Angel - Season 3 - "Billy"

Imagine you�ve just been rescued from a hell dimension from which you were imprisoned as a slave and then on the run as a fugitive living in a cave for five years� Now imagine being trapped in an abandoned hotel with your rescuer stalking you door by door and hall by hall with an axe! Poor Fred!

This episode solidified �Angel� as the smartest of the Whedonverse shows. With homage to �The Shining� (that actually sent chills down my spine), this episode was just pure evil! Wesley and Gunn were infected by the blood of (the also just rescued from a hell dimension) Billy. See, Billy was rescued by Angel from a fiery hell-cell in order to save Cordelia from dying by the hands of Wolfram & Hart�s lovely but insane Lilah Morgan. Billy has this power over males who come in contact with him, causing them to enact unnerving violence on women so he can witness and get pleasure from their pain and torture. Phew what a guy!

Because I�ve done it no justice, here is the plot summary courtesy of tv.com:
Angel's loyalty to his friends comes back to haunt them in this chilling episode, an unsettling blend of the series' usual horrors with the more realistic issue of violence against women. Angel and Cordelia both knew there would be consequences when he freed the partially demonic (but totally evil) Billy from a fiery prison in hell in order to save her. Those fears are realized when a wave of violence against women is traced back to Billy, whose mere touch has the power to bring out the worst in otherwise good men. The crew rushes to prevent another brutal attack, unaware that Wesley has already been infected---and he's alone in the hotel with Fred.


But in true Whedon glory, the episode also features some of the wittiest dialogue and bitchy banter you�ve ever heard courtesy of Cordelia Chase and the black-eyed and emotionally frail Lilah Morgan. Here are some samples:

Cordelia: I want you to help me stop him.
Lilah: And what makes you think I'm gonna do that?
Cordelia: Well, there's your face, for starters.
Lilah: I know the risks of my job and I accept them.
Cordelia: Why were you crying five minutes ago? There's not a thing about badly-reapplied mascara that I don't know.

Cordelia: Angel feels responsible because he brought this guy back from hell. I feel responsible because he did it to save me. You, who are actually responsible for the entire thing, feel nothing at all, because you are a vicious bitch.
Lilah: So? You know me.
Cordelia: Please! I WAS you... with better shoes.
Lilah: These are Boracci.
Cordelia: Fall collection?
Lilah: Next spring.
Cordelia: He's widened the heel.
Lilah: And rounded the toe.
Cordelia: That won't work with pink.
Lilah: Pink is out this spring.
Cordelia: Billy makes people crazy�