Angel/Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass
Season 2, Episode 21
Airdate	May 15, 2001
Production Number	2ADH21
Written by	Tim Minear
Directed by	Tim Minear
← 2x20 Over the Rainbow	2x22 → There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb
Angel — Season Two

Through the Looking Glass is the twenty-first episode of the second season of Angel, and the forty-third episode overall. After discovering that Cordelia is the princess of the dimension, Angel and the others attempt to find a way back home.

David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn)

Guest Starring: Andy Hallett (Lorne), Amy Acker (Winifred Burkle), Brody Hutzler (Landok), Tom McCleister (Deathwok Clan Mother), Mark Lutz (Groosalugg), Michael Phenicie (Silas)

Co-Starring: Adoni Maropis (Rebel Leader), Brian Tahash (Constable), Andrew Parks (Priest #1), Danan Pere (Rebel #1), Joss Whedon (Numfar)

Plot Overview

With Cordelia serving as the Pylean princess, the guys have the freedom to gather the resources to find a way back home. However, everyone begins to see why Lorne didn’t want to return when things start going bad, as Angel finds another side to himself in this dimension and the priests may have ties to darker powers.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• There is no monster of the week in this episode.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Horseman	Angel	Mauled	Fields

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Wolfram & Hart: Just when you thought that evil paranormal lawyers wouldn't have any part of another dimension, the animals that make up their name make an appearance on the holy books.

• Vampire Mythos: The demon that Angel transforms into is apparently his demon side in its purest form. This may mean that we see what a pure vampire would look like if there were no human influence. Previously, the most pure vampire seen has been The Master.

Referbacks

• 1x22 - To Shanshu in L.A.: While being honored by the villagers, Angel tells them about the time that he chopped off Lindsey's hand. Of course, Lindsey is the "evil lawyer-beast" in his story.

Angel: ...and the scroll is just tipping from his fingertips, and his eyes lighting with fierce determination, and then whack! I chopped off the evil lawyer-beast's hand and he screamed and he screamed and then I left.

• 1x03 - I Fall to Pieces: Landok asks Angel to tell the story of the sorcerer who could detach his limbs. He's talking about the surgeon who mastered ultimate control of his body, which he used to stalk a girl he went on a date with.

Landok: You must again tell the tale of the sorcerer who could remove his limbs and reassemble at will!

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.6/7 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. It was ranked 4th out of the 17 WB shows which aired that week.

• Cameo: The part of Numfar, the demon that does the dance of joy, is played by series creator Joss Whedon. In a conversation to Tim Minear and David Greenwalt, he said "There should be a guy in the background doing a stupid dance like this." To which they replied, "Why don't you do the stupid dance? You already look stupid, we've just gotta put make-up on." The only ones who knew it was Joss doing the dance at the time of filming were Minear, Greenwalt, David Boreanaz, and several make-up artists.

Allusions and References

• Through the Looking-Glass: The title of the episode refers to Lewis Caroll's Wonderland stories. Through the Looking-Glass was an anthology of stories written about the world which was first visited in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Like in the previous episode, Cordelia makes a reference to Wonderland in the episode teaser.

Cordelia: Off with their heads!

• Hans Christian Anderson and Quentin Tarantino: Hans Christian Anderson is an author most famous for his fairytales. Among his most popular tales are The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, and The Emperor's New Clothes. Quentin Tarantino is an American filmmaker who is famous for his extremely violent films, including Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs. At one point, a character in Reservoir Dogs cuts off another's ear, which may be the basis for Lorne's reference.

Lorne: Well, you're just a regular Hans Christian Tarantino, aren't you?

• Blair Witch: The Blair Witch Project is a low budget movie filmed using a handheld camcorder about a fictional documentary team attempting to make a film about the local legend called the Blair Witch. Eventually, after being terrorized by some unseen creature, each character disappears and is presumably killed. The "Blair Witch Moment" is a scene in the movie where one person says that she hears something and takes off in terror.

Gunn: You're having a Blair witch moment?

Quotes

• Cordelia: Well, it's not like my throne couldn't use a few extra cushions, but I'm really not gonna complain because, well, throne.

• Constable: Shall we gut the cows now, that you might dine on their ignoble flesh, Your Most High?

Cordelia: You're most high if you think that's gonna happen.

• Lorne: See there? She had a vision. That explains it.

Gunn: It does?

Lorne: Well, see, there's this prophecy...

Angel: A prophecy. Great. Because those always go well.

• Cordelia: In kind of a hurry to get back to the Cordelia's-not-a-princess-dimension, aren't you?

• Angel: (seeing himself in a mirror) Okay, this is because of going through the portal, right? (pushes down hair)

Cordelia: No, it always looks like that.

• Lorne: You want me to talk to my family? On purpose?

• Lorne: (to Angel) Come on, Gorgeous. You can stare at yourself in my Grandmother's glass eye. Oh, and while we're here it's just Lorne, okay? To the people of Pylea, a host is just one more thing to lay your eggs in.

• Deathwok Clan Mother: Each morning before I feed, I go out into the hills where the ground is thorny and parched, beat my breast and curse the loins that gave birth to such a cretinous boy-child.

Lorne: My mother!

Deathwok Clan Mother: Your father was right. We ate the wrong son.

• (seeing a picture of a deer)

Wesley: Fascinating. A hart.

Cordy: It's not a heart. It's a Bambi.

• Wesley: Com-shuk.

Cordelia: Huh?

Wesley: Contextually a verb.

Cordelia: Something I'm going to do?

Wesley: With a "groosalug".

Cordelia: What does that mean?

Wesley: I have no idea.

Gunn: Sounds dirty if you ask me.

Cordelia: Nobody did.

• Lorne: Well, you're just the regular Hans Christian Tarantino, aren't you?

• Silas: The com-shok is a mating ritual.

Gunn: I told you it was dirty.

Cordelia: (flustered and scared) Yes. Exactly. The mating ritual. Which is... great. (laughs) It's been a really long time since I've had a good com-shok.

• Cordelia: If you ever figure out how to get us out of here, I want you to find me a dimension where some demon doesn't want to impregnate me with its spawn. Is that just too much to ask? What is it about me, anyway? Do I put out some kind of "com-shok me" vibe? I mean, you'd tell me, right?

• Cordelia: Why can't we use the front door?

Gunn: Do you really think you'll be able to get your booty through the front door?

Cordelia: Hey!

Gunn: (points at treasure) That booty.

Cordelia: Oh.

• Angel: You okay?

Fred: Handsome man saved me from the monsters.

• Fred: Bad things always happen here.

• Angel: Cordy. No, she's fine. They made her princess.

Fred: They - Really? Oh. When I got here, they... they didn't do that. Well, that's nice for her.

• Rebel #1:: I know how we send a message to the princess. We storm the palace.

Rebel Leader:: That'd be suicide. Our entire number would be wiped out in minutes.

Rebel #1: Yeah, but it'd be a message.