What is wrong with my memory? Here I am, blissfully postponing getting on with season 5, because I seemed to remember “Destiny” as a cheesy and not all that good episode. But when I actually manage to rip myself away from the black hole that is “Neverwinter Nights” long enough to watch it, it’s arguably the best episode so far this season. (Coincidentally, it is one of the season 5 episodes on Loki’s top 25 “Angel” list.)

Not only has it got amazing flashback scenes to the first meeting between Angelus and William, scenes that also reveals the origin of Angelus’ and William’s resentment towards each other, as well as of the relationship between Spike and Drusilla (Juliet Landau didn’t say too much on the commentary track, but man, her single comment about this was well worth the extra 45 minutes). These scenes really set the tone for how things are between Angel(us) and Spike, what with the intense rivalry, the dislike, the… well, you know what I’m getting at. Also, as Juliet Landau said on the commentary, this explains a lot about Spike, which I, being a dimwitted halfwit, have failed to realise. For instance that he is pretty much an anomaly among the vampires, in that he brought with him a lot of his human personality into vampire-ness, one of which being a penchant for romanticising, another being belief in love and all that stuff.

But it had so much more. The Angel/Spike scenes in the abandoned opera house in Death Valley brought a lot of the issues concerning the Shanshu prophecy, championhood, and being a hero, into question. I’ve thought so to myself before, too, but Spike really had a point about him actively seeking a soul (although he did so because of his chip, one might say), while Angel had his bestowed upon him through a curse. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; this was an awesome scene.

Additionally, there were as always a whole bunch of minor hilarious or impressive moments, like Sirk’s condescending manners, Spike listening to Dead Kennedys’ “Too Drunk To Fuck” in the car (even though they cut the music before they got to the chorus), a fantastic deep cello playing in the background of a scene, and this final comment on the commentary: “I was thinking during the drive over here, that at this time we would be starting. Shooting.”

And the cliffhanger! I cannot sincerely believe that I had forgotten about it. You should drag me out into the backyard, put a .44 slug through my head, and bury me in a shallow grave for this… umm, grave crime.