Characterization In The Buffyverse — ‘Angel’ Season 2, Episode 8

This is part of a bi-weekly series concerning the characterization of Buffyverse characters. Arguably the best place to begin reading this series is at the beginning, but that is up to each reader. As a reminder this column will cover major and some minor characters from the shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004). Other Buffyverse media, such as the graphic novel Spike: Into The Light (2014) are not pertinent to this series. Also there will be no referencing real world events that have direct relation to either show in this bi-weekly series. Although, this series will reference incidents and ideas that have no direct relation to the show in order to examine the metaphors and literary analogues.

This week: Angel (David Boreanaz) and Charles Gunn (J. August Richards) assist with a robbery. Yet, the objective of the robbery has mind-altering consequences.

(Warning of spoilers from this point on!)

Angel is still obsessing over Darla (Julie Benz), which becomes obvious after he mistakes Detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Röhm) for her. Threatening Kate at the Hyperion Hotel instead of trying to reason with her suggests a further falling into darkness. Drinking from Kate to save her life, meanwhile, is a plot device that affects both the episode and the over-arcing plot involving Darla. His acting is over the top in both impersonations, but both attempts fit well at providing levity and completing the job. Lastly, his ability to defy the magical object long enough to destroy it suggests he is either partly crazy or strong of will.

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) comes across completely differently when in the interrogation scenes. He seems like a plot device in these scenes since he is relating the events of the episode. Although, he is clearly an unreliable narrator since he is not coherent and is relating things he could not fully know. The other element that makes him appear different: he is in so much shock while rambling, which he does sometimes repetitively. His portrayal is too reminiscent to the fictional criminal Roger Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995). Nevertheless, the shock he feels is arguably the beginning of his disillusionment with Angel this season.

Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) gets a development to her personality with being overly comfortable about changing clothes around Wesley and Angel. This is arguably a major difference from how she would feel about such an action in the past (Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 1, Episode 2, “The Harvest”). She is losing more of her high-maintenance personality for a bit of a practical one. Additionally, she feels safe around them. At the same time, her high-maintenance desires still exist with her wanting to impressive a certain famous action star. Unfortunately, her existence in this episode does not serve the narrative too much other than to provide exposition and levity.

Gunn is a more subtle impersonator than Angel. He just has to appear as a black human driver along with answering to his cousin’s name. So there is not much to his imitation. The fact he has more living family makes Gunn growing up on the streets seem like a choice rather than an inevitability (Season 2, Episode 3, “First Impressions”). While his original plan is possibly better than Angel’s lone wolf scheme, both have their failings. Despite having trouble trusting each other, they succeed in the end by Gunn conceding the contest for leadership of the mission.

M. James Menlo (W. Earl Brown) appears to be the brains of the robbery crew. His failure to find protections against the Shroud of Rahmon’s curse suggests that he only considers so many angles, though. Thus, his attempt to steal the shroud would fail even without the involvement of Angel and Gunn. Menlo’s species is unknown, but he apparently looks enough like a human to fear arrest by law enforcement. His use of guns and explosives, along with his manner of dying, imply that he lacks supernatural powers.

Lester (Dwayne L. Barnes) is Gunn’s cousin who gets over his head by becoming the original driver for the robbery. He has a justifiable distrust of vampires. Although, it is unclear whether it is because Angel is a vampire or something else is going on that he acts suspiciously anxious. The anxiety Lester displays comes across as distrustful since he acts jovial towards the end of his meeting with Gunn and Angel. He presumably lives after the robbery fails.

Kate is essentially the Ákos Kovács to Wesley’s Roger Kint, but with the twist of clearing Wesley instead of incriminating him. She is otherwise a plot device to have the story occur the way it does while also acting as an obstacle for the robbery and her own personal growth.

Vyasa (Tony Todd) is a demon with super strength who acts as an enforcer for Menlo. Yet, he is overeager for a fight and falls easily to the shroud’s curse and, then, Menlo’s bullets.

Detective Turlock (R. Emery Bright) and Detective Broomfield (Tom Kiesche) are two cops investigating the attack on Kate by interrogating Wesley. They make comments that suggest they are willing to do violence since they are either regularly corrupt or are protecting their own mentality.

Robert “Bob” Skale (Robert Dolan) is a security guard who knows about the supernatural. He is mostly a plot device to help the robbers get past traditional security.

Jay-Don (Michael Nagy) is a vampire who has a mentality that does not change with the times. He is easy for Angel to both kill and impersonate despite Jay-Don being a vampire with a reputation and connections that should make it much harder.

The surveillance cop #1 (Jim Hanna) and the first cop (Danny Ricardo) are stock characters that fill out the ranks of the authorities. They otherwise serve little to no purpose.

This episode’s narrative puts characterization and the ongoing plot to the side for the most part. There is very little development or consistency to the characterization and the plotting is mostly episodic.