Recap / Angel S 05 E 05 Life Of The Party

As Halloween approached, Lorne threw a Halloween party for all the firm's clients and employees and even got a reluctant Angel to invite a powerful demon lord, named Archduke Sebassis, to the party. Other guests included the Fell Brethren, the Britzai Clan, Devlin, and a Thraxis Demon. During the gathering, Lorne's timely advice to his friends started happening literally. Winifred Burkle and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce got drunk after Lorne told them that their problem was that they were sober, and should be "three-sheets to the wind" already. Charles Gunn embarrassingly began relieving himself around the building after Lorne told him to "mark his territory." Angel and Eve had sex after Lorne told them to "get a room" due to the sexual tension he could sense. Finally, Spike began enjoying himself dancing, listening to the music, and becoming overly happy and agreeable once Lorne told him to "be a little more positive."

There was more trouble when Lorne's sleep deprivation caused his empathic subconscious to manifest itself as a hulking demon. The deprivation itself was the result of Lorne having Wolfram & Hart remove his ability to sleep entirely, just like Madeline Chu in accounting. Lorne's subconscious caused much violence before the gang restored Lorne's sleep, which neutralized the manifestation.

The chaos and destruction had a positive side, since most of Wolfram & Hart's employees felt that it made the party much better.

---

Tropes

• Actor Allusion: Lorne finds Angel hiding from the party in his office, watching a hockey game. David Boreanaz is a real-life Philadelphia Flyers fan.
• Bad Boss: Angel to the rest of Wolfram & Hart, who are worried that Angel is going to axe them. Literally.
  Angel: OK, look, hey, I haven't...OK, look, I may have...killed a couple of them.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: A drunken Fred apparently going to say she's attracted to Wesley, when she actually confesses to him about liking Knox.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Lorne notes the Snark-to-Snark Combat between Eve and Angel and tells them to Get a Room!. Cut to the two of them bursting into Angel's office, snogging passionately.
• Boom, Headshot!: Fred shooting Lorne at pointblank range in the forehead with the emotion gun.
• Brick Joke: After things have returned to normal...
  Gunn: Don't sit in [your chair]. I already called Janitorial.
  Angel: Why can't I?
  Spike: You pissed in the big man's chair? That's fantastic!
  Gunn: Spike, can you please turn off that warm fuzzy?
  Spike: What, the Lorne thing? Wore off. I just think that's bloody fabulous.
• Call-Back: The premise is similar to that of the Buffy episode "Something Blue", where a spell turned Willow's careless statements into reality.
• The Can Kicked Him / Gory Discretion Shot: Artode gets splattered by Hulk!Lorne while doing his business.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Fred and Wesley are (unbeknownst to them) affected by a magical spell that makes them drunk.
  Fred: I am totally drunkfaced!
  Wesley: You just can't hold your... what are you drinking?
  Fred: Nothing.
  Wesley: You can't hold that!
  Fred: Oh yeah? Lightweight! How much have you had?
  Wesley: Including this... about a third of a half of this beer.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Archduke Sebassis becomes important at the end of the season as a member of the Circle of the Black Thorn.
• The Comically Serious: Lorne is annoyed to find Angel hiding in his office instead of helping the party flow.
  Angel: I'm brooding.
  Lorne: You're watching hockey!
  Angel: Yeah, but my team is losing.
• Comforting Comforter: At end of the episode, Angel spreads a coat over Lorne who's sleeping on his couch.
• Covered in Gunge: Our hero makes his entrance covered in green blood from a Thraxis demon. Which kinda burns. Which naturally leads to a gratuitous Shower Scene.
• Curse Cut Short: Team Angel catching their boss sleeping with the enemy.
  Gunn: Angel, what are you doing with that—
  Eve: Hey, watch it pal!
• A Day in the Limelight: For Lorne.
• Distracted By The Sex: Angel barks out orders to his team to resolve the situation.
  Angel: And, Eve, you stay here with me, and we'll have more sex.
  Eve: I'm on it.
• Dramatic Shattering / Big "SHUT UP!": Lorne tries to shut up his mirror self by breaking the mirror. It doesn't work.
• Dynamic Entry: Archduke Sebassis and his mooks bursting into Angel's office.
  Spike: What a fantastic entrance!
• Eating the Eye Candy: Angel steps out of the shower naked to find Eve coyly sitting on his bed taking in the view. Angel doesn't appear bothered by this in the least.
• Enemy Without: Hulk!Lorne is his repressed subconscious.
• Feet-First Introduction: Lorne and his beleaguered assistant at the start of the episode.
• Foreshadowing: Mention is made of the Fell Brethren, who become important in "Time Bomb".
• Funny Background Event: At one point Gunn can be seen in the background, unzipping his pants, only for Wes to run over to him, shaking a finger.
• Genuine Human Hide: A demon disguises himself as a "Human Bean" for the party by dressing in human clothes and putting on a human "mask". And when the guests of honor arrive...
  Lorne: Artode, welcome. Welcome. Love the jacket, by the way.
  Artode: It's Pylean.
  Lorne: Oh, made in Pylea. Ha. My home dimension.
  Artode: Not made in — made from. I skinned it myself. Anybody you know?
• Get a Room!: Lorne tells this to Angel and Eve during the party. Unfortunately, at the time, people obey everything he said so... He also tells Wes and Fred, when they're in the sweet-new-couple phase, to "get a balcony."
• Get Out!: Angel to Spike. He agrees, just this once.
• Halloween Episode
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Angel uses a couch cushion to cover his privates after his Interrupted Intimacy.
• Hypothetical Casting: In-Universe. Lorne is on the phone, discussing a movie deal. Whoever he's talking to wants Henry Fonda in it.
  "I'm pretty sure Henry Fonda's dead, honey..."Bring him back to life"?!"
• Hypocritical Humor: Angel denies that he bottles up his emotions, then punches a supposed demon the moment the elevator doors open. It's actually one of his employees carrying a huge demon head for the party. No wonder workplace morale sucks.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After the events of the episode, Fred decides she needs to have a drink for real. With Knox.
• Intoxication Ensues: Wesley and Fred get drunk and Hilarity Ensues. They don't really drink enough to get drunk though, Lorne temporarily has reality altering powers which caused them to act that way when he said they "should be drunk by now."
• Interrupted Intimacy: Team Angel burst into Angel's office and catch their boss doing it with Eve behind the sofa.
• It Doesn't Mean Anything: Angel tries to talk to Eve about what happened last night.
  Eve: Angel, it's not like this is the first time I've had sex under a mystical influence. I went to U.C. Santa Cruz.
• Kneel Before Zod: All the Professional Butt Kissers do this the moment the Archduke enters the room.
  Sebassis: Yes. Fine. Sycophants, worms. Don't writhe all at once. It's sickening.
• Kissing Under the Influence: Angel and Eve have sex thanks to an accidental magical incident. There's some Lampshade Hanging at the end, as Angel begins to explain, but Eve flatly points out that it isn't the first time she had sex under a mystical influence.
• Literal Genie: Lorne finds himself writing, rather than reading, people's destinies after having his sleep removed. Spike becomes upbeat, Fred and Wesley become drunk, Gunn begins to mark his territory (by peeing on things), and Angel and Eve find themselves uncontrollably having sex.
• The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Lorne's mirror reflection starts talking to him. From his reaction this isn't new.
• Mind over Matter: Sebassis has some minor telekinetic abilities. Either that or his hidden weapons caché has some kind of motion detector that activates with his hand motion.
• Monster Lord: According to Lorne, Archduke Sebassis is a member of "bona fide royalty" down below. He certainly acts like a pompous aristocrat.
• Musicalis Interruptus: Lorne in The Teaser entering his office, where he immediately drops his joyful persona.
• Mr. Exposition: Wesley recaps what happened for the audience at the end.
• The Nicknamer
  Lorne: Harmonica!
  Harmony: Lorney Tunes!
• Not Himself: First Lorne is acting stressed out, then everyone in Team Angel starts acting strange.
• Only One Name: Angel starts making out with Eve, despite Angel's protests that he doesn't even know her full name.
  Angel: I mean, do you even have a last name?
  Eve: Do you?
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Wesley, Fred, and Gunn realize they're all behaving odd and start to wonder if some sort of enchantment is behind their actions. Then they see Spike acting all happy and chipper, which outright confirms it for them.
• Overcome with Desire: An odd bit of phlebotinum causes Angel and Eve to have sex over and over and over until the phlebotinum is undone.
• Post-Modern Magik: Fred's magical hand grenade, which apparently didn't work on the Thraxis demon. Wes and Knox get into an argument over whether the technical or magical components failed.
• Power at a Price: Lorne getting his sleep removed — rather than just reading destinies he starts affecting them. And his subconscious self goes on a rampage, as a means of channelling the subconscious conflicts that Lorne would normally deal with on a subconscious level while he sleeps.
• Punched Across the Room: Hulk!Lorne to Angel.
• Rage Against the Reflection: Lorne does this, after having his sleep surgically removed, while hallucinating his reflection reminding him about all the work he still has to do. After a moment's silence his reflection continues speaking from the now cracked mirror.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Archduke's slave breaks his chain and runs off at the sight of Hulk!Lorne.
• Sexy Shirt Switch: After she and Angel "Get a Room!", Eve is wearing his shirt.
• Ship Tease: Angel/Eve, Fred/Knox.
• Shirtless Scene: Angel steps out of the shower to talk to Eve, who doesn't appear bothered by this in the least.
• The Sleepless: Lorne temporarily has his need for sleep removed. It doesn't go well, as he only loses the ability to sleep while retaining the need for it.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat:
  Sebassis: So... this is the mighty Angel. I've been told many things about you. Bit of a restless frog, hmm? Making lots of waves in your little swamp.
  Angel: Yeah, well, I'm just trying to keep the fly population down.
  Sebassis: Yes. Though I do prefer the tales of your counterpart Angelus. Ah, you had flair back then, child.
  Angel: Well, I guess we all mellow in our old age.
  Sebassis: Your contempt is fragrant.
• Trap Is the Only Option: Lorne can't get any Wolfram & Hart clients to turn up to the Halloween party because everyone thinks Angel intends to slaughter them. Archduke Sebassis eventually turns up for exactly that reason, thinking it will make things interesting.
• The Triple: Lorne making a movie deal.
  "It'll be fabulous. Believe me, Jerry. Yes. It's The Grapes of Wrath in outer space. Uh-huh. Oh, it's got heart. Yes, it's got laser battles. It's got a timely message of interstellar poverty."
  • For a bonus reference, he's clearly pitching Whedon's recently-canceled show Firefly.
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: The very drunk Fred and Wesley need to catch an elevator quickly.
  Wesley: Come on, come on, come on...
  Fred: Did you press—
  Wesley: Oh. [presses call button]
  [uncomfortable waiting]
  Wesley: Come on, come on, come on...
• Unwanted Assistance: Knox revealing what happened at the last W&H Halloween party while Lorne's trying to convince Fred to attend.
  Knox: They took a bunch of cows and put them in a giant wicker effigy of Krishna, uh, doused it with sambuca, and it— (Lorne shakes him off) Uh, well... anyway, it's a hell of a good time.
• Urine Trouble: Gunn is magically influenced to "mark his territory" around the Wolfram & Hart offices during the party, which culminated in his accidental wetting of a co-worker.
  Wesley: Charles, you just peed on my shoes.
• Wall of Weapons: Sebassis has one behind the usual sliding door.
• Wasn't That Fun?: In the end the W&H employees and the Archduke Sebassis decide they quite enjoyed the mayhem.
• Waxing Lyrical: Lorne says "party with a capital P and that rhymes with Me", which is a reference to the song Ya Got Trouble from The Music Man.
• Whole-Plot Reference: This episode somewhat resembles (and might have been influenced by) a 1974 episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker entitled "The Spanish Moss Murders," in which a subject in a medical sleep study psychically creates a monster.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Spike's reaction to Harmony offering to dance with him.
• You Need to Get Laid: Eve implies this re Angel. She ends up taking care of the problem herself.
• You Taste Delicious: Lorne to Pee-Pee, after he's obliged to swill down some of Sebassis' favorite beverage.
• Your Door Was Open: Eve gives this excuse for walking in on a showering Angel. She changes that to "your door was unlocked". Then she admits she has a key. Which Angel wordlessly takes off her.

---