Getting To The Bottom Of The Bottle: 25 Best Bottle Episodes

Photo: The WB/ Justin Lubin

Angel – “Spin The Bottle”

This Buffy spin off was never a lighthearted enterprise, and as the seasons turned it became increasingly dark. In this episode Joss Whedon took a break from the crushing bleakness to give a little look back at why we loved these characters in the first place. And we did love them dearly – some of them since their Buffy days.

In the gloomy fourth season, everyone was grappling with their own personal hells, so this lark of an episode was a nice break from the rote misery. In it, Lorne casts a spell to help resolve Cordelia’s amnesia, but he winds up converting everyone to their 17 year old selves.

Whedon himself admits in the commentary that this episode was a ploy to bring back Wesley’s past blunders. Although the cast’s regression to their teenaged selves provided a much needed comic break, it also served a larger purpose. After watching Angel, Fred, Cordelia, et al go through so much pain and so many atrocities, it was easy to forget who they were when we first met them and why we connected to them in the first place.  While Cordelia ultimately gets possessed by a demon, the episode serves as a handy vehicle of hope in a moment directly before things get very, very dark for the gang.