Origin
Written by Drew Goddard
Directed by Terrence O’Hara
Part 1 (of 2)
Okay, so Angel has been told that he’s batting for the wrong team, he now knows the senior partners want him working for them just so they can keep him busy while they get on with business. His blinkers have been taken off, he knows where he stands and that he’s been played, big time. So, right about now you’d expect a rebellion, the sniff of an escape plan, plotting, strategising, and mustering the forces of good? You’d think …
Contrary to expectation there is no movement on the ‘get out of Wolfram and Hart’ front. Angel and company stay put, it’s very much just another day at the office; business as usual. Sure, Gunn is trapped in a Wolfram and Hart holding cell and the team is finding it very slow going as they try to figure out how to get him back but that’s not the reason they remain in subordination to the senior partners. No, the reason is that despite everything that has happened, everything Angel has learnt, the original terms of the deal are still in place - Angel’s servitude in return for Connor’s new life and new memories. That is the origin of the situation; this is the anchor that keeps them tied to the firm. As long as Connor is living a normal, happy life then Angel will not rock the boat, no matter how precarious the voyage has become for him and his crew.
Wesley looks terrible. He is unshaven, his eyes are red-rimmed and he’s tired. He watches Illyria with obsessive interest. Illyria is merely doing what she does; counting oxygen molecules, analysing Petri dishes, kinda sleeping - but Wesley can’t take his eyes off her. Angel doesn’t think this is a good idea and suggests that Illyria is not his sole responsibility, that she is a shared burden. Angel wants her tested and studied but Wes indicates that this could be difficult without seriously injuring someone. Angel volunteers Spike’s services (insinuating that, a) he doesn’t care that Spike could give hurt, b) knows that Spike can handle himself or c) a little of both). Wesley hardly hears the snide joke, too intent on watching his quarry.
Wesley: she doesn’t understand our world. She needs someone to guide her. She needs-
Him? Wesley casts himself as Illyria’s Watcher, willingly taking on the role of educator and spiritual guide to this lost warrior. It may seem the thing to do to Wesley but it only succeeds in raising Angel’s ire:
Angel: when was the last time he slept? You’re not her saviour! I need you here, working, not of drinking yourself into a coma, chasing ghosts. Fred’s dead Wes, you’re still alive. Start acting like it.
The words seem cruel. They are. But, to give Angel the benefit of the doubt, this is ‘tough love’ in action. Angel, always a paternal figure to Wesley, only knows one way to love his ‘sons’; in a brisk, acerbic manner, the same way his own father loved him. In ‘The Prodigal’ (A1.15) we see Angel’s father express anger and disappointment at the actions of his wastrel son, but the harsh words are not fuelled by loathing - they are said with the desire to see Liam achieve more than drunkenness and whoreing. It’s a harsh parenting style, not what is considered ideal nowadays but it’s the only way that Angel knows. He learnt it at his father’s knee and we have seen him use it, at one time or another, on all three ‘sons’; the metaphoric son, Wesley, the vampiric son, Spike and the biological son, Conner.
And Wesley, who is used to a hard to please father (as demonstrated earlier in the season in ‘Lineage’) responds; the next time we see him, he’s in his office consulting with prospective clients, very much as Wesley of old.
The clients are a couple who are concerned about their son. He was hit by a speeding truck yet survived with barely a scratch. One of the policemen investigating the case suggested that their son might be ‘different’ and recommended Wolfram and Hart for their expertise in matters such as these. Wesley feels the case is important enough to warrant Angel’s inclusion in the discussions. It’s exactly what they need, a good old-fashioned helping of the helpless to sink their collective teeth into.
Angel walks through the lobby when suddenly he hears a voice that stops him in his tracks. “Hey Dad” it says and causes instant recognition. Angel turns slowly to have his worst fears confirmed. Connor, his Connor, is standing right behind him, standing right there in the foyer of Wolfram and Hart, the last place on earth that Angel ever wanted to see him. Angel is confused. He even begins to ask what Connor is doing there but is forestalled when the younger man is beckoned to join his parents in Wesley’s office. Angel is clearly agitated. He meets the Reilly’s and their son with distracted interest then flatly refuses to take the case. No discussion, no arguments. Now it’s Wesley’s turn to be confused; isn’t this what they do - what they’re supposed to do, help the helpless? The Reilly’s seem like good people, the kind of people they should help.
Angel: All the more reason to get them out of here. We know what this place does to good people.
And that’s true, but it still doesn’t explain why Angel is so determined not to assist in any way. Curious, thinks Wesley.
Meanwhile Spike is ‘studying’ Illyria. Well… Spike is getting pummelled by Illyria, but it’s all in the name of research. Spike tries to explain the rules of engagement, making a particular point of the fact that he doesn’t like to be hit in the face and that her cooperation is required for them to make progress. This is all said in his very best (and totally affected) working class accent, almost as if he needs to summon his most wily street-brawler incarnation to assist him in fighting this superior opponent. Illyria, on the other hand is having a grand time. She enjoys hitting the half-breed. He makes noises.
Wesley joins them in the training room to check on progress. Illyria notes that he reeks of frustration. It curls off him like smoke. Spike suggests it’s actually Scotch, twelve year old Lagavulin, if he’s not mistaken. They are both right. Illyria seems to have heightened emotional recognition while Spike is an expert on the subtleties of using alcohol to dull said emotions. Wesley tries to explain, he’s had a disagreement with Angel, its nothing. Spike jokes about Angel’s inability to, um, relieve frustration in a pleasurable way without going ‘crazy’. Illyria accuses them of insolence, that in her day they would have been punished with death for such disrespect. To Illyria, if it is not unquestioning submissive loyalty then it is mutiny. There is no middle ground. She doesn’t understand the ways of humans (or vampires) who can question, doubt, or even joke but still remain loyal. Wesley tries to explain:
Wesley: It’s just, uh… I don’t always understand Angel.
Illyria: Yet you follow him willingly. You’re loyal to him.
Wesley: He’s earned it. I…trust he knows what he’s doing.
Wesley trusts blindly. He doesn’t have all the information; he doesn’t know he’s missing huge chunks of data and that the loss of this knowledge is all Angel’s doing. Would his trust be so unshakable if he had the full story?
That Wesley’s trust is somewhat misplaced is made very clear in the next scene. Angel paces angrily in his office until Marcus Hamilton arrives. Hamilton is calmness and reason to Angel’s agitation and irrationality. Angel wants to know how Connor ‘just happened’ to walk smack bang into the middle of Wolfram and Hart, he’s sure the senior partners are behind it. He’s sure, even knowing what Lindsey told him in the previous episode, that this is the Partners, about to reveal their hand. Hamilton assures him that the Senior Partners are not the ones behind the stunt. As far as they are concerned they couldn’t be happier with the deal; it is all still in place and they have no desire to make changes to the partnership. So, is it all a coincidence then? Oh no, says Hamilton, while the Senior Partners aren’t involved, someone else is certainly trying to send a message to Angel…
Next, we get a good look at the new and improved Connor. He is driving with his parents, riding in the back seat. He pokes his head between his Mum and Dad and reveals he knows the reason they visited the law firm was because of the van incident. He has an easy, open relationship with his parents; he displays good humour, maturity and in the face of this sudden twist in his seemingly normal life, admirable bravery. Angel got exactly what he paid for - a lovely, well adjusted young man, a son any father would be proud of.
As the family arrive at their hotel the back door of the car is ripped off its hinges and Conner is torn out and thrown across the car park by a vicious demon-type. When his mother is threatened Connor struggles to his feet and instinctively retaliates punching the demon so hard he sends him flying a considerable distance.
Connor: Whoa!
This is a new and surprising development. Understandably he’s momentarily distracted by his newly discovered super-strength allowing the demons to renew their efforts. Angel swoops in, every inch the super hero, and comes to his rescue. He puts on a brutally efficient display of fighting prowess and makes short work of the attackers. Connor is impressed. Angel is chuffed. But as soon as his parents emerge from behind the car, his father injured, Angel and his heroics are quickly forgotten. Connor runs to his parents exclaiming “Dad” with deep concern and reminding Angel that no, he’s not ‘dad’ anymore, he’s just some guy who did something momentarily impressive that was relegated to unimportant as soon as the impetus of real familial love is felt.
Angel can live with that. He loves that much that he would rather see Connor safe and happy and forego the recognition. It hurts but he can live with it. The obvious success of the deal at Connor’s end deems it bearable. Yet with his son in real danger Angel offers help. He has no choice, it is his son.
So they are all bought back to Wolfram and Hart, Mr. Reilly to receive medical treatment and Connor to have a chat, about those enhanced abilities he seems to possess. Connor is intrigued by all around him, and takes everything in his stride:
Connor: And you are a vampire. So… Demons, vampires, doctors with claws… And I’m some sort of superhero. OK.
Angel: You’re taking this pretty well.
Connor: What am I supposed to do, complain? I just don’t know how I’m gonna explain it to my parents. You got family?
Angel answers in the negative even though that’s not strictly true. But that is the price he had to pay for this level headed, adaptable Connor, a complete contrast to the bitter, angry, dissatisfied Connor of old who, yeah, would have complained. And of course, there’s his other family member…
Spike comes crashing through the training room doors landing at their feet; calls Illyria a harlot (you can take the boy out of the 19th century; you can’t take the 19th century out of the boy) then storms back into the room. Angel offers to introduce Connor to some of his ‘co-workers’, a description that is not quite apt for either recipient. For Illyria it is too generous, for Spike not nearly enough recognition of the connection they share, still, it does cut two very long stories short. Connor’s interest gets absorbed in Illyria. Her powers, besides being able to hit like a Mack truck, selectively alter the flow of time and talk to plants, would seem to include the ability to feel the temperature radiated from the humans.
Illyria: Your body warms. This one is lusting after me.
Conner is embarrassed. It's the outfit, that and he’s always had a thing for older women (you can take the boy out of the preferences, but you can’t take the preferences out of the boy - no matter how grand the magic.)
So it turns out that Connor’s attackers are the henchmen of one Cyvus Vail, a powerful warlock who heads a vast demon empire and no, he’s not trying to remain anonymous. Angel’s response is swift; he bristles up, goes on the defensive and will brook no interference, no discussion, no assistance. He is at his dictatorial best and he’ll deal with this by himself, in his own way. Wesley wants to argue about it but he’s quickly put in his place. Angel’s attitude has the opposite effect than the one desired; far from quelling interest in the situation it only raises suspicion. Wesley, in his own way is the rebellious son, he loves Angel, wants his good opinion but he doesn’t fear him or heed his every word. Instead of ‘leaving It’ as requested, he asks for everything that can be found on the mysterious Mr. Vail to be bought to his office.
Angel goes straight to Vail, goes in blazing. The warlock hardly seems worth it, he’s decrepit and hooked up to all manner of tubes and potions. Angel doesn’t care. He threatens Vail, to back off or else. But Cyvus has an ace up his sleeve; he knows things about Connor, things that couldn’t possibly be known:
Vail: When Connor was five he got lost in a department store. He wandered off while his family was shopping. It scared the poor child nearly half to death.
Angel: That never happened!
Vail: But he remembers it happening. He remembers screaming in the middle of the store. He remembers his mother rushing towards him. He remembers his father sweeping him up into his arms.
Vail built Connor’s memories; some of his finest work. The new memories are quite a contrast from the real ones, a childhood stranded in Quor-Toth where it was survive or die and terror was his constant companion. In the new memories fear was met with love and reassurance where previously he had only known the brutality of ‘survival of the fittest’. So what is Vale’s interest in Connor? It seems that he wants a particular demon dead; Sahjahn, who is, of course, is well known to Angel. They have a definite history. Sahjahn has always been interested Connor, feared him because of a prophecy which suggested that Connor would one day kill him. Sahjahn went to a lot of trouble to ensure that it didn’t come true (see Angel, season three). But Angel circumvented the prophecy, sealed Sahjahn in a mystical jar.
End of story.
Not quite. Cyvus Vail has the jar and an existing enmity with Sahjahn. He wants Sahjahn dealt with permanently by the one who is supposed to do at and thus, Connor must be reminded of who he is. Vail uses threats too. He holds a glowing magical box, an Orlon Window, which contains the world as it once was. It has the power to restore memories, should it break in close proximity to those with altered minds. He gave Connor his happy life; he can take it away with infinite ease. That’s the last thing Angel wants, those memories to escape, the truth would destroy his son so he volunteers his own services to kill Sahjahn.
Vail: If it were that simple I’d do it myself. No, the prophecy is quite clear - there is only one person who can kill Sahjahn.
Angel: Connor
(Continued Here)