The House Always Wins

The House Always Wins

Infobox Television episode
Title = The House Always Wins
Series = Angel


Caption = {Caption|}
Season = 4
Episode = 03
Airdate = October 20, 2002
Production = 4ADH03
Writer = David Fury
Director = Marita Grabiak
Guests = Andy Hallett
(Lorne)
Clayton Rohner
(Lee DeMarco)
Episode list = List of "Angel" episodes
Prev = Ground State
Next = Slouching Toward Bethlehem
"The House Always Wins" is episode 3 of season 4 in the television show "Angel". Written by David Fury and directed by Marita Grabiak, it was originally broadcast on October 20, 2002 on the WB television network.

In "The House Always Wins", Angel Investigations takes a road trip to Las Vegas to enlist Lorne's help in returning higher being Cordelia to their dimension. While in Vegas, they learn the owner of the Tropicana Casino has been coercing Lorne into reading people's destinies, which the owner sells on the black market in a literal "futures" trading scheme. Angel falls under the influence of the house games, while back in Los Angeles Wesley tries to take advantage of Angel's absence to steal his clients.

See List of "Angel" episodes for a complete list.

Plot

Angel secretly watches from the roof of a nearby building as Connor stakes a vampire; higher above, Cordelia shouts that he should be focusing on how to rescue her from her boring life as a higher power. When Fred and Gunn confront Angel on the issues of Connor and Cordelia, Angel realizes that he has been making life difficult for his friends and to make up for that, he decides to take them on a trip to Las Vegas.

They arrive at the Tropicana Casino, where Lorne is headlining, complete with scantily clad back-up singers known as the Lornettes. As Lorne moves through the room having audience members sing along, he ignores Angel and the others - and snubs them again when they try to approach him after the show. As Lorne rests in his private suite guarded heavily by security guards, he receives a visit from his employer and casino owner, Lee DeMarco. Lorne is forced to identify the futures of the people who sang in the audience. Meanwhile, back in L.A., Wesley has phone sex with Lilah, while simultaneously conducting business with his clients. At the casino, Gunn and Fred play Blackjack while Angel worries about Lorne. One of the Lornettes offers one of the singing audience members from Lorne's show, Vivian, a special chip to play in a Spin to Win game. Fred continues to worry about Angel and Lorne so Gunn decides they should investigate Lorne's situation to help ease Fred's mind. To get past the guards at Lorne's door, Gunn has Fred dress as one of the Lornettes. Lorne takes a minute to recognize her, but he's grateful to see her and that they finally came to rescue him. He informs her that Lee DeMarco is blackmailing him for his psychic abilities.

Desperate for more quarters, Vivian walks in a trance-like state across the casino's driveway and is nearly run over by a taxi, but Angel rescues her. He sneaks into the special Spin to Win game area. Lee hands him a chip, which Angel tosses away, but it slides onto the table and when the house wins, Angel loses his destiny. He's given a cup of quarters and sent out to the casino to play. Fred runs from Lorne's room and hysterically convinces the guards outside to go into the room. Lorne manages to escape and the three run out into the casino to find Angel. They find him shoving quarters into a slot machines in a zombie-like state and ask him to pose a distraction while they get Lorne out. Angel's too entranced with his gambling to comprehend the plan. DeMarco is pleased when he receives information that Angel is a souled vampire, realizing Angel's destiny will be profitable.

While fleeing security, Lorne confesses he tells Lee about the people with bright futures, so that they can be lured into the Spin and Win game. Their destinies are sucked into the chip they play and later sold on the black market. Guards spot them; to pose a distraction, Lorne sings a high-pitch noise into a microphone. After they escaped, Gunn angrily assumes that Lorne told Lee about Angel. Lorne corrects him by revealing that he's being blackmailed and if he refuses to cooperate, people will be killed. When Gunn realizes that Angel's destiny has been taken away, he runs back to the casino, finding him at one of the slot machines. As Spencer arrives with Lorne and Fred held in the custody of his security guards, Angel resumes gambling. The rest of the group is brought into the back room, where Lee orders Fred and Gunn killed and Lorne to return to his work. Meanwhile, Cordelia wonders from high how she can save her friends. Somehow, she manipulates Angel's slot machine to win a jackpot so he can be brought into the back room with the others. Lee is angered that someone actually won but Angel doesn't have an explanation for his winning.

When one of the men pulls a gun on Fred, it brings out the demon in Angel. He starts to beat up on Lee's men, and during the distraction Lorne smashes the glass ball holding the chips, causing all of the destinies to return to their rightful bodies. Back in L.A., the gang is glad to be home, although Angel questions what caused his jackpot winning at the casino. As they head inside the hotel, they freeze when they see Cordelia standing in the middle of the lobby. She doesn't know who they are.

Production details

This episode was filmed on location in Las Vegas. "We shot from six at night to six in the morning for five nights," recalls writer/producer David Fury. "It was like a movie shoot, we were real stars." The Tropicana Casino at which Lorne headlines is an actual casino on the Strip, [Citation |url=http://www.tropicanalv.com/location.asp |title=Tropicana Hotel Location |accessdate=2007-01-01 ] although creative license was taken with its location and history. For example, as the group flees the guards, they exit the casino onto Fremont Street (nicknamed "Glitter Gulch"), which is miles from the actual location of the Tropicana. In addition, Elvis and Priscilla Presley had their wedding reception at the Aladdin Casino, not the Tropicana as Angel claimed.Citation |title=Once Bitten: An Unofficial Guide to the World of "Angel" |first=Nikki |last=Stafford |isbn=1550226541 |publisher=ECW Press |year=2004 |pages=251-253 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=b1QYV6ztm7wC&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252&dq=tropicana+casino+angel+fred&source=web&ots=HQbwgdFbMu&sig=lyGQuyzdRPavVkVIjzs-Vg9Djmw#PPA253,M1 ] While filming this episode, members of the crew took the opportunity to gamble; camera assistant Adam Ward won $10,000 in a Super Bowl bet. [Citation |title=Five Seasons of Angel |chapter=Angel by the Numbers |last=Kerns |first=Dan |pages=29 |isbn=1-932100-33-4 |editor=Glenn Yeffeth |publisher=BenBella |year=2004 ]

There are several inside jokes hidden in this episode. During the first shot into the audience during the scene where Lorne is on stage singing, David Fury and "Angel" script supervisor Petra Jorgensen are sitting in the first row. "I'm holding a little miniature Kelly Manners," Fury says. One of the scrolling banners in the soul-trading room reads DEAL WITH DISNEY TO RUN NEW ABC SERIES, referring to co-creator David Greenwalt, who left "Angel" earlier that year to produce "Miracles".

Writing

Writer/producer David Fury explains on the DVD commentary that early on, this episode emotionally establishes the characters, reminding viewers that Connor - although not integral to the story - is indeed "Angel Jr."

The scene in which Wesley has phone sex with Lilah was written by creator Joss Whedon when the episode came in short. Actor Alexis Denisof, who plays Wesley, explains that throughout this season his character is "flirting with and investigating the dark side of himself. He's looking at his relationships with all the people and with Angel, and he's definitely looking at his whole purpose and trying to figure out how he wants to be. There are going to be some things that really surprise the audience, that they'd never expect of Wesley." [Citation |url=http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|77016|1|,00.html |title='Angel's' Denisof: Fourth-Season Debut 'Just Nuts' |first=Rick |last=Porter |date= July 16, 2002 |accessdate=2007-12-28 ]

In an essay linking themes in "Angel" to classic literature, Joshua Sherman points out that the motif of the stolen soul is dealt with elsewhere in mythology, such as the Soul Cage in Cornwall folklore, or Pakistani stories in which caged birds represent souls. [Citation |title=Five Seasons of Angel |chapter=Angel or Devil |last=Sherman |first=Joshua |pages=171 |isbn=1-932100-33-4 |editor=Glenn Yeffeth |publisher=BenBella |year=2004 ]

Acting

Andy Hallett, who plays Lorne, says this episode is his "favorite-favorite-favorite!" because the cast and crew got to go on location to Las Vegas. He says, "I've always wanted to have like a Vegas show, so it's like a real Vegas show...except that all the people sitting in the audience were getting paid to be there." [Citation |url=http://www.tve.co.il/story.asp?id=1888 |date=7/3/2004 |title=Lovelorn: An exclusive interview with Andy Hallett, Angel"’s Lorne" |accessdate=2007-09-23 |first=Mika |last=Gill] Amy Acker had to dress as a Lornette for the scene in which she helps Lorne escape; Hallett says Acker kept joking, "Andy, I have to overact and act bad - can you give me any tips?"Citation |url=http://www.cityofangel.com/behindTheScenes/bts5/s4DVDreview1.html |title=ANGEL Season Four DVD Collection REVIEW |first=Kristy |last= Bratton ]

Main cast

*David Boreanaz as Angel
*Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
*J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
*Amy Acker as Winifred Burkle
*Vincent Kartheiser as Connor
*Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

pecial guest star

*Andy Hallett as Lorne

Guest stars

*Clayton Rohner as Lee DeMarco

Co-stars

*Morocco Omari as Spencer
*Jennifer Autry as Lornette #2
*Matt Bushell as Security Guard #3
*Tom Schmid as Well Dressed Man
*Sven Holmberg as Delivery Guy
*Brittany Ishibashi as Vivian
*Diana Saunders as Bejeweled Woman
*Gloria Alexander as Lornette #1
*John Colella as Croupier
*Rod Tate as Bruiser

Featured dancers

*Beyondka Fields
*Tara Archuleta
*Jill Landess
*Olga Shalyganova
*Kristine L. Lenmark
*Marina Vantskous
*Natalya Filatova
*Suzanne Brasington
*Nicole Covacevich
*Krisanne Malloy
*Kristin Hillier
*Tiffany Deal

Arc significance

Cordelia finally returns from the higher plane. Her return plays a major role in the rise of Jasmine.

Cultural references

*Name-dropping: Angel comments on his former friendships with Bugsy Siegel and the Rat Pack, and the fact that two members of the Blue Man Group are demons. He also attended Elvis and Priscilla Presley's wedding.

Music

*"It's Not Easy Being Green" as performed by Andy Hallett
*"Lady Marmalade" as performed by Andy Hallett
*"Viva Las Vegas" as performed by Andy Hallett

Translations

* French title: "le casino gagne toujours" ("The house always wins")
* German title: "Die Bank gewinnt immer" ("The house always wins")
* Italian title: "Il banco vince sempre" ("The house always wins")

Reception and reviews

This episode was criticized for being a "throwaway" episode, serving mostly as a plot device to get Lorne and Cordelia back into the series, and for its "thinly veiled" and heavy-handed allegory using magic to show how people can lose their dreams and ambitions by throwing money away in the casinos. [Citation |url=http://www.slayage.com/reviews/000041.html |title=Leaving Las Vegas |publisher=Slayage.com ]

References

External links

*
* [http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/Shows/Angel/Stories/The-House-Always-Wins Television Without Pity recap]

ee also


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