Angel

The episode opens on the offices of Wolfram and Hart. We follow Lorne as he’s doing business over various phones, all the way to Angel’s office. Harmony tells him that Angel is on his way back from his last mission and doesn’t sound happy. Which makes sense as Angel arrives, disheveled and slimed. Wesley wants to know if the new gadget he and Fred cooked up worked. It didn’t. Angel brushes off Lorne and the others and heads into his office for a shower.

We follow Lorne back to his office, where we can see that he’s simply swamped in proposals and paperwork. As he tries to rest for a moment in his office, we see his image reflected in a mirror. The mirror-Lorne tries to encourage the exhausted-Lorne. Lorne breaks the mirror, but mirror-Lorne continues to try to encourage him to get back to it. Which works because Lorne leaves the office singing and dancing.

Back in Angel’s office, he surprised to see Eve waiting for him when he comes out of the shower. They were supposed to meet about the Halloween party, and they find Lorne in the lobby working out more of the details. Turns out that most of the most of the A-list guests are not going to show. Which Angel sees as a positive, as they are evil and he hates parties. Lorne does not take this news very well. He suggests they discuss the matter further after Angel has cooled off and arranges another meeting in 25 minutes in Angel’s office.

Lorne goes out on a recruiting drive, first to Fred’s lab where she’s discussing the problems with the gadget with Wesley. Much to Lorne’s dismay, they would rather work on the gadget than go to the party. Lorne pleads with them that he needs their help, and says surely someone else can figure out the problem. Knox volunteers to work on the problem, and Lorne asks Wes and Fred to meet him in Angel’s office. Next he finds Gunn.

Gunn’s busy going over legal documents and seems somewhat distracted, but also agrees to meet with the others. Lorne mentions that Gunn needs to take the reins a bit more, to stake out his ’territory’.

In Angel’s office, everyone is there including Spike (who thinks it’s ridiculous that they are going to be celebrating Halloween). Gunn and Lorne argue that it’s good for the firm to maintain its ties and preserve its impressive image with the demon community. Besides, it’s good for employee morale, which Harmony informs them is lousy, what with Angel killing a few of his employees, and a few of their clients, and more than a few of their prospective clients. Angel grudgingly agrees to go along with the idea. Lorne says that’s not enough — Angel has to be out there actively making the party a success.

The two of them go off to see the Demon Lord Sebassis, who had previously declined their invitation to attend. At first, Sebassis doesn’t seem willing to change his mind. Lorne uses his people (demon) skills to the utmost and gets him to reconsider. As Angel and Lorne leave, Sebassis’s lieutenant expresses doubts. Sebassis reassures Artode that they will be prepared for any unforeseen problems.

Finally, it’s the night of the party. Unfortunately for Lorne, it’s a disaster, nobody is having any fun. He goes around the lobby, encouraging people to have a good time, dance, relax a little. He comes over to Wesley and Fred, who are being the perfect wallflowers. Lorne quickly surmises what’s wrong,they aren’t drinking enough. He orders them to get drunk and moves off in search of other non-partying prey. He bumps into one demon, Devlin, who is dressed up as a human (with an all-too realistic face). Looking around, Lorne realizes that Angel is nowhere to be found.

Lorne goes off to find Angel, who is watching hockey in his office, and orders him to the party. Meanwhile, at the party, Harmony is trying — unsuccessfully — to convince Spike to join her on the dance floor. Spike is wondering what the heck he is even doing attending the party when Lorne approaches with Angel. Once again, Spike makes a snarky comment about the party, and Lorne chides Spike about not being ’positive’ enough.

Suddenly, Sebassis arrives with his entourage. Lorne encourages Angel to greet him and begging him to ’be nice’. Which Angel does, though it seems as if he’s going a bit overboard. Lorne has to force himself to ’be nice’, especially when Artode shows off his new green leather jacket. A "Pylean" leather jacket.

At the other end of the room, Wes and Fred are more than a bit drunk. Harmony warns them as they weave through the crowd that someone has peed on the floor. Gunn is congratulating Lorne on the party working out after all, and wonders how Lorne maintains his amazing energy. Lorne confides that he had his sleep removed, a procedure they can do at W&H.

Over at the bar, Spike is bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm. He’s showing one of Sebassis’ people the latest ghost trick he learned, that he can pick up and move a swizzle stick. The demon is less than enthralled, and leaves as soon as his drink arrives, but Spike is unfazed and having a great time.

Sebassis and his crew are enjoying themselves, but also waiting for the nasty surprise that they expect is soon to come. Artode goes off in search of the men’s/demon’s room. Eve goes over to Angel, and expresses her surprise at how well Angel handled Sebassis. They get into a "he said/she said" argument, and Lorne (now the happy host of the party) comes over and tells them to ’get a room’. Which turns out to be Angel’s office, as the two of them start getting hot and heavy. In the bathroom, Artode hears something big and angry in there with him. He’s about to pull out a weapon when suddenly a large shape appears and kills him, quite messily.

As the party continues, a drunk Fred and Wesley can’t figure out how they got in this condition. They barely had anything to drink. While they are trying to figure out what’s going on, Gunn comes over and urinates on Wesley’s shoes. A ’bouncing off the walls’ Spike comes over and talks about how this is the best party ever. Suddenly, they all realize that something isn’t quite right. Shortly, they realize that the cause is Lorne. His ’suggestions’ are becoming reality to the Nth degree.

Wes, Fred and Gunn drag Lorne off to Angel’s office, a bouncy Spike tagging along. When they arrive, they are shocked to discover that Angel got lucky. They figure he and Eve must also be under Lorne’s influence. Gunn tells the others what Lorne told him about having his sleep removed, and they figure that must be the reason. Angel sends Wes and Fred off to try and figure out a way to reverse the effects and get Lorne’s sleep back. He tells Lorne to stay where he is in the office and not say anything to anyone. He sends Gunn off to keep an eye on the party. And he tells Eve to stay right there so they can have some more sex.

All of this is happening while Sebassis discovers what has happened to Artode. He and his people gather their weapons to attack Angel and his crew.

Wesley and Fred are searching the vaults for Lorne’s sleep, which has been extracted and stored. Wesley is doing some quick research, and he explains to Fred. The first symptoms of problems with an empath who has been without sleep are what they’ve already seen. As time goes on, eventually the empath’s subconscious will become reality.

Meanwhile, Sebassis and his posse show up at Angel’s office, looking for blood. Angel denies killing Artode. They hear a scream from the lobby, and Sebassis orders Angel and the others out to see what’s going on.

Sebassis and Angel are facing off in the lobby, while Lorne tries to explain that it’s all a mistake. Sebassis understands, he’ll kill Lorne first. Then, from the balcony, Lorne’s subconscious leaps down. It hulk-sized and itching for a fight. The Lorne-Hulk begins to take apart Sebassis’s posse piece by piece. Lorne can’t control it, and just as it’s going to kill Sebassis, Angel manages to save him. Angel and Gunn try to keep the Lorne-Hulk under control. They are having little luck, when Fred arrives on the scene with another gadget, which she shoots Lorne with. Lorne goes to sleep and the Lorne-Hulk fades away.

At the office the next morning, everyone is talking about what a success the Halloween party was. Fred’s assistant Knox is sorry that he missed it. Fred tells him she missed him there, and he suggests maybe they could go out for coffee. Fred tells him she needs something a bit stronger.

Lorne, meanwhile, has crashed on Angel’s couch. Angel and Wesley are still trying to figure out everything that happened. There is an awkward moment with Eve, who doesn’t seem too fazed about what happened between her and Angel. Gunn arrives to let Angel know that things are fine with Sebassis. He also suggests that Angel doesn’t sit at his desk, Gunn has arranged to have his chair cleaned. Spike is still having a great time, but it has nothing to do with Lorne, he’s just amused at the events. Angel and the others leave the office to let Lorne sleep.

We end on a peacefully sleeping Lorne.