Angel - S1E15

The Prodigal
First Aired: Tuesday February 22, 2000

After battling a passive demon, Angel follows a trail that leads back to Kate's father. As his corrupt nature is brought to light, Kate's understanding of Angels world reaches a breaking point.

The episode begins with Angel fighting a demon in a subway tunnel. As Kate Lockley shows up, she finds out that the demon was accosting a delivery boy when Angel plucked it out of the train. Angel kills the demon as Kate shows up. Back on the platform, Kate's father shows up unexpectedly. Angel investigates the type of demon and Wesley lets him know the demon was part of a passive group, so it had become highly enraged for some strange reason. Angel goes with the hunch that someone or something on the train sparked this and decides it may have to do with the delivery guy. He seeks Kate's help, but she refuses. Through his own methods, he tracks the guy down and follows him to Kate's fathers apartment where he hands off a small brown package. Angel tries to confront him about what he may be doing that how it might affect Kate, but her father doesn't want to talk. The next day, he goes to visit Kate and grills her on who Angel is and what he does. Angel eventually figures out that the delivery guys is working with a demon drug trafficker that is transporting a serum that increases toughness and aggression. These drug dealers figure Angel is on to them, so they order him and Kate's father to be killed. Angel thwarts the demons that were sent for him and then tries to save Kate's father, who is killed by vampires before Angel can do anything. One of them escapes just as Kate shows up, but she tells Angel to leave as she grieves over her father. On separate paths, both of them show up at the drug dealers hideout and take on the remaining thugs, with Angel decapitating the leader. The episode ends with Kate paying respects at her father grave while Angel looks on for a distance.

I vaguely remember this episode and it was enjoyable. I know for a fact that Kate eventually leaves, but I couldn't remember how/why and I thought that this was the episode where it happened. I have always personally liked the Angel flashbacks and I think this was the first one that really delved a lot into his "birth". These were the high points of the episode for me. Personally, I think Angel should give Kate a harder time, that she either needs to come to terms with the things in the dark or she should leave and forget all about it. The comic relief in this episode comes Wesley and Cordelia trying to get a security system to work. It does eventually, though after the demons already have infiltrated the offices and the warnings are futile.

Score: 8.4 / 10