Original Air Date: February 29, 2000

Written by Howard Gordon
Directed by Nick Marick

Summary

Cordelia and Wesley are at it again, arguing, that is. Angel comes in to tell them to shut up when a client comes in, badly beaten. His brother, Jack McNamara was kidnapped yesterday and today, the elder McNamara had received his brother's thumb in the mail. His brother had had gambling problems but he had refused to help, hoping that Jack would learn a lesson. The next day, he had gone to Jack's place to apologize but had found his brother being dragged away by white-faced demons. Cordy and Wesley try to find out what kind of demon it was while Angel goes to talk to Jack's bookie.

Ernie, the bookie, says that Jack was taken away to set an example for other debtor's. He also tells Angel to go to Beechwood Canyon, a sewer underneath Beechwood Canyon. Meanwhile, Cordy finds out that the demons who took away Jack are Howler demons, of the violent variety. Angel encounters these demons in the sewer and a fight errupts. He asks them where Jack is and they told him that they sold him. Angel goes to the place Jack was sold, only to find a ring where demons are forced to fight each other to the death. A woman eyes Angel appreciatively but he brushes her off to go down to the spectator area. Suddenly he sees Jack and follows him down some dark halls, only to be confronted by Jack and surprise, his brother. They strap a metal cuff onto Angel's wrist and tell him that they plan to use him as a new contestant. Then, the guards charge up their zap sticks and Angel goes out like a light.

He waked up in a cage and finds out that there are painted red lines everywhere in the room. A demon demonstrates what the bracelet does as he hurls himself across a red line at Jack only to disintegrate into nothing. The only way that the band is unlocked is if you kill 21 opponents in the ring. Meanwhile, Cordy and Wesley are getting increasingly worried about Angel, so Wesley decides to go the the bookie, but not without weapons. Angel quickly gets himself into trouble when he challenges an ugly green demon, Cribb. Jack and his brother interrupt their fight, announcing that Angel's first match is to be that night. That night, in the ring, Angel is losing and a guard tosses a knife to finish Angel off. However, Angel gets his second wind and starts to retaliate.Wesley and Cordelia enter the ring after Wesley beat up the bookie to find where Angel was and Cordy passes herself off as a cop to get tickets from an unsuspecting couple. They watch as Angel wins his fight but Jack's brother gets a little careless, leaving the disintergrated demon's cuff on the bar, and Cordy decides to palm it. They return to the office to try an open the cuff but the electrical current is high and Wesley can't open it without using something extremely delicate. Back at the ring, Angel tries to get the demons to stop fighting each other but they refuse as Jack watches on. Quick as a wink, Angel grabs Jack and pulls him over the red line and demands Jack's brother to set him free. However, Mr. McNamara has other ideas in mind, as he pulls a gun and shoots his own brother. Angel now has to fight a demon called Trepkos, whose 21st kill relies on him killing Angel. After Jack dies, Angel is stunned and wakes up in the chick's office. Her name is Lilah Morgan and she works for Wolfram and Hart. She offers to buy Angel his freedom if he will work for them. Angel declines and gets sent back to the ring.

Back at the office Cordelia suggests that Wesley use horse hair to open the cuff and it springs open. They head to the ring excitedly where Angel is in the ring with Trepkos. Guards toss them bamboo stakes and Trepkos gets a good one into Angel's stomach but Angel is still hanging on. Cordelia sneaks downstairs with Wesley and she distracts the guard as he heads to the demon's holding room. Wesley encounters Cribb, who uses his long tongue to grab the horse hair from Wesley. Angel slowly turns the fight around but gives up his chance to kill Trepkos. Cribb is moved by this, as is Trepkos, who also refuses to kill Angel. The guards are sent in to kill both Angel and Trepkos when the doors open and demons flood through, killing the guards. Angel and Trepkos are set free and Cordelia pushes McNamara into the ring where Cribb snaps a cuff on him and Trepkos throws him over the red line, disintegrating him. Cordelia and Wesley take Angel home, wondering if setting a bunch of rogue demons free was a good thing.

Summary written by Niki

Quote of the Week

Cordelia: If anyone is wearing a push-up bra around here it's ......... Angel

Rating

3.5/5

Niki Bartl's Comments

This episode was pretty personal. My eighth grde English teacher was named Mr. McNamara, but the weirdest thing is that Lilah Morgan reminds me soooo much of my brother's girlfriend. Except she's not a ruthless lawyer who likes to watch demons kill each other; she's actually really nice. If you're wondering why this episode only got three and a half out of five, I'll tell you right away: it was the violence. I hate punching and kicking until people get bloody. I empathize too much and can almost feel myself being hit, so I hate watching violence (exception is the Matrix, whose fight choreography just leaves me speechless). You can imagine what watching this episode twice in a row did to me, although the second time I knew when to look away, which was a plus. I adored the plot twists, with the client luring demons into fighting, and also when Jack got killed. But the thing that disturbed me the most was that people would pay good money to watch demons beat the shit out of each other until they died enclosed by a steel cage. Those are the same kinds of people that watch cock fights. It makes you wonder where our society's going.

Nika Summers' Comments

See, I first thought this episode was going to be about a ring, as in some piece of jewellery that people wear on their fingers. I thought it was going to be about some symbolism behind Angel's Claddagh ring. What I didn't expect was to see a bunch of demons fighting for their freedom in a pit where a crowd of people enjoys watching them fight. That really surprised me, but I still liked the episode. What I was more shocked about was the fact that so many people were there watching the fights. It really makes you under if just about everyone knows about demons, or did they think the demons in the pit were people dressed up in costume? I understand Angel's point of view about not wanting to fight the other demons, but seeing him getting beaten on was really surprising and not to mention kind of depressing. Not a great great episode but it still worth the watch.

Cast

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