aired on: October 5, 1999

written by: Joss Whedon

directed by: Joss Whedon

People are drawn to Los Angeles for all sorts of reasons. Angel's reason is a girl. Belly up to a bar, he recalls that girl fondly. But when he notices three guys and two girls leaving the bar, he has a bad feeling. He follows them.
Turns out these guys aren't normal guys - they're vampires. But before they can do their worst, Angel steps in and slays them all. The girls thank him, but he sends them away - he sees blood dripping from cuts on their faces, and knows he must get away. After all, he's a vampire himself.

Back at his apartment, an uninvited guest drops in on Angel - a half-human named Doyle who's been sent "by The Powers That Be." He tells Angel a story, the story of a vampire who was the meanest in all the land. One day, he was cursed by gypsies, who restored his human soul, making him mad with guilt. Then a girl enters the story, a vampire slayer by trade, and our vampire falls madly in love with her. But when he achieves what Doyle calls "perfect happiness" with her, he goes mad again, and kills again. When he gets his soul back for a second time, he figures he can't be anywhere near his love, or he'll endanger them both, so he takes off to L.A., to fight evil and atone for his crimes.

Angel is annoyed - Doyle's just told him the story of his life, and reminded him of Buffy, the vampire slayer he loved. He asks Doyle what happens next.

This vampire thinks he's helping as he fights demons and stays away from humans, Doyle explains, but he's cut off from the people he's trying to help. Angel's responsibility isn't just fighting, it's reaching out to people; not just saving lives, but saving souls - possibly his own.

Angel, suspicious, wants to know who sent Doyle, but Doyle's not sure. But he's sure of the vision he had that morning of a person who needs help. He hands Angel a note: "TINA COFFEE SPOT S.M." Tina needs help. Angel must get involved with her life.

At the Coffee Spot, Angel spies Tina working there, and awkwardly strikes up a conversation. "Are you happy?" he asks. Tina isn't quite sure what to make of him. Angel explains that he's new in town; Tina tells him he shouldn't stay. But he convinces her to meet him after work.

Waiting outside by his car, Angel is surprised to find Tina coming at him in a little black dress - with a can of mace in hand. She thinks he's been sent by someone named Russell. Angel assures her he hasn't been sent by anyone. As they talk, Tina explains that she came to L.A. from Missoula, Montana, to be a famous movie star, "But they weren't hiring." Now she just wants to go home.

First they have to go to a party, where Tina needs to get some money from a friend. While Tina goes to find this friend, Angel spots a familiar face - Cordelia. She's acting now, she tells Angel, living in a small condo on the beach in Malibu.

Tina, meanwhile, is being harassed by a man named Stacy. When she and Angel try to leave the party, they're jumped in the elevator. Angel dispenses with the two creeps who jumped him, but the other two have taken off with Tina. A chase ensues through the parking garage, becoming a game of chicken that Angel wins. After he's disarmed one thug and knocked the other out, he drives off with Tina.

Back at Angel's apartment, Angel asks Tina about Russell. Tina explains that she knew a girl who used to hang out with Russell who tried to get away, but disappeared.

While Tina sleeps, Angel goes to the library to research Tina's missing friend. He finds that she's been murdered, and goes back to tell Tina, who's having a bad dream. He comforts her, then tells her what he's found out. But when Tina spots Doyle's note with her name on it, she again thinks Angel's been sent by Russell, and turns to run. Angel chases after her, but as he grabs her arm, he reaches into the sunlight, and flame bursts from his sleeve as he transforms into a vampire. Tina is shocked, but free of his grasp, and runs away. Angel can't follow her into the daylight.

Back at her apartment, Tina is packing up to leave town. She, too, has an uninvited guest - Russell. He says he only wants to help her. Tina says she only wants to go home. But Russell has something else in mind. He turns vampire on her, then takes a bite. When Angel finally finds her, she's lying on the floor of her apartment, dead.

Doyle and an angry Angel get to work tracking down Russell, but Russell, watching a videotape from the earlier party, has already spotted his next victim - Cordelia. Tina's "friend" from the party calls Cordelia to tell her that Russell Winters wants to meet her - and is sending over a limo.

That night, Cordelia talks with Russell at his mansion. She admits to him that the acting thing isn't working out quite like she planned. While those two talk, Angel and Doyle lurk outside, preparing to break in.

As Cordelia and Russell converse, Cordelia notices there are no mirrors in the mansion, but lots of curtains - and realizes Russell's a vampire.

Meanwhile, Angel has found his way into the mansion, and a fight between him and Russell begins. But before Angel can polish Russell off, his henchmen appear. Angel, taking bullets in his back, leaps from a second-story balcony with Cordelia in his arms, and once outside, Doyle drives them away. They're all alive - but so is Russell Winters.

The next day, Angel makes a visit to the downtown offices of Russell Winters Enterprises, where the entrepreneurial vampire is presiding over a business meeting. Russell smugly explains to Angel how things are done in L.A. - he can do anything he wants. Angel asks him if he can fly. He then gives Russell's chair a shove through the plate glass window, and Russell, plummeting to the ground and now exposed to light, bursts into flame. By the time Russell's chair crashes to the sidewalk, there's nothing left of him.

Later, Angel isn't exactly celebrating, but Cordelia is thrilled. And she's got a plan - she, Angel and Doyle will go into business solving people's vampire problems. She'll help organize things, and they'll charge a small fee - to pay her salary. Of course, this is just until her inevitable stardom takes effect . . .

There are a lot of people in this city who need help, Doyle says to Angel. Are you game? Angel's reply: "I'm game.