Episode Trivia
Adam Baldwin
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Adam Baldwin, who played Marcus Hamilton in Angel’s season five, is best known to Joss Whedon fans as Jayne Cobb in the TV series Firefly and movie Serenity. He also played Knowle Rohrer in several episodes of The X Files and Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick’s film Full Metal Jacket. Adam has also appeared in My Bodyguard, D.C. Cab, Independence Day, Smoke Jumpers, Radio Flyer, From the Earth to the Moon, Men in Black: The Series, Stargate SG-1, The Inside, and Bones. He appeared in the 2005 television remake of The Poseidon Adventure.
Amanda
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Amanda came to Wolfram & Hart to settle an agreement between herself and a group of demons called The Fell Brethren. Throughout Amanda’s pregnancy the Brethren had been taking care of her because they believed the child she was carrying was of importance to their kind. Amanda was initially brought to Wolfram & Hart to sign final documents to give up her child when it was born, as she felt they could offer the child a better life than she could. Angel and Gunn tried to persuade her not to give up her child, as he would be sacrificed when he turned thirteen. However, Angel had an inexplicable change of heart and aided the Brethren with their contract.
Angel Investigations AKA
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Nicknames for Angel Investigations throughout the seven seasons of Angel have been:
- “A bunch of proto-losers” by Cordelia in 4.06 Spin The Bottle
- “Fearless vampire killers” by Lorne in 4.06 Spin The Bottle
- “A bunch of superheroes” by Roger Burkle in 3.05 Fredless
- “A demon-hunting, helpless-helping, dysfunctional family” by Fred in 5.03 Unleashed
- “Bunch of pantywaists” by Skip in 4.17 Inside Out
- “Little gang of supernatural detectives” by Darla in 3.07 Offspring
- “One big happy Manson family” by Spike in 5.22 Not Fade Away
- “Plucky little boatload of good” by Hamilton in 5.19 Time Bomb
- “Team Angel” by Gunn in 4.04 Slouching Toward Bethlehem
- “Team Angel” by Faith in 4.13 Salvage
- “Suckers at Angel, Inc” by Angelus in 4.13 Salvage
Batman
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The comic Batman, by DC Comics, is mentioned several times in Buffy.
- In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Buffy alludes to the ‘Bat-Signal’ in Gotham city which is used to alert Batman that he is needed when she says to Willow:
“Sorry to interrupt, Willow, but it’s the Bat-Signal.”
- In the Batman comics, Catwoman is a cat-burglar, and the alter ego of Selina Kyle. In 2.06 Halloween, Xander says to Cordelia:
“Catwoman, you’re with me.”
- The Batcave was Batman’s high-tech base and Alfred was his loyal butler. In 4.20 The Yoko Factor, Xander says:
“You and Willow go do the superpower thing, I’ll stay behind and putt around the Batcave with crusty old Alfred here.”
- The nerds’ freeze ray gun in 6.09 Smashed may have been inspired by Batman’s Mr Freeze, who used a similar device.
- In 7.02 Beneath You, Spike refers to the 1960s TV show Batman in which Batman and Robin would slide down poles to the Batcave when they were needed when he says:
“A little touchy-feely, and you’re off to the Batpoles?”
- In 7.10 Bring On The Night, Andrew mentions Batman’s foe The Riddler:
“You think I’m a super-villain like Dr. Doom or Apocalypse or The Riddler. But I admit I went over to the dark side but just to pick up a few things and now I’m back. I’ve learned. I’m good again.”
- Vincent Schiavelli, who played Jenny’s uncle in 2.13 Surprise and 2.14 Innocence played the Organ Grinder in the movie Batman Returns.
- In the Angel episode 1.02 Lonely Hearts, Doyle refers to the Bat-signal, saying:
“It’s not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky whenever they need help, you know?”
- In 1.03 In The Dark, Spike says of Angel:
“Quickly to the Angelmobile, away.”
- In 1.05 Rm W/A Vu, Cordy says:
“They gave it to a blonde that showed up in a skintight leather cat suit. She is supposed to be a housewife. She looked ridiculous. She looked like cat-woman taking out the cat-trash.”
- In 1.12 Expecting, Cordelia smudges her lipstick across her face and says (referencing Batman’s nemesis):
“And now I look like the Joker.”
- In 3.21 Benediction, Lilah says of Connor (referring to the name often given to Batman’s sidekick, Robin):
“Who’s the boy wonder?”
- In 4.02 Ground State, when the gang are climbing the gates to get into the auction house, Gunn says:
“This is so much harder than it looks on Batman”.
- In 5.19 Time Bomb, Hamilton says:
“It’s a business, boys, not a Batcave.”
Fell Brethren
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The Fell Brethren came to Wolfram & Hart in 5.19 Time Bomb to finalise a contract with Amanda, a young human woman who was pregnant with a child they believed to be the ‘Vessel’ - a holy child. The contract stated that Amanda would give over her child to the Brethren, and they would raise him with great reverence on a diet of berries, panda meat and consecrated urine. When the child was thirteen, they aimed to ritually sacrifice him in the Rights of Gordabach. Their leader was in the Circle of the Black Thorn, so Angel allowed the contract to go ahead. In the final battle in 5.22 Not Fade Away, Spike destroyed the Brethren and returned the baby to Amanda. The Brethren wore hooded robes, and had wrinkled, mottled, green skin, large hooked noses and liked organic cola.
Fred, Illyria and plants
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Fred and Illyria have interesting relationships with plants. During Lorne’s spell in 4.06 Spin The Bottle, Fred admires a plant before vomiting in it:
Fred: “This is important. It’s so beautiful…”
The following exchange is between Angel and Spike in 5.19 Time Bomb:
Angel: “llyria’s blown all her gaskets, man. She’s out of her mind.”
Spike: “How can you tell? Yesterday she spent two hours mind-melding with a potted fern.”
Most of Illyria’s powers are removed at the end of 5.19 Time Bomb. In the next episode, she seems upset while touching a plant at Wolfram and Hart:
Illyria: “I can no longer hear the song of the green.”
Jamie Bergman
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Jamie Bergman appeared as the pregnant woman, Amanda, in the Angel episode 5.19 Time Bomb, starring alongside her real life husband, David Boreanaz. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jamie was the January 1999 Playboy Playmate of the Month. She has also appeared in Gone in Sixty Seconds, Any Given Sunday, Daybreak, Son of the Beach, Brutally Normal, Shasta McNasty, Beverly Hills, 90210, Dawson’s Creek and The Love Boat: The Next Wave.
Penthouse
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Xander mentions the pornographic magazine Penthouse in 5.10 Into The Woods:
Xander: “Anya, play nice.”
Anya: “You know, fine. Take her side instead of mine even though I’m the one who sleeps with you and feeds you, bathes you…”
Willow: “She bathes you?”
Xander: “Only in an erotic, Penthouse-y way. Not in a sponge-bath-y geriatric sort of–”
In 5.19 Time Bomb:
Illyria: “When the world met me, it shuddered, groaned. It knelt at my feet.”
Spike: “Dear Penthouse, I don’t normally write letters like this, but…”
The Poseidon Adventure
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In 5.19 Time Bomb, Gunn says:
“This place just went Poseidon on my ass. I don’t know which way is up.”
He’s referring to the movie The Poseidon Adventure in which a passenger ship capsizes upside down.
Vern Gillum
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Vern Gillum directed the Angel episodes 5.19 Time Bomb, 5.09 Harm’s Way, 4.07 Apocalypse, Nowish and 1.04 I Fall To Pieces.
He has also directed other TV shows including Firefly, The Big Easy, The Untouchables, Miami Vice, Profiler, Law & Order, Pros and Cons, ER, Prison Break, Walker, Texas Ranger, The Commish, Prey, Haunted, The Twilight Zone, JAG, Nash Bridges, Gabriel’s Fire, Baywatch and Under Suspicion.