Season 4
Summary:
As it began its fourth season, Angel was missing several of its key players — not just onscreen, but also behind the scenes. Show co-creator David Greenwalt had departed, leaving Jeffrey Bell to assume the duties of show-runner after an abortive stint by David Simkins. (Meanwhile, co-creator Joss Whedon was busy overseeing the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the short-lived space drama Firefly.) As for Angel’s actual characters, the titular vampire hero (David Boreanaz) was trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Leading lady Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) had ascended to a higher plane, supposedly to serve The Powers That Be. Lounge-singing demon Lorne (Andy Hallett) had left for greener pastures — or so he thought — while darker-than-ever Wesley (Alexis Denisof) was still estranged from his friends. That left do-gooders Gunn (J. August Richards) and Fred (Amy Acker) to babysit the secretly traitorous Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) and wait around for word from their allies. Picking up where the previous season’s extended story line had left off, the show’s writers spent several episodes reuniting their ensemble only to unleash an A-list apocalypse upon them. By the time new villain The Beast (Vladimir Kulich) arrived to wreak havoc on Los Angeles and temporarily blot out the sun itself, viewers had settled in for a story line even darker and more epic than the previous season’s. Now critically adored after years as an underdog, Angel still didn’t attract an audience large enough to elicit faith from the WB network. The show continued to jump around the schedule and even sat out large chunks of sweeps months. Longtime fans were horrified at Carpenter’s ouster; she had returned to film the season finale just weeks after giving birth to her first child, only to find out it was her last episode. But, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer no longer in production and Marsters preparing to reprise his fan-favorite role, Angel looked poised for a ratings bump. Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Angel Season 4 Episode Guide:
Season 4, Episode 22 – Aired: 5/7/2003
Angel Investigations are made an offer they can’t refuse, when a newly opened Wolfram and Hart give them the opportunity to work there, allowing them access to every secret file and rewarding Angel with a file on the Sunnydale apocalypse. Meanwhile, Connor realizes he has no future with a loving family and goes on an insane rampage, taking hostage families from a nearby mall. When Angel discovers what’s going on, he is offered a chance to give Connor what he desires, even if it means giving him up.
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Season 4, Episode 21 – Aired: 4/30/2003
Angel must fight through a gauntlet of foes to discover the one thing that can nullify Jasmine’s power. Meanwhile, back in L.A., Connor searches for Cordelia, Jasmine prepares to take her influence to a global level, and the gang receives a very unexpected visitor.
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Season 4, Episode 20 – Aired: 4/23/2003
Hiding from Jasmine in the sewers, Angel, Fred, Wes, Lorne, and Gunn run into a strange creature who claims that the beings of his world loved and worshipped Jasmine first. As Jasmine’s forces close in, Angel realizes that he must travel to this other dimension to find the key to defeating her.
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Season 4, Episode 19 – Aired: 4/16/2003
Fred is on the run from the rest of the Angel Investigations gang… and the entire city of Los Angeles. Jasmine is using every mind in the city to search for her and to bring her to ground. Fred must find a way to show Angel and the rest what she has seen before they manage to hunt her down.
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Season 4, Episode 18 – Aired: 4/9/2003
Cordelia’s “child” is a fully grown woman, and everyone who sees or hears her instantly and rapturously begins to worship her. Angel and the crew are no exceptions, but that may change when one of them gets a glimpse of what this strange woman really is.
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Season 4, Episode 17 – Aired: 4/2/2003
Angel goes looking for answers, trying to find out why Cordelia has turned against them. His first stop is the demon Skip, who has been so involved with the changes in Cordy’s life. Meanwhile, Connor finds his loyalties tested by a most unexpected visitation.
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Season 4, Episode 16 – Aired: 3/26/2003
After discovering that Cordelia is pregnant, the gang research what type of demon the offspring could be. Meanwhile, Gunn helps Gwen rescue a girl named Lisa from a posh house party, but realises that he has been tricked when L.I.S.A. turns out to be Gwen’s latest stolen item.
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Season 4, Episode 15 – Aired: 3/19/2003
Faith has tricked Angelus into feeding on her, thus imbibing a powerful narcotic along with her blood. Now both of them lay near death, observing the turmoil that is Angel’s conscience as they fight against the mystical drug. Meanwhile, the gang brings an old friend from Sunnydale to help with the search for Angel’s lost soul.
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Season 4, Episode 14 – Aired: 3/12/2003
With the Beast out of the way, and sunlight returned to L.A., Wesley and Faith prepare for a final confrontation with Angelus.
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Season 4, Episode 13 – Aired: 3/5/2003
After Angelus apparently kills Lilah, Wesley realizes that they will need help finding and stopping him. After he makes sure that Lilah will not rise as a vampire, the former Watcher goes in search of a powerful ally.
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Season 4, Episode 12 – Aired: 2/12/2003
The gang try to re-ensoul Angel, but his soul is missing, and they must find a way to get it back. Meanwhile, Lilah tries to strike a deal with Angelus.
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Season 4, Episode 11 – Aired: 2/5/2003
Angel’s soul has been removed, and Angelus has come to the fore. Now, in the middle of a city shrouded in eternal night, the gang must try to get information from one of the most dangerous vampires ever to roam the earth.
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Season 4, Episode 10 – Aired: 1/29/2003
Cordelia has a vision, which reveals that the Beast once knew Angelus. Since Angel has no memory of this, the gang realizes that there is only one thing to do. They must find a way to bring forth Angelus.
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Season 4, Episode 9 – Aired: 1/22/2003
The gang learns that the Beast is planning to rip five magickal totems from the bodies of the beings who are protecting them. If he gets them all, then he will be able to blot out the sun forever. When they learn that the Beast already has four of the five, they plan to protect the final one with the help of the electrifying cat-burglar Gwen Raiden.
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Season 4, Episode 8 – Aired: 1/15/2003
Angel learns that there may be a connection between the Beast and Connor, only to discover that Connor is trapped inside the Wolfram & Hart offices, where the Beast is on a bloody rampage.
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Season 4, Episode 7 – Aired: 11/17/2002
Cordelia’s fragmented memories from the higher plane tell her that a horrific beast is coming, and that it will bring about the end of the world. With no other options open to him, Angel must enter a most unusual alliance… with Wolfram & Hart.
Meanwhile, Fred and Gunn begin to question their relationship while Cordy and Connor team up to find the Beast.
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Season 4, Episode 6 – Aired: 11/10/2002
When Lorne performs a spell on Cordelia to restore her memory, it inadvertently causes the gang to revert back to their high school personas and leaves them with no memories of each other. Eventually, Wesley theorizes that the only way to reverse the spell may be to kill a vampire, just as Angel realizes that he is one.
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Season 4, Episode 5 – Aired: 11/3/2002
After Fred’s physics article is published; she’s invited to speak at a symposium where a portal opens, bringing her face to face with a demon and a dark secret about her old professor. Meanwhile Angel visits a comic book store seeking to solve the mystery and find out why someone would want Fred out of the way.
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Season 4, Episode 4 – Aired: 10/27/2002
Cordelia appears back at the hotel with no idea who she is or how she got there. She also cannot remember anything about her friends or her past. Worried that the full truth may scare her off, the gang attempts to hide the scarier parts of their lives from her until she is ready to deal with it. Unfortunately, that secrecy leads to mistrust on Cordy’s part when the reality of their situation is revealed. Things get even more complicated when Lorne reads her mind and sees a terrifying vision of the future. Meanwhile, outcast Connor struggles to find his place in the world.
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Season 4, Episode 3 – Aired: 10/20/2002
Angel, Fred and Gunn take a road trip to Las Vegas to enlist Lorne’s help in finding Cordelia, but when the get there Lorne doesn’t even acknowledge their presence. It soon becomes clear that Lorne is being held against his will, and that his popular casino act is actually a way for his captor to read the futures of people in the crowd. Angel and the gang must find a way to help Lorne escape without sacrificing their own destinies in the process.
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Season 4, Episode 2 – Aired: 10/13/2002
Angel visits Dinza, a Goddess of the lost, who advises him that an item called the Axis of Pythia can help him find Cordelia. With Fred and Gunn, he breaks into a auction house to find the Axis, but a beautiful burglar with electrical powers seems to have had the same idea.
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Season 4, Episode 1 – Aired: 10/6/2002
Angel and Cordelia are still missing. Gunn and Fred are still looking for them, but unbeknowist to them, one answer has been living with them all along — Connor. Meanwhile, Wesley continues his relationship with Lilah and searches for a way to redeem himself.