Destiny

Season 5, Episode 8, Aired

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When another mysterious package arrives at Wolfram & Hart that recorporealizes Spike, the gang learns that the existence of two living ensouled vampire heroes has created chaos in the world. After Eve tells them about a prophecy that states that the only way to restore order is to find the Cup of Perpetual Torment that bestows human life, Angel and Spike battle it out for the ultimate prize. A series of flashbacks show the history of Angel and Spike and their relationship with Drusilla.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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  • So now we know the answer to that question

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By joxerlives, Jan 22, 2012
    DESTINY

    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;
    As they point out in the commentary 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.

    Apocalypses: 5

    Angel Cliches
    In disguise; 8

    DB/JM get's his shirt off; 17,

    Cheap Angel; 7

    Subverting the cliche;
    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 'solid' again and jumps on top of a willing Harmony 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 hardly suprising Spike jumps on the first (room temperature) body he can get? Angelus and Dru, much to Spike's dismay. Dru refers to Spike as 'sweet willy'. 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'. Spike describes sex with Buffy as 'putting it to her'. 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;
    Angelus comments that he's sick of the company of just women and asks Spike if he thinks he's 'deviant'? 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')and 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. Even Joss comments upon the ***-eroticism of the Spike/Angel scenes.

    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 abscence, possibly heading home to visit his folks after the events of Lineage (Alexis Dennisof in real life marrying Alysson Hannigan the lucky bugger). 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
    moreless

  • An episode about Spike.. again.

    8.7
    "Great"
    By TwistedConverse, Jan 22, 2011
    Destiny is a good episode that would have been great if it hadn't been ANOTHER Spike episode in a season just full of them. I like Spike but at this point I'm getting sick of him, as he's just getting too overused at this point and it grates.

    I usually enjoy flashback episodes but here I was quite disappointed. Seeing Drusilla again was great and she was as fun as ever but they could have done so much more with them. Why no Darla? She's the best character out of the Fanged Four (IMO) and she could have easily fitted in here. If she had of I would have probably loved this episode but unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen. Season 5 just has a supreme lack of her. Secondly, we only get four short flashbacks that were all quite lame. It was interesting to see that Drusilla is the reason Spike and Angel are less than fond of each other but the flashbacks weren't too great and Drusilla was quite underused.

    I really didn't care for the whole Chalice of Torment thing as it was just sort of forced in order to have a Spike vs. Angel showdown. Their speeches were just overdramatic, especially Angel (who's melodrama really grates on me at times). All that stuff "It's a burden", it's like "Stop whining Angel!". And to add salt to the wound, Spike gets the chalice! Of course it's only Mountain Dew but to have our main character and the reason he fights get screwed over by Blondie Bear who's only been in 10 episodes is just aggravating. We get invested in a plot and I for one don't want to see Spike win the battle for humanity- it's rightfully Angel's. I enjoyed the Eve scenes, especially when Gunn tries to strangle her. Just when you feel all sorry for her, she reveals she's working with Lindsey. Why they brought Lindsey back baffles me, as I never liked him and he was pointless this season. I'm really not a fan of Christian Kane's acting and find his repeated smirking just irritating. He puts me off Lindsey.

    Destiny is a great episode marred by the poor flashbacks and the wrong person getting the cup. It's not a series best but it's worth a watch. Just don't go thinking it's going to be awesome though.moreless

  • This episode contains the best fighting secuence of the series. Angel vrs. Spike!!! I couldn't had wrote this episode better.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By edgy27, Dec 29, 2010
    This episode rocks because of having the best fight ever on television. Here we see our two most liked characters determining who is better. We finally see here full use of their vampire powers in a long time. The ending was also incredible showing that Spike is the winner of this fight.
    For me and every ANGEL fan, this was the best result of it. I know that if Angel would had the victory in this fight, he would had only obtained it by killing Spike, thet is why is Spike deserved to win this battle: he forgives Angel's life.
    This episode opens a great story when we finally see that Lindsey returns and is the one that makes sure Angel and Spike battle each other. AWESOME EPISODE!!!moreless

  • Destiny

    8.5
    "Great"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Dec 22, 2010
    Destiny was a great episode of Angel and I really enjoyed watching Spike competing with Angel for the role of Champion in the ShanShu Prophecy. This episode had great character development, exciting action, drama, and humor. The story of this episode was interesting, and showed different sides to some of the characters. I thought it was interesting that Wesley's replacement was the same guy who Wesley defeated during his part of the tour at Wolfram and Hart. The ending of this episode was a surprise and perhaps a clue to who helped Spike become corporeal again. I look forward to watching the next episode!!!!moreless

  • spike beats angel spike is a hero spike blablabla

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    By AngelRocks, Nov 20, 2010
    this is one of the worst episodes of the show i cant believe how the writers gave the fans a big slap in the face. the show turned all about spike and i cant believe how much it made me hate him more. he wins of angel in the match what a surprise, it's spike's show anyway right?

    the writers wrote angel in the most annoying way and making him seem like a big loser, why, why, why? the episode was ridiculous from start to finishmoreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (7)

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    • In a previous episode we find out that, as CEO of Wolfram & Hart, Angel has a helicopter at his disposal. Therefore it seems illogical that when he was trying to beat Spike to the cup, he took a car, as opposed to the faster helicopter.

    • This is the first time we've seen Spike and Angel have a physical fight while both had a soul. They've fought when both were evil (flashbacks and Becoming Part 2), when Spike was evil and Angel had a soul (In the Dark), but never with both having a soul.

    • The dead bride in the carriage blinks twice when Angelus puts his arm around her. This may indicate that she is not actually dead, but rather fading in and out of consciousness due to blood loss.

    • Rutherford Sirk makes a comment about comparing the King James Bible to the "original Aramaic or Hebrew." Only a few verses are written in Aramaic throughout the entire bible. Aramaic was the language most likely spoken by Jesus and his followers, but it was not the language of the writers of the New Testament, which was Greek. It's most appropriate to say "original Greek or Hebrew."

    • When the guy who goes crazy over replacing the toner is strapped down, he is given a shot. Notice as his voice starts to fade, he goes 'Replace the goddamn toner.'

    • When Harmony and Spike are having their "nooner" and Harmony bites him, Spike just jumps off without having time to either pull up his pants or zip up. But when the angle has changed a couple times, you see that his pants are on, zipped up and buttoned. Shirt tucked in and all.

    • The blood on Spike's nose in the beginning seems to appear and disappear every time the camera cuts back and forth from him.

  • QUOTES (18)

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    • Spike: You never knew the real me. You were too busy trying to see your own reflection.

    • Drusilla: (to Angelus) Look what I made. It's called Willy. Spike: William.

    • Angel: (Angel on phone) You took my Viper. Spike: My Viper now, mate. Possession's nine-tenths. Oughta know that, runnin' a law firm and such.

    • Angelus: I like this one. We're gonna be the best of friends. (flashes forward in time to present day) Angel: (angrily) Spike, get the hell away from me.

    • Spike: Drusilla may have sired me but you (Angel) made me a monster.

    • (Spike grabs Harmony and kisses her) Harmony: Get off! Spike: That's the idea.

    • Gunn: I just went to the white room to see what the big cat had to say. Angel: And? Gunn: Cat's gone. Eve: Gone? Gunn: The white room, too. Elevator just opened up into a howling abyss. You ever heard a howling abyss? Terrible sound.

    • Angel: Trust me, I read the prophecy! (Cut to Sirk's office) Sirk: You didn't read the prophecy. Angel: I didn't?

    • Eve: (About prophecy) So there's a cup. Spike: Perpetual torment? Just know that's not gonna taste very good.

    • Spike: Take a long look, hero. I'm nothing like you! Angel: No. You're less. That's why Buffy never really loved you, because you weren't me. Spike: Guess that means she was thinking about you...all those times I was puttin' it to her.

    • Angel: Is that what you think you are, a hero? Spike: Saved the world, didn't I? Angel: Once. Talk to me after you've done it a couple more times.

    • William (Spike): It's like she's still got a bit of a child in her. Angelus: Perhaps two or three by now.

    • Eve: This town might not be big enough for the both of you. Spike: Well, screw this town, then. Screw this devil's funhouse, Angel, and screw you for good measure. I think I'll take the new flesh and bones across the pond back to Europe.

    • Spike: (Drinks from Cup of Perpetual Torment) It's... Mountain Dew.

    • Gunn: (to Eve) Don't be fingering the robots.

    • Spike: 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? Angel: Like you're any different. Spike: Well, that's just it. I am, and you know it. 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. Angel: Really? Heard it was just to get into a girl's pants.

    • Spike: At least give me Wesley's office, I mean, since he's gone. Angel: He's not gone. He's on a leave of absence. Spike: Yeah, right. Boo-hoo. Thought he killed his bloody father. Try staking your mother when she's coming on to you! Harmony: Well, that explains a lot.

    • Angelus: You know Darla, Master's pet.

  • NOTES (14)

    ADD NOTES

    • David Boreanaz was originally slated to direct this episode, but the plan had to be changed due to David's knee surgery.

    • Fred refers to Gunn as "Gunn" in this episode when she usually calls him "Charles" as his eyes start to bleed.

    • The flashbacks in this episode are meant to be a sequel to the flashbacks from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Lies My Parents Told Me" (07x17)

    • This episode received a 4.2/6 in the overnight ratings.

    • The way Harmony, Gunn and others are possessed is reminiscent of how Robin Wood was possessed in the Buffy episode "Storyteller". The only difference is that, in addition to their eyes going white like Robin, our possessed Angel cast has blood stream down their eyes.

    • This episode was involved in a FCC investigation, for possible "sufficiently graphic or explicit" scenes- one where Angel is moving his hips and another involving two vampires biting each other during love making. The FCC rejected the complaint.

    • The big fight between Angel and Spike could be refering to what Buffy said to Spike in the BTVS-finale "Chosen": "You know, one of these days I'm going to put the two of you in a room and let you wrestle it out".

    • David and Steven had an argument when writing "Destiny" about who should drink from the Cup. David fought for Spike to drink the Mountain Dew while Steven said Angel should win. Because David was showrunner this season, that may be why his part of the script won out.

    • This is the only episode in which Alexis Denisof (Wesley) did not appear since joining the cast in "Parting Gifts" (1.10).

    • Spike and Harmony have sex. So do Drusilla and Angelus in a flashback.

    • Drusilla returns in a flashback.

    • Alexis Denisof (Wesley) is not in this episode. The character took a leave of absence after the events with his "father" in the last episode. Alexis was getting married to former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Alyson Hannigan the week of filming.

    • Lindsey MacDonald (Christian Kane), returns at the end of the episode. He was last seen in 'Dead End' (2x18). As is common in Angel and Buffy, Christian Kane's name is omitted from the opening credits to keep Lindsey's "surprise" appearance a secret.

    • The song Spike plays in the car is called, "Too Drunk to Fuck" by the Dead Kennedys.

  • ALLUSIONS (2)

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    • Eve: Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for prophecy This is a reference to the Meredith Willson book and movie, The Music Man. There is a part of the story where the townspeople are concerned that some people are playing too much pool (billiards). In the original line, "prophecy" is replaced by "pool."

    • Spike: It's... Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew is a sweet, citrus-flavored soft drink produced by PepsiCo, Inc. Often noted for its high caffeine content.

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