Angel/Recap/S03 E19 The Price

The Hyperion becomes infested with translucent demon slug-like thingies.

"Groo: This weapon will serve me better.
 * An Axe to Grind

Angel: Little big for our purposes, isn't it?

Groo: I have had no complaints."

"Groo: You and I have fought side by side on more than one occasion. Fellow warriors, shoulder to shoulder. By now, my counsel must assuredly hold weight, so I beseech you to heed my words. "Pomegranate Mist" is the wrong color for this room."
 * Bait and Switch:
 * Bait and Switch Comment

"Angel: Groo. Damsel in distress. You know the drill."
 * Big Blackout: After learning the Sluks glow in the dark, Angel decides to kill the lights and go searching with torches. The others are not happy.
 * Body Snatcher: The Victim of the Week and Fred both have Sluks crawl into their mouths and force them to talk in the Royal We.
 * Cliff Hanger:
 * Continuity Nod: To Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "After Life" where Willow first defined thaumogenesis after creating a demon as a byproduct of the Black Magic spell used to resurrect Buffy. Buffy presumably told Angel about the incident during their off-screen meeting earlier in the year.
 * Angel is looking at the snowglobe and says it doesn't ever snow in Southern California. Cordy reminds him that it did once.
 * Damsel in Distress: Fred

"Groo: You said... earlier. Angel's feelings were your only concern. He is all that matters.
 * Description Cut: Angel says someone should be down in the lobby in case they have a walk-in client. He's told no-one ever comes in on Sunday. Cut to Victim of the Week walking in the door.
 * Deus Ex Machina / New Powers as the Plot Demands: Cordelia suddenly starts to glow, then emits a burst of whiteness that cleanses the Hyperion of all Sluks.
 * Equivalent Exchange: Thaumogenesis -- creatures manifested as a by-product of using dark magic.
 * Exact Eavesdropping / Damning With Faint Praise

Cordy: Oh. Oh, no, Grooey... I-- I meant, work priority. Work. You see? You. You're my... other... stuff priority. You get that, right?"

"Angel: Glad to hear you're enjoying this, 'cause somebody's got to go down to the basement and shut off the power.
 * Facial Horror / Literally Shattered Lives: A person infected by a Sluk starts to dry out and their skin cracks, before eventually disintegrating into powder.
 * Gilligan Cut

Gunn: (shaking his head) Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh... (Cut to a nervous Gunn creeping down the stairs of a Creepy Basement)"

"Groo: You are truly a goddess.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Said by both Angel (re saving Connor) and Gunn (re saving Fred).
 * I'm Standing Right Here

Cordelia: Well, demoness, anyway. Sure beats horns and a tail.

Lorne: (offended) Hey. I'm standing right here."

"Cordy: Oh my God! We have a pool?"
 * Jabba Table Manners: The Victim of the Week drinking peach smoothies.
 * Lockdown: Angel locks the doors to the Hyperion (though it would surely take more than that to stop small scurrying creatures) and the gang go on a search-and-destroy to stop the infestation before it spreads.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Destroyer
 * Negated Moment of Awesome: Angel knocking down the Victim of the Week with one punch.
 * Never Say That Again: None speak the name of the treacherous Wesley.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Black Magic spell created tears in reality the Sluks are using to flee into our world from the Destroyer. The gang refuses to accept Wesley back, meaning they don't have his expertise when they need it.
 * Oh Crap: First the gang think they've only got one Sluk. Then they see several. Then they hack up the floorboards and find hundreds of Sluks swimming around in water.
 * Oh Crap: First the gang think they've only got one Sluk. Then they see several. Then they hack up the floorboards and find hundreds of Sluks swimming around in water.

"Angel & Cordelia: "We saw it." / "You saw it?""
 * After defeating the Sluks, Lorne reminds everyone that Possessed!Fred to them the Sluks were being driven into this world by the Destroyer, which was coming specifically for Angel. Fred calculates that the Destroyer should be arriving right about...now. Cue arrival through the rift of a huge slavering monster with big teeth.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Averted -- Fred can't take over the role of demonologist just because she's their resident brain.
 * Open Says Me: Cordelia comes across the chained doors to the Hyperion ballroom and asks, "Do we even have keys for this?" Angel gives a sly grin and does his thing.
 * Perp Sweating: Angel interrogating the Sluk inside Fred by withholding water from her. Except Fred is too dried out to sweat.
 * Power Glows: The Miracle of Saint Cordy.
 * Power of Friendship: Averted. Stung by his former friends' ostracism, Wesley turns down the opportunity to build some bridges. He tells Gunn how to expel the Sluk from Fred, but says he's not to seek his help again.
 * Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Lilah and Gavin think that Angel trying to smother his friend is a sign of this. Locking a roomful of people in with two vampires the previous year doesn't count. They were, after all, lawyers.
 * Speak in Unison

"Lorne: Well Go Team! That wasn't so-- (Sluk pulls free and wriggles off)"
 * Stab the Scorpion: Cordy is trying to convince Groo that Angel isn't more important to her than he is when Groo gets a killer look in his eye and raises his axe. Cordy is babbling that they can work this out when she realises he's looking at a Sluk crawling up the wall behind her, ready to pounce.
 * Swiss Cheese Security / Failed Attempt At Drama: Lilah uses an enchanted tarantula kept inside a combination-locked box to enter the password of her encrypted email, only for Gavin to walk into her office and smugly tell her its contents.
 * Tempting Fate: Angel impales a Sluk with a thrown dagger.

"He is such a sweetie. So loyal. And loving. Like a puppy-dog. I know. That didn't sound very good. But he is. A puppy-dog. A sexy, well-built, go-all-night, puppy-dog. Okay, that sounded worse."
 * That Came Out Wrong: Cordy re Groo.


 * We ARE Struggling Together! / No Honor Among Thieves: The rivalries inside Wolfram & Hart - and the rift between Wesley and Team Angel - prevent the Sluk infestation from being handled efficiently, endangering Los Angeles and perhaps the rest of the world.
 * Wham! Line:
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Gunn to Angel for messing with Black Magic in the first place.