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Angel/Recap/S03/E04 Carpe Noctem


Marcus Roscoe, an old man using black magic to steal the bodies of younger people, ends up stealing Angel's. Hilarity Ensues.

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Tropes used in Angel/Recap/S03/E04 Carpe Noctem include:
  • All Men Are Perverts: Wesley and Gunn get into an argument over who should conduct inquiries at a high-class escort agency. They keep snatching the address from each other until Cordy takes it herself.

Cordelia: "I'll interview the hookers. Are there any men who aren't just dogs?"

Cordy: "[Fred]'s got the big puppy love. I mean, who wouldn't? You're handsome, and brave, and heroic, (Angel starts to preen) emotionally stunted, erratic, prone to turning evil and, lets face it -- a eunuch."
Angel: "Hey, how can you... I'm not a eunuch!"
Cordy: "Angel, it's just a figure of speech."
Angel: "Find a better one."

  • Bait and Switch Comment: At the end of the episode Angel finally sits down with Fred to give her the Better as Friends speech, only to discover Cordelia has already filled her in, feeling Angel would just make a mess of it anyway. Also Angel's Patrick Stewart Speech turning into a "right behind you" gag.
  • Brick Joke / Call Back: To "Guise will be Guise" (an episode which was also about someone impersonating Angel) with "I'm not a eunuch!"
  • Catch Phrase: Marcus says "Have I ever told you, you are a very beautiful woman?" to Cordy, Lilah and Fred. Cordy is unimpressed by the tacky line, assuming 'Angel' is just trying to butter her up so as to avoid discussing the Fred issue. Fred and Lilah are more succeptible to Marcus' charms.
  • Chekhov's Gun: A male nurse tells Angel-in-Marcus that he's suffered his fourth heart attack, and he may not survive another one. We last see Marcus (back in his own body) undergoing another heart attack.
  • Conveniently-Timed Attack From Behind: Angel is giving Marcus the Patrick Stewart Speech.

Angel: (in Marcus' body) "You may have the attitude, and you may have the power, but there is one thing you don't have, and never will. Friends. (The shot widens to reveal Cordy, Fred, Wes and Gunn walking in through the door behind Marcus) Four of them, standing behind you (Marcus spins around to look) with big, heavy things."

  • Corner of Woe: Cordelia finds Fred crying in the elevator after seeing 'Angel' making out with Lilah.
  • Covert Pervert: Marcus uses this excuse to explain why he's looking at the gym club through binoculars -- he's actually selecting his next victim.
  • Description Cut: Angel snarking about his colleagues, "Some people don't know how to have fun any more." Cut to Marcus in bed with two beautiful women.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Cordelia interviewing witnesses at the gym.

Cordy: (talking to four hunky guys) "There could be follow-up questions. I'll need some home phone numbers. Why don't we start with you, Benny?"

  • Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That: Fred on Cordelia -- apparently it's happened before because Gunn says, "Hi Fred" without even looking up from his video game when Cordy shrieks.
  • Dramatic Irony: Fred tells Angel that the pain and heartbreak of love is something to be avoided. Then Cordelia bursts in with the news that Buffy is Not Quite Dead.
  • Enemy Mine: On discovering a rival attorney's plan to have Angel Investigations cited for building code violations, Lilah Morgan has the requisite documents forged and hands them over to Angel.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Except Cordelia, who can't resist getting in a jab at Angel's liking for 'cheap blondes' (e.g. Buffy and Darla). When Fred tells her Angel was actually making out with a brunette, Cordy agrees he's definitely Not Himself.
  • Fan Service: The teaser features a shirtless hunk in bed with two lingerie-clad escort girls. Becomes Fan Disservice when the hunk turns into a heap. Of collapsed skin.
  • Foe Yay: Lilah Morgan doesn't take much convincing to start tearing open Angel's shirt and make out with him on Wesley's desk.
  • Game Face: Marcus vamps out and bites Lilah in the heat of passion. Lilah isn't prepared to get that kinky, even if Vampires Are Sex Gods.
  • Grand Theft Me
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: After realising he's a vampire, Marcus changes into the Black Leather Pants of Evil. Clearly it was mentioned in one of those books on Angelus he looked up.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: Angel tries to sneak out of the old people's home in Marcus' body, but the stress gives him a heart attack. He later lies in bed staring at his blipping heart monitor. When Marcus is put back in his own body, he gets so angry that he has another heart attack, implied to be fatal.
  • Hypocritical Humor

Cordelia: You know, there is your business life and then there is your social life, and everybody knows that you keep those two things sepa--"
Cordy trails off as a hot and healthy member of the health club walks by.
Cordy: "I'm gonna go see if he knows anything."

    • Angel gets snarky when his friends won't join him for a Charlton Heston double feature.

"You may not know this, Fred, but certain friends and co-workers have been known to accuse me of being the quiet, stay at home, sulky one."

Fred: "It's like something out of Fitzgerald. The man who can have everything but love. Well, maybe in some ways you're better off, because love is... Well, in a way it's everything. But it's also heartache and disappointment. And those are good things to avoid."

  • Man Hug: Marcus joyfully hugs Wesley when he realises that Fred is a girl. With lots of manly back-slapping.
  • The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Marcus can't understand what happened with Lilah until he feels his suddenly bumpy face, then looks in a mirror to find out why he changed -- and sees nothing there.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Marcus hears about a romantic entanglement with someone named "Fred", looks down at what Angel is wearing and mutters, "Obviously." This causes him to try to break up with Wesley before he figures out that Fred is a girl.
  • Mistaken for Servant: Marcus assumes Gunn is a delivery boy when he turns up with burritos. Fortunately Gunn just assumes he's covering the tab when Marcus tucks the money in his pocket and tells him to keep the change.
  • Most Definitely Not a Villain: Marcus talks in Private Eye Monologue cliches, though not enough to get more than a few odd looks.
  • The Movie Buff: Angel gets excited over seeing Soylent Green and The Omega Man.
  • Not Himself: Angel eats burritos, flirts with women, complains about the gang getting hold of telephone bills illegally and has a rather 'odd' talk with Wesley. All he gets is a few puzzled glances until he a) hurts Fred by b) making out with a brunette on a desk, and c) the clincher -- when everyone else assumes Angelus has returned, Wesley points out that, whether Angel or Angelus, he wouldn't need to look up books about vampires.
  • Oblivious Mockery: Fred is raving over going to the movies with Angel -- a date in all but name.

Fred: "And even though he didn't talk a lot, it was still okay. It was comfortable. It wasn't that awkward kind of quiet. You know that awkward kind of quiet?"
Wesley: [beat] "No. That's never happened to me."

Wes: "I do not believe it. On my desk?"
Gunn: "Well, it did used to be his. Maybe he was just kinda...reclaiming it."

  • Ship Sinking: Fred/Angel dies an early death. In canon, that is.
  • Sorry to Interrupt: Fred is devastated when she thinks Angel is asking her out, only to walk in on him making out with Lilah. afterwards Cordy finds her babbling, "I should've knocked. I always forget to knock because, you know, I didn't have a door for so long."
  • Smash Cut

Cordy: "I was with him pretty much the whole time...except for when he went across the street to the--" (Cut to the Monserrat retirement community)

Marcus-in-Angel's body: "Guys! It's about time. It's him -- he's the one who's been casting that spell."
Cordy: "You're Angel? With that cologne? I don't think so."

  • Static Stun Gun: Cordelia uses a taser to knock out Marcus-in-Angel's body.

Cordy: "God, I love technology."

  • Tempting Fate: Angel just laughs when Marcus starts casting his spell, thinking it won't work against him. Furious after Angel bites her, Lilah says he's never going to get that close to her again.
  • Trouble Entendre: Inverted; Lilah tells her secretary at Wolfram & Hart to call the 'graphic artist'. She doesn't understand until Lilah just tells her to look under F for 'forger'.
  • Unperson: Gavin points out that Angel doesn't exist officially -- no social security number, no tax payer ID, no last name -- so he can't use official channels to fight Wolfram & Hart's petty harassment.
  • Vampire Invitation: Angel has a problem when Marcus only motions him into his room, until he says impatiently, "Come in if you're coming."
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic

Angel: "I tell you why you have a weak heart, Marcus. You never use it."

  • Woman Scorned: Fred gives an unconscious Marcus an extra wallop. Angel has to live with the sore head afterwards.
  • Wham! Line: "Angel, Willow's on the phone... She's alive! Buffy's alive!"
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