Blind Date (Angel episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Blind Date” | |
|---|---|
| Angel episode | |
  Angel steals files and an ancient scroll from the vault of Wolfram & Hart |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 21 |
| Guest stars | Christian Kane (Lindsey) Sam Anderson (Holland) J. August Richards (Gunn) |
| Written by | Jeannine Renshaw |
| Directed by | Thomas J Wright |
| Production no. | 1ADH21 |
| Original airdate | May 16, 2000 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "War Zone" | "To Shanshu in L.A." |
| List of Angel episodes | |
"Blind Date" is episode 21 of season 1 in the television show Angel. See List of Angel episodes for a complete list.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Angel reluctantly agrees to help Lindsey McDonald crack the secret files of Wolfram & Hart to save a group of three blind children from a blind woman assassin hired by the unseen Senior Partners of the firm to kill the children. With a little help from Lindsey and Gunn who cause a diversion, Angel sneaks into the ultra-high-tech security firm to steal the firm’s computer files and also takes an ancient scroll he finds in the building safe. But Lindsey isn’t sure if he can stick by his decision to help Angel and betray the firm by sabotaging the deadly mission when Holland Manners, Lindsey‘s supervisor, offers him the promotion of a lifetime.
[edit] Expanded overview
Two toy soldiers crawl on a sidewalk as a man tries to sell them to two kids. A blind woman comes down the sidewalk and the man moves some toys out of her way. At a warehouse, Angel battles a couple of vampires, killing them both. On his way out, he encounters an injured man and the blind woman, who throws him against a wall. Even though she’s blind, she’s able to fight off his punches. She throws him across the room and, when he looks over, she’s gone. At Angel Investigations, Wesley and Cordelia look for info on blind demons but can’t find any. Wesley wonders if the woman isn’t really human. Cordelia looks up “blind woman murder” on the Internet and finds info on a woman named Vanessa Brewer, who has a couple of arrests for fleeing the scene of a homicide and assaulting someone. She was also arrested as a suspect in a homicide and is currently on trial for the crime. Cordelia also discovers who is defending Vanessa.
In a courthouse, Vanessa sits in a courtroom while Lindsey tries to argue that she couldn’t have killed anyone because she’s blind. Angel enters and throws Vanessa’s glasses at her from behind. She immediately catches them and everyone in the courtroom reacts. Back at the office, Wesley says that Vanessa might not see the same way as everyone else, but she has a way of seeing, possibly outside of the spectrum of normal human sight. Angel says that Wolfram & Hart is representing her pro bono, so she’s probably working for them in some capacity.
At Wolfram & Hart, Vanessa talks to Holland Manners (Sam Anderson) while Lee tells Lindsey that he’s impressed Lindsey could clear Vanessa of all charges. Lee thinks that Vanessa likes Lindsey, and her behavior towards him doesn’t do much to disprove that theory. After Vanessa leaves, Holland and Lindsey discuss the hardships Lindsey has faced over the past year, namely the decision to send Faith after Angel and the failure of that plan. Holland says that he’s done well in court, and explains that it’s a “harvest” time of year, where the winners are separated from the losers (who are then, presumably, killed). Holland says that Lindsey won’t be completely happy until he figures out his place in the world. The conversation turns back to Vanessa, whom Holland hints should reveal that she was abused as a child. Holland says that some children are arriving who Vanessa has been assigned to do something to. Lindsey is expected to make sure that she doesn’t get in trouble for any of her actions.
At the office, Angel is upset that Vanessa was acquitted and he can’t do anything about it. He’s angry that Wolfram & Hart has made up their own rules, and he doesn’t fit in in their world. Wesley tells him that he has a place and that they’ll face a battle in another area. Angel says that he remembers living in a world like Wolfram & Hart’s, where there’s only power and no consequences. He misses the clarity involved and laments that nothing ever changes. Lindsey suddenly arrives and tells Angel that he needs his help: “I want out.”
Angel and Lindsey head to Angel’s private office, where Lindsey thinks that Angel might suspect he’s playing a trick. Angel says that he doesn’t, because he can tell that Lindsey is afraid. Lindsey tells him that he’s never seen real poverty, but Lindsey himself grew up extremely poor. He wanted to be the one with the power rather than the one who had things taken away from him, which was why he joined Wolfram & Hart. Angel is uninterested in Lindsey’s life story until Lindsey tells him about Vanessa’s new deal to kill some children. Angel tells him that he’ll need more information and Lindsey will have to get him some files from Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey doesn’t want to go back, since people there are always watched, including by mind-readers. Angel replies that people have to make a decision to change on their own, but most people don’t. Lindsey figures that, if he gets killed, Angel will believe that he wanted to change.
Later, Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, and Lindsey plan a break-in at Wolfram & Hart, which Angel and Lindsey have to do together. Lindsey decides to use his own pass to get into the building, then leave the pass for Angel to use to get into a vault, which is guarded by a demon. Lindsey will mess with security monitors so that Angel will go undetected. He suddenly remembers the firm’s vampire alarms, which will go off as soon as Angel arrives at the building. Angel announces that it won’t be a problem. Later that night, Angel meets with Gunn who assures him that he can “get a hold of one,” though he’s not sure why he should. Angel tells him that he’ll be helping someone, but Gunn doesn’t want to help a rich guy like Lindsey. Angel says that it’ll be dangerous and Gunn agrees to help.
The next day Lindsey, goes to work while Angel uses a blow torch to cut a hole in the roof of a sewer. Lindsey runs into Lilah, who’s surprised to see him heading towards a records room. Once she’s gone, he leaves his security pass under a case holding a fire extinguisher. He heads back upstairs as Angel, wearing a suit, waits for the right time to move. Lindsey pulls a security guard named Howard aside to discuss some sort of surveillance system. As they’re talking, Lindsey sees Gunn entering the building on one of the monitors. Angel and Gunn check their watches, and Gunn calls for two of his crew members to come in, carrying a large bundle. Angel enters the building and a shaman alerts Howard to the fact that there’s a vampire on the premises. Gunn cuts the cord holding the bundle, revealing a vampire inside. Angel heads to the records room and grabs Lindsey’s security pass as Lindsey watches, then leaves the security office. Security guards chase the vampire and stake him.
Angel uses Lindsey’s security pass, fights the demon he was warned about (using information given to him by Wesley), and enters the vault. He takes some CD cases labeled “restricted access” and, on a whim, grabs a tube covered with symbols. This sets off an alarm and activates a grate which covers the door to the vault. Angel is able to make it under the grate before he’s trapped inside. On his way back to the sewer, he calls Lindsey and tells him that he’s done and that Lindsey should get out. Lindsey tries to avert some security guards but soon realizes that they’re everywhere. Lilah tells him that there’s a sweep, and Lindsey sees Holland leading two mind-readers into an office.
A handful of lawyers - including Lindsey, Lilah, and Lee - are taken into the office and lined up for the mind-readers to read. Lindsey fears that he’s been caught, but Holland announces that Lee has been in secret meetings with clients he was going to take with him when he left the firm. Lee tries to lie about his actions and receives a bullet in the head for his troubles. Holland dismisses the others, asking Lindsey to stay behind. Angel returns to his office and is surprised that Lindsey isn’t already there. Cordelia asks if Angel is going to go back for him, but he says that there’s no reason to, since he already did his job. Wesley finds the tube in Angel’s briefcase and finds a roll of parchment inside. He asks why Angel took it and Angel admits that he’s not sure. Wesley says that he’ll translate the parchment, which contains writing in ancient Aramaic, but Cordelia discovers that first they’ll have to translate the encrypted disks.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, Holland asks Lindsey if he’s scared; Lindsey admits that he is. Holland says that’s understandable, since he went to Angel for help, stole from the vault, tried to sabotage a case, and lied about everything. Lindsey says that he didn’t want to lie or betray the firm, he just wanted to leave. Holland says that few men make their own destinies, but those who do “have the courage of their convictions, and they know how to behave in a crisis.” He thinks that Lindsey has what it takes to be one of those men, but he still doesn’t know where he belongs. Holland decides not to have Lindsey killed, instead giving him a few days to figure out what he wants to do.
Cordelia calls Willow for help with decrypting the disks, which Cordelia tells Angel and Wesley,Willow has been doing all day as well. After the decryption is complete, Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley discover that Vanessa lost her sight at the age of 21, and at her own hand. She trained with a group of monks who believed that “enlightenment is seeing with the heart, not the mind.” Vanessa is supposed to kill three children who are blind seers and considered a powerful triumvirate who can “see into the heart of things.” Lindsey arrives and Angel tells Cordelia and Wesley to intercept the mentor who’s supposed to meet with the children. Vanessa arrives at a safehouse, killing the man guarding the children with her cane. Angel and Lindsey arrive and Angel tells Lindsey to get the kids out. Vanessa fights them both, but Angel eventually grabs her cane (As he's technically dead, Vanessa can't 'see' Angel if he isn't moving) and drops her with it. Later, back at the office, Wesley tells Angel that Wolfram & Hart probably used the parchment he stole to figure out that the children were coming. The parchment contains the Prophecies of Aberjian, which also mention a vampire with a soul. Wesley tells Angel that he may not know what his place is in the chaos, but he belongs somewhere in there.
Lindsey returns to Wolfram & Hart with the disks Angel stole and apologizes to Holland, telling him that he did what he needed to. Holland proclaims his rescue of the children “noble” and notes that Lindsey probably made copies of what was on the disks. Lindsey says that he wants his own life, but Holland tells him that none of them gets that - “we’re all part of something larger.” He tells Lindsey that he handpicked him to join the firm because he saw potential in him. “It’s not about good or evil - it’s about who wields the most power,” Holland announces. Lindsey stood up to the firm and won, and Holland wants him to stay with them. In fact, he’s giving Lindsey his own job, since Holland is getting a promotion. He tells Lindsey that it’s his choice, then leaves. Lindsey stays put, looking out the window at the city lights as Angel does the same thing elsewhere.
[edit] Writing and acting
[edit] Production details
[edit] Quotes and trivia
Vanessa's ability to 'see' without eyes resembles the powers of the Marvel Comics superhero Daredevil.
[edit] Translations
- German title: "Die Augen der Vanessa Brewer" ("The eyes of Vanessa Brewer")
- Italian title: "Appuntamento al buio" ("Blind date", literally "Date in darkness")
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse chronology: January 2000 - Spring 2000 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.12 A New Man |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.12 Expecting |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel graphic novel: Hunting Ground |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Strange Bedfellows/Love for sale |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.13 The I in Team |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.13 She |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.14 Goodbye Iowa |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy video game: Wrath of the Darkhul King |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.14 I've Got You Under My Skin |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.15 This Year's Girl |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.15 The Prodigal |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.16 Who Are You |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.16 The Ring |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Giles |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy comic: Jonathan (by Jane Espenson) |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.17 Superstar |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel graphic novel: Past Lives |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy graphic novel: Out of the Woodwork |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | Buffy book: These Our Actors |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.17 Eternity |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.18 Where the Wild Things Are |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.18 Five By Five |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.19 New Moon Rising |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.19 Sanctuary |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.20 The Yoko Factor |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.20 War Zone |
| Sunnydale, 2000 | B4.21 Primeval |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.21 Blind Date |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | B4.22 Restless |
| L.A., 2000 | A1.22 To Shanshu in L.A. |
| L.A., 2000 | Angel comic: Cordelia special |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2000 | Buffy/Angel books: Unseen [Trilogy] |
