Reprise

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"Reprise" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of Angel and the thirty-seventh episode overall. Written by Tim Minear and directed by James Whitmore, Jr., it was originally broadcast on February 20, 2001 on the WB network.

While Lilah, Lindsey, and the other lawyers of Wolfram & Hart prepare a ritualistic gatherings for the demonic firm's impending 75-year review, Angel learns from various sources, including the Host, that the historically deadly event involves a visit from one of the Senior Partners. Things get more complicated when a revenge-seeking Darla shows up and gains possession of the glove. Meanwhile, Kate's life begins to fall apart when she is forced to resign from the police force due to her increasing involvement with the occult. Also, Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn's new agency's business slows down, which leads to them being apart from each other.

Synopsis

Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia are with the mother and daughter from the previously episode, who is now free of the third eye in the back of her head. However, Mrs. Sharp informed the gang that she had no intention of paying the bill and she felt they were running a scam since it was "impossible" for a third eye to grow out the back of a skull, despite the fact that it was she who approached them with the problem. She and her daughter left having successfully stiffed the gang for payment.

Angel is becoming increasingly isolated and depressed as incidents conspire to remind him of his failures and shortcomings. He prevents a sacrificial rite from being performed by two Wolfram & Hart employees who are nervous about something called "the Review". He asks Kate for information about the Review, but Kate—under investigation due to her connection with Angel—bitterly refuses, showing him crime scene photos from Holland Manners' wine cellar illustrating his involvement in the slaughter, by locking the doors to keep them trapped.(Kate likely also felt guilt for her own part, given that she released Angel beforehand) Angel turns to Lorne, who tells Angel that a Wolfram & Hart Senior Partner is coming to Earth for the historically deadly Review.

Lindsey returns home, where Darla has been recuperating. He gives her a container of human blood. When he goes to the shower, she stops feigning weakness and searches his briefcase.

In his single-minded obsession with taking down Wolfram & Hart, Angel shows up at the office of his former employees in search of a book. However, when Cordelia refuses to let him take it, Angel grows cold and menacing. Wesley rises from his wheelchair and tells Cordy to let Angel have the book so he can remove himself from the premises. Cordelia vents about Angel until Wesley catches her attention: six stitches from his healing gunshot wound tore open when he stood up.

Kate faces a review board at her Internal Affairs investigation—the specific precipitating event was charges brought against her by the Captain who had been raising zombie cops who blames her for Angel's intrusion, and Kate cannot explain the true circumstances. The board believes she has become unstable due to her father's death. They fire her and demand her badge and gun.

Angel returns to the bookstore he had visited fifty years earlier when he had sought a way to exorcise the demon infesting the Hyperion Hotel (in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been). Now, he is in search of information on the Senior Partner. A decades-older Denver enthusiastically greets Angel, saying that seeing a vampire wanting to help humans against a demon changed his life. This reminds Angel of how he abandoned all of the humans to be slaughtered by the demon. Denver tells Angel that the demonic Senior Partner wears a ring that allows passage to Hell. To take the ring, Angel needs a one-of-a-kind magic glove that will allow him to touch the demon without being incinerated. Denver gets the glove from his kitchen, as he continues to talk about the positive effect Angel has had on his life. But before he can give the glove to Angel, Darla stabs him and Angel with a sword and takes the glove.

Virginia tells Wesley she is upset about the dangers he must often face. Having been raised by a sorcerer, she is used to monsters, but guns "make it too real". Wesley realizes that she is breaking up with him, and acknowledges how difficult it must be for her.

At her apartment, Kate is getting drunk on liquor. She has two shelves full of plaques and trophies celebrating her police career, which she throws to the floor. She sees a picture of her father and cries.

Wesley and Cordelia talk on the phone, both depressed about their lives and lack of work. Cordelia gets a call from Mrs. Sharp, who had earlier refused to pay Angel Investigations for removing the third eye from the back of her daughter's head. (She said that such things aren't possible and it must be a scam. Mrs. Sharp now offers to pay if Cordelia will come over. What Cordelia doesn't know is that Mrs. Sharp was being threatened into calling by a demon, that kills her after she tells him Cordelia is on her way.

Angel arrives at the Review; when he spots Darla in the crowd, the two fight while the Senior Partner materializes. Security guards attack Darla after Angel exposes her as a vampire by dousing her with holy water. In the confusion, Angel gets the glove away from Darla, dons it and flies at the demon's throat. The Senior Partner implodes, but the force of Angel's leap carries him crashing out the window. When he hits the ground, Angel puts on the ring, causing elevator doors to open in the foundation of the Wolfram & Hart building. A dead Holland (whose "contract extends well beyond death") offers Angel a one-way trip down to the "Home Office," which Angel assumes is Hell. Holland explains that Wolfram & Hart has been in existence since the dawn of humanity, in one form or another. They can never be destroyed, as long as evil exists in man. After passing through nether realms of darkness and fire, the elevator comes to a stop and its doors open—right back where they started. The "Home Office" is Earth.

Angel walks away, feeling despair and hopelessness around him. Returning to the hotel, Kate is calling. When he doesn't pick up, Kate begins a message on the answering machine, in which she explains why she is killing herself. Angel mutes the machine. Upstairs, Angel finds Darla lying in wait for him and, realizing that he wants to feel something, anything, Angel kisses her. He has decided that nothing means anything, nothing matters. It's all futile, so he might as well do what he wants. At first, she pushes him away, but he takes her roughly and soon the two are having sex. Later, as a storm crashes outside, Angel wakes with a gasp and clutches his chest.

Continuity

• This episode marks the first (and only) time that one of the Senior Partners appears on-screen.

• The ending to this episode mimics the ending of the Buffy episode "Surprise". The titles of the two episodes are also similar, further demonstrating the link between the two.

• This episode marks the last appearances of Holland Manners and Virginia Bryce.

Body Count

• Denver, killed by Darla with a sword
• Francine Sharp, snapped by a Skilosh demon
• Stephanie Sharp, killed by a Skilosh demon
• Kleynach demon/Senior Partner, split by Angel with a glove

Behind the Scenes

Music

• Scott Nikoley & Jaime Dunlap - "My Heart Doesn't Live Here Anymore" - Performed as Karaoke in Caritas
• Peaches & Herb - "Reunited" - Performed as Karaoke in Caritas
• Daniel Stein - "Poolside" (the music played in the elevator with Angel and Holland)
• Robert J. Kral - original score

International titles

• German: Die Quelle des Bösen (The Source of Evil)

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

• The confidential Wolfram & Hart review, as viewed by Darla for a few seconds at about 11:40 mins, contains only three amusing paragraphs before repeating itself without paragraph breaks.
• It's never explained how the Captain knew that Kate was the one who invited Angel in to attack him, although it could possibly be that he investigated Angel afterwards and discovered Kate's repeated encounters with him.