Angel/Recap/S02 E06 Guise Will By Guise

Angel is a vampire obsessed. The target of his obsession is Darla. He gets Gunn to accompany him to Wolfram & Hart for some answers. He is intercepted by Cordelia and Wesley before anything can happen. They head over to pay The Host a visit. The Host doesn't make Angel sing. Instead, he refers him to a swami that lives in Ojai.

A man arrives at the office looking for Angel. He pulls a gun on Cordelia demanding to know where her boss is. Wesley throws on Angel's coat and strides inside, introducing himself as Angel. The man takes Wesley to meet his boss, Magnus Bryce. Bryce is a powerful businessman who specializes in wizardry. He needs "Angel" to protect his daughter, Virginia. There have been some threats made upon her life. He demands that Wesley protect her.

Angel goes to visit with the swami. He tells Angel that he’s too concerned with the persona he presents to the world. He's denying his true self by denying his demon. Angel can’t win the fight against evil while he's fighting himself.

Cordelia fills Gunn in on what has transpired. Gunn heads out to Ojai to find Angel while Cordelia starts working on tracking down Wesley.

Virginia takes Wesley shopping for a present. Her father's fiftieth birthday is the next day. She's trying to find something related to the Goddess Yeska, with whom her father is obsessed. Two men accost her in the store and try to take her away. Wesley confronts them as "Angel." When they hear Angel’s name, they grow fearful and flee the scene. When they return to the house, men are there, in disguise, to take Virginia. Wesley defeats them, and Virginia is very impressed.

The swami makes a call to one of Bryce's competitors, Lanier, and tells him about how he's distracting Angel. Turns out, he's not the real swami. The real swami is fish food. Lanier realizes that Wesley is a fake. He makes an anonymous call to Bryce revealing the truth.

Virginia is shaken by these latest kidnap attempts. She tells Wesley about how suffocated she feels by her life. They grow closer and share an intimate moment. They pull away and Virginia worries about "Angel's curse." Wesley tries to tell her the truth about who he really is but moments later all talk is swept aside.

Cordelia, having stumbled across a picture of the man who took Wesley, barges into Bryce’s home to take Wesley away. He doesn’t want to leave Virginia unprotected. Bryce storms upstairs and reveals Wesley to be a fraud. Virginia is devastated by his betrayal. They leave and head back to the office as Gunn and Angel return from having realized that the Swami was a fake.

The four of them piece together what Bryce is up to. The Goddess Yeska isn't really a goddess. She’s a demon that only serves humans when they offer her a human female as a sacrifice. They realize that Bryce is going to sacrifice his daughter to gain Yeska's power. Lanier was trying to intervene to prevent his rival from achieving his goal. Wesley takes charge of the situation. He comes up with a plan and they take off for the Bryce party.

At the party, Bryce begins his ritual. He chains his daughter to a sacrificial altar. The Bat Pack storms in as Bryce completes the incantation. Before Wesley can free Virginia, Yeska appears before them. But she cannot take the sacrifice because the girl is not a virgin. The demon vanishes. Virginia asks Wesley why he came back. He said because he promised to protect her.

Bryce is livid. He accuses Wesley of defiling his daughter after he had gone to great lengths to keep her pure. Virginia reveals that she hasn't been a virgin for a very long time. Virginia punches her father and leaves with Wesley and the others. Cordelia ends up being very unhappy. Wesley’s getting famous off the publicity from being seen with Virginia.

"...Mr. Wesley Wyndham-Price, private detective and bodyguard to the stars..."

Tropes in this episode:

 * All Is Well That Ends Well
 * Armchair Psychology
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Big Fancy House
 * Bodyguard Crush
 * Buffy-Speak
 * Celibate Hero
 * Chekhov's Gunman
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Could Have Avoided This Plot
 * Dawson Casting
 * Dead Person Impersonation
 * Department of Redundancy Department
 * Did I Just Say That Out Loud?
 * Dressing as the Enemy
 * Everything Is Online
 * Fat Bitch
 * Fiery Redhead / Heroes Want Redheads
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar
 * The Glasses Come Off
 * Guise Will Be Guise: The Trope Namer.
 * Hey, That's My Line!
 * Hidden Purpose Test
 * Hypocritical Humor
 * I Have No Son
 * I Just Want to Be Normal
 * I'm a Humanitarian
 * Improvised Weapon
 * In the Hood
 * Ironic Echo
 * It's All About Me
 * Meaningful Name
 * Layman's Terms
 * Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club
 * Leitmotif
 * Mistaken For Eunuch
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * No Except Yes
 * No Sympathy
 * Overshadowed by Awesome
 * Parental Betrayal
 * Rabbit Season Duck Season
 * Scare Chord
 * Self-Deprecation
 * Sensei for Scoundrels
 * Slippery Skid
 * So Was X
 * Tap on the Head
 * Tempting Fate
 * Unwanted Rescue
 * Villainous Demotivator