S5.E08: Destiny

[Joe Hellandback]

The Good; The fight, the race, the flashbacks, all great! And the great ending. The Fred/Eve hurt/comfort scene is also very powerful

The Bad; The Alice Cooper eyeshadow. Also the idea that Lorne would just lock himself in his office, I mean this is the guy who went to fight the Beast.

Best line; Spike; "Mountan Dew!"

Jeez, how did they get away with that? Gunn throttling Eve is horrible, reminds you of Lilah/Gavin. Spike and Angelus crashing the wedding.

Subverting the cliché; Mountain Dew! Also when Fred tries to sympathise with Eve and Eve rejects her concern.

Fang Gang in bondage: Gunn chained to the bed Cordy: 5 Angel: 14 Wes: 7 Gunn; 7 Lorne; 5 Fred; 3

Fang gang knocked out: Gunn doped up Cordy: 15 Angel: 19 Wes: 8 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 3 Lorne; 7 Groo; 1 Connor; 1 Faith; 1 Fred; 4

Kills; Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons Angel; 45 vamps, 61 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 12 humans, one werewolf and one cyborg Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 14 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 3 humans, 2 cyborgs Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 18 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.

Gunn; 11 vamps+ 13 demons, 5 zombies, 1 human.

Groo; 1 demon Fred; 3 vamps+ 2 demon, 5 zombies Connor; 16 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 demons, Jasmine

Fang Gang go evil: Gunn big time Cordy: 3 Angel: 3 Gunn; 1 Wes; 1

Alternate Fang Gang; Cordy: 4 Angel: 11 Fred; 2 Wes; 1 Gunn; 1 Connor; 1 Lorne; 1

Characters killed: 2261

Recurring characters killed; 10 Total number of Angel Investigations; 5, Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wes,

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 14 Wes; 2

Packing heat; Wes; 11 Doyle; 1 Angel; 4 Gunn; 3 Fred; 3

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Spike get's corporeal again and 'seduces' a willing Harmony who seems intent on setting feminism back about 500years like the dumb tramp she is! Cordy: 5 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast+Phantom Dennis+Groo+Connor plus possibly the Beast Angel: 6; Buffy, Darla, The Transcending Furies, Eve Wes; 3 definite; Virginia, the bleached blonde and Lilah, 1 possible, Justine Gunn; 2 Fred and Gwen. Fred; 1 Gunn Groo; 1Cordy Spike; 3-Buffy, Anya, Harmony

Kinky dinky: Spike and Harmony on the desk. Unromantic but having been denied the touch of a woman (or anything else)for so long...? Angelus and Dru, much to Spike's dismay. Darla still devoted to her Master much to Angelus's disgust. Spike let's slip about the circumstances of him killing his mother, Harmony comments how it explains a lot. Fred knows what the term 'nooner' means. Love Eve's dress and the sexy striptease she does at the end. Gunn cautions Eve 'Don't be touching the robots'. Gunn says that Fred might want to tie him down again, does he mean when he went crazy or when they were dating?

Captain Subtext; Angel asks the newly corporeal Spike to stop touching him. Angelus bids Spike to be 'Home before sunrise' again casting the Fanged Four as a sort of family with him as the father and Spike as the son. Eve calls Fred 'princess' and 'sweetie', Spike calls Angel a ponce. Spike is happy to voyeuristically watch Angelus having sex until he realises it's with Dru. As with Lover's Walk, souled Angel still knows how to push Spike's buttons. Once again Spike and Dru seem to retain some aspect of humanity which other vamps lack, Angelus saying that vamps can't know true love ('Nothing is yours') but Spike and Dru intent on trying anyway. Spike also hugs Gunn and asks him to go drinking with him at the end of the ep.

Know the face, different character; 5

Parking garages; 8,

Buffy characters on Angel; 16.

Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, The Master, Anne, Willow and Harmony. POSSIBLY The First Evil

What the fanficcers thought; A great gift for Spangelers

Questions and observations; No Wes who's on a leave of absence, possibly heading home to visit his folks after the events of Lineage (Alexis Dennisof in real life marrying Alysson Hannigan the lucky beggar). I'm sure the idea of everyone being sent mad by a phonecall was a Stephen King book? Eve quotes The Music Man. Hell of a tumble MM's stuntwoman takes when Spike hits her. Instead of racing Spike why doesn't Angel use his helicopter? Presumably Angel and Spike reach the opera house at the same time because Angel already knows where it is? DB apparently loves doing his Irish accent. Has he ever heard it? Gunn sees the howling abyss but obviously the budget won't stretch that far so the rest of us don't get to.

Spike is right of course, he IS better than Angel because he fought to get his soul back. He blames Angel(us) not for making him a vampire but for making him the evil monster of a vampire he was, that it was Angelus' influence that made him worse than all the rest. Spike comments that Dru still has a bit of a child in her, like him she still retains some humanity. Or he retains some humanity BECAUSE she was his sire.

Angel asks Spike does he want the destiny because it's his or because it's something to take away from Angel? You could make the same argument for Buffy, did Spike love her for his own sake or because she was Angel's and he wanted her for himself? As revenge for Angelus/Dru? And of course, Spike beats Angel in a fair fight! I guess that's one question answered. Does the title Destiny refer to Angel and Spike or might it actually refer to Lindsey who thinks his destiny is to run WR&H? Marks out of 10; 9/10 for the Angel(us)/Spike scenes alone