Blipvert. You know what would have been extra cool? If the blipverts were of Angel still inside the cage. Angel, Cordelia, Connor, and Wesley traipse through the sewer, which is bluer than usual. Fred and Gunn are absent, either because they aren't important to Angel's happiness, or they aren't in the way of his happiness. I lean toward the latter. Angel is finding things a little too easy, and wonders why the sword just happens to be conveniently nearby. Cordy fills things in as quickly as the shaman can make up an excuse for her: "I get the impression that somehow it's accessible from, like, a hundred points all over the world." When Connor doesn't find that convincing, she adds, "I just get the visions, not the CliffsNotes." Wesley spots a tunnel leading off the sewers, and they stop to investigate. Cordy peers at it and observes it leads down. Angel says "There's a steep grade," and says they'll have to be careful, whereupon Connor shoves past him and hurries into the tunnel. The others follow.

Turns out that the steep grade Angel was worried about actually consists of a neatly carved staircase. Although I guess that's appropriately dreamlike. Cordy jumps as she bumps into Connor, who says he found something. They all approach a corridor festooned with straps on which small bells are hanging. Cordy says, "What are those? Holiday decorations leftover from some S&M bondage party?" This is one of those times when it's interesting to wonder if every tiny element is supposed to make Angel happier. Angel reaches out and flicks one of the bells. It rings, and then a number of large stakes pop out of the walls, blocking the corridor. They slowly retract back again. Angel sighs, "Wood. Why'd it have to be wood?" First, ten bucks says Fury wrote that line. Second, do you think they didn't use the more obvious "Stakes..." version because I already made that joke? Third, if so, does that make this an anti-shout-out? Wesley states the obvious: they have to avoid ringing any of the bells as they go through the corridor. Cordelia looks down at her chest and says, "I knew you two would get me in trouble someday." I think the funniest part about that is that nobody on-camera is looking at her as she says that, so presumably Angel and Wesley think that she's talking to them. Which I think is a strike against the "Angel's inventing the whole story himself" theory. Not that I really think that any of this is seriously meant to bear that kind of analysis.