Destiny (Angel episode)
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| Angel episode | |
| "Destiny" | |
 |
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| Episode № | Season 5 Episode 08 |
|---|---|
| Guest star(s) | Sarah Thompson (Eve) Mercedes McNab (Harmony) Juliet Landau (Drusilla) Christian Kane (Lindsey) |
| Writer(s) | David Fury, Steven S. DeKnight |
| Director | Skip Schoolnik |
| Production № | 5ADH08 |
| Airdate | November 19, 2003 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous episode | Lineage |
| Next episode | Harm's Way |
"Destiny" is episode 08 of season 5 in the television show Angel. See List of Angel (series) episodes for a complete list.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Another mysterious package arrives at Wolfram & Hart. When it is opened, there is a flash and Spike is instantly made corporeal, which somehow unleashes a mysterious dark force making people violent. Among the many infected is Harmony, and later Gunn. With so many employees becoming rapidly violent, Angel calls in a lock-down on the company. As he is doing so, Eve appears and tells him that she knows exactly what is causing the chaos and mayhem which is the Shanshu Prophecy (from Season 1) which states only one vampire with a soul can be the champion of good. Angel and Spike then are forced to duel it out over a mystical grail to decide which one can be made pure.
Meanwhile, a flashback to 1880 London shows the complex relationship of the soulless vampires Angelus and William the Bloody, who later became Spike, which leads to their first feud over Spike‘s first love Drusilla when he catches her with Angelus in a compromising, sexual position.
[edit] Expanded overview
It’s 1880 in London, and Drusilla and a recently-sired William (not yet Spike) are making out. William meets Angelus for the first time and Angelus explains that Darla has gone back to the Master. At first, Angelus seems disappointed that Dru sired William rather than bring him over to be food. He holds William’s hand in the sun, then puts his own out, telling him that he’d like to kill people with another man. Proving himself, William holds his own hand in the sun and the two vamps decide that they’ll be bestest buds forever. Fast forward to the present, where Spike and Angel, of course, hate each other. Spike wants his own office but Angel reminds him that he doesn’t work there. Spike wants Wesley’s office at least temporarily, since Wesley has taken a brief leave of absence. He doesn’t have much sympathy for Wesley, since he himself killed his mother while she was hitting on him. “Well…that explains a lot,” Harmony remarks. She gives Spike a package from an unknown source and he asks her to open it, since he can’t. She opens it and releases a flash of light. She looks inside, but the package is empty. When Harmony goes to answer the phone, she’s greeted by electronic screeching. As phones start ringing off the hook, Spike heads for Angel’s office, but when he tries to walk through the door, he finds that he can’t pass through it. He quickly realizes that he’s corporeal again.
Spike starts reveling in his corporeality, touching Angel (who objects), drinking blood from Angel's cup, and hugging Gunn. He notes that the package must have done something to him. Harmony tells Angel that the phones and computers all over the building are going crazy with the screeching. Spike grabs her and kisses her, but she pulls away, telling him that he can't just treat her like he treats her and expect her to welcome him back. He tells Angel that he is borrowing Harmony for awhile, and Harmony refuses to go with him. He looks her in the eyes and tells her "That's a very pretty skirt you're wearing." She breaks into a smile and tells Angel that she is taking a long lunch before she and Spike take off at a run.
Back in 1880, Angelus and William celebrate a recent wedding massacre (they still have the bride with them). They talk about Drusilla, who William says is his “destiny,” and William heads off to find her. Back in the present, Spike kicks a guy out of his office so he can get friendly with Harmony. The guy complains to a co-worker named Jerry, who reveals that his eyes are bleeding as he growls, “Toner. Nobody…replaces…the toner!" Back in the lobby, Angel tells someone to shut off all the computers and phones until they can figure out what’s going on with the system. Gunn asks if they’re under attack again, but Angel isn’t sure. Fred arrives and announces that all of the atmospheric gauges in the science department have gone haywire and blown out the instruments. Angel decides that they must be experiencing an electrical surge, but Fred isn’t sure. She’s also surprised to hear that Harmony and Spike are “having a nooner,” according to Gunn. She is surprised to learn that he has been re-corporealized, and Gunn and Angel suddenly realize that the two events are probably connected.
Eve arrives and announces that the whole universe is in turmoil. She says that everything that’s happening is a harbinger - Spike’s existence is messing with “the order of things.” After dying on the Hellmouth to save the world, Spike now qualifies as a champion, interfering with the expected course of the Shanshu prophecy. Fred is upset that Eve didn’t mention anything about this to her when she was working on re-corporealizing Spike, but Eve denies having prior knowledge of what would happen. Eve asks if she succeeded in re-corporealizing Spike, but Angel tells her that he received a package that did the trick. Eve notes that he received the amulet through the mail as well. Angel asks what Spike’s return to corporeality is a harbinger of; Eve says it’s of something “worse” and “dangerous.” Spike and Harmony’s nooner takes a disturbing turn when Harmony’s eyes start bleeding and she bites Spike. She begins screaming that she doesn’t belong to Spike; he’s using her and really wants Buffy (his "Slayer whore"). He knocks her out and tries to figure out what’s going on. Elsewhere, Jerry is carted off to work on his anger management issues and his feelings regarding toner. Lorne had caught Jerry killing his inconsiderate co-worker and got knocked over the head for trying to help out. After hearing of another attack and death, Angel decides to seal off the building until they figure out what’s going on. Eve tells him that he knows - “this is just the beginning. The fabric of reality is starting to unravel.” Spike returns and tells Angel what happened with Harmony. Eve announces that the problem is that there are two possible candidates for the Shanshu, so “the wheel of destiny starts to spin off its axis.” Spike gets angry that he’s being blamed for everything and decides to go back to Europe. Eve tells him that the entire plane of existence has been affected, so leaving L.A. won’t do anything.
Gunn returns and reveals that he went to the white room to talk to the panther again, but the room is no longer there; the elevator opened into a howling abyss. Therefore, the gang are left without their link to the Senior Partners. Angel asks Spike to stay until they figure things out, though Spike is skeptical that Angel can fix anything. Eve wishes that they could figure out who the Shanshu prophecy is about, but Angel mentions that he just read it and it wasn’t helpful. Spike is surprised that he has been reading the prophecy, since he claims not to believe it. Gunn and Eve agree that they need someone from Wesley’s department to look over the prophecy, though Angel is adamant that it doesn’t contain anything that they need. Angel, Spike, Gunn, and Eve meet with Sirk, who tells them that they read a translation of the prophecy and therefore didn’t get everything out of it. He announces that a new translation states that “The root of the tree will split in two. And each thing will seek nourishment from the buried river…. Storm unleashed. The balance will falter until the vampire with a soul drinks from the Cup of Perpetual Torment.” Spike isn’t thrilled at the thought of drinking from that cup. “He will have the weight of worlds upon him, binding his limbs, grinding his bones to meal until he saves creation…or destroys it.” After that, the vampire’s past is wiped clean and he receives mortality. Gunn sums up that if Angel finds the cup and drinks from it, everything will go back to normal. Spike protests that he could be the vampire mentioned, but Angel thinks he’s ridiculous for thinking that. Sirk says that whoever drinks from the cup is the one who was destined to. He reveals that the cup is in Death Valley, Nevada, and Angel figures out that it’s in a destroyed opera house. Despite Gunn’s reluctance, Angel decides to head over and hope that the new translation of the prophecy is true. He suddenly realizes that Spike has disappeared.
Spike has snagged Angel’s Viper and is already well on his way to Death Valley. Angel, who’s not too far behind him, calls him and blasts him for being so selfish when so many lives are at stake. Spike taunts Angel, saying that Angel can’t accept the possibility that, after all these years of feeling important, he might not be anything special. Spike pretends to lose the connection and hangs up. Back at Wolfram & Hart, Gunn takes control and notes that Eve is always around when things go haywire. He suspects that there’s more to her than she lets on. Angel arrives at the opera house to find Spike already there. Both begin searching for the cup.
Back in 1880, William discovers Angelus having sex with Drusilla; the two laugh at William and Angelus taunts him with his earlier words about Drusilla being his destiny. At the opera house, Spike and Angel start to battle it out for the cup. As they fight, Spike insists that he is nothing like Angel, pointing out that Angel’s soul was forced upon him as a curse, but Spike fought for his. He claims that it’s his destiny, and that he knew it was the right thing to do, and Angel taunts that he thought it was just so he could sleep with Buffy. In the science lab, Fred, Gunn, and Eve try to figure out why certain people at the firm are experiencing such violent effects. Gunn, suddenly bleeding from the eyes himself, tells Fred not to trust Eve. He starts choking Eve, demanding to know who she really is; Fred has to fight him off of her. At the opera house Angel and Spike continue fighting. Spike says that according to the prophecy, no one knows which side the souled vampire will fight on, but Angel’s already chosen the side of evil by working at Wolfram & Hart. Angel tells him that it’s more complicated than that. Back in 1880, William tries to fight Angelus for sleeping with Dru. Angelus tells him that no one belongs to anyone, they just take what they want. He tells William to take Drusilla if he wants her; William chooses to keep fighting.
At the opera house, Spike tells Angel that Dru sired him, but Angelus made him a monster. Angel replies, “I just opened up the door and let the real you out.” Spike says that Angelus never knew the real him, and that Angelus tried to make Spike in his own image so that there would be another creature as terrible as him in the world, so that he could feel better about himself. Angel says that Spike is less than him, which is why Buffy never really loved him. Spike, furious, reminds him of all the times he had had sex with Buffy. Both of them vamp out, ready to finish the fight. Back at the firm, Fred tends to Eve, who starts crying and says that she knows what all the group think of her. She denies that she’s “the bad guy” and leaves. At the opera house, Spike and Angel taunt each other with wood and Spike stakes Angel’s shoulder. He says that he should have dusted Angel, but he doesn’t want to hear Buffy complain about it. Spike grabs the cup and Angel tells him that it’s not his prize - it’s a burden. “So ask yourself,” he says, “is this really the destiny that was meant for you? Do you even really want it? Or is it that you just want to take something away from me?” “Bit of both,” Spike replies, drinking from the cup. Angel tries to stop him, but it’s too late. Spike's expression suddenly changes, and after a pause he tells Angel that the cup is filled with Mountain Dew. Angel returns to Wolfram & Hart, where Fred tells him that things are getting worse. Angel tells her that the cup was a set-up; Spike arrives from Sirk’s office and says that he’s disappeared. Gunn and Harmony regain consciousness, both back to normal. Harmony, looking at the straps holding her down, wants to know if she is in trouble.
Back in Angel’s office, Eve tells him, Gunn, and Spike that the Senior Partners stepped in and fixed things temporarily. She says that they don’t know anything about Sirk’s trick and are as angry as Angel is. Eve starts to leave and Gunn tries to apologize, but she brushes him off, telling him to focus on the Shanshu prophecy. Spike decides to go out and get drunk, since he hasn’t been able to for awhile. Angel tells Gunn that he’s upset that Spike beat him to the cup. Gunn says that it doesn’t matter, since it didn’t mean anything, but Angel says that Spike beat him in a fight for the first time. He was stronger and wanted his mortality more. “What if it means that…I’m not the one?” Angel wonders. Elsewhere in L.A., Eve heads into an apartment and starts undressing. She gloats to someone that Angel and Spike fell for the cup story and Sirk disappeared without the Senior Partners knowing anything. In addition, the gang are wondering if they can trust the Senior Partners. “Oh, and by the way,” she says, “Spike didn’t kill Angel, but they did beat each other to bloody pulps.” She crawls into bed and we see that she’s with a tattooed Lindsey. “Well…it’s a start,” he replies.
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Dead Kennedys - "Too Drunk To Fuck"
[edit] Quotes and trivia
The scene with Gunn and Eve talking with the axe wielding man approaching in the background is a homage to In the Mouth of Madness.
This is the only episode since his joining the cast in season 1 that Wesley hasn't appeared in. At the time the episode was being shot, Alexis Denisof was getting married to Alyson Hannigan.
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Timing
- Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
| Location, time (if known) |
Buffyverse: Spring 2003 – 2004 (non-canon = italic) |
|---|---|
| Sunnydale, Cleveland, Italy, Summer 2003-2004 | Buffy book: Queen of the Slayers |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.01 Conviction |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.02 Just Rewards |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.03 Unleashed |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.04 Hell Bound |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.05 Life of the Party |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.06 The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.07 Lineage |
| Europe, 2003 | Tales of the Vampires: Antique |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel comic: Spike vs Dracula #5 |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel comic: Wesley: Spotlight |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.08 Destiny |
| L.A., 2003 | A5.09 Harm's Way |
| L.A., 2003 | Angel comic: Spike: Old Wounds |
| L.A., 2003/4 | A5.10 Soul Purpose |
| L.A., 2003/4 | A5.11 Damage |
| L.A., 2003/4 | Angel comic: Spike: Lost and Found |
| L.A., 2003/4 | Angel comic: Gunn: Spotlight |
| L.A., 2003/4 | A5.12 You're Welcome |
| L.A., 2003/4 | A5.13 Why We Fight |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.14 Smile Time |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.15 A Hole in the World |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.16 Shells |
| L.A., 2004 | Angel comic: Illyria: Spotlight |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.17 Underneath |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.18 Origin |
| 2004 | Connor Spotlight |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.19 Time Bomb |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.20 The Girl in Question |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.21 Power Play |
| L.A., 2004 | A5.22 Not Fade Away |
| Romania, 2004 | Angel graphic novel: The Curse |
| L.A., 2004 | Angel graphic novel: Old Friends |
| 2004/5/6 | Spike movie |
