Carpe Noctem (Angel episode)
Encyclopedia
"Carpe Noctem" is episode 4 of season 3 in the television show Angel
.
Fred shares her admiration for Angel in front of the rest of the team as she theorizes what he is reading upstairs. Angel comes down from his room with a newspaper and invites everyone to a Charlton Heston double feature to which only Fred is delighted to take up. The next evening, Fred gushes about her date to Wesley and Cordelia. Concerned, Cordelia instructs Angel to have a talk with besotted Fred, which Angel avoids by bringing up a string of deaths in hotels which involved melted bodies and insists he needs to investigate right away.
The team find out that the men killed were all members of the same gym. Angel and Cordelia arrive there and Cordelia promptly interviews the muscled men and questions them - for their phone numbers. Angel notices a retirement home across the street where an old man is seen peering at them with binoculars. He leaves Cordelia and confronts the old man, Marcus, who recites a spell that switches their bodies.
While Marcus enjoys himself in Angel’s vampiric body, Angel tries to leave the retirement home in the frail Marcus’s body to warn the gang of the impostor in their midst. Meanwhile, Lilah
continues to clash with her co-worker Gavin over their tactics to take down Angel and his group. She goes to Angel with documents that would foil Gavin's attempt to evacuate the hotel since it wasn't "up to code" to one-up him. Marcus in Angel's body tells her she is a very beautiful woman and they start kissing each other furiously. Fred, who was given the same line by Marcus earlier and instructed her to wear something pretty to go out, sees them and runs away in tears. Marcus vamps out in his passion and bites Lilah who is furious with him for playing games and runs out. Marcus tries to find out what happened and is shocked to find he doesn't have a reflection. He spends the night shredding contents of files related to his murders and goes through books researching vampires, realizing this body will never give out on him and planning to kill Angel in his old one.
Cordelia finds Fred sobbing in the elevator and finds out about "Angel"'s actions. Wesley finds the office littered with the books and correctly theorizes that Angel's body has been taken over. He, Gunn, Cordelia, and Fred rescue Angel from being killed and he is returned to his own form. Marcus angrily tells him he wastes his life instead of taking advantage of what he has. Angel tells him his heart is weak because he doesn't use it. An upset Marcus has an onset of a fifth heart attack as Angel and his team walk out together.
Back at the Hyperion, Angel attempts to explain to Fred that he is sorry for what happened earlier and Fred tells him Cordelia already talked to her explaining about Angel's curse as well as his having no romantic feelings for her. At the end of the episode, Willow
calls the hotel to tell the group that Buffy
has been revived, five months after her death.
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
.
Plot synopsis
While investigating the strange deaths of various men, who appear to have been drained of life energy, Angel finds himself in a bind when an old man switches bodies with him. Marcus, it turns out, is staying young by switching bodies with younger men. He ends up killing them as he carouses with booze and orgies.Fred shares her admiration for Angel in front of the rest of the team as she theorizes what he is reading upstairs. Angel comes down from his room with a newspaper and invites everyone to a Charlton Heston double feature to which only Fred is delighted to take up. The next evening, Fred gushes about her date to Wesley and Cordelia. Concerned, Cordelia instructs Angel to have a talk with besotted Fred, which Angel avoids by bringing up a string of deaths in hotels which involved melted bodies and insists he needs to investigate right away.
The team find out that the men killed were all members of the same gym. Angel and Cordelia arrive there and Cordelia promptly interviews the muscled men and questions them - for their phone numbers. Angel notices a retirement home across the street where an old man is seen peering at them with binoculars. He leaves Cordelia and confronts the old man, Marcus, who recites a spell that switches their bodies.
While Marcus enjoys himself in Angel’s vampiric body, Angel tries to leave the retirement home in the frail Marcus’s body to warn the gang of the impostor in their midst. Meanwhile, Lilah
Lilah Morgan
Lilah Morgan is a fictional character from the television series Angel, played by Stephanie Romanov. She is first introduced in the episode "The Ring," and appears in the show's first and second seasons. After Lindsey McDonald leaves Los Angeles, Lilah becomes the primary face of Wolfram & Hart,...
continues to clash with her co-worker Gavin over their tactics to take down Angel and his group. She goes to Angel with documents that would foil Gavin's attempt to evacuate the hotel since it wasn't "up to code" to one-up him. Marcus in Angel's body tells her she is a very beautiful woman and they start kissing each other furiously. Fred, who was given the same line by Marcus earlier and instructed her to wear something pretty to go out, sees them and runs away in tears. Marcus vamps out in his passion and bites Lilah who is furious with him for playing games and runs out. Marcus tries to find out what happened and is shocked to find he doesn't have a reflection. He spends the night shredding contents of files related to his murders and goes through books researching vampires, realizing this body will never give out on him and planning to kill Angel in his old one.
Cordelia finds Fred sobbing in the elevator and finds out about "Angel"'s actions. Wesley finds the office littered with the books and correctly theorizes that Angel's body has been taken over. He, Gunn, Cordelia, and Fred rescue Angel from being killed and he is returned to his own form. Marcus angrily tells him he wastes his life instead of taking advantage of what he has. Angel tells him his heart is weak because he doesn't use it. An upset Marcus has an onset of a fifth heart attack as Angel and his team walk out together.
Back at the Hyperion, Angel attempts to explain to Fred that he is sorry for what happened earlier and Fred tells him Cordelia already talked to her explaining about Angel's curse as well as his having no romantic feelings for her. At the end of the episode, Willow
Willow Rosenberg
Willow Rosenberg is a fictional character created for the fantasy television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer . She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan...
calls the hotel to tell the group that Buffy
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
has been revived, five months after her death.
Arc significance
- Angel and his team learn that Buffy is alive again through a phone call by Willow.
- Crossover with Buffy: Buffy meets Angel immediately after this episode. Albeit this meeting is the subject of Jane EspensonJane EspensonJane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
's Buffy/Angel comic, ReunionReunion (Buffy comic)Reunion is a comic based on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.-Story description:Willow recently called Angel and announced that Buffy was alive. Angel called Buffy and the two agreed to meet at a place between Sunnydale and LA...
, the real events occurred in the meeting are never revealed, as in the comics are only depicted the speculations made by the scoobies about it. - Cordelia's mentioning of Angel doing the "mystery dance with a cheap blonde" is a reference to Angel's previous relationships with Buffy and Darla, both of whom are blondes.
- Fred's feelings towards Angel, that have been building up ever since their first meeting in Pylea, are addressed by Cordelia and Angel, making it clear to Fred that it won't work out.
Cultural references
- Carpe DiemCarpe diemCarpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
: The episode's title is a modified version of the phrase, meaning "seize the day," of Roman poet HoraceHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
. The modified version means "Seize the night" in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. - The films that Angel takes Fred to see are The Omega ManThe Omega ManThe Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
and Soylent GreenSoylent GreenSoylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Charlton Heston, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres as it depicts the investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution,...
, both science fiction films released in the early 1970s starring Charlton HestonCharlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
. - Fred says to Angel, "It's like something out of Fitzgerald. The man who can have everything but love." This is a reference to The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
by F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
.