Angel/Blind Date

Blind Date
Season 1, Episode 21
Airdate	May 16, 2000
Production Number	1ADH21
Written by	Jeannine Renshaw
Directed by	Thomas J. Wright
← 1x20 War Zone	1x22 → To Shanshu in L.A.
Angel — Season One

Blind Date is the twenty-first episode of the first season of Angel. A blind assassin eludes justice and Christian Kane comes to Angel for help in stopping her next hit.

David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce)

Guest Starring: Christian Kane (Lindsey McDonald), Thomas Burr (Lee Mercer), Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan), Sam Anderson (Holland Manners)

and J. August Richards (Charles Gunn)

Co-Starring: Jennifer Badger Martin (Vanessa Weeks), Keilana Smith (Mind Reader #1), Dawn Suggs (Mind Reader #2), Charles Constant (Security Center Guard), Scott Berman (Vendor), Derek Anthony (Dying Black Man), Rishi Kumar (Blind Child #1), Karen Lu (Blind Child #2), Alex Buck (Blind Child #3)

Plot Overview

Lindsey has a crisis of conscious when he finds out that Wolfram & Hart have targeted three children for a hit. He comes to a very sceptical Angel to help in stopping their blind assassin, but his commitment to stay on the right road is tested when he has to return to the law firm to retrieve important files.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• There is no "monster of the week" in this episode, with the exception of Vanessa who is just a highly trained blind human.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1/2	Vampires	Angel	Staked	Warehouse
3	Man	Vanessa	Stabbed	Warehouse
4	Lee	Phil	Shot	Wolfram & Hart
4	Guardian	Vanessa	Stabbed	Safe House
5	Vanessa	Angel	Stabbed	Safe House

Music

Music is listed in order of appearance in the episode.

• Grant Langston - "Time of Day"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Wolfram & Hart: Lindsey has popped up again, this time as representation for Vanessa Brewer. They're working for her pro bono, so it's apparent that she's an assassin for the firm. Much of the rest of the episode deals with Lindsey's crisis of faith and attempt to get out of the business. One of the lawyers (Lee Mercer) is shot dead and Angel makes off with several discs of secret files from the vaults.

• Foreshadowing: Along with the encryptic disks, Angel also steals a scroll known as the Prophecies of Aberjian. Although the exact prophecies aren't described, they have something to do with Angel.

Characters

• Angel: According to Lindsey, Angel's father was a merchant of fine linen and silk.

• Lindsey: Lindsay has a genuine desire to leave Wolfram & Hart. In this episode he shows more emotion than that of a soulless, evil lawyer. But, despite this reprieve, he's offered a promotion when his former boss "goes upstairs." It's also mentioned that he went to law school at Hastings.

Referbacks

• BtVS - 4x21 - Primeval: Cordelia mentions that Willow has also been breaking encrypted files in Sunnydale. This is presumably a reference to the gang attempting to break the code on some Initiative data disks with the big bad for the season's plans on them.

Cordelia: But they've been breaking encrypted computer files, too!

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 5.0/8 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. It was ranked 2nd out of the 15 WB shows which aired that week.

Allusions and References

• Mecca: Mecca is the holiest site of Islam, located in Saudi Arabia. Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage to the city, called the Hajj, at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it and are able-bodied.

Gunn: Evil white folks really do have a Mecca!

Quotes

• Wesley: Demons with one eye, demons with twelve eyes, some with double vision. No blind demons. Perhaps Angel's discovered a new species?

Cordelia: What? Helen Kellerus Homicidilus?

• Wesley: She obviously doesn't see the way we do, but she can see. In a sense. The human eye is only capable of registering a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, but if Brewer was somehow equipped to see outside that range...

Cordelia: She'd be superman. Whats the diff' in how she sees, anyway? So she can get a look at the bars of her cell. Why are we still talking about this?

• Lindsey: I guess it's fair to say that you've never seen anything like real poverty. I'm talking dirt poor. No shoes, no toilet. Six of us kids in a room. And come flu season it was down to four. I was seven when they took the house. They just came right in and took it. And my daddy's bein' nice, you know? Joking with the bastards while he signs the deed. So, yeah, we had a choice - you got stepped on or you got to steppin'. And I swore to myself that I was not gonna be the guy standing there with a stupid grin on my face while my life got dribbled out…

Angel: (pretending to snore) Ooof. I nodded off. Did you get to the part where you're evil?

• Lindsey: I go back there; they're gonna kill me.

Angel: That's what we call an acceptable risk.

• Lindsey: I get myself killed, that'll convince you I've changed?

Angel: It's a start.

• Gunn: Give me one good reason.

Angel: It'll be extremely dangerous.

Gunn: Okay.

• Gunn: (after breaking into Wolfram & Hart) Whoo-Whoo! My God! They told me it was true, but I didn't believe them. Damn, here it is! Evil white folks really do have a Mecca!

• Lindsey: Sorry I'm late. Hope I didn't worry anyone.

Cordelia: We just figured you were dead.

• Holland Manners: It's not about good or evil; it's about who wields the most power.