Angel/Forgiving

Forgiving
Season 3, Episode 17
Airdate	April 15, 2002
Production Number	3ADH17
Written by	Jeffrey Bell
Directed by	Turi Meyer
← 3x16 Sleep Tight	3x18 → Double or Nothing
Angel — Season Three

Forgiving is the seventeenth episode of the third season of Angel, and the sixty-first episode overall. While Angel looks for a way to make Sahjhan reopen the portal into the dimension his son is in, Fred and Gunn search for Wesley, who is bleeding to death outside of his apartment complex.

David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) (credit only), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), Amy Acker (Winifred "Fred" Burkle)

Guest Starring: John Rubinstein (Linwood), Andy Hallett (Lorne), Laurel Holloman (Justine Cooper), Stephanie Romanov (Lilah Morgan) Jack Conley (Sahjhan)

Co-Starring: Kay Panabaker (Girl), Kenneth Dolin (Bum), Tripp Pickell (Holtzian), Sean Mahon (Truck Driver)

Plot Overview

A grief-stricken Angel tries desperately to get Connor back, even going to Wolfram & Hart to get Sahjhan so as to enact revenge. Fred and Gunn, meanwhile, search for Wesley and begin to piece together why he did what he did.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• Sahjhan: Sahjhan's character arc comes to an end with this episode. His race gained a great deal of notoriety in what appeared to be the 1500s or 1600s due to their penchant for torture and violent death. Wolfram & Hart made them intangible in order to end their widespread chaos. Sahjhan can travel through time and dimensions while incorporeal and may also have this ability while in his physical body. At one point, he was captured in an urn by several monks (which is how he is disposed of in this episode). Although he is trapped by the end of this episode, it is fated that Connor will kill him.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1/2	Vampires	Justine	Staked	Lair

Music

There is no licensed music in this episode.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Wolfram & Hart: Angel ventures into the mysterious and enigmatic "white room." After his second transdimensional elevator ride in Wolfram & Hart, he finds a little girl who tells him that they're the ones who made Sahjhan immaterial.

• The Prophecy: The prophecies were rewritten by Sahjhan in order to angle someone into killing Connor. In the original scrolls, it was fated that the son of the vampire with a soul would kill Sahjhan.

Characters

• Wesley: Although left for dead in the previous episode, Wesley is eventually found by Fred and Gunn. He is taken to the hospital where doctors find that he has lost a great deal of blood and has a damaged trachea.

Trivia

The Show

• M.I.A.: Cordelia does not appear in this episode and although Wesley does appear, he does not have any lines.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 3.4/5 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. It was ranked 5th out of the 15 WB shows which aired that week. It had a 46% drop off from its 7th Heaven lead-in.

• Credits Flub: When this episode originally aired, the credit for John Rubinstein was left off of the opening. On its rebroadcast, it was added to the top of the list. This is why the credits appear so soon after the title sequence.

Memorable Moments

• Angel confronts Wesley as he's laid up in the hospital. He appears to reach out to forgive, only to turn and try to suffocate him with a pillow before being pulled away, all while swearing that Wesley will die for taking his son away.

Goofs

• When the truck hits Sahjhan, part of the grill breaks off, but is intact in the next shot.

Quotes

• Fred: I just don't believe it.

Lorne: Well, it's true.

Fred: No, it can't be. The baby's not gone.

Lorne: I'm sorry, sweetie, but he is.

Fred: Not like that. Not a portal. There's pulling and there's noise and there's nothing to hold on to. Nothing at all.

Gunn: Baby...

Fred: He must've been so scared.

• Angel: All I care about now is getting my son back. Then I'll deal with those responsible. They'll all pay. Including Wesley.

• Linwood: Still, big win for Holtz.

Lilah: If you call jumping into a cesspool hell dimension a win.

• Angel: Did you check the files?

Gunn: They're in English. Cordelia's filing system isn't.

Angel: I know she was keeping some kind of list of Time, Space and Shifting Entities.

Gunn: Okay, so is that under Time, Space, Shifting, or Entities?

Angel: Let's just check them all.

• Angel: What are you doing?

Fred: Calling Cordelia?

Angel: Why?

Fred: Why?

Angel: I don’t want to ruin Cordelia's holiday.

Fred: Angel... Don't you think she'd want us to call? Shouldn't we tell her what happened? Maybe she could help.

Angel: No!

Fred: Angel.

Angel: She'll be back soon and when she does she'll have presents, for Connor. And he's gonna be here so she can give them to him. Okay?

Fred: Okay.

• Little Girl: (to Angel) You want Sahjhan. Nowadays you can walk right through him. But in the past, they were something else. They were all about torture and death. You can relate. Well, they caused a lot of trouble. Don't get me wrong, I like trouble, but I hate chaos. So we changed them.

• Lorne: Angel, please do not do this thing. We'll find some other way.

Lilah: There is no other way.

Lorne: You know, not speaking would be a really good look for you.

• Fred: Angel, the prophecy --

Angel: It's a lie. I'd never hurt Connor.

Fred: How can you know that for sure?

Angel: I'd never hurt someone I care about. Now move.

• Fred: Where is he? Will you just tell us?

Justine: Heaven. Hell. I slit his throat.

• Sahjhan: Angel. I'm guessing I have you to thank for the whole mortal coil thing.

Angel: Yeah. I tell you what, you take me to the Quo-toth world, help me find my son, we'll call it even.

Sahjhan: Really? You and me, buddy cops, summer release? We iron out our wacky differences and bond. Don't think so.

• Sahjhan: I don't like to brag, but read any good prophecies lately?

Gunn: You wrote the prophecies.

Sahjhan: More a re-write.

Fred: "The father will kill the son."

Sahjhan: Yeah. I flitted back and forth in time, changed the one that threatened me, polished some others. Flitted in a manly way. Just so we're clear.