5.10—Soul
Purpose: Layers of Lies, Layers of Truth
Written by Brent Fletcher Directed by
David Boreanaz
This complex episode has three main narrative strands:
1. What Angel hallucinates.
2. What Spike sees.
3. What’s actually happening.
What Angel hallucinates under the
influence of the Selminth parasites, Jr. and Sr., isn’t necessarily untrue—it’s
just projective, metaphorical. The dream sequences are manifestations of
Angel’s worst fears…which in some cases are also reality. It’s a tricky dance
of imagination and reality that’s important to try to interpret and get
straight.
The opening sequence is not a true flashback to “Destiny,” though it seems so.
Instead of the Cup of Perpetual Mountain Dew, we have the True Cup, the Hero’s
Chalice—what the Cup was supposed to be—and Angel (as in that ep) trying
to dissuade Spike from taking on the burden of being a Champion. But unlike the
actual events in the previous episode, Spike is seen solely from Angel’s
viewpoint—from below—and is cleaner (shows no signs of the battle for the Cup)
and more certain (dismisses Angel’s claim to the destiny the Cup represents as
“pathetic”). Spike says, “All your life’s been a lie. All the lives you’ve
saved—everything you’ve done. Dreams of redemption. All of that pain. All of it
for nothing. ‘Cause this (looks at Cup) was never about you.” Commenting,
“Cheers,” Spike drinks and is transfigured by light…whereas down on the floor,
it’s Angel’s flesh that burns away (in the manner Spike’s did, in “Chosen”).
Spike gets the light; Angel gets the heat.
Angel is afraid Spike will take over, by right (there’s no suggestion of Spike
stealing anything here), what Angel had believed was his own destiny. He’s
afraid that Spike will be left with the glory and he will have only the
ashes—his own. Although what’s seen here isn’t real, and isn’t even what Angel
believes is real, it’s what he fears Spike beating him to the Cup
means…and the fear IS real. All together on this now?
It’s the same in the Fred dissection dream. Angel fears that when all the
basic, useless stuff is removed, somebody will be able to look in and find that
he’s completely empty—no more than a shell. An inventory of what Fred removes
from Angel:
1. His liver (no use for it as a vampire)
2. His kidneys (ditto)
3. His heart—a dried-up, little walnut (as it was described in “The Cautionary
Tale of No. Cinco.”)
3. A loooong string of pearls (I gather this is a rather raunchy sight gag for
some sexual slang about unpredictable patterns if ejaculate).
4. Raisins, which Fred eats (not a clue—sorry).
5. A car’s bent license plate (A nod toward the shark-dissecting scene in Jaws:
the origin of the comment, “Came up the Gulf Stream.” A reflection, perhaps, of
Angelus the predator?)
6. His soul—a dead goldfish floating in a fishbowl (Fred’s remark: “We’re gonna
have to flush this,” as she hands it off to…a bear. The bowl may suggest, by
shape, the Orb of Thessula in which Angel’s soul has sometimes been contained;
or it may suggest that Angel’s fear is that his soul is dead and “in a
fishbowl”—on public view. No clue about the bear either, sorry.).
Overall, including the honkey-tonk dream, Angel fears that he’s empty, lost,
and irrelevant, having lost his Clementine/important female figure—the song
dream-Lorne is playing, with the refrain, “Oh, my darling, Oh, my darling, Oh
my darling Clementine, You are lost and gone forever, Dreadful sorry,
Clementine”). He fears (rightly) that his team (Wes; Gunn, and perhaps Fred and
Lorne) are working together to subvert his authority, get things done without
him (as actually happens in regard to the corner block Eve injects as a
fast-tracked priority item despite Angel’s unavailability, to make the Fang
Gang handle it without him and distract their attentions). Only Harmony brings
up the chain of command, the requirement that certain kinds of decisions be
passed by and through Angel and not acted on independently, and tries to follow
it; Wes overrules her. In Angel’s dream, all the team members declare him
irrelevant and Gunn semi-transforms into the panther/conduit…and snarls at him.
So Angel’s fears, in this regard, are well justified. They’re being enacted
before us, in actuality.
Venturing for the first time (in dream) from his penthouse, Angel’s wearing a
wrinkled shirt…and no shoes. (Shanshue=sans shoes?) He finds he’s failed to
block an apocalypse (LA in flames, as in S4 “Reign of Fire”) that everybody
else is sitting back and enjoying as a spectacle (with popcorn), leaving him no
useful role (“Don’t worry—Spike will take care of it”). Apparently Spike does
and is rewarded with a garish cake and the congratulations of Upper Management
(including Eve) happily singing his praises. Happy, unaffected Dream-Spike’s
response: “I’m just a working-class bloke fulfilling his destiny. It was
nothing, really.” Fred responds, “Spike, you singlehandedly ended Armageddon
and turned the world into a happily-ever-after candy-mountain place where all
our dreams come true!” All point to a ludicrous, confected Disneyfied pink
pastel castle. Although Spike protests that he didn’t end Armageddon for a
reward, Gunn declares joyously, “That’s why you’re getting one!” As Wes
intones, “After all, anyone who saves the universe from eternal bloodshed and
misery deserves to get what they’ve always wanted,” and Fred chirps, “Deserves
to become a real boy!” the Shanshu is delivered by an equally confected,
Disneyesque Blue Fairy waving a wand, and Fred joyously proclaiming him a “real
boy,” to Spike’s delight and the applause of the assembled W & H throng.
Angel looks on helplessly, in his suddenly-appearing short sleeved shirt and
fat tie, emulating failed Hero No. Cinco and sadly trundling the mail cart away.
Angel also fears that Spike will claim Buffy…in bed…and be the one taking her
to the Senior Prom (Buffy’s dialogue courtesy of the BtVS “The Prom”)—in other
words, become the “boyfriend” of the teenaged Buffy that she no longer is, but
Angel still imagines her as, whereas dream-Spike is clearly more interested in
being the Marathon Man (another movie reference about manipulated
realities…and certain 5 hour sexathons reported in Season 6 of BtVS).
All of these dreams are essentially childish images of pathetic disappointment,
not mature or realistic concerns, as they’re presented. But the fears are real.
But don’t blame on Angel some of the sillier fear-images; and don’t blame on
Spike the role he enacts in them. This is only Dream-Spike—a projection of Angel’s
mental/emotional image of Captain Peroxide. Real-Spike is quite something else.
In the final major mojo dream, courtesy of parasite Sr., Angel finds himself
paralytically relaxed in the dreaded comfy chair (Monty Python torture
reference), literally put out to pasture. He’s told he can stay there forever
if he wants…but the dream is interrupted by a general scream (very much in the
manner of a pod-people alarm in the most recent remake of Invasion of the
Body Snatchers) as Spike arrives and poses a threat to powerful parasite
Sr.
What Spike sees is, in its way, almost as
unreliable and problematic as Angel’s projected anxiety dreams and even more
stage-managed. The dreams themselves are the result of the two parasites, Jr.
and Sr., but their content comes directly from Angel’s subconscious: the
content is psychologically real. Whereas in what Spike sees, even the content
has been micro-managed and only his own response to this contrived bait, and
its appeal to him (enough to keep him following it) are real.
What Spike sees, beginning in the strip club, “The Peppermint Stick,” is a
stranger (Lindsey) who identifies himself as “Doyle,” who knows much more about
him than he should and claims to be a go-between sent to Spike by the Powers
That Be. The actual Doyle (sadly deceased in A S1) was such an emissary,
and for all I know at this point, Lindsey may in fact be, too. Really. But
there’s no reason for him to identify himself as Doyle to Spike, to whom
neither the name Lindsey nor the name Doyle means anything, if Lindsey didn’t
expect the imposture to be exposed at some point. In other words, he expects
the imposture to be discovered and the parallels set up here to Angel’s
experience to be laid out plainly for both Angel and Spike to see.
What Lindsey is doing is recreating the initial stages of Doyle’s recruitment
of Angel to a purpose of “helping the helpless/hopeless” in Angel, Season One.
Lindsey/Doyle secures for Spike the first place of his own he’s had since his
pre-soul crypt: a basement apartment, Spartan, with a barely-adequate bed (no
room for Spike’s ego or considerable libido here!), and the protection from
sunlight and sewer access a businesslike vampire would require and appreciate.
The semi-monastic cell of a dedicated Hero—the sort of apartment Angel had
before the Hyperion (it may even be the same set, recreated or redecorated).
Lindsey/Doyle fakes visions…but they’re visions of what he KNOWS. Whether or
not he’s set them up in advance or simply knows about them ahead of time
(either could be true), the clueless victims are in real peril. The vamps Spike
dusts so elegantly are not in on any fix and really ARE dusted. So the saves
are real, no matter how Lindsey/Doyle knew about them before the fact. Spike is
being led through a condensed version of what Angel experienced in
approximately the first two seasons of the series…but with no Cordy, no Wes,
and a Doyle he’s highly mistrustful of. All alone.
The manufactured experiences Spike is being led through by his highly skeptical
nose are REAL experiences. Therefore his rescue (which Lindsey obviously
intended) of Angel from parasite Sr. is a REAL rescue. The mechanics of it—how
Spike could get into Angel’s penthouse without being detected or stopped by W
& H Security—have to taken as given or left to fanwank because although Eve
could have set that up, it seems Eve is not in on that particular part of the
plot. The plan as Eve knows it is not all the plan there is: Lindsey has his
own agenda, which he is NOT sharing with her, as I’ll explain more fully in a
minute. Lindsey’s present purpose seems to be to lead Spike, stage by stage,
into focusing on a purpose, which his unlife has lacked since his pursuit of
Buffy ended in “Seeing Red.” He’s had no independent purpose of his own since
his recovery of his soul, and he’s lost and adrift for the lack of one. He’s
had a “change of plans; change of heart; changed me mind,” and now admits as he
sets out on his guided introductory tour to daily Hero-dom, that he’s lost.
Obviously seeking, per the title, a “soul purpose.”
Lindsey/Doyle lets Spike jump to the conclusion that he’s responsible for the
amulet and the box of flash that made Spike corporeal. But notice Lindsey/Doyle
himself does not claim these things. He merely lets Spike make that assumption
and doesn’t deny it. The amulet was, through Lilah, the gift of the Senior
Partners to Angel, and he gave it to Buffy, who chose to give it to Spike—which
may or may not be how the SP intended it to be used. Either way, Lindsey had
nothing to do with it. About the box of flash, Eve clearly believes that WAS
part of her and Lindsey’s plan, but that doesn’t make it so. So both these
events are still very much up for grabs in terms of authorship and intent,
despite how they’re presented here and how Spike is led to interpret them. The
ruling here has to be…not proven; maybe, but not necessarily so. The jury is
still out.
Finally, Spike’s exchange with “Crockett and Tubbs” (reference to the team of
kewl detectives on Miami Vice), Wes and Gunn, shows his basic stance on
all the foregoing (even though his stance is a blatant alpha-male sprawl at the
kitchen table). He reiterates the truth he’s been saying practically from the
beginning: that the Fang Gang is being eaten alive in the belly of the W &
H Beast, and he wants no part of it. He accepts none of their self-justifying
rationalizations. Their attempt at recruitment seems genuine, if belated and
self-serving. They’d rather have him doing vigilante tricks (were they
vigilante tricks when Angel did them?) where they can watch him and have some
measure of control, rather than having him as a loose cannon self-appointed
“rogue vamp slayer.” They want to coopt him into the system. However, they
haven’t consulted Angel about any of this, and without Angel’s approval, their
offer means nothing…and Spike figures that out without effort. His dialogue
with Lindsey/Doyle about Angel (Spike: What’s Angel got to do with it?
Lindsey/Doyle: Dunno. Nothing. Not anymore.) and his comment to Angel after the
rescue, as he walks off (“Helping the helpless.”) tend to suggest he’s
following his own priorities, indifferent to their impact on Angel, rather than
actively attempting to undermine or supplant him. So for all these reasons, he
wants no part of Wes’ and Gunn’s offer. He’s on his own path—speaking the
truth, yet following, in good conscience, the path that’s been laid out for
him.
What’s actually happening is that Eve and
Lindsey are plotting, apparently to reinforce Angel’s anxieties of uselessness,
worthlessness. Though their role in reconstituting, then recorporializing Spike
remains unclear and unproven, the chase for the Cup of Perpetual Torment was
clearly engineered by them to heighten the rivalry between the two souled
vamps; even Angel’s death would have been a plus. Currently, neither of the
parasites Eve inflicts on Angel (from the carved box she fondles during
sex-play with Lindsey) is capable of killing him—only of pushing him into “a
permanent vegetative state,” in which they’re backing non-U, non-corporate Spike,
instead. Having shelved Angel, it would seem they’d be content with either
Spike coopted into the Beast as the new CEO or the in the independent
rogue-vamp-slayer role Lindsey has been leading him into. Either way, they’d
have control over both the souled vampires, at least one of which is apparently
the key to the next apocalypse.
However, the plan as Eve knows it—including the block of stone she inserts in
the corporate processes to make Wes go around Angel’s back and lock solicitous,
suspicious Fred in on researching it—is not necessarily all the plan there is.
Lindsey has claimed to be Doyle and given Spike the means to set up
independently and a purpose acceptable to Spike to follow, re-enacting Angel’s
early experiences in LA. But the final one of those set-up experiences is
rescuing Angel from parasite Sr. (which Eve has afflicted Angel with, telling
him it’s all just another dream). It doesn’t seem that Angel’s rescue, and Eve
being suspected and accused afterward, would be the plan as Eve knew it. If
that be true (as I think it is), Lindsey has his own personal agenda
independent of what he’s told Eve. He’s doublecrossing her.
It would seem Eve is genuinely the agent of the Senior Partners, although she’s
been willing to keep them in the dark (Angel complaining that the CEO is in
the dark—A S1.3, with Spike and the Gem of Amarra) about the present plot,
intending (perhaps) to present them with a fait accompli: Angel rendered
helpless and Spike under their control, expecting praise and promotion for her
ingenuity and independent enterprise. However, we have no idea who Lindsey is
working for, if for anyone other than himself. It’s NOT the Senior Partners,
since his being covered with “sexy runes” (thanks, Rob) apparently conceals his
place and his person from their attention. It might be The Powers That
Be (though there’s no current proof of it). At any rate, he’s playing his own
game, disrupting the current power structure of Wolfram & Hart (which he
hates, but is still under contract to, even though he ran away), discomfiting
Angel, and getting a handle on this new player, Spike—like him, an outsider and
a wild card.
What Lindsey’s ultimate aim may be, whether of final benefit or harm to either
of Los Guys, is still to be determined. However, I hope this review has helped
us all sort the true lies from the fake lies, so we all can be better prepared
for whatever comes after.
Nan Dibble
1/22/04
Acknowledgement: As always, I am indebted for the gladly shared insights, wit,
and general snarkiness of my fellow S’cubies: the members of the Soulful Spike
Society.
MISCELLANEOUS
· The strip-club dancer is called “Sunshine” (not
her real name). Ironic appeal for an interested onlooker vamp like Spike.
· Spike’s
approach to saving people is refreshingly Spikelike. The first gal, he takes to
task for being moron enough to invite attack. When the rescued couple asked
what attacked them, who he is, Spike tells them they’re better off not knowing
and…he’s the hero. Per Wes’ report, “The vigilante reportedly killed two
vampires in a gas station, then asked the two women he saved if they’d like to
get a bottle of hooch and listen to some Sex Pistols records with him.” Pure
Spike, all the way. And notice: in none of these battles does he go game-faced.
It’s Spike-with-soul, all five foot ten of him—no vamping-out needed or
apparently wanted. He’s not just looking for a nice spot of violence—he’s
sincere about helping the hopeless/helpless, on whatever limited terms he’s
comfortable with.
· We
now have an explanation for the runes associated with Lindsey: they protect him
from the attentions of the Senior Partners and keep him “off Wolfram &
Hart’s radar.” Lindsey says he’s as good as dead if the SP catch on to his role
in this.
· Lindsey’s
praise of Spike, in the alley, is the first time in recent memory ANYBODY has
said a good word to Spike about anything he’s done. An exception: Fred’s
declaring him a genuine hero, against his own doubts, in “Just Rewards.”
Memorable lines:
Vamp: Get lost!
Spike: Already am. According to some.
Girl: Thank you, thank you! That thing was gonna kill me!
Spike: Well, what do you expect? Out alone, in this neighborhood—I’ve got half
a mind to kill you myself, you halfwit!
Girl (indignantly): What?
Spike: I mean, honestly! What kind of retard wears heels like that in a dark
alley? Take two steps and break your bloody ankle.
Girl: I was just trying to get home.
Spike (shoving her): Well, get a cab, you moron! And on the way, if a stranger
offers you candy, don’t get in the van! Stupid cow.
Lindsey/Doyle (to Spike): Believe me now?
Spike: What, your victim vision? Please! Can’t throw a bloody stone in this
town without hitting some bimbo in trouble.
Lindsey/Doyle: Tough guy, huh? Nice work, by the way—taking out that vamp.
Spike: Oh, yeah. Epic battle. My finest hour.
Lindsey/Doyle: You just saved a girl’s life. It’s nothing to laugh off. But you
could try to be a little nicer next time: you almost made her cry.
Spike: Next time?
Lindsey/Doyle: Well, that’s up to you. A lot more people need saving.
Spike: News flash, Sparky: Don’t need your help. Been saving people long before
you showed up.
Lindsey/Doyle: Not like this. (off Spike’s inquiring look) You just helped a
person when there wasn’t anything in it for you. It’s not like the Spike I
know.
Spike: Oh, is that right? And what Spike is that?
Lindsey/Doyle: The Spike that’s only out for himself. Who only does good deals
to impress…women.
Spike (furious): You’d best watch your—
Lindsey/Doyle: I’m just saying. You did good. From what I hear, Angel didn’t
save the girl on his first mission.
Spike: What’s Angel got to do with this?
Lindsey/Doyle (shrugs): Dunno. Nothing. Not anymore.
Rescued women (of couple): Wait—who are you?
Spike (back turned, sourly): I’m the hero. (He’s bought into it.)
Spike (viewing the apartment, sourly): Great! Another ruddy basement!
Lindsey/Doyle: You want creature comforts, you can go to Wolfram & Hart.
This place has everything you need to be a Hero. Job requires somewhat of a
Spartan existence.
Wes: From what we hear, you’re fighting the good fight, these days…. If you
want to save the world, we’ve got the resources to help you do it.
Spike: No offense, Mr. Vader, but I’ve got no itch to join the Evil Empire.
Gunn: It’s different. You know it. We’ve changed things.
Spike (sighs): Look—I told Angel, and I’ll tell you. Place like that doesn’t
change: not from the inside, not from the out. Sign on there, it changes you.
(to Gunn) Puts things in your head. Spins your compass needle around till you
can’t cross the street without tripping the proverbial old lady and stepping on
her glasses. And it’s not like I wasn’t there, gents. Like I wasn’t watching
you. Had to haunt the damn place, remember?
……
Spike: And the compass needle keeps spinning. And the world gets murkier and
murkier.
Dream-Fred (to Angel): All you have to do is stop caring.
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