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Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been - 2ADH02
The Long: At Cordelia's, Angel shows Wesley and Cordelia a picture
of the abandoned Hyperion Hotel, and wants them to find out why the owners
are letting it stand abandoned (see Continuity #1 & Reference #1). They
ask who the client is, he says no
one and leaves without giving much of an explanation. Fade back to 1952
where we see the concierge giving mail to deliver to a bellman (see Goof #1). The bellman
doesn't want to deliver a bill to the man in room 217, who scares him. The
concierge sends him off to work. The bellman hesitates in delivering the
bill to 217, knocking quietly and leaving quickly with the bill left
in front of the door. As he leaves Angel walks out of the room and picks up
the bill (see Goof #2).
In the present, Angel arrives at the Hyperion Hotel and looks around the
abandoned lobby. As he does we shift to 1952 where people in the lobby
are watching the McCarthy congressional hearings (see Reference #2). A woman runs out the front
door with a man chasing after her as Angel walks in holding a package and
grabs a newspaper (see Reference #3). The bellman nervously tells Angel there are no messages
for 217 as Angel passes. Angel gets in the elevator.
As he gets off on the second floor he passes a man in a hat who watches him
and is noticed by a pair of men, saying good-bye to each other. Angel
goes in his room and sets down the contents of his package, a bottle of
type O human blood on the table. He then grabs a bucket and goes out
to get some ice. He spies a man talking in the hallway, but ignores him,
and sees the man in the hat knocking on a door. When Angel gets's back in his
room he puts the blood on ice, then noticed a girl hiding in the bathroom.
She pretends to be a cleaning woman, but he knows better. She apologies, but
says she is hiding from the man outside, who she claims is her jealous boyfriend. As
Angel is going to throw her out he notices someone trying to pick the lock.
He hides her and opens the door to find the man in the hat, who wants the
girl. As he tries to come in Angel slams the door in his face, roughs him
up and throws the man in the passing elevator. The woman introduces herself
as Judy, but Angel walks back in his room and closes the door. In the
present Wesley is at Cordelia's and is looking over records of how the hotel
concierge killed several people with a shotgun in 1979, and the hotel has
been closed ever since. Cordelia researches on the computer finding that
no one will buy the hotel. Wesley says there is a history of deaths at the
hotel starting in 1928 when it was under construction. Cordelia spots a
picture that has Angel standing in the background in 1952. Back in 1952
Angel hears the man in the next room playing music loudly. In the next room
the man who was talking in the hallway listens to whispering coming from no
where and answers it. He picks
up a gun and looks at it. Angel pours himself some blood. The man picks
up a pillow to muffle the shot and shoots himself.
In 1952 the bellman leads the concierge into the room with the dead man,
saying the cleaning lady found him. This is the third one in three months.
The concierge starts to hear whispering that he'll be shut down if police
discover a third suicide, the man agrees, then tells the bellman to store
the body in the meat locker. In the lobby a group of people are talking
about the death, as an old man hears whispering that it might have been
a murder. At the Griffith Observatory at night, Angel stands outside smoking
as Judy says hello and tries to thank him for him help earlier (see Reference #4). She mentions
the man who killed himself (see Reference #5). She walks off as Angel gives her the cold
shoulder. In the present at Cordelia's, Wesley and Cordelia have a pile of
newspaper clippings about strange happenings at the Hyperion. They discover
how Frank Gilnetz, the bellman, was convicted of the murder of the man.
Back in 1952, people are still talking about the death of the man in the
lobby, they are sure it was a murder. Angel walks in and as he gets to his
room Judy calls him to her room, and she is worried the man was murdered.
She is nervous and warns Angel to watch out for police investigating.
Angel asks about the man looking for Judy, who he knows was an investigator.
Judy admits she is being looked for because she stole money from the bank
she worked for after being fired because they learned her mother was black
(see Goof #3 and Reference #6).
She's been feeling guilty ever since and hasn't been able to spend the
money. Angel tries to console her and sets out to help her. In the present
Cordelia discovers that Judy Kovacs was never heard from again after
checking into the Hotel in 1952 (see Goof #4 & #5).
In 1952 Angel and Judy hide the money in the basement duct work, as she
panics. Angel notices the whispering and tells her to go to her room.
In the present, Angel walks into the basement and finds the money still
there. At Cordelia's Wesley thinks some force lives in the Hyperion
affecting people. Cordelia says it's a Thesulac demon, who whispers to victims
and feeds on paranoia. Wesley is shocked, then realized Angel called her on
the phone and told her. Angel then tells Wesley to bring Cordelia and Gunn
and help him raise the demon so it can be slain. In 1952 a man named Denver
at a book store watches television as Angel walks in looking for books on
demons (see Reference #7). The man throws him a book that causes Angel's hands to burn, and Angel vamps out
as he throws the book down, the Bible. The man then grabs a cross and chases
Angel from the store. The man knew Angel was a vampire. Angel then comes
up behind the man and tells him he hasn't killed in a long time but will
if he doesn't help him (see Reference #8). At the Hyperion the bellman tells the concierge that
he has stored the body. In the lobby debate over the murder is turning ugly.
In Judy's room the demon is whispering to Judy about how she won't survive
prison. At the book store Angel is talking about slaying a
Thesulac demon. Seems it can only be killed while in physical form, which
it only gets after a good feeding or a raising ceremony has been performed.
Denver gives him advice and the equipment to do the raising (see Continuity #2).
In the lobby everyone is arguing over the death, when the man looking for
Judy walks in stating he is a private investigator looking for Judy. Angel
gets back to the Hotel. In the present Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn arrive and
they start the raising ceremony. In 1952 Angel gets upstairs and finds
a mob of people roughing up Judy thinking she is the murderer. Angel sets
down the equipment and goes to help her, but she sees
him and accuses him of being the murderer. The investigator sees the
weapon among the raising supplies and the mob attacks Angel.
In 1952, the mob grabs Angel and hangs him from the balcony in the lobby. Angel seems dead and everyone comes to their senses and feels ashamed. Everyone walks off and Judy cries. After everyone leaves Angel stops pretending to be dead and pulls himself out of the noose. The Thesulac demon manifests itself. The rather happy demon thanks Angel for the meal. Angel is brooding and unhappy, but the demon tells him that he had reached Judy and that's what made her betrayal taste that much better (see Cool Quotes #1). A disgusted Angel leaves the hotel to the demon's mercies and walks out. In the present the demon manifests and teases Angel and his helpers. Gunn and Angel attack, and Angel electrocutes the demon, killing it. Angel goes up to Judy's room and finds Judy, 48 years later still sitting there, kept alive by the demon for him to feed off of. She recognizes him and he forgives her for her betrayal. She lays down on the bed and dies. Downstairs Angel rejoins
the group and tells them they are moving in (see Goof #5). Although Wesley protests that the place is a house of evil, Angel says it isn't any more.
The Thesulac or paranoia demon depicted in this episode has both a physical
and energy form. In energy form it whispers to the minds of it's victims
feeding on their insecurities. It can only be slain in physical
form, which it takes after a healthy feeding or a raising ceremony. The
powers and methods of the Thesulac demon seem very similar to the demon
from Gingerbread.
The raising ceremony for a Thesulac demon involves an incantation, sacred
herbs, divining powder and an orb of Ramjarin. The incantation for the
raising is ''We call thee forth, Thesulac of the netherworld. We command
you, leave our minds and join us on this, the physical plane. We invoke thee
by the power of all the priests of Ramjarin. What was once in our
thoughts, be now in our midst.''
David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Melissa Marsala as Young Judy Kovacs
John Kapelos as the Roland Meeks the Hotel Concierge
Tommy Hinkley as Private Investigator Claude Mulvihill
Brett Rickaby as Denver
Scott Thompson Baker as the Homosexual Actor
J.P. Manoux as Frank Gilnetz the Bellman
David Kagen as the Salesman
Terrence Beasor as the Older Man (Left)
Julie Araskog as the Over The Hill Whore (Left)
Tom Beyer as the Blacklisted Writer (Right)
Eve Sigall as Old Judy Kovacs
Tony Amendola as the Thesulac Demon (Uncredited)
Joseph Raymond McCarthy as Himself (Uncredited, seen in archive footage.)
John Kapelos, who played Roland, played the part of Eugene in one of my favorite
films, the 1988 comedy Vibes
and of Nancy's father in the 1996 fantasy film The Craft.
He also appeared as Detective Schanke in the 1992 television series Forever
Knight, a show about an angst ridden vampire turned detective trying to make
up for the evil of his past life. Sound familiar? John has his own web
site at http://www.carpuzi.com/.
Tommy Hinkley, who
played private investigator C. Mulvihill, played the journalist in the 1994
film Star Trek: Generations.
Scott Thompson
Baker, who played the actor, played First Kudak'Etan in the
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
episode One Little Ship 6.14.
Terrence Beasor,
who played the older man, is one of the voices of the Borg on the various
Star Trek television series and films.
Julie Araskog, who
played the over the hill whore, played the part of Britney in the
Charmed episode I've Got You
Under My Skin 1.02.
Eve Sigall, who played old Judy, played Agnes in the Roswell episode Leaving Normal 1.04. She also played in the Dead Last episode The Problem With Corruption 1.05.
Tony Amendola, who played the Thesulac demon, has been in a number of notable roles, including the part of Bra'tac on Stargate SG-1, and he played Chorus #3 in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Muse 6.22. He was also Sorrel in the Kindred: The Embraced episode Cabin In The Woods 1.08 and he played the dark priest in the Charmed episode Marry-Go-Round 4.15.
