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Dead End

"Dead End" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Angel and the fortieth episode in the series. Written by David Greenwalt and directed by James A. Contner, it was originally broadcast on April 24, 2001, on The WB network.

Synopsis

BODY SNATCHERS — Angel and Lindsey must grudgingly work together when Cordelia's disturbing vision leads the gang to a grotesque Wolfram & Hart body shop where parts are harvested from live humans.[1]

Summary

Lindsey wakes up and goes about his daily routine of shaving, affixing his prosthetic arm, and getting ready for work. As he removes a shirt from his wardrobe, he looks forlornly at his guitar, which he can no longer play.

Elsewhere, a man and his family go about their morning routine before the wife and kids rush off to their destinations. The man follows moments later, but he picks up a large kitchen knife. In the Hyperion Hotel, Cordelia gets bloody visions about the man that sends her flying, landing on the floor in tears. After she recovers, she says she saw a man who stabbed himself in the eye. Angel, Wesley, and Gunn split up to call hospitals, check out morgues, and the streets for any information on the man from Cordy's vision.

Lindsey and Lilah speak with their boss, Nathan Reed, about their upcoming reevaluation. Later, Nathan privately tells Lindsey that he has made a surprise doctor's appointment for him. At the Fairfield Clinic, Lindsey learns from the doctor that Wolfram & Hart has arranged for him to get a hand transplant. During the procedure, a Pockla demon is brought in to perform a brief ritual and complete the attachment of the hand to Lindsey, leaving only the faint outline of a scar as evidence that the hand had not originally been Lindsey's.

The next day, Lindsey wakes up and goes through his morning routine, this time with the benefits of his new hand. While getting dressed, he notices his guitar again, but this time picks it up and starts playing. Later, at the office, Lilah notices Lindsey's new hand and becomes concerned about her job after Wolfram & Hart paid for such an expensive surgery. While the two lawyers meet with a client, Lindsey's new hand repeatedly writes the word "kill" on a legal pad, apparently without Lindsey's knowledge and despite Lindsey's desire to write something else.

In the hotel office, Angel has a wide assortment of food delivered; he wanted to get lunch for Cordelia but didn't want to bother her by asking what she wanted. She thanks him, and as she carries her meal to her desk, she recalls from her visions that the man was happy with his eye before stabbing it. Wesley and Gunn discover the identity of the man: Joseph Kramer. He and his family have vanished without warning, with the explanation that he was suddenly transferred overseas and his house has been emptied and cleaned out.

Having reached a dead end, the gang goes to Caritas. On stage, they are surprised and impressed to find Lindsey singing and playing guitar quite beautifully. While the rest of the gang voice their appreciation, Angel childishly tries to pick faults. The Host informs them that Lindsey and Angel need to work together to solve the case, but both are opposed to the idea. Lindsey storms out, and Angel tells the team that they've got a new lead: the fingerprints of his new hand are left on the glass he left at the bar. Given that Kramer received a new eye and Lindsey a new hand, the team concludes that somewhere body part transplants are being done and causing problems.

At Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey sneaks into Nathan's office to look up information on Fairfield Clinic. He later spots Lilah stealing files. Angel hires a private detective with a friend of the force who traces the fingerprints to Bradley Scott, a former Wolfram & Hart employee who went to prison for embezzlement. After serving his sentence, he reported to his parole officer once before vanishing. Lindsey visits Scott's parole officer to get information about the clinic, but the man gets violent when Lindsey doesn't know "the code." Before the man can shoot Lindsey in the head, Angel arrives and saves him by holding a rope around the officer's neck. Despite being angry with Angel's interference, Lindsey quickly works with him to obtain information.

Wesley and Gunn worry about Cordelia; she seems to be suffering from the visions for as long as the problem remains.

After confirming the correct location with the parole officer tied up in the trunk, Angel and Lindsey make their way toward a building. They battle the security guards inside before heading through a trap door where the body parts are being harvested. There are several people in the room, awake but immobile, confined in upright glass cases. Most of the people are bandaged and missing multiple body parts. Lindsey spots Bradley Scott and asks him who he wants to kill. Scott answers: "Me. Kill me." Angel frees all of the others from their glass prisons, but he lets Lindsey decide what to do about Scott. Angel turns on all the oxygen tanks and blows up the facility.

Back at the Hyperion Hotel, the team asks Cordelia how she is doing. She admits the visions are starting to get more painful, but she accepts it as part of the job.

The next day, a meeting is convened at Wolfram & Hart to inform Lindsey and Lilah that they have decided who to promote and who to dismiss. Nathan begins to feed Lilah meaningless platitudes, leading her to panic as she realizes they have decided to promote Lindsey. Lindsey interrupts her before she can reach into her purse, informing her that she does not have what he has: a "evil hand." He assaults and shoots a security guard in the foot before frantically firing the gun in Nathan's direction.

Lindsey thanks Nathan for choosing him but tells him that he should pick Lilah instead, as she has enough secret files on everyone in the room to destroy them if the Senior Partners got a hold of them. He adds that she has proven herself to be intelligent, conniving, and ruthless: the perfect Wolfram & Hart employee. Lindsey then announces that he's leaving, and he invites the firm to chase him if they want but reminds them of his "evil hand." As Lindsey leaves, he wishes Lilah good luck in her new job before copping a feel as he goes past, blaming his "evil hand" again. Nathan amends the minutes of the meeting to reflect Lilah's promotion instead.

Lindsey packs up his belongings in his truck, ready to hit the road. He finds Angel outside by his vehicle and reluctantly talks to him, informing him he is leaving Los Angeles for good. Lindsey also gives Angel advice for fighting Wolfram & Hart: don't play their game, make them play yours. Angel waves goodbye as Lindsey drives away in his truck, on which Angel has discreetly put a sign that reads, "Cops suck."

Continuity

  • This episode marks the beginning of the visions starting to take a more serious toll on Cordelia's physical and mental health. In "Birthday," the AI team will discover that Cordelia has been having medical tests on her head for over a year.
  • Wesley points out that Doyle, from whom Cordelia inherited the vision power, was half-demon, and he raises the possibility that the side effects are more than a human can endure. He turns out to be correct, and this eventually necessitates Cordelia become part-demon herself ("Birthday").
  • The Host has a visibly disturbed look on his face when he reads Lindsey's future at Caritas. In "Not Fade Away," he will be the one to kill Lindsey, remarking, "I've heard you sing," before shooting him.
  • Nathan's files include "Manners Massacre," referring to the deaths in the Manners residence in "Reunion"; "Bethany Project," referring to Bethany Chaulk; "Drusilla (vampire)"; referring to the firm using her in "The Trial"; and "Youth Cntr. Project," referring to the fundraiser for the East Hills Teen Center in "Blood Money."

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and titles

Species

Locations

Objects

Death count

  • Bradley Scott, euthanized by Lindsey.

Behind the scenes

Production

  • The song Lindsey sings at Caritas was written by David Greenwalt.[2]

Broadcast

  • "Dead End" had an audience of 2.8 million households upon its original airing.[3]

Pop culture references

  • Angel mentions The Jetsons when talking how people used to image the 2000s.
  • Lorne mentions watching the buddy cop movie 48 Hrs.

Goofs

  • When Lindsey is logging in to the computer, the keyboard is mirrored.
  • The hand that is being transplanted onto Lindsey's arm ends at the wrist, but his actual arm had been severed close to the elbow.
  • The first line on the Fairfield Clinic on Nathan Reed's computer has "health care" spelled as "heath care."
  • In the widescreen version, the shot before Lindsey wakes up after surgery is left as 4:3.

Music

International titles

  • Czech: "Slepá ulička" (Dead End)
  • Finnish: "Umpikujassa" (At a Dead End)
  • French: "Impasse" (Impasse)
  • German: "Die Hand des Bösen" (The Hand of Evil)
  • Hungarian: "Zsákutca" (Dead End)
  • Italian: "Vicolo cieco" (Dead End)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "O Impasse" (The Impasse)
  • Russian: "Смертельный исход" (Fatal Outcome)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "Sin salida" (No Exit)
  • Spanish (Spain): "Punto muerto" (Dead Point)
  • Turkish: "Çıkmaz Sokak" (Dead End)

Quotes

Lindsey: "That's my lead! You're choking my lead!"
Angel: "'He's my lead. He's my lead.' What, are we out in the schoolyard here?"
Lindsey: "Lilah. Please. They chose me. I'm clearly the guy."
Nathan: "Yes, you are."
Lindsey: "You could've had it, but you didn't have what it takes... an evil hand. I mean, come on, who here does, huh? Leon doesn't. Charlie doesn't. You do know you gave me an evil hand, right? I've been writing 'Kill, kill, kill' on everything. It's crazy. It's crazy. Anything could happen!"

References

  1. ↑ "Angel Season 2." Craig's BuffyVERSE 4ever. Retrieved on March 30, 2023.
  2. ↑ "LA Song - song and lyrics by Christian Kane." Spotify. Retrieved on January 25, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Angel's Second Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008.