Episode 11, Season 2 Title: "Redefinition" Written by: Mere Smith Directed by: Michael Grossman Original Air Date: January 16, 2001 Teaser With boxes o' stuff in hand, Cordelia, Wesley and empty-handed Gunn, must face the world as the ex-employees of Angel Investigations, Inc. In front of the gates of the Hyperion Hotel the three try to come to terms with the sudden turn in their fates. Cordy quickly attempts to find someone to blame--Darla, while Gun shakes off his dismissal with a tough guy fa?ade. Wes on the other hand tries to understand Angel's actions and reasons that he must need some time alone. Well, alone Angel is. They part ways to return to their non-Angel lives. Inside the Hyperion basement, Angel is carrying boxes to burn in the furnace. The top of a box falls off and inside are drawings of Darla created by his hand. He looks at them one last time as he throws a stack to burn in the fire. Act I Angel knows that he is not ready to face Darla and Drusilla, so he must prepare by training physically. In periodic voice overs, Angel expresses his thoughts. He believes that living among humans has made him weak, which has impaired him in his battle against the two-she vamps. Now, he must reestablish his old connections to a part of himself that he had tried to suppress. "She saved me! " In Holland's wine cellar bloodied bodies are everywhere and among them is Lindsey's. He quickly opens his eyes to find himself a survivor. The paramedics arrive and treat Lindsey; however, he isn't the only one left with a heartbeat. Behind a couch a paramedic discovers Lilah and she rises with some help. The rest are dead. Wes returns to his apartment and is putting away his things as he talks to Virginia Bryce. She no longer talks to her father after he tried to sacrifice her to the Goddess Yeska, but she can afford to do that with her muy grande trust fund. Wes tries to explain about the whole Darla triangle but gives up too overwhelmed with the turn of events in his life. Unlike Wes, Virginia is hopeful that things will turn up. Unfortunately for Wes where does an ex-demon hunter turned sidekick find another job? Wes only has one place left to turn to. In the basement of the Hyperion, Angel continues his quest by training with a sword. Suddenly, with a swift powerful kick he manages to unhinge the punching bag and slam it against the wall. Angel finally feels physically ready to face his next battle. He walks down into the sewers looking to test his enhanced new skills. Act II "Not everything is about Angel, Lindsey. I just wanna have some fun. " At Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey sporting a bruised face and Lilah an arm sling have found that they are being given the brush off. No one wants to associate with them as evidenced by Lindsey's zero messages. Lilah is catching on and she knows what's up. They are the only survivors of a freaky murder spree, which needs an escape goat fast. Lindsey agrees and reveals that it was W & H's idea to bring Drusilla into the picture. The firm needs someone to blame so it's only a matter of time before they find out which one. The two bruised co-workers enter Lindsey's office to find the lovely Darla and Dru awaiting their arrival. Darla is smart and she knows what she wants - power and connections - of which the firm has plenty. Darla made her point with her "Fifteen body memo" that she didn't like being used. She had a reason for leaving survivors because she figures either human in the room will get promoted and that lucky mortal will be their liaison to the world above. It sounds like a nice deal; however, Lindsey pricks Darla's happy moment by mentioning Angel. Darla resents Lindsey for believing she was doing all of this for the vamp with a soul, but she only says, "All in good time my love. All in good time." In the smelly sewers beneath L.A. Angel is crouched in silence above some pipes waiting for something. A group of vamps come walking, reveling in their night's feed at a fast food restaurant, when Angel quickly pounces on the four vampires. With some very cool and fast moves, Angel disposes of the vamps even managing to kick one with enough force to send him flying to a wall. For the last one, he uses his sword to decapitate him. Angel is assured that he's got the strength and stealth to do battle. Now, he needs to find the lucky ladies. At the Caritas Karoake bar, the Anagogic MC is singing "Creole Lady Marmalade" to get the night started. Wes orders a Bloody Mary -minus the blood, as he nervously contemplates singing Cat Stevens to reveal his destiny. Wes bumps into Cordy, arriving for the same reason, but she was thinking of singing Madonna or Shania Twain. Both are rather embarrassed to find each other at the bar and Gunn's arrival makes three. Cordy blames Angel again for leaving them so helpless and they all agree but she figures that Angel must be even more alone. "We're in the market for some... 'muscle slaves.'" In another part of the sewer, Angel is having a little chat with his tongueless buddy Merl, a known snitch in the demon underworld. Angel has him hanging upside down by a rope and periodically dunks him in some running sewer water to get him to wag his tongue about Dru and Darla. After a few dunks, Merl gives in and reveals that the she-vamps are trying to recruit members for their latest crew. They've been visiting all the underground demon spots to recruit--all except for a Bar-and-Bite club at La Cienega and Washington, which should be the next on their list. Angel ties the rope and leaves Merl hanging as he walks off to the club. At the Bar and Bite Club, a fight is going on, one of the demons gives up, as it's not a real fight, but one for money. Darla breaks through with Dru right behind who promptly catches every demonoids attention by tearing off the champion's ears off with her hands. Darla smiles and announces, "We've come with a little proposition." Amid the crowd, in vamp face and hood, Angel lifts his head at Darla's voice. Act III Darla struts her stuff as she explains that she needs some "muscular slaves." The crowd is riveted, but Dru quickly picks up on Angel and begins to speak, which annoys Darla. Dru informs her daughter of Angel's presence and Darla immediately scans the crowd for him, whispering, "Angel." She fails to find him, and quickly returns to her task at hand. She plucks out a card with an address from her chest and drops it on the floor. Any demon can audition at the location and whoever is left standing will be able to enter into their little coven. Darla, obviously upset, drags Drusilla off by the arm. Outside the bar, Angel removes his hood. He realizes he's not ready. He can still feel her - her pain, her need, her hope. He's too close, too close to fight her. With this revelation, Angel walks into the night. At the firm, Lindsey is leaving for the day, but Lilah walks in with a frightened look. She harps about her fate and her worries about her possible death. Lindsey points out that death comes to all; however, Lilah retorts, "But not everybody ends up in a dog food processing plant in San Pedro." Death by W & H is not that easy apparently. Lilah vainly attempts to convince Lindsey to help steal files as insurance, so that both can get away breathing. Lilah moves in to offer a kiss and Lindsey complies by caressing her neck, but his hand quickly dives into her blouse and pulls out a microphone. Busted! Lindsey walks out with a laugh and advises her to, "Take it like a man." "We are the chamipions... " At Caritas Bar, Cordy is deep in her cups, while Wes and Gunn are not far behind. Cordy blames Wes, Wes blames Gunn, and Gunn blames Cordy for their jobless fate. All this blaming makes them end up on stage singing, way off-key, "We are the Champions" in obvious pain. At the end of the night, Cordy is philosophizing about the evils of sloth demons and tequila as they all realize they've had way too much to drink and the night has been way too long. The MC walks over, and the crew is ready for their reading as Cordy yawns helplessly, "What are we supposed with our lives? Where do we go from here?" But Cordy has a vision of a girl in a close by alley being dragged away by a demon. Wes gets up ready to help and the rest follow. At Angel Investigations, Angel is preparing his arsenal in a duffel bag. The phone begins to ring but he ignores it as he steps out into the LA night with a new mission. The crew quickly arrives in the dark and deserted alley in Cordy's vision to find a small pool of blood. Cordy and Gunn bemoan the absence of Angel and his handy smell-blood and kill-demon skills. Wes is annoyed but he takes charge, following the trail of blood up the wall. With no entrance, all three must follow the trail. Around midnight, Dru and Darla walk into the street after buying time in a skanky bar and head to the factory, the location of their recruitment session. Dru seems to be testing Darla because she brings up Angel. Dru believes that Darla misses Angel and her "heartbeat." Once again, Darla is annoyed; "Can't a woman wreak a little havoc without their being a man involved?" She meets Dru's challenging stare and she withdraws a bit. Darla immediately reminisces about the old Angel as they continue on their way. "In a perfect world... " they'd be burning L.A. to the ground. Angel, arriving ahead of the girls, opens the door to the factory to find it full of demons hopeful to join up. He drops the duffel bag on the ground and meets their challenge. Across town, Angel's ex-employees have climbed up the wall and entered the building through a window to save the girl in Cordy's vision. They find the girl on the ground, but the demon jumps between them surprising the would-be heroes. Act IV Cordy quickly runs to comfort the girl, while Gunn and Wes fight the demon. Both men are barely a match for the strong demon as he manages to take a bite out of Wes's shoulder. Gunn comes to the rescue and stabs a sharp piece of broken chair through the demon's head, pinning him to the floor. Wes is clearly bleeding and the girl doesn't look too well either. The demon dead, they head for a hospital. "That wasn't Angel. It wasn't Angelus, either... Who was that? " Drusilla and Darla arrive at the factory, curious to see how many will survive. They enter to find all of the demons lifeless on the floor. Angel is leaning against a car; a long trail of smoke from a cigarette in his hand surrounds him. Darla smiles glad to see Angel, but Dru's eyes hold something different as her voice cracks, "A shadow." Angel only stares at them as he continues to smoke, blood on his hands and face are apparent. Darla calls to him, "Angel" but then after a moment more cautiously, "Angelus?" He is silent as he gracefully drops the cigarette on the ground within reach of a puddle of gasoline that leads to the two unsuspecting she-vamps. The fire quickly consumes Dru and Darla turning them into screaming helpless girls. Angel calmly retrieves his duffel bag and leaves as Darla moves to save them by running outside to the street and cracking open a nearby fire hydrant with a sledgehammer. Water spurts forth and they become fire free, but not before they suffer visible burns to their faces. In anguish and in pain, they sit together by the curb and try to make sense of what they witnessed. Dru moans, "He's gone. He's all gone." But, Darla adds, "It wasn't Angelus either... who was that?" Angel is not Angel anymore. The night has turned into day and at W & H Lilah and Lindsey are discussing Angel's personal massacre and his modus operandi of the night before as they head to a meeting that will decided their fate. As Darla predicted, the Senior Partners need to appoint a new Executive Vice President for Special Projects. A representative has come to review their work history. Both co-workers have spotty work conduct, which makes them less qualified; however, there is a bright spot. Together, based on their "vicious, destructive" competitive relationship, which keeps them both at their best, has led the Senior Partners to appoint both to Holland's position as joint acting co-vice presidents until the firm sees it necessary to "narrow it down." Lilah is clearly relieved, while Lindsey takes it in stride. The representative leaves with the warning that "the Senior Partners will be watching you." At Angel Investigations, Inc., Angel is practicing his knife throwing as Wes walks down to his training room and informs the silent Angel that the agency will keep going with or without him. Wes retorts as he leaves, "Someone has to fight the good fight." Angel never turns to look at Wes, but he misses the mark on his next toss. Angel's thoughts reveal his reply: "Let them fight the good fight, someone has to fight war." Angel concentrates and throws a knife hitting its target dead center. Summary by Council member Raciella.

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