Angel

Angel, "Destiny" The Further, Further Adventures of Ponce & Idiot.

By Anthony Karcz November 19, 2003

So after last week’s Freud-fest of father/son family values, you say you want nebbish bookworms spouting prophecy, office wonks spouting blood, champions spouting off, and Eve, ah, well, *ahem*...spouting? Well, have I got the show for you.

We open, as we have so often this season, with Spike tormenting those around him the only way he can, by bugging the living hell out of them. This is after a quick trip down memory lane where we get to scope Angel & Wee Willie’s first introduction, where, after some obligatory masochism (gee, who would’ve thunk that the body still produced that much testosterone after you’re dead), Angel declares that he and Blondie Bear will be best of friends. Cut to the chase - Spike gets mail, Bang, Flash, Boom, the package is opened, the gates of electronic hell yawn wide, Spike turns into a real boy, drinks Angel’s mug o’ otter blood, and runs off to shag Harmony. It’s chaos as only Spike can deliver it. Throwing everything and everyone off balance, playing off what he knows their reactions will be.

Wes is away, so who’s there to sweep up the bits into a nice pile, but Eve. Sweet little Eve from Santa Cruz. No one likes her, no one trusts her (especially since she has some random, unexplained connection to the Sr. Partners), and she never shows up when it’s raining puppies and kittens. No, she’s there to perform a bit of a song and dance about the Shanshu prophecy and how two ensouled, champion vamps throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the cosmic cogs (after all, Wee Willie did save the world). Big concepts like rips in the fabric of reality are bandied about but it really only boils down to one thing (for Angel at least) - it’s Spike’s fault.

Of course, things just keep getting worse in Mudsville as toner-depraved worker bees start crying blood and beating each other to death while Harmony does the same and tries to bite Spike’s head off, mid-nooner. One "Code Black" and an interrupted trip to the "Big Cat" later (with Gunn looking much the worse for wear), the crew finds themselves at the receiving end of a very snitty ex-Watcher (Cyril, for those of you keeping score). He digs on the Bible, he mocks Angel for his simplistic interpretation of the prophecy, he creates a wild goose chalice for Angel and Spike to kill themselves over.

Interspersed, we get the further adventures of Willie and Liam. In-between watching Angelus popping off preacher’s heads and sucking down bride’s blood, it seems that Willie feels he’s found a new confident. Unbeknownst to him, he’s only providing Angelus with more ammo to absolutely destroy him later. The heart of the poet is still very much evident here as Spike-to-Be waxes on about his destiny to be with Drusilla. You cringe every time we cut to Angelus, because you just know that he’s storing all of Spike’s babbling away, trying to find the best way to hurt him with it later.

In the meantime Eve and Gunn have a bit of a stare off (where we discover that, not only does Gunn have an affinity for robot toys, no one is to touch said robot toys without permission...I knew I liked this guy for a reason). It’s a well played scene, rife with point and counterpoint as Gunn tries to figure out what, exactly, Eve is (and, maybe, if she’s more in touch with the Powers than he is). However, I would have preferred to have seen the game played out for a bit. As it is, it’s pretty much telegraphed that one of the crew is going to lose it; and who better than Gunn, who has everything to lose in the chess match between him and Eve by going for her throat, literally.

The main action of the episode, however, comes in the form of a vampo-e-vampo showdown in a sunken opera house in Death Valley (yeah, like those are just a dime a dozen, nowadays). It’s great to see that the newly corporeal Spike has a lot more going for him than the ability to scratch his ass without having to concentrate for five minutes. Seems that being a champion (or, at least, declaring yourself to be one) gets you a power upgrade as well. For once, he and Angel are able to go toe to toe, Spike giving as good (or better) than he gets. While the fight itself is well choreographed (again, lots of Matrix-y effects here, similar to ep 5.1...still can’t decide if they’re uber-cool or been-there-done-that lame), it’s the wordplay, the battle of wills between these two that entertains the most. Angel is doomed from the start as he smashes it into Spike’s head that the Shanshu can only be referring to him, that Spike is just a mistake that’s around to screw up the works. But Spike’s barbs about fighting for his soul (even if it was to get in Buffy’s pants) reveal a bit of the old Willie kicking around in that leather-clad, blonde-haired frame. It’s here where we find about Angel’s betrayal of Spike, his taking of Drusilla that pushes Spike over the edge (and, ultimately, drives Spike and Dru apart). I just wish that Dru was more than a pretty prize here. Her prattling on, her barely contained madness, both are what make her character, having them absent here does us a disservice.

Ultimately, it’s Spike that does the Dew (literally), beating Angel and proving that, despite his nonchalance about the prophecy, this is a prize that he wants, and wants desperately. Angel even admits that "Spike wanted it more." It’s a bad sign when a noble knight or a chaotic imp are given equal opportunity to save the world. It’s an even worse sign when the imp wins.

Ultimately, this is the arc-a-licious episode that we all knew was in the offing. The Angel Inc. crew is scattered, at best; but Spike is ripping it up the entire time, riffing one liners, stealing cars, ripping Angel apart (but not killing him, even though he could). In fact, I’d say that he pretty much steals whatever scene he’s in here. The flashbacks though, while interesting, don’t really give us anything that we didn’t know already. They’re the Cliffs Notes of the week to bring the newbies up to speed. And what to say about All About Eve? For every scene that I like her, that I think she clicks, that her bratty, know-it-all smirk works for me, there’s another scene where all I can see her as is a worn-out plot device. Of course she’s going to get attacked by Gunn, of course she’s going to snarkily deliver the news about reality tearing, of course she’s going to go home to her rune-covered apartment and lover. Oh yeah, did I not mention Lindsey’s back? In one of the better twists this season, he of the six string and classic pickum-up truck (and EVIL HAND! Can’t forget that crazy EVIL HAND!) turns out to be the letter-bomber that’s been pushing Spike this way and that. It’s been fairly clear from the beginning that Eve had an agenda...that it was Lindsey’s was a very pleasant surprise.

The loss of the cup has Angel reeling - even if it wasn’t real, it still means that maybe the path he has seen himself on isn’t necessarily the right one. The sudden appearance of Lindsey should do a nice job of destabilizing things further. Hopefully the crew’s back in full force when they come back from their winter hiatus - cause this B game ain’t gonna work.