In this episode Doyle is asked by his ex wife's new fiancé to attend his bachelor party. At the party he asks for his blessing, he says he can't marry her unless he has it. Doyle doesn't realize that her new boyfriend is going to sacrifice him, it is part of his demon's culture. If he and his demon family don't eat his brains they will disown him and his new marriage will fall apart. This episode is funny and surprising but there could have been more action and less focus on the storyline.
6 Reviews
Doyle's ex-wife comes to town
katierose29515 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
A lot of the episodes in season one of "Angel" are stand alone, monsters-of-the-week. They don't really contribute a lot to the over all story arc and, if you're in a hurry to get through the season on DVD, you could skip them and not miss much. "The Bachelor Party" is one of those episodes. It has some good parts, but it doesn't really accomplish a lot story wise. If you like Doyle a lot, then you should see "The Bachelor Party." Otherwise, you can probably just skip it.
"Bachelor Party" explores Doyle's past. After he saves Cordelia from a vampire attack, she begins to see him in a more romantic light. Doyle is hopeful that she might give up dating boring, rich guys and go out with him instead. Unfortunately, right about then Doyle's ex-wife, Harry, walks into Angel Inc. Actually, she's still technically married to him, since they never signed the divorce papers. That's why she's come to see him. Harry wants to get remarried and she needs to finalize the divorce. Her new fiancé, Richard, is a big, goofy nice-guy of a guy and Doyle instantly doesn't like him. He enlists Angels' help to investigate Richard. It turns out that Richard is a demon and Harry knows it. She's become a "ethno-demonologist." Doyle has never been able to accept his demon-half, but Harry thought it was great. Now she's marrying into the demon world again.
Unfortunately, Richard's family aren't the peace loving demons that they seem. They might own restaurants and play Pictonary, but they also have some ancient customs. For example, when one of their clan marries a divorcée, the new husband has to eat the old husband's brain. Thereby ingesting all the love the couple once shared and blessing the new marriage. Doyle doesn't know this and he unsuspectingly agrees to attend Richard's bachelor party. Soon he's locked in a box, while the demon clan bickers about how to preform the ritual. Angel, Cordy and Harry have to save him. Harry, furious that Richard lied to her about his party and tried to kill Doyle, calls of the wedding. The episode ends with Doyle getting a vision about Buffy being in trouble.
Angel goes back to Sunnydale to help Buffy in the corresponding BTVS episode "Pangs." The two of them don't really interact, but it still a fun episode and certainly worth a look.
There are some good parts to "The Bachelor Party." I love the demon clan that Harry is marrying into to. They're so cheerfully normal, passing around buckets of KFC and playing charades. They are just also demons, who occasionally devour someone's brain. They're not exactly sure how the ancient ritual is preformed so their making it up as they go. The stupid lobster bib that Richard wears is especially funny. And they all get into an argument over the proper utensil for brain eating. Shrimp fork or soup spoon? It's a riot. I also like Cordy's reluctant attraction to Doyle. "After Xander Harris, I swore I'd never date another fixer-upper." She's so surprised when Harry tells her that Doyle once volunteered at a homeless shelter and taught third grade. "Are you sure that he wasn't just left back a bunch of times and that was his cover story?" It's pretty fun. Also, I love Angel at the bachelor party. He's not good at parties, whether human or demon. They make him uncomfortable. And to make matters worse, he's soon beat up and dumped in an alley way. When he comes slamming back in all vamped out, Richard's brother turns to Doyle and says in genuine outrage, "You brought a vampire to my brother's bachelor party?" Doyle, trapped in a box-thing, a blue dotted line drawn on his head so the demons will know where to cut, nods, "Yeah." Then Angel starts beating them all up. It's a cool scene.
On the down side, "The Bachelor Party" can seem like a waste of time in retrospect. I like Doyle and it's good to have some back ground on him. But he'll be gone in a few episodes, so what's the point?
My favorite part of the episode: Doyle and Angel interrogating Cordelia's date.
"Bachelor Party" explores Doyle's past. After he saves Cordelia from a vampire attack, she begins to see him in a more romantic light. Doyle is hopeful that she might give up dating boring, rich guys and go out with him instead. Unfortunately, right about then Doyle's ex-wife, Harry, walks into Angel Inc. Actually, she's still technically married to him, since they never signed the divorce papers. That's why she's come to see him. Harry wants to get remarried and she needs to finalize the divorce. Her new fiancé, Richard, is a big, goofy nice-guy of a guy and Doyle instantly doesn't like him. He enlists Angels' help to investigate Richard. It turns out that Richard is a demon and Harry knows it. She's become a "ethno-demonologist." Doyle has never been able to accept his demon-half, but Harry thought it was great. Now she's marrying into the demon world again.
Unfortunately, Richard's family aren't the peace loving demons that they seem. They might own restaurants and play Pictonary, but they also have some ancient customs. For example, when one of their clan marries a divorcée, the new husband has to eat the old husband's brain. Thereby ingesting all the love the couple once shared and blessing the new marriage. Doyle doesn't know this and he unsuspectingly agrees to attend Richard's bachelor party. Soon he's locked in a box, while the demon clan bickers about how to preform the ritual. Angel, Cordy and Harry have to save him. Harry, furious that Richard lied to her about his party and tried to kill Doyle, calls of the wedding. The episode ends with Doyle getting a vision about Buffy being in trouble.
Angel goes back to Sunnydale to help Buffy in the corresponding BTVS episode "Pangs." The two of them don't really interact, but it still a fun episode and certainly worth a look.
There are some good parts to "The Bachelor Party." I love the demon clan that Harry is marrying into to. They're so cheerfully normal, passing around buckets of KFC and playing charades. They are just also demons, who occasionally devour someone's brain. They're not exactly sure how the ancient ritual is preformed so their making it up as they go. The stupid lobster bib that Richard wears is especially funny. And they all get into an argument over the proper utensil for brain eating. Shrimp fork or soup spoon? It's a riot. I also like Cordy's reluctant attraction to Doyle. "After Xander Harris, I swore I'd never date another fixer-upper." She's so surprised when Harry tells her that Doyle once volunteered at a homeless shelter and taught third grade. "Are you sure that he wasn't just left back a bunch of times and that was his cover story?" It's pretty fun. Also, I love Angel at the bachelor party. He's not good at parties, whether human or demon. They make him uncomfortable. And to make matters worse, he's soon beat up and dumped in an alley way. When he comes slamming back in all vamped out, Richard's brother turns to Doyle and says in genuine outrage, "You brought a vampire to my brother's bachelor party?" Doyle, trapped in a box-thing, a blue dotted line drawn on his head so the demons will know where to cut, nods, "Yeah." Then Angel starts beating them all up. It's a cool scene.
On the down side, "The Bachelor Party" can seem like a waste of time in retrospect. I like Doyle and it's good to have some back ground on him. But he'll be gone in a few episodes, so what's the point?
My favorite part of the episode: Doyle and Angel interrogating Cordelia's date.
Who wants a wife whose knees only bend the one way?
SleepTight66625 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Who wants a wife whose knees only bend the one way? - Finally a Doyle-centric episode, it's a shame it had to be one of the weakest episodes of the entire series. What I liked about this episode was the 'Doyle' screen time and background obviously. I also loved that 'Cordelia' began to see what kind of a man he was after saving her life. But the episode went downhill after 'Doyle's wife 'Harry' and her about-to-be-husband were brought in. The whole bachelor party storyline didn't work, scenes like the one with the stripper and others like that could have easily been left out without missing anything important. The episode certainly had it's moments and a couple of memorable lines, but the episode would have worked better if about 15 minutes of the episode would have been left out, which is simply too much. It's a shame because I loved the 'Doyle' character and I think he deserved to have better story lines. Cordelia: Hi, Doyle. Are you going to become loser-pining guy, like, full-time now? Because you know, we already have one of those around the office. ANGEL: Hey! DOYLE: Hey! CORDELIA: He can get away with it. He's tall and and look at the way clothes hang on him. But you.. ANGEL: Okay, I think you've cheered us up enough. (5.0 out of 10)
The One Where Doyle Almost Gets Sacrificed...
taylorkingston28 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I really enjoyed this episode. It's so funny.
In this episode we find out that Doyle was married. Yeah, to an actual human lady. We find out that they got married before Doyle found out that he was half demon. That's pretty much was ended the marriage. But, they never signed divorce papers.
When his sort of ex-wife comes back, hoping to get papers signed, because she's marrying another man, well demon, stuff goes crazy. Including Doyle almost being sacrificed by the ex-wife's new fiancé.
It's so funny. The new fiancé doesn't believe he's doing anything wrong. He just wants to eat Doyle's brain, because it's a tradition of his people.
Overall, I give this episode a 7 out of 10.
In this episode we find out that Doyle was married. Yeah, to an actual human lady. We find out that they got married before Doyle found out that he was half demon. That's pretty much was ended the marriage. But, they never signed divorce papers.
When his sort of ex-wife comes back, hoping to get papers signed, because she's marrying another man, well demon, stuff goes crazy. Including Doyle almost being sacrificed by the ex-wife's new fiancé.
It's so funny. The new fiancé doesn't believe he's doing anything wrong. He just wants to eat Doyle's brain, because it's a tradition of his people.
Overall, I give this episode a 7 out of 10.
The Bachelor Party
Joxerlives3 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The Good; a lovely ep for Doyle adding a lot more depth to his character whilst providing some pretty gruesome comedy. Also like Doyle and Angel vetting CC's date, really gives them a sense of family.
The Bad; SUCH a shame we never see Harry again, that would have been terrific. Does she even know Doyle died?
Best line: Cordy;"Doyle taught 3rd grade. The kind with children. Are you sure he wasn't just held back and that was his cover story?" I also like Harry's aghast "Stripper! There was a stripper?"
Jeez, how did they get away with that? Eating brains? Yuck! Would anyone really like Quails' tongues?
Apocalypses: 4
Angel Clichés
Damsel in distress; nope, 2.
Inverting the Hollywood cliché; friendly demons for the first time
In disguise; 2.
DB get's his shirt off; 2
Cordy'statto; 2
Cheap Angel; the first sign of Angel's notorious meanness as he refers to the restaurant's surprisingly expensive windows
Fang Gang in bondage: Doyle in the box Cordy: 5 Angel: 4 Wes: 1 Doyle; 1
Fang gang knocked out: Angel Cordy: 8 Angel: 8 Wes: 1 Doyle; 1
Kills: Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale Angel: 2 vamps for Angel. So that gives Angel 10 vamps, 3 demons, 2 humans. Doyle; 1 vamp What happens to the female vamp at the nest? Does she just run away? Note Cordy actually bites the vamp who attacks her?
Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 1 Angel: 1
Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 4
Characters killed: 14
Total number of Angel Investigations: 3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy
Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 5,
Packing Heat Doyle; 1
Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy has a date with Mr Armani but he doesn't even get a kiss Cordy: 1? Angel: 1;Buffy
Kinky dinky: The stripper. Is she human or demon? Either way she wears WAAAYYYY too much eyeshadow. Also Harry has bought herself a a nightie for her honeymoon small enough to fit into a matchbox. The girls meanwhile play pornographic pictionary. Doyle asks if Buffy likes men with an Irish accent (has she ever met one?). Apparently the demon women have legs that can bend multiple ways and this is an aid in the sack?
Captain Subtext; Doyle and Angel's charm seems to be gradually working on CC.
Know the face, different character; 2 Carlos Jacott who plays Richard was Ken in the Buffy ep Anne.
Parking garages; 2
Questions and observations; A good episode, fun and fleshing out the characters. Cordy refers to Xander as a fixer-upper. Our first set of friendly demons but not THAT friendly. It seems very much that demons in the Buffyverse are slowly being won over to the ways of humanity (ESPN). Some great heroism from Doyle and a very nice double act from Cordy and Harry. Despite Doyle's relating Angel's lifestory to him in City of Angels it seems he's never actually seen Buffy.
Marks out of 10; 6/10, good ep
The Bad; SUCH a shame we never see Harry again, that would have been terrific. Does she even know Doyle died?
Best line: Cordy;"Doyle taught 3rd grade. The kind with children. Are you sure he wasn't just held back and that was his cover story?" I also like Harry's aghast "Stripper! There was a stripper?"
Jeez, how did they get away with that? Eating brains? Yuck! Would anyone really like Quails' tongues?
Apocalypses: 4
Angel Clichés
Damsel in distress; nope, 2.
Inverting the Hollywood cliché; friendly demons for the first time
In disguise; 2.
DB get's his shirt off; 2
Cordy'statto; 2
Cheap Angel; the first sign of Angel's notorious meanness as he refers to the restaurant's surprisingly expensive windows
Fang Gang in bondage: Doyle in the box Cordy: 5 Angel: 4 Wes: 1 Doyle; 1
Fang gang knocked out: Angel Cordy: 8 Angel: 8 Wes: 1 Doyle; 1
Kills: Cordy: none this ep. 3 vamps, ½ a demon from her time in Sunnydale Angel: 2 vamps for Angel. So that gives Angel 10 vamps, 3 demons, 2 humans. Doyle; 1 vamp What happens to the female vamp at the nest? Does she just run away? Note Cordy actually bites the vamp who attacks her?
Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 1 Angel: 1
Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 4
Characters killed: 14
Total number of Angel Investigations: 3, Angel, Doyle and Cordy
Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 5,
Packing Heat Doyle; 1
Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy has a date with Mr Armani but he doesn't even get a kiss Cordy: 1? Angel: 1;Buffy
Kinky dinky: The stripper. Is she human or demon? Either way she wears WAAAYYYY too much eyeshadow. Also Harry has bought herself a a nightie for her honeymoon small enough to fit into a matchbox. The girls meanwhile play pornographic pictionary. Doyle asks if Buffy likes men with an Irish accent (has she ever met one?). Apparently the demon women have legs that can bend multiple ways and this is an aid in the sack?
Captain Subtext; Doyle and Angel's charm seems to be gradually working on CC.
Know the face, different character; 2 Carlos Jacott who plays Richard was Ken in the Buffy ep Anne.
Parking garages; 2
Questions and observations; A good episode, fun and fleshing out the characters. Cordy refers to Xander as a fixer-upper. Our first set of friendly demons but not THAT friendly. It seems very much that demons in the Buffyverse are slowly being won over to the ways of humanity (ESPN). Some great heroism from Doyle and a very nice double act from Cordy and Harry. Despite Doyle's relating Angel's lifestory to him in City of Angels it seems he's never actually seen Buffy.
Marks out of 10; 6/10, good ep
Cordelia: You were so... brave.
bombersflyup22 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The Bachelor Party is about the arrival of Doyle's wife, who wants him to sign the divorce papers in order to re-marry.
The episode has a solid beginning, with Doyle saving Cordy and her seeing him in a new light. Once Richard enters, it gets much weaker. The story's done in a way that's silly and not to be taken seriously, but it doesn't yield enough laughs either. Plus Doyle can't stand the guy, he shouldn't ever go to this party.
The episode has a solid beginning, with Doyle saving Cordy and her seeing him in a new light. Once Richard enters, it gets much weaker. The story's done in a way that's silly and not to be taken seriously, but it doesn't yield enough laughs either. Plus Doyle can't stand the guy, he shouldn't ever go to this party.
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