EPISODE 5.08

Destiny

Written by: David Fury and  Steven S. DeKnight

Directed by: Skip Schoolnik

Destiny?

It is one of the great strengths of the writing of ANGEL that a particular issue or theme will be introduced in a given episode and then elaborated or expanded in subsequent episodes.  This not only allows the writers to develop and deepen the ideas in a way that would not be possible in a single hour but also lets the  viewers gain a sense of their continuing  significance for our characters, thus heightening the impact of the ideas in question.  We are seeing this technique again here.  In “Hell Bound” the writers asked whether the fate of Angel and Spike was already fixed by the evil that they had done.  Were they destined to go to Hell or was escape possible and if so how?  Angel, as you will recall, was convinced that he was indeed Hell Bound and that nothing could be done to save him.  In conversation with Spike he referred to the things that both of them had done to help people and then added bitterly:

“You think any of it matters? The things we did? The lives we destroyed. That's all that's ever gonna count. So, yeah, surprise. You're going to hell. We both are.”

Later, in “Life of the Party” Angel was full of self-doubt about the effectiveness of what he was doing to help. And then in “The Cautionary Tale” the writers make it even more abundantly clear that he has lost heart in what he was doing.   When he doesn’t have any confidence that what he is doing is helping in the first place then what meaning does it have?  More to the point, if he is simply following an agenda set by others what meaning do his actions  have?  In those circumstances of course his struggle for redemption will mean nothing. His fate will be determined by his past; his destiny fixed by events long ago.  Granted Angel is still at the point where, despite his feeling of disconnection with humanity and his lack of confidence in what he was doing, he still thinks it’s worthwhile to keep on fighting.  But can he keep on doing so if deep inside him he feels the struggle means nothing?  Is that not the cautionary tale of Number Cinco?  Is not the a lack of belief in the meaning of what he is doing the surest way to ensure that Angel loses control of the direction of his own life, the way to become in Roger Wyndham Pryce’s own estimate of him “a puppet” of others?  And if all you are is a puppet, isn't your life a failure?  This is the idea that “Destiny” takes up. 

William and Angelus

As I said in my review of “Just Rewards” the introduction of Spike to ANGEL was a controversial one.  Nevertheless, it had great potential value and in episodes like this one we are seeing that realized.  There are obvious similarities between the characters of Angel an Spike but equally striking differences as well. There is, therefore, much scope here for a comparison between the two, a comparison that helps the viewer explore important thematic issues.  So, this episode opens with the very first meeting between Spike, or William as he was called at the time, and Angelus as he then was.  And from the beginning we see Angelus welcoming the newcomer:

“Do you have any idea what it's like having nothing but women as travel companions, night in and night out?  Don't mistake me. I do love the ladies. It's just lately I've been wondering what it'd be like to share the slaughter of innocents with another man.”

And he concludes by saying:

“Ah! I like this one! You and me, we're gonna be the best of friends. 

We then cut from the two of them laughing merrily together to a very different scene between Spike and Angel in LA 2004.

Angel: “Get the hell away from me, Spike.”

Spike: “Would that I could, you big ape. 'Til then, why don't you make us both happy and give me what I want?”

Angel: “You're not getting an office.”

Spike: “You selfish sod. The rest of your lot get to go home to their nice and cozies. Me? I gotta nest in somebody else's roost. It's not bleeding right.”

Angel: “You don't work here. You haunt this place—and annoy me. That's all.”

It is evident that more than the names of the two protagonists have changed.  And it is in exploring the change and the reasons for it that we find the heart of this episode.  We see a series of counterpoints between

And all three comparisons have a central focus – the question of destiny.  Let’s begin by looking at the relationship between Angelus and William.  That relationship is best defined by something that happens in their very first encounter. Angelus grabs William's arm and holds it out into the ray of sunlight beaming through the closed curtains of the hotel room where it begins to smoke.  William instinctively pulls it away from Angelus’ grasp and from the sunlight and the pain that it produces.  But Angelus holds his own hand in the same beam of sunlight and quite calmly watches it start to smoke and burn before pulling it away.  Why? The answer quite simply is because he could, because he wanted to demonstrate to Spike that he could do what he wanted and a little pain was not going to stop him.  He was in control of the direction of his unlife, of his own destiny if you like.  William sees this and admiringly sticks his own hand into the sunlight in imitation of his newly found hero.

We next see Angelus and William laughing as they ride through the night in a horse-drawn carriage. William is recalling yet more carnage wreaked by Angelus:

William: “And then, when you leapt up right in the middle of the ceremony, grabbed the priest's head, and squeezed it until it popped like a ... “

Angelus: “…rotted melon. “

William: “Yes! Eyeballs dangling from the sockets, and you shouting, "Frankly, father, thine eyes offend me. Bloody priceless. And beating the groom to death with his own arm, I mean, honestly, you're a bloody killing marvel."

William is obviously full of admiration for Angelus’ strength and power and the sense of control these gave him.  Hence his willingness to copy Angelus’ by putting his own hand in the sunlight.  Hence also his efforts to imitate his grand-sire in other ways too.  As he says later to Angel: 

“every time you look at me... you see all the dirty little things I've done, all the lives I've taken... because of you! Drusilla sired me... but you... you made me a monster.”

Of course there are different ways of looking at this.  Angel says:

“I didn't make you, Spike. I just opened up the door... and let the real you out.”

But both are agreed on the influence that Angelus had over William.   It was because of his admiration for Angelus that William was more than willing to give him what he considered to be his “place”, for example by refusing the offer of the bride in the carriage because Angelus by his efforts deserved her as his "spoils".  But as yet he didn't understand the full implications of Angelus attitudes.  It was this mistake that would shape the rest of his life.  In the carriage he makes the mistake of referring to Dru as his destiny and the very same night he finds that Angelus has taken her for himself.  Why?  Again the answer seems self-evident.  It was because he could.  Perhaps more to the point it was again to demonstrate to William that he could do what he wanted.  William’s claim to a special interest in Dru was something Angelus could not tolerate.  He had to show his pupil who was boss.  In the face of William’s enraged sense of betrayal he explains the facts of vampire life

“Well, you're new... and a little dim. So let me explain to you how things are now. There's no belonging or deserving anymore. You can take what you want, have what you want... but nothing is yours.”

In the end he arrogantly offers William the chance to win Dru back from him, in effect throwing down a challenge to fight him for her.  And we may also assume that this was a fight that William lost.  For Angelus there is no destiny, nothing that was meant to be and certainly nothing that belongs to anyone else.  An ambassador and his wife coming to London to take up a position, a young couple about to be married or William besotted with Dru - they all came alike to him.  They had no future they could count on, no destiny.  If he wanted something from them, something that they thought was their own – even their lives -  he could take it from them and there was nothing they could do about it.

Spike

The lesson for Spike was a bitter one but it was evidently very well learned. William had no control over his unlife.  His destiny was something he found in others, Angelus his mentor and above all Dru, his great passion.  But throughout “Destiny” we see how different Spike’s attitude is to William’s.  As soon as he becomes corporeal and realizes he can taste blood again he grabs Angel’s cup from his hand – without so much as a by-your-leave – and drinks deeply from it (thus nicely foreshadowing the way he will take the Cup of Perpetual Torment from him).  His next move is to seize Harmony.  In the face of Angel’s refusal of permission he simply says:

“I wasn't asking.”

and even throws someone out of his office. 

Harmony’s reaction to this is very interesting.  At first she is reluctant but goes along with it because she allows herself to believe that a silly complement from Spike means that he cares about her.  But the disturbance that is disrupting the order of things seems to bring to the surface buried fears and angers such as Gunn’s suspicions of Eve or Toner’s guys pet hate.  So when Harmony says that Spike was:

“Using me. Making me think... feel...like yours.”,

she is simply speaking the truth.  And when she also says:

            “You! You don't want me! You want your slayer whore!”

she is reflecting the reality of the situation, namely that Spike was making her feel as though he wanted her in order to use her.  But this has always been one of Spike’s defining characteristics.  When he wants something he will go for it and won’t let anything stand in his way.  In this episode he compares the way he got his soul with the way Angel got his:

“You had a soul forced on you…as a curse. Make you suffer for all the horrible things you'd done. But me... I fought for my soul. Went through the demon trials. Almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. 'Cause I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny.”

Again there are different ways of looking at this.  Spike’s claim that he was trying to do the right thing is somewhat dubious and Angel’s take on things is rather different:

“Heard it was just to get into a girl's pants.”

But the reason why Spike wanted the soul was irrelevant.  The important point was that when he decided that was what he wanted he just took it.  And this is where we come to the Shanshu Prophecy and the Cup of Perpetual Torment.   Sirk describes the effect of drinking from the cup: 

"He will have the weight of worlds upon him, binding his limbs, grinding his bones to meal until he saves creation... or destroys it."

But that doesn’t worry Spike in the least.  His reaction is:

“Uh...right. So, what's in it for me?”

And it is what he hears next that really interests him.

Sirk: The vampire will have his past washed clean.

Angel: “And live again in mortal form. Yeah, that part I know.”

Spike was not concerned about the implications of the prophecy for others, about the possibility that the vampire with a soul would destroy creation.  Indeed he is openly contemptuous of Angel’s concerns for and desire to help others:

“Oh, yeah. Look at you. Thinking you're the big savior—fighting for truth, justice, and soccer moms—but you still can't lay flesh on a cross without smelling like bacon, can you?”

As he says himself he is interested in the Shanshu prophecy for what it means for him.  He has already had one brush with Hell and talked to Angel about the possibility of the Shanshu prophecy being a passport away from the torment due as punishment for past sins.  And the fact that there is a high price to pay for this in terms of suffering is neither here nor there for Spike.  After all, as we have seen, he was prepared to pay a high price to get his soul. 

And here was confirmation that this destiny might be for him:

Eve: “There's only supposed to be one candidate for the vampire with the soul hero part in the big show. Two of you, and the wheel of destiny starts to spin off its axis. That's why everything and everyone is going mad."

But of course it wasn’t only the fact that Spike wanted his past washed clean and to live again in mortal form.  There was also the fact that he was denying that to Angel, taking away from him something that Angel had considered as his destiny:

Angel: “So ask yourself: Is this really the destiny that was meant for you? Do you even really want it? Or is it that you just want to take something away from me?”

Spike: “Bit of both.”

Thus, on top of everything else, he was getting even for Angelus stealing from him the person he considered to be his destiny – Dru.  But it was more than just revenge.  Angelus had always considered himself superior, the dominant one.  He even called William “Willie” much to the latter’s chagrin.  And he was quite condescending about his pupil’s name in other ways too:

“You know, you really should find a new name for yourself. It just doesn't strike the right note of terror.”

I think that we can certainly infer that Spike adoption of his new name went along with a change of attitude towards taking whatever it was he wanted and was a reaction to his feeling humiliated by Angelus.  Denying Angel his humanity by taking it himself would be the final reaffirmation that he was after all “the one” and that Angel by contrast was nothing:

“Still can't accept it, can you? Sad, really. All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares.”

That was why, in a very typical fashion, he just seized the initiative.  As soon as he knew where to go, he dashed from the meeting with Sirk without telling anyone he was going.  He stole one of the firm’s cars.  And when he and Angel were together in the Opera house he didn’t want to talk about who should drink from the cup.  He was just determined that it was going to be him and he was quite happy to fight his way through Angel to do it.  As he and Angel stood in front of the Cup Angel says:

“So... what do we do now?”

And Spike in reply snickers as he punches him and says:

“What do ya think?”

The interesting part about this was the switching back and forward between the struggle over the Cup on the one hand and the struggle over Dru.  Both were described as Spike’s destiny.  But in Victorian England William conceived of his destiny in almost romantic terms as something that was promised him as part of the natural order of things.  And he is on the losing side of the argument with Angelus who, as we have already seen, looks at things in terms not of what is ours, or is promised to us or destined for us.  For him it is all about what you can take.  And the important part of the juxtaposition of these two struggles is that, in the Nevada Opera House, the positions are reversed and it is Spike who is the one who takes what he wants rather than brooding over a destiny meant for him.  He contrasts the way he and Angel got their souls not as a way of pointing up any moral superiority.  Rather he was stressing that he went out and took what he wanted and Angel just had a soul given to him.  And when he accuses Angel of having thrown his lot in with Wolfram and Hart his contempt is not for the morality of the choice but it’s because Angel chose the easy way out:

“Traded in your cape and tights for a nice comfy chair at Wolfram & bloody Hart.”

There is, in the fight between Angel and Spike in the Opera House, what seems to me to be a very deliberate echo of an incident when the two first met as William and Angelus.  There Angelus had demonstrated that he was the one in control by putting his hand into the sunlight.  In the later scene Angel accidentally rolls onto a cross and rolls off again in agony and fear.  Spike by contrast demonstrates his power and control by deliberately picking it up and knocking Angel across the room with it before holding it, hand sizzling.  Who is on control of their destiny now?

Angel

The same comparison which shows how much Spike has changed also reveals the differences between Angelus and Angel.  As I noted at the outset of this review in “Hell Bound” and “Cautionary Tale” he seemed to have little belief in the Shanshu prophecy although at the very end of the latter episode his curiosity was piqued enough to re-read it.  And in a nice piece of continuity he reveals to the others that he had done so.  Initially at least he does not seem to have revised his views but events forced him to do so.  The evidence of the disturbances coinciding with Spike becoming corporeal again, the explanation given for this coincidence by Eve, the emergence of the “newly translated” texts and finally the promise of finding the Cup of Perpetual Torment seem to have forced Angel to accept that the prophecy was real:

Gunn: “Angel, we got a seriously major crisis going on here. Might not be the best time to go running after some mystical cup.”

Angel: “I really don't have much of a choice. If it's there, I'm just gonna have to accept that the prophecy's real, and hope that it stops this madness.”

So, I think it fair to say that Angel feared the prophecy, not just because of the torment promised in the course of the apocalypse but for the potential burden of guilt that it carried.  But at least he knew that he would have the right motive and try to do the right thing.  This was not something that was guaranteed with Spike.  Indeed Spike's very enthusiasm to assume the burden for his own gain showed that.  More than that, however, I do not think you can discount the element of pride, that whether it was during the good times or the bad Angel always felt that he was something special, a pivotal figure.  And yes there probably was hope there too - hope that just maybe for once thing could turn out for the best.  After all it is the prospect of the disappointment of a hope that is often the sharpest part of fear of failure. So, Angel seems never to have doubted that he was the vampire with a soul to whom the prophecy referred.   So, he twice tells Spike that the prophecy was not about him.  But interestingly he never out and out claims that he was "the one" himself.   As Spike points out to him, the reason why Angel continued to feel such animosity for Spike was self-hatred.  He was:

“Too busy trying to see your own reflection... praying there was someone as disgusting as you in the world, so you could stand to live with yourself.”

And here we see why, I think, that Angel’s discovery of the reality of the Shanshu prophecy didn’t change his basic attitude towards it or alter his view of his own fate.    So, when he hears about the Cup he doesn’t simply rush after it.  He is if anything reluctant to go and only does so because it was the only way he could think of to stop the madness at Wolfram and Hart and because Spike forced the issue by taking off for Nevada himself.   Then, when faced with Spike at the Opera House he is indecisive, unsure what to do.  It is Spike who forces the fight.

It is no wonder that it is Spike who wins.  Its aftermath says everything.  All Spike wants to do is get hammered.  The Cup is no longer of any significance so he basically forgets about it.  But Angel broods on:

Angel: “He beat me, Gunn.”

Gunn: “Who, Spike? Looks to me like he got as good as he…”

Angel: “No. He beat me to the cup.”

Gunn: “You mean the fake cup? The make-believe, fairy-tale cup? So what?!”

Angel: “No, you don't... He won the fight, Gunn... for the first time. Doesn't matter if the cup is real or not. In the end, he... Spike was stronger. He wanted it more.”

Gunn: “Angel, it doesn't mean anything.”

Angel: “What if it does? What if it means that... I'm not the one?”

Of course the cup meant nothing.  But when he was fighting for it Angel believed it did.   So, he lamented the fact that Spike won not because that victory had any meaning in terms of who was the "one vampire". He lamented because he realized that he lost because his heart was not in the good fight. As he pointed out to Numero Cinco, when the fight against evil has no personal meaning, you have to continue with it because it was the right thing to do. For Angel getting the cup from Spike was the right thing to do. But he couldn't do it because he didn't want it enough. That also implies that his whole approach of doing the right thing because it is the right thing is doomed to a similar failure.

Undoubtedly the structure of the episode with the very clever contrasts between Angelus and William and Angel and Spike is a great strength in developing this idea.  As I have already said, the two vampires with a soul have much in common.  But they are also very dissimilar in many ways.  And one of the key differences between them lay in the way that each came by his soul.  I thought that the writers used the contrast between Spike’s struggle to get one and Angel’s curse to great effect.  More than that, however, they developed the significance of this difference in the context of very strong, coherent and believable characterization.  We see Angelus’ vampire attitude to life cleverly reflected in Spike’s well established “bull at the gate” impatience to get what he wants.  Both are not only very true to the characters but are used in a very powerful way to highlight Angel’s ineffectual agonizing.  This too is not only very true to the character but presents us with the logical consequence of the dashing of Angel’s hopes at the end of season 4, the price he had to pay for the favor Wolfram and Hart did him and perhaps get a glimpse of the Law Firm’s agenda.  As I said at the beginning of this review it was a conclusion that had been introduced in “Hell Bound” and then developed until we get to the present point.  It is a dark picture indeed and one that draws much of its force from the slow development of the ideas as well as from the very stark way in which the consequences of Angel’s state of mind are presented.  This is a prospect of total and complete failure for our eponymous hero and that is what gives this episode its power.  Of course we will only be able to see the true significance of the writers plan when we learn where Angel goes from here so like so many other Angel episodes we will only be able to judge “Destiny” in the context of the season arc as it develops.