Players

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"Players" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of Angel and the eighty-second episode overall. 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

Gwen Raiden meets with a shady contact who gives her some papers. She is struck suddenly by something and

The Angel team reacts to Cordelia's revelation of her pregnancy. They decide to research and see if they can understand how she is so far along so quickly. Cordelia talks to Conner, who questions why she asked him to kill Angel.

Gwen Raiden returns to ask Gunn to help her rescue a little girl from 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

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's 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's he's not quite able to get all of the details right. Meanwhile, Lorne has managed to get a spell who 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

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 baddies 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. In an intimate moment, they use the device, he places it on her back. After a brief scare, when they are unsure of what the device will do, Gunn touches her to test whether the device has worked, and 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. Unseen, Cordelia sneaks up on him with a knife, only to find herself cornered by the rest of the Angel Investigations team, with rifles. Lorne reveals that the ritual was a fake.

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.

• This is the final episode with Gwen Raiden. She will reappear again in the Angel Season 6 comic.

• Angel Investigations discovers Cordelia is the master behind The Beast and Angelus.

• Gwen told Gunn he shouldn't buy into the notion that his only value to Angel's group is as "the muscle," which may have influenced his decision later to let Wolfram & Hart implant him with legal knowledge, making him a super lawyer.

• Wesley refers to the events of the Season One episode "Expecting" in which Cordelia was impregnated by a Haxil Beast and came to full term overnight. Fred and Gunn's surprised reactions would suggest that they were previously unaware of this incident.

• Wesley admitted, however subtly, that he really did love Lilah.

• Gunn taking out all of Morimoto's bodyguards proved that even if he was not on par with the likes of the Beast, Faith, Connor or Angel, he was still a very capable fighter.

Behind the Scenes

Pop Culture References

• Cordelia accuses Connor of retreating to the Fortress of Solitude, a reference to the Superman comics.
• Fred makes a reference to the eye clamps from A Clockwork Orange.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers - mentioned in dialogue.
• "Cordelia": Everythings been so Clash of the Titans around here.

Music

• Robert J. Kral - original score