"Angel" Destiny (2003)

Director:

Skip Schoolnik

Writers:

Joss Whedon (creator) &
David Greenwalt (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Angel" (1999)

Original Air Date:

19 November 2003 (Season 5, Episode 8)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Thriller

Plot:

Spike receives a mysterious box of "flashy" in the mail and is shocked when it somehow recorporealizes him...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Redemption | Vampire Slayer | Spin Off | Supernatural

Cast

David Boreanaz	...	Angel
James Marsters	...	Spike
J. August Richards	...	Charles Gunn
Amy Acker	...	Winifred 'Fred' Burkle
Andy Hallett	...	Lorne
Alexis Denisof	...	Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (credit only)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Justin Connor	...	Jerry
Michael Halsey	...	Rutherford Sirk
Mark Kelly	...	Reese
Juliet Landau	...	Drusilla
Mercedes McNab	...	Harmony Kendall
Sarah Thompson	...	Eve

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Mutant Enemy

Trivia:

Alexis Denisof does not appear in this episode as he took time off for his wedding to Alyson Hannigan (Willow on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997)).

Goofs:

Plot holes: In the first episode of season 5, Angel beats the special ops team to a school to prevent them from killing everyone by taking his helicopter. In this episode he could have easily beaten Spike to the Cup of Perpetual Torment by flying while Spike was driving.

Quotes:

Spike: Try staking your mother when she's coming on to you!
Harmony Kendall: Well, that explains a lot.

Movie Connections:

References His Girl Friday (1940)

Soundtrack:

Too Drunk To Fuck

One of my favorite episodes

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

When I watched this episode for the first time, I was afraid to even blink for fear I'd miss something. It's just so, SO good. "Destiny" confronts all those details of Spike and Angel's complicated love/hate relationship that I always wanted addressed. It also sets up the next stage of the story arc, as Angel begins to question his mission. I think it's one of the boldest, most interesting and most important episodes of the Buffyverse. I highly recommend it.

"Destiny" revolves around Spike being re-corporealized. He gets a box of "flashy" in the mail and suddenly he's all solid again. At the same time, Wolfram & Hart is afflicted by some sort of strange spell. Eve says that it's because of the Shanshu Prophesy. Two Vampire Champions means that either one of them could be the one it's talking about. Angel insists that he's the one destined to be human again and, the more he presses, the more annoyed Spike becomes. When Sirk says that the Prophesy has a clause about a magical cup, Spike and Angel go on a mad dash to find it. The resulting fight brings up all there old resentments: Buffy, Dru, their past and their souls. Spike finally gets the cup, but it's a trick. It's filled with Moutain Dew. Back at Wolfram & Hart, Angel is demoralized. The spell has faded, but Eve says that the problem with the Shanshu remains. Then the scene flashes to Eve and her boyfriend, Lindsey. It turns out that they set up the cup thing. Lindsey is back in LA and looking for revenge.

There are some great parts to this episode. I love Spike & Angel and I see no reason why I can't sort of vote for them both. I understand both of their points-of-view. Their fight, as they battle it out with fists and stakes and even crosses, is just incredible. I enjoy watching it. And I'm really happy that Spike's recorporealized again. He's hugging Gunn, drinking Angel's mug o' blood, and "reconnecting" with Harmony. It's just hilarious. Finally, I love the flash backs. I think they correspond with BTVS season seven's "Lies My Parents Told Me," which seems to show what happened after Spike left the hotel. Really, anytime I get to see Dru, I'm happy.

"Destiny" is driven by Spike and Angel's mutual jealousy and reluctant bond. Spike is jealous because Angel has always been the leader. Good or evil, people follow him. Buffy loved him and Dru slept with him. Spike has always come in second to Angel. Second worst vampire, second Vampire Champion, second best in everything. On the other hand, Angel is jealous because Spike just seems to get everything so easily. He has a soul with no curse. And he willingly fought to get it. Angel was cursed, but Spike choose to join to the White Hats. Spike can deal with his past and enjoy his unlife. Plus, in the end, Angel could easily believe that Dru and Buffy "chose" Spike. Dru sort of bought into Spike's destiny argument, (even saying that she can "feel" love for him in BTVS season five's "Crush.") And, in season seven's "Chosen," Buffy gives the amulet to Spike, not Angel. Honestly, it's easy to see where both Spike and Angel coming from. But adding to the trouble is the fact that they love each other. Spike isn't willing to kill Angel to get the Prophesy. Honestly, if Angel hadn't made him so angry, I think he'd have let Angel have the stupid cup. I'm not convinced that he even WANTS to be human again. And Angel feels guilty about what he did to Spike and how he trained him to be a monster. He looks at him and sees all the mistakes of his past. It's all very cool.

In order to really understand a lot of the episode you have to have seen Spike's evolution over on BTVS. When Spike says that he's always been "different," he means that he wasn't exactly like other vamps. Even when he was evil, he could feel things. He could fight for good. Vampires shouldn't be able to do that. They shouldn't WANT to. Angel's scared because he knows that. Soulless Angel is a unrepentant killer. Soulless Spike babysits for Dawn. If Spike's always been a little bit less evil than other vampires, what if it means he's more worthy of the Shanshu? Angel's scared and defensive, but his feelings make perfect sense to me. He's so sad when he tells Gunn that Spike won the fight. Angel's whole way of defining himself is being threatened. He's suppose to be the Champion, the one who helps the helpless and has a heroic destiny. Wolfram & Hart has been eating away as his sense of self, greying his world. Now with Spike beating him, Angel is feeling so lost that my heart just breaks.

On the down side, I want Spike and Angel to both have the Shanshu Prophesy. Are we sure that can't happen? Also, what's the deal with the White Room being a "howling abyss"? How'd Lindsey do that?

My favorite part of the episode: Spike saying, "You never knew the real me." It's one of my favorite lines in the Buffyverse, because it's the exact same thing he says to Buffy in BTVS season seven's "Never Leave Me." In BTVS, Spike's saying that he never really showed his true demon side to Buffy. He loved her, so he tried to keep the dark side of his personality hidden. In "Destiny" he says it to Angel for the exact opposite reason. He means that Angel never knew "William" or the person that Spike would have been if he hadn't met Angelus and Dru. Spike sees both aspects of his personality as the "real" him and spends most of his time in the Buffyverse trying to find a balance between them. It just blows me away.