Angel/Recap/S04 E17 Inside Out

Cordelia gives birth to her child. The Fang Gang discover their actions have been manipulated for years.

"Gunn: Being close to Electric Gwen can really screw your equipment."
 * Attack Its Weak Point: After Angel tears off his horn, Wesley shoots Skip in the brain, which turns out not to be Immune to Bullets.
 * Back From the Dead: Darla (again). She returns as a ghost sent by the Powers That Be in a last-ditch effort to stop Connor from killing the girl and bringing forth Jasmine before Angel can kill Cordelia.
 * Big "Shut Up!": Connor to the girl when she keeps begging him to let her go.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Skip now has a retractable blade.
 * Blood Magic / Bloody Handprint
 * Blood-Splattered Innocents: The blood of the girl splatters on Connor's face when Cordelia murders her.
 * Chain Pain: How Angel takes down Skip.
 * The Champion: The gang realise Cordelia has been grooming Connor as her champion.
 * The Chessmaster / Xanatos Gambit: Spike tells the gang that the being possessing Cordelia has been manipulating them for years.
 * Clothing Reflects Personality: Ghost!Darla is a Woman in White while Evil!Cordelia is dressed completely in black.
 * Continuity Nod: Skip mentioning that a Slayer was the only person to come back from a higher plane, referencing Buffy being pulled out of heaven at the beginning of BTVS Season 6.
 * Conveniently-Timed Attack From Behind: Connor staking the vampire who's about to kill the girl. Unfortunately for her, it's not the vampire he's after.
 * Death by Childbirth: The being possessing Cordelia is so intergrated into her that Cordelia's life force will be drained on giving birth to it.
 * Dies Wide Open: The girl.
 * Double Entendre: Gunn returns to the Hyperion after his night of passion with Gwen.

"Skip: Well, that ain't right."
 * Dynamic Entry / Dramatic Shattering: Connor crashes through a skylight to save Cordelia from the Fang Gang.
 * Empathic Environment: The meatpacking plant with its hanging hooks.
 * Evil Laugh: Lampshaded when Lorne says that "Cordy just mwa-ha-ha'd at us." Cordy gives a real evil laugh when the ground starts to tremble as her contractions begin.
 * Express Delivery: Realising that Angel will track them down before she has a chance to give birth to her child, Cordelia decides to speed things along with a blood sacrifice.
 * Face Heel Double Turn: Features a variation on the whole shoulder angel/devil thing when Darla (a villain for most of her time on the show) appears in front of Connor when Cordelia (good but possessed) is trying to convince him to kill an innocent teenage girl.
 * Famous Last Words

"Angel: (struggles to stand) Tell me... what happened to Cordelia.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: When Cordelia, possessed by Jasmine is revealed to have killed Manny, the group theorize she must have stripped off her clothes as there was no blood on them and she wouldn't have had time to wash or had another change of clothes on her.
 * The Gods Must Be Lazy: Lampshaded by the Fang Gang -- the Powers That Be however do try to influence events by sending Darla as a ghost.
 * Guns Are Worthless / Tempting Fate / Boom! Headshot!
 * Hearing Voices: This time it's Connor hearing Darla.
 * I Did What I Had to Do
 * Ineffectual Death Threats: Angel's Perp Sweating needs some work.

Skip: Or, what? You'll bleed on me some more?"

"Angel: Don't worry; it'll be a walk in the park. / I hate parks."
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Gunn borrows a Sea Breeze off Lorne after the others fill him in on Evil!Cordy.
 * Ironic Echo Cut:

"Skip: Crap."
 * Just Between You and Me: Averted, then played straight by Skip when he's faced with torture.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "I love a story with scope!"
 * Moral Event Horizon: Connor killing an innocent victim
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Skip giving away the spell because they don't have the ingredients. Turns out Cordy mistook one of them for a backscratcher.

"Skip: I'm just a merc. I go where the deal is."
 * The Nicknamer: Lorne calls Connor "Kid Vicious".
 * Nothing Personal

"Angel: "My sweet." Same phrase the Beastmaster kept using when he was whispering in Angelus' head. Thought it was a bit femme for the booming macho act.
 * Once More, with Clarity / Flashback Echo: Explaining how Evil!Cordy arranged the events of the past year.
 * Revealing Hug: Cordelia hugging Connor.
 * Single Tear: Connor again.
 * Some Kind of Force Field: What Skip is kept in.
 * Something Only They Would Say: Evil!Cordy asks what tipped off Angel that she was the Beastmaster.

Cordelia: That's it? I get away with bringing the world down around you and two eentsy words tingle your spider sense?

Wesley: What we already knew. What he found out as Angelus. All the circumstantial evidence led to you."

"Skip: You really think that's gonna-- (Angel knocks him out with his chain-wrapped fist)
 * Also when Connor uses the word "annointed", it tips off Cordelia that someone has been trying to talk him out of the blood ritual.
 * Sword Over Head: Angel raises his sword to kill Cordelia's child, who has taken the form of a beautiful dark-skinned woman...then falls to his knees in worship.
 * Tempting Fate

Angel: Yeah, I do."


 * Took a Level In Badass: Skip; explained as the demon holding himself back when he fought Angel in "That Vision Thing".
 * Unnecessary Combat Roll / Improbable Aiming Skills: A richocetting bullet knocks Wesley's gun out of his hand, but when he sees the wound in Skip's armour he rolls, scoops up his pistol and fires a single bullet through the hole into Skip's brain.
 * Virgin Sacrifice: A vampire is about to gleefully chomp on a virgin when Connor stakes him and drags her back to Cordy's lair so her blood can be used in the rite.
 * Wham! Line / Cliff Hanger


 * What Are You: As a smirking Cordelia leaves with Connor, Angel gasps, "Who are you?" A non-verbal Twisted Echo Cut is provided by Lorne's fortune-telling Magic Eight-Ball, which displays the words, "Ask again later".
 * The Worf Barrage: Skip vs. the Fang Gang. Turns out all that bone-armour isn't just to make him look Badass.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: Fred threatens to use the Sphere of the Infinite Agonies against Skip if he doesn't talk.
 * You Can't Fight Fate