Conviction (Angel)

Plot

Angel saves a woman from a vampire in an alley; however, thanks to a tracking device, Wolfram & Hart lawyers surround the scene. Angel is admonished because the dead vampire worked for the firm's clients.

At Wolfram & Hart,

In his office, Gunn encounters Eve, who says that things were a lot simpler when he was just hunting vamps on the street with his gang. She wonders if he's ready for “the next step” and he confirms that he is; she hands him a business card and says, “You’ll feel like a new man.”

The next day, Angel is unhappy to learn his new secretary is ditzy vampire

Harmony brings in client Corbin Fries, on trial for smuggling in girls for prostitution and cheap labor. He readily admits he's guilty; when Angel says he has no incentive to keep him out of jail, Fries says, “Either you get me off, or I drop the bomb."

In a conference room, Lorne has each employee sing so he can read them for potential evil. In the science lab, Fred explains Lorne's skills to Knox; Knox tells her that if she wants him to, he'll go up and get read so that she can be sure he's not evil. Fred is still unsure that she'll be capable of running the whole lab. In Angel's office, the gang wonders if the bomb Fries threatened is mystical. Harmony says she has the address for a guy named Spanky, a “freelance mystic” whose name has shown up in Fries’ file. Angel heads to the garage, which houses a fleet of expensive corporate cars, and takes one out to pay Spanky a visit. Spanky reveals he built a mystical container which can hold anything, until the container is dissolved by a magic word. Back in the science lab, Fred and Knox look through Fries’ file and discover he is linked to a cult which specializes in “quick-fire disease scenarios.” When Fred tells him that Fries may be messing with a virus, Angel says that he knows where the bomb is: inside Fries’ son's heart.

Meanwhile, Gunn is enduring a stressful procedure at the doctor's office. Back at the firm, Fred tells Wesley that they've had no luck figuring out what virus Fries might be using. Eve pays Angel a visit in his office; she finds it ironic that Angel's dealing with a guy who put a virus in his own son when Angel just lost his son. She reminds him that Connor is happy and he's the only one who remembers him. Angel tells her that he doesn't want her to say Connor's name, and Eve says that if he takes every case this personally, he won't last long. Fred and Knox spend the night looking over files and photos while eating Chinese takeout. Frustrated, Fred accuses her crew of not working hard enough to save people. The next day, Fries’ trial continues; Lorne calls Angel from the trial and says that he thinks they should isolate Matthew (Fries' son); as Agent Hauser listens in, Lorne tells Angel that Fries has no chance of getting off. Hauser tells his agents to go after the kid and anyone within 50 yards of him, and as Angel heads for Matthew's school Harmony tells him that the special ops team are already on their way. However, when the special ops team gases Matthew's classroom, they realize it's empty except for Angel. “So it turns out,” he says, “with this new deal and all, I own a helicopter.”

As Fries’ trial heads into final summations, Gunn arrives in a nice suit and gets Keel to cede to him. Gunn moves for a mistrial and announces that the judge should remove herself from the case because according to the judge's tax records, she holds stock in a company owned by a company owned by Fries’. The judge claims not to know about the connection, but Gunn says he discovered it in only six hours. As Angel and the agents fight, Hauser calls him a “pathetic little fairy” who lacks the most powerful thing - conviction. Angel replies that there is something more powerful than that - mercy. He causes Hauser to shoot himself, and to a remaining guard's query about what happened to mercy, he replies that they've seen the last of his. Later, Eve explains to the group that Gunn agreed to let the firm “enhance” him with legal knowledge (and

Production details

This episode begins the same way "

In the DVD commentary, Joss Whedon reveals that Alexis Denisof had a case of

Arc significance

External links