Angel

Episode Summary for Angel - ’Just Rewards’ Just Rewards (courtesy of Eljay)

Episode opens with a reprise of the end of Chosen. Sort of. No *I love you/no you don’t* — just Buffy begging Spike to leave and Spike saying he has to stay and finish this, and Buffy reluctantly leaving. We see him start to burn away and then suddenly we’re in Angel’s office. Where Spike is disoriented and very confused. Staring at a host of unfamiliar faces — Wesley, Lorne, Fred and Gunn.

Fred is asking who he is. Wesley starts telling the story — William the Bloody, one-time Scourge of Europe, who three weeks ago died saving the world. Sired by Drusilla, who was sired by ... Angel. Who Spike finally sees, and angrily attacks — except he passes right though his body and into a desk.

Spike is wondering what the heck happened. Harmony tells him he’s a ghost. Wesley is still explaining to Fred how Spike died to prevent an apocalypse, wearing the amulet now lying on the floor. Fred asks Angel if Spike is a good vampire, like him, to which Angel replies that Spike is nothing like him. Wesley remarks that Spike has been fighting alongside Buffy — which causes Spike to ask about her. Angel tells him she’s okay, she’s in Europe, and he’s not going to help Spike connect with her. They wrangle. Spike grows increasingly agitated again — what the heck happened, where is he and what is he doing there?

In the science department, Fred is taking readings on Spike. Spike comments that he’s heard of Wolfram & Hart — heard it represented some of the worst evil in the known universe. Angel says it used to, but he’s in charge now. Spike has his doubts. Fred notes that the readings she’s taking don’t quite conform with the idea that Spike is a ghost. Everyone wonders how the amulet ended up on Angel’s desk since when last seen it was buried inside the Hellmouth. Fred suggests that maybe TPTB sent Spike to help them. That pisses Spike off: who gave the higher-ups the right to stop him from dying in peace? As he bitches about it, he suddenly starts to fade away.

He reappears on the other side of the room, very shaken. Then turns on Angel — this is Angel’s fault for wussing out on using the amulet himself when Buffy needed him. Spike didn’t choose this — just because he got himself resouled —

Huh? What? The others stare at him in shock. Wesley asks Angel why he never mentioned that Spike had a soul now. Angel replies he didn’t think it was worth mentioning. Spike suggests that Angel is annoyed his exclusive *vamp with a soul* club has been invaded. They argue in the hallway. In the middle of this, a dangerous demon steps out of the elevator — the two vampires immediately suspend hostilities to kill it (except Spike goes right through it, of course). Turns out, that was Angel’s 3 pm appointment. Oops.

Gunn shows up to talk to Angel about their progress in rooting out the really evil employees. As he and Angel discuss this (and Spike watches the side-show), an employee named Novac shows up. Novac is upset because they’ve shut down the grave-robbing department, which provides bodies to one of their best clients, Magnus Hainsley. Angel tells him to tell Hainsley he’s no longer a client. Spike, disgusted by the whole business, decides to leave.

Angel is pondering the Spike situation with Wesley - is it really his fault? did W&H intend for Angel to wear the amulet? If so, why give him (Angel) the LA office? Or maybe they really meant for Spike to wear the amulet???? As they are talking, Spike shows up. Turns out, the amulet won’t let him leave Los Angeles. Each time he tries, he gets pulled back to the office. Wesley is unsurprised; he’d already guessed that Spike was linked to the amulet somehow. Both Angel and Spike are complaining about the misery of it all when Harmony tells them that Novac has returned. In three buckets.

Angel, Wes and Gunn discuss the Hainsley situation, with Spike watching them. Hainsley is a necromancer, hence the need for dead bodies. Gunn suggests a way to deal with Hainsley. Angel decides to pay him a visit. Spike decides to tag along.

Hainsley is meeting with a demony client when Angel and Spike show up. He tells his servant to kill them. The servant goes after Angel, while Spike roots him on. When Angel has disposed of the servant, he complains about Spike rooting against him. Spike tells Angel he needs to be taken down a peg — he has things too good. Power, glory, comfort — whereas Spike saves the world and gets fried and ghosted for his efforts. It’s not fair. Angel yells back that it’s not fair that he spent 100 years trying to come to terms with his soulful remorse, while it took Spike three weeks.

Spike does the disappearing thing again, while Angel storms off to confront Hainsley, who has just finished installing his demon client into the body of a young, dead woman. Hainsley asserts control over Angel and throttles him for awhile — as a necromancer, he has power over the dead — but realizes that killing Angel would displease the Senior Partners, who have plans for him. Angel decides to take Gunn’s advice after all — he tells Hainsley that he’s frozen all his assets and turned his books over to the IRS. Hainsley is still threatening him as he and Spike leave.

Spike is unimpressed with Angel’s solution and is snarking when he suddenly disappears. Only this time, it’s because Hainsley summoned him back. Hainsley has an offer — he can make Spike corporeal if Spike will just help him take care of Angel.

Back at Wolfram & Hart, Angel is conferring with the others about the Spike situation. Wesley says he’s had his department check it out, and there’s nothing they can do to free Spike from the amulet, so he’s stuck being connected to W&H. The only alternative is to give Spike what he asked for: eternal rest. If they smash the amulet on hallowed ground, it can be destroyed. Fred protests that that’s like killing him, and it’s not right. Wesley agrees, but it’s not right leaving him helplessly suspended between realms either.

Angel decides he wants to sleep on the matter. He goes up to his very posh penthouse, gets ready for bed, and lies down. Spike shows up. He mentions overhearing the discussion about him, and also tells Angel that Hainsley offered to recorporealize him if he betrays Angel. Angel asks what he told Hainsley, and Spike reminds him that he’s a white hat now. Says he hates this in-between thing and wants Angel to end it.

At the graveyard, Angel prepares to destroy the amulet, when Hainsley seizes him and knocks him out. Spike comments that he was afraid he’d never show up.

Angel wakes up at Hainsley’s place. Hainsley informs him that he’s going to give his body to Spike, so Spike can reverse all the damage Angel did to Hainsley’s interests. Spike asks Angel if he really expected Spike to let his gang consign him to oblivion. Hainsley has agreed to get Spike his own body back, once he’s fixed the damage that Angel did to Hainsley. And in the meantime, Spike will have everything he deserves — Angel’s cars, his digs, his power.

Hainsley begins the transfer process, but when Spike transfers into his body, he takes control of Hainsley, so Angel can attack him. It’s obvious that this was planned in advance between the two vampires. Angel kills Hainsley, but Spike continues to animate the body until Angel knocks the head off, so he can get in a few shots at his grandsire, just for the fun of it.

Back at W&H, Spike goes to talk to Fred. When he disappears, he thinks he’s being sucked into hell. He’s scared. Can she help him?

Blackout