Angel/The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco

The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco
Season 5, Episode 6
Airdate	November 5, 2003
Production Number	5ADH06
Written by	Jeffrey Bell
Directed by	Jeffrey Bell
← 5x05 Life of the Party	5x07 → Lineage
Angel — Season Five

The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco is the sixth episode of the fifth season of Angel, and the ninety-fourth episode overall. Angel calls on the help of a masked wrestler to fight a demon that killed the wrestler's brothers 50 years prior.

David Boreanaz (Angel), James Marsters (Spike), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), Amy Acker (Winifred "Fred" Burkle), Andy Hallett (Lorne)

and Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce)

Guest Starring: Danny Mora (Número Cinco)

Co-Starring: Bruno Gioiello (Security Guard)

Uncredited: Robert Alonzo (Carlos), Ed Cray (Homeless Murder Victim), Vanessa Lunnon (Lucha Libre Girlfriend)

Plot Overview

When an Aztec demon begins taking hearts of select victims, Angel’s only lead is Wolfram & Hart’s mailman. Once part of a proud band of warriors, he has since spent a defeated life after the demon killed his brothers and left him abandoning his mantle of champion.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• Tezcatcatl: Tezcatcatl was an Aztec warrior who created a mystical talisman that harnessed the power of the sun god. Although this amulet made him nearly unstoppable, he was found out and was executed on the day of the death. However, his death had mystical properties that allowed him to return every 50 years. He spent each appearance searching for the talisman and eating the hearts of heroes for nourishment. Ultimately, he is stopped by Angel and the number brothers by stabbing him through the heart with a metal pole.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	Henderson	Tezcatcatl	Hacked to Pieces	Boiler Room
1	Tezcatcatl	Angel	Stabbed in the Heart	Graveyard
1	Number Five	Tezcatcatl	Stabbed/Internal Bleeding	Graveyard

Music

Music is listed in order of appearance in the episode:

• Calexico - "Guero Canelo"

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Spike learns about the Shanshu prophecy. In particular, that it doesn't actually name the vampire with a soul, but an unspecific apocalyptic battle they play a role in that leads them to becoming human.

Referbacks

• 1x22 - To Shanshu in L.A.: Once again, the Shanshu prophecy is brought up went Spike tells Wesley that Angel is questioning whether or not it actually will come to pass. The prophecy states that after an apocalyptic battle, the vampire with a soul will become human.

Spike: Tall-dark-and-dreary told me he doesn't believe in that Shanshu bugaboo. Says it's a sucker's game.

• 3x14 - Couplet: Wesley translated a passage from a prophecy that said following a great earthquake, fire and the blood filling the sky, Angel will kill his son. This proved to be false and created by a demon to protect himself from being killed.

Angel: Oh, come on, Wes, after everything we've seen the past couple of years? "The father will kill the son."

Trivia

The Show

• Real Life: In actual Luchador wrestling, masked wrestlers do not remove their masks in public as a sign of honor. The only time that they remove the mask is if they lose a match which requires them to unmask.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.1/6 in the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Allusions and References

• Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie is a crime fiction writer who specialized in mysteries and is the best-selling author of any genre, barring William Shakespeare. Christie's detective fiction books often provided the reader with all the clues necessary to figure out who committed the crime, but almost always included a twist ending to surprise the reader.

Spike: Doesn't leave much to do other than watch you blokes stumble around playing Agatha Christie.

Goofs

• Holland Manners's business card reads "Attorney's at Law".

Quotes

• Angel: (after he's been thrown through a window) I really hate this place!

• Spike: Fred, did ya hear? Angel attacked the old mail guy.

Angel: What?

Fred: Not Number Five. You didn't hurt him!

Angel: No! He attacked me!

• Lorne: Once the word spreads that you beat up an innocent old man, well, the truly terrible will think twice before going toe-to-toe with our Avenging Angel.

Spike: Yes. The geriatric community will be soiling their nappies when they hear you're on the case. Bravo.

• Spike: Can't drink, smoke, diddle my willy. Doesn't leave much to do other than watching you blokes stumble around playing Agatha Christie.

• Wesley: Yeah, remind me again how you ended up in the front seat.

Spike: Called shotgun, mate.

Wesley: Oh. I thought we were doing a weapons check.

• Número Cinco: Perhaps I wasn't clear in our last conversation.

Angel:: What conversation? You threw me through a window.

Número Cinco: I heard you speaking. You were going to drag me into your quest for the Aztec demon.

Angel: No, I wasn't. I was gonna give you some mail!

Número Cinco: Oh. Sorry.

• Angel: The reason why I know this Aztec demon is not eating the hearts of heroes is... he didn't take mine. Am I honestly supposed to believe that it had no problem sticking a sword in my stomach, but then decided, "Oh wait, his heart's not heroic enough?" I don't think so.

Wesley: I understand you're feeling rejected, but this Aztec warrior it wants the hearts for sustenance. It wants it for the meat; not the metaphor.

Angel: What are you saying?

Gunn: As meat goes, your heart's a dried-up hunk of gnarly-ass beef jerky.

Angel: Yeah, but, stick a piece of wood in it and I still die. Must mean something.

• Angel: Hey, Wes, did you ever hear that the devil built a robot?

Wesley: El Diablo Robotico. Why?

Angel: Nobody ever tells me anything.

• Número Cinco: You are one strange man, Senor Angel.

Angel: I'm not the one in a mask, standing in a cemetery in the middle of the night.

Número Cinco: No, but you will be.

• Fred: So, Number Five, he jumped in and helped at the end?

Angel: He died a hero.