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Belonging Part 1 February 28, 2001 (Yellow) Written by: Shawn Ryan |
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Teaser |
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INT. TRENDY RESTAURANT - NIGHT A platter of trendy appetizers FILLS FRAME as it moves past CAMERA. We FIND COR, WES and GUNN sitting at a table in an upscale restaurant. There is one empty seat. At all four places, remnants of appetizers. They're eating, talking over one another a little. WESLEY CORDELIA GUNN Cor cranes her neck, looking around. WESLEY CORDELIA ANGEL (O.S.) They all look to the empty chair - AS CAMERA PANS from what we now realize is them all reflected in a mirror to them (including Angel in the formerly empty seat) at the table. Angel looks around, a little uncomfortably. ANGEL Angel eyes a MIDDLE AGED WOMAN moving past, draped in a long unusual shawl. GUNN ANGEL CORDELIA WESLEY Wesley hold up a wine glass. Angel and Gunn follow suit. CORDELIA GUNN ANGEL Guys drink. Cordy smiles. CORDELIA Beat. She takes a bite of her appetizer. CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA WESLEY GUNN ANGEL GUNN WESLEY CORDELIA ANGEL GUNN WESLEY ANGEL GUNN WESLEY GUNN Beat. Angel sees that older woman in the shawl heading past them in the opposite direction now. Something suspicious there... WESLEY Angel leaps from the table -- and in that Angel way is suddenly TEN FEET AWAY, grabbing the woman by the shawl. WOMAN WESLEY ANGEL WOMAN ANGEL CORDELIA Cor pulls Angel back to the table -- everyone in the place is staring at them. GUNN ANGEL WESLEY Cor suddenly doubles over in pain. CORDELIA All three guys leap up, rush to her side. GUNN She looks up at them, in a great deal of pain. CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA She lurches out of her chair, pulling the table cloth and dishes with her, making a terrible crash, shoving Wes out of the way and not getting terribly far before she falls to her knees in the middle of the restaurant. ANGLE - THE GUYS Standing and watching as we hear terrible retching sounds. The TABLEAU: Cor on her knees, people horrified, our guys big as life in the middle of it all -- chaos as waiters and busboys grab mops, run to Cor. ANGEL Hold for a long, uncomfortable beat, then OUT. END OF TEASER |
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Act One |
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ACT ONE INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - COR'S DESK - DAY Wesley, by himself, on the phone. WESLEY Wesley hangs up the phone, deeply wounded. Gunn enters the room chewing on a snack. GUNN Wesley hides his pain. WESLEY GUNN WESLEY GUNN WESLEY EXT. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO - DAY Stock shot. Establishing. INT. SOUNDSTAGE - DAY The hustle and bustle of CREW MEMBERS preparing for a shoot. Angel steps into frame, taking it all in. A couple of CREW MEMBERS, carrying stage lights, try to squeeze past Angel. He realizes he's in their way. As he steps aside-- ANGEL They move past, and now Angel sees-- A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN in a bikini, standing on a set doubling as a BEACH -- Palm trees, sand, and bright lights creating a SUNNY DAY look. Fascinated, Angel walks towards the woman. She sees him coming, smiles, is about to say "hello", when-- Angel brushes right past her, and steps on to the fake sand. Angel, looks up, basks in the glow of the "sunshine", takes in the day at the beach, a smile on his face. CORDELIA (O.S.) Angel looks down, sees Cordy, in a bathrobe. Angel smiles. ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL Cordy reacts as she sees someone approaching. CORDELIA SETH, 30's, new Hollywood young Turk, approaches them. At his side a non-speaking MALE ASSISTANT. CORDELIA SETH CORDELIA SETH CORDELIA And Cordy removes her bathrobe to reveal a STRING BIKINI made out of SEASHELLS. We see Angel react. Seth checks her out. SETH Cordy turns around. She's facing Angel now, a little embarrassed as Seth (but not CAMERA) checks out her derriere. SETH She turns back around. He checks her out some more. SETH CORDELIA SETH CORDELIA SETH Angel's heard enough of this. He approaches Seth, pissed off. ANGEL SETH Angel advances, gets in his face. ANGEL SETH Billy heads off. CORDELIA ANGEL SETH She grabs Angel by the arm and pulls him to the side. CORDELIA SETH And with that, Seth walks away. Cordy returns to Angel, devastated. ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL A beat. CORDELIA INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - LOBBY - DAY Gunn sits comfortably on the ottoman, watches Wesley pace, deep in thought. As Wesley makes yet another turn-- GUNN WESLEY GUNN Wesley stops pacing, in his element now. WESLEY GUNN WESLEY GUNN WESLEY Gunn nods, satisfied, as the front doors to the hotel open and RONDELL and GEORGE (both from Episode #14) enter. Gunn sees them, approaches. GUNN RONDELL GUNN WESLEY Wes shakes their hands. WESLEY RONDELL GEORGE WESLEY GUNN GEORGE RONDELL GUNN RONDELL GUNN RONDELL GUNN RONDELL GUNN GEORGE Gunn's a bit thrown off for a beat. GUNN RONDELL GUNN GEORGE Gunn looks between them and Wesley, a choice to be made. GUNN WESLEY GUNN Angel enters from the back, not in the best of moods. As he strides towards the back office-- ANGEL WESLEY Angel enters what is now Wesley's office, Wesley follows him inside. A strained beat, a moment of decision between Gunn and his guys. Finally: GUNN Rondell and George share a private look. George finally nods. GEORGE Rondell and George exit. Gunn watches them for a beat, then heads for-- INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - WESLEY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS Where Angel is rifling through the weapons cabinet, pulling out various weapons. Wesley senses Angel's bad mood. WESLEY Angel stops rooting through the cabinet, rises and faces Wes and Gunn, who has just entered. ANGEL WESLEY GUNN WESLEY ANGEL WESLEY ANGEL GUNN ANGEL A LONG PAUSE: as they exchange guilty looks all around. Finally-- WESLEY GUNN ANGEL They all nod, chastised and in agreement. Angel having gotten it all out. A beat. GUNN WESLEY ANGEL They each grab a couple of the gnarliest looking weapons and STRIDE OUT together into the-- HOTEL LOBBY And we're into one of our patented, kick-ass power shots. ANGEL SMASH CUT: INT. CARITAS - DAY Where The Host is in the middle of singing "Superstition" in front of a packed, appreciative crowd. He's belting his little green heart out, when a GLIMMERING PORTAL begins to form behind him. Blissfully unaware, the Host keeps singing. AUDIENCE MEMBERS take note of the growing portal, figure it's part of some elaborate stage show and begin to APPLAUD. The Host acknowledges his adoring fans and hits the big crescendo of the song. Mid-note, the portal, fully formed now, emits an UNHOLY NOISE. The Host is confused by the interruption, turns around as he continues crooning. The Host sees the portal and unleashes a loud SHRIEK, ruining the big finish to his song. The Host frantically scrambles backwards off the stage just as-- A CREATURE comes flying through the portal, landing hard on the stage. The creature raises its head, confused. This thing is a snarling, pissed off, scary-ass half-orc, half-ogre kind of thing, with claws and razor sharp teeth. Oh, yeah... this thing ain't good. BLACK OUT: END OF ACT ONE |
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Act Two |
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INT. CARITAS - DAY Pretty much where we left off. The Host is backing off stage as far away from this thing as he can get. It scares the shit out of him. BACK ON STAGE This creature, which we will learn is called a DROKKEN (RHYMES with Rockin'), leaps off the stage, BASHES through the crowd, sending a demon flying, uprooting tables and chairs. Despite its impressive size, this thing moves quite fast. Patrons scramble out of its way, as it darts around the bar, trying desperately to find an exit. The Drokken eventually finds its way to the stairway, and it's up the stairs and out the door. An eerie silence comes over the place. The calm after the storm. The Host steps forward from his hiding place, to allay everyone's fears. HOST So why does the Host look so worried? Looking out after the beast, he says quietly... HOST INT. SOUNDSTAGE - DAY CLOSE ON CORDY With some drastic make-up on (dark lip-liner and beige lipstick, big sultry glam eye shadow), as she purrs at us seductively. CORDELIA We POP WIDE to reveal Cordy, in her bikini, kneeling on the sand beside the tanned back of an ACTOR-HUNK lying on a towel -- the other beautiful woman in a bikini on his other side. Cordy's rubbing suntan lotion on his skin, talking to the camera. CORDELIA The Actor Hunk lifts his head and grins, gives the camera a big thumbs-up. SETH Seth approaches Cor, impatient. SETH CORDELIA SETH CORDELIA SETH CORDELIA SETH It's everything Cordy can do not to burst into tears. All the CREW MEMBERS are staring at her. CORDELIA INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - LOBBY - NIGHT Angel and Wes enter from the back stairwell, carrying their weapons, not in the best of spirits. Wes, without his glasses, dabs a bloodied cloth above one of his eyes. There's a small cut. WESLEY ANGEL Angel's spotted something else. Wesley follows his gaze to see -- Cordy sitting on the ottoman, pensive. She's not crying now, but by her looks, she was not too long ago. WESLEY ANGEL She doesn't say anything. Angel can only assume that she's pissed at him. He goes to her. ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA WESLEY ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL CORDELIA WESLEY ANGEL Cordy shakes her head, defeated. CORDELIA The three of them contemplate this for a second, can't disagree. Suddenly, the front door BURSTS open and the Host enters -- not quite his usual confident self. HOST WESLEY As he heads for his books, the Host interrupts him. HOST Wesley stops. HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST EXT. STREET - NIGHT A darkened entryway in the downtowny part of town. The Camera pushes in closer to reveal the Drokken, cloaked in shadows (Think Orson Welles in "The Third Man" here.) A DOOR down the street opens-- RAVE MUSIC, BRIGHT LIGHTS emanates from the pace. A few CLUBBERS enters. Now TWO CLUBBERS, 20's, exit the underground club, start walking along the sidewalk, towards the Drokken. The Drokken slips back into the shadows. As the clubbers pass by the Drokken's hiding place, the DROKKEN POUNCES! BAM!!!! The Drokken is on top of them in a furious display of savagery (most of which takes place below camera). The two men SCREAM, but the noise quickly dies out. The Drokken rises into frame, violently chewing what we can only imagine is human flesh. The Drokken goes down for another bite, rises up into frame again, satiating his hunger. A CAR ALARM is heard. The Drokken slows his chewing, remains still for a second. Then his head turns towards the corner, just as-- AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN heading for the club, walks around the corner, her head down, as she adjusts her tight dress, unaware she's walking straight towards the Drokken. When she finally looks up, she sees the Drokken. She stops dead, terrified. The Drokken looks at her, intrigued, its SHARP TEETH glimmering red. ANGEL (V.O.) INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - LOBBY - NIGHT Angel, Wes and Cordy opposite the host. ANGEL WESLEY HOST ANGEL The Host is thrown by this, gets increasingly nervous. HOST Angel and Wesley stare at him unflinchingly. HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL CORDELIA ANGEL Cordy nods towards Wesley, like "isn't he the one calling the shots now?" ANGEL WESLEY CORDELIA HOST WESLEY Wesley thinks about this for a moment, then-- WESLEY HOST Cordy still sitting on the otto, doubles over, moans. HOST WESLEY ANGEL Cordy jerks backwards now, clearly in the throes of a vision. As Wes and Angel go to support her-- ANGEL The CAMERA ROCKETS in on Cordy's face and we go into-- INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - NIGHT CORDY'S VISION. Our usual jump cutty thing. There's a young woman. Her name, we will learn, is FRED (short for Winifred.) She wears glasses. She pushes a cart loaded with books through the library. We see a CHAIN around her neck with a locket in the shape of an APPLE. We see A LARGE BLACK BOOK in the middle of a row of books. A HAND grabs the book and pulls it out. Now we see Fred reading from the book. We don't hear what she's saying, but her lips are moving. Suddenly a PORTAL starts developing behind her. She seems oblivious to it, keeps reading. INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - LOBBY - NIGHT - CONTINUING Cordy comes back from her vision, still feeling the pain. ANGEL CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA HOST CORDELIA WESLEY HOST WESLEY HOST WESLEY As they all prepare to go, grab coats, weapons, etc.., HOST As the other three have started to leave, Angel sees the Host still standing in place. ANGEL HOST As soon as Angel turns, the Host's face falls. He's dreading something. As he follows them out-- INT. HOMEBASE - ROOM #1 - NIGHT Gunn enters, sees a TEENAGE HISPANIC KID standing against the wall. GUNN The kid simply nods towards a door at the other end of the room. Something's clearly bothering him. Gunn senses it. GUNN Junior doesn't answer, he just looks to the floor. Gunn picks up his pace now, makes his way to-- INT. HOMEBASE - ROOM #2 - NIGHT A group of Gunn's crew are clogging up the room, their backs to him. Gunn walks in. Hearing him, people turn around and look at him as he wades into the room, snakes through the crowd. Gunn exchanges a few looks with people who stare right back, but say nothing. As he continues making his way through the congestion, the final people peel away, revealing-- GEORGE lying dead on the floor, Rondell kneeling over his body. Gunn rushes the remaining few yards to George and kneels down next to him, opposite Rondell. Gunn takes this in for a moment, stunned. GUNN Rondell simply swivels George's head, revealing the TWO VAMPIRE BITE MARKS on George's neck. GUNN RONDELL This hits Gunn like a body blow. Because he knows what they have to do next. Off Gunn, looking at George-- INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - NIGHT The place is practically empty, due to the late hour. Angel, Wes, Cordy and the Host walk through the library. HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST A librarian, CLAIRE, emerges from around a corner, carrying a few books. She's early 30's, pleasant. She comes fact to face with the Host. The shock of seeing a demon up close causes her to freeze. Busted, the Host initially freezes as well, then turns on the charm. HOST CLAIRE HOST CLAIRE HOST CLAIRE HOST CLAIRE HOST CLAIRE HOST The Host heads off in that direction. Claire turns to the other three. CLAIRE CORDELIA CLAIRE CORDELIA CLAIRE CORDELIA CLAIRE ANGEL CLAIRE ANGEL Claire pauses, unsure of what to say. She merely moves off to the-- CHECKOUT DESK She goes behind the desk as Angel, Wes and Cordy approach the front, curious. Clair opens a drawer, digs through some papers, pulls out an OLD FLYER. CLAIRE INSERT: The flyer. It's of the "Have you seen me?" variety with all the particulars, including a PHOTO of Fred. CORDELIA CLAIRE Angel pulls out one of their business cards, hands it to her. ANGEL WESLEY CLAIRE WESLEY CLAIRE Off their looks-- INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - FOREGIN LANGUAGE SECTION - NIGHT We see a SIGN that reads "Foreign Language Books" as Angel, Wesley and Cordelia enter the section. WESLEY CORDELIA The Host approaches them. HOST ANGEL HOST CORDELIA Cordy points towards a LARGE BLACK BOOK in the stacks. She pulls it out, looks at the cover. CORDELIA Wesley looks over her shoulder as she opens the book to the first page. In big letters it reads "Shrsqwrn". WESLEY Cordy pulls out the checkout card from the inside cover. CORDELIA ANGEL Cordy opens up the book to a random page, reads aloud. CORDELIA We see-- A PORTAL is opening up right behind her. As it makes that same UNHOLY NOISE-- HOST BLACK OUT END OF ACT TWO Continue on to Part
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Belonging Part 2 February 28, 2001 (Yellow) Written by: Shawn Ryan |
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Act Three |
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INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - FOREGIN LANGUAGE SECTION - NIGHT Angel pulls Cordy out of the way of the portal, just as a CREATURE is thrown out of it, onto the library floor, where she was just standing. (Note: The portal goes away now.) We will learn the creature's name is LANDOK. We don't get a good look at him at first. What we do see is wild, long hair and a SCIMITAR in its hand. Angel advances on Landok. Landok raises his head, sees Angel coming at him. He swings his scimitar at Angel. Angel avoids the blow, gets in a couple powerful kicks. Landok comes back with the scimitar, Angel knocks it out of his hand, delivers two punches to Landok's face, driving him back into a stack of books. And now we get our first real look at Landok. He looks remarkably like the Host, with a few crucial differences. He has wild, long hair and a fu Manchu over his oversized chin. He wears the armor of a fierce warrior. HOST Landok looks at the Host, stunned. Angel stops his assault on Landok, looks back at the Host. ANGEL HOST LANDOK HOST But Angel doesn't attack him. Instead, he looks at the Host, who sheepishly averts his gaze. ANGEL CORDELIA The Host is more than a little embarrassed by these revelations. HOST ANGEL HOST CORDELIA ANGEL Landok takes in his surroundings. LANDOK HOST LANDOK He raises his scimitar to smite them. HOST LANDOK CORDELIA HOST ANGEL LANDOK HOST LANDOK HOST LANDOK The Host realizes he's not going to be able to weasel out of this conversation so easily. HOST LANDOK HOST LANDOK HOST LANDOK HOST LANDOK HOST LANDOK HOST CORDELIA WESLEY HOST LANDOK HOST WESLEY LANDOK HOST LANDOK ANGEL WESLEY ANGEL CORDELIA LANDOK ANGEL LANDOK WESLEY LANDOK WESLEY LANDOK |