The Ring (Angel episode)
| "The Ring" | |
|---|---|
| Angel episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 16 |
| Directed by | Nick Marck |
| Written by | Howard Gordon |
| Production code | 1ADH16 |
| Original air date | February 29, 2000 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"The Ring" is episode 16 of season 1 in the television show Angel. Written by Howard Gordon and directed by Nick Marck, it was originally broadcast on February 29, 2000 on the WB television network. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series. In this episode, Angel is captured and enslaved in a fighting club, and must fight his way to freedom, or rely on Cordelia Chase and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce to save him.
As Cordelia and Wesley bicker while using a new demon database, Darin MacNamara stumbles into the Angel Investigations office, saying his brother Jack was kidnapped the previous night by a group that was not "exactly people". Darin tells Angel he and his brother were not close, since Jack wasn’t as successful as Darin. Jack had a gambling problem and, though Darin had paid off bookies for him in the past, had recently refused to help him again. He felt guilty afterwards and went to Jack’s place in time to see the non-people taking him away. Angel goes to find Ernie, the bookie Darin wouldn’t pay off, and interrupts his poker game to try to get information. He promises that Darin will pay off Jack’s debts, but Ernie says it’s no longer about money, but about making an example out of Jack. Angel offers him some money and learns that Jack may be somewhere under Beechwood Canyon. Cordelia and Wesley search the demon database with the information Darin gave them about the demon who took Jack. Wesley argues that by the time Cordelia finds the demon on the computer he could find it in his book, but Cordelia proves him wrong, producing a Howler demon.
Angel heads into a sewer under Beechwood Canyon and is attacked by Howler demons. He asks one of them where Jack is and is told that he was sold. A number of people in fancy clothes gather in a run-down neighborhood and head into a building. Angel sneaks in through the basement and looks at a women's ticket. In another room, two demons are fighting each other in a pit. One of the demons is knocked down and the crowd chants, “Killing blow!” A man nearby tosses a knife to the other demon, who slits the other's throat. The crowd cheers and the demon, Tom Cribb, is pronounced the winner. The next demon up, Val Trepkos, is announced as Angel spots Jack being led through the crowd. He follows them down a corridor, where they meet up with Darin. Darin warns Jack to be wary of Angel, since he managed to defeat the Howler demons. Angel realizes that he was set up and tries to fight off the guys, who are attempting to check him over, until cattle prods render him unconscious. Jack announces that Angel will be “a crowd-pleaser.” Angel awakens later to find himself with his jacket and shirt off, in a cage, surrounded by other demons in cages. He has a silver bracelet on his wrist that reads “XXI”, which he learns keeps him imprisoned. He tries to converse with his fellow captives but they don’t appear to speak English. Jack tells the “slaves” that the only rule is that they stay inside the red area marked off around the cages. They can only get out of the red area when their bracelets are removed, and that only happens after their 21st kill. Angel refuses to kill anyone and Jack replies that in that case, he’ll be the one killed.
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