That Old Gang of Mine

Season 3

episode 3

Air date

October 8, 2001

Written by

Tim Minear

Directed by

Fred Keller

Length

43 minutes

*Angel*
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"That Vision-Thing"	"Carpe Noctem"

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer*
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"Bargaining, Part Two"	"After Life"

Cast

Starring
David Boreanaz — Angel Charisma Carpenter — Cordelia Alexis Denisof — Wesley J. August Richards — Gunn Amy Acker — Fred

Guest starring
Andy Hallett — Lorne Jarrod Crawford — Rondell Khalil Kain — Gio

Co-starring
Matthew James — Merl Giancarlo Carmona — Gang Kid Steve Niel — Huge & Horrible Josh Kayne — Cowering Demon Sam Ayers — Tough Guy Demon Heidi Marnhout — Fury #1 An Le — Fury #2 Madison Gray — Fury #3

Uncredited
Michele Kelly — Alonna Candice Cook — Masked Demon

"That Old Gang of Mine" is the third episode of the third season of Angel and the forty-seventh episode in the series. Written by Tim Minear and directed by Fred Keller, it was originally broadcast on October 8, 2001, on The WB network.

Synopsis[]

Angel comes face-to-face with Gunn's old demon-hunting crew who at one time considered Gunn a hero, but now view him as a traitor and want to see Angel dead.^[1]

Summary[]

Angel tries to apologize to Merl, who doesn't feel his apology is sincere. Angel goads him into taking a free punch, but, because they are at Caritas, the spell that prevents violence by demons causes Merl to be thrown backwards. He goes home and, as he settles among his possessions, he is violently attacked. The next morning, Angel and Wesley investigate the killing. They call Gunn to join them, interrupting him from a nightmare in which he is reliving his killing of his vampiric little sister. Gunn is annoyed at the call, not understanding why they should care about the murder of a demon, even if he was a harmless one.

Gunn heads on over to visit his old crew. As well as reuniting with Rondell, he also meets Gio, a new addition to the gang criticizes Gunn for working with a vampire instead of killing him. Gunn leaves the confrontation angry, feeling his old friends think he's a traitor or vampire-lover. His friends take him aside and, while defending him from the charges of being a traitor, still feel like he hasn't been around and seems to have forgotten his friends from his old neighborhood.

In the Hyperion Hotel, Angel and Cordelia talk about Fred, who is still not coming out of her shell despite three months back in Los Angeles. Angel asks Cordelia to talk with Fred to help her. Cordelia induces Fred to come out with her that night to sing karaoke.

As Angel Investigations investigates Merl's killing, they compile a list of his enemies, with demons who became Merl's enemies because he snitched for Angel filling out most of the list. Angel and Wesley visit the demons, but they find that some others have been killed, seemingly for no reason. In the sewer, a Yarbnie demon drinking a Big Gulp is hunted down, attacked, and killed by Gunn's old crew.

As Wesley investigates the Yarbnie's apartment, Gunn wonders again why they are bothering to investigate murders of demons. Wesley says that the innocent demons are being killed alongside the guilty. Gunn finds an arrow at the crime scene and recognizes it as belonging to his old crew. He pockets the evidence and then confronts Rondell — he thinks Gio has gone rogue and is doing the killing. Rondell explains that the whole crew was there — they go after anything non-human. Gunn is disturbed by their complete disregard for the lives of non-humans. He goes to see Wesley in the hotel, and runs into Angel, who believes that the kills demonstrate that the perpetrators are having fun.

At Caritas, Fred goes onstage to sing. Gunn stops by looking for Wesley, but, before he finds him, the place is stormed by Rondell, Gio, and friends, who open fire upon the bar. Wesley rescues Fred, who is frozen onstage. Rondell wants to leave, but Gio confronts Gunn, condemning him for drinking with his demon friends and accusing him of having a vampire for a best-friend. They go to kill Lorne, but Gunn shields him and confronts Rondell for the wrongness of killing demons at random. Rondell and Gio hold Wesley, Gunn, and Fred hostage but allow Cordelia to leave so she can bring Angel. He rushes over to the club but asks Cordelia to visit the Transuding Furies, the ones who placed the anti-demon violence spell at the club, to get it lifted so he can fight back.

Gio passes the time by singing a song, to which Lorne pays close attention. Lorne says Gio is on the run from something that he did to a woman in Miami, a woman who trusted him. Gio punches Lorne to shut him up, but Lorne smile back with blood in his mouth. Gio taunts Gunn to shoot a baby-killer demon until Angel arrives. Gio demands that Gunn kill Angel, but he refuses; he says he'll never be friends with Angel, but he won't kill him. Gio then says that anyone who kills Angel can get out alive. Fred picks up the crossbow because she doesn't want to die, but she aims it at Gio. Angel tries to convince Fred to aim at him instead, and Gio disarms her.

The spell is then lifted, and the demons fight back. A demon quickly kills Gio, and he is in turn killed. The team all get out alive. Gunn and Rondell decide to go to their separate ways. Wesley tells Gunn that he understands that he felt divided loyalties, but warns that, if he ever withholds information again, he'll be fired. Gunn then speaks with Angel about what he said in the club and apologizes, although he meant every word, which Angel understands. Gunn suggests that not killing him when he could proves he can be trusted, but Angel states that Gunn will prove he can be trusted when he will have to kill Angel and does it.

Continuity[]

Angel attempts to apologize to Merl for mistreating him in "Reprise."
Gunn dreams of Alonna's death in "War Zone."
Cordelia sees Fred apparently talking to plants. Illyria, who will take over Fred's body in "A Hole in the World," has the power to communicate with plants ("Origin").
Rondell talks about Gunn disappearing after George's death and wondering if he was still "in this world." George dies in "Belonging" and Gunn goes to the world of Pylea in "Over the Rainbow."
Caritas, which was introduced in "Judgment," is destroyed in this episode. It will be rebuilt in "Lullaby" and immediately destroyed again, by Daniel Holtz. It will, then, reappear two years later, in "Underneath," again rebuilt.
Angel says Gunn will prove he can be trusted the day Gunn will have to kill Angel and he does it. Gunn will kill Angel and save Los Angeles in After the Fall, Part Sixteen.