Angel/Eternity

Eternity
Season 1, Episode 17
Airdate	April 4, 2000
Production Number	1ADH17
Written by	Tracey Stern
Directed by	Regis B. Kimble
← 1x16 The Ring	1x18 → Five by Five
Angel — Season One

Eternity is the seventeenth episode of the first season of Angel. A celebrity attempts to hire Angel to help her with a stalker, but he fears getting close because of his curse.

David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce)

Guest Starring: Tamara Gorski (Rebecca Lowell), Michael Mantell (Oliver Simon)

Co-Starring: Robin Meyers (Masseuse)

Plot Overview

After saving the life of actress Rebecca Lowell, Angel reluctantly becomes her personal bodyguard, even after discovering he is a vampire. With her career suffering as she grows older than the young character of her cancelled TV series, she attempts to get Angel to make her stay young forever.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• The closest thing to a monster of the week in this episode is the brief return of Angelus.

Body Count

There are no deaths in this episode.

Music

There is no licensed music in this episode.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Angel: Angel is briefly transformed into Angelus when he is given Doximal, a drug that instills feelings of bliss. Because it tricks the brain into believing it is in a state of perfect happiness, it also tricked him into being Angelus.

Referbacks

• BtVS - 2x14 - Innocence: Cordelia is likely referring to when Spike and Drusilla raised The Judge in the middle of the second season. She says "clean-up crew" because the Judge was killed with a rocket launcher.

Cordelia: Hey, you weren't around the last time Angel went mental. I, on the other hand, was on the first wave of the clean-up crew.

• BtVS - 2x21 - Becoming: Angelus attempted to perform a ritual that would suck the world into Hell during the second season finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Angel: But, I almost had it sucked into hell once, too.

• 1x01 - City Of: Oliver gave Angel his card at the party he saw Cordelia at in the first episode of the series. Although he doesn't seem to remember Angel, this is more than likely a "out of sight, out of mind" Hollywood agent sort of thing.

• 1x11 - Somnambulist: If it sounds like Cordelia has been planning her contingencies for a while, she probably has been. She made it very clear in the episode with Penn that if Angel were to transform, she would "kill him dead."

Trivia

The Show

• Meta-Reference: Rebecca's character, Raven, is likely a reference to the vampire club in Forever Knight, another series that Tamara Gorski guest starred on.

• Goof: Doximal® is actually a brand name for doxycycline, which is an antibiotic and not a tranquilizer or otherwise mood-altering drug.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.8/7 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. It was ranked 2nd out of the 16 WB shows which aired that week.

• Bargaining Chip: In an interview, Tamara Gorski said that this was the episode used by Joss Whedon to entice J. August Richards into guest starring on the show.

Allusions and References

• A Doll's House: The play that Cordelia is in at the beginning of the episode is A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen. The play was written in 1897 and acted as a scathing criticism of Victorian marriage and society's view of gender roles.

• Famous Vampires: Rebecca comments on how vampires can't be real and the only real vampires are actors playing roles. The actors she mentions, Bela Lugosi and Gary Oldman, both played Dracula in adaptations of the novel. Lugosi starred in the 1931 version and Oldman in the 1992 version. Angel mentions Frank Langella, who starred in the 1979 adaptation.

Rebecca: Which is impossible. Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, they're vampires.

• Ernest Borgnine: Ernest Borgnine is an Academy Award winning actor who most famously starred in McHale's Navy, a sitcom about a crew on a PT boat during World War II.

Rebecca: According to those, I've slept with Ernest Borgnine, and I'm bulimic.

Quotes

• Rebecca: This is real. You're real. Do you drink blood?

Angel: Yeah. But not people.

Rebecca: You're not a killer.

Angel: I gave that up.

Rebecca: Well, there's a support group for everything in this town, I guess.

• Angel: Cordelia, you're here. And you brought a cross.

Cordelia: Along with three double half-caf, non-fat, skinny lattes.

Angel: And a cross.

Cordelia: Well, judging by that outfit, I guess it's safe to come in. Evil Angel never would have worn those pants.

• Angelus: In all my years, I never killed a famous person before. But with no witnesses who’s gonna believe me? Hm. Maybe we can take a picture. I know! We'll do it like we did back in the day. I'll keep your head on a stick as proof.

Rebecca: My head on a stick?

Angelus: Well, okay. Pike.

Rebecca: (scared) You're just trying to scare me.

Angelus: Is it working?

Rebecca: No.

(Angelus throws Rebecca across the room)

Angelus: How 'bout now?

• Angelus: (to Rebecca) I'll tell you what. I'll torture you for a few unbelievably long hours and then you can tell me if this is the lifestyle for you.

• Angelus: (to Cordelia regarding her acting) You were really - let me tell you - bad.

Cordelia: Stop it.

Angelus: Why? You didn't. I mean, I've been to Hell, but that was so much worse!

• Angel: So we're okay then?

Cordelia: I'm too big of a person to let something so petty get in the way of our friendship.

Angel: I appreciate that. (beat) You're not going to untie me, are you?

Cordelia: Pfft! (walks out of the room)

Angel: Wesley? Cordelia? Guys?