Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
Chapter 8- Sense and Sensitivity
"Man, I really wish all recordings are as funny as the previous one was", Xander said.
"Yeah, we all do, but I don't think they will be, considering this mess the others mentioned", Buffy said as the recording started.
At downtown LA in night, a guy in a black leather jacket with a duffel bag was chased, managing to make it to a parked car as he opened the driver's side door to get in, but got kicked in the back from behind, slamming against the open door as he fell down. It was Kate, and she was angry at him for not showing up to the station, and then Kate slammed him to the trunk of his car, cuffing him and reading out his rights while saying she didn't recommend them.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think she arrested him for bailing on a date", Dawn said, making everyone chuckle.
"It was a date. Just not the usual kind", Willow said.
At the station, Kate made the guy who was called Spivey look at some pictures of him with some Tony Papazian, asking him about the death of Supervisor Caffrey. He lied it was a suicide but she said he had been shot in the back of the head, wrapped himself in plastic and locked himself into the back of his car. Spivey was losing patience, but Kate was just getting started.
"She's great at the job", Willow commented.
"Yeah, that is some high dedication there", Tara agreed.
"Just hope the guy talks", Buffy said.
Some other cops watched the interrogation, one of them commenting how Kate didn't have to pee, due to how much she was into this interrogation. Eventually, Spivey made her lose patience and she slammed him against the wall, though the others came in and pulled her off, and later she apologized to Detective Harlan, saying Spivey wouldn't talk, and Harlan commented that meant Tony was gone, and he didn't know anyone who could find him.
"Yeah, but Kate does", Xander said.
"When a police detective fails, it's a private detective to the rescue", Dawn said.
Angel battled some snake like appendages with mouths at their ends that kept attacking him from above a piece of pipe, and then Doyle and Cordelia arrived, with Doyle pulling a sword out of his bag and tossing it to Angel. Angel sliced off a tentacle and then sliced into the creature's belly, some green liquid splattering down.
"Eurgh!" Dawn muttered.
"Still nothing compared to Gnarl though", Buffy said and Willow shuddered at his mention.
"Don't remind me of him", Willow said, rubbing her stomach at the memory.
"There was also Der Kindestod", Buffy said.
"Only you saw him, since you were ill", Giles reminded.
"And the Gentlemen", Tara said, and everyone had creepy memories of them as well as losing their voices.
"So these 3 are undoubtedly the scariest Demons ever", Xander said. "And that clown who chased me in my nightmare." [1]
Xander shuddered on thinking of that clown.
Angel told them to cut all limbs and head this time and bury the parts separately, tossing Doyle the sword as he walked off. Angel said he was going to clean the next and would meet them at the office, disappearing, and Cordelia said how he didn't say 'please' and 'thank you' regarding the dismemberment, and Doyle said he appreciated them in an unappreciative way.
"Isn't that a contradiction?" Xander said.
"Doyle tried and failed to defend Angel", Giles said.
"Well, as much as I like Angel, they're not wrong", Willow said.
"Yeah", Buffy agreed with a sigh.
Cordelia got out a knife and said how Angel used his creature of the night status as a license to be rude and insensitive, with a tentacle wrapping around Doyle's neck which she didn't notice as she started slicing the monster. Cordelia commented how he was polite to the downtrodden but not to those closest to him, calling him clueless, while Doyle continued being choked behind her.
"I really don't want to be Doyle, he has worse luck than me", Xander said.
"Yeah, poor guy, unnoticed by his crush even when he really needs her", Dawn agreed.
"Stuff happens", Buffy sighed. "But yeah, poor Doyle."
Doyle and Cordelia arrived at the office the next day, covered in green gunk. Angel started telling Cordelia to do something but she cut him off, saying no matter how bad it was, she didn't want to hear about it till he asked them how it went. Angel said her mom wanted to speak with her, and was confused what they were talking about.
"And, it ends anti-climatically", Dawn said.
"Jar Jar getting his own talk show, yeah that's an Avenger level threat", Xander said. "Worst thing to happen to Star Wars."
"Don't jinx it", Buffy said.
"You think they can do worse than that?" Willow asked.
"Who knows?" Buffy said. [2]
Cordelia reminded Angel of the previous night but since both were here, he knew it went well, but Cordelia said that wasn't the point, the point was he could brood less and show more care to others' feelings. Doyle said she found him insensitive, ironically, and Angel said he was reserved but he did care. Cordelia said it was like he had no pulse, and Angel reminded he didn't, and Cordelia told him to understand how the living interacted.
"I am sure Angelus did that a lot", Xander said, and all but Tara shuddered thinking of him, since she had never met either of the two alter-egos of the Vampire with a soul.
Then Kate burst in, the two walking to his office and closing the door as Cordelia jokingly called them Mr. and Mrs. Spock.
"It's almost like she's jealous", Dawn said.
Kate showed Angel Tony's photographs, and there was an indictment against him for murder of a County Supervisor, but they had no idea where to send the subpoena. Angel realized she wanted him to do it, and said he wouldn't take any money due to owing her favors, but she said it was a job, and gave him her direct number, and told him to just find him and call her, as she didn't want him dead.
"But he already is", Xander said.
"Which she doesn't know", Buffy reminded before thinking to herself. 'Yet.'
Later, Cordelia looked through the files while Doyle searched on the computer, but then Doyle awkwardly gestured to Cordelia, and Angel started awkwardly thanking her for looking through the coroner reports, but she found it lame, and Doyle shook his head.
"It takes much more than that to get her to forgive you", Xander said from experience.
Cordelia told Angel she had got some stuff, saying Tony had anger management issues, and they decided to locate Tony's primary dumping ground. At the station, a white haired guy in a uniform came in, and Kate greeted him as 'dad', while he called her Katie.
"So she became a cop after her dad then", Buffy noted.
"Like father, like daughter", Tara commented.
Kate was disappointed he didn't say 'hi', and Lockley said she was working, and he needed to drop some pension forms, saying there was more red tape when one retired. Kate remembered Harlan saying he was getting a send-off at Blue Bar but he didn't think much of it, and Kate said she should say some words as he was her father, and she didn't find it troublesome. An officer told Kate she had a call so she walked off after an awkward parting from her dad.
"And she has daddy issues as well", Dawn commented.
"Join the club", Buffy said.
"I think this is going to be an international club soon", Xander told them.
Angel was the caller, and he was watching Tony on binoculars, telling Kate the location and that he had some muscle, and Kate went on her way, while Angel noticed a yacht was coming to pick Tony up.
"Now he will not get out", Giles said.
"All for the best", Willow said.
As Tony prepared to leave, Angel arrived wearing a Hawaiian shirt and white hat, bouncing excitedly and introduced himself as Herb Saunders.
"So, Angel in a Hawaiian outfit", Willow said out loud, and all finally burst out laughing at that.
"Never thought I'd see the day", Buffy said.
"Still won't protect him from sunlight though", Giles reminded.
Angel pretended to be lost and confused as Benny tried to shoo him away when Angel dropped him with a hard left, dropping the façade and commenting on his hat. The other muscle attacked as Angel took him down while Tony ran off but was stopped by the police, Kate aiming at Tony.
"With that, he's caught", Dawn said.
Later, Tony was cuffed in the back of a cop car as Kate reprimanded Angel but he said Tony was getting away so he needed to do something. Kate said he had dressed like a road flare, making Angel take off the hat.
"And that crap goes away", Buffy muttered.
She told Angel to go as she'd figure out something to say to the Lieutenant, and he stared at Tony who stared back before the car drove off. At the station, Tony wanted his phone call as Kate taunted him, and he joked he could have let her catch him sooner while she said she'd have let him run more for his exercise.
Everyone chuckled as Xander said. "Burn."
At Wolfram and Hart, the phone rang as Tony asked for a Lee Mercer, and later Mercer talked to Tony, trying to reassure him, printing a fax with Kate's picture and info on it, saying they'd remove the thorn on his side.
"Now she's in trouble", Willow said, all worried for Kate.
"That's what happens for being a good cop", Xander cursed the bad luck good people always had.
Later, at the station, a stenographer recorded the conversation between Mercer, the Lieutenant, Kate and Tony, Tony insulting Kate's mouth as she mouthed off to him, and Mercer said this should be stricken off the record due to Tony's stress, and also mentioned Angel, though not by name, and when Kate tried to remind Tony of the murder he had committed, Mercer had her verbal abuse entered into the record, and said any violations of Tony's rights will have severe consequences, and he will shine a light on the precinct's darkest corners, making Mark Fuhrer look like Gentle Ben in comparison, and Tony complimented him.
"If only good guys had lawyers that good", Tara said sadly.
"Yeah, but bad people are richer", Buffy groaned.
"Though for a cop, her behavior was quite unprofessional here", Xander pointed out. "I agree that Tony needs to face consequences for his actions, but Kate isn't helping her case by mouthing off like that."
"Yeah, guess she let her emotions get the better of her", Willow said.
Cordelia sat at her desk, commenting how the case was done with, but Angel said there was something off about this, and Cordelia was annoyed he didn't notice her new orange sandals, and Angel tried to make an excuse when Doyle arrived and complimented them immediately.
"There goes your excuse", Dawn said as all laughed.
"Why does she want him specifically to notice her shoes though?" Buffy wondered.
"Maybe she likes him", Willow suggested.
"They don't seem to match though", Xander pointed out.
"I don't think you and Cordelia matched either", Tara said and Xander had to concede.
Doyle then said Tony was planning something, having heard from a source, and that was all he knew as Cordelia looked between them and shook her head.
"That he is, and won't be good", Buffy said.
Kate arrived at the Blue Bar, the bartender giving her a drink and saying her dad had paid, so she sat with him, and he complained about lawyers to her due to the Tony case, and then Harlan arrived, dropping a page of sensitivity training in front of Kate, saying all were supposed to take it, as Harlan joked they'd be made to hug, and Lockley said he was glad this wasn't the norm in his day.
"So these are the consequences then", Xander sighed.
"Not the worst that can happen though", Dawn pointed out.
"Which means this isn't it", Buffy said grimly.
Later, at the sensitivity training, Allen spoke, failing to get anyone excited, and held a stick, saying whoever held it would express themselves without any judgment, and asked a cop called Heath to take it but he wasn't interested, though Heath eventually took it and told of his family, learning to fight his 6 rough brothers and how their mom tried their best, and Allen noted he had shut off because of it, and then Kate quipped if he wanted to marry her, making Allen look to her, as he gave her the stick, saying genuine emotion made her afraid, and her anger was a kind of fear, explaining it.
"While this looks ridiculous, he sounds right to me", Willow said.
"Yeah, not wrong there", Tara agreed.
Later, Angel and Doyle talked to Johnny Red, who said he had heard something due to Tony's guys attending his Thursday spinning class, and by his info, Angel deduced Tony was after Kate now.
"This is it", Buffy said, and the atmosphere turned grim.
Angel arrived at the police station, and Kate, due to the sensitivity training, apologized to him and thanked him for last night, and asked him to attend her dad's retirement party, to which he agreed, and said Tony wanted her dead, making her make sensitivity comments again as she joked she was becoming Dr. Laura and assured she would be back to herself in no time. Angel just looked at her.
"He is sensing something off", Willow said.
"Maybe there is", Giles said.
In a dark mansion, Allen met with Mercer and told him he'd see the results of his work by next day.
"So there is", Giles said.
"Mercer sent Allen, and Kate is all sensitive now", Buffy said. "Allen did something to them all."
"And it doesn't look like it's a good thing", Xander sighed.
At the retirement party, there was a cake with 'Happy Retirement Trevor' on it, and Angel and Kate arrived, Kate saying she was afraid and excited due to her upcoming speech, and Angel joked about picturing public in their underwear as Kate said she was already at it.
"I don't think any of us do it", Buffy said, and Xander hid his face.
Kate wished her dad and introduced him to Angel, who congratulated him as Lockley said all he did was live long and not get shot, Kate calling him out for pretending important things didn't matter, and Angel said he and Kate had been friends for a short while. Lockley assumed they were dating and joked how he thought Kate was going in another direction all together.
"Nothing wrong with that!" Willow and Tara popped up together.
"I think he's just making a joke", Buffy said. "If you detected any malice, it's probably because he seems off putting."
"I knew it wasn't just me!" Dawn said.
The Lieutenant asked Kate to say some words and she gave her speech. "Hello everybody. Welcome to the end of an era. Now the old man would like us to believe that he couldn't care less about all this attention and free booze." There was laughter. "But I know him better than that. He put a lot of years in on the job, and he made a difference in a lot of lives." There were scattered cheers, her dad sat down. "And now it's over. That's a huge deal, no matter what he says. In fact I'm not really sure if he knows what he's going to do with himself. He forgot how to be anything but a cop a long time ago. And maybe, - maybe that's why I became a cop too. - After mom died, you stopped, you know? It was like you couldn't stand the sight of me. Her face, her eyes looking up at you. - But big girls don't cry, right? You said, gone's gone, and there is no use wallowing. - Worms and dirt and nothing, forever. Not one word about a better place. You couldn't even tell a scared little girl a beautiful lie." She sobbed. "God, I wanted to drink with you. I wanted you to laugh with me just once, the way you laughed with Jimmy here, or Frank."
"The sensitivity training is speaking", Xander muttered.
"Poor Kate", Buffy said, everyone feeling bad for her. She and Dawn could relate.
And so could Tara, as she looked at Kate with empathy in her eyes, and Willow held her hand as they smiled at each other.
Lockley wondered what had happened to her in the class as Kate continued, playing with her purse. "My best friend Joanne, her mom was soft, and she smelled like macaroni and cheese, and she'd pick me up on her lap and she would rock me. She said that she wanted to keep to herself. - She said that I was good and sweet. Everybody said I was. - Do you realize that you've never told me that I'm pretty? Not once in my life?"
"This is getting worse", Dawn commented.
Harlan encouraged her as Kate ended up sobbing, while the Lieutenant said this wasn't the place for it, and eventually, Harlan started beating on him as Angel pulled him off the Lieutenant who was led away by Harlan, with the other cops arguing, crying or fighting, and Lockley gave his orders, Angel taking Kate out too.
"So this was the plan", Buffy said.
"Pretty good plan, incapacitate the cops with emotions, then do your thing", Xander said. "Way to ruin a retirement party."
At the office, an annoyed Cordelia arrived to see Kate, who commented on Angel's intense eyes and old soul, with Doyle commenting he got that a lot.
"You have no idea how true that is", Willow said to Kate.
Kate commented how she considered it to be an enigmatic thing to attract women but Angel had no insincere bone in his body. Angel inquired about the person who ran the sensitivity training, Kate telling him it got them where they lived. Cordelia asked Doyle why she was behaving like that, making a drinking motion with a thumb at her mouth as Doyle thought she meant thumb sucking, and Cordelia incredulously corrected him to alcohol.
"How can he not get that?" Buffy wondered.
"Maybe the Irish don't have that sign in their sign language", Xander shrugged.
Kate gave the notice of the training to Angel, then said in a sing song voice that Doyle had a crush, telling Cordelia the same, though Cordelia refused to believe it, but Kate asked her to open up, and Doyle commented Kate was making some sense now, only for Cordelia to call Angel.
"She really doesn't want Doyle, does she?" Willow commented.
"I think she likes him, she is just in denial right now", Tara said.
"You think so?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah", Tara said.
Angel came back with the address as Kate inquired about his secrets, and told Cordelia to not let Kate out of her sight, before arriving at the candle lit room, looking at the offerings on the altar and the talking stick. Then Allen arrived.
"Hopefully, Angel gets 'em", Dawn said.
Kate was rocking on a chair, hugging her legs as she commented how her father had walked out on her, and started walking out to find him, while Cordelia and Doyle tried to stop her, but she pulled out her gun, waving it around,, saying she'd blow them away if they came in her way, so the two reluctantly let her go.
"Oof!" Dawn sighed.
"So, the sensitivity training makes you too sensitive regarding any emotions", Buffy said.
"It does look like that", Giles said.
Angel and Allen talked, Allen calling himself a polytheist as Allen counselled about anger again, and asked what Angel's parents were like, trying to hit him with his stick as Angel ducked and caught it, turning Vamp and pushing Allen against the wall, saying how they were great and tasted like chicken.
"We did not need to know that", Xander said.
"So, he has daddy issues too then?" Willow wondered.
"Guess he does", Tara said.
"Join the club!" Dawn said.
At the station, all the cops were being sensitive, hugging, crying, etc. as some prisoners sat in their cells, including Tony, and then Heath arrived, saying this made them more brutal, and so he unlocked all the prison cells, and started giving a speech on kindness only for them all to beat him to the ground.
"And that's what kindness gets you", Xander said cynically.
"Being sensitive is good, being too sensitive leads to things like this", Tara told everyone.
"Yeah, we can see that", Buffy groaned.
Kate ran to the station to find her dad while a car crashed, and a cop talked to them about whiplash, then emotional whiplash, saying how he couldn't even make love to his own wife.
"Tough luck, buddy", Xander said while the rest snickered at the unintentional comedy.
Angel ran past some people, and then arrived at the police station, both Cordelia and Doyle already there because of Kate, and said this wasn't good, only for Angel to smile and say someone needed a hug, and then he pulled them both into a hug.
"Huh?!" Everyone went together.
"So…he got affected too", Buffy said.
"Blimey", Giles muttered.
"Sensitive Angel, wonder what that's like", Willow muttered.
"Bet it won't be better than broody Angel", Dawn muttered.
The two pushed Angel off in annoyance as Doyle realized what was going on, and Angel put a hand to his heart, saying he was waiting to come out all this time, while Kate called her dad to talk.
"Yep, definitely prefer broody Angel", Buffy said.
"Like this, he kind of loses his appeal", Willow agreed.
"Not kind of, he does", Dawn said.
"And he looks ridiculous doing that", Tara added.
"Sensitive Angel is a bigger loser than me", Xander joked, making everyone chuckle.
Cordelia and Doyle tried to tell him he was whammied, and then Angel said to Cordelia. "Cordelia, do you have any idea just how precious you are?"
"Was that the sensitivity talking?" Giles wondered.
"The stick makes one lose their inhibitions, since Kate had bottled up feelings about her dad for a long time", Tara said.
"So, you think Angel has feelings for Cordelia?" Buffy asked.
"I think he does", Tara said. "It looks like that to me."
"Huh!" Buffy said, not out of jealousy, rather surprise.
After some prodding, Angel finally revealed about the stick and Allen, who was Wolfram and Hart's guy, to the two, and said he was making the cops sensitive to help Tony escape, and there was no contract on Kate, since Tony, the poor guy, would kill her himself, and Angel called him 'poor guy' because he had issues.
"This is funny and disturbing simultaneously", Xander said.
Doyle and Cordelia requested him to snap out and go Vamp but Angel said they judged him when he did that, though Cordelia denied it.
Xander and Giles didn't comment, since they did judge Angel a lot, especially Giles.
Doyle walked to the door but it was locked, and the cop said they were closed because they were tired of dealing with people's business, and pulled down the blinds so hard it was ripped off.
"This is why cops shouldn't be too sensitive", Dawn said.
A cop talked to a black prisoner, reading a poem he had written about him as apology for his bad treatment, and Kate talked to Harlan, now talking about how he felt about her, and said she taunted him by sitting next to him and smelling like that.
"There comes the weird confession", Buffy said.
"I am really wishing they get interrupted", Willow said.
There was a gunshot.
"I take it back!" Willow said.
It was Tony, who had armed the other prisoners, and was going to kill Kate. Cordelia needed to break through, though Angel was uncomfortable, and so Doyle threw a rock but it hit the wall, and then Cordelia threw it, shattering the window, as Angel then pushed in the bars.
"At least he is still strong enough to get the job done", Buffy said.
"Just hoping the sensitivity isn't too much of an issue", Dawn added.
They arrived inside as Angel said they had vandalized the place but the other two didn't care, and then Angel asked them to say the magic word to make him come with them, lecturing them about it, and Cordelia finally huffed a 'please'.
"I think it is a big issue", Tara said.
"Figures", Dawn sighed.
Tony arrived to kill Kate, when Angel arrived, saying he felt negative energy in the room, and both Angel and Kate commented on Tony's body language, Cordelia and Doyle getting annoyed, then Angel patted a chair in front of Tony to talk this out.
"Don't think he is that sensitive", Xander said.
As Tony made a comment, Angel suddenly smashed his face with the chair, knocking the other guy down as Kate shot the third one, while Cordelia stepped on the second guy's gun as he tried to pick himself up while Doyle kicked him out, and then Angel beat up Tony, saying he could have been a rainbow rather than painbow, finally dropping him.
"So, that was the kind of sensitive they needed right now, right?" Dawn asked and all nodded. "Phew!"
"At least the job was done", Buffy sighed in relief.
"Yeah, but I can't see anymore of sensitive Angel", Xander muttered.
"Are you kidding? He's hilarious", Willow said.
"Yeah, that ridiculousness is funny on him", Tara agreed with her.
Angel and Kate then hugged each other, disgusting Cordelia, and then separated, commenting on Tony's sad state.
All burst out laughing at this point.
Next day, Mercer listened to Tony on the phone and said now they couldn't help him since instead of escaping, he had tried to shoot up the police station and kill a cop, so now their relationship was terminated, as Wolfram and Hart had more pressing issues. He looked at the video of Angel confronting Tony as he said that. Tony slammed the receiver back angrily.
"On the bright side, he will stay in prison", Xander said.
"On the not so bright side, Wolfram and Hart is going to be after Angel in full force", Buffy said grimly.
Next morning, Angel arrived to talk to Kate who said they thought someone had spiked the Blue Bar, and both were a bit fuzzy about last night. He walked off when Kate's dad arrived, Angel watching, as Kate tried to bring up the messages but he said she had made a fool of herself and embarrassed him in front of the others, so they shouldn't bring it up again. Kate watched as he walked out, and then Angel watched her sit down, before swallowing, then turning and walking off.
"Now there is one guy who could use some sensitivity", Xander said.
"Yeah, while Kate was whammied, she wasn't wrong about him", Willow agreed.
"Some people just don't like opening up", Tara said.
"Yeah, but he's just being a jerk about it", Buffy said and no one disagreed.
"I really hope Angel doesn't get that sensitive again", Dawn said.
"So do all of us", Giles said.
"Anyway, I guess we should watch the next one then", Buffy suggested and all nodded. "Good."
"Just, no sensitive Angel hopefully", Xander said.
"I think this was a one-time thing", Buffy said as they decided to start the next one.
And we're done with 6 episodes now. Now all the episodes from 1x7 to 1x11 are awesome for varying reasons, and I can't wait to do 'em all.
[1] Several creepy Demons have showed up in the Buffyverse, but I think we can all agree that the Gentlemen, Der Kindestod and Gnarl make it to the top 3, and the clown Xander saw in his nightmare was creepy too. I use to find 'em funny but after the clown killers, yikes!
[2] Just a reference to how bad the Disney Trilogy was, though at least The Mandalorian is amazing. FYI I don't think Jar Jar is the worst thing to happen to the franchise, even before the Disney Trilogy, though I could still do without him.
Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!