Template:Angelepisode
To Shanshu in L.A. is the season finale of the first season of Angel and the twenty-second episode overall. Written and directed by showrunner David Greenwalt, it was originally broadcast on May 23, 2000 on the WB network. It is the first season finale.
Wesley tries to decipher the mystical Scrolls of Aberjian that Angel stole from the vault of Wolfram and Hart. The crooked lawyers need the scroll for the rites of "Raising," which purportedly brings forth a great evil into the world from the vortex of hell. A demon named Vocah arrives to preside over the Raising. Vocah begins by stealing the scroll back, cursing Cordelia with relentless visions of pain and death, killing the Oracles of the Powers That Be, and fire-bombing Angel's apartment and office, nearly killing Wesley. Angel finds the rites in progress, kills Vocah, and reclaims the Scroll of Aberjian, severing Lindsey's right hand with the Vocah Scythe. But in the end, the evil lawyers get away before Angel has a chance to identify what they raised.
Synopsis
Wesley continues to try to decipher the text of The Prophecies of Aberjian (part of which is the Shanshu Prophecy). When he deciphers the crucial word "shanshu" as "death", he surmises that means Angel will die. The lawyers at Wolfram & Hart call forth a warrior of the underworld named Vocah to perform a Raising. Cordelia has a vision that sends Angel on his way to help a homeless woman fighting a slime demon. Kate arrives on the scene after Angel has defeated it, and she is determined to rid the city of vampires.
Wesley and Cordelia discuss how Angel is cut off from life, and decide he needs a hobby. Vocah follows Cordelia, and inundates her with hundreds upon hundreds of visions; she collapses to the ground in agony. Angel reads up on the scrolls while the cloaked figure makes his way into the apartment. Angel locks the scroll away, and then leaves after getting a call about Cordelia. At the hospital, Angel sees that Cordelia is suffering terribly, and the doctors are unable to help her. Angel runs out to try and find an answer. Wesley returns to the apartment just in time to see a bomb was left in place of the scroll. Angel approaches the office building just as it explodes into a fiery blaze. Angel searches through the wreckage and finds that Wesley is still alive but badly hurt. Kate confronts Angel, but with his friends in serious conditions, he's not in the mood to take any of her hostile attitude toward him. Telling her that he's willing to be her enemy if that's what she truly wants, he follows Wesley to the hospital.
Angel visits Cordelia (who is now catatonic) and promises to help her. He then finds a symbol on Cordelia's hand, and decides to go to the Oracles of the Powers That Be for help. He finds them dead, but the spirit of the female Oracle gives him instruction. He needs the scrolls, specifically the words of Anatole that will save Cordelia. Angel plans to go after them, but won't make the mistake of leaving his friends unprotected and asks Gunn to guard them at the hospital while he goes to hunt down Vocah. Vocah reads from the scrolls while sacrificing five vampires that are chained to a large cage. Angel watches as the Wolfram & Hart lawyers leave to attend the Raising ritual.
Angel crashes the party and goes into a battle with Vocah. Lindsey picks up where Vocah left off and continues the ritual. His chanting kills the five vampires chained to the cage and then Holland orders the cage removed. In the end, Angel kills Vocah, and then faces Lindsey for the scroll. As Lindsey tries to burn the scroll, Angel cuts off Lindsey's right hand and takes the scroll.
Wesley reads the word of Anatole and Cordelia is unbound from Vocah's evil doings. After seeing so many visions, Cordelia realizes how many people out there need their help. At her apartment, Cordelia feeds Wesley and Angel, showing them her new, kinder side. Wesley discovers that Shanshu actually means both death and life... which means that, once he has fulfilled his duties, Angel will become human.
At Wolfram & Hart, Holland tells Lindsay the Senior Partners appreciate his sacrifice. The lawyers go check on the cage, and Lilah looks inside, revealing a terrified Darla.
Background Information
Production
- This is the 100th episode of Buffy/Angel overall to be aired.
- Producer David Greenwalt says they decided to blow up the Angel Investigations at the end of this episode because the sets were uncomfortably cramped when filming.
References
- The title refers to the 1985 movie "To Live and Die in L.A.", Shanshu being revealed in this episode as meaning "to live and to die".
Continuity
- This episode sets the stage for the Shanshu plot line that will continue through both the show and the subsequent comic book series. Angel learns of the Shanshu Prophecy, foretelling of a vampire with a soul playing a pivotal role in the Apocalypse, and in doing so, earning the right to live as human again.
- Darla is resurrected by Wolfram and Hart, which will also play heavily into the entirety of the series.
- Lindsey loses his hand in this episode which proves pivotal for the gang identifying him in You're Welcome: he mentions it to Spike who tells Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, and Lorne that as part of his description of him and it's what causes them to realize who it is.
Music
- Grant Langston - "Time Of Day"