Season One
City Of...
Angel is sitting in a dingy bar, nursing a drink, he's a little bit drunk. Behind him two couple are playing pool. He is telling a bald black guy the story of the love of his life and compares Buffy to him, the man turns back to his drink.
The two couples leave and Angel, sobered up now, follows them in a swish of long coat. Still pretending to be drunk, he asks the guys if they have seen his car, one of the guys try to fight him, revealing themselves to be vampires. With the handy use of wrist-mounted stakes he dusts two of them at once and then deals with the last. The girls he saved try to thank him but he tells them to leave him alone, turning around shwoing them his game face.
He goes to a nondescipt office building and lets himself into a ground floor office. he goes through the office and down an elevator to this rather nice apartment. It has everything the vamp-around-town could ever want; sewer access, no windows, a fridge full of pigs blood and lots of wall mounted weapons. The viewer plays spot the stuff from his old apartment and the mansion until Doyle comes out of the shadows. Doyle is an Irish half-demon who goes all spikey when he sneezes. He tells Angel a bedtime story (handily recaping Angel's life for the new viewers) and finishes off by telling Angel that he was sent by 'The Powers that Be'. We also find out that since drinking the blood of a certain Slayer, Angel has developed a craving for human blood again.
Walking through the streets of LA, Doyle explains that he gets visions: migranes with pictures of people who need Angel's help. Angel first subject is a girl called Tina. Encouraging Angel to work on his attracting-the-lady-skills and sends him off to go meet Tina.
Tina is working as a waitress in a cafe. Angel attempts to strike up a conversation with her, but doesn't have too much luck (too many years practicing brooding, Angelus would have no problems) Eventually, after catching a coffee cup he gets her talking and they plan to meet up when she finishes work. Angel waits for her and when she comes out she is dressed to go to a party. She pulls a can of mace out on Angel and accuses him of working for Russell. Once Angel convinces her that he doesn't she apologies and explains that she has to go and show her face at a party. Angel offers to drive her there. Once at the party, Tina goes off to see the hostess and get the money she is owed. Angel is propositioned by an Agent and is quite surprised to find a familiar face in the shape of Cordelia. She proudly tells him about her beachside home and her glittering acting career before going off to network.
Angel spots Tina having a little arguement with one of Russell's hired muscle's, Stacey. Tina says that she wants to go home. As they are coming out of the lifts into the underground garage, they are surprised byu Stacey and a couple more goons. Stacey takes Tina while the other two push Angel back into the lift. The doors close. As Tina is being carried off we hear a vampy roar from in the lift. Angel's okay. The goons aren't. Angel runs to his car to chase after Stacey and discovers the keys are gone. Then he realises he's sitting in the wrong car. Getting in the right car Angel plays chicken with Stacey and Stacey crashes his car, Angel rescues Tina and he takes her back to his place.
Back in her dingy bedsit, Cordy's answering machine tells us that her career isn't going as glitteringly as she said.
back at Angel's, he makes tea for Tina and offers her a place to stay until she can get sorted out. She tells him about Russell and the sorts of things he's capable of.
Once she is asleep, Angel sneaks out and goes to the library. Proving himself to be a bit of a net-guy (taking lessons from Willow) he finds some info on Russell and a girl called Denise. Angel takes the sewers back to his and finds Tina in the throws of a terrible nightmare. After waking up, Tina spots the paper Doyle had given Angel and wigs, thinking that Angel really is working for Russell. She runs through his apartment and Angel tries to stop her. Unfortunately a ray of sunlight sets his hand alight and he reveals his game face to Tina. She wigs more.
Tina rus back to her dingy bedsit and find Russell there waiting for him. She pulls a gun on him but he manages to make her put it down when he promises to grant her wish to go home. She tells him about Angel and his vampiness not knowing what it was and he reveals to he that he is also a vamp and kills her.
Angel tracks down her apartment and finds her dead. He goes back to his and tells Doyle that he's going for find her killer and deal out a bit of revenge. Angel goes into research mode (his time with the Slayerettes well spent) and tracks down Stacey who gives him the whereabouts of Russell Winters.
The hostess from the party phones Cordy and tells her that Russell ants to meet her. Cordy is pleased that her life is finally going somewhere. She arrives at Russell's lovely mansion and tells him her life story (for the benefit of new viewers). She also notices Russell's love of thick curtains and lack of mirrors and deduces that he's a vampire. She lived on the Hellmouth, she knows these sorts of things. She's also stuck, alone in his fortess-like mansion with him. Oh dear.
Angel and Doyle drive to Russell's mansion, and after disabling the front gate security by pretending to be lost (Angel sporting a lovely Hawaiian shirt) Angel sneaks in, leaving Doyle with the car.
Cordy runs away from Russell but he catches her and is about tobite her when Angel shows up. Cordy is relieved and tells Russell that he's going to get his arse kicked. hurrah!
In saving Cordy, Angel gets shot at least three times by Russell's bodyguards (but bullets have no effect on a vamp, remember I Only Have Eyes For You?) Doyle hears the gunshots and first off drives off, then realises that he can't leave Angel behind, so turns the car around and tries to drive through the gates. The car bounces off the gates.
They get Angel back to his place and Cordy and Doyle get the bullets out.
The next day, Angel goes to Russell's skyscraper and walks in uninvited on a business meeting. Undaunted by Russell and the lawyers, he asks Russell if he can fly before kicking his chair out of the window. Russell falls screaming and bursting into flames in the sunlight. The chair is the only thing to reach the ground.
Back at his, Angel stares at his phone finally picking it up and dialing in a number. Buffy answers but Angel hangs up without speaking to her.
Upstairs in their office, Cordelia is cleaning(!) and she offers her help to Angel and Doyle (well it's not as if she's doing anything else at the moment. But only until her career takes off. Angel agrees and Doyle reveals that he finds Cordy very attractive. I believe 'stiffener' is the term he uses. Doyle asks Angel is he's up to helping people and Angel says he's game.