Soul Purpose (Angel episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Angel episode | |
| "Soul Purpose" | |
 Spike is visited by a mysterious stranger who claims to have brought Spike back  Angel has a bad dream about Spike taking over from him  Wesley and Gunn pay Spike a visit |
|
| Episode № | Season 5 Episode 10 |
|---|---|
| Guest star(s) | Sarah Thompson (Eve) Mercedes McNab (Harmony) Christian Kane (Lindsey) |
| Writer(s) | Brent Fletcher, Elizabeth Craft |
| Director | David Boreanaz |
| Production № | 5ADH10 |
| Airdate | January 21, 2004 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous episode | Harm's Way |
| Next episode | Damage |
"Soul Purpose" is episode 10 of season 5 in the television show Angel. See List of Angel (series) episodes for a complete list.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
[edit] Summary
Spike is approached by a mysterious stranger named Doyle claiming to be the one who was responsible for Spike regaining his corporeal form. Doyle's purpose is to convince Spike that he is the vampire champion mentioned in the Shanshu Prophecy, and informs Spike that his mission is to help the helpless. Meanwhile, Angel -- who is already paranoid about his own destiny -- slips into a feverish hallucinative state. Angel is faced with a barrage of dreams and scenarios in which he loses control over everything that is dear to him and his destiny of redemption is claimed by Spike. Meanwhile, as the rest of the gang is working on a way to curb a dangerous cult loading up on weapons, Eve stops by with a supposed artifact of importance for Wesley.
[edit] Expanded overview
Angel is on the ground of the opera house, helplessly watching Spike pick up the coveted cup. Spike mocks Angel about losing, then drinks from the cup. A light shines on him, then burns him up, similar to the way Spike was burned in Sunnydale. Angel wakes up from his dream in his office. Spike is doing a little less sleeping and a little more watching girls take their clothes off at a strip club. Lindsey approaches him and says that he seems lost. He wants to talk, but Spike isn’t interested and starts to leave. He stops when Lindsey calls him by name and asks, “Get any interesting mail lately?” He tells Spike that he’s his new best friend. Spike realizes that Lindsey is responsible for his return to corporeality, as well as the amulet that brought him to L.A. Lindsey says that “we” couldn’t have left him in the Hellmouth; and Spike wants to know who “we” are, but Lindsey won’t tell him. He introduces himself as Doyle and says, “You got your life back now. What are you gonna do about it?” At Wolfram & Hart, Wesley and Gunn try to figure out what to do with an evil warlock who’s causing problems. They head to Angel’s office and fill him in, presenting him with the possible solutions. Wesley says that they’re in a gray area, but Angel is tired of hearing that phrase.
Back at the strip club, “Doyle” tells Spike that he has a destiny. Spike accuses him of sending him and Angel on their cup chase and “Doyle” denies knowledge of that, claiming that he just does what “they” tell him to. He says that he was a nobody until one day he suddenly started having visions of people in trouble. Spike tells him to go to Angel instead, but “Doyle” says that Angel is “working the other side of the tracks,” so Spike needs to do something. He tells Spike that he had a vision of a girl who’s about to get attacked in an alley and asks if Spike will just let her die. Spike saves the girl, then blasts her for being out alone after dark. “Doyle,” who was watching from nearby, asks Spike if he believes him. Spike doesn’t, but “Doyle” points out that he just did something for someone else without expecting anything in return. Back at Wolfram & Hart, Gunn and Wesley are still fighting over what to do about the warlock. Fred arrives and joins the discussion. As the others keep talking, Angel gets lost in thought and finally announces, “Let’s kill them all.” He suggests going back to the basics of good vs. evil to get rid of the gray areas. He then says that he’s just tired and decides that they’ll get someone to turn on the warlock and go from there. The others tell him to go get some sleep and not come in early the next morning. Up in his apartment, Angel tells Wesley, who followed him there, that he thinks he’s sick, despite the fact that vampires don’t get sick. Wesley says that he’s just having trouble adjusting to the fact that he’s “irrelevant.” He says that Spike’s arrival will make things easier, then stakes Angel. Angel wakes up from his dream, alone.
In another alley, Spike saves a couple from vamps, telling them, “I’m the hero.” The next morning, Eve catches Wesley throwing money at a problem and congratulates him for getting used to his job. She wants to see Angel, but Wesley says he’s not available. She gives him a fragment of a relic and asks the firm to find out what it is. Harmony wants to fill Angel in, but Wesley doesn’t want to bother him. Fred shows up in Angel’s room, assuring him, “I know what to do. Let’s take a look under the hood.” Suddenly, his bed is in the science lab. Fred cuts open Angel’s chest and starts pulling out his unused internal organs. She gets to his heart, which is a “dried-up little walnut”. Fred also pulls out a strand of beads (which she puts on), some raisins (which she eats), and a license plate (which causes her to ask, “Came up the gulf stream, huh?” a la Jaws). She then pulls out a fishbowl and calls the dead goldfish inside Angel’s soul. She says that they’ll have to flush it and hands it to the bear standing next to her. Fred turns back to Angel and tells him that she can’t find anything wrong with him - “I mean…except that you’re empty. There’s nothing left. Just a shell. I think I can hear the ocean in there.” Of course, this is a dream, and Angel is actually alone in his apartment.
Wesley shows Fred the relic that Eve gave him and asks her to find out what it is. Gunn arrives and announces that a vampire has been out on the streets, saving people. Fred wonders if Angel has lost his mind, but then learns that Spike is the vamp in question. Spike and “Doyle” go to a basement apartment, which “Doyle” says is now Spike’s. He says that if Spike wants luxury, he can go to Wolfram & Hart, but this apartment is a home for a hero. Back in Angel’s room, he’s pacing around as other people have sex in his bed. He’s not thrilled that those people are Spike and Buffy (not Sarah Michelle Gellar - just some blond woman). Buffy is repeating lines from her prom and Angel isn’t happy that she’s with Spike now. Angel wakes up and goes downstairs, where Gunn tells him and Fred to hurry or they’ll “miss it.” Fred and Gunn run to the refreshment stand that’s replaced Harmony’s desk, and Angel follows them into his office. The gang and a bunch of people stand around, staring out the windows at L.A., which is burning. Angel realizes what’s going on and heads towards the windows. “Hey…down in front!” Lorne yells. “Yeah, Angel. You’re blocking the apocalypse,” Harmony tells him. Angel says that he has to do something, but Wesley assures him that Spike will take care of it. Lorne suggests that Angel change his clothes, since there’s something on his shirt. Angel looks down to see a bloody stake sticking out of his heart. As Angel dreams in his room, a blue creature feeds off of his chest in the same spot as the stake in his dream.
Fred holds out a cake with a picture of L.A. burning and the words “Way to go Spike!” written on it. Everyone sings, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and yells for Spike to give a speech. He talks about just fulfilling his destiny, but he’s actually turned L.A. into utopia. A blue fairy floats in and sprinkles gold fairy dust on Spike, making his heart beat again. As everyone cheers for Spike, Angel is suddenly a nerd manning the mail cart. In reality, Gunn and Wesley pay Spike a visit at his new apartment to confront him about rescuing people. They tell him that if he really does want to help people, they have resources that can help him. Spike declines the offer, still believing that Wolfram & Hart is the same evil law firm it’s always been. He suspects that Angel doesn’t know Wesley and Gunn are there, an idea which seems to add something to his theory about nothing being pure at the firm. Lindsey and Eve get friendly at her apartment as Lindsey tries to make sure that no one is on to him. Eve wants to put whatever their master plan is into motion (it has something to do with a box on the bedside table), but Lindsey doesn’t think it’s time. He reminds her that if the Senior Partners find out what they’re up to, they’ll kill him. Eve assures him that thanks to the tattoos he’s sporting, they won’t find him. Wesley and Gunn head back to Wolfram & Hart and tell Fred that Spike thinks they’ve sold out. Fred wants to tell Angel what’s going on with Spike, but first she wants to know if anyone’s heard from Angel that day. Harmony gives Angel a call, but he’s still asleep. In fact he’s dreaming of Lorne, dressed Old West-style, playing a piano in Angel’s room.
Fred starts to go up to check on Angel when Eve arrives and asks her about the relic. Fred decides that Angel can wait and heads to the lab to keep testing the relic. In Angel’s room, Lorne plays and sings “My Darling Clementine” as Harmony (dressed like a Copacabana waitress) serves him a drink. Angel tells Lorne that he thinks he’s lost and that everything hurts. Lorne says that that’s life - “everything hurts, and then we die,” though in Angel’s case, everything hurts and he lives forever. Lorne tells Angel to sing, but Angel can’t. Nearby, Fred, who’s at a table with Wesley and Gunn, says, “I told you he was empty.” Wesley is upset that Angel isn’t singing, mentioning that they “paid blood for this.” Lorne tells Angel that the crowd is turning on him as Gunn snarls and hisses at Angel. Eve appears, noting that Angel is suffering. Lorne says that Angel still has something on his shirt, and Angel looks down to see the blue creature on his chest. He pulls it off, wakes up, and kills it. Eve, holding the box from her room, tells him that he’s still dreaming but it’s almost over. She pulls a bigger blue creature out of the box and puts it on him. She watches while he struggles against it, then leaves. After she’s gone, Angel manages to throw the creature aside and crawls out of bed. Spike returns to his apartment with beer and finds “Doyle” there. “Doyle” pretends to have a vision and tells Spike that he should take care of it. Back in his room, Angel tries to reach the phone but can’t before the blue creature latches onto him again.
Angel sits in a chair in the middle of a sunny field as the gang approach him. “You can stay as long as you like,” Wesley says. “Stay forever.” Angel says that he can’t, since there’s a lot of work to do, but Gunn says that they can take care of it. Angel says that he’s not done with his job, but Wesley says that he can be if he wants to. Fred says that he’ll be fine - he just has to stop caring. Suddenly, the four of them throw their heads back and scream. In Angel’s room, Spike grabs the blue creature and kills it. “No need to thank me,” he tells Angel. “Just helping the helpless.” Later, the gang and Eve gather in Angel’s room and Wesley explains that the creature was a parasite which makes the host “oblivious to its presence” and gives him or her fever dreams and hallucinations. If Spike hadn’t killed it, Angel might have been trapped in a vegetative state. The gang wonder how Spike knew it was there and how the parasite got there in the first place. Angel suddenly says that Eve brought it - after Eve put the second parasite on him, she changed her clothes so that Angel wouldn’t remember her being there for real, but she didn’t change her earrings. He notes that Eve is playing her own game and wonders what the Senior Partners would say if they knew. Eve says that they’re all just blaming her for their problems when they should really be looking within the group. The group just glare at her until she leaves.
[edit] Writing and acting
[edit] Production details
[edit] Music
- Supersuckers - "Junk - Club 1"
- The Righteous Brothers - "My Darling Clementine"
- "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"". - The gang sing this to Spike in Angel's dream.
[edit] Quotes and trivia
This episode was directed by David Boreanaz, and was the only episode directed by a cast member.
[edit] Continuity
[edit] Arc significance
[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 |
