"Power Play" is episode 21 of season 5 in the television show Angel. The gang starts to have doubts about Angel's loyalties when he appears to have become very close with the Circle of the Black Thorn, an evil secret demon society. When Drogyn, the guardian of the Deeper Well, arrives from England claiming that Angel has sent assassins after him, the gang's fears that Angel has become corrupted by wealth and power seem to be validated, especially when the imprisoned Lindsey confirms his theory about the Circle of the Black Thorn wanting to have Angel join their evil group. In the meanwhile, Angel continues dating Nina, but eventually tells her to leave town fearing for her life when his induction into the Black Thorn becomes a certainty. At the end, when the gang confronts Angel in his office about his questionable actions, a fight breaks out. With Lorne as a shield, Angel has time to take out a magical gem, using it to grant them a few unobserved minutes to set the group straight about what he is really planning, without anyone else knowing. It turns out that Angel has set up this whole charade of turning evil in an effort to infiltrate the Circle of the Black Thorn and identify its members. Plot In a dark room, a shackled man with a bag over his head is being beaten with sticks by several attackers. Angel helps the man to his feet, and takes the bag off the man's face. The man thanks Angel but then Angel vamps out and bites the man's neck. Nineteen hours earlier, Angel and Nina are lying in bed together and Nina notices that Angel is concerned with something at work. Back at Wolfram & Hart, Illyria complains that no one fears her anymore and Wesley is ignoring her ever since she pretended to be Fred. Spike tells her that although she has lost much of her powers, looking like Fred is more powerful than anything else to those who loved her. Meanwhile, Hamilton introduces Angel and Gunn to Senator Brucker and her vampire aide, Ernesto. Ernesto asks for human blood and Angel agrees to make an exception, upsetting Gunn. Wesley informs Angel that a Boretz demon is loose and killing people. However, Angel shrugs it off and leaves. Spike offers to take on the demon for Wesley and invites Illyria to go hunting