Release (Angel)

Last updated
"Release"
Angel episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 14
Directed by James A. Contner
Written by
Production code4ADH14
Original air dateMarch 12, 2003 (2003-03-12)
Guest appearances
  • Eliza Dushku as Faith
  • Christopher Neiman as Frotor Demon
  • Darren Laverty as Lackey Vamp #1
  • Sam Stefanski as Lackey Vamp #2
  • Catalina Larranaga as Vamp Waitress
  • Peter Renaday as Master's Voice
  • Becka Linder as Drugged Girl #1
  • Chris Huse as Drugged Vamp #2
  • Ian Anthony Dale as Drugged Vamp #3
  • Randall Rapstine as Reg
  • Andrew McGinnis as Mullet Head Vamp
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Salvage"
Next 
"Orpheus"
Angel season 4
List of episodes

"Release" is the 14th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel .

Contents

Plot

As a battered and bloodied Faith recovers at Wesley's apartment after her showdown with the Beast, they wonder why Angelus would suddenly kill the Beast and allow the sun to return to Los Angeles. At a demon bar, Angelus is spoken to by a deep disembodied voice, which turns out to originate from Cordelia, projecting from the hotel. Angelus then surprises Fred at the hotel, claiming he is immune to the sanctuary spell. He demands information on the Beast's master and steals her research materials. Fred tries to shoot him with a tranquilizer dart but accidentally hits Lorne instead. Connor attempts to stop Angelus, but is repelled by the demon protection spell.

Angelus is contacted again by Cordelia telepathically, and this time she threatens to restore his soul if he refuses to help. Fred's mood worsens as she feels inadequate to fight Angelus. Fred and Gunn kiss, but part, unsure about their feelings. Meanwhile, Cordelia convinces Connor to keep her sudden pregnancy a secret from everyone else. Faith and Wesley try to track Angelus at the demon bar. There they encounter human junkies, who get high on the vampire bites. Faith smacks one around, but Wesley finally gets the needed info by stabbing the woman. They are able to track Angelus to a deserted museum where Faith has another showdown with him. The fight is long and brutal, with Faith eventually seeming to have beaten Angelus into submission - only to have him suddenly leap on her and bite her neck.

Cast

After over 40 guest appearances, Andy Hallett joins the regular cast and is now billed in the opening credits.

Reception

AV Club, in a dual review of this episode and the previous episode Salvage, said, "On the whole, I’d call these two episodes a mixed bag: some poignant thematic development undercut a little by a surplus of plot and an overemphasis on the characters’ self-pity." [1]

Related Research Articles

Angel is an American supernatural television series, a spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffy's creator, writer and director Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt. It aired on The WB from October 5, 1999, to May 19, 2004, consisting of five seasons and 110 episodes. Like Buffy, it was produced by Whedon's production company, Mutant Enemy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wesley Wyndam-Pryce</span> Character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Played by Alexis Denisof, Wesley first appeared in the fourteenth episode of Buffy's third season in 1999, appearing in nine episodes before moving over to spin-off series Angel where he became a main character for all five seasons. Following Angel's final season, the character's story is continued in the 2007 canonical comic book series Angel: After the Fall.

Charles Gunn (<i>Angel</i>) Fictional character

Charles Gunn is a character in the television series Angel, created by Joss Whedon and first introduced by writer Gary Campbell in the episode "War Zone". The character is portrayed by J. August Richards and named by Whedon after filmmaker James Gunn and actor Sean Gunn, both of whom had worked with Whedon. Gunn is initially presented as the leader of a street gang that defends its neighborhood from vampires.

Angel (<i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>) Character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

Angel is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the American television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series Angel. The character is portrayed by actor David Boreanaz. As introduced in Buffy in 1997, Angel is a love interest for heroine Buffy Summers, a young woman whose destiny as "the Slayer" is to fight the forces of evil, such as vampires and demons. However, their relationship is complicated by the fact that Angel is himself a vampire cursed with remorse and a human soul, which motivates him to assist Buffy in her duties as Slayer. The character's popularity led to the production of the spin-off Angel, which follows the character's struggle towards redemption after moving to Los Angeles. In addition to the two television series, the character appears in the comic book continuations of both series, as well as much other expanded universe literature.

"Through the Looking Glass" is the 21st episode of the second season of the American television series Angel. Written and directed by Tim Minear, it was originally broadcast on May 15, 2001 on the WB network. It is the second episode in a three-part arc.

"Fredless" is the 5th episode of the third season of the American television series Angel. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Marita Grabiak, it was originally broadcast on October 22, 2001 on the WB network. Fred's parents, Roger and Trish Burkle, arrive in town from Texas to take her home with them, prompting Fred to run away. Angel learns that Fred's problems with her mother and father are purely emotional while Mr. and Mrs. Burkle prove themselves to be formidable fighters against demons. Meanwhile, the gang is unknowingly in danger after Angel beheads a vicious demon whose head is the breeding ground for a strain of insect demons, causing a swarm of giant cockroaches to lay siege to the hotel in order to retrieve their offspring.

"Loyalty" is the 15th episode of the third season of the American television series Angel.

"The Price" is the 19th episode of the third season of the American television series Angel, originally broadcast on the WB network. In this episode, the Hyperion Hotel is infested with silicone slug-like parasites that dry up their human hosts. When Fred becomes infected, Gunn turns to the angry and reclusive Wesley for help. Angel is stunned when his lost infant son reappears, now an adolescent boy calling himself the Destroyer.

"Ground State" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. In this episode, Wesley, now a hardened demon-hunter/killer with his own gang, leads the search to Denza who tells them that the Axis talisman will aid him in their search for Cordelia. Meanwhile, Gwen Raiden, a young mercenary with uncontrollable electrical abilities, is also looking for the talisman at the request of her employer, a wealthy businessman with connections to Wolfram & Hart.

"Spin the Bottle" is the 6th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon, it was originally broadcast on November 10, 2002 on the WB television network. In "Spin the Bottle", Lorne performs a magic spell on Cordelia to help her regain her memory, but instead the spell causes all the Angel Investigations members to revert to their teenage personae.

"Apocalypse, Nowish" is seventh episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Written by Steven S. DeKnight and directed by Vern Gillum, it was originally broadcast on November 17, 2002 on the WB network. The WB referred to this episode as "Rain of Fire" when it was first aired, which DeKnight attributes to "legal issues" over the title's reference to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

"Soulless" is the 11th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain and directed by actor Sean Astin, it was originally broadcast on February 5, 2003 on the WB network. In "Soulless", Angel’s soul has been locked away in an office safe so that his alter ego Angelus can be interrogated about the Beast. After taunting Wesley, Gunn, and Fred about their faults and revealing damaging secrets he, as Angel, knew, Cordelia strikes a deal with Angelus so that he will share information about the Beast.

"Salvage" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel, originally broadcast on the WB television network. After discovering Lilah’s dead body, a grieving Wesley breaks rogue slayer Faith out of prison so she can help track down Angelus. Meanwhile, Lorne performs a sanctuary spell to keep Angelus out of the hotel while Cordelia—secretly revealed to be the big evil controlling the Beast—confides in Connor that she is pregnant.

"Orpheus" is the 15th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Written by Mere Smith and directed by Terrence O'Hara, it was originally broadcast on March 19, 2003 on the WB network. "Orpheus" concludes the three-episode arc involving guest star Eliza Dushku reprising her role as the Slayer Faith, beginning immediately where the previous episode ended: Angelus starts to feed on Faith. However, she had deliberately poisoned her blood with a psychedelic drug, and the two pass out. In his coma, Angelus is forced to relive his alter ego Angel's good deeds with Faith at his side, as Cordelia attempts to stop Willow Rosenberg from re-ensouling Angel.

"Slouching Toward Bethlehem" is the 4th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Its title derives from a line from the W. B. Yeats poem "The Second Coming".

"Players" is the 16th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Gwen Raiden returns to ask Gunn to help her rescue a young girl from a wealthy and powerful tycoon. Meanwhile, Angel and the rest of his team are researching Cordelia’s sudden pregnancy.

"Shiny Happy People" is the 18th episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel. Written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, and directed by Marita Grabiak, it was originally broadcast on April 9, 2003 on the WB network. As Cordelia lies in a coma following her demonic delivery, the rest of the gang becomes enchanted by her unexpected offspring - a full grown woman, whom Angel names Jasmine, who hypnotizes anyone she meets by mere sight. Jasmine tells the gang that she is a former higher being who wants the world clean of all evil. But when Fred has a sudden vision of Jasmine as something other than good, or human, she must find the root to Jasmine’s true nature on her own. The episode's title is derived from the R.E.M song of the same name.

"Peace Out" is the 21st episode of the fourth season of the American television series Angel.

References

  1. Murray, Noel. "Buffy / Angel: "Salvage"/"Release"". AV Club. Retrieved 18 May 2023.

Further reading