From The TV IV

Carpe Noctem is the fourth episode of the third season of Angel, and the forty-eighth episode overall. Angel's body is taken over by a spellcasting old man and while he's trapped in a nursing home, the possessed Angel wrecks havoc.

Guest Stars: Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan), Daniel Dae Kim (Gavin Park), Rance Howard (Marcus), Paul Benjamin (Retirement Home Resident)

Co-Stars: Misty Louwagie (Christina), Marc Brett (Health Club Phil), Paul Logan (Woody), Lauren Reina (Escort #1), Magdalena Zielinska (Escort #2), Steven W. Bailey (Ryan)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Monster of the Week 2.2 Body Count 2.3 Music 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes 6 Reviews

[edit] Plot Overview

[edit] Notes

[edit] Monster of the Week

• There is no monster of the week in this episode.

[edit] Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Man	—	Melted	Hotel Room
2	Marcus	—	Heart Attack	Marcus' Room

[edit] Music

Music is listed in order of appearance in the episode:

• The Chemical Brothers - Galaxy Bounce

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

• Wolfram & Hart: Lilah clears the Hyperion of all its codes violations in an attempt to stick it to Gavin. Gavin also mentions looking into Angel's history and whether or not he actually exists in a legal sense of the word.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Referbacks

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

• Buffy Crossover: At the end of the episode, Angel finds out that Buffy is alive. Willow helped raise her from the dead, convinced that she was stuck in a hell dimension, in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer 6th season premiere.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.0/5 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. It was ranked 6th out of the 17 WB shows which aired that week.
• Cut Subplot: Originally, there was a subplot with many more "Angel as Marcus" scenes in which Marcus' estranged daughter attempts to reconcile her relationship with her father, only for Angel to realize that she's better off without him. He basically tells her exactly that in this cut dialogue:

Angel (As Marcus): ...You need a family and you'll make one, I know. I'm not a part of that. I don't wanna be.

(She starts to tear up and laugh a little at the same time.)

Angel: What?

Madeline: It's just, I've been trying so hard all these years to forget you and now you're saying...

Angel: You should.

[edit] Allusions and References

• Charlton Heston Movies: Angel makes reference to two movies starring Charlton Heston. The first, Soylant Green, is about a man investigating a mysterious government food supply only to find out that it's made out of people. The second, The Omega Man, is a post-apocalyptic story about a man who survives the nuclear holocaust.

Angel: Charlton Heston. Double feature! At the Nu-art. "Soylent Green" and "The Omega Man!"

• Pretty Woman: In Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts plays a prostitute with a "heart of gold." When Richard Gere pays her to escort him to several social events, he winds up falling in love with her. Cordelia's comment refers to the fact that no hooker looks like Julia Roberts.

Cordelia: If Julia Roberts ever makes a realistic movie about being an escort, I think it should be called pretty skanky woman.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald: A running theme throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels is the inordinately wealthy man who can buy anything he likes, but can't seem to deal with love and romance. In The Great Gatsby, the main character was in love with an unattainable woman, for instance.

Fred: It's like something out of Fitzgerald. The man who can have everything but love.

[edit] Memorable Moments

[edit] Quotes

[edit] Reviews

• Overall Grade: D
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 0 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 1 F: 0
• This episode is so awkward that it's actually painful to watch. It's not funny, it's not amusing, it's not even kind of cute. It's about half a step away from the levels of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it doesn't pull it off with the style the Curb does. Instead, it's unbearable and tedious at best. D --IndieRockLance 19:19, 17 July 2006 (EDT)