Inside Out (Angel episode)
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| “Inside Out” | |
|---|---|
| Angel episode | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 17 |
| Guest stars | Julie Benz (Darla) Gina Torres (Jasmine) David Denman (Skip) Stephi Lineburg (Girl) |
| Written by | Steven S. DeKnight |
| Directed by | Steven S. DeKnight |
| Production no. | 4ADH17 |
| Original airdate | April 2, 2003 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Players" | "Shiny Happy People" |
| List of Angel episodes | |
"Inside Out" is episode 17 of season 4 in the television show Angel. See List of Angel episodes for a complete list.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
As the rest of the gang finally learn of Cordelia’s true nature, Angel seeks out and roughs up the characteristic, inter-dimensional demon guide, Skip, to find out why Cordelia has turned evil who tells them that all of the events of the past few years are part of a higher being’s plan to cause itself to be reborn. Meanwhile, the cunningly evil Cordelia helps get Connor to whisk her away and into hiding by playing on his vulnerability, convincing him that his friends want to kill their unborn child. To expedite the birth before they’re found, Cordelia makes a murderous request to kill a young virgin woman which leads Connor to a moral crossroads and elects a ghostly visit from his long-dead mother, Darla. She tries to convince him that's this is not what he really is, Cordelia showed up telling him that she could see Darla and that Darla is a cheap spell Angel made to stop him from saving the baby. Angel suddenly appears too late, after Connor put the blood of the virgin on Cordelia's stomach. After a battle between Connor and his father, the baby was born having the shape of a woman.
[edit] Expanded overview
Cordelia is in the basement of the Hyperion, surrounded by the team, who have figured out that she was the Beast's master. She brags that there was a time when she would have figured out that they were using Lorne as bait; she claims to be a lot smarter than Angel. She asks what tipped Angel off and he replies, "Tongue, slip of." We flashback to Cordelia telling the gang about the baby and calling it "my sweet." Angel says that this was the same phrase the Beast's master used when she talked to Angelus. Cordelia is surprised that she was almost able to end the world and it was two words that tipped him off. Fred asks Cordelia why she's doing this and Angel says that it's not her. Cordelia tries to pull a knife on him but he grabs her and demands to know where the real Cordelia is. Connor jumps down through the glass roof and Angel tries to convince him that Cordelia isn’t who he thinks she is, but he doesn’t listen. He fights off the gang, getting Fred to shoot Angel with a tranquilizer dart, and runs off with Cordelia, who glances back at the collapsing Angel with a knowing look as she and Connor steal away. "What are you?" Angel tries to ask as he falls to the floor. Lorne's Magic 8-ball rolls next to him, replying, "Ask Again Later." After the group have recovered from Connor's attack, Gunn returns to the hotel from his romp with Gwen and they fill him in. Fred and Wesley realizes that Cordelia has been trying to get closer to Connor because she was "grooming him as her champion." They wonder when Cordelia turned evil and if her amnesia upon returning from the higher plane was an act or a side effect. Angel points out that nothing happened until Lorne gave Cordelia the memory potion in "Spin the Bottle." Lorne realizes that Wolfram & Hart stole info from his head to keep the gang from knowing about the Beast's master
Gunn wonders how Cordelia could get away with killing Manny, since she didn't have any blood on her clothes; Wesley determines that she took off her clothes first. She was then able to slip out, kill the Svea priestesses while the others were "chasing their tails" and steal Angel's soul. Her vision of how to re-ensoul Angel was misdirection, so that she could put a spell on Lorne and keep him from reading Angelus properly. She then released Angelus from the cage and killed Lilah. The gang wonder what exactly Cordelia is pregnant with. Cordelia and Connor head to a deserted warehouse, where Cordelia tells Connor that the gang were trying to hurt her because they're afraid of them and the baby. She says that Angel hates Connor for being with Cordelia; he can't stand the fact that he lost her. "You were right about Angel," she tells him. "He's an animal, and he's turned everyone against us." He promises that he’ll kill all of them before he lets them hurt her. "My sweet, sweet boy," she replies. Angel returns to the Hyperion, having had no success finding Cordelia and Connor. Wesley tells him that he's wasting his time looking for them; Connor will stay hidden if he wants to. Angel is distraught that the truth was in front of him the whole time and he didn't know it. Wesley says that Cordelia played on his emotions in order to cloud his judgment and distract him. He implies that he blames himself for Lilah's death and Angelus says that he cares about what happened to her because Wesley cares. Wesley goes back to researching, but he isn't getting anywhere and they don't have time to wait for Lorne to get black market books. Wesley suggests going to the Powers That Be, but Angel reminds him that the last few times he's gone, they haven’t been forthcoming. He says that they wouldn't stop Cordelia because they "didn’t want to get their hands dirty," so they need to find someone who's willing to: "somebody right in the middle of all this."
Connor leads Cordy into an empty building where they can stay and she convinces him that the others are all out to hurt her and her baby. Connor vows to protect her and their baby at any cost. After a night of no luck of finding Cordelia or Connor, Angel returns to the hotel and talks with Wesley. They discuss Lilah's death and who they should talk to for answers. The Powers that Be are ruled out, but Angel has someone else in mind who can help them. Cordelia continues to break down Connor's trust of Angel and despite his doubt that the others are the enemy as well, Cordy doesn't let him think too much about it and reminds him of their "special" status.
Angel goes to Skip for answers about Cordelia and at first, Skip seems to be completely clueless about Cordelia's return and why the PTB wouldn't have warned them. As they talk, Angel suspects Skip is part of a conspicuous act to keep them in the dark and protect whatever it is that Cordelia's doing. Confirming his suspicions, a blade rises from Skip's arm and the two start to fight. Cordelia continues to motivate Connor to comply with her with her lies and reminders of their baby. Worried, Cordelia suggests they do something to speed up her pregnancy and bring the baby to life immediately. Angel finds himself at a serious disadvantage with Skip's attitude change and strength but finally, Angel gets the upper hand and removes Skip's blade extension and one of his horns in the process. Angel returns to his dimension with Skip and suggests they bind him to their dimension before he wakes.
Connor rescues a young girl from a vampire attack, but then knocks her out and brings her unconscious form to Cordelia. Cordy again convinces Connor that the girl's death will help their greater purpose and he has to trust her, not his own heart.
After Skip wakes up, trapped by a magical circle, Fred and Angel convince him to talk by threatening to expose him to the Sphere of the Infinite Agonies. Skip tells them that the Cordelia they're dealing with is the real Cordelia, she's just not in control of her own body. Cordelia didn't ascend to a higher plane because she was a good deserving soul, it was because she was a part of the plan all along.
Meanwhile, Cordelia begins chanting for a ritual while Connor brings water to their frightened captive, Anna. A voice reaches out to Connor and then a vision of Darla appears before him. Darla claims to be sent by the Powers and after explaining what kind of person she was and why she wasn't a part of his life, she tries to convince him that killing an innocent is the wrong choice.
Back at the hotel, Skip explains that and lets them all know that all the big events in their lives are connected and designed for a much bigger purpose. Wesley wonders if the being controlling her made it so that she got the visions in the first place. Skip says that all sorts of "lines have to intersect" to make things happen — Lorne leaving Pylea, Gunn's sister being sired, Fred going to Pylea and Wesley sleeping with Lilah among them. Gunn argues that they have free will, but Skip says that that's only about the little stuff. The team realize that Connor's birth was also a part of the whole plan; "an impossible birth to make one possible." Angel says that Connor was a vessel and Gunn realizes that the being controlling Cordelia is going to give birth to itself. Angel asks how to stop this being, but Skip tells him that the only way is to kill Cordelia. When she gives birth to the being, the strain will be too much and she'll either die or become incapacitated. He accidentally tells them a ritual to find Cordelia and begins to panic as the gang move into action to prepare for stopping the birth before it happens.
Connor expresses his fears to the vision of Darla about the other's wanting him and Cordy dead, and she continues to make an effort to talk him out of doing the wrong thing.
Gunn tries to reassure Fred that even though it appears their future is out of their hands, they always need to act as if the decisions are theirs because the may never know when the decision really is theirs. After Wesley and Lorne locate Cordelia in the meatpacking district of down, Angel arms himself and prepares to leave. He refuses to let any of the others go with him, unable to let them carry the burden of killing Cordelia.
Darla coaches Connor as he starts to free the young girl, but Cordelia catches him and realizes that someone, Darla, is talking to him, trying to turn him away from her. Connor finds himself in the middle as Darla and Cordelia fill his head with opposing suggestions until Connor can't take anymore and sides with Cordelia, grabbing the girl and dragging her into the other room. Cordelia quickly slashes the woman's throat with a cleaver as Connor sees the woman as Darla and stares at the scene before him, reality hitting him. Then, lying on the ground, Cordelia has Connor coat his hand in the dead woman's blood and place it on her stomach. The bloody print is soaked into Cordy's skin, her labor begins and everything begins to shake around them and the city.
The circle around Skip is broken and he sets off an attack on the others, throwing them around and beating them all up badly. Angel arrives at the factory, intent upon destroying Cordelia before she can have the baby, but Connor stands in his way. Angel and Connor fight with each other while Cordelia struggles with labor. Wesley shoots at Skip, but bullets have no effect until Wesley spots the opportunity to shoot Skip in the side of the head where his horn once was. With one final shot, Wesley sends Skip falling to the ground.
After tossing Connor aside, Angel raises his sword to kill Cordelia but a bright light sends him and Connor flying back. The being using Cordy's body rises in the form of a tall, full-grown, nude, dark-skinned woman. Angel raises his sword again to kill this being, but on sight of her, he drops to his knees with Connor, awestruck by her supposed beauty.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- According to the commentary on the DVD, Charisma Carpenter was 8 1/2 months pregnant during the filming of this episode.
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
- Reference to Buffy being raised from the dead, “Nobody comes back from paradise. Okay, maybe a slayer once”
- This episode marks the end of Cordelia ever being lucid. She will never again open her eyes.
- Skip's dialog in this episode hints that most of the events in the show leading up to this moment have been manipulated. This point is muddled later in the show when Gunn says that he believes that the characters are able to make their own choices.
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse: January 2003 - Spring 2003 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.11 Showtime |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.12 Potential |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.11 Soulless |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.13 The Killer in Me |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.14 First Date |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.12 Calvary |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.15 Get It Done |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.13 Salvage |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.16 Storyteller |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.14 Release |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.17 Lies My Parents Told Me |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.15 Orpheus |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.18 Dirty Girls |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.16 Players |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel book: Nemesis |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel book: Book of the Dead |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.17 Inside Out |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.18 Shiny Happy People |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.19 Empty Places |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.19 The Magic Bullet |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.20 Sacrifice |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.20 Touched |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.21 Peace Out |
| L.A., 2003 | A4.22 Home |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.21 End of Days |
| Sunnydale, 2003 | B7.22 Chosen |
