Habeas Corpses
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Habeas Corpses” | |
|---|---|
| Angel episode | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 08 |
| Guest stars | Andy Hallett (Lorne) Stephanie Romanov (Lilah) Daniel Dae Kim (Gavin) Vladimir Kulich (The Beast) |
| Written by | Jeffrey Bell |
| Directed by | Skip Schoolnik |
| Production no. | 4ADH08 |
| Original airdate | January 15, 2003 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Apocalypse, Nowish" | "Long Day's Journey" |
| List of Angel episodes | |
"Habeas Corpses" is episode 08 of season 4 in the television show Angel. See List of Angel episodes for a complete list.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
As the members of Angel Investigations reassemble at the hotel offices after their fight with the Beast, Angel becomes increasingly jealous after seeing Cordelia and Connor make love, while Fred and Gunn reconcile, and Wesley finally decides to break off his passionate, but loveless fling with Lilah. But events change when Connor pays a visit to Wolfram & Hart where the indestructible Beast from Hell follows him there and attacks, killing most of the staff including Gavin and destroys the little girl conduit between Lilah and the unseen Senior Partners. Lilah manages to escape with a little of Wesley’s help while he leads Angel, Gunn, and Fred into the locked-down offices to find Connor which gets worse when all the victims of the Beast become reanimated zombies out to kill.
[edit] Expanded overview
Furiously, Angel turns away from the sight of Cordelia and Connor in bed together and takes his anger out on everything within punching distance. Fred waits impatiently for something to happen at the hotel and gets a call from a worried mother about all the gloom and doom surrounding the city. Wesley, Gunn and Lorne return, battered and bruised from their battle, but minus Angel. Fred and Gunn embrace. Angel returns, deeply hurt and depressed and bypasses his friends in favor of brooding in his room. Cordelia wakes up in bed with Connor as she realizes what she did the night before with him. When he wakes, she tries to tell him that the night before was a one-time deal and he storms out, feeling the pain of her rejection and blaming himself for the Beast being in their world.
Wesley is visited by Lilah who's relieved to find him alive. Wesley's not as welcoming to her affections this time though, and tells her what they had is over. Lilah doesn't take the news well, but Wesley's mind can't be changed: he's chosen to fight for the good side. Fred and Gunn continue to research the Beast when Cordelia shows up at the hotel to talk to Angel. He's distant and closed off because of what he saw, but she wants to talk about the Beast's connection to Connor and Connor's guilt over it. Lilah handles business at the law firm while Gavin brings her coffee and tries to help his new boss. He updates her on the latest with the Beast and she reveals that their mission is to try to work out a deal with the creature.
Connor sneaks into Lilah's office in search of answers about his life. Lilah attempts to have him captured and tested for their purposes, but Connor takes the situation into his own hands and orders Lilah to help him learn everything they do about the Beast. The lights flicker and turn off as Connor realizes the Beast has arrived. Lilah sends Gavin to investigate the downstairs lobby where the demon is tearing lawyers apart. Connor sets out to take on the creature himself, dodging frightened lawyers rushing to escape the Beast on his way upstairs. The Beast finds Gavin in a closet and tosses him effortlessly against a wall, killing him. The Beast then goes after Lilah and after she tries to shoot the creature then offer to help him, he stabs her with one of his clawed fingers. She's tossed aside as another lawyer catches the Beast's eye, but Connor interrupts. After a couple of failed attempts at hurting the creature, Connor is recognized by the Beast and tossed aside into a stone pillar.
Lilah stumbles through the halls on the run from the Beast until she's pulled into a nearby office by Wesley. The windows of the office are covered by steel as she explains that the building is closing down to secure anything from getting in or out during an attack. Wesley carries her out, using a hand grenade to temporarily stun the fast-approaching demon long enough for them to escape. Lilah leads the way to a storage closet where one of the only two emergency exits can be found hidden behind some shelves. They escape through a small passage and into the sewers below the building. Wesley instructs her to start over a build a new life somewhere else before the Beast finds her. As he leaves, she informs him that Connor is trapped in the building.
At the hotel, the gang tries to research the Beast, but they're exhausted and some of their personal issues are getting in the way. Wesley returns to the hotel and breaks the news that the Beast is trapped inside Wolfram and Hart's building along with Connor. Immediately, Angel is determined to rescue his son, despite the seemingly solid security closing the building off. Meanwhile, Connor has recovered from hitting the pillar and returns to his search for the Beast. As he passes over Gavin's body, the former lawyer's eyes fly open. The gang prepare at the hotel to break into Wolfram and Hart and Angel explains that their plan is not to go after the Beast, just to rescue Connor and get out quickly. Angel stops Cordelia from joining them on the hunt for Connor and despite her protests, she stays behind with Lorne while Fred joins the search.
Wesley leads the way through the sewers to the secret exit he used when escaping with Lilah. Angel flies up through the opening then drops a rope for the others, allowing them all to get into the law firm's lobby. The group walks through piles of dead lawyer bodies as the take the stairs to the third floor where Connor is believed to be. As Angel and the others pass one seemingly dead body, the woman's eyes open wide, but she goes unnoticed. Wesley passes by the closet where he escaped earlier, but instead of Gavin's dead body lying outside like he remembered, there's no one there. After checking the collapsed pillar where Connor was last seen and finding nothing, the group splits up to speed up the search.
Angel finds Connor, but before they can escape, Gavin attacks Angel. Angel quickly points out that Gavin's a zombie as he knocks the former lawyer aside. Connor and Angel make a break for it as the various dead bodies around the halls all start to awaken. Fred, Wesley and Gunn are soon attacked by zombies as well and barricade themselves in an office. While the zombies try to break the door down, there's a brief concern about Gunn, who was bit by one of the zombies, but Wesley doesn't think it will turn him into one.
The zombies break through and Gunn tells Wesley to get Fred to safety as he's surrounded by the walking dead. Upstairs, Angel and Connor decide there are too many to fight and run. Gunn finally reunites with Fred and Wesley as Angel and Connor finally meet up with the others in the office. With all their other options obstructed by the zombies, Angel suggests they try a special white room he was in once before that could be their only other way out. With the guys fighting off the zombies, Fred manipulates the power of the elevator. When lawyers start wobbling towards the elevator, Gunn spots Gavin at the front and takes a moment to chop of the zombie's head. Angel finally gets the secret access code to work on the elevator and they're transported to the special white room.
Once there, they spot the little girl lying on the ground as the Beast kneels above her, extracting a black cloud of energy, or possibly her life, from her. She tells them, "The answer is among you" and then before the Beast can get his hands on them, the young girl mutters some words and transports the gang back into the hotel. Much to Angel's despair, Cordelia hugs Connor while Lorne asks the others questions about what happened. Angel works in his office when Cordelia comes in and tries to chat with him. He doesn't respond much to her comments, but bitterly tells her to take her boyfriend, Connor, and get out. As he walks out, Cordelia realizes with horror what he knows.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
- This episode contains visual references to the film "Resident Evil".
- Angel demonstrates his photographic memory, previously seen in "Supersymmetry".
- The White Room was last seen in "Forgiving".
- "Habeas Corpses" marks Gavin Park's final appearance in the series.
- The name of this episode is a play on the legal action known as Habeas Corpus.
[edit] Translations
- Italian title: "Habeas corpses"
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse: Fall 2002 - December 2002 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.01 Lessons |
| Mexico, 2002 | Buffy/Angel book: Seven Crows |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.01 Deep Down |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.02 Beneath You |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.02 Ground State |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.03 Same Time, Same Place |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Apocalypse Memories |
| L.A., Las Vegas, 2002 | A4.03 The House Always Wins |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.04 Help |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Dark Mirror |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Mortal Fear |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | Buffy book: Spark and Burn |
| Sunnydale, L.A., 2002 | Buffy/Angel book: Heat |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.04 Slouching Toward Bethlehem |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.05 Selfless |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.05 Supersymmetry |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.06 Him |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Solitary Man |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.06 Spin the Bottle |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Love and Death |
| L.A., 2002 | Angel book: Monolith |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.07 Conversations with Dead People |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.08 Sleeper |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.08 Habeas Corpses |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.09 Never Leave Me |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.09 Long Day's Journey |
| Sunnydale, 2002 | B7.10 Bring on the Night |
| Unknown, 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Stacey |
| New York, 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Spot the Vampire |
| Unknown 2002 | Tales of the Vampires: Taking Care of Business |
| L.A., 2002 | A4.10 Awakening |
