Angel: Spin the Bottle

"I know who's president. And that I sort of wish I didn't."

Oh, Cordy. Yes, I know. Back then we all thought George W. Bush was as bad as it could get, didn't we?

“We already know this episode is going to be both quirky and special when we see the words "written and directed by Joss Whedon" appear on the screen. And it doesn't disappoint on either score, being at once beautiful, witty, emotional and not entirely linear. It isn’t Whedon’s best, but it doesn’t have to be.

Oh, the episode has an obvious function to fulfil in returning Cordy’s memory and ambiguously wakening that demon thing that may or not have infected her, but it’s all about character. It’s about the pathos of Angel and Cordy’s last words to each other- “We’re we in love?” “We were.” It’s about the tension between Gunn and Wesley, leading Gunn to ask “What happened to you, man?” and Wesley to cuttingly reply “I had my throat cut and all my friends abandoned me.” And, yes, it’s about Angel being told “You don’t sound Irish”. Whedon really, really knows these people and makes their dialogue sing.

There are other nice touches- the framing device with Lorne, for one- but the important bits are about the conceit of reverting all the characters’ memories to their seventeen year old selves, so that Angel and Connor can bond over sanctimonious fathers and Fred can espouse conspiracy theories and keep asking for weed. Interestingly, we get scenes of Wesley being all badass before the spell reverts him to his older, klutzier, gentler self- is this a subtle precursor to a reconciliation?

All this and we get the scene where Fred tells Wesley all about being vulnerable and naked, and his stiff weapon extends, a lovely, subtle Whedon moment but if a slightly naughtier persuasion. Whedon doesn’t seem to have custody of his second child very much, but we certainly appreciate it when he does.