I Will Remember You

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"I Will Remember You" is the eighth episode of the first season of Angel television show and the eighth episode in the series. It was written by David Greenwalt and Jeannine Renshaw and directed by David Grossman. The episode originally broadcast on November 23, 1999 on The WB.

Synopsis

THE TWO-HOUR SPECIAL EVENT CONTINUES... — After learning that Angel was in Sunnydale but stayed out of sight, Buffy comes to Los Angeles to confront him about his unannounced stalking, but a bloody battle with a medieval demon leaves Angel with awesome new powers and Buffy with a chance for true happiness with her beloved.

Summary

Angel winds an antique clock on his desk. He has been back in L.A. for three days since assisting Buffy (unbeknownst only to her) during Sunnydale's latest mysterious manifestation. Now, Cordelia and Doyle closely watch Angel for signs of depression. Cordelia reveals that since he doesn't look depressed, then him seeing her again cut deeper than they thought. She probes for details about his trip, and is in the midst of expressing her tart opinion of Angel's inconsistent secretiveness when the Slayer herself suddenly appears in the office doorway. Angry that Angel let everyone else know he was in Sunnydale, Buffy has come all the way to L.A. to tell him how she feels. Cordelia quickly introduces a fascinated Doyle, then pushes him into the outer office.

Finally one on one, Buffy confesses that even when she can't see him, since their very first meeting she has always been able to sense Angel's presence. She is worried — and disappointed — because that awareness over the past couple of days never materialized into his presence. Buffy is also angry, believing Angel made a unilateral decision in a situation affecting them both. They reach an impasse. Angel, though he apologizes for unintentionally hurting Buffy, remains convinced he did the right thing.

With nothing left to discuss, Buffy turns to leave. At that moment, a sword-wielding warrior demon crashes in through the window and knocks Angel to the floor. Buffy disarms the demon and engages it hand to hand, allowing Angel to retrieve the sword and plunge it into the demon's abdomen. The demon escapes back through the smashed window. Finding themselves in uncomfortable proximity, Buffy and Angel sort themselves out and prepare to give chase.

As they track the demon through the sewers, Buffy continues to snipe at Angel, mocking his choice of weapon, sarcastically praising his ability to track by the smell of blood, and finally alluding to their breakup while on a similar hunt through the sewers of Sunnydale. When Angel says he feels weird, Buffy confesses her pain and confusion over still wanting him without being able to have him. Angel corrects Buffy, saying that the demon's blood on his fingers is powerful enough to make him feel strange. When the demon's track seems unclear, one path leading deeper into the sewers and one leading up to the surface, Buffy and Angel split up. Angel follows the demon underground and flushes it from cover. During the first volley of blows, the demon inflicts a shallow cut on Angel's palm. Angel recoils and vamps, then renews the fight with increased ferocity. When Angel delivers a fatal thrust, some of the demon's phosphorescent blood mixes with his own. White light suffuses his body and he drops to his knees with a shout. Noticing his own heartbeat, Angel whispers: "I'm alive."

Angel enters the office through the front door in full daylight. Cordelia guesses that Angel has an umbrella to shield him, but Doyle discerns that their friend is alive. After briefly standing in the sunlight streaming through the windows, Angel realizes his incredible desire for food and demolishes the contents of the office fridge. Trying to figure out what to do next, Angel sends Cordelia to call Buffy off the hunt, but asks her not to mention his altered state yet. Doyle pages quickly through a reference book and Angel identifies the Mohra demon. While Angel moves back to the window, this time to marvel at his reflection in the glass, Doyle reads that the Mohra demon, which incidentally needs great quantities of salt to survive, works for the "other side" to take out warriors for good like Angel and Buffy, good agents of The Powers That Be. The reference also states that the Mohra's "veins run with the Blood of Eternity."

Musing that this explains what happened to him, Angel becomes determined to ask the Powers why. Doyle cautions Angel that they cannot be questioned directly, but must be approached through channels. When Angel demands access, Doyle obligingly takes him to see The Oracles, using a spell to gain entry into their realm through the Gateway for Lost Souls. Accepting the gift of Angel's watch, The Oracles confirm that he is both alive and truly human, with all the attendant pain and pleasure of that mortal condition. Angel reports back to Doyle, who concludes that the next logical step would be to figure out what Angel wants.

Along a sunlit garden path, Buffy gazes out at the ocean. Suddenly, she turns and sees Angel striding toward her. He takes the Slayer into his embrace and they kiss. Back at Angel Investigations offices, Cordelia brings Doyle up to speed about the "forbidden love of all time" between Buffy and Angel. Meanwhile, Angel is wondering aloud about his options and his purpose, now that he's human. Buffy thinks his concerns sound far too cautious. Suddenly, Buffy and Angel lunge into each others arms and begin making out on the kitchen table. Later, Angel raids the fridge in the nude, bringing an impromptu picnic back to bed for Buffy. The two of them spend much of the night together sensually exploring being human.

Cordelia and Doyle commiserate over drinks, wondering if they are out of a job. Doyle suddenly has a vision and returns to Angel's place to report that the Mohra demon has unexpectedly regenerated itself, bigger and meaner than ever. Doyle joins Angel for another hunt, suggesting they include the Slayer to provide some supernatural muscle, but Angel believes that his being human will never work unless he can still fight demons on his own. Researching clues about Mohra vulnerabilities on the way, Angel and Doyle track the demon to a nearby salt refinery, where it ambushes them, knocks Doyle unconscious with a single kick, and proceeds to severely thrash Angel.

In the meantime, Buffy, waking alone in Angel's bed, forces Cordelia to tell her what's happening. She then finds Angel and the Mohra at the bottom of an empty salt silo and takes over the fight, while the demon declaims prophecies about dark hordes and the end of days. Angel spots the jewel on the demon's forehead, remembers that destroying its "thousand eyes" will stop it, and shouts instructions to the Slayer. Buffy smashes the Mohra's forehead jewel, whereupon the demon fractures and shatters in a burst of radiant light. In the sudden quiet, Buffy kneels down and gathers the battered Angel into her arms.

Returning to The Oracles, Angel asks about the portents described by the Mohra and learns that, if he remains human, Buffy will face the minions of darkness alone and die much sooner. Angel asks The Oracles to take back his life. At first, they refuse to interfere in "a matter of love" between "lower beings." Angel argues that there are larger issues at stake; if he remains human, the "other side" will have certainly succeeded in removing one champion from the cause of The Powers That Be, as well as hastening the demise of another. The Oracles decide that Angel's willingness to sacrifice happiness and love qualifies him as a "higher being," but that his request to give back his life can only be granted if the entire day is erased, although Angel alone would have to remember it all in order to prevent circumstances from repeating exactly.

Returning to Buffy, Angel tells her he has been to The Oracles to ask to become a vampire again — and that they granted his request. She rapidly passes through disbelief, anger, and rejection, then grieves upon learning how little time actually remains to them and that she will have no memory of what happened. They weep and kiss as the final seconds click past and as they hold each other, Buffy repeats that she will never forget.

In a flash, time folds back to the moment in Angel's office when Buffy again resigns herself to the necessity of forgetting him. Angel responds with the same words as before. When Buffy turns to leave and the Mohra bursts through the window, Angel picks up the antique clock from his desk, ducks the demon's first kick, and steps inside its first sword thrust. Quickly, he smashes the clock into the demon's forehead, destroying its "thousand eyes," then steps back to watch it shatter and disappear in a thousand glowing fragments. Buffy asks how Angel was able to destroy the demon so decisively. Angel says he had a lot of time to catch up on his reading. When Buffy says "that's all there really is to say," Angel turns to look down at the damaged clock and agrees. When he turns back, she's already left.

Continuity

This episode follows the crossover event of "Pangs", which aired immediately before.
The dialogue suggests that Angel was in Sunnydale for a period of three days, ending the night prior to the episodes start, when Angel returned to Los Angeles.
This is the only occasion where we see Doyle and Buffy meet and the last meeting we witness between her and Cordelia.
When Buffy snarks at Angel about "another heartbreaking sewer talk," she refers to events from "The Prom", where Angel breaks up with her while they were patrolling Sunnydale sewers.
When Angel first returns to the office after becoming human, Cordelia worriedly demands "Did you do it with Buffy?" And as Doyle steps up to stare into Angel's eyes she warns "Watch it, Doyle. Don't get too close." This is a reference to the events of the last half of season two of Buffy, beginning in "Surprise", when Angel's curse is broken by his moment of happiness with the Slayer, thus causing him to lose his soul and reverting him to the evil Angelus.
Some of Buffy's pleasure comes from her sense of being a "normal girl falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend" underscores one of the Slayer's fundamental internal conflicts, which she first expresses to Giles in the Buffy premiere, "Welcome to the Hellmouth".
Buffy's future death is foreshadowed for the first time. While Angel believed making himself a vampire again and turning back the day would save her life, she would later die anyway in two years time ("The Gift").
This is the fourth episode of that Angel is able to walk during daytime: the snowfall in "Amends", an eclipse in "Graduation Day, Part Two", and the Gem of Amara in "In the Dark".
This episode is the first time that Angel makes an arrangement that causes those around him to forget something significant in order to protect those he loves. In the episode "Home", Angel alters everyone's memories so that his son Connor can have a normal life.
This is the first appearance of The Oracles, who will last appear in "To Shanshu in L.A.".
Cordelia explained that when Buffy and Angel slept together, the world would end. While this was a reference to Angel losing his soul and becoming Angelus, this trend would continue in a more literal way. Buffy and Angel sleep together about 6 years later, manipulated for a recreation prophecy, only to accidentally nearly destroy the existing universe in the process ("Twilight").
In addition, Angel also mentioned that Buffy losing her focus to protect him as a human would cause the slayer's death, thus causing Angel to give up his humanity. Angel would later take on a villainous identity called Twilight also to allow to Buffy focus on her fights.
It is never established who exactly sends the assassin after Buffy and Angel.

Appearances

Locations

Death count

One Mohra demon, destroyed by Buffy once (in the original timeline) and by Angel again in the revised timeline.
Two unidentified guys, killed by the Mohra demon (in the original timeline only).

Behind the scenes

Production

The outfit Buffy wears for the majority of this episode (white sweater and gray slacks) was later donned by Cordelia in "First Impressions" and once again by Buffy in "The Gift".
When mortal Angel is fighting the Mohra demon, the same music that was played in "Helpless" when Giles goes to the Sunnydale Arms building can be heard.

Pop culture references

Cordelia tells Doyle they have time for a cappuccino and, probably, the director's cut of Titanic (1997) while the Buffy and Angel Show runs its accustomed lengthy and dramatic course.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Before knowing the species of demon they pursue, Buffy refers to it as a Mutant Ninja Demon Thing, especially apt since they track it in the sewers. Sarah Michelle Gellar will provide one of the voices for the 2007 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Orson Welles: Doyle calls Angel "Orson" when Angel begins gorging on food.

Music

Christophe Beck and Robert J. Kral — original score

International titles

French: "Je ne t'oublierai jamais" (I Will Never Forget You)
German: "Liebe auf Zeit" (Love for a Limited Time)

Gallery

Quotes

Cordelia: "Batten down the hatches. Here comes Hurricane Buffy."

Doyle: "You think? Maybe he's over her."

Cordelia: "You have so much to learn, little Irish man."

Angel: "No need to stir any of this up again."

Cordelia: "You don't wanna stir, but if my ex came to town and was all stalking me in the shadows and then left and then he didn't even say hello, I'd be..."

Buffy: "A little upset. Wouldn't you?"

Buffy: "Angel? You okay?"

Angel: "I feel weird."

Buffy: "I know. I do, too. I mean, I only came to see you so I could tell you face-to-face not to see me face-to-face anymore. And I know there's a fly in that logic ointment somewhere, but, the next thing I knew, we were being attacked by this Mutant Ninja Demon Thing, and then we're on the floor on top of each other, and... it's just really confusing being around you."

Angel: "No, I meant I felt weird from the demon's blood. It's powerful."

Buffy: "Oh. 'Kay. Let's just rewind Buffy's little outburst and pretend it never happened."

Buffy: "Oh, boy, I was really jonesing for another heartbreaking sewer talk."

Doyle: "Don't you wanna wake the girl?"

Angel: "Not for the world."