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"Players" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Angel and the eighty-second episode in the series. Written by Sarah Fain, Elizabeth Craft, and Jeffrey Bell and directed by Michael Grossman, it was originally broadcast on March 26, 2003, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

Angel and the gang set out to find out as much as they can about Cordelia's pregnancy and the identity of The Beast's master while Gwen Raiden enlists Gunn's help to crash a black-tie affair and rescue a kidnapped girl.[1]

Summary[]

Gwen Raiden meets with a contact who gives her some papers. She is suddenly struck by lightning, causing the contact to run off. However, this is a regular thing for Gwen, and she's fine.

The Angel team reacts to Cordelia's revelation of her pregnancy. Lorne is shocked that a mystical pregnancy occurred right under his nose and he didn't sense it. They decide to research and see if they can understand how she is so far along so quickly. Cordelia talks to Connor, who questions why she asked him to kill Angel.

Angel refuses to feel guilty over what he did as Angelus, reminding everyone they knew what they were getting into. He does, however, apologize to Wesley for what Angelus did to Lilah while revealing that she was already dead when he found her.

Gwen returns to ask Gunn to help her rescue a little girl from Takeshi Morimoto, a wealthy and powerful tycoon during a posh party at his high-tech security mansion.

Wesley and Fred talk to each other during research, and Wesley admits that he did have feelings for Lilah.

Upon their arrival at the party, Gunn surprises everyone with his command of Japanese language and etiquette, even presenting the host with a gift (which he lifted from Gwen's apartment). Gwen uses him to cause a distraction while she goes off on her own mission.

Meanwhile, Angel and the rest of his team, researching Cordelia's sudden pregnancy, are hindered by an overprotective Connor.

After beating up a guard, Gunn realizes he has been tricked by Gwen: her target is actually a high-tech military device titled L.I.S.A. Although Gunn initially is angry with Gwen for lying to him, she observes that he's having more fun than he's had in a long time, and he eventually relents and assists her.

Angel has managed to reconstruct a passage from a destroyed book through his photographic memory. Unfortunately, he was not quite able to get all of the details right. Meanwhile, Lorne has managed to contact a demon called Wanda, who provided a spell that should restore his empathic abilities. It will require him to go off by himself, but he reassures the gang that completion of the ritual will allow him to tell what is inside Cordelia.

After retrieving the device from the safe, Gunn and Gwen are cornered by Morimoto and his guards. In a fit of rage, Gwen reveals that she is stealing the device for herself. She electrocutes the guards and she and Gunn escape from the house.

Lorne begins his ritual, while Cordelia looks on, unseen.

Back in her apartment, Gwen admits to Gunn that she has never been able to so much as hold hands. She tells Gunn that he's more than just muscle. She explains that the device will allow her to control her electrical powers and touch other people. He places it on her back. They are unsure of what the device will do, but Gunn touches her to test whether the device has worked. When they both realize it has, the moment becomes more intimate. Although she is initially concerned that the device won't hold, Gunn reassures her, and the two sleep together.

Lorne continues with the ritual, which includes burning several substances, sprinkling ash on his skin, and then vocalizing while holding a hidden object. Unseen, Cordelia sneaks up on him with a knife, only to find herself cornered with rifles by the rest of the Angel Investigations team. Lorne reveals that the ritual was a fake, designed to expose Cordelia, and that the object he's holding is a Magic-8 Ball. He asks it if Cordelia has been a bad girl, and it replies: "Definitely."

Continuity[]

  • This episode implies that roughly two weeks have passed since at least "Awakening," with Cordelia explaining her awareness of her pregnancy since Angelus has come back. Gunn makes a later reference that could put "Apocalypse, Nowish" within the same time frame, referencing to the battle on the rooftop between the Beast, Angel, Gunn, Wesley and Lorne.
  • Angel Investigations discovers Cordelia is the Beast's master, who has been acting since the episode "Apocalypse, Nowish" and was first revealed in "Salvage."
  • Gwen tells Gunn he shouldn't buy into the notion that his only value to Angel's group is as "the muscle." He'll decide to allow Wolfram & Hart implant him with legal knowledge and become a lawyer ("Conviction").
  • Wesley refers to the events of the episode "Expecting," in which Cordelia was impregnated by a Haxil beast and came to full term overnight.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

Organizations and titles[]

Species[]

Events[]

Locations[]

Objects[]

Rituals and spells[]

Death count[]

  • None.

Behind the scenes[]

Broadcast[]

  • "Players" had an audience of 2.2 million households upon its original airing.[2]

Pop culture references[]

Goofs[]

  • The music Lorne sings for the fake spell is nothing like the music score in front of him.

Music[]

International titles[]

  • Czech: "Hráči" (Players)
  • Finnish: "Pelaajat" (Players)
  • French: "Opération Lisa" (Operation Lisa)
  • German: "Gefährliches Spiel" (Dangerous Game)
  • Hungarian: "Játékosok" (Players)
  • Italian: "Giocatori" (Players)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "Jogadores" (Players)
  • Russian: "Игроки" (Players)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "Jugadores" (Players)
  • Spanish (Spain): "Jugadores" (Players)
  • Turkish: "Oyuncular" (Players)

Gallery[]

Promotional stills[]

References[]

  1. "angel: Players." TheWB.com. Archived from the original on August 31, 2004.
  2. "Nielsen Ratings for Angel's Fourth Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
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