Life of the Party

Season 5, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

Lorne prepares the annual Wolfram & Hart Halloween Party. Many of the firm's clients are invited, which worries Angel since so many of them are genuinely evil. Furthermore, many of the clients are familiar with Angel as a Champion of good and are very suspicious. When something causes Angel and company to start acting erratically, they must find a way to stop it before they say or do the wrong thing in front of their skittish (and dangerous) guests.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (10)

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  • Nice to see a Lorne-centric ep

    7.0
    "Good"
    By joxerlives, Jan 22, 2012 Report Abuse
    LIFE OF THE PARTY

    The Good;
    Great acting from Andy Hallet, really showing some range here. Love the characterisation of Sebassis, he's like a demonic Noel Coward. "Yes, yes, sycophants writhe before me, you disgust me!"

    The Bad;
    Why do Knox and co keep referring to last years party? I thought the Beast killed everyone except Lilah? Were they brought in from WR&H branches in other cities? Obviously this ep owes a lot to the Buffy ep Something Blue with the Lorne storyline thrown in. The monster Lorne just looks stupid, reminds me of Dr Jekyll from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

    Best line;
    Harmony; (of Angel's leadership)"Good luck! Morale here stinks. Everyone thinks you suck!"

    Jeez, how did they get away with that?
    The Pee-Pee demon is SUCH a yucky concept. Equally Gunn staking his territory is eugghh! Personally I always found lack of sleep the worst torture imagineable.

    Apocalypses: 5

    Angel Cliches

    In disguise; 8

    DB/JM get's his shirt off; 17, naked Angelx2

    Cheap Angel; 7

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

    Fang gang knocked out: Lorne for about a month
    Cordy: 15
    Angel: 19
    Wes: 7
    Doyle; 1
    Gunn; 2
    Lorne; 7
    Groo; 1
    Connor; 1
    Faith; 1
    Fred; 3

    Kills;
    Cordy: 5 vamps, 3 demons
    Angel; 45 vamps, 60 and 1/2 demons, 5 zombies, 12 humans, one werewolf
    Doyle; 1 vamp
    Wes; 14 demons+5 vamps, 5 zombies, 2 humans
    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:
    Cordy: 3
    Angel: 3
    Gunn; 1
    Wes; 1

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

    Characters killed:
    2256

    Recurring characters killed;
    9;

    Total number of Angel Investigations; 5, .
    Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wes,

    Angel Investigations shot:
    Angel: 14
    Wes; 2

    Packing heat;
    Wes; 9
    Doyle; 1
    Angel; 4
    Gunn; 3
    Fred; 2

    Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Eve and Angel, wonder what Lindsey made of THAT! Got his job and his girl!
    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

    Kinky dinky:
    Voyeur Eve spies on naked Angel in the shower. She wonder if Angel needs some 'hands on' gentlemen's time. Harmony dancing! MMMMMMmmmm! Mercedes sure can cut a rug! Spike refers to Harmony as Angel's chippy just as CC did with the Furies. Angel considers Eve's quite lovely dress to be 'banging it out to the cheap seats'. Eve and Angel get it on big time, even with Lorne and Spike still IN THE ROOM! Eve has had sex under the 'great roofie spirit' before (maybe she ran into RJ's brother or dad?)

    Captain Subtext;
    Eve comments that Angel takes a long shower 'for a guy'. Sebassis strokes the PP demon affectionately. Lorne talks about jacuzzi strategy sessions. Fred and Wes start coming together. Gunn stakes his territory on Angel's chair, does this mean he wants to replace him?

    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;
    Not a lot, Eve/Angel actually less popular a pairing than even Connor/Cordy

    Questions and observations;
    Lorne now loves Harmony and vice versa. He refers to Angel as Top Cat. Note Spike is now included in the AI meetings. Harmony now plays the CC role of saying what's true but what no one wants to say. Angel is a hockey fan as is DB. Who's raggedy Anne? They certainly do celebrate Halloween in England although not to the same degree as in America (in fact it's more celebrated in America than anywhere else including Ireland where it originiates from). Fred appear to be a violent drunk, good thing she stuck with cannabis. Wes' dancing has got a lot better since She.
    Marks out of 10; 7/10 fun, nice to see Lorne get some decent screen time
    moreless

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  • ugh why ruin the sho!!!???

    1.2
    "Abysmal"
    By AngelRocks, Mar 23, 2011 Report Abuse
    after some disapointing and boring episodes this one is made which puts the b to bad. horrible!

    the plot was about lorne who couldnt sleep and becomes a big hulk. yawn! and the hole crew begins to do stupid thins like angel humpin eve and gunn peing and fred and wes drunk! ugh this episode was painful i can\'t believe its from the same show i loved for four years

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    1 13

  • Lame of The Party!

    5.1
    "Mediocre"
    By lenzinoH20, Jan 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    Life of The Party-Lorne prepares the annual Wolfram & Hart Halloween Party. Many of the firm's clients are invited, which worries Angel since so many of them are genuinely evil. Furthermore, many of the clients are familiar with Angel as a Champion of good and are very suspicious. When something causes Angel and company to start acting erratically, they must find a way to stop it before they say or do the wrong thing in front of their skittish (and dangerous) guests.

    Remember when I said that the Buffyverse reuses storylines but do it well most of the time. Well, Life of the Party isn't one of them and it's a shame. This is a Lorne centered episode yet it doesn't exactly leave a smile on my face. I just found it bizarre and uninteresting that Lorne gave up is sleep and now can create people's destinies. I mean some of the hijinks created were good like Gunn's peeing on everything and Spike's over-positive attitude:

    Spike: "Hey, Angel's gettin some. Good on you, mate!"

    and

    Gunn: "You might not want to seat in your chair...I got maintence coming."
    Angel: "Why can't I seat in my..."
    Spike: "You pissed in his chair, great job!"
    Gunn: "Spike, would you please turn off the warm and fuzzy?"
    Spike: "Ohhh...the whole Lorne thing? That wore off, but seriously...nice work!"

    Lol, love those lines.

    But I couldn't stomach the Angel and Eve sexcapades! Maybe it's because she looks more like a minor than an actual business woman? Yep! But the episode just got ridiculous, especially with the Hulk-out manifestation of Lorne's mind....seriously, where did that come from? There are some good scenes like Wesley flirting with Fred while they're drunk but Fred just talks about Knox. Even after 2 seasons, Wesley still showing he cares for Fred more than she'll ever know and you're pretty much routing for him to get her. Also, that demon lord and his minions, especially the one on the chains were great. I liked the comment Lorne made about him tatsing good. All and All, besides a few good jokes and hijinks, "Life of The Party" is filler material at it's best and there isn't much going for it.moreless

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    1 5

  • Life of the Party

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By TrueTvWatcher, Dec 22, 2010 Report Abuse
    Life of the Party was an excellent episode of Angel. I enjoyed this episode because it was a look at the toll Wolfram and Hart is taking on the gang, though Lorne is the first to suffer serious side effects to working too much. I thought this was a unique and original story with character development, intrigue, and action. I thought Lorne's influence over the others was fun and what they did because of it hilarious. I found it interesting that Angel and Eve had a little rendevous, as Fred and Wesley begin to grow closer together. I look forward to the next episode!!!!!moreless

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    0 0

  • Lorneytunes!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By TwistedConverse, Aug 16, 2008 Report Abuse
    Life Of The Party is an excellent episode that's funny and different and also the only Angel Hallowe'en episode! Not a patch on the Buffy ones (well the first two anyway) but still lots of fun!

    Lorne finally gets something to do here- all he's done so far is say a line or two then disappear all episode! He's such a great, fun character and it was fun to have an episode centred on him. The him getting his sleep removed was good but thankfully not the centre- here the characters and their hilarious interactions are the main focus!

    Fred and Wesley were just brilliant here- they should be drunk more often! They had some great lines and Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof were excellent and extremely amusing. They were cute here as well- the first episode where I like the pairing of Fred/Wesley! I was hoping they'd get together but unfortunately she's more interested in the ever annoying Knox whom I hate. The look on Wesley's face at the end was sad and it's so obvious he's in love with her- his feelings never went away. Spike was great here as well- his comments made me laugh as they were so anti-Spike. I'm glad he didn't have much to do- S5 suffers from a Spike overload but gladly not here. Eve and Angel were fun too- I actually think they did have sexual tension and it was good to get it all out of their systems before they went all mortal enemy on each other.

    Archduke Sebassis is OK- I was glad he was introduced here rather than just at the series finale. It makes it more believable if we are introduced to the Black Thorn before in the season rather than them just being pushed in at the end. The Pee Pee demon was great too. Life Of The Party was a great, fun episode that is a lighter moment in an otherwise dark season. It has great acting, and great dialogue and shouldn't be missed- a real gem of Season 5.moreless

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    3 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Knox implies he was at the Halloween party the previous year, but, had he been working for this branch of Wolfram & Hart then, he would have been killed by the beast during the events of Habeas Corpses. Edit
    • The character "Employee #1" is played by TJ Thyne, who went on to play Dr. Jack Hodgins alongside David Boreanaz (Special Agent Seeley Booth) in the FOX crime drama Bones. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • This episode received a 4.1/6 in the overnight ratings. Edit
    • Eve makes reference to attending U.C. Santa Cruz. This continues the tradition from Buffy where college-type locations are borrowed from that school - most of the "U.C. Sunnydale" building names referenced in Buffy are also names of buildings at U.C. Santa Cruz. This is not surprising, as Marti Noxon (producer of both Buffy and Angel) graduated from there. Edit
    • Lorne's phone conversation at the beginning of the episode includes "It's Grapes of Wrath in outer space", "It's got heart", "It's got laser battles". "It's got a timely message of interstellar poverty." This sounds exactly like Firefly, another Whedon creation, which Edlund was also a writer for. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Angel: (while making out with Eve) This seems a little sudden. Eve: Uh huh. Angel: I mean, do you even have a last name? Eve: Do you? Edit
    • Lorne: Stop it! Stop killing! Listen to me, Me! (his hulking alter ego knocks him down) Wow, I must really hate myself. Edit
    • Wesley: Lorne's sleep should be in here... somewhere. Fred: Lorne's sleep. Looking for Lorne's sleep. You know, I think we have pretty interesting lives. Wesley: I'd say that's true, given the average— Fred: And I'm having such a good time right now. We should do stuff like this more often. You know, just hang out like we used to. Friend stuff. Wesley: Absolutely. Frankly, I always— I always thought we'd be better friends than we are. Fred: Oh, we should be. Let's be better friends than we are right now. (hugs Wes with enthusiasm, smiling and giggling) Wesley: Great. Fred: You know, share stuff, talk to each other, tell each other what we're thinking. Wesley: Yes, that would be—I would— Fred: It would be nice. We could be confidantes. Confiding confidentially. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Lorne: (To Fred and Wesley) Et tu, Brutuses. Lorne changes this famous line to make it plural. The Roman Emporer's last words, according to Shakespeare's play Julias Caesar, were "et tu, Brute?" The English translation is, roughly, "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?" Marcus Brutus was a trusted friend of Caesar, yet he was one of the Senators who assassinated the Emporer. Thus, people often cite this quotation when they feel they have been betrayed. Some scholars claim that Caesar's actual last words were "Brutus, Tu Quoque" which has the same translation as the more famous Shakespeare quote. Edit
    • Lorne: You're wound tighter than Martha Stewart's Swatch. Martha Stewart is a well-known business woman and celebrity who had, at the time of the episode, been incarcerated on counts of insider trading. Swatch is a relatively cheap brand of watch that was popular in the 1980s. Edit
    • Knox: They took a bunch of cows and put them in a giant wicker effigy of Krishna and doused it with Sambuca. In the Hindu religion, the cow holds an honored place in Hindu society and Krishna is a central figure in the Upanishads (Hindu scriptures). The giant wicker effigy may be a reference to the Wicker Man, which is burned in some Pagan traditions. Sambuca is an Italian liqueur which is often compared to the flavor of anise or black licorice. Edit

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