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Template:Angelepisode"Untouched" is the fourth episode of the second season of Angel and the twenty-sixth episode overall. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on October 17, 2000 on the WB network.

A vision from Cordelia leads Angel to Bethany Chaulk, a runaway teenage girl who possesses uncontrollable telekinetic powers. But Angel is unaware that Bethany is being groomed by Lilah to be an assassin for Wolfram & Hart's Execution Department. Meanwhile, Darla continues to plague Angel's dreams in in her efforts to seduce him into being under her influence.

Synopsis

Lilah sneaks into Lindsey's office to rifle though his papers, not realizing Darla is already in the room. When she makes her presence known, Darla reveals she has been using a drug called Calynthia powder to keep Angel asleep while she manipulates his dreams. Angel wakes to find Cordelia and Wesley bickering about whether they should offer to pay Gunn. As Wesley and Angel discuss the vampire's sleeping habits, Cordelia suddenly gets a vision that sends Angel out to save a young girl from two men trying to attack her. As the men are about to make their move, she telekinetically slides a dumpster across the alleyway and uses it to crush them against the wall.

At the crime scene, Angel pretends to be a detective in order to get information about the crime from an officer. He wanders inside an old building and finds the young girl from the alley. Panicked, she sends a rebar through Angel's chest, although she calms down when she realizes the act didn't kill him. Unwilling to give much information, and warning him to stay away, the girl leaves, but not before Angel gives her his card. The girl returns to the apartment where she is staying, and it is revealed that she is staying with Lilah. Gunn stops by Angel Investigations to offer his help and Angel sends him out to find information on the men Bethany killed.

As Bethany drifts off to sleep, she dreams of her abusive childhood and unconsciously sends a bedside lamp flying. It hits Lilah, who had been watching her fitful sleep, and as she recovers, Bethany runs out the door. She seeks Angel's help at Angel Investigations, and they discuss how she cannot control her telekinetic powers. At Wolfram & Hart, Holland and Lilah talk about Bethany, who Lilah discovered, and has been grooming (unbeknownst to Bethany) to become an assassin for Wolfram & Hart. Holland stresses that if Lilah's work with Bethany is unsuccessful, it could damage their other projects. As Angel talks to Bethany, Wesley realizes her powers have arisen from having been sexually abused by her father. He then pointedly mentions her father, which causes her to lose control and hurl he and Angel through the air.

That night, Bethany finds Angel in his bed and she offers herself to him, as the abuse she has suffered has led her to believe that she is just an object for men's amusement. He declines, and after they talk, he sends her back to her own bed. After Angel helps Bethany work to control her power, he meets Gunn at one of the attacker's apartment. He brings up the payment idea and Gunn agrees, meaning that Gunn is now officially part of Angel Investigations. They find evidence that someone paid for the attack on Bethany.

Cordelia talks to Bethany over coffee, trying to convince her that she is no longer just a victim, that she has great power and she can choose how to use that power, and her choices so far have not been good ones. Then, Wolfram & Hart's men arrive and kidnap Bethany. Angel and Gunn go after the men and Angel is able to get Bethany back from them. Wolfram & Hart decide to increase the pressure and they send Bethany's father to intercept her. This causes her to blindly panic and she lets out a blast of telekinetic power. All of the windows in the building explode, and both Angel and Cordelia are thrown backwards. She hurls her father out a window, seemingly to his death, but just before he hits the ground, she remembers Angel and Cordelia's teachings and chooses to not kill her father. Later, she packs up her things in the apartment while Lilah and Angel have a chat at the door. Angel comments that Lilah needs to find someone else's mind to play with, and as he leaves with Bethany, Lilah mutters that they already have, referring to him and Darla.

Continuity

  • Gunn officially joins Angel Investigations in this episode.
  • Cordelia refers to the Buffy episode "Lovers Walk" when she was impaled by a rebar.
  • The dream Darla is giving Angel is of his murder of a Romani girl. Though not explicitly stated, this is likely supposed to be the same event shown in flashback in "Five by Five", the turning point in Angel's life, although the dream sequence does not match exactly with the flashback. The aftermath of this event is shown in the Buffy episode "Becoming, Part One" — the Romani girl's family curses Angel by restoring his soul. 
  • This is the first appearance of Gunn's hubcap axe.
  • Cordelia claims "You can't fire me", foreshadowing Angel doing exactly that: he fires all of his employees a few episodes later.

Body Count

  • Two attackers, crushed by Bethany Chaulk's telekinesis with a dumpster

Behind the Scenes

Production

  • This is the first episode to be written by Mere Smith, who would remain as one of the show's main writers until the end of the fourth season.
  • This is the only episode directed by Joss Whedon which he didn't also write.

Pop Culture References

  • ​When Bethany visits Angel in his room after Angel awakes from his dream with Darla, Bethany comments about how she can make Angel happy. Angel replies "You wouldn't like me when I'm happy." This is a spoof of the popular phrase "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" by David Banner from The Incredible Hulk television series. It also references to the similarity between Angel and Banner in the way in which they both transform into 'beasts' when they experience a certain strong emotion. Whereas Banner's is anger, Angel's is true happiness.
  • A cop is referring to Saturday Night Live when he is joking to Angel "Oh, no, Mr. Bill!"".

International titles

  • German: Außer Kontrolle (Out of Control)
  • French: Intouchable (Untouchable)
  • Italy: Non toccarmi! (Don't Touch Me!)

Music

Goofs, Bloopers & Continuity Errors

  • When Bethany is confronting her father in the hotel, we initially see Angel lying on the ground behind her father, as seen over Bethany's shoulder. In the next two shots from this angle, Angel is standing up, clearly pinned against the wall. Moments later, however, Angel is lying on the ground again, then stands up and is pinned against the wall by Bethany's power.

Quotes

Wesley: "That's so typical of your kind."
Cordelia: "Well, at least I'm not a sheep like you."
Wesley: "I am not a sheep!"
Cordelia: "You are such a sheep! You've never had a single opinion you didn't read in a book."
Wesley: "At least I've opened a book."
Cordelia: "Oh, don't even try with the snooty, woolly boy. I was top 10% of my class."
Wesley: "What class? Advanced Bosoms?"
Cordelia: "Oh!"
Angel: "Hey(!) What the hell's going on here?"
Cordelia: "We were discussing whether or not we should offer to pay Gunn."
Angel: (pause) "No you weren't."
Wesley: "Well, our discussions tend to go about three minutes, then it's strictly name-calling and hair pulling."
Cordelia: "[Gunn's] been doing for us. He should pull in a check."
Angel: "I'll think about asking him, all right?"
Cordelia: "No think. Pay. That's an order."
Angel: "Hey! How about we pretend that you work for me."
Cordelia: "You are unpleasant when you--"
Angel: "Then why don't you pretend that you don't."
Cordelia: "You can't fire me. I'm vision-girl." (sticks her tongue out)
Angel: (trying not to crack a smile) "All right. I'll think about asking him, all right? Maybe on a case-by-case."
Cordelia: (smug) "My hero."
Angel: (to a police officer) "You want to think about keeping the tourists off my crime scene?" (to no one in particular) "I'm outta Vice three weeks and I've seen enough amateur-night crap to fill a miniseries." (to officer) "So you wanna pretend that's not a Cub Scout uniform and tell me about dead people?"
Cordelia: "I can't get this bandage to--" (Angel shifts uncomfortably) "Stop moving(!)"
Angel: "I'm not."
Cordelia: "Well, then stop breathing."
Angel: "I don't breathe."
Cordelia: "Then stop flexing your manly boob muscles or whatever."
Angel: "She's very powerful. We gotta find out everything we can about her."
Cordelia: "Like, oh, say, her name?"
Angel: "I was impaled at the time."
Cordelia: "Of course. Perfectly understandable."
Angel: "Do you know how hard it is to think straight with a rebar through your torso?"
Cordelia: "Actually, I do. Benefits of a Sunnydale education."
Angel: "What do we know about telekinesis?"
Wesley: "Ah, yes. The power of moving things with one's mind..." (beat) "...That's pretty much it."
Bethany: "You can do stuff to me, and...you know...we'll have some fun."
Angel: "That's not gonna happen, Bethany."
Bethany: "What, like I'm some frightened little mouse? I've done stuff. I can make you happy."
Angel: "You wouldn't like me when I'm happy."
Angel: "You want to make love, but you don't want to be touched?"
Bethany: (scoffs) "'Make love'? What are you, from the 18th century?"
Cordelia: "Yeah. Don't bone my boss."
Bethany: "What?"
Cordelia: "Angel. He's strictly a no-bone."
Bethany: "I...I wasn't--" (Cordelia gives her a dubious look) "Cordelia, I don't want to sleep with Angel."
Cordelia: "The thing about Angel, he's old-fashioned. Old-fashioned. Like, the age of chivalry. He sees you as, pretty much, the damsel in distress. I think it's a little more complicated than that."
Lilah: "Shut up! Just. Shut. Up. One more excuse from you, and I am gonna bury you alive--next to my house so I can hear you screaming(!)"
Bethany: (in severe distress) "It's not her! You're making it up! You're playing with me! Why does everybody want to play with me? I don't wanna play!"
Bethany: "I'm not an idiot, Lilah. And I'm not a child."
Lilah: "Yes you are, and you need us. Sooner or later your powers are gonna get out of control and you're gonna need a friend."
Bethany: "My friends don't hire men to rape and kidnap me." (beat) "At least not my close ones, anyway."
Angel: "You gotta learn to lose, sweetie."
Lilah: "Did I mention you're not invited in?"
Bethany: "Don't try to find me, Lilah. I mean it."
Lilah: "Our-our firm doesn't want to lose a-- You're not--" (points to Angel) "He is a vampire, you know(!)"
Bethany: (looks at Angel; beat) "Weird."
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