Angel: - TV.com

Angel: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?

« prev episode next » episode

Angel directs Cordelia and Wesley to investigate the mysteriously abandoned Hyperion Hotel, and as they piece together the building's dark history, they discover that his interest is more personal than he let on. In a flashback to 1952, Angel is not the atoning vampire of present day, but a recluse who is detached from the tortured humans around him, until one fateful day. Read full recap »

YOUR SCORE

RESET

N/A n/a

Writers:: Tim Minear

Director:: David Semel

Stars:: Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase); Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce); J. August Richards (Charles Gunn); David Boreanaz (Angel)

Guest Star:: John Kapelos (Hotel Manager); Tony Amendola (Hotel Demon (uncredited)); Eve Sigall (Old Judy); Tom Beyer (Blacklisted Writer); Terrence Beasor (Older Man); David Kagen (Salesman); Brett Rickaby (Denver); Scott Thompson Baker (Actor); Tommy Hinkley (Detective); Julie Araskog (Over the Hill Whore); Melissa Marsala (Judy Kovacs); J. P. Manoux (Frank Gilnitz)

When Cordelia & Wesley are going through the newspapers on the floor, there's a close-up of the clipping of Judy. If you pause and read the article, the bottom-most visible paragraph is repeated in both columns, complete with the typo in the word "immeadiate". edit »
When Judy is talking to Angel as she is smoking a cigarette in their room, the cigarette grows longer and shorter between shots. edit »
While the bookstore owner is screaming at Angel in the front of the store, you can see on the left hand bottom corner, a bit of David's hair and perhaps his hand, just before he comes up behind store owner and grabs him. edit »
How did Judy stay inside the hotel without food and possibly water for 48 years without starving or dehydrating? edit »
In the flashback when we see the embezzled $11,000, several of the bills are the new '96 $100 bills. edit »

Joss Whedon states in the Season 5 DVD featurette "To Live and Die in L.A.: The Best of Angel", this is one of the best episodes in Season 2 and in the series. edit »
This episode contains a scene with Wes that is used in the opening credits of Seasons 2 and 3. The clip is Wes casting a spell while holding a circular glass object. The spell was to get rid of the Thesulac demon that had infected the hotel. edit »
Music:
On the record player in the room next to Angel's -- "Hoop-De-Doo" by Perry Como edit »
This episode received a rating of 4.5/6 in the overnight Nielsen ratings, ranking 6th out of 17 WB shows for that week. edit »
A scene at the end of Act I was cut from the final edit, which showed Angel as very uncaring and apathetic toward the other guests at the hotel during the 1950s. The scene shows Angel drinking and turning up jazz music as the saleman next door kills himself. edit »

Detective: You won't mind if I just come in and take a look around then?
(Angel pretends to let him in then slams the door into his face)
Angel: Gee, guess I do mind. edit »
Denver: Vampire wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans? I just don't get it.
Angel: To be honest, I'm not sure I do either. edit »
Judy: I'm so sorry I killed you. Can you forgive me?
Angel: Of course. edit »
Wesley: I can sense it. There is a pattern here... Some force was residing at the Hyperion over the last decades, affecting staff and residents. I just fear there is no real way to...
Cordelia: A Thesulac. Paranoia demon. Whispers to its victims, feeds on their innate insecurities.
(Wesley stares, amazed)
Cordelia: (pulling a phone from behind her back) Angel wants to talk to you. edit »
Thesulac: Well, I don't know about you but I'm stuffed! God I love people! (to Angel) Don�t you? They feed me their worst and I kind of serve it right back to them, and the fear and prejudice turns to certainty and hate, and I take another bite and mmm-mmm-mmm! What a beautiful, beautiful dance! Oh, you got your feelings hurt, didn't you? See now what happens when you stick your neck out for them? They throw a rope around it! And you thought you'd made a friend. (Angel begins to walk away) News flash! You had! That's what made her the yummiest morsel of all. You reached her, buddy! Restored her faith in people. Without you she would have been just another appetizer. But you plumped her up good! Now, she's a meal that's gonna last me a lifetime! Hey, you know what? There is an entire hotel here just full of tortured souls that could really use your help. What do you say?
Angel: Take them all. edit »

Character, Judy
Comparable to Marion in Hitchcock's Psycho: a young woman runs away with a lot of stolen money (taken from the bank at which she worked) and meets a strange, quiet, young man who harbors a big secret, at a hotel... edit »
The scene where Judy tries to get Angel to "come see the show," in which the "world is going to end"
Film reference to James Dean's classic Rebel Without A Cause. Angel is toting a red jacket, like Jim's in Rebel, the lead female character's name is Judy in both, the location of "the show" seems to be the same observatory, and the actress playing Judy in this episode resembles Natalie Wood. edit »
Title
This episode's title is a line from the McCarthy era witch-hunt for Communists. There were many televised trials and inquests at this time, and the oft-heard question at these was "are you now or have you ever been a communist?"

As well as taking place during this era, this episode is thematically about the sort of paranoia which characterized the McCarthy trials. edit »
Denver: (while watching TV) They keep calling her a "zany redhead." Could be a brunette for all I can tell.
The "zany redhead" in question must be Lucille Ball, star of I Love Lucy. The show premiered in 1951, the year before the flashback sequences. edit »
Angel: Now, it's been a long time since I've opened a vein, but I'll do it you pull any more of this Van Helsing Jr. crap with me.
Professor Van Helsing was the vampire hunter in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and its many film and stage adaptations. edit »

9
10
raluka87
member since: Apr 22, 2008
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
The Bottom Line: "Well written"
The writing is an intelligently subtle cocktail: The information on Angel's past is interesting to learn, helps further the season's theme at a relevant and early point, and contains a world of imagination in its use of the Hyperion Hotel. ...Continue »
07/24/08 01:56am | report abuse
9.2
00
TwistedConverse
member since: Nov 20, 2007
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
The Bottom Line: "Series classic"
History of the Hyperion Hotel. ...Continue »
07/05/08 04:12pm | report abuse
9
00
ggoblin31
member since: Apr 1, 2008
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
The Bottom Line: "Exactly why I watch this series"
'The Shining' meets 'Angel' with a touch of 'Barton Fink'. ...Continue »
04/03/08 12:35pm | report abuse
10
00
lenzinoH20
member since: Jul 12, 2006
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
The Bottom Line: "Flashback episode"
Vacancy 666 ...Continue »
07/27/07 05:50pm | report abuse
8
00
mattmegmom
member since: May 18, 2007
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
The Bottom Line: "Flashback episode"
More background on Angel and the new office location. ...Continue »
05/28/07 07:04am | report abuse