The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco
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| Angel | |
| Season 5, Episode 6 | |
| Air date | November 5, 2003 |
| Written by | Jeffrey Bell |
| Directed by | Jeffrey Bell |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Life of the Party | next Lineage |
Contents |
Plot
On the Mexican Day of the Dead, Angel has a run-in with a masked Wolfram and Hart employee who's connected to an Aztec warrior demon named Tezcatcatl, who preys on the hearts of heroes. This leads Angel to wrestle with some personal issues when he learns about 'Los Hermanos Numeros', a family of five Mexican wrestlers who helped the helpless until one day they were slain by Tezcatcatl, except for the fifth brother. Angel helps the last member, 'Number Five' discover the hero inside, which he lost when his family were killed.
Meanwhile, Spike researches the Shanshu Prophecy (from the first season) about a vampire becoming human and thinks that he, not Angel, may be the vampire who will become human.
Production
Writer/director Jeffrey Bell explains that he always wanted to work Mexican wrestling into one of his The X-Files scripts, but it wasn't until he pitched the idea to creator Joss Whedon that he was able to realize his "lifelong dream - to tell a story about Mexican wrestlers."[1]
Acting
Main cast
- David Boreanaz as Angel
- James Marsters as Spike
- J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
- Amy Acker as Winifred Burkle
- Andy Hallett as Lorne
- Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Guest star
- Danny Mora as Number Five
Co-stars
- Bruno Gioiello as Security Guard
- Robert Alonzo as Carlos
Trivia
- This episode has the longest "intro" (before showing the opening theme) in the whole series so far (confirmation of intros that are in the episodes after this one needs citation) at 6 minutes and 18 seconds!
- When Carlos is attacked at the start of the episode, as he is thrown through the air, he emits the infamous "Wilhelm scream". This familiar scream sound effect has been heard in over 140 movies and various TV shows!
- Gunn calling Angel's signature his "Herbie Hancock" is a reference to the Chris Farley movie Tommy Boy, where the titular Tommy character confuses the Declaration of Independence signer John Hancock with the American jazz performer.
- This is the only episode which mentions the cult favorite 'character' El Diablo Robotico .
Continuty
- When Angel mentions "The Father Will Kill The Son"-prophecy, Wesley says "What are you talking about?". Wesley doesn't remember anything about that prophecy (despite it being the cause of his betrayal of Angel in Season 3) because of Angel's "deal" with Wolfram & Hart (in the Season 4 finale "Home") in which Angel agreed to take over the Los Angeles Branch in exchange for Connor being given a new (normal) family and home. This causes everyone (except Angel and Cyrus Vail) to forget all about Connor (including the prophecy).
