Birthday (Angel episode)
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Overview
During a private celebration at the hotel for Cordelia's 21st birthday, she has a vision of a girl being attacked by a demon. The vision is so intense it throws her against the weapon cabinet and she ends up in a coma. She can see Angel and Wesley and co but no one seems to see or hear her. She's at a loss and scared.After a while, a friendly demon called Skip (the one that used to guard Billy) comes to her and tells her that the power to get visions which Doyle gave her was not intended for a human and that it'll end up killing her. She's got two options: go back in time and have a normal life as a successful actress or return to the hotel and never wake up again. She accepts the best fate and becomes an actress, but some of her old person remains because she is able to remember some things. One of them is the girl who was about to die in her previous vision.
Cordy goes to the girl's place and discovers she was trying to perform a resurrection spell. The spell goes bad and a demon appears trying to kill them both. They defend themselves as best they can until Gunn and Wesley enter and kill the demon. Cordelia notices that Wesley has lost an arm and Gunn does not remember her. In that alternate reality Angel is the one with the visions and they're driving him crazy. Cordelia feels guilty of that state of affairs and what her friends have become.
To make ammends, she kisses Angel and recovers the essence that gives the visions. Then, Skip appears and argues with Cordelia that it's the fate she chose and that it ain't so easy to shake it off. Cordy won't buy it and they make an agreement. Since the visions are going to kill her sooner or later as a human, Skip turns her into a half-demon. That way she can keep the visions and not die.
After that, Cordy wakes up at the hotel and everything's fine, only no one remembers but her. She has a vision there and then and to everyone's astonishment she doesn't faint or collapse or get a migraine. Angel points out to her that she's, in fact, levitating.
Expanded overview
Cordelia, Fred and Gunn work to clean the hotel, all at their own pace. As Angel comes downstairs with his son, Cordelia rushes to hold the baby, but Angel refuses to let her near his child until she has cleaned up. Cordelia retreats to the bathroom to clean up while her friends initiate their secret plans. Unknown to the gang, Cordelia takes a painkiller before returning to the lobby. When she returns to the lobby, Cordelia's met with the surprise of her friends throwing her a birthday party, complete with the traditional music, cake and presents.Angel gives Cordelia Connor to hold and offers a small box for her to open. The whole group gathers with presents for Cordelia and she debates over which one to open first. Before she can decide, she hands Connor to Angel just before a violent vision hits. She mentions a girl in need of help before her vision sends her backward into a glass cabinet. Cordelia recovers from fall only to find that she hasn't really recovered. Her friends are gathered around her body as it lies in an unconscious state on the ground where she fell and she's been knocked into an astral state.
In her unique condition, Cordelia tries to communicate with her friends, but they are all oblivious to her astral body and hear nothing she says. Cordelia's body is moved to the couch and Astral Cordelia desperately considers as many options as possible as to what's wrong with her. Lorne comes downstairs and walks through Astral Cordelia on his way to investigate the visible body everyone's crowded around. The gang finds Cordelia's prescription pills and realizes that she's been hiding the severity of her visions from them.
Angel takes Cordelia's body upstairs while research is started by books and at Cordelia's apartment. Astral Cordelia hears odd whispers, but she can't make sense of them or communicate with the source. At Cordy's apartment, Fred and Gunn stumble upon Dennis's birthday celebration for Cordelia then search the apartment for signs of Cordelia's health struggle or any other potential cause for her comatose state. Wesley researches the mystical options of Cordelia's condition through a book on astral projections. Astral Cordelia tries to read along since her attempts to be noticed so far have been pointless.
Back at Cordelia's place, Gunn and Fred discover a box of prescriptions, thanks to Dennis that reveal Cordelia's severe pain has existed for a long time. Angel talks to Cordelia's unconscious body and although her body doesn't respond, Astral Cordelia does. Lorne tries to communicate with the Cordy's body, but is unsuccessful. Determined, Angel demands that Lorne arrange a meeting with the Powers that Be, regardless of the consequences. As Lorne leaves, Astral Cordelia takes advantage of some recently acquired knowledge and sits down on the chair where Angel is, taking over his body.
Later, Cordelia manages to use Angel's sleeping body to write a message on the wall that contains the address to the girl seen in her vision before she's thrown out of Angel's body. Cordelia's attempt to get a message through to Angel proves to be a waste of time, as Angel remembers nothing. Wesley informs Angel that after looking at Cordelia's CAT scans, Fred determined that the damage was very severe and Cordelia is dying. As Wesley watches over Cordelia's body, the mystical energies and dark clouds that have been surrounding Cordelia materialize into...Skip! He introduces himself as a guide who will show Cordelia something very important that will determine if she lives or dies. Lorne returns in a badly beaten state truly unable to speak about what happened, but he hands Angel a paper with the address of the Powers.
At an empty mall, Skip informs Cordelia that she wasn't meant to get the visions in the first place. The Powers were blind to Doyle's love for Cordelia that allowed the half-demon to pass them on to her and that's why they didn't stop it when they could. Skip introduces Cordelia to a human woman, Tammy, who also possessed the visions and was killed by them in the 1600's. It's stressed that humans aren't meant for the visions and they will kill Cordelia.
Angel falls to a room where he encounters the unseen Conduit. The Powers are annoyed with Angel and ignore his demands to take Cordelia's powers away. Skip shows Cordelia the party where she first ran into Angel in Los Angeles and offers another scenario involving her true purpose to be a major actress. He offers her a deal to live her dream life as an actress, but that would involve rewriting her history with Angel and friends, erasing them from her life in LA. Her only other option is to return to her body and die at the strike of her next vision.
Cordelia is then shown Angel as he speaks to the Powers, pleading with them that his friend is too weak to handle the visions. Cordelia is hurt by his lack of confidence in her and demands that they leave. Motivated by Angel's comments, Cordelia decides to be a famous actress and forget her life with Angel Cordelia's is transported to a luxurious life. Cordelia lives in her superstar life as an Emmy winner and star of her own television show. After a show wraps, Cordy talks with her assistant about wanting to be somewhere else and remembers the name of the Hyperion hotel, indicating that she wants to go there immediately.
At the hotel, Cordelia is led up to the luxury suite, but is distracted by another room and asks that it be opened. Inside, she recognizes the room as Angel's and proceeds to rip the wallpaper away from the wall to find the address of the girl in her vision. Inside, Cordelia encounters the young girl, Cynthia, who is a big fan. Before Cordelia can leave, Cynthia shows her of some magic she was trying to bring her father back to her. A demon materializes and Cordelia uses her limited Sunnydale experience to protect Cynthia and fight the demon off.
A one-armed Wesley and Gunn arrive in time to slay the demon and drag it away. Cordelia informs Wesley of everything that's happened to her recently and Wesley says that he'll research it. After some reminiscing, Wesley and Gunn take Cordelia to see Angel, who is nothing like the Angel she knew in Sunnydale. The death of Doyle forced him into a horribly repressed condition complete with the visions that once plagued Doyle. In a nearly empty room, Angel blabbers repeatedly and shies away from Cordelia as she tries to approach him. Horrified and saddened by the sight of Angel in such a terrible state, Cordelia kisses him and takes the visions back.
With the rest of the gang frozen in time, Skip shows up and reminds her of the deal. Cordelia demands that a loophole be found because she's too valuable to the Powers. Skip states that the only loophole involves Cordelia being made part-demon, but the physical and mental effects of that choice would be unpredictable. Without little consideration and a look to Angel, Cordelia accepts. Cordelia wakes up screaming and her friends are confused by her odd comments regarding her non-demonic appearance and solid body. She rambles on and calmly reports to the gang about a vision she's currently experiencing. The rest of the gang notices that Cordelia's levitating above the floor.
Writing and acting
Production details
- Marti Noxon - "Baby Stay Awhile (Cordy Theme)". - TV show theme for "Cordy"
- First com music library - "Tears down my cheek".
- The gang sing Happy Birthday to Cordy.
Quotes and trivia
Continuity
Arc significance
It is believed that the extent of the neurological damage done to Cordelia by the visions by the time of this episode is the result of the spell cast on her by Vocah in Season 1's "To Shanshu in L.A.", which caused her to experience numerous visions continually for hours and greatly accelerated the contributing damage to her brain as a result.
Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) | Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2001 - December 2001 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| L.A., 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Cursed (Buffy/Angel novel)>Cursed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.01 Heartthrob (Angel episode)>Heartthrob |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy UPN promos: Buffy Season 6 UPN promos>Scooby Gang talk about Buffy |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.01 Bargaining, Part One (Buffy episode)>Bargaining, I |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.02 Bargaining, Part Two (Buffy episode)>Bargaining, II |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.02 That Vision Thing (Angel episode)>That Vision Thing |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.03 After Life (Buffy episode)>After Life |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Sanctuary (Angel novel)>Sanctuary |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.03 That Old Gang of Mine (Angel episode)>That Old Gang of Mine |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.04 Flooded (Buffy episode)>Flooded |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.04 Carpe Noctem (Angel episode)>Carpe Noctem |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy comic: Reunion (Buffy comic)>Reunion |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.05 Life Serial (Buffy episode)>Life Serial |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.05 Fredless (Angel episode)>Fredless |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy book: Blood and Fog (Buffy novel)>Blood and Fog |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.06 All the Way (Buffy episode)>All the Way |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Note from the Underground (Buffy comic)>Note from the Underground |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.06 Billy (Angel episode)>Billy |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel anthology book:The Longest Night (Angel novel)>The Longest Night |
| Sunnydale, L.A., Monster Island, 2001 | Buffy/Angel novel: Monster Island (Buffy/Angel novel)>Monster Island |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Endangered Species (Angel novel)>Endangered Species |
| L.A., 2001 | Angel book: Impressions (Angel novel)>Impressions |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.07 Once More, with Feeling (Buffy episode)>Once More, with Feeling |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.07 Offspring (Angel episode)>Offspring |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.08 Tabula Rasa (Buffy episode)>Tabula Rasa |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.08 Quickening (Angel episode)>Quickening |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.09 Smashed (Buffy episode)>Smashed |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.09 Lullaby (Angel episode)>Lullaby |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.10 Wrecked (Buffy episode)>Wrecked |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.10 Dad (Angel episode)>Dad |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.11 Gone (Buffy episode)>Gone |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.11 Birthday (Angel episode)>Birthday |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: Creatures of Habit (Buffy comic)>Creatures of Habit |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | Buffy graphic novel: |
| Sunnydale, 2001 | B6.12 Doublemeat Palace (Buffy episode)>Doublemeat Palace |
| L.A., 2001 | A3.12 Provider (Angel episode)>Provider |
External links
| Buffyverse | ||
| Main | Canon | Index Chronology: Ancient | Modern | BS1 | BS2 | BS3 | BS4/AS1 | BS5/AS2 | BS6/AS3 | BS7/AS4 | AS5 | Future | Flashbacks | |
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| People | Adam | Amy | Andrew | Angel | Anya | Buffy | Caleb | Connor | Cordelia | Dawn | Darla | Doyle | Dru | Eve | Faith | Fred | Giles | Glory | Gunn | Harmony | Holtz | Illyria | Jasmine | Jenny | Joyce | Jonathan | Kate | Kennedy | Lilah | Lindsey | Lorne | The Master | Mayor Wilkins | Oz | Professor Walsh | Riley | Spike | Tara | Warren | Wesley | Willow | Xander | |
| Places | L.A. | Sunnydale Bronze | Caritas | Hellmouth | Hyperion | Library | Magic Box | Pylea | Sunnydale High | |
| Music | Complete Tracklist | Use of Music in Buffy & Angel | Dingoes Ate My Baby | Film | | | Once More, With Feeling | |
| Key Terminology | "Demon" | "Slayer" | "Vampire" | "Watcher" | "Werewolf" | "Witch" "Child of Senior Partners" | Shanshu | Sunnydale Syndrome | Tro-Clon | |
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