"SPIN THE BOTTLE." Angel Episode.

The Plot

In "Spin the Bottle," the gang, led by Lorne, casts a spell to restore Cordelia’s memory that unintentionally regresses Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred to teenagers who do not remember anything of their adult lives. Lorne narrates the episode in a wraparound night club act, making the episode a memory of the past. Wesley, who believes he is still Head Boy at the Watcher’s Academy, convinces everyone that they are undergoing a test set by the Watcher’s Council, one similar to the cruciamentum seen in the third season Buffy episode, "Helpless." Wesley’s leadership is challenged by Gunn, who has again become a street kid who distrusts white people. Cordelia has returned to her bitchy high school self, disparaging everyone, including Angel, or as she calls him, "tall, dark, and slightly less pathetic than you two here [Wes and Gunn]." Fred is the same nerdy innocent that we met in Pylea, but her conspiracy theories have yet to be proven true, so she is much more sane. Lorne does not lose his memory, but because he is "the Devil" (Angel) and "spawn of evil" (Wes), he stays tied to a chair and unconscious through most of the episode. Connor is not affected by the spell as he is out venting his frustrations about Cordelia by killing vampires who are menacing a prostitute.

After Wesley convinces everyone to help him search for the vampire foe sure to be hiding in the Hyperion hotel, the gang splits into two groups and begins the hunt. Wesley, Gunn, and Fred head to the basement, where Fred unknowingly causes Wesley’s new weapon to pop from his sleeve as she discusses aliens probing her naked body. As Angel and Cordelia search the rooms upstairs, Angel discovers he is a vampire after vamping out at the sight of Cordelia’s neck. He runs to the bathroom to see his game face, only to discover that he is "invisible." Instead of looking in the mirror, he settles for transforming his face back and forth from human to vampire, which results in some suspicious squeaking noises for Cordelia on the other side of the door.

The gang meets back downstairs after the search is abandoned. Wesley reasons that one of them must be the vampire and devises a test to unveil the demon. Everyone handles the cross he provides, including Fred, who thoroughly checks her body as with a metal detector. Angel manages to hold the cross for a moment without anyone noticing the smoke coming from his hand. Lorne wakes up, and not realizing the situation, names Angel as a vampire. The gang reacts in horror and attacks Angel. He retaliates by knocking out Gunn and chasing Cordelia into the basement. Her scream brings Connor, who has apparently been hiding nearby. Cordelia tells Connor that she will give him a big reward for killing Angel, something foreshadowed by the prostitute he saved earlier: "Why don't you run home to mama. Maybe she'll give you a special treat for being such a good boy." As Angel and Connor fight, Angel whines that he is being unjustly persecuted for being "different." His complaints about his self-righteous father and the unfairness of his outsider status strike a chord in Connor, but their potential bonding is interrupted by Fred, who has regained her memory thanks to Lorne’s remaining magic potion.

Cordelia is the last to take the potion and regain her memory. As her memories return, she has a short vision of the Beast, the new Big Bad, and she runs from the room. When Angel tries to follow, she tells him that although she remembers everything, she needs time to herself. Lorne (the one narrating) ends the episode by leaving the night club, which is revealed to have been empty throughout his act.

Continuing Storylines

Angel and Cordelia continue their discussion about their possible romance, beginning where the previous episode, "Supersymmetry," ended. At the end of that episode, Cordelia asked Angel if they were in love. As this episode continues, Angel says that he cannot answer that question because they never got the chance to discuss it, what with her ascension to a higher plane and his imprisonment at the bottom of the ocean. After Cordelia’s memory is returned, Angel asks her the same question, which she answers, "Yes, we were," before running away.

Fred and Gunn are trying to deal with their murder of Professor Seidel in "Supersymmetry." They seem unable to talk or even look at each other. Wesley adds to the tension as he arrives at the hotel to help with the memory spell. Lorne’s narration explains the triangle of Fred/Gunn/Wes, which is very literal in the scene and accentuated by elaborate zooms. Gunn confronts Wesley about his interest in Fred. Gunn is unsure about his relationship with Fred, telling Wes that maybe the two smart people have more in common. When Gunn tries to stop Wesley from leaving the room, Wes brandishes his new concealed weapon. This causes Gunn to ask Wesley what brought about his change in demeanor; Wesley replies, "I had my throat cut and all my friends abandoned me."

In the DVD commentary for "Spin the Bottle," Joss Whedon says that the episode resulted from his wish for the return of the bumbling buffoon that Wesley once was. This episode certainly delivers as Wesley once again becomes the ineffectual ponce he was on Buffy Season Three, but without the extensive Watcher education. Wesley’s cool new James Bond-esque weapon becomes a hazard after Wes loses his memory. It becomes especially unpredictable when Wes is near Fred, who he apparently finds attractive as a teenager, as well. Whedon refers to the ever-emerging weapon as a metaphor for "male sexual ridiculousness." Wesley also gets to fall down stairs, display his karate, and scream in terror. Numerous other hilarious moments stand out:

• Angel becomes Liam again, and does not understand his missing Irish accent. He also does not understand radios, which he believes are filled with tiny "minstrels." And he mistakes cars for "shiny" demons.
• Cordelia is shocked to find herself with short hair: "The government gave me bad hair!" she proclaims.
• Fred was apparently a pothead.
• Gunn will never take orders from these crazy white people.
• Fred inquires: "Why is the Devil sleepy?"
• Angel insists: "The English is stupid."
• Gunn replies to Wesley calling him a "pugilist": "Oh, your ass better pray I don't look that word up."
• Cordelia speaks of Fred: "Half of her is neck!"
• Angel recalls his planned meeting with Cordelia in "Tomorrow": "That's a pretty romantic restraining order!"
• Wesley (concerned over his erupting stakes): "Nobody scream . . . or touch my arms!"
• Lorne’s magic spell takes on hallucinogenic properties. Fred begins to commune with a plant, much like Illyria will in Season Seven. Whedon describes the spell’s effects as a mushroom trip. Lorne calls it a, "A little trip through the transitive nightfall of diamonds." The spell requires the group to sit in a circle around the bottle of spell ingredients, which begins to spin rapidly as the spell takes effect. Sadly, the camera does not show who the bottle finally points to.
• "Okay, first of all, she didn't say, ‘May your words please the gods,’ so much as ‘May you orally please the gods,’ which is a slight . . . inflection's very crucial in our—oh, God bless her, it's always nice to hear the mother tongue—as long as it's not from my mother. Is this on?"

• Amnesiac Cordelia repeats the same phrase she said when she first met Angel in the Buffy Season One episode, "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date": "Hello, salty goodness."
• Fred asks if anyone else has been given a personality disorder test that asked about florists. Buffy and Willow mention this test question in Season Three’s "Dopplegangland."
• The metal band Slayer is mentioned by Fred and by Forrest in "Doomed," Buffy Season Four.

Whedon explains in the DVD commentary that he wanted "Spin the Bottle" to have a strange, postmodern feel. Lorne’s narration provides much of that, but the screenwipe transitions between scenes and the split screen between Lorne and Fred/Gunn/Wes are also attempts at this feel. After the break between acts two and three, Lorne tells his audience to think about buying some of the products that were just advertised, which Whedon refers to as breaking the fourth wall, the imaginary wall that ultimately separates fact and fiction, audience and story. This episode also breaks the flow of the season, as the events take place immediately following the preceding episode, but Lorne narrates it as if it were in the past.

--Becky Bobbitt