Hyperion Hotel Mayhem: "We're Moving In."

"Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" is one of the best Angel flashback episodes of the series. Usually the audience is treated to only a few moments--here and there--of Angel's past memories, so this one has always been fun to watch. Believe it or not, it's also one of the lighter flashbacks we witness from Angel's past while he was still drinking human blood--a big deal for the present Angel. The tones are not nearly as dark as many of the later flashbacks, particularly the ones in Season 3 that introduce the character Daniel Holtz, a man out for vengence against Angel and his sire, Darla, for killing his entire family. Nevertheless, this episode tackles all the right elements of the time period to make it appeal to a younger audience.

From what I have learned of the 1950's, in good respect, it was a decade of classic fashion and of course, the beginning of the Baby Boom. And, this decade also brought us unforgettable shows like, "I Love Lucy," and the timeless music from Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. A lot of the popular fashion at the time is depicted in the episode, drawing inspiration from Rebel Without A Cause as we pointed out in class. On the other hand, this episode also called attention to the social and political issues the nation was going through at the time. Even though WWII had ended, plenty of tension still existed in the U.S. with other political issues, and caused a rising level of paranoia among people. Issues with racism were also very strong at this point, a situation which is illustrated with the African American family being denied vacancy at the Hyperion Hotel.

In this case, the paranoia is manifested through the Thesulac demon who haunts the hotel and whispers to the occupants, encouraging them to take their own lives. As Angela said in her post, fear pushes people to do the craziest things, and here, it leads to Angel being hanged after being falsely accused of murdering the man in 215. I've always heard that people are afraid of what they don't understand, so how ironic is it that a human mob would unknowingly "hang" a vampire?

Also, this might be sort of a stretch, but for me, there was a subtle reference to the 1978 film series of John Carpenter's Halloween. At the beginning of the episode when the bellboy says, "Ever look into his eyes? There's nothing there." It sounds like an homage to something Donald Sutherland's character Sam Loomis continuously says about Michael Myers: "You never looked into his eyes. You never saw that nothing."

Just to elaborate a little since this was our last Angel episode: The Hyperion Hotel will become the home for Angel Investigations from this point until Angel sort of "switches teams" in Season 5. It was my favorite set for the show, and a lot more of Angel's current history is created there, including a rather violent heart-to-heart Angel will have with his son, Connor in the opening episode of Season 4, "Deep Down." At the conclusion of the episode Angel gives a descent speech to his son that seems to reiterate the mission statement of the show: "Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh and cruel, but that's why there's us. Champions. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be."

We've pretty much agreed that Angel is a more adult show than Buffy, even though she does eventually grow up. Angel had some of the best moments (and definitely funniest) on television, so it's really worth watching from the beginning.