Judgment
from the Buffyverse Wiki - a free Buffy and Angel fan community
| Angel | |
| Season 2, Episode 1 | |
 | |
| Air date | September 26, 2000 |
| Written by | David Greenwalt |
| Directed by | Michael Lange |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous To Shanshu in L.A. | next Are You Now or Have You Ever Been |
"Judgment" is episode 1 of season 2 of the television show Angel.
Another vision from Cordelia sends Angel on another mission where he accidentally kills the demonic protector of a pregnant woman named Jo. But when Jo disappears, Angel soon learns that the expectant mother is not only being hunted by evil bounty hunters, but she must face a mysterious Tribunal' in order to live through the night. Street gang member and amateur vampire slayer, Charles Gunn, helps Angel to retrieve a talisman needed for the trial while Angel himself faces his innermost fears: in a demon karaoke bar named Caritas where the kindly demon Host looks into Angel's feelings with his on stage karaoke singing, or lack of it. Meanwhile, the evil lawyers Lindsey and Lilah from Wolfram & Hart are revealed to have brought back from the Raising: the long dead vampire Darla whom they plan to use to seek revenge against Angel. At the end, Angel visits Faith, now serving a long prison term, where they talk about salvation for each other.
Contents |
Synopsis
Lilah visits Lindsey's office where Darla is enjoying classical music. She talks of how she can feel Angel, and slowly her memory begins to return. Cordelia is at acting class until she gets a "911" message on her beeper and has to leave. Wesley is throwing darts to impress a young woman when he also gets a message on his beeper. The two meet Angel at a gym where they put an end to a demon performing a sacrificial ritual in a room behind one of the gym mirrors. Cordelia has a vision about a Prio Motu Demon, and for more information they go to Caritas, a demon karaoke bar and safe haven, to seek out Wesley's demon informant Merl who knows where to find the Prio Motu demon. Lorne is introduced as the Host of the bar, an Anagogic Demon who can see into the hearts and read the future of those who sing, but Angel refuses to sing in public, saying its one of three things he never does. Angel finds the Prio Motu demon along with a pregnant woman. He kills the demon, but then the woman, Jo, tearfully informs him that the demon was protecting her and her unborn child. Feeling guilty about killing the demon, Angel tracks down Merl and is informed of the location the Prio demon was living at as well as the importance of the child.
Angel finds Gunn hunting vampires in a bad part of town and asks for help in finding the Prio Motu demon's hideout, which is empty except for a talisman that may be of use. Angel asks Gunn to deliver the talisman to Wesley and Cordelia while he waits for the pregnant woman to return. When she does, Angel offers his help, but she's not eager to accept it as he has done her nothing but harm. Demons attack, and Angel sends Jo to Cordelia's place while he fights them off. Gunn shows up at Cordelia's bearing the talisman, followed by Angel. Jo never showed up.
Wesley determines that the talisman identifies a champion for The Tribunal, a mystical organization that offers protection. To get more information, Angel is forced to sing karaoke in front of the Host - he mangles "Mandy" (this is, incidentally, the first indication that Angel is familiar with contemporary American pop culture; throughout his appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he was consistently depicted as a "cultured" sort, reading centuries-old works from France, Great Britain, and elsewhere in direct contrast to the thoroughly modern Spike.). The Host tells Angel where the woman's trial will take place. Jo finds herself alone, with no champion and no talisman as the trial begins, and just as the tribunal announces that her life is to be taken, Angel arrives to fight for her, and is able to destroy his demonic opponent. Angel goes to visit Faith, now serving a long prison term, and they talk about redemption and Barry Manilow.
Starring
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
- Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
- J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Guest Starring
- Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald
- Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan
- Andy Hallett as The Host
- Justina Machado as Jo
- Julie Benz as Darla
- Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane
Co Starring
- Rob Boltin as Johnny Fontaine
- Iris Fields as Acting Teacher
- Keith Campbell as Club Manager
- Jason Frasca as White Guy
- Andy Kreiss as Lizard Demon
- Matthew James as Merl Demon
- Glenn David Calloway as Judge
- Ej Gage as Mordar the Bentback
Trivia
- Starting with this episode Angel was broadcast in widescreen (16:9) in the United States. The show is still designed for standard definition televisions (4:3) and some syndicated airings show the 4:3 versions.
- Eliza Dushku is credited in the closing credits of this episode instead of the opening ones. Although closing credits cast listings are usually reserved only for background characters with unimportant parts, or those with minimal or no speaking role, Dushku was placed here to keep Angel's visit to prison a surprise for the viewers. This same trick is used several other times in the series for the same effect.
- J. August Richards joins the regular cast and is billed in the opening credits as of this episode. This is also Andy Hallett's first appearance as The Host, later known as Lorne. Hallett is a regular guest star from this episode on, and eventually joins the regular cast during the fourth season.
- EJ Gage, who plays Mordar the Bentback, also played one of the movers in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Buffy vs. Dracula", which aired immediately before this one on their original broadcast.
Continuity
- This is one of the first episodes on Angel in which demons are shown of being capable of doing good. Angel experiences guilt after killing Jo's demon protector because he killed "an innocent being" and "a soldier like [him]self", and because it never occurred to him that a demon could be either of those things.
- The widescreen DVD release of this episode creates a couple of visible goofs that had not previously been apparent on the standard format TV broadcast and also on the VHS release. In the sequence in the gym in the episode's teaser, Angel is clearly visible in the gym's mirrors in a couple of instances, both times appearing in the extreme right of the frame, that would not be apparent on the original broadcast.
Music
- Billy Ray Cyrus - "Achy Breaky Heart"
- Garth Brooks - "Friends in Low Places" (original episode broadcast)
- Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive"
- Pointer Sisters - "I'm So Excited"
- Crown Jewels - "Last Confession" (DVD release)
- Barry Manilow - "Mandy"
- Chopin - "Prelude in C minor"
- Marvin Gaye - "Sexual Healing"
