Series Finale:     
Episode #110 — “Not Fade Away”
Angel explains his recent behavior and briefs his team on his plan to kill all the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn. Marcus Hamilton (Adam Baldwin) calls Angel to an emergency meeting of the circle, where the other members express doubts about Angel’s loyalties. Angel proves himself to them by irrevocably renouncing his role in the Shanshu Prophecy, thereby giving up his chance to become human.

Back at Wolfram & Hart, Angel meets with his old enemy Lindsey McDonald (Christian Kane) and enlists him in the planned attack on the Circle. After telling the group that the plan will start that night, he encourages them to spend the rest of the day as if it were their last.

Angel visits his son, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser), who’s not supposed to know who he is any longer. Connor reveals that he knows that Angel’s his father; his old memories are now “mixed in” with his new ones. He understands and accepts Angel’s choices.

Feeling somber, Lorne has serious reservations about Angel’s plan and Lindsey spends the day with Eve. She’s suspicious of Angel even though Lindsey now trusts him.

Gunn spends his day helping Anne at the homeless shelter she maintains. Spike goes to a seedy bar, drinks heavily, and goes onstage to recite a poem that he first read in 1880. Wesley spends his day in his apartment, tending to Illyria’s wounds. He tells her that there is nowhere else for him to be. She offers to comfort him, taking Fred’s form, but he refuses her.

When the time comes, the team splits up to attack members of the circle separately, making plans to reunite if they survive their missions. As they leave, a troubled Lorne tells Angel that this is the last thing he’s going to do for him, and that they will never see him again.

Warned of the plan by Harmony (Mercedes McNab), Hamilton confronts Angel and is intent on stopping his killing of the Circle’s leader. Angel reveals he has already poisoned Archduke Sebassis and they start to battle.

Gunn, Spike, and Illyria kill each of their targets. Together, Lindsey and Lorne wipe out the Sahvrin clan. Then, as Angel had ordered, Lorne executes Lindsey. The lawyer is shocked that he would be taken out by a flunky and dies. Lorne drops his gun and leaves, declaring his debt paid.

Wesley is killed as he knocks out Cyrus Vail. As the former Watcher dies, Illyria comforts him in Fred’s guise and then kills Vail when Vail regains consciousness.

Angel is losing his fight with Hamilton, until Connor arrives to fight by his father’s side. Hamilton proudly announces that his blood runs with power, prompting Angel to assume vampiric form and drink his blood — acquiring enough of Hamilton’s strength to kill him.

Expecting a swift counterattack from the Senior Partners, Angel directs Connor to leave, then manages to rendezvous with his surviving allies — Spike, Illyria, and a wounded Gunn.

As an army of supernatural creatures descends on them in the night rain, Angel simply says, “Let’s go to work.”
First aired: May 19, 2004