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Deep Down

"Deep Down" is the first episode of the fourth season of Angel and the sixty-seventh episode in the series. Written by Steven S. DeKnight and directed by Terrence O'Hara, it was originally broadcast on October 6, 2002, on The WB network.

Synopsis

With Angel trapped on the ocean floor and Cordelia stuck on a mystical plane, Fred and Gunn are frustrated at the lack of clues regarding their friends' whereabouts, especially after the only eyewitness to Angel's disappearance is murdered. After Angel is rescued by the most unlikely person, the shocking reasons behind the mysterious disappearances become clear.[1]

Summary

Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Fred, Connor, Lorne, and Wesley sit around a table enjoying a happy meal together. As plates are passed around the table and Angel is ignored, things start to change. In the reality, a physically weakened Angel is in his watery prison.

Fred and Gunn run back to Gunn's truck, trying to escape vampires. One crashes onto the windshield and more arrive in another car. Gunn and Fred ask a vampire gang about a girl named Marissa, but the vampires aren't interested in talking. After giving up what could be accurate information about Marissa, the vamps attack. Several of the vampires are slain, and Connor jumps in just in time to save Fred from a flying axe. Back at the Hyperion Hotel, Gunn and Fred lecture Connor about the danger of his wild actions, despite the fact that they're all still alive. In the office, Fred talks about their efforts to look for Cordelia and Angel and how little success they've had over the past three months.

Angel stands atop the cliffs, where he was meant to meet Cordelia. This time, she arrives and the two discuss their feelings for each other, even though Angel realizes this isn't how it happened. As the two kiss, Angel's hunger takes over, and he starts feeding from her. Underwater, Angel wakes up screaming.

Connor finally finds out from Gunn and Fred that they have another lead into Angel's whereabouts, and he's not pleased that they didn't tell him earlier. Fred agrees to let him tag along as they check out a potential location for Marissa. While Connor's out of the room, Gunn and Fred argue about the tough situation they are in with the hotel, the business, and the struggle to find Angel and Cordelia. Both know that, if this lead doesn't pan out, they'll be at a complete dead end, since the only other options are Wolfram & Hart and Wesley, who has already refused to help twice.

Lilah collapses on top of Wesley after another round of sex. She attempts to weasel information out of Wesley on where Angel is. Wesley makes it clear to her that he doesn't know where Angel is and doesn't care, claiming that part of his life to be over. After she leaves, Wesley dresses and proceeds towards a closet. Inside, he has Justine caged and chained up, and he announces that it's time for them to go look for Angel. Later, Justine taunts Wesley as he directs a boat in search of the steel box Angel is confined in.

Connor kicks in a door at the building where the gang hopes to find Marissa. He finds her and grill her about the cliffs where Angel last went to, but Connor lets Marissa escape. He runs after her and kills her before Gunn and Fred show up. He cuts himself with the stake and pretends as if she attacked him when the others arrived and ran off.

Angel finds Connor on a tall rooftop and they start to talk before a group of vampires interrupts them. Angel and Connor fight and kill them all, and then Angel snaps Connor's neck. In his underwater coffin, Angel wakes and starts to scream again.

Fred finally reaches Lorne in Vegas, but he says he's very busy and doesn't have any new information to share with her.

At Wolfram & Hart, Linwood, Lilah, and Gavin walk as Linwood praises Gavin's latest findings. Lilah realizes that they know about her and Wesley, and she tries to offer an explanation, but Linwood isn't interested.

Wesley finally detects metal on his sensor and sends Justine down to check it out. It turns out to be Angel, and the steel coffin is raised from the ocean. Wesley opens it and frees Angel's arms, only to have Angel wake up and catch Wesley's throat in a death grip. However, Wesley is able to lower the arm back down as he explains to Justine that, while vampires can live forever without feeding, prolonged starvation can cause brain damage. Wesley slowly feeds Angel animal blood while Justine taunts him, reminding him that Angel and the rest of the team hate him and will never take him back.

Connor returns to the hotel to find Fred and Gunn worried and waiting for him. Connor gets testy when Gunn suggests Connor is like his father.

On the boat, Angel hallucinates that Lorne is on the boat with him as Wesley comes below deck to check on Angel's progress. Angel sees Connor instead of Wesley, and Wesley realizes that the animal blood isn't returning Angel's strength fast enough, so he cuts his own arm to feed Angel.

Before a meeting, Lilah absentmindedly strokes the top of Linwood's chair. As the meeting begins, Linwood asks a room full of lawyers about Lilah and her future at the firm due to her failures regarding Angel. Lilah responds that, while she may have failed on numerous occasions, she was never afraid of Angel. She announces that she spoke with one of the Senior Partners, and Linwood demands from Lilah: "You went over my head?" Lila says she went "more like under it." Then, with a touch of a button, Linwood is beheaded and Lilah becomes the new boss. She asks Gavin to remove the head.

Fred brings Connor a sandwich, and they talk as he eats. Unexpectedly, Fred promises him great suffering for what he did to his father and subdues him with a stun gun. Downstairs, Fred speaks angrily to Connor as he's tied to a chair. She and Gunn reveal that Wesley called and informed them about finding Angel and that Connor was behind his disappearance, and they accuse him of also disposing of Cordelia.

Meanwhile, Wesley buckles Angel into the car and leaves Justine handcuffed to the pier, telling her she can continue being a slave or live her own life.

Back at the hotel, Connor argues with Fred and Gunn that Angel is not his father and does not regret his actions. Wesley carries a weakened Angel into the hotel and, after making sure he's okay, Gunn and Fred demand to know why Wes didn't tell them what was happening or warn them about Connor. Wesley doesn't offer much of an explanation and just leaves.

Then, a noise is heard in the office, drawing Gunn and Fred's attention. Having broken free of his restraints, Connor knocks Gunn down and shocks Fred with the stun gun, but, as he turns around, Angel is standing in front of him. Angel orders Connor to sit, and he explains to his son the truth about Holtz's death and Angel's lack of involvement in it. Realizing he's in trouble, Connor attempts a getaway, but Angel isn't done yet and throws Connor into the wall. After making sure that he had nothing to do with Cordelia's disappearance, Angel tells Connor, with a parting lecture about life and an admission of love, to leave, which he does immediately. After he does so, Angel nearly collapses with Gunn and Fred urging him to rest, but Angel's main focus now is finding Cordelia.

Meanwhile, in a higher dimension, Cordelia bemoans her boredom.

Continuity

  • This episode is set three months after the season three finale "Tomorrow."
  • With just Fred, Gunn and Connor, the Angel Investigations team is at its smallest since "Parting Gifts," when it counted with only Angel and Cordelia.
  • Fred uses Angel's stake bracers, first seen in "City Of."
  • The Hunga Munga is one of the weapons Gunn, Fred, and Connor carry at the beginning of the episode. It was first seen in "Anne" and appeared a second time in "Happy Anniversary."
  • When Fred calls Lorne in Las Vegas, Lorne refers to a dog named Fluffy that Fred does not have. As it'll be explained in "The House Always Wins," Lorne is trying to subtly convey that something is wrong and he needs to be rescued.
  • Wesley resorts to imprisoning and torturing Justine, in order to rescue Angel. In "Sanctuary," he pointed to Faith's imprisoning and torturing of him as evidence that she was a bad person.
  • Before Wesley cuts himself to feed Angel, he raises his knife, creating the impression that he wants to cut Justine instead. Lilah performs a similar action towards Linwood before cutting herself to help Angel in "Forgiving."
  • Angel says he once got stuck in a hell dimension by a girlfriend for a hundred years, referring to when Buffy sent him to Acathla's dimension in "Becoming, Part Two."
  • In "Tomorrow," when Connor was closing Angel's coffin, Angel said to him: "Some day, you'll learn the truth and you'll hate yourself. Don't. It's not your fault. I don't blame you." In this episode, Angel tells Connor the truth about Holtz's death ("Benediction") and says: "What you did to me was unbelievable," now blaming him.

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and titles

Species

Locations

Objects

Death count

  • Two vampires, staked by Fred.
  • One vampire, staked by Gunn.
  • One vampire, beheaded by Connor.
  • Cordelia, blood drained by Angel (only in dreams).
  • Marissa, staked by Connor.
  • Connor, neck snapped by Angel (only in dreams).
  • Linwood Murrow, beheaded by Lilah.

Behind the scenes

Production

  • Vincent Kartheiser has been added to the opening credits, while Alexis Denisof has been moved to last (and is now credited with "And").
  • Andy Hallett is now credited as a "Special Guest Star," a credit he will retain until he is promoted to regular status.
  • This is the only season opener of Angel not written by either creators Joss Whedon or David Greenwalt.

Broadcast

  • "Deep Down" had an audience of 2.8 million households upon its original airing.[2]

Pop culture references

  • Gunn refers to a vampire as "Evil Dead," referring to the 1981 film.
  • Gunn mentions the film Conan the Destroyer when talking about Connor's nickname in Quor'toth.
  • Angel describes his new perspective as from the artist M. C. Escher, known for his illustrations that explore perspective and impossible objects.
  • Linwood proclaims: "This is my corner of the sky," a reference to the song "Corner of the Sky" sung by the titular character from the musical Pippin. John Rubinstein originated the role of Pippin on Broadway.

Goofs

  • A vampire jumps on Gunn's truck and shatters the windshield with his hand. However, every shot of the truck after that scene (when Gunn stops the truck and while they're fighting the vamps from the convertible) shows the windshield unbroken.

Music

International titles

  • Czech: "Hluboko" (Deeply)
  • Finnish: "Syvyyksien vanki" (Prisoner of the Depths)
  • French: "Dans les abysses" (In the Abyss)
  • German: "Aus der Tiefe" (From the Deep)
  • Hungarian: "Mélyponton" (Low Point)
  • Italian: "In profondità" (Deep)
  • Portuguese (Brazil): "No Fundo" (At the Bottom)
  • Russian: "Глубина" (Depth)
  • Spanish (Latin America): "En el fondo" (At the Bottom)
  • Spanish (Spain): "En las profundidades" (In the Depths)
  • Turkish: "Derinliklere Doğru" (Into the Depths)

Gallery

Promotional stills

Behind the scenes

Quotes

Fred: "How could you do that to your father?"
Connor: "That thing is not my father."
Gunn: "Yes, he is."
Connor: "He got what he deserved."
Fred: "And how soon before we deserved it?"
Angel: "So, how was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw some fish. Went mad with hunger. Hallucinated a whole bunch."
Angel: "Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and cruel. But that's why there's us: Champions. Doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done — or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be — to show it what it can be."

References

  1. ↑ "angel: Deep Down." TheWB.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2004.
  2. ↑ "Nielsen Ratings for Angel's Fourth Season." Nielsen Ratings for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, & Firefly. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.