That Old Gang of Mine

Season 3

episode 3

Air date

October 8, 2001

Written by

Tim Minear

Directed by

Fred Keller

Length

43 minutes

*Angel*
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"That Vision-Thing"	"Carpe Noctem"

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer*
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"Bargaining, Part Two"	"After Life"

Cast

Starring
David Boreanaz — Angel Charisma Carpenter — Cordelia Alexis Denisof — Wesley J. August Richards — Gunn Amy Acker — Fred

Guest starring
Andy Hallett — Lorne Jarrod Crawford — Rondell Khalil Kain — Gio

Co-starring
Matthew James — Merl Giancarlo Carmona — Gang Kid Steve Niel — Huge & Horrible Josh Kayne — Cowering Demon Sam Ayers — Tough Guy Demon Heidi Marnhout — Fury #1 An Le — Fury #2 Madison Gray — Fury #3

Uncredited
Michele Kelly — Alonna Candice Cook — Masked Demon

"That Old Gang of Mine" is the third episode of the third season of Angel and the forty-seventh episode in the series. Written by Tim Minear and directed by Fred Keller, it was originally broadcast on October 8, 2001, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

Angel comes face-to-face with Gunn's old demon-hunting crew who at one time considered Gunn a hero, but now view him as a traitor and want to see Angel dead.^[1]

Summary[]

Angel tries to apologize to Merl, who doesn't feel his apology is sincere. Angel goads him into taking a free punch, but because they are at Caritas, the spell that prevents violence by demons causes Merl to be thrown backwards. Merl goes home and as he settles among his possessions, he is violently attacked. The next morning, Angel and Wesley investigate his death. They call Gunn to join them, interrupting him from a nightmare in which he is reliving his killing of his vampiric little sister. Gunn is annoyed at the call, not understanding why they should care about the death of a demon, even if he was a harmless one.

Gunn goes to visit his old crew. As well as reuniting with Rondell, he also meets Gio, a new addition to the gang. Gio criticizes Gunn for working with a vampire instead of killing him. Gunn leaves the confrontation angry, feeling his old friends view him as a traitor or vampire-lover. His friends take him aside and defend him from the charges of being a traitor. However, they feel he hasn't been around and seems to have forgotten his friends from his old neighborhood.

In the Hyperion Hotel, Angel and Cordelia discuss Fred. Despite being back in Los Angeles for three months, she has failed to come out of her shell. Angel asks Cordelia to talk with Fred to help her. Cordelia convinces Fred to come out with her to Caritas to sing karaoke.

As Angel Investigations investigates Merl's death, they create a list of his enemies; demons who Merl snitched on for Angel making up the majority of the list. Angel and Wesley begin to visit the demons listed, but find that several of them have been killed, seemingly without reason. In the sewer, a Yarbnie demon sipping a Big Gulp is hunted down, attacked, and killed by Gunn's old crew.

As Wesley investigates the Yarbnie's apartment, Gunn wonders again why they are bothering to investigate murders of demons. Wesley says that the innocent demons are being killed alongside the guilty. Gunn finds an arrow at the crime scene and recognizes it as belonging to his old crew. He pockets the evidence and then confronts Rondell — he thinks Gio has gone rogue and is doing the killing. Rondell explains that the whole crew was there — they go after anything that isn't human. Gunn is disturbed by their complete disregard for the lives of non-humans. He goes to see Wesley in the hotel, and runs into Angel, who believes that the kills demonstrate that the perpetrators are having fun.

At Caritas, Fred goes onstage to sing. Gunn stops by looking for Wesley, but is interrupted when the bar is stormed by Rondell, Gio, and friends. As they open fire on the crowd with machine guns, Wesley rescues Fred, who is frozen onstage. Gio confronts Gunn, condemning him for drinking with his demon friends and having a vampire for a best-friend. They grab Lorne, but Gunn shields him and criticizes Rondell for killing demons at random. Rondell and Gio hold Wesley, Gunn, and Fred hostage but allow Cordelia to leave so she can bring Angel back to the bar. Angel asks Cordelia to visit the Transuding Furies, three sisters who installed the anti-demon violence spell at Caritas, and ask that they temporarily lift the spell so he can fight back.

Gio passes the time by singing a song, to which Lorne pays close attention. Lorne says Gio is on the run from something that he did to a woman in Miami, a woman who trusted him. Gio punches Lorne to silence him and taunts Gunn to shoot a baby-killer demon until Angel arrives. Gio demands that Gunn kill Angel, but he refuses; he says he'll never be friends with Angel, but he won't kill him. Gio then says that anyone who kills Angel can get out alive. Fred picks up the crossbow because she doesn't want to die, but instead aims it at Gio's throat. Angel tries to convince Fred to aim at him instead, and Gio disarms her.

The spell is suddenly lifted, and the demons are able to fight. A Nurbatch demon bites off Gio's head while he is yelling at his crew to fight back. The Angel Investigations team all get out alive. Gunn and Rondell decide to go their separate ways. Wesley acknowledges that Gunn had conflicting loyalties, but he threatens to fire him if he ever withholds information again. Gunn then apologizes to Angel, explaining he didn't mean what he said in the bar. Angel tells him he did mean it, but he understands. Gunn suggests that not killing him when he could have proves he can be trusted. Angel replies that Gunn will prove he can be trusted when he will have to kill Angel and does so.

Continuity[]

Angel attempts to apologize to Merl for mistreating him in "Reprise."
Gunn dreams of Alonna's death in "War Zone."
Cordelia sees Fred apparently talking to plants. Illyria, who will take over Fred's body in "A Hole in the World," has the power to communicate with plants ("Origin").
Rondell talks about Gunn disappearing after George's death and wondering if he was still "in this world." George dies in "Belonging" and Gunn goes to the world of Pylea in "Over the Rainbow."
Caritas, which was introduced in "Judgment," is destroyed in this episode. It will be rebuilt in "Lullaby" and immediately destroyed again, by Daniel Holtz. It will, then, reappear two years later, in "Underneath," again rebuilt.
Angel says Gunn will prove he can be trusted the day Gunn will have to kill Angel and he does it. Gunn will kill Angel and save Los Angeles in After the Fall, Part Sixteen.