"Are You Now or Have You Ever Been"
Cordy, Wes and Angel are at Cordelia's apartment. Wesley is looking at a b&w photograph he identifies as being of the Hyperion hotel ("Judgement").
Angel fills him in on the particulars of the structure and its location. He wonders how long it's been vacant.
Cordy brings tea for Wes, coffee for herself and a glass of blood for Angel.
Angel looks at it curiously and notes that it doesn't look right, it seems to have "coagulated." He thinks it's spoiled.
Cordelia tells him it's not spoiled, it's cinnamon she added. She thought she'd try something new.
Angel sets the glass down on the table without trying any of it.
Cordy picks up the glass, sniffs the contents, then puts it back down.
Angel tells Wes and Cordy he wants them to look into the hotel. He wants to know who the owners are and why it's been vacant for so long.
Wes wonders who they're working for.
Angel tells him there is no client. He wants the two of them to get back to him with whatever they come up with. He suggests they focus on police cases related to the hotel such as murders, unsolved mysteries of any sort, going back to the hotel's origins through to current times.
Wes observes Angel thinks there is, or was, something at the hotel.
Angel confirms he believes that to be true then leaves the apartment without elaborating further.
1952
Inside the nicely appointed Hyperion hotel, the lobby is crowded.
Behind the desk, the manager is sorting through mail for guests. He hands the mail off to the bellhop for delivery, including the weekly bill for 217.
The bellhop says the occupant of 217 gives him the creeps. He'd rather be delivering an eviction notice.
The manager reminds him if they evicted everyone who gave them the creeps, they wouldn't have any guests.
The bellhop asks, "Have you ever looked into his eyes? There's nothing there." He departs to deliver the bill.
The elevator doors open, the bellhop hesitates to get off. After a moment, the doors start to close. He extends his hand between them to keep them from sliding shut and finally steps off, albeit reluctantly. Just as hesitantly, he walks down the narrow hallway, coming to a stop outside the door to room 217.
He knocks lightly on the door and quietly asks if anyone is inside. There is no answer, much to his apparent relief. He assumes the occupant is out when he hears a noise inside. He hurriedly leaves the small tray containing the bill on the floor outside of the door and tells the occupant he can pick it up when it's convenient for him to do so.
He rushes back down the hall into the elevator and when the door doesn't close quickly enough, begins frantically slamming on the elevator button until the doors finally slide shut.
The door to room 217 opens. The occupant reaches down to pick up the tray containing the bill and slowly stands back up. The occupant of room 217 is Angel. He glances down the hall toward the elevator briefly, then goes back into his room.
Present Day
As Angel walks through the vacated Hyperion hotel, the scene blends into the hotel lobby of 1952. Scenes of Angel walking through the hotel in present day are interspersed with flashbacks to 1952 throughout the episode.
1952
In the lobby of the hotel, some of the guests are watching the McCarthy hearings on television. Angel enters the lobby and picks up a newspaper laying on a table. He's carrying a brown paper bag. He continues on his way, pausing only briefly when he encounters the bellhop who tells him he doesn't have any mail.
Angel continues on to the elevator and take it up to his floor.
At the desk, the manager refuses accommodations to a black family, telling them the sign outside that says "vacancy" is wrong.
Angel exits the elevator and heads down the hall to room 217. As he reaches his door, he hears the door up the hall open and turns to look. A young man is coming out of the room, followed by an older man in a robe.
The older man follows the younger one out into the hallway and straightens his tie for him and smoothes his hair. They both look and see Angel watching. The older man shakes the younger man's hand and he heads down the hallway. The older guy remains in the hallway briefly. He and Angel exchange a brief look, then both enter their rooms.
Inside his room, Angel removes a bottle of blood from the bag he's been carrying and sets it on the table. He checks the ice bucket, finds it empty, and heads back out into the hall to the ice machine.
Near the ice machine, he notices a man standing alone at the end of the hall, talking to himself. The sound of a disembodied voice whispering can be heard.
As Angel is filling the ice bucket, he turns to look up the hall when he hears the sound of knocking. He turns back toward the direction of the guy who was talking to himself in the hallway, but he's no longer there.
As Angel walks back up the hall to his room, he walks past the guy doing the knocking. He continues to knock persistently on one of the guest's doors.
Angel walks past him and goes back into his room.
Once inside his room, Angel locks the door and puts the bottle of blood on ice. He senses someone in the room. A young woman, Judy, comes out of the bathroom, pretending to be a maid.
Angel knows she's no maid, pointing out she has no cleaning cart, no clean sheets and she's "the wrong color." He tells her he doesn't have anything to steal and directs her to leave.
Judy says she wasn't trying to rob him, she can explain.
Angel isn't interested in listening and again tells her to get out of his room.
Judy says she can't leave so Angel offers to help her by grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the door. She tells him that her boyfriend is looking for her and she doesn't want him to find her. She's afraid of him.
Angel's attention is diverted by the sound of someone working at the lock on his door, from the outside.
He guides Judy to a position behind the door so she can't be seen from the hallway and opens the door. The guy who was on his knees trying to pick the lock stands up and demands to know where Judy is. It's the same guy who was persistently knocking on the other door when Angel was in the hallway, retrieving ice.
Angel doesn't offer any answers.
The guy suggests it would be wise for Angel to stay out of this situation.
Angel would be happy to stay out of it and he will if the guy goes away.
The guy insists Angel is hiding Judy in his room and he's determined to check it out for himself. He's not planning on going anywhere. He tells Angel to send Judy out or he'll come in and get her.
Angel again warns him to go away.
The guy pushes his coat back to reveal a handgun in a shoulder holster. He thinks that will gain him entry without argument.
Angel steps back a bit, giving the impression he's going to let the guy in.
As the guy starts to walk into the room, Angel slams the door on his face then shoves him into the hall. The guy goes for his gun but Angel grabs his arm, leverages it over the guy's head and escorts him down the hallway to the elevator which has opened and is occupied by the bellhop and some luggage.
Angel shoves the guy into the elevator then turns and heads back to his room. The bellhop frantically slams the elevator button repeatedly until the doors slide closed.
Judy is standing in the hall, just outside of Angel's room. She tells him her name and starts to thank him but he walks on past her into his room and shuts the door.
Present Day
At Cordelia's apartment, she and Wes are digging through information on the Hyperion. Wes notes the hotel was permanently closed in 1979 when one of the employees committed a massacre with a shotgun.
Cordy is working on her laptop and reads what she's found. The hotel was designated a landmark, the owners have been trying to sell it for 10 years with no luck.
Wes isn't surprised the property hasn't sold. He notes the stories related to the hotel clearly show a pattern of "murder and mayhem" that goes back to the origins of the hotel in 1928 when one of the construction workers jumped to his death and took a couple of his coworkers with him.
Cordy wonders why Angel is having them compile all of this information.
Wes doesn't know either.
Cordelia sifts through a pile of old b&w photos and notices Angel in a photo of the hotel lobby taken in 1952. She shows the photo to Wes who now understands Angel has some kind of personal connection to the Hyperion.
Cordy wonders why Angel wasn't upfront about that in the first place.
Wes wonders if perhaps there's something related to it that Angel is ashamed of.
1952
In his room, Angel lights a cigarette, walks across the room and picks up an empty glass. The music from the record player in the room next door can be heard.
In the room next door, the occupant, a salesman, is being whispered to by the disembodied voice. He converses with it.
Angel retrieves the bottle of blood from the ice bucket and pours himself a glass.
The salesman picks up a gun, moves over to the bed and sits on the edge of it briefly. He picks up the pillow and slides to a sitting position on the floor, his back against the side of the bed. He presses the pillow to the side of his head.
Angel starts to take a drink. He pauses briefly when he hears the muffled sound of a gunshot, then goes back to his meal.
The hotel manager and the bellhop enter the salesman's room, having been alerted to what's happened by the maid. The manager notes it's the third suicide at the hotel in three months.
The disembodied voice tells the manager that with three deaths in three months, the police will shut them down.
The bellhop asks who he should call first, a carpet cleaning service or the police.
The manager tells him not to call anybody, repeating what the voice told him, with three deaths in three months, they'll be shut down if this one is discovered.
The bellhop wonders what they should do with the body.
The manager directs him to store it in the hotel's meat locker.
In the hotel lobby, a group of guests are talking about the latest suicide, some wondering if that's really what it was. They've heard rumors the hotel isn't going to report the death and argue whether that's wise or not.
As the guests argue, Angel walks down the stairs and exits through the back way.
In a corner of the lobby, an elderly man sitting on a couch is being spoken to by the mysterious voice. It prods him to wonder if it really was a suicide and asks if he feels safe in the hotel.
Judy approaches Angel who is outside of the Griffith Park Observatory, smoking a cigarette.
She tries to make conversation but isn't getting much help from Angel who keeps his back to her. She says she's come to the observatory to attend an exhibit. She needed to get out of the hotel and it's cheaper than going to the movies.
Angel asks if her "boyfriend" came back.
She looks a bit embarrassed to be reminded of that lie, then admits the latest suicide gave her the creeps. She wants to thank Angel for helping her out.
Angel turns to look at her and reminds her the exhibit is starting.
She reckons she'll see him around. She leaves as he remains behind, finishing his cigarette.
Present Day
At Cordy's apartment, Wesley reads from an old newspaper clipping about the arrest of the bellhop for the murder of the salesman.. The bellhop, Frank Gilnitz, was employed at the hotel in 1952. He puts the article in the pile of clippings they have gathered from that year.
Cordy wonders if it really fits, since he was executed in 1954. She places the article in the 1954 pile.
Wes points out he was executed in 1954 but the crime he was executed for, the murder of the salesman and the hiding of the body in the hotel meat locker, occurred in 1952. He moves the clipping back to the 1952 pile.
Cordelia looks on the research as putting together a puzzle, wondering how many people died because Angel messed up somehow.
1952
In the hotel lobby, the actor, writer, middle aged prostitute and the older guy are discussing the suicide. They argue whether it truly was a suicide. Some think murder but how could it be when he had the gun in his hand and the door was locked from the inside.
Angel passes through the lobby and up the stairs.
As he reaches his door, Judy opens the door to her room and asks him to come in.
A very n nervous Judy fumbles with a cigarette case, trying to get it open, as she wonders if Angel has heard that the salesman who died wasn't a suicide, it was a murder.
Angel doesn't think so.
Judy insists it's true. She's afraid that means lots of questions and police involvement. She thought Angel might want to know just in case he had anything to hide, since he helped her before.
Angel notes everybody there has something to hide.
She tries to get a match lit to light her cigarette, but can't get it to burn. She thought she owed Angel a heads up. She'd like to get out, but she's afraid it would look suspicious to the authorities to leave now.
Angel moves over to her and offers her a light. He wonders if her sudden desire for new surroundings has anything to do with the private investigator he threw out of his room earlier.
Judy doesn't seem surprised Angel didn't really buy the boyfriend story. She thinks the P.I. works for her former employer, a bank in Kansas where she was a teller. She pulls a suitcase out from under the bed. She thinks they may want it back.
Angel opens it and sees it's full of cash.
Judy says she hasn't spent any of it, hasn't touched it.
Angel wonders why she took it.
Judy isn't sure, she supposes it was a reaction to having her life blown up. She liked her job, she was engaged to someone she loved then the bank found out she wasn't what they thought she was and they fired her. Her boyfriend discovered the reason the bank fired her and he broke up with her. She couldn't bear to go back to what she'd pulled herself up from so she took the money and ran.
Angel says nothing.
Judy wonders why he hasn't asked why the bank fired her.
He obliges by asking.
She tells him the bank found out she wasn't what she claimed to be, she's been "passing" since she was a teenager.
Angel isn't sure what she means.
She explains she's been passing as white. Her mother was "colored", she never knew her father. She feels her blood is tainted.
Angel tells her that blood is blood, nothing more.
Judy knows it's not that simple, even her family doesn't believe that. She says she's not accepted in either world, she's nothing.
Angel sympathizes with her feelings since he feels much that way himself.
Judy is afraid, she wishes she'd never taken the money, she doesn't know what to do.
Angel tells her he'll help her as he closes the case, picks it up and takes Judy by the arm. They head out the door of her room.
Present Day
At Cordelia's apartment, Cordy has a newspaper clipping with Judy's picture. She wonders what pile of clippings they should put the picture in.
Wesley asks when Judy died.
Cordy reads the article and tells him there's no information on that. It only says she checked into the hotel in 1952, she was a suspect in a bank robbery, she hadn't been heard from since.
They both note the year, 1952.
Present Day
Angel enters the basement of the Hyperion. He pulls the case from its hiding place in the ceiling above the pipes and opens it. The cash is still in it.
At Cordy's, Wes figures there is a pattern to the occurrences at the Hyperion over the years, showing some evil presence was residing at the hotel influencing the residents and events there. He doesn't see how they'll be able to determine exactly what it was since so much time has passed.
Cordy comes back into the room and tells him it's a Thesulac demon. It preys on peoples' paranoia and insecurities.
Wes is surprised by her knowledge until Cordy takes the cordless phone from behind her back and tells him Angel wants to talk to him.
As Angel messes with the fuse box in the darkened lobby of the hotel, he tells Wes the Thesulac has been there since before the hotel was built. He thought if he had them trace events, he could determine where the demon went but that's not an issue anymore because the demon is still in the hotel.
As Angel continues working with the fuse box, sparks flash inside of it, the lights in the hotel come on. He wants Wes to bring Cordy, get Gunn and meet him at the hotel, they'll need all the help they can get to raise the demon.
Wes wonders if raising it is such a good idea.
Angel points out the demon has to take physical form before it can be killed.
Wes assumes Angel wants him to research the ritual to raise the demon.
Angel tells him he already knows it.
At the hotel, the manager is sitting behind the desk in the lobby, reading a newspaper. The bellhop enters, wiping his hands. The manager wonders how it went.
The bellhop tells him he stowed the salesman's body in the meat locker but he had to "make it fit." He wonders if he could get into trouble for that.
The manager advises him not to get paranoid.
In the lobby, the paranoia and tension are rising as some of the guests argue, each throwing accusations at another.
Judy is in her room, sitting in a chair, reading a book. The voice starts to talk to her. She closes the book, gets up, moves across the room and closes the window.
The voice continues taunting her, playing on her fears. It tells her, "They know about you. You'll be found out. You'll go to prison. How long do you think someone like you will last in prison?"
In the back room of the bookstore, Denver is sitting on the steps as Angel looks through the stacks. He wonders if Angel was about his age when he was turned.
Angel says he doesn't know and asks Denver how old he is.
Denver says he's a bit past 30.
Angel seems offended Denver thought he was older than his age at the time of his mortal death.
Angel is still looking for a way to kill the Thesulac.
The clerk thinks running away from it is the smartest course of action but he offers the demon has to take physical form before it can be killed and that only happens after it's had a good feed or it can be forced to take physical form through the raising.
Angel wants to know how to do it.
Denver tells Angel he has a book that has the incantation, but Angel will also need a few other things including an Orb of Ramjarin, divining powder, herbs and a heavy weapon to hit it with. He brings out each of the items as he lists them and finally pulls out a large battle ax.
Angel wonders if the ax will be enough to kill it.
Denver thinks a bolt of lightning would be a better bet, but barring that, the ax is the best he's got to offer.
Angel tells him to pack up the items, which Denver does, packing all but the ax into a large paper bag.
Denver is curious why a vampire is willing to kill a demon to save some humans.
Angel doesn't have an answer. He leaves the bookstore.
In the lobby of the hotel, things are tense as guests and staff throw around suspicions and accusations. Was the salesman's death a suicide or did someone murder him? Everyone accuses everyone else and the arguments are getting loud.
The crowd is silenced when the shout of the P.I., who has just entered the lobby, gets their attention. His nose is bandaged, apparently broken when Angel slammed the door on his face earlier. He identifies himself as C. Mulvihil and says he's looking for someone as he holds up a photograph of Judy.
Angel enters the lobby of the hotel from a side door. As he walks toward the elevator, he notices the usually bustling space is completely empty and eerily silent. He walks into the lobby and looks around.
Present Day
Wesley, Cordy and Gunn enter the lobby of the hotel where Angel is awaiting their arrival. They begin the ritual.
Cordelia pours divining powder on the floor as Wesley begins to recite the incantation. He stops, snaps his fingers and directs Gunn to give him the orb.
Gunn wants to hear a "please" first.
Wes says it, but his expression and tone clearly say he doesn't mean it. He warns Gunn to treat the orb with care, it's fragile.
Gunn removes the orb from a duffle bag and casually tosses it across the room to Wesley.
Wes barely catches it before it hits the floor. He expresses his frustration to Angel who tells both Gunn and Wes not to listen to whatever it is the demon is whispering to them.
Cordy says the two of them were behaving this way before they ever got to the hotel.
Wes holds up the orb, which has begun to glow, and continues with the incantation. The area on the landing in front of the door starts to shimmer and shift as a breeze blows through the lobby.
1952
Angel steps off the elevator and sees a crowd surrounding Judy at the end of the hallway, just outside of her room. He approaches cautiously.
The crowd is accusing Judy of lying about who she is and what she's been doing at the hotel.
Angel sets down the stuff he brought from the bookstore in the hall and walks toward the gathering.
Judy is frantically denying she did anything. She breaks away from those who have been holding her and accuses Angel of being the one they're looking for.
He stops dead in his tracks.
Judy screams she saw blood in his room, "He's a monster!"
The crowd turns their wrath on Angel.
Mulvihil picks up the ax Angel laid in the hallway and hits him in the back of the head with the end of it, sending him to the floor. The mob swarms over him and pummels him as Judy looks on.
The mob is worked into a frenzy as they drag Angel to the balcony overlooking the hotel lobby. They wrap a rope noose around Angel's neck that has been strung from the ceiling.
Angel looks back at Judy, who is crying, just before he's shoved off of the balcony and left hanging by his neck over the lobby.
The crowd falls silent at the realization of what they've done, except for the bellhop who seems to be having a good time. The crowd silently disperses.
The manager is shocked by what just happened.
When everyone is gone, Angel opens his eyes, grabs the rope with one hand and removes the noose from around his neck with the other. He drops to the floor of the lobby where the Thesulac demon appears in physical form.
The demon is a creepy looking thing in a long, hooded cloak. Numerous tentacles extend beneath the cloak. It's quite pleased having just had a good feed on the hate and paranoia that had filled the room.
Angel begins walking toward the hotel's front doors, the demon follows.
Angel stops as it taunts him saying his making a friend of Judy, helping her to find faith in people again, made her a meal that will last it "a lifetime." The demon suggests Angel could stay and give others hope and faith which would make them all the better for it to feed on.
Angel doesn't care what happens to the people in the hotel now. He tells the demon to "Take them all" and leaves.
The Thesulac laughs.
Present Day
The Thesulac appears, screaming, as a result of the raising ritual. The demon is looking forward to feeding on the new prospects Angel has brought. It is particularly interested in Wesley, noting his high level of paranoia.
Wes isn't happy about being singled out as paranoid. He wonders what the demon means.
Angel tells the Thesulac it's overstayed its welcome, it should have departed long ago.
The demon wonders why it should go anywhere when it's had "room service" for the past 50 years and it's still excellent.
Angel realizes the demon is still feeding. He shouts to Gunn who fires a crossbow at the Thesulac, hitting one of the tentacles. Another tentacle snakes out and grabs Gunn, hurling him into the wall.
Angel grabs one of the remaining tentacles and shoves it into the fuse box, electrocuting the demon who disappears in a flash of lightning and bright light.
Wesley is still wondering why the demon singled him out as being especially paranoid.
Angel walks up the lobby stairway.
Angel goes into Judy's old room where he finds an elderly woman inside, sitting in a chair, with her back to the door. Angel calls her by name, Judy.
She says she doesn't hear the voices anymore and asks if they've left.
Angel kneels down in front of her and tells her they have.
Judy smiles as she recognizes him. She gently touches his face, noting he's the same.
Angel says he isn't.
Judy believes he's dead and it's because of her.
Angel tries to tell her it's not her fault.
She says the demon kept everyone from the door, it told her it would keep her safe. She wonders if she's still safe.
Angel assures her she is.
She asks if she can go out.
He tells her she can.
Judy tries to get up but has a hard time so Angel helps her to her feet. She says she needs to rest a little before she goes out.
He helps her to the bed where she lies down.
She's sorry she killed Angel. She wants to know if he can forgive her.
He is quite emotional as he offers his forgiveness.
She is at peace as she closes her eyes for the last time.
In the lobby Wes is still pondering why anyone would term him paranoid. He wonders if people have been saying it behind his back.
Cordy and Gunn exchange a "gimme a break" kind of look.
Angel returns to the lobby.
Cordelia is glad he's finished his business at the hotel, she's looking forward to leaving because the place gives her the creeps.
Gunn says the place has a smell that's not very pleasant.
Angel tells them they're moving in.
Cordy decides maybe a few throw pillows will dress the place up.
Wes doesn't think it's a good idea, he believes the place is evil.
Angel says it's not evil anymore.
Wes wonders if Angel thinks of him as "especially paranoid."
Angel's response, "not especially."
Wes is relieved, he was concerned.
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| Written by: Tim Minear | Original Air Date: October 3, 2000 |
Cordy, Wes and Angel are at Cordelia's apartment. Wesley is looking at a b&w photograph he identifies as being of the Hyperion hotel ("Judgement").
Angel fills him in on the particulars of the structure and its location. He wonders how long it's been vacant.
Cordy brings tea for Wes, coffee for herself and a glass of blood for Angel.
Angel looks at it curiously and notes that it doesn't look right, it seems to have "coagulated." He thinks it's spoiled.
Cordelia tells him it's not spoiled, it's cinnamon she added. She thought she'd try something new.
Angel sets the glass down on the table without trying any of it.
Cordy picks up the glass, sniffs the contents, then puts it back down.
Angel tells Wes and Cordy he wants them to look into the hotel. He wants to know who the owners are and why it's been vacant for so long.
Wes wonders who they're working for.
Angel tells him there is no client. He wants the two of them to get back to him with whatever they come up with. He suggests they focus on police cases related to the hotel such as murders, unsolved mysteries of any sort, going back to the hotel's origins through to current times.
Wes observes Angel thinks there is, or was, something at the hotel.
Angel confirms he believes that to be true then leaves the apartment without elaborating further.
1952
Inside the nicely appointed Hyperion hotel, the lobby is crowded.
Behind the desk, the manager is sorting through mail for guests. He hands the mail off to the bellhop for delivery, including the weekly bill for 217.
The bellhop says the occupant of 217 gives him the creeps. He'd rather be delivering an eviction notice.
The manager reminds him if they evicted everyone who gave them the creeps, they wouldn't have any guests.
The bellhop asks, "Have you ever looked into his eyes? There's nothing there." He departs to deliver the bill.
The elevator doors open, the bellhop hesitates to get off. After a moment, the doors start to close. He extends his hand between them to keep them from sliding shut and finally steps off, albeit reluctantly. Just as hesitantly, he walks down the narrow hallway, coming to a stop outside the door to room 217.
He knocks lightly on the door and quietly asks if anyone is inside. There is no answer, much to his apparent relief. He assumes the occupant is out when he hears a noise inside. He hurriedly leaves the small tray containing the bill on the floor outside of the door and tells the occupant he can pick it up when it's convenient for him to do so.
He rushes back down the hall into the elevator and when the door doesn't close quickly enough, begins frantically slamming on the elevator button until the doors finally slide shut.
The door to room 217 opens. The occupant reaches down to pick up the tray containing the bill and slowly stands back up. The occupant of room 217 is Angel. He glances down the hall toward the elevator briefly, then goes back into his room.
Present Day
As Angel walks through the vacated Hyperion hotel, the scene blends into the hotel lobby of 1952. Scenes of Angel walking through the hotel in present day are interspersed with flashbacks to 1952 throughout the episode.
1952
In the lobby of the hotel, some of the guests are watching the McCarthy hearings on television. Angel enters the lobby and picks up a newspaper laying on a table. He's carrying a brown paper bag. He continues on his way, pausing only briefly when he encounters the bellhop who tells him he doesn't have any mail.
Angel continues on to the elevator and take it up to his floor.
At the desk, the manager refuses accommodations to a black family, telling them the sign outside that says "vacancy" is wrong.
Angel exits the elevator and heads down the hall to room 217. As he reaches his door, he hears the door up the hall open and turns to look. A young man is coming out of the room, followed by an older man in a robe.
The older man follows the younger one out into the hallway and straightens his tie for him and smoothes his hair. They both look and see Angel watching. The older man shakes the younger man's hand and he heads down the hallway. The older guy remains in the hallway briefly. He and Angel exchange a brief look, then both enter their rooms.
Inside his room, Angel removes a bottle of blood from the bag he's been carrying and sets it on the table. He checks the ice bucket, finds it empty, and heads back out into the hall to the ice machine.
Near the ice machine, he notices a man standing alone at the end of the hall, talking to himself. The sound of a disembodied voice whispering can be heard.
As Angel is filling the ice bucket, he turns to look up the hall when he hears the sound of knocking. He turns back toward the direction of the guy who was talking to himself in the hallway, but he's no longer there.
As Angel walks back up the hall to his room, he walks past the guy doing the knocking. He continues to knock persistently on one of the guest's doors.
Angel walks past him and goes back into his room.
Once inside his room, Angel locks the door and puts the bottle of blood on ice. He senses someone in the room. A young woman, Judy, comes out of the bathroom, pretending to be a maid.
Angel knows she's no maid, pointing out she has no cleaning cart, no clean sheets and she's "the wrong color." He tells her he doesn't have anything to steal and directs her to leave.
Judy says she wasn't trying to rob him, she can explain.
Angel isn't interested in listening and again tells her to get out of his room.
Judy says she can't leave so Angel offers to help her by grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the door. She tells him that her boyfriend is looking for her and she doesn't want him to find her. She's afraid of him.
Angel's attention is diverted by the sound of someone working at the lock on his door, from the outside.
He guides Judy to a position behind the door so she can't be seen from the hallway and opens the door. The guy who was on his knees trying to pick the lock stands up and demands to know where Judy is. It's the same guy who was persistently knocking on the other door when Angel was in the hallway, retrieving ice.
Angel doesn't offer any answers.
The guy suggests it would be wise for Angel to stay out of this situation.
Angel would be happy to stay out of it and he will if the guy goes away.
The guy insists Angel is hiding Judy in his room and he's determined to check it out for himself. He's not planning on going anywhere. He tells Angel to send Judy out or he'll come in and get her.
Angel again warns him to go away.
The guy pushes his coat back to reveal a handgun in a shoulder holster. He thinks that will gain him entry without argument.
Angel steps back a bit, giving the impression he's going to let the guy in.
As the guy starts to walk into the room, Angel slams the door on his face then shoves him into the hall. The guy goes for his gun but Angel grabs his arm, leverages it over the guy's head and escorts him down the hallway to the elevator which has opened and is occupied by the bellhop and some luggage.
Angel shoves the guy into the elevator then turns and heads back to his room. The bellhop frantically slams the elevator button repeatedly until the doors slide closed.
Judy is standing in the hall, just outside of Angel's room. She tells him her name and starts to thank him but he walks on past her into his room and shuts the door.
Present Day
At Cordelia's apartment, she and Wes are digging through information on the Hyperion. Wes notes the hotel was permanently closed in 1979 when one of the employees committed a massacre with a shotgun.
Cordy is working on her laptop and reads what she's found. The hotel was designated a landmark, the owners have been trying to sell it for 10 years with no luck.
Wes isn't surprised the property hasn't sold. He notes the stories related to the hotel clearly show a pattern of "murder and mayhem" that goes back to the origins of the hotel in 1928 when one of the construction workers jumped to his death and took a couple of his coworkers with him.
Cordy wonders why Angel is having them compile all of this information.
Wes doesn't know either.
Cordelia sifts through a pile of old b&w photos and notices Angel in a photo of the hotel lobby taken in 1952. She shows the photo to Wes who now understands Angel has some kind of personal connection to the Hyperion.
Cordy wonders why Angel wasn't upfront about that in the first place.
Wes wonders if perhaps there's something related to it that Angel is ashamed of.
1952
In his room, Angel lights a cigarette, walks across the room and picks up an empty glass. The music from the record player in the room next door can be heard.
In the room next door, the occupant, a salesman, is being whispered to by the disembodied voice. He converses with it.
Angel retrieves the bottle of blood from the ice bucket and pours himself a glass.
The salesman picks up a gun, moves over to the bed and sits on the edge of it briefly. He picks up the pillow and slides to a sitting position on the floor, his back against the side of the bed. He presses the pillow to the side of his head.
Angel starts to take a drink. He pauses briefly when he hears the muffled sound of a gunshot, then goes back to his meal.
The hotel manager and the bellhop enter the salesman's room, having been alerted to what's happened by the maid. The manager notes it's the third suicide at the hotel in three months.
The disembodied voice tells the manager that with three deaths in three months, the police will shut them down.
The bellhop asks who he should call first, a carpet cleaning service or the police.
The manager tells him not to call anybody, repeating what the voice told him, with three deaths in three months, they'll be shut down if this one is discovered.
The bellhop wonders what they should do with the body.
The manager directs him to store it in the hotel's meat locker.
In the hotel lobby, a group of guests are talking about the latest suicide, some wondering if that's really what it was. They've heard rumors the hotel isn't going to report the death and argue whether that's wise or not.
As the guests argue, Angel walks down the stairs and exits through the back way.
In a corner of the lobby, an elderly man sitting on a couch is being spoken to by the mysterious voice. It prods him to wonder if it really was a suicide and asks if he feels safe in the hotel.
Judy approaches Angel who is outside of the Griffith Park Observatory, smoking a cigarette.
She tries to make conversation but isn't getting much help from Angel who keeps his back to her. She says she's come to the observatory to attend an exhibit. She needed to get out of the hotel and it's cheaper than going to the movies.
Angel asks if her "boyfriend" came back.
She looks a bit embarrassed to be reminded of that lie, then admits the latest suicide gave her the creeps. She wants to thank Angel for helping her out.
Angel turns to look at her and reminds her the exhibit is starting.
She reckons she'll see him around. She leaves as he remains behind, finishing his cigarette.
Present Day
At Cordy's apartment, Wesley reads from an old newspaper clipping about the arrest of the bellhop for the murder of the salesman.. The bellhop, Frank Gilnitz, was employed at the hotel in 1952. He puts the article in the pile of clippings they have gathered from that year.
Cordy wonders if it really fits, since he was executed in 1954. She places the article in the 1954 pile.
Wes points out he was executed in 1954 but the crime he was executed for, the murder of the salesman and the hiding of the body in the hotel meat locker, occurred in 1952. He moves the clipping back to the 1952 pile.
Cordelia looks on the research as putting together a puzzle, wondering how many people died because Angel messed up somehow.
1952
In the hotel lobby, the actor, writer, middle aged prostitute and the older guy are discussing the suicide. They argue whether it truly was a suicide. Some think murder but how could it be when he had the gun in his hand and the door was locked from the inside.
Angel passes through the lobby and up the stairs.
As he reaches his door, Judy opens the door to her room and asks him to come in.
A very n nervous Judy fumbles with a cigarette case, trying to get it open, as she wonders if Angel has heard that the salesman who died wasn't a suicide, it was a murder.
Angel doesn't think so.
Judy insists it's true. She's afraid that means lots of questions and police involvement. She thought Angel might want to know just in case he had anything to hide, since he helped her before.
Angel notes everybody there has something to hide.
She tries to get a match lit to light her cigarette, but can't get it to burn. She thought she owed Angel a heads up. She'd like to get out, but she's afraid it would look suspicious to the authorities to leave now.
Angel moves over to her and offers her a light. He wonders if her sudden desire for new surroundings has anything to do with the private investigator he threw out of his room earlier.
Judy doesn't seem surprised Angel didn't really buy the boyfriend story. She thinks the P.I. works for her former employer, a bank in Kansas where she was a teller. She pulls a suitcase out from under the bed. She thinks they may want it back.
Angel opens it and sees it's full of cash.
Judy says she hasn't spent any of it, hasn't touched it.
Angel wonders why she took it.
Judy isn't sure, she supposes it was a reaction to having her life blown up. She liked her job, she was engaged to someone she loved then the bank found out she wasn't what they thought she was and they fired her. Her boyfriend discovered the reason the bank fired her and he broke up with her. She couldn't bear to go back to what she'd pulled herself up from so she took the money and ran.
Angel says nothing.
Judy wonders why he hasn't asked why the bank fired her.
He obliges by asking.
She tells him the bank found out she wasn't what she claimed to be, she's been "passing" since she was a teenager.
Angel isn't sure what she means.
She explains she's been passing as white. Her mother was "colored", she never knew her father. She feels her blood is tainted.
Angel tells her that blood is blood, nothing more.
Judy knows it's not that simple, even her family doesn't believe that. She says she's not accepted in either world, she's nothing.
Angel sympathizes with her feelings since he feels much that way himself.
Judy is afraid, she wishes she'd never taken the money, she doesn't know what to do.
Angel tells her he'll help her as he closes the case, picks it up and takes Judy by the arm. They head out the door of her room.
Present Day
At Cordelia's apartment, Cordy has a newspaper clipping with Judy's picture. She wonders what pile of clippings they should put the picture in.
Wesley asks when Judy died.
Cordy reads the article and tells him there's no information on that. It only says she checked into the hotel in 1952, she was a suspect in a bank robbery, she hadn't been heard from since.
They both note the year, 1952.
1952
Angel and Judy enter the basement of the hotel. She fears she'll be
sent to prison.
Angel looks for a place to conceal the case, he finally stows it above
some pipes in the ceiling. The whispering of the disembodied voice
can be heard. Angel tells Judy to go back to her room. He knows there's
something in the hotel that's driving people crazy.
Judy wonders if she put the money on the doorstep of the bank, if
they saw she didn't spend any of it and had returned it, if they would
drop the charges and she'd be free. She wonders if they could forgive
her.
Angel answers, "Maybe."
Judy knows forgiveness exists, she just wonders if it would be offered
to her.
Present Day
Angel enters the basement of the Hyperion. He pulls the case from its hiding place in the ceiling above the pipes and opens it. The cash is still in it.
At Cordy's, Wes figures there is a pattern to the occurrences at the Hyperion over the years, showing some evil presence was residing at the hotel influencing the residents and events there. He doesn't see how they'll be able to determine exactly what it was since so much time has passed.
Cordy comes back into the room and tells him it's a Thesulac demon. It preys on peoples' paranoia and insecurities.
Wes is surprised by her knowledge until Cordy takes the cordless phone from behind her back and tells him Angel wants to talk to him.
As Angel messes with the fuse box in the darkened lobby of the hotel, he tells Wes the Thesulac has been there since before the hotel was built. He thought if he had them trace events, he could determine where the demon went but that's not an issue anymore because the demon is still in the hotel.
As Angel continues working with the fuse box, sparks flash inside of it, the lights in the hotel come on. He wants Wes to bring Cordy, get Gunn and meet him at the hotel, they'll need all the help they can get to raise the demon.
Wes wonders if raising it is such a good idea.
Angel points out the demon has to take physical form before it can be killed.
Wes assumes Angel wants him to research the ritual to raise the demon.
Angel tells him he already knows it.
1952
Angel enters a bookstore. He addresses the clerk by name, Denver,
and asks for a book on demons, exorcisms, etc.
The clerk gets up from behind the counter, turns his back to Angel
and picks up a book. He turns back to Angel and throws him a bible.
Angel reflexively catches it, burning his hands. He morphs into vamp
face and drops the bible.
Denver ducks behind the counter and retrieves a cross and a stake.
When he stands back up, he finds the shop empty. He runs out to the
street in front of the shop, making threats.
Angel, still in vamp face, comes up behind him and locks his arm around
the clerk's neck. He wants access to the books in the back and he
doesn't have the patience for any more nonsense.
Denver agrees.
At the hotel, the manager is sitting behind the desk in the lobby, reading a newspaper. The bellhop enters, wiping his hands. The manager wonders how it went.
The bellhop tells him he stowed the salesman's body in the meat locker but he had to "make it fit." He wonders if he could get into trouble for that.
The manager advises him not to get paranoid.
In the lobby, the paranoia and tension are rising as some of the guests argue, each throwing accusations at another.
Judy is in her room, sitting in a chair, reading a book. The voice starts to talk to her. She closes the book, gets up, moves across the room and closes the window.
The voice continues taunting her, playing on her fears. It tells her, "They know about you. You'll be found out. You'll go to prison. How long do you think someone like you will last in prison?"
In the back room of the bookstore, Denver is sitting on the steps as Angel looks through the stacks. He wonders if Angel was about his age when he was turned.
Angel says he doesn't know and asks Denver how old he is.
Denver says he's a bit past 30.
Angel seems offended Denver thought he was older than his age at the time of his mortal death.
Angel is still looking for a way to kill the Thesulac.
The clerk thinks running away from it is the smartest course of action but he offers the demon has to take physical form before it can be killed and that only happens after it's had a good feed or it can be forced to take physical form through the raising.
Angel wants to know how to do it.
Denver tells Angel he has a book that has the incantation, but Angel will also need a few other things including an Orb of Ramjarin, divining powder, herbs and a heavy weapon to hit it with. He brings out each of the items as he lists them and finally pulls out a large battle ax.
Angel wonders if the ax will be enough to kill it.
Denver thinks a bolt of lightning would be a better bet, but barring that, the ax is the best he's got to offer.
Angel tells him to pack up the items, which Denver does, packing all but the ax into a large paper bag.
Denver is curious why a vampire is willing to kill a demon to save some humans.
Angel doesn't have an answer. He leaves the bookstore.
In the lobby of the hotel, things are tense as guests and staff throw around suspicions and accusations. Was the salesman's death a suicide or did someone murder him? Everyone accuses everyone else and the arguments are getting loud.
The crowd is silenced when the shout of the P.I., who has just entered the lobby, gets their attention. His nose is bandaged, apparently broken when Angel slammed the door on his face earlier. He identifies himself as C. Mulvihil and says he's looking for someone as he holds up a photograph of Judy.
Angel enters the lobby of the hotel from a side door. As he walks toward the elevator, he notices the usually bustling space is completely empty and eerily silent. He walks into the lobby and looks around.
Present Day
Wesley, Cordy and Gunn enter the lobby of the hotel where Angel is awaiting their arrival. They begin the ritual.
Cordelia pours divining powder on the floor as Wesley begins to recite the incantation. He stops, snaps his fingers and directs Gunn to give him the orb.
Gunn wants to hear a "please" first.
Wes says it, but his expression and tone clearly say he doesn't mean it. He warns Gunn to treat the orb with care, it's fragile.
Gunn removes the orb from a duffle bag and casually tosses it across the room to Wesley.
Wes barely catches it before it hits the floor. He expresses his frustration to Angel who tells both Gunn and Wes not to listen to whatever it is the demon is whispering to them.
Cordy says the two of them were behaving this way before they ever got to the hotel.
Wes holds up the orb, which has begun to glow, and continues with the incantation. The area on the landing in front of the door starts to shimmer and shift as a breeze blows through the lobby.
1952
Angel steps off the elevator and sees a crowd surrounding Judy at the end of the hallway, just outside of her room. He approaches cautiously.
The crowd is accusing Judy of lying about who she is and what she's been doing at the hotel.
Angel sets down the stuff he brought from the bookstore in the hall and walks toward the gathering.
Judy is frantically denying she did anything. She breaks away from those who have been holding her and accuses Angel of being the one they're looking for.
He stops dead in his tracks.
Judy screams she saw blood in his room, "He's a monster!"
The crowd turns their wrath on Angel.
Mulvihil picks up the ax Angel laid in the hallway and hits him in the back of the head with the end of it, sending him to the floor. The mob swarms over him and pummels him as Judy looks on.
The mob is worked into a frenzy as they drag Angel to the balcony overlooking the hotel lobby. They wrap a rope noose around Angel's neck that has been strung from the ceiling.
Angel looks back at Judy, who is crying, just before he's shoved off of the balcony and left hanging by his neck over the lobby.
The crowd falls silent at the realization of what they've done, except for the bellhop who seems to be having a good time. The crowd silently disperses.
The manager is shocked by what just happened.
When everyone is gone, Angel opens his eyes, grabs the rope with one hand and removes the noose from around his neck with the other. He drops to the floor of the lobby where the Thesulac demon appears in physical form.
The demon is a creepy looking thing in a long, hooded cloak. Numerous tentacles extend beneath the cloak. It's quite pleased having just had a good feed on the hate and paranoia that had filled the room.
Angel begins walking toward the hotel's front doors, the demon follows.
Angel stops as it taunts him saying his making a friend of Judy, helping her to find faith in people again, made her a meal that will last it "a lifetime." The demon suggests Angel could stay and give others hope and faith which would make them all the better for it to feed on.
Angel doesn't care what happens to the people in the hotel now. He tells the demon to "Take them all" and leaves.
The Thesulac laughs.
Present Day
The Thesulac appears, screaming, as a result of the raising ritual. The demon is looking forward to feeding on the new prospects Angel has brought. It is particularly interested in Wesley, noting his high level of paranoia.
Wes isn't happy about being singled out as paranoid. He wonders what the demon means.
Angel tells the Thesulac it's overstayed its welcome, it should have departed long ago.
The demon wonders why it should go anywhere when it's had "room service" for the past 50 years and it's still excellent.
Angel realizes the demon is still feeding. He shouts to Gunn who fires a crossbow at the Thesulac, hitting one of the tentacles. Another tentacle snakes out and grabs Gunn, hurling him into the wall.
Angel grabs one of the remaining tentacles and shoves it into the fuse box, electrocuting the demon who disappears in a flash of lightning and bright light.
Wesley is still wondering why the demon singled him out as being especially paranoid.
Angel walks up the lobby stairway.
Angel goes into Judy's old room where he finds an elderly woman inside, sitting in a chair, with her back to the door. Angel calls her by name, Judy.
She says she doesn't hear the voices anymore and asks if they've left.
Angel kneels down in front of her and tells her they have.
Judy smiles as she recognizes him. She gently touches his face, noting he's the same.
Angel says he isn't.
Judy believes he's dead and it's because of her.
Angel tries to tell her it's not her fault.
She says the demon kept everyone from the door, it told her it would keep her safe. She wonders if she's still safe.
Angel assures her she is.
She asks if she can go out.
He tells her she can.
Judy tries to get up but has a hard time so Angel helps her to her feet. She says she needs to rest a little before she goes out.
He helps her to the bed where she lies down.
She's sorry she killed Angel. She wants to know if he can forgive her.
He is quite emotional as he offers his forgiveness.
She is at peace as she closes her eyes for the last time.
In the lobby Wes is still pondering why anyone would term him paranoid. He wonders if people have been saying it behind his back.
Cordy and Gunn exchange a "gimme a break" kind of look.
Angel returns to the lobby.
Cordelia is glad he's finished his business at the hotel, she's looking forward to leaving because the place gives her the creeps.
Gunn says the place has a smell that's not very pleasant.
Angel tells them they're moving in.
Cordy decides maybe a few throw pillows will dress the place up.
Wes doesn't think it's a good idea, he believes the place is evil.
Angel says it's not evil anymore.
Wes wonders if Angel thinks of him as "especially paranoid."
Angel's response, "not especially."
Wes is relieved, he was concerned.
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