Soul Purpose

Season 5, Episode 10
Written by Brent Fletcher
Directed by David Boreanaz
Original Airdate: 21 January 2004

“You are barking up the wrong vampire.”
Spike

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

CO-STARRING

Ciara Hughes as Blue Fairy
Rob Evors as Man
Jodi Harris as Woman
Carmen Nicole as Lana

SYNOPSIS

Spike and Angel stand before the alleged Cup of Perpetual Torment. But the story unfolds differently – Spike drinks, turning human, while Angel screams as his body burns away. Suddenly, Angel snaps awake at his desk, shaken by the hallucination. Elsewhere, Spike lounges in a strip club. Just as he prepares to leave, Lindsey approaches, revealing he knows more about Spike than he should. Lindsey admits to sending the box that made Spike corporeal and the amulet that brought him to Wolfram & Hart. Furious at being manipulated, Spike threatens Lindsey, who coolly introduces himself as Doyle.

At Wolfram & Hart, Wesley and Gunn argue over a business matter before consulting Angel, who seems dazed and out of the loop. As they fill him in, Angel is unsettled by the moral grey areas involved. He reluctantly asks them to explain again. Back at the strip club, an uninterested Spike prepares to leave, but Lindsey follows him, claiming he receives visions of people in danger – people Spike could save if he wanted. He gives Spike his latest vision and leaves him to decide.

In an alley, a young woman is attacked by a vampire. Spike intervenes, killing the assailant but mocking the victim for putting herself in danger. Watching from afar, Lindsey tells Spike this is his new purpose – saving people. Spike insists he’s been doing it for years, but Lindsey argues this time, there’s no ulterior motive – it’s just for him.

At Wolfram & Hart, Angel struggles through the business discussion with Wesley and Gunn. Fred arrives, contributing her expertise. Angel looks unwell. He assigns tasks before heading to his penthouse. Shortly after, Wesley visits, assisting the weary Angel to his room. Angel, feeling sick, is confused when Wesley suddenly pulls out a stake and stabs him. Angel jerks awake – it was another nightmare.

Elsewhere, Spike fully embraces his vigilante status, mirroring Angel’s early days – even down to using his double stake technique. The next morning, Wesley asks Harmony to handle paperwork. She hesitates, citing past “accidents,” but Wesley overrides her concerns with his approval code. Eve interrupts, presenting a relic that needs urgent translation per the Senior Partners’ directive. Wesley heads off to investigate.

In Angel’s penthouse, Fred arrives, offering to examine him. Using a surgical knife, she opens him up, removing his organs – only to find raisins, a pearl necklace, and a dead goldfish, which she hands to a bear. The diagnosis: Angel is empty.

At Wolfram & Hart, news spreads about a vigilante roaming LA – platinum blond hair. Lindsey offers Spike a place to stay, which he initially declines but ultimately accepts. Meanwhile, Angel’s hallucinations worsen. He sees Spike in bed beside him with Buffy. Buffy’s voice drifts through the air, reminiscing about her prom. Jarring awake, Angel stumbles into the lift, arriving at the office, barefoot. Fred points it out, reminding him to hurry before he misses it. She leads him to what appears to be a cinema – but it’s a front-row seat to the apocalypse.

Angel panics, insisting he needs to act, but the team reassures him – Spike will handle it. Sure enough, Spike averts disaster, and the office celebrates, crowning him the hero. A blue fairy appears, transforming Spike into a human. Watching from the background, Angel realizes he’s dressed as Número Cinco and morphs into the mail cart man.

Meanwhile, Wesley and Gunn visit Spike, urging him to return to Wolfram & Hart. Spike refuses, asserting that the institution will change them, not the other way around. Elsewhere, Eve and Lindsey revel in their plan – they want the Senior Partners to believe Spike is the true champion, not Angel.

At the office, Wesley and Gunn inform Fred of Spike’s refusal. Shocked, she agrees they need Angel – but no one has seen him all day. Harmony calls his phone, getting only voicemail. Eve distracts Fred by pushing her to decipher the relic. Upstairs, Angel is greeted by Lorne – now going by Honky Tonk – who urges Angel to sing, but nothing comes out. Fred, Wesley, and Gunn sit around, eerily reminding Lorne that Angel is empty.

Angel sees a demon latched onto him, sucking the life from his body. He tears it off. Eve appears, claiming Angel is dreaming before planting another demon onto him. Meanwhile, Lindsey gives Spike another vision – one he won’t want to ignore.

Back in Angel’s penthouse, Angel attempts to reach the phone but collapses as a larger parasite clings to him. He suddenly finds himself sitting in a chair in an endless field. The team approaches, assuring him he can stay for as long as he wants. But one by one, they start screaming.

Spike arrives at Angel’s penthouse, forcibly removing the parasite. Soon, the rest of the gang, including Eve, join him. Wesley explains what happened, and Lorne commends Spike for saving Angel. Suspicion lands on Eve as Angel recalls her presence in his hallucinations. As Eve departs, she subtly sows distrust among the team.

TRIVIA

This is the first and only episode of the series to be directed by one of the show’s stars. David Boreanaz would direct several episodes of Bones, amongst others.

The dream scenes in this episode were filmed at high speed and then slowed down in post-production. Boreanaz said: “It’s pretty introspective of what’s going on in Angel’s mind… It’s more of his perspective of what’s going on, we don’t know what’s real and what’s not real.”

The scene in which Fred performs surgery on Angel is done with a prosthetic torso.

Boreanaz had just had reconstructive surgery on his left knee, which is why Angel spent most of this episode immobilized in bed.

There were two main props of the parasite, one crafted out of a spongy material with some slime on it and another that had full animatronics and cost them $85,000. Boreanaz says he resorted to filming as little of the costly prop as possible because he felt it was too goofy looking and the cheaper sponge prop actually worked better. He wouldn’t have used it at all if it wasn’t for the fact it cost $85,000.

According to Christian Kane, who is uncredited in this episode, a few of the extras in the strip club scene were big Angel fans and had begun to leak Kane’s appearance onto the Internet. Lindsey would be ‘renamed’ “Sean” on location so no one knew Kane would be showing up as “Doyle.”

Although Angel dreamed about Buffy, the actress who portrayed her is not Sarah Michelle Gellar. Her lines were taken from The Prom.

CONTINUITY

Spike’s storyline deliberately parallels Angel’s storyline in City Of.

Spike met the real Doyle when he visited Los Angeles to retrieve the Gem of Amara in In the Dark, but never actually learned his name, allowing Lindsey’s ruse to work. He also dresses in a jacket similar to Doyle’s.

Angel dreams about becoming the new Wolfram & Hart mailman, much like when Número Cinco stopped being a hero in The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco.

When Lindsey shows Spike his new digs, he says “Great. Another ruddy basement.” This is in reference to his stay in the basements of the Harris residence and the Summers house in Sunnydale.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Harm’s Way / Damage