Spin the Bottle (Angel)

Plot

After his rendition of "

Writer/director Joss Whedon says this episode grew out of his desire to see Wesley returned to the "bumbling moron" of the past. "We were reminiscing about the days when he was a complete idiot, and so we thought we wanted to see old-school Wesley but also cool, new-school Wesley," Whedon explains.^[1] Although the regression to a comedic figure contrasts his new, darker persona, Wesley still exhibits heroism during this episode, which is in line with the growth his character experienced over the last four years.^[2] Peggy Davis argues that "Wesley can embody masculine heroism or feminine comic figure, but not both";^[3] however in this episode he demonstrates that his heroic masculinity allows for a comedic element as well.^[2] In addition to bringing back "classic Wesley", this episode also gave the opportunity to refresh viewers' memories of "teenage bitch queen" Cordelia from Buffy, whose character changed dramatically during her time on Angel.^[4]

Whedon gave Lorne's spell the side-effect of making the gang "high" to differentiate this memory spell from a similar one used in the Buffy episode "Tabula Rasa", readily admitting the spell itself is "lazy writing," meant only to set the plot in motion.^[4] The frame narrative established by Lorne in the night club was done to highlight the postmodern aspects of the episode, explains Whedon. The artificiality of the night club, and Lorne's breaking of the fourth wall when he comments on the commercials that played during the act break, provides a foreground for the alternate reality caused by the spell.^[4] Whedon notes that while writing this episode, he already knew that Connor and Cordelia were going to have sex, but the story had to move faster than he had originally planned because Carpenter became pregnant.^[4]

Acting

This episode took much longer to film due to the cast finding it difficult to stop laughing. Amy Acker and Andy Hallett ruined dozens of takes by giggling, and Alexis Denisof and David Boreanaz prolonged shooting for an hour and a half when they could not stop laughing. To get the scene, Denisof explains he and Boreanaz resolved not to look at each other; on the DVD commentary Whedon points out background shots where Boreanaz is still failing to keep a straight face.^[4]

Continuity

• This episode follows a similar plot to the Buffy episode "Tabula Rasa" where all the characters forget who they are because of a spell gone wrong. It also mirrors the Buffy episode "Band Candy" where all the adults are turned into teenager versions of themselves.
• The age the characters regress to is unclear; Fred states "not one of y'all look 17", implying that would be the age they think they are, but Cordelia has no recollection of slayers or vampires nor does she recognize Angel. Cordelia initially believes herself to be the victim of a "sophomore hazing" prank, indicating she's regressed to sophomore year. She didn't meet Angel until towards the end of her sophomore year, and wasn't aware of the supernatural world until the very end of her sophomore year. Cordelia's reaction to Angel's entrance, "Hello salty goodness" is exactly the same as when she met him for the first time.^[5]
• When Wesley says, "there are stories at the Watcher's Academy of a test. A secret gauntlet which only the most cunning can survive. You're locked in a house with a vicious, deadly vampire, and you have to kill him before he kills you. It's been done in the past with Slayers," he is speaking of the Cruciamentum that
  Buffy had to undertake in "Helpless
  ".
• Fred speaks to a plant in this episode, as she previously did in "
  Origin
  ".
• Fred confuses a
  Doomed
  ".
• Fred asks if anyone else took a personality test recently, with questions "about politics and your bowel movements and if you want to be a florist..." This would seem to be the same florist question test that was mentioned in "Doppelgangland".
• Cordelia says Connor is 18 years old, the first time he is given a concrete age after returning from Quor'Toth in the third season.
• Angel, in his 18th-century original identity of Liam, sees vehicles and runs into the hotel, believing them to be demons, as did Buffy when she believed herself to be an 18th-century maiden in the Buffy Episode "
  Halloween
  ".
• It is uncertain when the narration of the episode by Lorne takes place. It is assumed it takes place after the episode ends, but some comments imply he was aware of the ultimate consequences of the spell (Jasmine's emergence), placing it at the end of the season.
• The Beast makes his first appearance in Cordelia's vision, but he does not fully appear until the next episode.
• After losing her memory, Cordelia is extremely upset at the thought of missing her senior prom, which was depicted in the
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  Season Three episode "The Prom". Though none of them were aware of it at the time that she made the comment, both Angel and Wesley were in attendance. The latter, who was then harbouring feelings for Cordelia, asked her to dance.
• The song "The Way We Were" that Lorne sang in the opening, was also sung in the Season 2 "Disharmony" episode at Caritas by Harmony.

Reception and reviews

The DVD commentary for this episode, featuring writer/director Joss Whedon and actor Alexis Denisof, ranks third on Slayage.com.^[6]

This episode is one of the more well regarded of the season, with

The Futon Critic named it the 33rd best episode of 2002, saying "it was particularly interesting in this episode to see Cordelia (along with the rest of the cast) forced to revisit their younger selves after a memory spell goes awry. How Chase, David Boreanaz, Alexis Denisof and company all step their characters back a few years without missing a beat is something that borders on extraordinary to watch."[9]

References

Further reading

• Stacey Abbott. Angel, pp. 83–84, 90–95 (Wayne State University Press; 2009)
  ISBN 9780814335598
• Stacey Abbott. "Enough of the action, let's get back to dancing." Joss Whedon directs Angel. In Reading Joss Whedon (Rhonda V. Wilcox, Tanya R. Cochran, Cynthea Masson, David Lavery, eds), pp. 122–24, 128–31 (Syracuse University Press; 2014)
  ISBN 9780815633648
• ISBN 9780786437559

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