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Dad

"Dad" is the tenth episode of the third season of Angel and the fifty-fourth episode in the series. Written by David Goodman and directed by Fred Keller, it was originally broadcast on December 10, 2001, on The WB network.

Synopsis

Angel discovers how hard it is being a new dad — especially when the demon underworld is after your newborn son.[1]

Summary

The Angel Investigations team returns with the baby to discover the Hyperion Hotel lobby in disarray. Lorne arrives to tell them he will be moving in because Caritas has been destroyed yet again. Everyone wants to hold the newborn, but Angel protects his son and keeps everyone at bay. As a new parent, he struggles to soothe his son's cries and clean a wound on his cheek. Suddenly, a demon crashes into the hotel, wielding a scimitar. Gunn and Wesley easily kill it as it approaches the group. While Angel takes the baby into Wesley's office to change his diaper, the team continues investigating potential attackers. Angel once again declines when Wesley offers his assistance. Once they head back to the lobby, Angel becomes frustrated because the team has failed to find a lead, telling them to "do better." Wesley begins to interject, but Angel tells him he promised Darla that no one would lay a hand on their son, and he intends to keep it.

At their underground lair, Sahjhan complains about Holtz's refusal to kill Angel, but Holtz is undeterred. They discuss Darla's pregnancy and sacrifice, with Holtz believing she got off easy. He adheres to his plans despite Sahjhan's urging that Angel be killed quickly due to the prophecies. Sahjhan's temper rises as he discovers that Holtz poisoned all his Grappler demon minions. Holtz explains he doesn't want paid lackeys but dedicated soldiers to follow him into his upcoming battles.

While monitoring the hotel via surveillance cameras, the attorneys at Wolfram & Hart wonder how Angel's child could have been born despite the prophecy's translation stating otherwise. In attempts to discover Holtz's identity, Lilah has Files and Records retrieve information on how Angelus and Darla murdered Holtz's family in the 18th century. To her astonishment, she discovers the firm has 35 cabinets full of files on Angel and inquires about food delivery, as she knows her research will take a while.

In his room, Angel makes silly faces and sings to his son in an attempt to calm his crying. Nothing works until he morphs into his vampire visage, which fascinates the baby, and the crying stops.

Holtz tracks a young woman named Justine, whose twin sister was recently killed by a vampire. She has been killing vampires on her own since then, and Holtz offers to be her mentor.

Angel enters the hotel lobby, cradling his son, while Cordelia and Fred continue to trace the source of the bounties. Cordelia asks how he slept, and he tells her he's been up all night watching the baby. She suggests they take turns so he can sleep, but Angel says he will rest when he knows his son is safe. Cordelia says the newborn may need to go to the hospital if he gets sick during the day, and his son will eventually want to go outside and play. As she drags him onto the porch, she tells him that, as a vampire, he is unable to go out in the daytime like normal parents. She reiterates that, even if he were human, he couldn't do everything by himself; therefore, he should accept their help. Extending his hand into the sunlight, Angel vows to get his son to the hospital even if it's the sunniest day of the year. Cordelia panics as his hand continues to smolder, and he turns and walks back into the hotel.

Gunn returns with a duffel bag full of weapons and news of the crowd forming outside, waiting to break the barrier and claim the child. The Cult of Ul-Thar has returned, in addition to a gang of human bikers who are into kidnapping and extortion, and four Lilliad demons who make magical broth with children's bones. The demons chant outside, trying to break down the barrier around the hotel, while the team inside prepares to defend themselves. Angel decides to leave with his son, much to the group's dismay. They believe he has abandoned them by refusing to fight alongside his team and beg him not to run away when facing such an important battle. Angel insists the demons will realize the baby is gone once they raid the hotel and pursue him instead.

As Wolfram & Hart watch surveillance footage from the Hyperion, Linwood is worried Angel's son will grow up and hunt them down. As they deploy a squad to go after Angel, Gavin promises they will locate the baby before daybreak, dead or alive. Lilah opposes killing the newborn and suggests they dissect it to see how and why it has survived the prophecy.

The AI team prepares themselves for the attack as the barrier breaks down. Angel escapes through the sewers and drives away in his car. While the team uses a flamethrower to dispose of the demons and vampires who enter the hotel, Angel drives to an abandoned mine shaft. His pursuers demand the child, and Angel throws the baby's bundle to them as he escapes to the surface. The demons unwrap the blanket to find a teddy bear with a ticking time bomb strapped to it. The bomb destroys them and the mine shaft. Meanwhile, Cordelia, Wesley, and Fred arrive at the hospital with the baby for a checkup.

At Wolfram & Heart, Linwood examines the surveillance at the Hyperion and discovers footage where Lorne slipped Angel a note into his coat, then suggests a location where he could read it without being seen by cameras. Earlier, Lorne heard a humming noise and concluded the team was being spied on; the gang's argument before Angel left the hotel was an elaborate scheme to get the baby to safety. Suddenly, a vampire alarm goes off, and Angel bursts into the room. He slices Linwood across the cheek with a knife. Angel promises that any harm that comes to his son will be equally repaid to Linwood. As appointed "godfather," Linwood is given the job of keeping everyone and everything away from the child unless he looks forward to revenge at Angel's hands. Before leaving, Angel instructs him to set up a college fund for his son.

The physicians at the hospital report that the baby is healthy, and Angel enters just in time to answer the name of his son: Connor. Gunn arrives with a stroller, and the team heads home together, where they hope to be safe for a while.

Continuity

  • The meeting between Holtz and Justine calls back that between Merrick and Buffy in "Becoming, Part One."
  • Gunn wishes that one of the Powers That Be would intervene directly and "step up to the mat." As it'll be revealed in "Shiny Happy People," this is exactly what is happening.
  • Lorne asks if there are any fluorescent lights in the hotel when asking about the humming. In "Doublemeat Palace," Spike says that some demons enjoy fluorescent lights for this very reason.
  • Angel reveals the name of his son: Connor, which is a traditional Irish name, Angel's country of origin ("Angel"). Angel will comment when his son returns with the name Steve: "It's a good name. Not Irish, but..." ("A New World").

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and titles

Species

Locations

Objects

Rituals and spells

Death count

  • A demon, stabbed by Gunn and Wesley.
  • Grappler demons, poisoned by Holtz.
  • A vampire, dusted by Holtz helping Justine.
  • Two Lilliad demons and two bikers, incinerated by Wesley with a flamethrower.
  • A biker, snapped by an Ul-Thar vampire.
  • Ul-Thar vampire, incinerated by Wesley with a flamethrower.
  • Eight Connor's enemies (two Ul-Thar vampires, two bikers, two Lilliad demons, and two Wolfram & Hart agents), killed by Angel with a bomb.

Behind the scenes

Broadcast

  • "Dad" had an audience of 2.5 million households upon its original airing.[2]

Pop culture references

  • Wesley imagines himself as John Wayne in Rio Bravo.
  • Gunn imagines himself as Austin Stoker in Assault on Precinct 13.
  • When Holtz offers to teach Justine how to fight, she asks whether it is "some kind of Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi groove thing," quoting: "Wax on, wax off."
  • Lilah makes an allusion to William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, in which the character Macduff was from his mother's womb "untimely ripped."

Goofs

  • When Lorne slips Angel the note, his left hand is fussing with the baby. Later, when the lawyers are watching the scene on video, his left hand is down by his side.
  • Angel pushes a round manhole cover off of a square manhole.

Music

International titles

  • Czech: "Táta" (Dad)
  • Finnish: "Iskä" (Dad)
  • French: "Papa" (Dad)
  • German: "Vaterfreuden" (Joys of Fatherhood)
  • Hungarian: "Apa" (Father)
  • Italian: "Papà" (Dad)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "Papai" (Dad)
  • Russian: "Отец" (Father)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "Papá" (Dad)
  • Spanish (Spain): "Papá" (Dad)
  • Turkish: "Baba" (Dad)

Gallery

Promotional stills

References

  1. ↑ "angel: Dad." TheWB.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2004.
  2. ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Angel's Third Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008.