"Parting Gifts"
Written by David Fury and Jeannine Renshaw; directed by James A. Contner

Angel pays a visit to the Oracles (see “I Will Remember You”) and begs them to bring Doyle back (see “Hero”). The Oracles tell him that Doyle completed his atonement and that Angel is there for selfish reasons. Angel reminds them that Doyle was his connection to the Powers That Be, and without his visions, he can’t help people. The Oracles tell him that things will work out. Somewhere, a horned demon runs down an alley, trying to escape from a man on a motorcycle. At Angel’s office, Cordelia looks sadly at Doyle’s “special coffee mug” until Angel reminds her that he didn’t have one. She wishes that she could have some sort of evidence that Doyle was there. He tells her to take the day off, which makes her think that he’s trying to push her away. She tries to argue that she’s not going anywhere and won’t let him be broody and solitary, but then she remembers that she has a commercial audition. As she’s leaving, the horned demon arrives and they startle each other. The demon, Barney, tells Angel that he needs help and they have a brief, meaningless conversation about vampire stereotypes. Cordelia heads to her audition for a product called Stain-Be-Gone, but winds up crying in the middle of it. She gets another chance, but before she can be a little more upbeat, she suddenly has one of Doyle’s visions.

Motorcycle guy rides through Koreatown as Barney tells Angel that someone has been following him. Barney thinks that said person is an assassin. Motorcycle guy de-motorcycles as Angel asks Barney if his pursuer is a demon. Motorcycle guy withdraws a crossbow from a bag of weapons as Angel wonders why the assassin is after Barney. Barney explains that he’s an empath demon, which he uses to take advantage of others. He denies that he’s really evil as motorcycle guy examines some slime on the corner of a building. Later, Cordelia returns to the office and, remembering that she received Doyle’s visions through a kiss (again, see “Hero”), kisses Angel. She complains that she didn’t feel anything, then, after thoroughly confusing Angel, explains that she’s received Doyle’s visions. Angel suddenly understands what the Oracles meant when they told him that things would work out. He asks Cordelia about the vision, but she’s not very helpful and just wants to get rid of her new powers, even if it means kissing everyone in the area. Barney returns and immediately receives a kiss from Cordelia, who isn’t thrilled that she smooched him. Angel tells Cordelia to stay with Barney and draw a picture of what she saw in her vision while he goes to check out Barney’s apartment. He heads to Barney’s building, where a motorcycle is parked outside, and encounters motorcycle guy, who happens to be Wesley Wyndam-Price (Alexis Denisof).

Wesley tries to be intimidating by holding his crossbow on Angel, but Angel bats it away and notes that not many Watchers ride motorcycles. Wesley explains that, after the events of “Graduation Day, Part 2,” he was out of a job and decided to become a rogue demon hunter. Angel tells him that if he’s after Barney, he’s probably mistaken, because Barney isn’t exactly the kind of demon that needs to be hunted. Wesley says that he’s mutilated some humans and collecting special powers from them. Angel notices some slime dripping from the ceiling and he and Wesley suddenly realize that there’s a demon over their heads. Angel fights the demon, Wesley hits it with a crossbow bolt, and the demons runs off. At Angel’s apartment, Cordelia sketches the thing from her vision as Barney uses his empathic abilities to note that she’s grieving. Cordelia tells him a little about Doyle and says that Barney kind of reminds her of him. Angel and Wesley arrive and Barney immediately fingers Wesley as the guy who’s been after him. Wesley is surprised to see Cordelia, since Angel didn’t mention her. Cordelia may or may not be surprised to see Wesley, but it’s unclear, since her first reaction to seeing him is to grab him and kiss him. She laments that, again, it didn’t work, and Wesley notes that at least their second kiss was better than their first (see “Graduation Day, Part 2”). After a few moments, Cordelia realizes that Wesley’s there. Upon learning why, she wonders what a rogue demon is.

Angel explains to Barney that Wesley was actually hunting something that was hunting him because it wanted his empathic ability. Wesley does some research and reveals that the demon was a Kungai, which can devour life forces. He wonders if the Kungai is hiding out in Koreatown, since it’s of Asian origin. Angel starts to head off to find out and tries to get Wesley to stay put. He tells Wesley that his last partner died, so Wesley should let him work alone. Angel heads to the Lotus Spa, where he learns that the Kungai is hiding out. He finds another demon in search of a massage, but no Kungai. Back at the apartment, Cordelia becomes discouraged when she can’t complete a good drawing of the thing from her vision. She explains her visions to Barney, who thinks that she has the wrong attitude about them - she should see them as a gift and a responsibility rather than a burden. He thinks that Doyle gave Cordelia the most valuable thing he had. Angel finally encounters the Kungai, who he’s told is dying. While Cordelia makes coffee back at the apartment, Barney makes a call on his cell phone, telling someone that he has a Kungai horn. He glances at Cordelia and tells the person he’s talking to that he thinks he now has something even better.

As Cordelia serves him coffee, Barney turns mean, calling Cordelia “pathetic,” “self-absorbed,” and “delusional.” He reveals that he’s been playing her and stops her when she tries to leave. He accuses her of believing that she let Doyle die and wishes she could have, for one second, thought about someone other than herself. He tells her that he’d love to rip her eyes out so that she won’t have visions anymore. Wesley arrives at the spa and translates for the Kungai, who wants Angel to know that someone took its horn. Barney ties Cordelia’s hands, telling her that he’s getting a rush from her terror. Wesley has a couple of translating snafus but tells Angel that more are going to die. Cordelia again tries to escape from Barney, but he gets the upper hand. Wesley finishes translating for the Kungai, who uses the words “demon,” “heart,” and “reader.” Angel realizes that he’s talking about Barney. Cordelia awakens bound and gagged in a storage room and sees the thing from her vision - it’s a sculpture. She sees a bunch of labeled body parts and hears Barney talking to someone about removing her eyes; apparently they fetch more money if they’re still in her body. Angel and Wesley return to Angel’s apartment, each blaming himself when they realize that Cordelia isn’t there. Wesley says that the Council was right to fire him, since of the two Slayers he was in charge of, one is in a coma and one is “a renegade.” Angel finds Cordelia’s drawing and figures out that it’s of a statue. Wesley turns into Captain Obvious and says that if they can figure out where the statue is, Angel might be able to find Cordelia. Angel corrects him, saying that he wants Wesley to come along, especially since Wesley’s the only one who can translate what the Kungai said Barney wanted his horn for.

With some help from the Internet, Angel discovers that the statue is in a Ramsey Hotel somewhere between there and San Diego. Wesley does some research and translates the Kungai’s words “caller sale” as “auction.” Indeed, a group of demons and humans (including a lawyer from Wolfram & Hart) are gathered at a hotel, bidding on various demon body parts with certain powers. Cordelia is ungagged and she tries to argue that she’s never actually had a vision. Her protests go ignored and the bidding begins for her eyes. Angel finds out which hotel the statue is in and he and Wesley head out. Cordelia starts heckling the bidders, but the auction continues. Her eyes go to the Wolfram & Hart lawyer for $30,000. After the auction, the winners collect their purchases and the lawyer asks Barney to extract Cordelia’s eyes for her. Angel and Wesley arrive and bully their way to the room where the auction was held. They arrive just before Cordelia’s eyes are taken and the fighting begins. (If you’ve seen < A href="badgirls.html">“Bad Girls” or “Graduation Day, Part 2,” you can guess that Wesley is amazingly unhelpful in the fighting department.) Wesley frees Cordelia, but before they can escape, he gets into a brawl with Barney. The lawyer makes a call, telling someone that Cordelia’s eyes are no longer for sale and taunting the person on the other end to guess who stopped the extraction. The fighting continues and Cordelia stabs Barney in the back with a demon horn. She thanks Angel for coming to her rescue and he points out that Wesley helped as well. Back at Angel’s apartment, Cordelia irons her wrinkled drawing and frames it, glad to have a piece of evidence that Doyle existed. Wesley starts to head off to continue his life of rogueness, obviously angling to be invited to stick around. Angel invites him to stay for breakfast and the three sit down to enjoy a meal together.

MORAL, or CRAMMING COMPLEX ISSUES INTO A NUTSHELL: Guard your eyes with your life.

GRADE: B Welcome back, Wesley. Too bad you’re kind of a boring loser.

WELCOME TO L.A.: Wesley

MEMORABLE QUOTES: “I didn’t ask for this responsibility, unlike some people, who shall remain lifeless!” - Cordelia

Barney: “11,000 once, twice….”
Cordelia: “Hey, you know, you pay twice that for cataracts. These eyes are flawless even without the stupid visions! That’s the best you can do?”

“I’m going to thrash you to within an inch of your life - and then I’m going to take that inch!” - Wesley

“One of the perks of the job. After an all-nighter of fighting the lurking evil, we get eggs.” - Cordelia

Barney: “I’m being stalked...hunted. Like a dog. Not a dog. Dogs hunt. They don’t get hunted. What’s something that gets hunted?”
Angel: “I get the pict--.”
Barney: “A deer! Hunted like a deer. A little fawn, all alone in the--.” (from the original script)


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