Destiny

Season 5, Episode 8
Written by David Fury and Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by Skip Schoolnik
Original Airdate: 19 October 2003

“This town might not be big enough for the both of you.”
Eve

REGULAR CAST

David Boreanaz as Angel
James Marsters as Spike
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Amy Acker as Winifred ‘Fred’ Burkle
Andy Hallett as Lorne
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

GUEST CAST

Sarah Thompson as Eve
Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall
Juliet Landau as Drusilla

CO-STARRING

Michael Halsey as Rutherford Sirk
Justin Connor as Jerry
Mark Kelly as Reese

SYNOPSIS

In 1880, Drusilla introduces William to Angelus at the Royal London Hotel. Back in the present at Wolfram & Hart, Spike complains to Angel about wanting his own office, but Angel refuses. Spike receives his first piece of mail, surprising both him and Harmony. When Harmony opens the package, a bright light shoots out, leaving the box empty. Spike dismisses it and tries to walk through Angel’s office door, only to slam into it. Angel finds Spike on the floor with a bloody nose. Spike is ecstatic – he’s corporeal again. However, the office phones go haywire, and Spike suspects the package is responsible. Now corporeal, Spike has one thing on his mind – sex. He grabs Harmony, and they search for an empty office.

Back in 1880, William and Angelus ride in a carriage. Angelus offers William spoils, but William prefers to find Drusilla. In the present, Spike and Harmony kick an employee out of an office. The disgruntled worker complains to Jerry at the copier, but Jerry, crying blood, attacks him with a fire extinguisher.

Fred, Angel, and Gunn gather in Angel’s office to investigate. Fred suspects something worse is at play. Angel connects Spike’s corporeality to the office chaos. Eve arrives, explaining that the Shanshu prophecy is in turmoil. With two corporeal vampires with souls, the universe is unbalanced. The prophecy doesn’t specify which vampire it refers to, throwing everything into chaos. Meanwhile, Spike and Harmony’s tryst is interrupted when Harmony, crying blood, bites Spike. He fends her off. At the copier, Lorne becomes Jerry’s next victim.

Angel and Eve encounter Spike fleeing Harmony. Eve warns that LA isn’t big enough for both vampires, prompting Spike to consider leaving for Europe. Gunn emerges from the lift, reporting that the White Room is empty, replaced by a howling abyss. Angel pleads with Spike to stay, and he agrees.

With Wesley absent, the team consults Rutherford Sirk about the Shanshu prophecy. Sirk reveals the existence of the Cup of Perpetual Torment, which the prophesied vampire must drink from. Before Sirk finishes, Spike bolts, with Angel close behind. At Wolfram & Hart, Gunn struggles to manage the chaos. Eve visits his office, and Gunn suspects her involvement but lacks proof.

Angel arrives at an opera house in Nevada, just after Spike. The two race to the cup. Back in 1880, William returns to find Angelus with Drusilla. Furious, William confronts Angelus, who mocks him, declaring Drusilla belongs to no one. If William wants her, he must fight for her. In the present, Angel and Spike reach the cup. Spike punches Angel, and a brutal fight ensues.

At Wolfram & Hart, Gunn, infected by the madness, attacks Eve. Fred knocks him out, saving her. At the opera house, the fight continues. Angel taunts Spike, calling him “Willy.” Spike retaliates, accusing Angel of making him the monster he became. With a final blow, Spike flings Angel across the stage and drinks from the cup. Nothing happens – it’s just bottled water.

At Wolfram & Hart, Fred comforts a shaken Eve, who rejects her sympathy and leaves. Angel returns, revealing the cup was a fake. Spike can’t find Sirk, and the madness seems to resolve itself, with Gunn and Harmony returning to normal. Eve later tells Angel that the Senior Partners intervened, working on the problem from the start. Spike goes for a drink, while Angel confides in Gunn that Spike beat him to the cup because he wanted it more.

Elsewhere, Eve returns home and recounts the events to someone in bed with her – Lindsey McDonald.

TRIVIA

Christian Kane is uncredited for his return as Lindsey for two reasons: one, to keep his return a surprise and two, because he’s impervious to being detected by technological means – he remains uncredited until the spell on his body is removed in You’re Welcome. After that, he’s credited as normal.

Sarah Thompson describes the final scene as “a secret scene” that didn’t appear in the original script. She says: “I heard rumours there were going to be a big reveal, but I didn’t know what was going to happen. David Boreanaz was like, ‘Maybe you’re going to turn out to be a lizard.’” She received the scene in an envelope marked “confidential” shortly before filming, with strict orders not to reveal Kane’s return.

Although credited, Alexis Denisof doesn’t appear in this episode. This was due to his wedding to Alyson Hannigan at the time of filming.

CONTINUITY

A mysterious package is responsible for making Spike corporeal again, much like the one that arrived in Conviction that caused Spike to materialize in Wolfram & Hart.

Spike seduces Harmony; they previously had a relationship in seasons four and five of Buffy.

Spike tells Angel: “You’ve never met the real me.” This is the same thing he told Buffy in Never Leave Me when he asks her to kill him.

Lindsey will reveal himself to be the one who sent the amulet back to Wolfram & Hart in Soul Purpose.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Lineage / Harm’s Way