's orders, charges into the Hyperion Hotel with news he located Darla at the Royal Viking Motel. Angel leaves with him to rescue Darla from falling (back) into the clutches of Wolfram & Hart.
Meanwhile, Darla sits at the vanity in her dingy motel room, removes her cross pendant, and a lipstick. As she wipes her mouth in frustration, Darla hears a knock at her door. Before she can speak, the door opens, and Lindsey has found her.
Lindsey takes Darla back to his office under guard. They are joined by a solicitous Holland Manners as Darla asks whether she has a choice about being there. She asks how the firm wants her to mess with Angel this time, and Holland reveals she hasn't been brought to them for that. He shows her the results of a medical report that was compiled when she was working for the firm, and Darla is shaken by its contents.
Meanwhile, Angel and Gunn check out Darla's motel room, where Angel senses Darla was there not long before, and that she was afraid.
In France, 1765, Angelus and Darla are on the run from a relentless vampire hunter named Holtz. When they take refuge from the approaching day in a barn. Their pursuers shot a flaming arrow into a beam beside Angelus' head. As Holtz and his mob close in on the burning barn, Angelus steels himself for a fight to the finish, but Darla knocks Angelus out and rides away on their only horse. Over her shoulder, she calls to him that perhaps they'll meet up in Vienna. Angelus angrily watches his companion abandon him.
In a L.A. dive, Darla convinces an unimaginative vampire to sire her, but Angel stakes him in the alley out back before he can bite her. Darla tells Angel she's only here because he refused to turn her himself. She reveals she is terminally ill, with only weeks left to live. Angel brings Darla to the Hyperion Hotel while he hunts for proof her illness is another scam perpetrated by Wolfram & Hart.
Angel kicks Lindsey's door, and young lawyer extends an invitation to enter. Angel learns that Lindsey didn't believe Darla's diagnosis either and took her to see ten doctors, who all confirmed the same thing; the syphilis that was about to kill Darla 400 years earlier has been reactivated, and it's too advanced for modern medicine to save her. Angel realizes Lindsey has fallen in love with Darla but stats that, like Angelus, Lindsey is incapable of true love. Lindsey also tries to convince Angel to sire Darla, but Angel is adamant in his belief that siring her is not the way to save her.
Angel returns to the Hyperion, where Darla again begs him to make her undead. Understanding that Wolfram & Hart is using Darla's illness to set a trap for them both, Angel refuses again. He brings Darla to Caritas, where she sings for the Host. Reluctantly, he divulges one way he saw Angel might save Darla and gives an address.
When Angel and Darla arrive at the place indicated, there seems to be nothing but an empty swimming pool. Angel explains he is being tested and must literally "take the plunge"; he mounts the diving board and dives headfirst onto bare concrete. He passes through a vortex and arrives in a stone room, where a master of ceremonies — the Valet — approaches Angel and says: "Well, you certainly have faith. Now we'll test your valor."
Darla has magically arrived as well and, when Angel objects to her presence, the Valet explains that, as the prize, she is also his "collateral." The contest is to the death, and, unless Angel passes all three Trials, Darla's life is instantly forfeit. The Valet teleports her to the "antechamber," a waiting area set up.
The Valet takes Angel's coat, shirt, socks, and shoes. For the first trial, he explains Angel will be unarmed against an armed opponent, whom he must kill. When Angel presses for more detail, the Valet claims to have no idea what the remaining trials might entail because no one has ever survived the first. With a final farewell, the Valet disappears to join Darla, leaving Angel to face a large demon armed with huge hooks on long, heavy chains. Angel dodges several swings of the chains before being hooked through the calf and dragged toward the leering demon.
In the antechamber, the Valet checks his pocket watch and notes that Angel has survived an unprecedented 17 seconds. Distraught, Darla demands to see what's happening, and the Valet touches her forehead. Able to feel what Angel feels and see what he sees, Darla flinches as she finds him enduring a succession of heavy punches and kicks. When the demon draws its sword for the killing blow, Angel escapes into a narrow corridor circling the challenge floor. He ambushes the demon, grabs its sword, and slices it in two at the waist.
Believing he's won, Angel shouts and pounds on the portcullis blocking the exit. Turning at a noise behind him, he watches the revived demon literally pull itself together and renew the attack. Avoiding the whirling chains, Angel retrieves the sword and chops the demon in half again, this time hooking its torso separately from its legs and chaining them to handy brackets on opposite sides of the room. The portcullis slowly lifts and Angel moves on to the second trial.
As the gate slams down directly behind him, Angel faces a dark corridor; above him, the stone ceiling grinds open to show the late night sky. Both walls and floors are covered with crosses. Knowing the sun will eventually rise overhead, Angel limps as fast as he can over the burning floor, stifling screams as his bare feet sizzle. When he reaches the door at the corridor's far end, it is locked. Looking over his shoulder at the fountain he passed in the middle of the corridor, Angel bolts back and sees a key lying at its bottom.
Still watching, Darla breathes, "holy water," just before Angel plunges his arm into the font. Screaming in agony, Angel fishes the key from the boiling water then stumbles back to the door and opens it with the key. In the antechamber, the Valet again consults his pocket watch and meditatively says, "He's quite remarkable." With a faraway look on her face, Darla says, "Yes. He is."
As Angel enters the next torchlit room, manacles magically snake from the walls and attach themselves to his wrists and ankles. The Valet arrives, congratulating Angel on his prowess while a wall of spring-loaded wooden stakes materializes. Angel learns that the third trial requires his life in exchange for Darla's. Passing the first two trials has earned Angel the choice of whether or not to undergo the final ordeal. At this point, if he so wishes, Angel is free to leave. Upon learning that Darla would die instantly were he to forsake this last test, Angel tells the Valet: "No deal."
The Valet steps to the safety of the doorway, then turns back and proceeds to wonder aloud if the world wouldn't be a better place having in it a heroic Angel rather than Darla. Determined to save Darla, Angel says, "Do it." The Valet nods, the stakes release with a rumbling rush, and Darla shrieks in anguish. She opens her eyes. Angel, undead and fully clothed, struggles to stand upright before her. Hearing that by accepting death he has won the third trial, Angel brushes aside the Valet's kudos, and demands: "Pay up."
When the Valet rests his fingertips on Darla's head, however, he discovers that she has already been restored to life by supernatural means; he is unable to grant the boon Angel has won. Angel protests that Darla has earned a second chance, but the Valet replies she is already living her second chance. The Valet manifests a brightly lit stairway leading up, then disappears. Angel starts smashing the anteroom in anger as Darla watches.
In Darla's motel room, she perches on the edge of the bed, while Angel mopes in a chair by the window. When he begins to mutter that maybe he could bite her after all, Darla denies it. She explains her new understanding of how deeply he cares for her is truly enough for her. Angel protests the apparent whimsy of the Powers That Be, and Darla says she has come to believe that perhaps she really is living her second chance. Angel asks: "To die?", and Darla replies: "Yes. To die the way I was supposed to die in the first place." Angel vows to stay by her side always for the rest of her life.
The next moment, four black-clad commandos break down the door and taser Angel. Following them, Lindsey yanks Angel's head back and asks: "How did you think this would end?" As Angel watches, Drusilla glides into the room, vamps and bites Darla, then completes the siring by drawing her own blood for Darla to drink in turn.
Continuity[]
- Cordelia doesn't trust Darla; they met when Darla handed her over to Luke to feed on in "The Harvest."
- Holtz is mentioned for the first time in one of this episode's flashbacks. He will appear again in "Heartthrob" and become a major threat of the third season.
- Darla notices the jasmine flowers in the garden of the Hyperion Hotel. Jasmine will take the name after noticing the same flowers in the episode "Shiny Happy People."
- Unable to be used with Darla, the life Angel earns from the Trials will make her pregnant instead ("Shiny Happy People").
- Angel theorizes that, because he has a soul, the siring process might be different. In "Why We Fight," we learn that Angel has already sired someone while ensouled, which did not affect the new vampire.
Appearances[]
Individuals[]
- Angel
- Cordelia Chase
- Darla
- Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan
- Drusilla
- Charles Gunn
- Daniel Holtz (Only mentioned)
- T'ish Magev (Only mentioned)
- T'ish Magev (imposter) (Only mentioned)
- Holland Manners
- Lindsey McDonald
- Ramone (Only mentioned)
- Tor
- The Valet
- Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
- Unidentified vampire (The Trial)
Organizations and titles[]
- Angel Investigations
- Powers That Be (Only mentioned)
- Wolfram & Hart
Species[]
Events[]
Locations[]
- France (Only in flashbacks)
- Arles (Only mentioned)
- Italy (Only mentioned)
- Los Angeles, United States
- Romania (Only mentioned)
Objects[]
- Angel's tattoo
- Cross
- Soul (Only mentioned)
- Stake
Death count[]
- One vampire, dusted by Angel.
- Darla, sired by Drusilla.
Behind the scenes[]
Production[]
- The exterior shots of Darla's motel are of the real Paradise Motel, located at 1116 Sunset Blvd, in Los Angeles.
- The name of guest star Juliet Landau is reserved to appear only in the end credits, making sure the audience is surprised when Drusilla shows up at the end of the episode.
Broadcast[]
- "The Trial" had an audience of 3.2 million households upon its original airing.[2]
Pop culture references[]
- Cordelia says that, after 400 years of death and destruction, "you get voted off the island," a reference to the reality TV show Survivor.
- Lorne quotes David Bowie's song "Space Oddity" when he says: "Ground control to Major Tom. We may not be able to save this bird."
Goofs[]
- When Cordelia says the first line, "Don't you think we should check on him?" her lips doesn't move.
- When Darla and Angelus are chased by a vampire hunter in 1765, he says that he hates France and they should go to Romania instead. In 1765, Romania did not exist, it appeared as a state in 1859 as a result of the unification of two Romanian provinces: Moldavia and Valachia.
- When Angel drags the creature's upper half away from the lower in the first trial, it frames the green suit the actor is wearing to make the lower body invisible.
- When Angel bisects the demon during the trial, the stunt harness used can be clearly seen.
- Angel burns his right arm to fetch the key in the holy water and uses the same hand to unlock the door. However, the close-up shows him unlocking the door with his left hand.
- While Angel's arms and legs are chained during the third trial, the frame is raised high enough to became visible that his left arm is not chained.
- When Dru scratches her chest at the end, her finger is actually about an inch below the line of blood.
Music[]
- Julie Benz — "Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)"
- Robert J. Kral — "The Trials for Darla"
- Robert J. Kral — original score
International titles[]
- Czech: "Zkouška" (Test)
- Finnish: "Koettelemukset" (Trial)
- French: "L'épreuve" (The Trial)
- German: "Auf Leben und Tod" (For Life and Death)
- Hungarian: "A próbatétel" (The Trial)
- Italian: "Diagnosi mortale" (Mortal Diagnosis)
- Portuguese (Brazil): "O Inquérito" (The Inquiry)
- Russian: "Испытание" (Trial)
- Spanish (Latin America): "La prueba" (The Test)
- Spanish (Spain): "La prueba" (The Test)
- Turkish: "Duruşma" (Trial)
Gallery[]
Promotional stills[]
Quotes[]
| Darla: "And in all this time you've never considered making yourself a mate?" |
| Vampire: "How do you mean?" |
| Darla: "Well, isn't it true that some vampires choose a mortal, someone they can sire, someone who, too, can walk those lonely nights, hunting with them, feeding with them, joining with them?" |
| Vampire: "No! That'd just be weird." |
| Darla: "Weird? It's mythic!" |
| Angel: "So you really want to be made by some creep in some filthy alley?" |
| Darla: "I wanted you to do it." |
| Angel: "That'll never happen." |
| Darla: "So I do what I have to do. Anyway, you were made in an alley, if I recall." |
| Angel: "That's not the point." |
| Darla: "You can't force me to stay here." |
| Angel: "You're not a prisoner." |
| Darla: "I've been hearing that a lot lately." |
| Angel: "Just give me a chance. Okay?" |
| Cordelia: "So, first up: you are a prisoner." |
| Wesley: "I'd have to concur with that, yes." |
| Cordelia: "See, you've got our friend all in knots." |
| Wesley: "Can't say we like you much." |
| Cordelia: "So, sorry about the dying, but if you try to escape, we will hit you." |
| Wesley: "On the head." |
| Cordelia: "With very large and heavy objects. Okay?" |
| Angel: "Well, he said I had to take the plunge." |
| Darla: "Into an empty pool?" |
| Angel: "Sure. Cause if you had water, you'd get all wet and miss out on all that skull crushing." |
| Valet: "I've never given information to a challenger before." |
| Angel: "How many of them have asked?" |
| Valet: "Well, in theory, the first test is child's play. Once that gate opens, all you have to do is walk through it." |
| Angel: "That's it? What's the catch?" |
| Valet: "Yes, well, uhm, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" |
| Angel: "Okay, that's one. What's two and three?" |
| Valet: "Oh, I really wouldn't know about the last two tests, sir. I've never seen anyone survive the first one. Best of luck." |
References[]
- ↑ "EpisodeGuideSeason2." Geocities.ws. Retrieved on January 10, 2023.
- ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Angel's Second Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008.