Why We Fight

Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, James Marsters as Spike, J. August Richards as Gunn, Amy Acker as Fred, Andy Hallet as Lorne, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

Guest starring: Eyal Podell as Sam Lawson, Lindsey Gintner as G-Man #1, Scott Klace as G-Man #2

Original air date: February 11, 2004

Written by: Drew Goddard & Steven S. DeKnight Directed by: Terrence O’Hara

1943: General chaos has broken out in a submerged submarine. The radio operator calls for help as the Captain orders the compartment cleared. The Captain falls and Ensign Lawson and a crewman try to save him, but the Captain’s body is pulled from their grip. Both Lawson and the crewman are sprayed with the Captain’s blood. Both of them run out of the compartment and seal the door behind them.

Present day: At Wolfram & Hart Gunn is reporting that Eve has apparently disappeared. While Angel is happy with the news, Wes reminds everyone that Eve did promise to exact revenge, and Gunn speculates about what the Senior Partners might do to Eve given her betrayal. Lindsey hasn’t been seen or heard from either, and Gunn thinks the Senior Partners are taking care of him, but Angel wants to know for sure. Gunn explains that finding out “for sure” may be difficult. With Eve gone there is no liaison with the Senior Partners, and the Big Cat is no longer in the white room. Gunn has a serious lapse in memory when he tries to explain a way to re-establish a link with the Senior Partners. Angel brings the meeting to a close and everyone goes back to their offices to finish up some more work - such is a Friday night for the AI team. After the team leaves the lobby the elevator doors open. A man who looks suspiciously like Ensign Sam Lawson steps out of the elevator and chuckles.

Later, Fred finds Lawson in her lab going through some of her files. Lawson chats with Fred, even calling her “Miss Burkle.” Fred is clearly suspicious and she edges towards the exit, but Lawson tells her not to run. If Fred ran he’d have to stop her. And he says it in such a way that it appears friendly but Fred knows he’s dead serious (emphasis on the “dead”). When Fred asks him what he wants, Lawson tells her he’s here to see Angel and that they are old friends, “back in the day,” in Angel’s patriotic phase.

1943: Angel is sitting alone in an apartment in New York City. A man crashes through the door and knocks Angel down, then brandishes a stake. A second man comes through the door with a crossbow, followed by two more men. The third man through the door (G-Man #1) tells Angel to keep calm and to listen to what he has to say. G-Man #1 wants Angel to join the war effort. G-Man #1 explains that the Germans are nearly unstoppable in the Atlantic due to their superior submarines. But, two days before the American Navy captured a newly designed German U-Boat. Shortly after that something went wrong and the Navy received part of a distress call and haven’t heard from the captured submarine since. The Americans want that boat, but can’t send divers after it due to the pressure and cold of the ocean.G-Man #2 tells Angel that Angel has been watched by a government group called the “Demon Research Initiative,” and that Angel may be able to help with the submarine because Angel doesn’t breathe and is impervious to cold. When Angel disagrees, G-Man #2 tells Angel that they really don’t care if Angel *wants* to help, but they think Angel will help if they tie enough weight to Angel. The two men tell Angel that the sub’s cargo is potentially dangerous and may have been responsible for the attack on the crew. They show Angel a file on this “cargo.”

In the sub there are about six men, including Lawson, locked in a compartment. Ensign Lawson is trying to keep up the morale of the few remaining crewmen and keep the crewmen from killing a surviving German naval officer. At present, there’s no way to control the sub and about two days worth of oxygen left, and the “things” that attacked the crew are still roaming the ship and may break in the compartment at any time. The men hear a loud noise on the hull of the ship and, what ever is causing the noise, is working it’s way back to the torpedo room and, eventually, into one of the torpedo tubes. None of the men want to open the tube until an SOS signal in Morse code is tapped out from *inside* one of the torpedo tubes. A crewman opens the torpedo tube and it’s Angel.

Present day: Wes walks into Angel’s office and see’s Fred bound and gagged in a chair. Fred tries to signal Wes with her eyes, but before Wes can do anything Lawson hits Wes on the back of the head knocking him unconscious.

1943: Angel gives Lawson an code verifying that Angel was sent by the American military. Lawson briefs Angel about their current state. Angel tells Lawson to lock up the compartment and not to open it for anyone except Angel. When Lawson suggests that Angel take a weapon with him, Angel tells Lawson to keep the gun and that Angel knows what he’s up against. Angel walks through the eerie quiet to the next door. He opens it and is surprised to find Spike. Almost as surprised as Spike is. Spike’s wearing a leather SS coat but denies he’s a Nazi - he just ate one. Spike tells Angel that the SS grabbed him in Madrid through a cleverly disguised trap of a “free virgin blood party” where all the virgins looked like Goebbels. Spike introduces Angel to the other baddies on the ship, Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies. Nostroyev tries to puff up his own ego by making Angel look bad and, when that doesn’t work, proudly announces that he was Rasputin’s lover. Spike explains that he broke Nostroyev and the Prince out, then the three of them took part in the Yankee buffet that used to be the crew. The three vampires didn’t leave anyone alive in this part of the ship and, when Angel tells them there are a few men left in the torpedo room, Spike and Nostroyev want to go finish them off. Angel won’t let the vamps feed on any more humans, yet, because the humans are the only ones able of running the ship. Nostroyev tries to bully his way past Angel under the pretense that only one human is needed to run the ship and, when Nostroyev threatens Angel, Angel dusts Nostroyev. Spike and the Prince wisely decide to let Angel set the rules.

Present day: Angel is working in his penthouse. Lawson greets Angel and is a little surprised that Angel doesn’t recognize him after all the time they spent in the submarine. Angel isn’t that surprised that Lawson broke in; after all Wolfram & Hart is becoming like Grand Central Station. Lawson tells Angel that he’s been following Angel, checking in on him, about once a decade. Lawson thinks that becoming CEO of Wolfram & Hart is quite a step up from eating gutter rats, but can’t quite reconcile “helping people” with “running Wolfram & Hart.” Angel simply tells Lawson that Angel’s path was “complicated” and Lawson thinks that it was better, back in the day, when times were simpler and things made sense.

1943: Angel escorts the remaining crew to the bridge where the crew comes face-to-face with Spike and the Prince of Lies, the demons who butchered the crew. Lawson directs the crew to different stations to get the sub moving. Angel and Lawson move the bodies of the dead crewmen out of the bridge. As they work, Angel and Lawson talk. Lawson acknowledges that there is a “big picture” and that he doesn’t know what it is, but Lawson doesn’t know why they would be working with the monsters that butchered his crew. Angel tries to explain to Lawson that Angel has Spike and the Prince under control and that, with the few men still alive, they might need Spike’s and the Prince’s help. Angel also tells Lawson that they have to bring the sub in - those are their orders. Lawson tells Angel that there’s a difference between ‘orders’ and ‘purpose.’ Lawson is willing to die on this mission provided that fulfilling the mission will serve a higher purpose. Angel tells Lawson that bringing the sub in will help fulfill a higher purpose, and that Lawson should trust Angel and his ability to bring the sub and crew in, safe and sound.

Present day: Lawson asks Angel if he cared about the ship, the mission, or the men, or if Angel was on the sub to save his own butt. Lawson wants to understand why but is interrupted by Angel tripping him, shattering a wooden table, grabbing a piece of wood, and trying to drive the stake through Lawson’s heart. Angel reminds Lawson that the next time they saw each other, Angel promised to kill Lawson. Lawson chuckles - did Angel really think that Lawson would come all the way in here without an ace up his sleeve? Angel takes Lawson’s threat seriously and tosses the stake aside. Lawson and Angel take an elevator to the floor with Angel’s office. As Angel gets off the elevator he looks deeply upset. Across the lobby, Gunn, Fred, and Wes are bound with their hands behind their backs, gagged, feet tied together, standing on wheeled office chairs, with wire nooses around their necks. Angel tells Lawson that this is not the way to get what Lawson wants from Angel. Lawson tells Angel that maybe, just maybe, Lawson wants to see the look of fear on Angel’s face.

1943: The sub is underway. Spike wants a turn at steering the ship and, when Angel won’t let him, insists he be called “Captain.” Angel is a little disgusted with Spike so he sends Spike to check on the torpedo room. By this time Lawson figures out that Spike and Angel have a history, that they knew each other prior to coming on to the ship. Lawson is still concerned about getting the boat and the crew home safely. As they are talking they hear screaming. Angel and Lawson run into the next compartment to see the Prince of Lies attacking the German naval officer. The Prince of Lies starts yelling about not being a piece of meat, not wanting to be violated by humans. When Angel tries to shut the Prince up, the Prince knocks Angel down. Lawson shoots the Prince, at point-blank range, a few times before the Prince knocks him down, too. The Prince of Lies grabs the German officer again and starts to choke him. Before the German officer is seriously injured, Angel stakes the Prince from behind, dusting him. When the German officer tries to thank Angel, Angel punches him good. Lawson wants an explanation - what was the Prince? Angel tells Lawson that the Prince was a vampire, but Lawson doesn’t find that explanation comforting.

Lawson wants to know why the Prince went ballistic and Spike suggests that it might have something to do with the papers the Prince dropped. Spike, Angel, and Lawson interrogate the German officer. Spike vamps out to put some pressure on the German officer while Lawson translates. The German officer starts to explain about a Nazi plan using “stimulation” and “control” to create an invincible army of vampires. Lawson is disgusted with the Nazi plan and believes that only Hitler and his cronies could come up with a plan that sick. When the German officer says something in German and Angel answers in German, Lawson figures out that Angel knew what the Nazis were doing. Angel explains that this was part of the mission. Spike figures out that Angel is playing the Nazis against the Americans, but tells Angel that if the Yanks were going to try to experiment on him, Spike plans on eating the crew. Lawson doesn’t believe that the American government would participate in that kind of evil, because wars aren’t won by throwing out the rules, wars are won by doing what’s right. Angel tells both Spike and Lawson that the American government will only get the ship and the crew that are alive, and tells Spike to burn up the documents. Spike torches the documents, gleefully, while singing “God Save the King.”

At that moment the sub shudders violently. The ship is being bombarded by depth charges from four German ships on the surface. The concussions from the charges damage the engines and Angel sends Lawson to fix them. More depth charges send violent vibrations through the ship, damaging a pipe that Angel and Spike repair. After the leak is stopped Spike notices that the German officer has vanished. In the engine compartment Lawson is working quickly to repair the engines. As Lawson is working he is surprised by the German officer who stabs Lawson with a screwdriver. Lawson slumps to the ground, dying.

Present day: Lawson tells Angel that he always thought he’d remember the special moments from his life as he was dying. But, when he was dying from the stab wound, all he could think was, “Wow. This really sucks.”

1943: Angel finds Lawson in the engine compartment, slowly dying. Angel can’t fix the engines and the person who *can* is dying. Angel does the only thing he can think of. Angel vamps out and sucks Lawson’s blood, then Angel slices open his wrist and has Lawson drink his blood.

Later Angel and Spike are on the bridge waiting for the engines to be fixed. The remaining crewmen are unconscious from lack of oxygen. As Spike begins to entertain the idea of putting one of the crewmen out of his misery, the lights come back on. Lawson fixed the engines just in time. Angel leaves Spike on the bridge to get the crewmen up and moving while Angel goes to the engine compartment to talk to Lawson. Lawson realizes that the sub is surfacing and isn’t sure it’s a smart move in hostile waters. Angel knows that the crew won’t live if they don’t vent the air in the sub, but Lawson is less than sympathetic . . . . and starting to feel hungry. Lawson vamps out and tries to hit Angel and does a very poor job of it. Angel counters Lawson easily and warns Lawson that he has a lot more experience than Lawson does.

On the bridge Angel tells Lawson that they are about twenty miles from land and sunrise is in about eight hours. Angel apologizes for siring Lawson, but promises him that the next time they meet Angel will kill Lawson. Lawson climbs up the ladder and leaves the ship. Spike mocks Angel for siring Lawson then throwing him off the ship. Spike tells Angel, “You’re still a dick.” Angel agrees then steps away from the ladder and motions up. Looks like Spike’s going to leave the ship, too. So Spike climbs up the ladder and off the ship as well.

Present day: Lawson wants to know if Angel was, at the very least, tortured after he brought the ship to the U.S., but Angel never gave any government agency the chance. Angel left the ship off the coast of Maine then laid low until the war was over. Lawson calls that cowardice. Lawson acknowledges that capturing the German sub helped the Allied war effort, and that condemning one man to save millions of others was a smart move, but it won’t save Gunn, Fred, and Wes. Angel tells Lawson that killing the others won’t change the past, but Lawson thinks that their deaths will hurt Angel and that might just be enough payback. Lawson tells Angel that after Lawson was sired he did what any vampire would do. Lawson killed, maimed, fed, tortured, and destroyed. But during that whole time Lawson felt nothing and he wants to know if all of the vampires Angel sired feel the same way. Angel tells Lawson that he isn’t sure - Lawson was the only vampire Angel sired after he was re-souled. Lawson wants to know if he has a soul, too, but Angel tells him it doesn’t work that way.

Lawson’s fed up so he attacks Angel. Angel kicks Lawson across the room Lawson nearly tumbles into Gunn’s chair. Lawson accuses Angel of passing on just enough of Angel’s soul to keep Lawson from being a demon, but not having enough soul so that Lawson can be a man. Lawson sees himself as being nothing and it’s Angel’s fault. Angel throws Lawson through the glass wall into the lobby. Lawson picks up a piece of the wooden framing and tries to stake Angel. Angel is much stronger and he turns the stake on Lawson. Lawson challenges Angel to give him a mission a few seconds before Angel plunges the stake into Lawson’s heart.

The next day Angel is sitting in his office looking out of the windows. Spike drops by and tells Angel that Fred filled Spike in on what had happened. Spike thinks that Lawson came back for revenge, but Angel disagrees. Angel thinks that Lawson came looking for a reason. Summary by Kirsten.

Quotes

Gunn: Tactical swept her hangouts and our locators ran through their usual voodoo. Each came back with the same result. Eve has vanished. Angel: Well I can’t say I’m particularly depressed by that news. Wes: She did leave swearing vengeance. That usually doesn’t go well for us.

Fred: I have to redo the entire Trask experiment. Knox really dropped the ball on that one. Wes: Yes, he is unreliable. Good point.

Fred: What did we do with our lives before we got these jobs? Wes: I seem to recall lots and lots of “Jenga.”

Sam: Oh, don’t be alarmed Miss Burkle. I just came to talk. Fred: How do you know my name? Sam: Do you like working here? Fred: What? Sam: Do you enjoy what you do? Do you find yourself waking up in the morning eager to start your day? Fred: Uh. . . I don’t know, I, I mean I guess I had my doubts at first but lately I’ve been feeling like we’re– Sam: Don’t try and run, Miss Burkle. I’d have to stop you.

G-Man #1: All right, calm down! Calm down! Now when I say calm down, I’m talkin’ to you of course! These guys I want wound up good and tight in case you don’t feel like listening. . . . Sit down, son, we need to talk. . . . You ever consider joining the war effort? Angel: No. G-Man #1: It’s a shame. Times like these we can use all the able bodied men we can get. Angel: I’m not a man. Guess you already knew that.

G-Man #1: Have you ever heard dying men screaming for their lives, Angel? G-Man #2: Course he has.

G-Man #2: I represent a relatively new agency, Human Research Initiative, and we think *you* might be the solution to our little problem. Angel: I’m not interested. G-Man #2: We don’t particularly care. We figure we strap enough weight to you you will sink, regardless of your interest.

Hodge: I’m telling you he’s some sort of super soldier. Like Steve Rodgers or Captain America. Spinelli: Steve Rodgers *is* Captain America, you 8-ball. Hodge: What?

Spike: Angelus. They’ll let anyone in here.

Spike: Of all the bloody faces I expected to see down here. Angel: You’re a Nazi. Spike: What? Oh, no. I just ate one. So, they got you, too, eh? Nabbed me in Madrid. Sneaky bastards, the SS. Don’t ever go to a free virgin blood party. Turns out it’s probably a trap. Angel: You were captured at a free virgin blood party? Spike: I know, who woulda thought? One minute I’m asking a fella why all the virgins look like Goebbels, next minute I’m stuck in a box on this cursed ship. Feel better knowing they got you, too. Though I can’t say I’m surprised. From our company, looks like they’re rounding up the baddest of the bad. Angel: You’ll have to introduce me. Spike: Course. But I’ve got to warn you. They’re a bit stiff . . . . Oh, Angelus this is, uh, Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies. Nostroyev, Prince of Lies, this is Angelus . . . *the* Angelus. Nostroyev: Angelus. Used to be quite a terror back in the day. Haven’t heard much of you lately. Angel: Haven’t heard much of you ever.

Spike: What about back there. You save us anything? Angel: Couple men left in the torpedo room. Spike: Well, what are we waiting fo– Angel: No. Spike: What? Angel: We’re not killing any more humans. Well, not right now. Spike: Why the hell not? Angel: Cause in case you haven’t noticed, Spike, we’re trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Spike: Yeah. So? Prince of Lies: We’re under water? Angel: So, unless you know how to operate one of these things, we’re gonna need their help. Spike: Oh, come on! How hard can it be? Forward. Back. Up. Down. [claxon goes off] Nostroyev: Tell you what. We leave one alive to work the boat. And eat the rest. Angel: No. Spike: Yeah, probably should warn you. He likes to pretend he’s the boss. Nostroyev: You may have made yourself a name muscling around weaker vampires. Spike: Hang on!

Angel: We don’t kill the humans till we reach land. Is that clear? Spike: Heil, Hitler.

Sam: Those monsters butchered my crew. Apparently they’re in the SS. Angel: Spike’s not in the SS. He just likes wearing the jacket.

Sam: You sure you wanna do that, Chief? Angel: Fairly certain I said I’d kill you if I ever saw you again. Sam: Oh, I never doubted you. But you gotta ask yourself, would I really come in here, unarmed, knowing that without an ace in the hole? Wouldn’t make much sense, would it? Angel: What did you do?

Spike: Come on. When am I going to get a turn? Angel: How about ‘never’? Spike: I’m playing nice with the anchovies. Like you asked. At least let me have a go at the wheel. Angel: Pipe down. I’m trying to work. Spike: Oh, ‘pipe down.’ That official sailor-talk, is it? Well, ahoy matey, you can just swab my deck. Angel: Spike– Spike: Captain. Angel: What? Spike: I want to be called “Captain.” I mean, hell, I did eat him. Angel: Check the torpedos before I send you for a swim, ‘Captain.’

Prince of Lies: You think I don’t know? I am as ancient as the darkness itself. Angel: Yeah. You’re old. We know. Just calm down.

Hodge: How does a guy just explode like that? Sam: Man’s asking a good question. Angel: You really need an answer? Sam: Might help if I heard it for sure. Angel: Vampire. Sam: Yeah, I take it back. Doesn’t help. So what do you think set him off? Spike: Guessing these might have something to do with it. Anybody read Nazi?

Angel: You speak German. Sam: Enough to get by. Spike: Well, gravy. I’ll menace, you talk.

Spike: What about vampires? Sam: I don’t know. It’s technical. Something about stimulation and. . . control. They’ve been experimenting on them. And cutting into their brains. Spike: That’s what got the Prince’s coronet in a twist, isn’t it? Found out you were going to pop our tops and melon ball us. Sam: They’re trying to create an army . . . out of things like you.

Spike: I the only one who don’t speak Kraut? Sam: You knew about this? Spike: He did? Angel: It was part of the mission. Spike: What mission? . . . Oh, I get it. You’re playing both sides against each other. Angel: Spike. Spike: No! I respect that. But if the Yanks are after this stuff, too, I’m eating the lot of them. Angel: No, you aren’t. Spike: Try and stop me. Angel: Spike. We need them, ok? I’m not getting trapped at the bottom of the sea! Spike: And I’m not getting experimented on by his government. Sam: We wouldn’t do that. You don’t win a war by doing whatever it takes. You win by doing what’s right. Spike: Yeah? Let me know how that works out for you, Popeye.

Angel: We’re on it! Spike: We! What do you mean “we”?!?

Sam: Funny what goes through a man’s mind when his life’s hanging in the balance. Boys talked about that a lot, back on the boat. I always figured it’d be the special moments you froze in time. Your mom singing you to sleep at night. Sneaking into the movies with your best friend. Or your girl’s hair shimmers in the sun. But the truth is, the only thing that goes through your head is, “Wow. This really sucks.” And then you’re gone.

Angel: Hey. I’m sorry for what happened. But if I ever see you again, I’m going to have to kill you. Sam: Aye-aye, Chief. Take care of her. She’s a good boat. Spike: Bloody brilliant. Turn the poor sod to save the ship, then make him dash for dry land before Mr. Sunshine scorches him a new one. You’re still a dick. Angel: Yeah. I am. Spike: Bollocks.

Sam: And maybe I found my mission again after all these years. Angel: Being an evil son of a bitch not keeping you busy? Sam: We all need a reason to live, even if we’re already dead.

Angel: You’re the only one I ever did this to. After I got a soul. Sam: Do I have one, too? Angel: I don’t think it works that way, son.

Spike: Really ought to do something about security. They’ll let anybody in here, won’t they. . . . Fred gave me the Cliff’s Notes. So, sailor boy finally came back for a yo-ho-ho, did he? Angel: Finally came back. Spike: Took him long enough. Know revenge is best served cold and all, but his musta been frozen solid. Angel: I don’t think that’s what he was after. Spike: No? What was he looking for? Angel: A reason.

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