Template:Angelepisode Lullaby is episode 9 of season 3 of the television show Angel, and is the 53rd episode overall. Written and directed by Tim Minear, it was originally broadcast on November 19, 2001 on the WB network.
Vampire hunter-killer Holtz's rekindled crusade to kill Angel and Darla complicates the impending birth of the couple's baby, despite him learning about Angel having a soul from Lilah Morgan. With her contractions getting closer together, Darla takes off for parts unknown and Angel has to find her before Holtz and his army of demons does, while the rest of the group seeks sanctuary at Caritas. Meanwhile, Lilah employs a scroll translator to help out with an ominous prophecy concerning the birth of the vampire baby. In the end, Darla sacrifices herself to save her baby, the one good thing her and Angel ever did.
Synopsis
Holtz captures Angel in the hotel and starts to talk with him, but believes nothing Angel says. At Wolfram & Hart, Morrow tells Lilah that she is going to be the one who will get in trouble for this whole mess. Since they have gotten no word from their commandos in awhile and have lost visual, Lilah heads over to the hotel to see what is happening, and ends up getting caught by one of Holtz's men, who thinks she's Darla. Lilah tells Holtz that Angel now has a soul and must atone for his past misdeeds, which Holtz treats with more belief. Angel uses Lilah's distraction of Holtz to grab a wayward grenade that had belonged to one of the dead commandos, and he escapes, with Lilah and Holtz suffering no major injuries. Lilah finds the scrolls and brings them back to Wolfram & Hart for study by their scholar.
Holtz thinks upon what Darla and Angel did to his family. When he returned to find their dead bodies, it turned out that they had not killed his daughter, Sarah, aged about 7 years, but they had fed from her. When he sees her, he knows the truth--she has been turned into a vampire. He sits, and he thinks, and he sings a lullaby over and over. When the dawn comes, he leaves the house, carrying his daughter, kicking and screaming and begging not to be taken outside. He hurls her into direct sunlight, and she turns into a vampire, then combusts into dust as Holtz watches in internal turmoil.
Meanwhile, at the car, Darla gets frustrated at Wesley's attempts to teach her Lamaze breathing techniques, since she doesn't need to breathe, and hits all of them, knocking them away from her. When they get ready to leave again, they are attacked by Holtz's forces. A fight ensues, but is quickly ended when Darla runs over most of the enemy with the car. Unfortunately, she then drives away, leaving Gunn, Wesley, Cordelia, and Fred with no transportation, just as Angel finally reunites with them. He tells them what just happened to him, and they realize that Holtz was one of the prophesied forces, brought forward in time to kill Angel, Darla, and their son in order to stop the hope of mankind, therefore bringing about the destruction of the world.
Holtz confronts Sahjhan for not mentioning before that Angel has a soul. It means he must hunt him differently. He is not perturbed at killing a being with a soul--on the contrary, he realizes that killing a being with a soul will free that soul to suffer damnation for eternity. Sahjhan swears he hasn't withheld any other information, but of course he has not mentioned the pregnancy.
Angel locates Darla on a roof in Los Angeles. The soul of the baby is nourishing Darla, causing her to feel overwhelming love for the baby. She realizes after she gives birth, she will no longer feel love, and will even forget that she ever did love her baby, and she will hurt it. She begs Angel to protect the baby from her, and starts to cry, and Angel comforts her.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, the translator says that thre will be no birth, that the scrolls say that there will be only death.
Angel takes Darla to Caritas, which is due to reopen the next day. The witches have set up a spell to prevent violence by people AND demons. One of the demons who had been working on the place heads to Holtz and tells him where they are. But things are not looking good for the baby. The heartbeat has weakened, and they don't think Darla's body will be able to give birth. Holtz shows up at Caritas, and, since no one knows who his is, they are not alarmed... until Holtz starts singing his lullaby and Lorne realizes Holtz is going to attack. He tosses a bomb into the club. They are all forced to flee, and Angel and Darla end up in an alley. Darla is able, for the first time, to feel regret and horror for what she has done in her long vampiric life. She tells him their baby will die in this alley. And Angel died in an alley. She says the baby is the one good thing they ever did, and asks him to tell their son that. Then she stakes herself, and immediately turns to dust, leaving the baby, alive and crying, on the ground. Angel picks up his son, full of wonder, and at that moment, Holtz appears, armed with a crossbow, and Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn drive up, blocked by Holtz. Angel and Holtz share a moment in which their eyes meet, and he slowly lowers his crossbow. Angel, his son, and Fred carefully make their way to to the car. Sahjhan yells at Holtz for not killing Angel, saying he wasn't doing what he swore he'd do. But Holtz says, "I swore that I would show no mercy. And I won't."
Acting
Main cast
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
- Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
- J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
- Amy Acker as Winifred Burkle
Special guest star
- Julie Benz as Darla
Guest stars
Co-stars
- Daniel Dae Kim as Gavin Park
- Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan
- Jack Conley as Sahjhan
- Andy Hallett as Lorne
- Jim Ortlieb as Wolfram & Hart Translator
- Keith Szarabajka as Daniel Holtz
Quotes
Holtz: "I swore that I would show no mercy. And I won't."
Demon building contractor: "I've got mouths to feed. Plus a family! Some of them have mouths, too!"
Notes
- They employ some deliberate Christian imagery in this episode. Of Wolfram & Hart, Lilah says: "They don't crucify here. It's too Christian," and the camera then switches to Angel, being held in a crucifixion pose by Daniel Holtz.