Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
Right off the bat I am so happy to finally be at the Hyperion. It is my favorite all time set in the Buffyverse. It has so much unique character and it reflects Angel's personality well. It's old, it has charm, it's alone and has been sitting empty, it needs a family to make it feel at home. Cordy describes it as "seventy years of violence, mayhem and paranoia. Bad vibes." and Wes talks about how "for the better part of the last century, this place has been host not only to a, malevolent demonic presence, but the very worst faces of humanity." Both of these descriptions could describe Angel, b.b. (before Buffy). But Angel knows he has changed, and so he believes that the hotel can have a new story too. I read somewhere once that the Hyperion is like one of the characters of the show - and I could not agree more. I'm glad we are finally here.
I love the family vibe between the three Angel/Cordy/Wes but tend to agree with
@Grace that the reason it seems amplified is because we know they are going to pull the carpet out from under us when he fires them. Still, it seems to have been carried effortlessly from To Shanshu into Judgment and here. That being said, there is still a vibe at this point that Angel is very much the boss and Wes and Cordy are the employee/side kicks. Angel tells Wes and Cordy what to research but holds his cards close to his chest, not revealing much. And as we see throughout the first part of s2, it leaves Wes and Cordy in the dark about what Angel is really thinking.
When we kick things off in the 1950's just the feel of this episode is so different from anything we have seen in the Buffyverse it really looks beautiful.
I also like the Shinning type feel that the hotel sequence seems to call back to and to realize that the thing the bellhop is so scared of is - Angel. It really strikes me that the bellhop says: "You ever look into his eyes? There's nothing there." (See script notes below which are kinda interesting). Of course we know that Angel, by this point has a soul but what the audience doesn't know is what, if anything, Angel has done with that soul. And what I love about episodes like this is it shows that a soul is not enough. A person still has a choice to make as to whether they will make a difference in other people's lives. So maybe Angel has a soul, but it really hasn't been of much use to him. The reasons for this will unfold throughout this episode. But what is evident to me is that Angel carries the weight not just of the evil he committed with no soul, but also the weight of his in actions for the time he was ensouled and hadn't taken up the cause.
One interesting tidbit I hadn't picked up on previous re-watches is the name of the episode is mentioned on the TV as they are showing the House Un-American Activities Committee Hearings "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party." Now, granted I didn't live through that time in history, but my perception is that there was a fair amount of
paranoia during that time. People were hunted out, singled out, and tried for being "not american enough" or having ideals that were tied to those communist ideals. I'm fairly out of my element here but I know that many in hollywood were targeted as well. So we can imagine that from the get-go this opening scene sets up the perfect environment of distrust and fear. And this so called, "culture of fear" can drive people, en masse to some drastic measures (I'll let you come to your own conclusions about some of the present situations we may find ourselves in as a result of this incitement of fear and distrust of anything that is "other" or "non-american").
I have always loved how AtS embraces the concept of "otherness." I will wholeheartedly admit that it never quite gets it right. (As I would argue neither does BtVS with regards to issues of race/racism and other concepts). But I appreciate that it sheds a light on such conversations. Angel represents "that which is other." He is both "other" in the demon world and in the human world. Never quite wholly fitting in to either place. This episode, I think makes a valiant effort to see how it is that Angel may have tried for the first time to fit into the human world but how our society (perhaps given the sociological climate of the 1950s) may not have been ready to accept him and as such they fear him, and reject him.
Now, I will be the first to say that to tell this story through the lens of Angel, a white man, is clumsy and one could even argue irresponsible storytelling. Honestly, that is a valid point and one which needs to be recognized and acknowledged. But I appreciate that the concept of the story, and I suppose I have always related to Angel's nature as straddling two different worlds and never quite finding the ability to fit in perfectly in either. And Judy's being half white and African-american and this concept of "passing" is also representative of this straddling of two different cultures in a time when being African-american was, unfortunately, very dangerous. One thing I notice is that Judy comments on the fact that her blood is "tainted" this harkens back to the one-drop rule of the Dr. Plecker days. What I find interesting is that to Angel - all human blood is human blood. And yet in the 1950s some people still subscribed to ridiculous faux science to justify vitriol racism. Ugh those were some f*cked up times.
Regardless, what we see is that Angel wants to shut out the world initially. He doesn't even want to try to fit in, he doesn't even want to interact with anyone. It's always a bit of a shock to see Angel manhandle Judy the way he does. Or to talk to her like such a dick. And then the clincher is when he hears a gunshot and doesn't even flinch. But when he and Judy talk about her racial identity - a line I find so incredibly heartbreaking for Judy:
Judy "I'm not one thing or the other, I'm nothing."
Angel "I know what that's like."
I think he finally sees that there is someone he can relate to. Someone else who is scared, lost, someone who feels they don't belong. And this drives him to make a connection and he wants to help. (He will later find similar common ground with Buffy, she too straddles two different worlds). We see a glimpse of the Angel we will see in the future. And honestly, throughout this whole episode, I feel like Angel constantly struggles because he want's to shut himself off but he has an intrinsic need to want to be a part of the human world, to help others. You can see little moments where he observes the salesman talking to himself, or when he first decides to hide Judy, or when he looks back at the observatory pondering after Judy's invitation. And so we know that drive to help is there inside. He needs a spark. (cough buffy cough).
DENVER A vampire wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans... I just don't get it --
ANGEL To be honest, not so sure I do either.
(Sometimes I do feel like there is a bit too much jam packed in this episode - like Death of a Salesmen allusion, in the play the Salesmen was talking to himself and then proceeds to kill himself.)
I'm trying to refrain from constantly stopping to fangirl over how beautiful Angel looks in this episode. But I can't help but make a comment that Angel looks to die for at the Griffith Observatory.
LOL at Angel thinking that Gunn and Wes are bickering because of the demon but really they are just being big babies. I love when Wes turns to Angel after Gunn throws the orb and is basically like "Daaaad?" LMAO. I love these guys.
This remains one of my favorite episodes of AtS.
I didn't like how it was only about Angel forgiving Judy, after the episode showed that Angel also regretted his actions. Given that the demon's influence was a factor (and Angel actually knew that at the time), it felt like there should be more give and take, though I guess Judy never knew what Angel did.
I have taken issue with this on previous re-watches. I think the bottom line is Angel knows that Judy has lived with this guilt on her shoulders for all of these years. He seems to recognize that she is dying, so I think the point of this is to give her forgiveness so she can go in peace. His guilt, is his alone, and his to bear. He may not even think he is worthy of forgiveness for what he did. But either way, it's not something he wants to burden her with. I'm not sure if that is right or wrong. But maybe he is giving her what he would like to have before he dies. Forgiveness.
The moment between Judy and Angel at the end destroys me. My heart breaks for Judy. She has lived literally trapped by fear and guilt. It's a terrifying thought. And the part that I love is:
JUDY You look... the same.
ANGEL I'm not.
So her employers fired her because they thought being of mixed race made her untrustworthy and now she proves (under the influence of the demon) to be untrustworthy? I don't know, it just feels awkward to me to use this real-life issue to make Angel's plight seem deeper metaphorically but then also kind of play into the stereotype?
I honestly never thought of it this way and you are right in that it's not a good look. I have so much sympathy for Judy's character throughout the episode that I never stopped to consider that what she did was anything other than an act of pure desperation. But looking at it from this point of view, it's not a good look.
Script Notes:
This is an interesting script note re how we are to perceive Angel in the opening shot.
as the door to room 217 opens. A hand reaches down and picks up the tray. We follow it up to a face --
ANGEL
No light in that face. He's 1950's I-don't-get-involved-guy Angel. And frankly, he is kinda creepy. And as he slams the door into frame, shutting out us and the world --
This whole sequence was cut:
INT. CORDELIA'S APARTMENT - DAY
CORDELIA
So what horrible thing do you suppose he did?
Wesley is using Cordy's dining room table to lay out a flow chart/time line of the incidents at the hotel from the 1930s to the present day. He's got archival material wherever possible: news clippings, photos, etc. He adds a clipping to 1935: "Hothouse Killer Claims Fifth Victim."
WESLEY Other than using the heads of his victims as decorative planters?
CORDELIA What? No, not psycho slasher 1935. Angel. I mean, he woulda had a soul back then, right? So he probably wasn't eating people. So what's with the big guilt? He forget to tip the doorman?
WESLEY You must keep in mind that this was during a period in Angel's life when he wasn't Angel. At least not the Angel we know.
CORDELIA You mean before Buffy. Before all his trying to atone.
WESLEY Precisely. She ponders for a moment, then --
CORDELIA So what kind of plants you gonna keep in a human head?
WESLEY Well, ferns, one assumes.
CORDELIA (musing) I bet it was a woman.
Wesley carefully finishes the 1935 slot...
WESLEY Just because the killer had a green thumb? I hardly think so. A man can enjoy botany as much as any woman. It certainly doesn't mean he's gay, and you weren't talking about that, were you?
CORDELIA The thing Angel's trying to snag some retroactive atonement for -- I'll bet it was a woman.
