Angel

ARE YOU NOW OR EVER HAVE BEEN?

The Good;
Very good allegory of the McCarthy age and we get an idea of what Angel got up to after 'Why we fight?'.

The Bad;
According to the commentary Angel sends the money back to the bank. I wouldn't, they're a bunch of racists, I'd have given it to charity or something.

Best line:
DENVER; "No other cat but me"

Jeez, how did they get away with that?
Seeing Angel lynched is nasty in the extreme.

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Cliches
Damsel in distress; 16,

Inverting the Hollywood cliche;
Angel doesn't save the inhabitants of the hotel, just leaves the demon to feast upon them. When he finally returns to rescue Melissa it's to let her die.

In disguise; 4

DB get's his shirt off; 7

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel;
4

Fang Gang in bondage:
Cordy: 5
Angel: 8
Wes: 2

Fang gang knocked out: yep, Angel
Cordy: 9
Angel: 11
Wes: 5
Doyle; 1

Kills:
Cordy: 3 vamps, 1 demons
Angel; 1 demon for Angel so 16 vamps, 17 and 1/2 demons, 3 humans
Doyle; 1 vamp
Wes; 1/2 a demon
Kate; 3 vamps
Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans.
Gunn; one more vamp so 4 in all.
Fang Gang go evil:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang:
Cordy: 2
Angel: 6

Characters killed:
25

Recurring characters killed;
4;

Total number of Angel Investigations:
3, Angel and Cordy and Wes

Angel Investigations shot:
Angel: 8,

Packing heat;
Wes; 2
Doyle; 1
Angel; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost:
Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast
Angel: 1;Buffy

Kinky dinky:
The starlet is obviously supplementing her income through prostitution. Nevertheless she refers to Melissa as a slut as an insult.

Captain Subtext;
The leading man is obviously gay and hiding it Rock Hudson style.

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages;
4,

Guantanamo Bay;
The McCarthy era is a strange one as after the fall of communism it was revealed that many of those he persecuted were indeed Soviet agents (it's an interesting paralell of George Bush/Barack Obama being pressured to release some the Guantanamo inmates only for 1 in 7 going back to terrorism) but the important point here is that we rail against all lynch-mobs and witch-hunts which are inherently evil no matter their justification, Angel season 2 of course was during the War on Terror and the point is well made.

Buffy characters on Angel; 11
Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla

Questions and observations;
2nd appearance of the Hyperion which is also in Judgement and 'I fall to pieces' under a different name . Presumably Angel must be pretty rich just to be able to give the money away like that. After this we presume he must go into his hedonistic phase, henceforth to be known as 'The Manilow Era'. He does return to hotel later however as he's in the picture when the police arrest the bell-hop (who goes to the electric chair despite being innocent of the charges against him). First apprearance of Denver who'll crop up again later. In an ep about the 50s Cordy's dress seems very sixties? If this ep is 9 minutes over as the commentary says, why not Special Edition DVDs with the footage restored?
Marks out of 10; 8/10

Angel is mysteriously drawn to the dilapidated 'Hyperion Hotel' he came across in the Season 2 opener, 'Judgement'. While Wes and Cordy investigates the violent history of the L.A. landmark, Angel wanders its halls, and we see through flashbacks that this isn't the first time our hero has visited this place.



Wow. This is an incredibly beautiful episode in terms of production value. The flashback sequences to the late 50's are impressively authentic for a television series. I loved how the story was told as an old Hollywood mystery. It was great to see Angel sporting the 50's look and what his attitude was like in this particular period in his long, tortured life. Once a mysterious woman comes into his life for help, we see that Angel wasn't always into lending a helping hand once he had his soul back. Slap in some supernatural force in the Hyperion Hotel getting guests to kill themselves and go mad... and you've got yourself a spooky little whodunit. The demon of this episode is one of the best I've ever seen conceived. Most times, I don't feel that threatened by any of the buggers Angel or Buffy faces, but this dude was just... evil. An episode not to be missed. The first of many incredible episodes in Season 2.

The real first step into the second season is immediately a series best, the magic of acting and writing was amazing. this might be even one of tv’s best creations.



The episode begins with Cordy and Wesley in her apartment. They have to investigate a case that happened 50 years ago. The episode shows flashbacks of a hotel where everyone seems extremely paranoid. This delivery guy has to bring someone mail but he’s scared/ When the door opens it’s Angel. he was at that hotel 50 years ago. It’s the same hotel he remembered in ‘Judgment’ while saving the pregnant lady.



When Angel goes into his room he finds a girl trying to clean his room but he knows she’s not the house keeper. When he wants to throw her out she begs him to keep her inside, she says her boyfriend is after her. The guy tries to enter Angel’s room but he hits him out with his door and then puts him on the elevator to go down and leaves the girl outside his door, he was a pretty angry puppy back in the time.



Cordy and Wes find out that Angel is in the hotel when they see a picture of him while staying there.

Meanwhile back in the 50’s Angel noticed that there is something in the hotel, whispers talking to the people and one of the men there listens to it and ends up murdering himself.



The hotel is filled with paranoide, as soon as the guys death comes out everyone starts to panic and blaming themselves. The hotel manager tells the delivery guy to stuff the guy’s body in the meat locker, someone tells him to say that.



The girl from the hotel then introduced herself to Angel, her name is Judy and believes that it’s possible Angel has something to hide. Then she tells him her life story, the guy after her is from her old job, she stole money after they fired her for passing as white while she has mixed blood. Angel helps her to hide the money and then goes to a library guy who might be able to help him. The guy knows Angel is a vampire and tries to scare him away without success, he helps Angel when he tells his plan about saving some people at a hotel.



Back at the hotel everyone is blaming each other again, but then the guy comes back searching for Judy. They believe she killed the guy and attack her, when Angel comes home he finds them attacking Judy and she blames him and says that he is a monster. They go for Angel and beat him down and then hang him up. After they realise what they did, they go away leaving Angel hanged up. But he cuts loose and then the paranoid demon comes out, he feeds of them and says that Judy was the best of them because Angel gave her faith in humanity. But Angel lost it and tells him to have them all and walks away.



Then back in time Angel comes to the hotel with his gang to cast out the demon, Angel sees that he is still feeding. The demon comes out and Angel grabs his tentacles to electrocute him and destroys him. Then he tells the rest they are moving into the hotel/



The while episode was a masterpiece, but the biggest highlight was when Angel realised that Judy is still living in the hotel, only she is now an old woman. She wants to go out now that she doesn’t hear the voice but first wants to lie on the bed. Before she goes she tells Angel she’s sorry for killing him and takes a rest, there she dies. The scene was painful, you could see that DB almost cried.



This is without a doubt a reason why this show is so magnificent. A pure masterpiece in every way possible.

You have to watch this episode more than once. You're so in awe with it the first time that in order to get all the little details embedded inside it, you need to see it again.



This episode flashes back about fifty years to when Angel had money and could afford to stay in proper accomadations. He's a seemingly careless man who keeps to himself and prefers to atone for his sins by sitting around all day and brooding about them instead of saving people. The inequality toward different races is established and the hotel itself is gloriously illustrated.



A woman breaks into his apartment and pretends to be hiding from her boyfriend, so Angel grudgingly helps her out. Then she betrays him, so he gives the demon permission to feed on her and the entire hotel, thus setting it up for closage twenty-five years later. Angel goes back, kills the demon, rescues the woman from 50 years ago, and sets her free.



Then he takes the hotel for his home.



I can't stress enough how much of a fantastic episode this is. I can barely describe it. The entire flashback sequence is enthralling, the "now" sequence ties up loose ends from the flashback. Cordy and Wesley's involvement makes it amusing as well as fascinating. If you haven't seen this episode, you're missing out.

An excellent episode. Showing the hotel they investigate, and also showing the past of Angel. How he ignores the cry of the innocent, and see one of his dark spots. Best of all is the one innocent in there, remaining as a snack for he who dwells there. Left there for all the decades that Angel did not care.



Even if the solution is found way to easy, the story behind the involved parties behind this all is superbly written, and well acted by all involved.



In the end, the solution and the finale is a little too sweet, but it does fit into the harmony of past and present.

Part of the challenge of the second season was setting up a new base of operations. Angel’s apartment had a certain style and tone to it, but this was a new chapter with more demanding scope. It would have been easy enough to introduce a new apartment or office building and be done with it, but the writers had other fish to fry as well. Setting up the base of operations was also a chance to establish the evolving tone of the series as a whole.



As a result, it’s not about finding the hotel; Angel already knows about it and has a personal interest in it. That personal interest is the entrance to the story, and the fact that it eventually becomes a new home is beside the point. Angel’s psychology of the past and present intertwine to drive the emotional core of the tale, which presages the journey through past and present that will define the second season arc.



No discussion on this episode is complete without a comment on the production values. More than the story itself, the presentation is leaps and bounds beyond the somewhat tentative first season. The shifting time periods could have fallen prey to visual cliché, but the direction and cinematography mesh to give the episode a fresh style. It’s quite possible to spend entire stretches of the episode watching nothing but the backgrounds. Considering the scheduling challenges that had to be overcome to make this happen on a television budget and timetable, it’s very impressive.



It’s easy to forget that Angel went through a long and tortured self-imposed process of isolation until Whistler gave him a reason to change. Every time they peel back the layers of the past, Angel’s introduction in the first season of “Buffy” seems more and more of a show. His cool semi-Goth look just doesn’t ring true, and based on his history, it shouldn’t. It’s an affectation designed to fit into Buffy’s world.



Most of his cursed years were spent in self-loathing, as seen in this episode. He inhabits the Hyperion like a ghost, just one of many people with something to hide and a past to be avoided. The episode immediately steps into a time when McCarthyism was rampant and overt racism was still the order of the day. For many in the audience, this had to have been culture shock. It’s hard to imagine that such an America existed only 50 years ago; the episode touches on the paranoia of the times very well, if in an admittedly “television” way.



What this establishes is an atmosphere that feeds into Angel’s desire and need to keep away from human affairs. If the “present day” Angel needs to find a connection to humanity, then the “past” Angel had the exact opposite need. He didn’t want to deal with anyone else, and the world around him punished anyone for getting involved and sticking out one’s neck for a stranger. So a suicide next door barely registers a reaction, and certainly doesn’t warrant investigation.



It’s little surprise that a den of paranoia like the Hyperion would find itself inhabited by a demon that uses that paranoia to sate its appetites. The episode strings out the particulars slowly but surely as the episode progresses, letting the paranoia rise so that Angel is put to the test. It’s an interesting and relevant question: how long can Angel maintain this isolation and ignore the suffering of others? And doesn’t the fact that he could do so at all say a great deal about the darkness that was already within Liam before he was turned? This plants important seeds for the direction the second season would take, plumbing the depths of Angel’s inherent dark side.



Angel apparently chooses to help Judy because he can relate to her status. Angel is shunned by other vampires who are sickened by his soul; humans fear him because he’s a vampire. He has no purpose and no direction. Judy is essentially in the same position. But this also places Angel in a risky position, because he wants to help Judy without exposing himself in the process. The writers are clever in establishing, before this choice is made, that Angel made a mistake.



The episode sets up the conflict within Angel very clearly. Taking Angelus out of the equation, there’s still a struggle within Angel between the light and darkness. Part of him is ready to become a Champion, to fight for humans because he has the ability to do so. It often becomes something of a martyr complex, but it’s still on the side of the angels (no pun intended). His dark side is ready to leave humans to their own fate, if he has reason to believe that they have earned it. Angel will be torn between those impulses by a concentrated attack on his moral compass throughout the season. His decision to let the Thesulac have the inhabitants of the Hyperion is direct foreshadowing of what Angel would do later in the season.



There’s also a nice throwaway line regarding Wesley. Indeed, Wesley is the most paranoid of the bunch, and that very paranoia comes back to haunt him on a number of occasions. Most tellingly, it plays a major part in the third season, when he allows his paranoia over Sahjahn’s prophecy to rule over his better judgment. All of that points back to his relationship with his father, which is another example of the strong characterization in the Buffyverse.



Angel’s decision to take residence in the Hyperion is almost an afterthought, but it really serves as a metaphor for his own intentions. Angel intends to take the hotel and “redeem” it. Taking that metaphor and extending it, Angel’s next three years or so, while living in the hotel, turn out to be a long descent into temptation, personal issues, and anything but finding redemption. And the hotel is effective taken over in the fourth season by a being that feeds on human souls. All in all, the hotel itself becomes a barometer of Angel’s progress, and it’s not pretty.



More than the season premiere, this episode sets the tone and scope for the second season. While the season premiere had Angel dealing with the consequences of failure and assumption, this episode showed how dark Angel could be on his own, without the overt influence of Angelus. Shortly after this episode, the writers would begin to introduce Wolfram and Hart’s plan to bring out the darkness in Angel, and thanks to this episode, the audience is already well aware of how far he can fall.

This surely must be a series classic. It is a wonderfully dark episode that deals with horror but also sets up for the rest of the show as it truly introduces Hyperion Hotel.



The hotel was briefly shown in the season opener, which allows the episode to jump right in with little introduction. Angel sets Cordy and Wes up with some research about Hyperion and as they do that he goes back to the hotel in which he once lived.

The flashbacks are shot beautifully with footage of Angel wandering around the hotel as well as with the revelations that Cordy and Wes discover. There's no silly sound or colouring effects, the episode just moves seamlessly from 1952 to present day.



The flashbacks themselves are highly interesting. The good thing about having a 250+ year old vampire as the lead character means that there is a rich past to delve into as we have seen previously both in season 1 of Angel and in Buffy and we will see in future seasons of Angel. Through the flashbacks we get to see Angel at his most brooding reclusive self. He doesn't struggle with his vampiric urges which allow the writers to focus more fully on his trust issues and what has now become his mission.

The demon is fairly scary, the whispering more so, especially when they become coherent. The demon itself, is slightly comical but what he actually does to people is hugely powerful. The scene where they hang Angel (which could have proved fatal had it broken his neck) is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies and that violent gang mentality which all but the bell-boy seem to regret after. Although we know there is no danger of Angel being hurt from the fighting, the scene does show how powerful paranoia can be especially in a city such as LA where paranoia is rampant as emphasised by the guests in the reception area, the washed up writer, the actor and as she's described on the credits, the over-the-hill whore!



My favourite about this episode is seeing Angel making a connection with Judy. He reaches out to her in a way that although it is not unfamiliar to viewers must've been very unfamiliar to the newly (relatively) ensouled Angel. I was shocked by way his trust is broken by her betrayal and in the way he cruelly allowed them all to be killed. Here the writers give us a little bit more about why Angel can be such a recluse at times. The scene after the electrocution of the demon in which Angel reaches out to her in order to help her die in peace perfectly contrasts this. Although Angel still hides from his friends, this shows perfectly how far he has come in 50 years.



The episode ends with Angel pronouncing the Hyperion as their new home. A fitting end to a wonderful episode. It marks a new start for both the team and Angel who has finally put some of his ghosts to rest.

one of the bst of the season 2 the flashbacks and characters were super and angle and the old lady was sad and super as well. this episode learns how angel didnt wanna be with humans and when he went to live on the street. the episode is fantastic and brillianty amazing

In addition, this flash-back is done so well, the cuts to and from the present so smooth, that I could actually feel the atmosphere change...hair styles, clothing, architecture. Time travel to 1952. (PS: I really liked Angel\'s hair style in that time...!)



This episode also emphasizes to viewers how Angel changed over the years. In this earlier time period he is depicted as being a much darker character, still very much a loner and holding himself apart from the rest of the world. One can sense his depression and despair, the hopelessness of his existance. Angel's very apparent reluctance to become involved in human events around him is overcome only when he starts to identify with another hotel resident, Judy...a woman being persecuted because she is attempting to pass in society as a member of one race though her mother was of another.

Judy: "My blood isn't pure. It's tainted!"

Angel: "It's just blood, Judy. It-it's all just blood."

Judy: "Nobody believes that! Not even my mother's family. I'm not one thing or the other. I'm nothing."

Angel: "I know what that's like."



And thus Angel, for what is probably the first time, goes out of his way to actually aid a human in distress. The tragedy in this episode is not so much that his reward is one of betrayal as Judy sacrifices him save herself...but that he reverts so quickly to an action in direct contradiction to his earlier good intentions: in response to the Demon's taunt that the building is full of tortured souls for him to help, Angel simply states "Take them all." And without a backward glance he walks away from the Hotel, condemning all those that wrongfully blamed him of murder. If revenge is a dish best served cold, Angel offered it frozen solid...



In the end, the viewer is once more reminded of the phenomenal strides toward humanity that Angel has taken over the decades.

Judy: "It's you."

Angel: "Yeah, Judy. It's me."

Judy: "You look the same."

Angel: "I'm not."

This was (IMO) the episode that should have been the season opener for season 2. We got to delve into Angels past as he checked out an old hotel that we got a glimpse of in the previous episode. Seems Angel wasn't remotely interested in fighting the good fight or helping the helpless for a long while. In fact, he kept to himself and didn't get into other peoples lives. Unfortunately this never seems to work and he is pulled into the life of a young woman staying in the hotel at the same time he was (early 1950s era) We get to see how badly things went for Angel the first time he tried to help someone, and perhaps why it was so long before he tried again. Fabulous episode and Angel Investigations has a new base of operations; the hotel!

As it turns out Angel has been to LA before back in the 50's. The Hyperion Hotel still being haunted by the demon he dealt with all those years back when he was last here comes back into the picture, causing Cordy and Wesley to dig into his past and discover what really happened there. As it turns out Angel was betrayed a young woman and left the habitants of the hotel for dead all those years ago. Even now though, killing the demon in the present, he manages to help save one victim of the demon that hadn't yet been destroyed. The young woman who betrayed him all those years ago.

I loved the beginning where Angel asks Wesley and Cordelia to look into the past of the Hyperion hotel. I loved that he didn't give them a real reason for doing so and they were just like okay when he left.



The fact that Angel's past was revealed in a more recent view made this interesting as well. Before this episode when we got flashbacks of Angel it was of his human life or of Angelus but here we got to see Angel at a time where he had his soul but he didn't really care about helping people. Judy made him start caring a little bit but not enough to take care of things completely. It was interesting to see Angel's character like this.



I liked Angel going to that one guy for help and having him pull out a little stunt knowing that Angel was a vampire. It was incredible to see that little guy yelling at Angel because it was just so funny.



I liked the paranoia demon. Feeding on the insecurities of humans is something new and exciting. I loved how they brought it forth in the end.



Wes and Gunn were great here with the light bickering and stuff. I loved how the demon said that Wes was especially paranoid. It was great to see Wes after that being extremely paranoid.



This was an amazing episode. I loved that Angel decided that they were gonna move in and Cordelia was quick to agree with him.

This is probably my favorite episode of Angel (so far). I love seeing more aobut Angel's past and some of the things he did before coming to Sunnydale in the ninties. This episode is a fine example of a flashback. Angel wants to look into a demon at a hotel he once stayed at so after much research him, Cordelia, and Wesley find that a demon is lurking there and has been for over 50 years. Through flashbacks we find that Angel has tried to stop the demon before. It feeds off of paranoia, which caused the hotel to shut down. Angel and the gang defeat the demon and make the hotel the site of their new offices.

I liked this episode pretty well. I tend to enjoy the flashbacks anyway and this is a bit different in that the flashbacks focus on more "recent" history (1950s). Not sure why Angel set Wesley and Cordi off to investigate the Hyperion history without telling them his history with it. But I have to be honest, that part of the story wasn't interesting to me so I wasn't paying too much attention. I listened to the commentary for some of the episode...it was ok, but not as much fun as some of the other commentaries. Summing up...pretty good but not my favorite.

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been-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.



A dark, chilling episode which brings Angel to a whole new level of storytelling. In the season premiere, we got a glimpse of the Hyperion Hotel, but never understood why Angel was so familiar with it. Turns out Angel has a dark past with the haunting hotel and the horrifying events that took place there long ago. First off, the show continues to show how much of a budget increase it's got with the stunning cinematography and the flawless direction throughout this hour! The plot is one of the best of the series and the 1950s setting is amazing with realistic images of racism and wonder during that era. All the guest stars are solid and give great performances true to the decade, with an good mention to Melissa Marsala as misguided Judy. The hotel also has a creepy presence and there are some disturbing scenes like hotel customers being driven mad. One in particular where Judy turns on Angel and the whole hotel hangs Angel to death. To make matters worse, Angel leaves the hotel to be taken by the Thesilack demon. Speaking of the Thesilack demon, his one of the creepiest demon of the weeks ever featured on Angel, with his long black coat and infinite supply of slimy tentacles. The ending is also sad with Angel finding a 70 year old Judy who has been trapped in the hotel ever since the last they meet and her dieing in her sleep to finally rest in peace after what she's done. The gang then makes the hotel their new home. All and All, an incredible episode as we get to look into Angel's past and a classic episode for Season 2.

AYNOHYEB is a highly deep, intelligent episode of Angel and one of the best ones. It hasn't got huge exciting fights or hilarious one-liners but it's got one of the most original stories and brilliant performances ever. It was all so relevant too- instead of having them move into a random place, we get a huge backstory, helping us get a better feel of the hotel as the new base of operations.



One thing I've noticed about Angel: you can't just conjure up a helpless girl with a sob story to make the audience feel for them. An example is the pregnant woman last week- I felt nothing for her. She wasn't interesting. However, this weeks- Judy, was such a layered character with a fantastic backstory. The actress who played was excellent and I really felt for her. She had so many parallels with Angel- she was mixed race, not black or white but could pass as white. Angel was vampire- he could pass as human. She was hiding a dark secret as was Angel. She was a great character and her death at the end was shocking and sad- I really felt for her. The hotel is the place I always assosciate with Angel and reminds me of the old Buffy library- the main base of operations. W&H offices couldn't offer the same feel in S5- I loved the hotel- it was so unique with an amazing backstory. The paranoia demon was so creepy and the way he fed on Judy for so long was sickening- I hated him, which is a good thing as he's the villain. It was a unique story.



Another thing I liked about this episode is how dark and depressed Angel was back then- he reminds me so much of how he becomes after Darla's death later this season. He's so cut off from everyone and when he just started to get a friend- she betrayed him and he let the demon feed on her for 50 years- he felt so guilty when he saw her again. He told her he's different now but pretty soon he reverts to Dark Angel.



Cordelia and Wesley weren't really in this episode- rightly so, it was Angel's story. It's safe to say they weren't needed but we really can't have an episode without them. Gunn however was such a pointless addition to this episode- he was so unneeded and felt put in just for the sake of it. AYNOHYEB is an instant classic. It's intelligent, complex and deeply entertaining. An unforgettable episode.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? was a perfect episode of Angel. I really enjoyed watching this episode because it gave us a more in depth look into Angel's past, after he has a soul, but still unsure of his place in the world. The transitions between now and then were great, and really showed how times change. The story of this episode is very interesting, and there is a lot of character growth for Angel. In the end he finds the Gang's new headquarters, an abandoned Hotel that was haunted by a demon and had some horrible crimes in the past. I can't wait to see what will happen next!!!!!!!