S2. E02: Are You Now Or Ever Have Been?

[Joe Hellandback]

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 Clichés Damsel in distress; 16,

Inverting the Hollywood cliché; 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, 1½ 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 parallel 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 appearance 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

[Joe Hellandback]

9 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Really? I just always assumed he bought the hotel with that money, because otherwise wouldn't they just be squatters for the next few seasons? I doubt Team Angel can afford to stay in the hotel on their own.

 

I think this may be one of the best stand-alone episodes, one of the best flashback episodes, because I think it really nails the 50s vibe and is about so much more than just Angel, it really represents what that era was like and to see the lynch mob is utterly terrifying. The music is fantastic too. 

 

Angel finding old Melissa in the hotel at the end is a little bit cheesy for me though, I could have done without it.

You think you know everything there is to know about the series but then you surprise me. 

I liked that scene, in a lesser series she would have gone on to live, here she dies. 

[illdoc]

1 hour ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Really? I just always assumed he bought the hotel with that money, because otherwise wouldn't they just be squatters for the next few seasons? I doubt Team Angel can afford to stay in the hotel on their own.

For some reason, I thought that, in a later episode

Spoiler

they get some kind of mortgage or something. Because David Nesbit shows up and talks about some sort of financing or  landmark status or something

[Joe Hellandback]

19 hours ago, illdoc said:

For some reason, I thought that, in a later episode

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they get some kind of mortgage or something. Because David Nesbit shows up and talks about some sort of financing or  landmark status or something

That's how I read it too but SPOILERS!

[illdoc]

43 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:

That's how I read it too but SPOILERS

Could have sworn I used "spoiler protection".