< Angel < Recap < S03

Angel/Recap/S03/E09 Lullaby


Holtz sets out on his mission of revenge, undeterred by the fact that Angel has a soul. Meanwhile Darla's baby is dying because she is unable to give birth.

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Tropes used in Angel/Recap/S03/E09 Lullaby include:

Holtz: "You said you work for the law."
Lilah: "No, I didn't. I said I'm a lawyer. I don't care about the law."

"'For surely in that time, when the sky opens and the heavens weep, there will be no birth, only death.'"

Gavin: "He's gonna crucify us."
Lilah: "They don't crucify here. It's too Christian."

  • Bad Liar: Darla tells Angel he was better at lying when he was evil.
  • Babies Make Everything Better: The baby's soul affects Darla, causing her to feel love and guilt for the first time.
  • Bait and Switch: It appears that Holtz has decided to forgo killing Angel upon seeing the baby, but Holtz has instead seen the opportunity to take a far more terrible revenge.
  • Bait and Switch Comment

Holtz: "I swore that I would show no mercy. And I won't."

Sahjhan: "You'll get your money."
Arnie: "I've heard that one before. You know, I've got mouths to feed. Plus a family. Some of them have mouths, too."

Angel: "Attacked? I thought you had double protection sanctorum spells?"
Lorne: "I do. It's a thing with the door and the stairs and the world and the thing. Never mind!"
Gunn: "Apparently you can be outside and shove stuff in."

Lorne: "I just said that."

    • Cordelia hasn't forgotten her Sunnydale education.

Fred: "The Nyazian Prophecies did say that the Tro-clan was going to be a confluence of events."
Cordy: "And the sudden appearance of an 18th century vampire hunter in the 21st century does seem pretty confluey."

Holtz: "Those men you sent to kill Angelus, they were each of them brave. They fought to the last."
Lilah: (looks at the bodies on the floor) "Yeah, I get that."

  • Car Fu: Darla steals the Angelmobile, running over several Grapplar demons in the process.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Holtz sings 'Ar Hyd y Nos' for his daughter while waiting for daylight. When he enters Caritas for a reconnaissance he's humming the same lullaby. Lorne hears it and reads his intentions in time to get everyone out.
    • Holtz seeing Angel use a grenade and later using one himself.
  • Cleanup Crew: Lilah calls one to remove the bodies of the Wolfram & Hart Spec Ops team. Only the bodies though -- the Fang Gang are shown in the next episode having to scrub up the gore themselves.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Darla makes off in the Angelmobile. Angel turns up to see the gang staring down a deserted alley.

"What are we looking at?”

  • Dark Messiah: It's speculated that Angel's son might be one.

Angel: "Why is it everyone insists on planning my son's future before he's even born?"

  • Description Cut: Holtz asks Sahjahn if he's withheld any other important details. Sahjahn replies vaguely that there's nothing he can think of -- cut to pregnant Darla.
  • Dope Slap: Cordy testing Caritas' magic defences.

Gunn: Ow.

  • Driven to Suicide: The child is dying as Darla's dead body can neither nourish it or give birth. The baby's magical protection makes a C-section impossible, so she stakes herself leaving the child intact when she dusts.
  • Flash Back: To the death of Holtz's daughter.
  • Half Truth: Sahjahn doesn't say anything about Angel having a soul (or Darla being pregnant with Angel's child). To his surprise Holtz is only angry because this will affect Angel's behaviour, as he needs to know these things in order to predict Angel's movements. This way Holtz gets to kill Angel, and has the fringe benefit of his soul suffering for eternity in Hell.
  • History Repeats: Angelus used the Staking the Loved One ploy against Buffy in "Phases". He converted a school friend of hers, knowing Buffy would turn up to investigate the death and be forced to kill her.
  • Holy Burns Evil: Angel tells Holtz he's changed. Holtz chucks holy water at Angel, causing him to vamp out.

Holtz: Really? Somehow things seem the same to me.

Gunn: "Sure it wasn't his great, great, great-grandson?"

Darla: "I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me."

Lilah: "What does it say about the birth?"
Translator: "Well, actually, it's funny... it doesn't."
Lilah: "What do you mean, it doesn't? But you said it did."
Translator: "Yes, I did say it did."
Lilah: "But it doesn't."
Translator: "In a way."
Lilah: "I have a gun."

  • Mundane Solution: Caratis is protected by spells preventing any demon or human from committing violence inside the club. Holtz stands outside the club and rolls a drum of fuel down the stairs, then tosses in a grenade.
  • Meaningful Echo: Darla referring to her child as "darling boy", as she did Liam. Also her telling Angel "I'm sorry" -- when Angel used those words in "Epiphany" she realised he still had a soul.
  • Oh Crap: Lorne realising from Holtz's humming what's about to happen.
  • Please Wake Up

Sarah: "Mommy won't wake up."

Cordy: Well you know what they say -- birth, painful.
Wes: Yes, but generally for the mother, not the bystanders.

Holtz: "He's not the same vampire."
Sahjhan: "Of course he is! His hair is a little shorter, a little spikier. He's using product. But it's the same guy."

  • Staking the Loved One: Holtz returns to his home to find that Darla and Angelus have killed his wife and baby. His daughter Sarah appears to have miraculously escaped until Holtz sees the bite marks on her neck. He waits till daylight then, seeing Sarah is hiding from the sun, throws her out into the open so she burns up.
  • Stuff Blowing Up
  • Talking to Herself / Tender Tears: Pregnant Darla
  • Tested on Humans: Cordelia and Fred test the magical defences by slapping Gunn.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Holtz says that W&H's Spec Ops men were brave, but he'll kill anyone they send against Angel. "No one will have him but me."
  • There Was a Door: The Fang Gang escapes from Caritas by using Angel's Super Strength to rip a hole in the wall.
  • Villainous Demotivator: The Wolfram & Hart translator says that translating the Nyazian Scroll should be fun.

Lilah: "No. This shouldn't be fun -- what it should be is done by morning. Or I'll have your family killed."

Translator: "You highlighted an ancient Nyazian Scroll?"
Lilah: "In yellow."

  • Would Hurt a Child: Darla knows that if the child is born she'll stop loving it, because she'll no longer be influenced by its soul.
  • You Must Be Cold: Angel tears off his coat to cover Fred in the rain; she later takes it off to cover the baby.
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