Harm's Way

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"Harm's Way" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of Angel and the ninety-seventh episode overall. Written by Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft and directed by Vern Gillum, it was originally broadcast on January 14, 2004 on the WB network.

Harmony goes through her daily routine, but she is lonely. Angel and Gunn attempt to keep the peace between two demon tribes who want to slaughter each other. Things change when Harmony, after an evening out with a one-night-stand, wakes up next to the dead body of the man who happens to be the mediator of the demon tribes and all evidence points to her as the killer. Having disposed of the body, Harmony must keep one step ahead of Fred and the group looking for the culprit as she tries to expose the killer before anyone else can in order to clear her name. Meanwhile, Spike decides to leave town to go to Europe to join Buffy who is now living there, but at the end, he decides to stay.

Synopsis

The episode starts with the Wolfram & Hart New Employee Orientation video. The newly hired employee is congratulated on making the decision to grab the brass ring, and join the proudest work force, the leaders of their field. The video explains how Wolfram & Hart is infamous for being evil. In fact, Wolfram & Hart may still be evil, but the current CEO, named Angel, is trying to change that. Employees, such as vampires, are no longer allowed to feed on humans, but must now feed on some other dead animal. There are also no more employee sacrifices. But every employee's life is just as important to the new management as their own life. Unfortunately, Wolfram & Hart is now following a strict zero-tolerance rule, and anyone or thing found breaking the new rules will be punished, swiftly and severely.

In Harmony's bedroom, at 7 in the morning, her pink alarm goes off. Harmony gets out of bed and wakes up. Harmony exits the shower in a pink towel, and begins brushing her teeth without the aid of a mirror. After spitting, Harmony vamps out, so that her fangs are available for brushing. In her bedroom, she brushes her hair and chooses between two different-colored shirts. Harmony puts on one shoe, looks for the other underneath a dresser, then lifts it over her head and out of the way.

Harmony exits an elevator, into a garage. An elderly lady with a small dog walks past, and Harmony greets the lady named Mrs. Jacobi. Mrs. Jacobi ignores this, but her dog growls at Harmony.

Harmony walks off the elevator at Wolfram & Hart and leaves several personal items on her desk, along with somebody's dry-cleaning. Harmony grabs a white mug off of her desk, and leaves.

Inside the employee break room, Harmony walks into a well-dressed young woman by accident, making her spill coffee all over herself. Harmony tries to join in on the conversation of two other employees, but is ignored. Inside the refrigerator, Harmony takes Angel's thermos and pours some blood into his '#1 Boss' coffee mug. Harmony opens the microwave, interrupting the cooking of something in a blue bowl. A man walks up, telling Harmony that his bowl isn't done cooking yet. Harmony tells the man that Angel's microwave priority beats anyone's in the building, and leaves with Angel's blood. The man glares at Harmony as she leaves.

At Harmony's desk, Harmony begins telling Angel about the current day's meetings, the catering preparations for the feuding demon clan negotiations, and that the dry cleaners couldn't get that strange, slimy substance out of Angel's laundry. Angel starts clicking and speaking a strange tongue. Angel takes out his earpiece, revealing that he is listening to a language instruction tape. Angel asks if Harmony's done the catering yet. Gunn appears, and Angel and Gunn go into Angel's office. A man named Rudy checks Harmony's blood for any human blood in her diet with the aid of a machine. The results are negative, which is good, and Rudy leaves. A demon named Eli appears, and tells Harmony that Angel has called him up for a meeting. Eli enters Angel's office. Harmony notices that Angel's mug of blood is sitting there, and brings it into Angel's office. Upon entering Angel's office, Angel beheads Eli with a sword. Eli's head rolls, stopping at Harmony's feet. Harmony is revolted, and Angel asks her to get the mess cleaned up.

The coroners arrive and take Eli away in a body bag, while Angel and Gunn speak with Harmony at her desk. It is revealed that Eli dismembered virgins for his own amusement during his out-of-the-office hours. Angel explains that the 'zero tolerance policy' means nobody gets away with murder. Fred, Lorne and Wesley appear, and Eli's termination is briefly discussed. Spike arrives, and announces that he's going to go looking for "somebody waiting for him.", which causes Angel to look a little annoyed. Wesley tells Spike that he should wait around until the Shanshu Prophecy is resolved, but Spike says no, and offers that Angel can take it. Spike asks for some money, but Angel says no. Spike tells Angel that he's taking the Dodge Viper from Angel's motor pool. Spike thanks Fred for all her work trying to re-corporealize "Phantom William", and leaves. Harmony is crying at her desk, because Spike didn't give her a goodbye. Spike tells Harmony to stay simple. Spike taunts Angel, asking if he wants him to give Buffy a message. Aggravated and annoyed at Spike, he replies, "Tell her you're a moron."

Angel, Fred, Gunn, Lorne, and Wesley are sitting in the conference room, with Harmony off to the side. Angel explains about the Vinji and Sahrvin, who have been fighting for 5 generations because of an incident involving a fork. The two demon tribes, who are very manners-oriented, are coming to Wolfram & Hart the next day, and Team Angel have to help them negotiate a truce. An activist named Tobias Dupree has contacts with both Vinji and Sahrvin, and wants Wolfram & Hart to help ensure the truce. Wesley suggests letting them just kill each other, but Gunn points out that solving their long-time war would look good on Team Angel's resumé. The man from the break room enters, and it is revealed his name is Dan. Dan has arranged a seating chart for the negotiation, Fred has upgraded the weapons detector, and Gunn knows how to speak the language of the clans. Harmony reveals that she has done some research on the superstitious nature of the clans. Wesley tells Harmony that Team Angel need lunch.

In the break room, Harmony listens to the two female employees from earlier talk about the love square between Fred, Gunn, Knox, and Wesley. Dan arrives, giving people muffins from one of Lorne's clients. Harmony pretends that a phone call from Angel is actually a sign of respect, when he actually just yells at her. Harmony leaves.

Angels asks Harmony why a camel is standing in the lobby. Harmony explains that the caterers were supposed to deliver the creature the following day. Fred walks out of the elevator, and is surprised by the camel. Harmony reveals that her research led her to understand that the feuding demon clans enjoy camel-meat as a delicacy. Angel gets mad and tells Harmony to get rid of the camel. Fred comforts Harmony, who is now crying. Harmony convinces Fred to hang out together after work.

Late at night, in a bar, Fred and Harmony are talking and having drinks. Harmony confesses to Fred that she can't quit her job because she has no real skills. Harmony asks about Fred's romantic square. Fred suggests that Harmony should try and make more friends at the office. Harmony decides to leave Fred, and go talk to a man at the bar. Harmony barrages the man with questions without leaving him time to answer any of them. The man offers to give the thirsty Harmony something to drink.

In Harmony's bedroom, at 7 in the morning, her pink alarm goes off. Harmony wakes up, to find herself nude, lying next to the man from the bar. Harmony is surprised to see the man there, and is even more surprised to see the two bloody fang marks in the man's neck.

The man is dead, and Harmony seals his body in a laundry bag. Harmony tries to shove the bag down the garbage chute, and unfortunately it won't fit. Harmony pauses briefly, to greet Mrs. Jacobi and her dog. Once the lady is gone, Harmony manages to shove the body down. The body bounces off the lid of the dumpster and falls on the ground. Harmony runs down the stairs.

Harmony reaches the laundry bag, just as the elderly Mrs. Jacobi is coming off the elevator. After being hit by a bag of garbage, Harmony throws the laundry bag into the dumpster, as Mrs. Jacobi passes by. Harmony empties the other bag of garbage over-top of the body.

Once at work, Harmony goes to her desk quickly, and hides from Rudy, the blood-sampler. Angel arrives, asking for blood to drink, and warns Harmony that he doesn't want anything to go wrong today.

Inside the employee break room, Harmony takes Angel's thermos out of the refrigerator and pours some blood into Angel's coffee mug. Harmony opens the microwave, interrupting the cooking of something in a blue bowl. Harmony begins talking to herself about the previous night. Dan walks up and tells Harmony that his bowl isn't done cooking again. Harmony starts guzzling from her own mug of blood, drawing the attention of her co-workers. Angel calls Harmony's cell phone, and she leaves.

At Harmony's desk, Harmony calls the catering company, confirming the new food for the summit is chips and dip. Harmony stares thirstily at a co-workers neck, when a Detective Griffin calls for Angel. Harmony listens to the Detective tell Angel that a body was found at the dump, killed by a vampire attack, before Angel tells Harmony to hang up. Harmony gets very worried as Gunn and Wesley talk to Angel, right outside his office. Angel reveals that the man was the liaison between the feuding clans, Tobey Dupree. Harmony, who had forgot the man's name, now remembers that it was Tobey. Wesley assumes the dead negotiator could be interpreted by the demons as an omen, and was possibly somebody sending a sign to try to derail the summit.

In Angel's office, Angel, Gunn, and Wesley all speak with the demons through a speaker phone. The Vinji clan is disturbed by Tobey's murder, and demand the killer is found and punished. Angel tries to speak the demon language, but insults them, and Gunn ends the call. Harmony tells Angel to forgive and forget. Angel reveals that Tobey's body is in the lab, being examined by Fred. Harmony leaves.

In the science lab, Fred is examining the body of Tobey Dupree and recording her findings into a hand-held recorder. Harmony arrives, and Fred thinks Angel sent Harmony to hurry Fred up. Fred tells Harmony that she had a nice time last night. Fred determines from the space between the bite marks, and the depth, that Tobey was killed by a female vampire. Fred asks Harmony what happened to the man at the bar. Harmony pretends that she ditched the man, and leaves.

In a hallway, Harmony realizes that she didn't bite Tobey, because he was bitten on the right side, and she bites on the left. Harmony kisses a nearby Rudy, who pricks Harmony's finger with his blood-testing device. The results are positive, meaning that there is human blood in Harmony's system. Harmony punches Rudy and catches him.

Harmony throws Rudy into a utility closet and shuts the door. Harmony is walking away, when Lorne approaches her. Harmony asks where the results from the blood tests go, and Lorne reveals that they are transmitted to the science lab. Rudy groans from inside the closet, and Lorne asks Harmony what the noise is. Harmony pretends that she doesn't hear anything.

Harmony pushes Lorne's unconscious body into the utility closet, beside Rudy. Harmony leaves.

In the science lab, Harmony approaches Fred, who is reading the results from Harmony's blood test. Harmony explains that she might have been drugged, because she has no memory of biting the man from the bar, who is Tobey Dupree, and who is now dead and lying on Fred's lab table. Harmony explains that she always bites the victim on their left side, and Tobey is bitten on the right. Harmony realizes that somebody could have spiked her thermos in the community refrigerator with human blood, and that would make her blood test come back positive. Fred tries to call Angel, but Harmony won't let her, because she realizes Angel will kill Harmony.

In the hallway Harmony pushes Fred's body into the utility closet. Now, Fred, Lorne, and Rudy are bound and gagged with duct tape. Harmony apologizes to her friends for kidnapping them, and then explains that she will first clear her name, then buy them all dinner. Harmony closes the closet door and leaves (while her hostages attempt to yell through the strips of duct tape over their mouths) to go search for finger-prints on her thermos.

In the lobby, Harmony listens as the female Vinji leader explains to Angel and Gunn that if Tobey's murderer walks free, the summit is cursed, and they want to leave. The Vinji however will accept anyone sacrificed, it doesn't necessarily have to be Tobey's murderer. Angel instructs Harmony to make Fred hurry up with her analysis of the body. Harmony leaves.

In the break room, Harmony catches Dan moving her thermos to get to Lorne's food. Harmony vamps out, and all the employees except Dan run away. Harmony accuses the bewildered Dan of putting human blood in her thermos, drugging her and killing Tobey Dupree, and leaving the two of them in Harmony's bed. Dan is attacked from the side with a glass container, and falls over, unconscious. The woman who just attacked Dan reveals that she wanted it to look like Harmony attacked Dan. Harmony realizes that the woman is the one framing her, but then also realizes that she doesn't know who the woman is.

The woman reveals herself to be from Harmony's stenographer pool, and her name is Tamika. Tamika explains that she's been there for 5 years, while the highly under-qualified Harmony has been promoted, and gets to be involved in all of Wolfram & Hart's important meetings. Tamika is also the well-dressed young woman from the beginning of the episode, who spilled coffee on herself when Harmony bumped into her. Tamika hopes that Angel will see that Harmony attacked Dan, and Tamika can take Harmony's job. Tamika kicks a table at Harmony, who avoids it by jumping in the air. It is revealed that Tamika is also a vampire. Both woman vamp out and begin fighting. Tamika explains that she drugged Harmony's drink, followed Harmony and Tobey, and then drank Tobey. They continue fighting, with Tamika armed with a chopstick. Quickly, Harmony also gets similar pair, and they both break the chopsticks in half, so as to be armed in each hand. Both enter a martial arts stance, before trying to stake the other with one of the chopsticks. Harmony tells Tamika to tell Angel the truth, and Tamika tells Harmony that she's going to smash all of Harmony's desk-unicorns. This upsets Harmony.

Harmony puts Tamika in a headlock, and drags her down the hallway. Harmony wants Tamika to tell Angel how she stole Harmony's thermos and spiked the blood. Tamika breaks free of Harmony's headlock, and the two continue fighting.

Inside the conference room, the screaming from Harmony and Tamika outside goes unheard, because of the ruckus being made inside. The Sahrvin and Vinji demons are clicking, growling, hissing, and screeching at each other, with wildly aggressive body motion. Angel and Gunn watch helplessly, as the demons use their foreign tongue to call Angel a man-whore and to demand a sacrifice. Harmony and Tamika break through the window of the conference room. Harmony picks Tamika off the floor, throws her down onto the conference table, and stakes her with a chopstick. Tamika dies, and her body turns to dust instantly. The two demon leaders accept this, and calmly sit down, now ready to negotiate. Harmony claims that she can explain, and Angel looks angry.

Inside Angel's office, Fred, Lorne and Rudy are sitting there with ice packs on their heads. Wesley also watches as Angel grills Harmony. Gunn enters, explaining the demons are now quietly arranging an agreement. Everyone is annoyed with how Harmony handled things especially as they all told her to go to Angel who would've helped her. Rudy tells Harmony she'll be clean of human blood in two days but he's watching her. Harmony offers to quit, but Angel tells her just to get everybody coffee.

Late at night, in the same bar, Harmony is alone, explaining the whole ordeal to the bartender, when Spike arrives. Spike explains that he was going to boat it to Europe and track down Buffy, but he wants her to remember his last exit; death by a pillar of light that saved the world. If it turns out that Spike didn't actually die saving Buffy, then he's not really as important as if he had. Harmony thinks she doesn't matter, but Spike explains that she does matter. Why else would Tamika have tried to frame Harmony? Together, the vampires Harmony and Spike have a toast.

Continuity

• Harmony mentions that she was sired at her high school graduation, referring to the events of the Buffy Season 3 finale "Graduation Day, Part 2."
• Apparently, Wolfram & Hart "owns" the police.
• The Sahrvin clan returns as members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the main players in Wolfram & Hart's apocalypse. The clan is later slaughtered by Lindsey McDonald and Lorne in "Not Fade Away" as part of Team Angel's attack on the Circle.

Body Count

• Eli, beheahed by Angel
• Tobias Dupree, drained by Tamika
• Tamika, dusted by Harmony

Behind the Scenes

Production

• This episode has the longest cold opening in the whole series at 6 minutes and 49 seconds. The record was previously held by "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco".

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

• Fred says that the "bite marks are 17 millimeters apart", or .67 inch, which is too small for an adult jaw.
• The "To Do" list which Harmony writes for the demon summit changes. In the first shot, the header text is centered and in bubble letters, the list items are in all capital letters, and there are items on the list to "P/U Angel's Drycleaning" and "Check on Danny".  In the second shot, those two items have disappeared, the list items are in sentence case, and the header text is left-justified and underlined.
• In the first close up shot of Toby's body on the table in the lab, Toby can clearly be seen blinking.
• Harmony says that she is a "right-biter." But in the previous episode, "Destiny", she bites Spike on the left. However, in that case it may have been due to the spell that was altering people's behavior at the time.

Pop Culture References

• Yoyodyne: Wolfram & Hart has ties to this fictional corporation, which first appeared in the novel V. and has been referenced in many other works.
• Alien and Predator: Wolfram & Hart has ties to Weyland-Yutani, a fictional corporation from the films.
• News Corp: News Corp. is the parent company of Twentieth Century Fox Television, the studio that produces Angel.
• Dixie Chicks: Fred asks Harmony is she wants to "grab some wine, jam to the Dixie Chicks." The Dixie Chicks are an all female country music trio; this country music group is very popular in Fred's native Texas.
• The Detroit Cobras: The song that plays as Harmony wakes up is "Hey Sailor" by The Detroit Cobras.

International titles

• German: Jeder ist wichtig (Everyone is important)
• French: Harmony ne compte pas pour du beurre (Harmony does matter)

Music

• Detroit Cobras- "Hey Sailor"
• Robert J. Kral- original score

Trivia

• This is the second episode named after Harmony - the first was the Angel Season 2 episode "Disharmony". She is the only character to have a second episode named after her.

Other

• This episode is Harmony-centric.

Quotes

Announcer: "Welcome to the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart. We're the oldest and most powerful law firm in the city. Founded in 1791 on ground de-consecrated by the blood of mass murderer Matthias Pavayne, Wolfram & Hart has put roots down in this glamorous city that grow deep, and branches that reach right into the heart of every major corporation, including Yoyodyne, Weyland-Yutani, and Newscorp. That captain of industry? We own his soul. That fabulous movie queen? She owes us her first born. But times change, and Wolfram & Hart is changing right along with them. Under our new C.E.O., Angel, we're focusing less on power and more on using that power for good. We have a zero tolerance policy for killing, and that includes you, vampires. That better be pig's blood, mister. Yes, our esteemed president has made it clear that this is a new company for the new millennium, and he wants to work with you."

Angel: "If you don't kill, we won't kill you."

Announcer: "That's right, no more employee sacrifices. At Wolfram & Hart, you're part of a family now. You can work your way up the ladder, and there will always be a hand to help you up it. Every life and unlife is as important to our new management as their own. So go ahead, relax, and enjoy your new Wolfram & Hart family. Because at our firm, everyone matters. You matter. Buddy, you're going places."