| "Time Bomb" | |||
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| Angel episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 19 |
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| Directed by | Vern Gillum | ||
| Written by | Ben Edlund | ||
| Production code | 5ADH19 | ||
| Original air date | April 28, 2004 | ||
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"Time Bomb" is episode 19 of season 5 in the television show Angel. Written by Ben Edlund and directed by Vern Gillum, it was originally broadcast on April 28, 2004 on the WB network. In "Time Bomb", Illyria rescues Gunn from the hell dimension he entered in penance for his role in Fred's death. While Angel negotiates a contract between a group of demons and a pregnant woman whose unborn child the demons believe to be their Messiah, Illyria begins uncontrollably looping through time, until Wesley shunts her excess power into another dimension.
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The episode opens with Gunn still being tortured by a demon in a hell dimension, when he is suddenly rescued by Illyria, who uses her ability to shift between dimensions to return them both to Wolfram & Hart. Wes says he should apologize for stabbing Gunn earlier but is unsure how, thinking it would just be awkward. Gunn says he isn't looking for an apology, unsure he would accept it and wryly comments, "Besides, I just got my heart cut out of my chest every day for two weeks straight. Compared to what? A little jab in the gut? Kinda over it." Angel grows suspicious of Illyria's continued presence at the firm, and concludes that she is staying not out of loyalty, but out of an attraction for the firm's power. He orders Lorne to shadow her, and then turns his attention to a legal case involving a ceremonial demon pact; a pregnant woman has agreed to allow a demonic cult called "the Fell Brethren" to adopt her baby, and Angel and Gunn start to advise her until they learn, to their outrage, that their client isn't the innocent woman, but rather the seemingly benevolent demons who are secretly taking advantage of her and plotting to sacrifice the child not long after the birth.
Meanwhile, Illyria enjoys sparring with Spike in the training room, but elsewhere begins to act oddly even by her standards, and Wesley theorizes that she is growing emotionally and molecularly unstable as a result of her interdimensional travels; if her energy excess continues to go unchecked, it will result in a catastrophic explosion.
As Angel, Gunn, and Hamilton argue over how to handle the Fell Brethren case, Illyria grows increasingly disoriented and paranoid, culminating in a confrontation in which she effortlessly kills Angel, Lorne, Spike, and Wesley in a matter of seconds. At this point, the narrative switches to her point of view, and Illyria's disorientation has been caused by the fact that her excessive mystical energy has been sending her back and forth in time uncontrollably.
Illyria again goes back in time to a point before she had killed the other characters, and inadvertently begins taking Angel with her on her trips through time. Angel learns of the deaths of his friends, and is horrified. After Illyria gives him advice about power, she explodes and likely decimates the continental shelf, but the explosion is so powerful it blasts Angel back in time to before Illyria killed everyone. This time, thanks to what Illyria told him, Angel is able to avoid the massacre. Illyria accuses Angel and Wesley of plotting to kill her with Wesley's massive ray gun, but Wes reveals that the gun is not meant to kill her, but rather to disperse her excessive energy and thus prevent the fatal explosion. Wesley manages to activate the ray in time, but Illyria is left emotionally devastated by the resulting loss of some of her super powers.
In the epilogue, Angel returns his attention to the Fell Brethren case, and shocks Gunn by agreeing to represent the demons rather than the pregnant woman, having apparently taken Illyria's advice about power.
The role of Amanda was played by Jaime Bergman, David Boreanaz's wife. Of the experience, Boreanaz says, "[it was] great to have her come on to the show, and have our son look at that, and see the two of us actually play opposite one another for a brief moment." He adds, "We had fun with it. It was nothing too serious, it was just a small little role, a laugh."[1]
J. Sherman compares the scene in which Illyria descends into hell to rescue Gunn as a "riff on the Orpheus theme".[2]
Illyria's statement to Angel about how to win a war helps Angel to form his plan against Wolfram & Hart. It begins in the final scene, where he appears to forfeit the unborn child, but is not fully revealed until "Power Play". His plan ends in "Not Fade Away" when Angel and his team go up against the Circle of the Black Thorn.
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