The House Always Wins

Plot

Angel watches Connor stake a vampire, and Cordelia yells that he ought to be rescuing her from the tedium of being a higher power. After Fred and Gunn confront him about Connor, Angel admits he has caused trouble for his friends and decides to take everyone to Las Vegas. At the Tropicana Casino, Lorne is performing with backup dancers called the Lornettes, who are dressed in revealing outfits. Lorne encourages the audience to sing along but pays no attention to Angel and the group.

In his private suite, the casino owner Lee DeMarco visits Lorne and forces him to read the futures of those who sang. While Gunn and Fred play Blackjack, Angel frets over Lorne. A Lornette gives a special chip to Vivian, an audience member who sang, so she can play a game called Spin to Win. Fred remains anxious and looks into Lorne's situation.

To get past the guards at Lorne's door, Gunn has Fred disguise herself as a Lornette. Lorne takes a moment to recognize her but is happy to see her; he explains that DeMarco is blackmailing him for his psychic talent. Vivian walks in a trance across the casino driveway and nearly gets hit by a taxi, but Angel saves her. He then sneaks into the Spin to Win area.

DeMarco offers him a chip, which Angel throws away, but it slides onto the table. When the house wins, Angel loses his destiny. Fred rushes from Lorne's room and frantically persuades the guards to enter. Lorne escapes, and the three find Angel playing slot machines in a dazed state.

He is too absorbed in gambling to act as a distraction. DeMarco learns that Angel is a souled vampire and realizes that Angel's destiny will bring him profit.

Production details

This episode was filmed on location in Las Vegas. Writer/producer David Fury recalled that they shot from six at night to six in the morning for five nights, comparing it to a movie shoot. The Tropicana Casino where Lorne headlines is an actual casino on the Strip, though creative license was taken with its location and history. For instance, when the group flees the guards, they exit onto Fremont Street, which is miles from the Tropicana's actual location.

Additionally, Elvis and Priscilla Presley had their wedding reception at the Aladdin Casino, not the Tropicana as Angel claimed. During filming, crew members gambled; camera assistant Adam Ward won $10,000 on a Super Bowl bet. Several inside jokes appear: in the first shot of the audience during Lorne's stage scene, David Fury and script supervisor Petra Jorgensen sit in the first row, with Fury holding a miniature Kelly Manners. One scrolling banner in the soul-trading room reads DEAL WITH DISNEY TO RUN NEW ABC SERIES, referencing co-creator David Greenwalt, who left Angel to produce Miracles.

Fury explained on the DVD commentary that the episode emotionally establishes the characters, reminding viewers that Connor is indeed Angel Jr. The scene where Wesley has phone sex with Lilah was written by creator Joss Whedon when the episode came in short. Actor Alexis Denisof noted that throughout the season his character flirts with and investigates the dark side of himself, looking at his relationships and purpose, with surprises for the audience.

In an essay linking Angel to classic literature, Joshua Sherman pointed out that the stolen soul motif appears in mythology such as the Soul Cage in Cornwall folklore and Pakistani stories where caged birds represent souls.