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Blind Date - 1ADH21
The Long: After a ''Previously on Angel'' segment showing Angel
meeting Lindsey McDonald (see Continuity #1), we go to
the street at night where a toy vendor sells motorized army guys to some
kids as a blind woman with a cane walks by. He
clears the sidewalk for her.
Somewhere in a warehouse Angel fights two vampires. He stakes one then wraps
a chain around the neck of another, lifting him up and impaling him. Angel
then goes to save a bleeding man when
the blind woman jumps him from nowhere and proceeds to beat the hell out of
Angel. During the fight her sun glasses are knocked off and Angel sees she
has all-white eyes. Angel is knocked down and when he gets up the woman is
gone and the bleeding man is dead.
At Angel Investigations Wesley is perplexed at his inability to find a blind
demon (see Reference #1). They figure maybe she's
a human with extrasensory powers. Cordelia looks up the L.A.P.D. On Line web site
and is able to find the records of Vanessa Brewer, a blind woman who has
been accused of multiple crimes, but never has been convicted (see Goof #1). Cordelia also
notices that Wolfram & Hart are defending her. In the court room Vanessa
sits as Lindsey McDonald defends her. Angel walks in and throws Vanessa her
glasses, which she catches without looking. As the judge protests Angel
quickly exits. At Angel Investigations Wesley concludes she can see, just not the way they do
(see Reference #2). Angel walks in and says Wolfram &
Hart are volunteering their services for her. At the Wolfram & Hart office Lindsey and
Lee Mercer talk as Vanessa talks with some other Wolfram & Hart officials (see Continuity #2). Lindsey
greets Vanessa and she thanks him for getting her off the charges. A Wolfram & Hart big
wig talks privately with Lindsey, asking is everything is okay. They mention
Lindsey's failure with sending Faith against Angel. The executive tells him
he's happy with Lindsey's recent work, and tries to give him some advice
about life (see Reference #3). He then tells Lindsey to start working on a defence for
Vanessa's next crime, which will be assassinating some children who threaten
Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey seems shaken by the idea of killing children. At Angel Investigations
Angel throws a fit when he learns Vanessa was acquitted because of a hung
jury. He rants that he can't testify against her last murder because he
can't go to court. Angel likens the pure evil of Wolfram & Hart to his old bad vampire
days, which he misses. Lindsey then walks into Angel's office asking for
help, saying he wants out.
Angel talks to Lindsey about why he is doing this. Angel says
Lindsey made his choice, but Lindsey describes his destitute childhood,
saying how he swore how he would never let that happen again. Angel doesn't
care why he choose to be evil. Lindsey tells him about Vanessa's next job,
killing some children. He has no details, but says they would be in the
vault at Wolfram & Hart. Angel tells him to go get them, but Lindsey says he can't
return because Wolfram & Hart employ mind readers, and he would be killed. Angel,
Lindsey, Cordelia and Wesley plan to get Angel access to the vault. They
have a demon guarding it, and shamans who can tell when a vampire enters the
building. Angel says that won't be a problem. On the street that night Angel
talks to Gunn about helping him. After telling how dangerous it will be Gunn
agrees. The next day Lindsey goes to work as Angel begins to cut into the
sub basement with a torch from the sewers. Lindsey bumps into Lilah Morgan
and they talk briefly (see Continuity #2). Lindsey leaves a key card for Angel to pick up as
Angel finishes cutting the hole in the floor to enter the building. Lindsey
goes to the security office and makes small talk with the guard watching the
monitors. Gunn enters the office lobby and starts
to put on a show of words
(see Cool Quote #1 & Reference #4).
He checks his watch and has his men
bring in a vampire under blankets and in ropes, entering right as Angel
enters from the sewers. The shaman in the guard office starts to squeal to
the guard, who informs security there is a vampire on the premises, as
Lindsey secretly changes a monitor that shows Angel near the vault. The
vampire runs panicked through the offices. Security guards chase the vampire
and stake him. Angel opens the vault and is jumped by the demon. He merely
blows a powder in it's face and the demon collapses, he quietly thanks Wesley
for that trick. Lindsey makes his way out the office, watching over his
shoulder and running into Lee. Angel gets the documents from the vault, then
sees a scroll case on a display, which he feels compelled to grab. Alarms
sound and he runs for the closing doors, barely escaping. Angel tells
Lindsey to get out on the cell phone as Angel makes his escape, but security
start to round up people on the floor for a random sweep. Lindsey, Lee and
Lilah end up together seeing the mind readers being ushered in.
In a Wolfram & Hart office the employees are lined up and the mind readers walk past
each silently. They go past then return to Lindsey and then tell the
executive something. The executive nods to a security guard and then
looks to Lindsey, then to Lee. He apologizes to Lee and says Lee has been
in secret talks with another law firm. The guard shoots Lee in the back
of the head, and blood spurts all over Lindsey. As the people leave,
the executive tells Lindsey to hang around. Angel returns to Angel Investigations and he gives
the files, some computer backups, to Cordelia and the scrolls to Wesley.
Cordelia puts a disk into her drive. Wesley says he'll decipher the scrolls
as Cordelia discovers the files are encrypted. At the Wolfram & Hart office they
remove the body of Lee as the executive confronts Lindsey with what he did.
Lindsey says he didn't want to betray Wolfram & Hart, he just wanted out. The executive
says he is impressed with his cool, but says he needs direction. He
lets Lindsey go to think about it. At Angel Investigations Cordelia talks on the phone to
Willow about the computer files (see Continuity #3 & Goof #2).
She helps Cordelia get in through a back door and they read the personnel
files for Vanessa. In the records they learn Vanessa lost her sight on
purpose, spending five years with monks learning to see with her heart.
The look up the job to kill three blind children before they can meet with their
mentor. The three blind children can see into the heart of things. Lindsey shows up and pretends he
escaped. Wesley and Cordelia are sent to intercept the mentor as Angel
and Lindsey go to protect the children. At the children's safe house the
children eat as Vanessa shows up and kills the man watching over them
(see Goof #3 & Reference #5).
At the safe house Angel and Lindsey attack Vanessa as she is about to kill
the children. Vanessa seems to have Angel out classed until Angel
falls to the floor and she can't seem to spot him. Angel realizes she
can only see him while he moves so he moves quickly and then stand still
until he has a good shot, hitting her hard. He does this repeatedly until
he shoves her walking cane into her, killing her. Lindsey reassures the
children that all is all right. At Angel Investigations Wesley tells Angel the kids are with
their mentor and then tells Angel the scroll is an ancient lost prophecy
that mentions the children and Angel. At the Wolfram & Hart headquarters Lindsey
confronts Holland, the executive. He returns the disks, but says he
has copies to keep him safe from Wolfram & Hart. Holland tells Lindsey he has potential
and is impressed with his nerve (see Reference #6). He says he needs people like that
working for Wolfram & Hart. He offers Lindsey a promotion, saying he can have the
executive's job, as he was promoted upstairs. Lindsey thinks about it
and seems to decide to take the offer. Outdoors Angel looks over the
city at night but says nothing.
The main villain in this episode is Vanessa Brewer, a blind assassin with
mystical powers. She seems able to sense movement around her, as well as
being stronger and faster then the average human. According to the personnel
files of Wolfram & Hart she lost her sight at the age of 21, she spent
five years with cave dwelling monks reaching enlightenment.
In the vault of Wolfram & Hart is a Preggothian demon which guards it from
intruders.
David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald
Thomas Burr as Lee Mercer
Stephanie Romanov as Lilah Morgan
Sam Anderson as Holland Manners
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Jennifer Badger as Vanessa Brewer (Credited as Jennifer Badger Martin as Vanessa Weeks.)
Keilana Smith as Mind Reader #1
Dawn Suggs as Mind Reader #2
Charles Constant as the Security Center Guard (Howard)
Scott Berman as the Vendor
Derek Anthony as the Dying Black Man
Rishi Kumar as Blind Child #1 (Center)
Karen Lu as Blind Child #2 (Left)
Alex Buck as Blind Child #3 (Right)
Eliza Dushku as Faith (Left, uncredited, seen in flashback from Five By Five.)
Sven Holmberg as Ty (Uncredited, seen in flashback from War Zone.)
Scott Berman, who played the vendor, later played the part of mover #2 in Buffy vs. Dracula. It is unknown is this was supposed to be a different character or the same one.
Sam Anderson, who played Holland Manners, played the part of the assistant manager in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Royale 2.12.
Jennifer Badger, who played Vanessa Brewer, played the part of bridesmaid #1 in the Charmed episode The Wedding From Hell 1.06. She worked as a stunt double for Cordelia, Willow, Jenny, Anya, Faith, Drusilla and the Inca Princess on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. One particular stunt of note she did was the fall Faith made in Graduation Day Part 1. Jennifer has an online stunt resume at http://www.stuntnet.com/women/jenniferbadger.htm.
