I thought Lorne and Angel were so cute in the first scene, they were like bickering siblings when Lorne's trying to get Angel to ask Cordy what being a higher being was like. Speaking of Cordy, its such a shame to watch the previous episode, where we see snarky Cordy from Buffy season 1, to this character who seems like a shell of her former self.
Poor Fred and Gunn, its a shame that Gunn is still clinging to their relationship while Fred is clearly pulling away. Lilah imitating Fred was a little bit freaky and Wesley going a long with it was a little bit disturbing. It shows he still has a very dark obsession when in comes to Fred.
I hate bugs, rats, snakes etc so when them rats appeared in that bathroom it really freaked me out, I would have reacted the same way that Gunn did. Its so sad watching Gunn try and sort things out with Fred, he should just sing for Lorne or get Fred to sing for him so they both can get on with their lives. I so enjoy Lorne's not so suttle hints that he wants Cordy back to help with all the extra business. I really didnt like how Connor was so smug with Angel about how Cordy is staying with him, but then he went all sweet, pretty much in the same sentence, just so Angel would talk to Cordy. It was nice seeing Angel's face when Connor calls him dad
Poor Connor and Angel, first Connor sees Angel and Cordy being all cozy together and then Cordy tells Angel she loves him but because of what he did as Angelus she cant be with him. The Bangel in me loved that, because Buffy overcame Angelus' actions, she actually lived through being one of his victims, and at the end of it still loved Angel.
That was a very freaky vision, and the first one she's had since she got back from being a higher being. I wonder why she didnt have one when she had amnesia? I cant believe that Lorne and the others still havent realised that this is Apocalypse stuff that's happening. The Scoobies would have realised straight away
I always enjoy watching Lilah and Angel interact. He's changed so much from season 1, where he point blank refused to work with W&H and now he's asking Lilah can he worked with them!
Watching Cordy and Connor grow closer is really disturbing. Its a nice tie in that the Beast appears right where Connor was born. The Beast is one powerful demon, he kicked Connors butt easily.
I thought Lorne's advice to everyone who was phoning in was hillarious. He has such good humor! Watching Wes, Gunn, Lorne and Angel work together was good. They havent lost their team work experience. Its just a shame Fred wasnt there. Watching them fight the Beast and get their butts kicked showed they really needed a better plan, he's clearly a ''no weapons forged can kill me'' kind of demon. I really did like that Wes was the one to help Gunn though.
Eww, eww, eww on the Connor/Cordy thing. Her reasoning behind it, the fact that she wants to give him something nice to remember, doesnt make it less disturbing. Its even worse because Angel is watching them do it!
I've listened to the commentary by Vern Gillum and Steven S Deknight.
Originally the big bad was meant to appear later but the WB had scheduled episode 7 before the Christmas break and then they were off air for about a month and a half so they needed to revise some stuff and cram a lot of things into this episode.
They talk about how good an actor Vincent is and how good a stunt team they have to work with. J is really terrified of rats. That scene was originally meant to be done with CGI spiders but it was too expensive.
The sex scene was between Lilah and Wes got cut short due to time, along with the next scene with Gunn and Fred. It originally starting with Gunn explaining why he didnt like rats and that was because when he was younger his sister woke him up screaming and he found a rat chewing on her leg.
They mention that some fans werent happy with the Cordy/Angel being in love storyline. Also that in later episodes you find out that the evens have been organised by a higher being. In the scene were Angel visits Cordy he's still smarting over her leaving him and at the moment her actions seem irratic, but its explained better in later episodes. Cordy's vision was her manipulating Angel to get him out of the picture.
Season 4 spans a time line of 3 weeks and is one story arc.
Andy had a really bad back while shooting this episode and was in a lot of pain.
This episode highlights the start of the break up of Fred and Gunn. When the birds hit the window they wanted J to touch the bird but J wouldnt do it.
In the Lilah/Angel scene David is actually holding his script in his hand and every time they cut he would have a look at it. Its inside the day planner book.
They needed a fire marshall on set for lighting candles for the Connor/Cordy scene.
The actor who played the Beast had a really bad time in the costume. He was sick because the horns on his head were so tight they were squeezing his skull and he collapsed once.
The papers from W&H were originally not packed with enough text and information, so in the first shot of Angel you can see the paper he is holding doesnt have that much writing on them. They'd fixed that problem in time for the close ups. They wrote Gunn as the one to find the clue to show that he's more than just the muscle.
There was another scene with Fred and the waitress but it was cut due to time. The fight scene took 2 days to film. Its the most expensive episode made on Angel.