Angel/Unleashed

Unleashed
Season 5, Episode 3
Airdate	October 15, 2003
Production Number	5ADH03
Written by	Sarah Fain & Elizabeth Craft
Directed by	Marita Grabiak
← 5x02 Just Rewards (2)	5x04 → Hell Bound
Angel — Season Five

Unleashed is the third episode of the fifth season of Angel, and the ninety-first episode overall. Angel saves the life of a woman attacked by a werewolf, but when he realizes she was bitten he must find her before she transforms.

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: Jenny Mollen (Nina Ash), John Billingsley (Dr. Royce)

Co-Starring: Heidi Dippold (Jill), Sascha Shapiro (Amanda), Braeden Marcott (Jacob Crane)

Plot Overview

Angel saves a girl during a werewolf attack, but not before she’s bitten. Unaware of the nature that’s now in her system, Angel and co. try to find her and help her reconcile the balance between the two worlds she’ll now have to inhabit.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• Werewolves: The werewolf myth is essentially how the creature is treated in this episode. Unlike other werewolves from the universe (particularly Oz), Nina's wolf form has more human features and is technically Lycanthropus exterus. She transforms on nights with a full moon and reverts at dawn or after being killed.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1	McManus	Angel	Stabbed in the Neck	Woods
2	Man	Nina	Throat Ripped Out	Banquet

Music

Music is listed in order of appearance in the episode:

• Rick Springfield - "Jesse's Girl"

• Ryan Adams - "La Cienega Just Smiled"

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Spike: Spike's been blinking out of reality more and more for longer periods of time.

Referbacks

• BtVS - 4x07 - The Initiative: Wesley refers to the Initiative, a secret military operation dedicated to hunting down demons and monsters to examine and neutralize. This group was responsible for putting a chip in Spike's brain which caused him injury when he tried to hurt a human. The organization was eventually shut down when its leader's Frankenstein creation went berserk. Surviving agents went into a military secret ops program.

Wesley: An underground monster-hunting military organization. It's happened before.

Trivia

The Show

• First Appearance: This episode marks the first appearance of Jenny Mollen as Nina Ash. She will go on to appear two more times this season.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 4.2/6 in the overnight Nielsen ratings. The episode was watched by an average of 5 million viewers.

Quotes

• Spike: Hey! I'm a situation, remember? I'm a bloody phantom. And you and your serious girl spectacles were gonna help me with my bloody little problem.

Fred: I know and I bloody will.

• Fred: Wesley might be able to--

Spike: No.

Fred: He - He knows more about the mystical than--

Spike: I can't. We got a history, him and me.

Fred: What?

Spike: It was a long time ago. He was a young Watcher, fresh out of the academy, when we crossed paths. It was a - what you call - battle of wills and blood was spilled. Vendettas were sworn. It was a whole--

Fred: My God. You're so full of crap.

• Spike: Catch her after she goes all growly, won't be easy taking her out. I had a wee spat with a werewolf myself once. Fought for over an hour. Brutal, vicious. Almost lost my--

Fred: Angel killed him with a pen.

• Angel: (to Spike) You know that whoosh thing that you do when you're suddenly not there anymore? I love that.

• Nina: Don't tell me what you know! You didn't wake up and find out you're a... monster. You don't know anything.

Angel: I'm not a werewolf, like you, but I — I know what it's like. I'm a monster, too.

Nina: So, what? You're, like, a Frankenstein?

• Nina: You're not a monster, too, are you?

Fred: Nope. Standard-issue science nerd. I did spend 5 years in a demon dimension... till Angel saved me.

Nina: Guess he saves a lot of girls, huh?

Fred: Girls, guys, puppies. He's pretty much an equal-opportunity saver.

• Fred: We try to be there for each other.

Nina: Like a family?

Fred: Yeah, a demon-hunting, helpless-helping, dysfunctional family.

• Angel: Where is she!?

Royce: I don't know what you're--

Angel: Wrong answer!

Royce: But it's a secret! If I tell you, this man, he's not like you. You're a good guy, but he's a... Well, no offence, but he's scarier than you.

Angel: (vamps out) Wanna bet?

• Nina: How do you live with it? Knowing that you've killed people?

Angel: Nina, they were going to eat you for dinner.

Nina: I just want to wake up, you know?

Angel: At some point, you'll be at the grocery store or with Amanda and, the whole werewolf thing, it'll just be a part of who you are.

Nina: Next you're going to tell me you actually like being a vampire.

Angel: Well, being nearly indestructible is cool.

• Nina: You don't ever think about... letting go? Disappearing somewhere?

Angel: Look, if you separate yourself from the ones you love, the monster wins.

• Angel: I'm buying.

Lorne: Ladies and gentlemen, hell just froze over.

• Gunn: So, werewolf girl - think you got a shot?

Angel: She gave me a look.

Wesley: Really? A look?