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The Shroud Of Rahmon - 2ADH08
In the police question room Wesley rambles about what happened. He worries
what happened to Cordelia. We then flash back to Wesley and Cordelia at
Angel Investigations where Wesley wonders what happened to Cordelia's hair. Say says she cut it 10 days ago. Wesley
is worried Angel isn't getting out much and Cordelia says he spends all his
spare time brooding about Darla. Wesley decides to talk to Angel but
Cordelia says he's not in right now because Gunn's cousin was in trouble and
he went to help. Wesley offers to take Cordelia to the premiere he is
attending with Virginia and she quickly accepts (see Continuity #2). Elsewhere Angel and Gunn
meet with his cousin, who hates vampires. The cousin says he was recommended
for driving getaway for a group who is robbing a museum of a magic item.
They hired a vampire from Las Vegas named Jay-Don, and now the cousin wants
out, but if he doesn't show up they'll kill him (see Reference #1). Gunn says to meet them
and he'll take care of it. Angel knows of Jay-Don's reputation. Angel
wants Gunn to stay away as he takes care of everything, but Gunn wants to
help. Angel gets back to his place where he discovers Kate going through his
things. She is looking for Darla and has a nifty stake/cross combo weapon
that Angel quickly knocks out of her hand (see Continuity #3). Angel warns her off saying she'll
get herself killed. In the lobby Wesley and Cordelia return early with
cocktail sauce on her shirt. Angel is also shocked by her hair. They
returned after Wesley spilled the sauce on her in front of Chow Yun-Fat,
which she is furious about (see Reference #2). Angel explains about the robbery that is being
planned and plans to take Jay-Don's place. Cordelia and Wesley are worried
he won't be able to pull it off, since Jay-Don is very flashy and loud (see Reference #3).
At the bus station a bus arrives with a slick looking vamp in a red jacket
and sunglasses (see Reference #4 & Goof #1). Angel approaches him acting like a fan of Jay-Don's saying
he is there to pick him up. After asking him a few questions Angel quickly
stakes Jay-Don and takes the sunglasses for himself. A man with burned
skin and long hair shows up looking for Jay-Don. Angel introduces himself
as Jay-Don, playing the part of the to the hilt. The man leads Angel to
his beat-up station wagon. They arrive in a junk yard where Angel is
introduced to a muscular demon a human security guard named Bob. The burned
man asks where Lester is, who it ends up is Gunn's cousin. Lester arrives,
but we see it's really Gunn playing the part of his cousin.
At the hideout Angel and Gunn give each other attitude. The burned man says
they are stealing the Shroud of Rahmon, worth two million dollars. Bob
is the security guard and will let them in, then they will break it out of
vault. Jay-Don will help them get past a thermal sensor in the vault then
they have to carry out the large lead lined box it's in. Angel tries to
start a fight with Gunn so they get rid of him, but is unsuccessful.
The burned man says they are pulling off the job tonight, and no one leaves
until it's done. At Angel Investigations Cordelia looks for museums in the
area on her iMac (see Reference #5 & Cool Quotes #1). They suspect the Southern California Museum of Natural
History, which recently received the Shroud of Rahmon (see Reference #6). The robbers show
up at the museum in a moving truck and get in through a door left open by
Bob. Gunn punches Angel for hitting him earlier when no one is looking.
Bob meets them and takes out security as the demon knocks out the other
guard. They make their way to the vault (see Reference #7). The burned man drills a hole in it.
At the police station a police surveillance man gives pictures of
the burned man and Bob to Kate. They say their names are M. James Menlo and
Robert Scale. Menlo is a safe cracker. They suspect a possible plan to rob
the museum and she might be able to identity another one of them. A third
man in a picture is Angel, from the bus station. She says she's interested. Back at the
vault Menlo inserts nitro-glycerin in the hole he drilled, almost killing
them when he nearly drops it (see Goof #2). They blow the lock. At Angel Investigations
Wesley reads what he found about the shroud. The shroud causes madness.
He says in 1803 the shroud was removed and drove a whole town insane.
Cordelia realizes they can't let Angel anywhere near a shroud that drives
you crazy. They agree to warn Angel as soon as he gets back, then realize
that it might be too late already and run off to stop him. Angel sneaks
into the vault and is effected the moment he walks in, making his eyes turn vampire yellow and as he hears whispering (see Goof #3).
Angel deactivates the thermal sensor and the rest of the gang enter the
vault. Gunn notices something weird. Angel is obviously acting strangely.
Cordelia and Wesley walk in the unlocked door and realize the hiest must
be taking place. As they walk in they start to act weird, seemingly effected
by the shroud being disturbed. They agree to stay together and split up.
Lockley shows up, calls for backup and goes in alone. As the thieves
struggle to move the shroud case Angel and Gunn bicker (see Reference #8). They drop it and
start to fight (see Reference #9 & Continuity #4). This breaks the glass on the case and the insanity grows.
Gunn tries to stake Angel, but Menlo stops them. Bob has himself tied up
so it looks like they overpowered him. When he asks the demon to hit him,
making it look real the demon pulls his head off. Kate comes across Wesley
as they are both looking for Angel. Wesley drifts in and out of sanity as
he tries to warn her about the shroud. Cordelia has made her way to the
American Indian exhibit where she looks at her teeth in the reflection of
the glass case. Wesley runs off from Kate. Cordelia steals a necklace from
a manikin. Angel, Gunn the demon and Menlo take the
shroud case from an elevator
to move it outside. Menlo is going insane about removing fingerprints and
stays to clean the elevator walls. Gunn can't go on since his head is full
of flies. Wesley finds Angel and tells him about the shroud, he tries to
get him to leave, but then Kate shows up and tells them not to move. Angel
jumps her and bites her neck, draining her.
A squad of well armed and armored police move into the museum. They find
Wesley over Kate's body. They grab Wesley and call for help. Angel, Gunn,
Menlo and the demon return to the hideout with the shroud case. They open
the case and fight over who gets the shroud, each claiming they should
have it. The demon punches Menlo and takes the shroud, then Angel jumps
the demon. Gunn jumps in as Menlo shoots blindly and hits the demon in
the head, killing him. Angel grabs the shroud saying he knows what to do,
takes it outside, covers it with the contents of a booze bottle and lights
it on fire. There is an explosion and Angel falls to the ground. Back at
the station the detectives don't believe Wesley's story about a shroud that
makes people insane. They plan to book him for the death of the guard and
the attempt on Kate, but then Kate walks in and tells them to let him go.
She looks pale and has bite marks on her neck. Later Kate stands at her
office window fingering her bite and remembering when Angel bit her. We
see the scene replayed and this time we hear Angel whisper in her ear to
stay down or the others will kill her, which Kate did. Back in the Angel
Investigations lobby Wesley and Cordelia talk about how bad things went.
Cordelia swears she returned everything, even though she's still wearing
the necklace. Wesley is worried about how Angel tasted living human blood
again and how it might reawaken his blood lust (see Continuity #5). They decide not to hang
around and call it a day. In his room Angel sits brooding, falls asleep
and dreams of drinking Kate's blood.
The demon in this episode is of the average big, strong and ugly variety named Vyasa.
He doesn't like humans or vampires (or just able anyone else) and hates
people who talk too much. He is killed when he is shot in the head.
The Shroud of Rahmon is the death shroud a powerful demon. It was dyed
with the blood of seven virgin women sacrificed on the first full moon, then
placed over the demon, preventing
it from returning from the dead. Rahmon is said to have had the power to
make people go mad, and the shroud now has that power. The box it is in is
made on consecrated wood and lined with lead, which dampens it's effects,
but people nearby tend to go a little insane. As the box was damaged,
and later the shroud removed, it's effects were more pronounced. The shroud
was burned and destroyed.
Las Vegas, Nevada is of course the famous tourist spot, known for it's
casinos and shows.
David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Elizabeth Rohm as Detective Kate Lockley
W. Earl Brown as M. James Menlo
Dwayne L. Barnes as Lester
R. Emery Bright as Detective Turlock
Tom Kiesche as Detective Broomfield
Tony Todd as Vyasa
Robert Dolan as Bob (Robert Scale)
Michael Hagy as Jay-Don
Jim Hanna as Surveillance Cop #1
Danny Ricardo as the First Cop
Julie Benz as Darla (Uncredited, seen in flashback from Dear Boy.)
W. Earl Brown, who played M. James Menlo, also played the warlock in the Charmed episode PreWitched 3.17.
Tony Todd, who played Vyasa, is of course a very famous sci-fi and fantasy actor. His most
notable rolls include playing Worf's brother Kurn on Star Trek: The
Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also played the adult
Jake Sisko in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode The Visitor 4.03 (right) and
the Alpha Hirogen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Prey 4.16 (far right). He also played Augustus Cole in the X-Files episode Sleepless 2.04 and an avatar in the Charmed episode Daddy Dearest 5.08.
He has his own web site at http://alwheaties.simplenet.com/Tony_Todd.html.
Tom Kiesche, who played Detective Broomfield, has his own web site at http://members.aol.com/bigquiche/home.html.
I contacted him though e-mail and he was very helpful in putting actors to
character names and had some interesting trivia about his episode. You
can read what he had to say here. He would go on to play a vampire in The Gift, although it was probably not the same character.
Jim Hanna, who played Surveillance Cop #1, also played Koko's Manager #2 in the X-Files episode Fight Club 7.20.
