Angel

When Lindsey returns and tries to defeat Angel using a secret “failsafe” entity created by the Powers That Be, Cordelia emerges from her coma to help save Angel.

After discovering a particularly gruesome crime committed by a Wolfram and Hart client, Angel finally says he no longer wants to run the company... and at that very moment, in a hospital room across town, Cordelia finally awakens from her coma. A bit later, as Angel’s friends try to talk him out of quitting, he gets a call from the hospital. Angel and Wesley rush there and find Cordelia up and about, ready to leave. They bring her back to the law firm, where she greets Lorne, Fred, and Gunn, and asks if Connor is there, too... but this question is met with blank stares. Before she can ask why, however, Harmony walks in and Angel explains to a shocked Cordelia that Harmony is now his secretary. After the others leave, Cordelia tells Angel that she was awakened from her coma by one of her old painful visions from the Powers That Be, this time of Angel in trouble. Just then Eve walks in. Angel introduces the women, and when Eve makes it clear to Cordelia that she and Angel slept together, Angel ushers Eve out and instructs Harmony to have security keep an eye on her. Meanwhile Spike, at his apartment, receives a visit from his tattooed benefactor, whom he calls “Doyle” but we recognize as Lindsey. Spike asks Lindsey if he’s had any new visions, but before Lindsey can answer, he gets a call from Eve, alerting him that Cordelia is back... and steering Angel toward him.

Later Cordelia watches an old videotape of the real Doyle, waxing nostalgic for the good old days, before Angel got “seduced” by Wolfram and Hart. Angel insists he did it all for Connor, and tells her how he negotiated a normal life for him in exchange for his current employment. Angel says everyone is doing fine now, but Cordelia says that’s not true, and the Powers That Be woke her to help get Angel back on track as a champion. Angel tells her that Spike is really the champion now, which convinces her even more firmly that Angel’s in big trouble. Meanwhile Lindsey and Eve snuggle together in Lindsey’s bedroom, discussing the Senior Partners’ potential reaction to Lindsey’s reappearance. The next morning Wesley and Cordelia research the tattoos she saw in her vision, and Wesley finally figures out that they’re some kind of concealment spell which protects the bearer from being seen by any kind of surveillance mechanism. At the same time, Lindsey sneaks into a Wolfram and Hart maintenance area, uses a keycard to open the door to a restricted area, and proceeds into a cave-like chamber protected by laser beams... which don’t react at all when he walks through them. A security camera also fails to capture his image, and Lindsey proceeds to a failsafe chamber where a demon scientist, with a quartz-like rock in his neck, bends over a control panel. Lindsey kills the demon, digs the rock from its neck, and turns to the control panel. Meanwhile, as Cordelia wanders the hallways of Wolfram and Hart, she comes face to face with Spike... who grabs her and plunges his fangs into her neck.

Angel pulls Spike off Cordelia, but Spike says he was just doing a “taste test” because a “source” told him Cordelia has been turned into a demon. Spike says the source’s name is Doyle, but when he calls him “tattoo-boy,” Angel and Cordelia perk up. Meanwhile, down the hall, Eve sees them talking and calls Lindsey, who’s still in the failsafe chamber. He says he’s almost ready and tells her to leave the building. She starts to move, but then Angel and Cordelia grab her. In Angel’s office a few minutes later, Angel tells Eve about the tattooed man who’s been talking to Spike, and asks if Eve is working with him. Eve plays dumb, but then Harmony reports that all the other employees have left the building, and Angel demands that Eve tell him what’s going on. Meanwhile Lindsey climbs onto the control panel in the failsafe chamber and inserts the crystal. The console lights up and a series of electronic locks start to open. Upstairs, Eve still refuses to talk. Angel declines Cordelia’s request to torture Eve, but Harmony is happy to oblige, grabbing Eve and smacking her in the face. Finally Eve says the Powers That Be created some sort of failsafe, which lives under the building and is specifically designed to destroy Angel if the need arises. Angel asks how to stop it, and she says the only control is in the chamber downstairs. They realize “Doyle” must be down there now, activating the thing, so Angel asks Spike to describe Doyle again, and when he mentions a severed hand, they realize it’s Lindsey. Harmony guards Eve while Angel, Spike, and Cordelia head for the failsafe chamber. On their way downstairs they pass through the laser beams, which sound an alarm summoning six zombie guards. Spike fights them off while Angel and Cordelia proceed to the failsafe chamber. Angel lunges at Lindsey, who’s approaching a huge containment ring. Then Lindsey hits back with surprising, superhuman strength, and sends Angel flying.

As Angel and Lindsey square off with swords, Cordelia goes to the control platform and pushes buttons. A huge container starts to rise from below, filled with roiling fog and a huge, monstrous form. Meanwhile, in Wesley’s office, Wes, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne put together items - including a quantity of Lorne’s blood - for a magic spell. Downstairs, as the sword fight continues, Lindsey disarms Angel and runs his blade through Angel’s heart. Lindsey circles Angel, mocking him, but Angel just pulls the sword from his heart and attacks again. Meanwhile Cordelia keeps pushing buttons on the failsafe platform until the machinery finally powers down, and the big chamber hisses back into the ground. As it closes off, Angel smashes Lindsey into the floor. He tries to get up, but before he can, Angel and Cordelia point out that his magical tattoos are lifting up off his skin (a result of the incantation Wesley is chanting over a glowing bowl upstairs). Then, finally, a portal to the Powers That Be opens up, and Lindsey is sucked into it. A bit later Angel and his friends throw Eve out. After she leaves, the others decide to go out for a drink, but Cordelia stays behind with Angel. He thanks her for her help and says he feels better about his job now. She assures him he’ll win the big fight, and says she wishes she could be here to see it... but that she can’t stay because it’s just not her life any more. Angel says he needs her, but she says she’s on another road now.

The phone rings and Angel says he doesn’t have to get it. She says he does, so he goes over to the phone. As he picks it up out-of-shot, she sadly says, "You’re welcome" and leaves.Angel is taking the phone call and says, "I know, she’s right-" and turns and looks. Cordelia is gone. The phone call continues and Angel’s voice begins to crack. "When did she die? So she never woke up?"

The End