Life of the Party (Angel)

"Life of the Party" is episode 5 of season 5 in the television show Angel.

Plot

As Halloween approaches, Lorne throws a Halloween party for all the firm’s clients and employees and even gets a reluctant Angel to invite a powerful demon lord, named Archduke Sebassis, to the party. During the gathering, Lorne's timely advice to his friends starts happening literally, leading to Fred and Wesley getting drunk after Lorne tells them to loosen up, Gunn to embarrassingly relieve himself to "stake out his territory", Angel and Eve to have sex, and even Spike and the dim-witted Harmony to have fun on the dance floor. The events lead to only more trouble when Lorne's empathic subconscious begins manifesting itself in a hulking demon (resembling a larger Lorne on steroids). The demon appeared as a result of Lorne's sleep deprivation after Lorne had Wolfram and Hart remove his sleep: an empath with long-term sleeplessness can write people's destinies instead of just reading them, and the empath's subconscious can physically manifest. The episode also reveals that Lorne is proud of his organizational skills, as he feels most of his other talents simply do not match up to what his friends can do.

The larger Lorne causes much violence before the gang restores Lorne's sleep, thus neutralizing the monster. The chaos and destruction has a positive side: the rank and file of Wolfram and Hart express the opinion that it greatly improved the party.

Continuity

• The changes caused by Lorne's increased empath abilities have a similar effect to the spell cast by Willow in Season Four's Something Blue.
• During the party montage following Artode's untimely demise in the bathroom stall, a green demon can be seen on the dance floor wearing the same tunic worn by El Eliminati in "Bad Girls."

Trivia

• Lorne finds Angel hiding from the party in his office, watching a hockey game. Actor David Boreanaz is a real-life Philadelphia Flyers fan.
• T.J. Thyne who appears as a Wolfram & Hart employee, now stars with David Boreanaz on Bones as Jack Hodgins.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Life of the Party

• "Life of the Party" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Life of the Party" at TV.com