THE RING

Darin McNamara stumbles into the office asking for Angel.   He tells them that his brother, Jack, was kidnapped the previous night.   He has a gambling problem and was heavily in debt to one of his bookies, Ernie Nellins.   Angel visits Nellins and buys information that leads him to Beechwood Canyon and some Howler Demons.   Angel finds the demons in underground tunnels and beats them until they tell him where Jack is.

Angel lurks outside a nightclub and then gets into the cellar.   In the bar Angel briefly meets a woman called Lilah, then he discovers a crowd gathered around a pit where two demons are fighting to the death.   The ringmaster introduces the next two fighters as Angel spots Jack in the crowd. He follows Jack into a darkened room where someone turns a spotlight on.   Angel is blinded as he realises he’s been set up.

Angel wakes up in a cell.   Around his wrist is a thick metal cuff that he can’t remove.   Jack warns Angel against stepping over the red line on the floor.   Angel must wear the cuff until he has 21 kills in the ring; if he survives he will be released.   Angel refuses to fight and Jack tells him in that case, he’ll die.   Wesley and Cordy are worried about the missing Angel.   Wesley retraces Angel’s visit to Nellins and shows huge bravery in finding out where Angel is.

He and Cordelia post as detectives to gain entrance to the club.   As Lilah watches on, Angel and the demon Baker begin to fight, but it’s obvious Angel is doing little more than defending himself against his opponent.   Angel, upset at what he has been forced to do, walks out of the ring.   Angel tries to get the other demons like Trepkos to rebel.   Another demon taunts Angel, telling him his kill was a lucky one.   Angel assures him it’s not the first life he’s taken.

Wesley and Cordy try to devise away to rescue Angel using one of the bracelets that Cordelia stole from the ring.   Jack taunts Angel about his kill.   Angel pulls Jack over the red line into their confinement area.   Holding Jack by the throat he is eventually subdued after Darin shoots his brother dead to get at Angel.   The guards shock Angel into unconsciousness again while the other demons merely sit and watch.

Angel wakes up in the offices of Wolfram & Hart with Lilah.   She says she has convinced Darin to sell Angel’s contract to the firm.   Angel is free, as long as he forgets all about the ring.   Angel tells the guards to take him back.   In tonight’s’ match Angel must fight Trepkos who already has twenty kills.

Wesley manages to open the cuff.   The ringmaster announces the fight between Angel and Trepkos.   Angel tries to talk to Trepkos, telling him, even when they remove the cuff after the fight, he’ll still be their slave.   Trepkos tells Angel he’ll kill him quickly then he attacks.   Cordelia feigns being lost to allow Wesley entrance to the locker room.   Wesley asks one the demons, Cribb, where Angel is.   Cribb tells him he’s fighting Trepkos and will be dead in a matter of moments.   Wesley shows him the key to the cuff and promises to free them all if he’ll help, but Cribb snatches the key from Wesley’s hand.

The crowd is booing Angel because he’s not fighting back.   He is forced to defend and trips the demon and places the pointed end of a staff at Trepkos’ throat but hesitates, as the crowd calls out for the killing blow. Angel refuses to kill Trepkos.   Trepkos gets to his feet and attacks Angel, but hesitates, then drops his fist.   Wesley attacks Darin with a gun as the demons, freed by Cribb, come crashing into the ring.   Cordelia helps Wesley push Darin into the ring below.   Cribb snaps a cuff on Darin’s wrist and Trepkos picks Darin up and throws him out of the ring.   He instantly disintegrates.   Cordelia tells Angel that Wesley devised the key.   Angel tells them they did great.   They freed…demons.

 

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