''Angel walks a fine line between redemption and
the instinct to kill. Angel is overcome by his hunger.''
The Shroud Of Rahmon - 2ADH08
Written by Jim Kouf - Directed by David Grossman - First Aired on November 21st, 2000
Synopsis -
Creature Feature -
Cool Quotes -
References -
Continuity -
Goofs -
Trivia -
The Morgue -
Cast -
Famous Faces -
Points Of View
Synopsis
The Short: A story told by Wesley as he's being interrogated by
police: When Gunn's cousin Lester falls in with a group of
supernatural thieves Gunn and Angel take the place of Lester and a
flamboyant vampire named Jay-Don in the group. They quickly fall in to a
plan to rob a museum of the Shroud of Rahmon. Wesley discovers the shroud
is reputed to hold the power of a demon who could cause madness, and fears
Angel and the other could be effected by it. He is too late as chaos ensues
during the robbery. Kate learns information leading to her checking out
the museum and tries to stop Angel, but when she is overpowered the only
recourse is for Angel to drain Kate slightly faking her death. Wesley is
discovered over her body and arrested. Back at the
thieves hideout madness firmly grips the gang and they fight over the
shroud. In a moment of clarity Angel is able to burn the shroud and
save the day. Kate, recovered from her blood loss, lets Wesley go.
The Long: After a ''Previously on Angel'' segment (see Continuity #1) we open on two police detectives
interrogating a prisoner, who they say is crazy. As they start to threaten
the man he lifts his head and we see it's Wesley. Wesley starts to rant
about how she shouldn't have been there. He says it all went horribly wrong
as they flash to a scene of Angel draining a blonde woman and throwing
her body to the floor.
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.
Creature Feature
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.
Cool Quotes
- Wesley: ''Keep going. Hold it. On the third of this month,
museum research department received the Shroud of Rahmon from a tomb
recently unearthed by University of New Mexico archeologists.''
Cordelia: ''Okay. Two words I don't like right off the bat:
tomb and unearthed. People, you've got to leave your tombs
earthed!''
I think Cordelia is on to something.
When was the last time a tomb was unearthed that DIDN'T have some sort of
ancient evil inside?
References
- Lester: ''Well, yeah, there is that. Then, then I heard they
were bringin' in this, this psycho vampire from Vegas and like I
said, man...''
Psycho is a 1960 film starring
Anthony Perkins as
Norman Bates, a mild mannered motel owner who kills unsuspecting women.
Plot: Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has
treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot
get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One
Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the
opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and
heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught
in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel.
The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be
dominated by his mother. Also referenced by Cordelia in Somnambulist and Sanctuary.
Las Vegas, Nevada is of course the famous tourist spot, known for it's
casinos and shows.
- Cordelia: ''Chow Yun-Fat!''
Chow Yun-Fat is a
Hong Kong born star of action films.
- Angel: ''Well, he ran with the whole Sinatra Rat Pack thing.
Never got over it. You know, I think I'll meet his bus.''
The Rat Pack was made up of performers Frank Sinatra (1915-1998),
Dean Martin (1917-1995),
Sammy Davis Jr.
(1925-1990), Peter
Lawford (1923-1984) and Joey Bishop.
- The bus Jay-Don arrived on was a Greyhound bus.
Greyhound is a line of busses. They have a web site at http://www.greyhound.com/.
It is probable that this is the same bus station that Faith arrived at in
Five By Five.
- Cordelia: ''Museums, museums... We've got the MOCA, the LACMA,
oh the Gene Autry! Well it could be a magical stuffed horse.''
Wesley: ''Lets assume not and try the Museum of Natural History.''
The MOCA is the Museum of Contempory Art.
The LACMA is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
The Gene Autry Muesum of Western History is at 4700 Zoo Drize, Griffith Park,
Los Angeles. It has interactive exhibits designed by Disney concerning Gene Autry and the old west.
They have a web site at http://www.autry-museum.org/.
The Southern California Museum of Natural History is...
(Thanks to Marsia from the Watcher's Diary and Alex for helping with this.)
- Wesley: ''Keep going. Hold it. On the third of this month,
museum research department received the Shroud of Rahmon from a tomb
recently unearthed by University of New Mexico archeologists.''
The University of New Mexico was founded in 1889 and is located in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. It has it's own web site at http://www.unm.edu/.
- Angel: ''Altoids! Isle four.''
Altoids are a breath mint.
- Gunn: ''Don't give me orders Elvis!''
Elvis Aron Presley
(1935-1977) was a rock and roll singer whose enormous success changed the
shape of American popular culture. Also referenced in Angel #5, by Cordelia in Bewitched,
Bothered and Bewildered, by Willow in Wild At Heart, by Cordelia in Five By Five and by Buffy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Angel: ''You know I'm getting pretty tired of this 'vampires
killed my sister so now I'm all entitled' song. Don't you know anything
else, like say Macarthur Park?''
Macarthur Park is a song sung by a variety of artists since the 60's,
including Sammy Davis
Jr., a member of the Rat Pack and Donna Summer. You
can download a clip of the song here.
Continuity
- Voice: ''Previously on Angel.''
Somnambulist - Kate discovers Angel is a vampire.
To Shanshu In L.A. - Kate says she's glad she's not playing friends with Angel anymore. He is tired of her blaming him for her father's death.
The Prodigal - Kate discovers her father drained by a vampire.
Dear Boy - Angel discovers Darla alive. Darla wants her boy back.
- Cordelia: ''...yet another glamourous celebrity filled gala
with Miss Virginia Bryce?''
Guise Will Be Guise - Wesley became the personal
bodyguard of Virginia's after impersonating Angel to protect her.
- Kate: ''Well, there is that little thing about a murder she was
involved in? You remember, a few weeks ago a guy got his throat ripped
out? I'm sure you're gonna tell me she's innocent.''
Dear Boy - Darla aided in the killing of the man
pretending to be her husband in an attempt blame Angel for the death.
- Gunn: ''Nothing but take, take, take. Take your blood, take
your sister!''
War Zone - Vampires kidnapped, drained and sired
Gunn's sister Alonna, who he then had to slay.
- Wesley: ''Angel drank human blood, from a living
person. Something he hasn't done in a very long time.''
Wesley probably is talking about in Graduation Day Part 2 where Angel drank Buffy's blood to
cure himself of a mystical poison. He actually drank some of Darla's blood
in Dear Boy.
Goofs
- When Jay-Don turns to look at Angel you can clearly see his reflection
in the bus he's standing next to. Since Jay-Don is a vampire he should cast
no reflection.
- Nitro-glyceryn actually has no color and it's so unstable that the
air bubble would have allowed it to jar inside the bottle so that when it
fell it would have exploded on Angel's foot.
- When Angel walks into the vault, you see an obvious full body reflection
of him inside the metal door. Since Angel is a vampire he should cast
no reflection.
Trivia
The Morgue
- Jay-Don: At the bus station, staked by Angel.
- Bob: In the museum, head pulled off by Vyasa.
- Vyasa: In the hideout, shot in the head by Menlo.
Note: It is unclear as to whether Menlo is killed in the fight at the end
or merely knocked out by Vyasa, but since he may have survived I didn't
list him.
Cast
Starring:
David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn
Guest Starring:
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
Co-Starring:
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.)
Famous Faces
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.
Points Of View
Mathew:
Thank goodness for the minor relief from the Darla saga. It was wonderful
seeing Tony Todd as a demon. Kate needed a good biting, maybe this will
improve her attitude. I think Gunn was completely justified in his actions
and Angel was more then a little out of line. Cordelia's hair is a big
change, but I'm not dead set against it. The whole credits are way too
confusing this week. Would it kill them to say who plays who for
everyone?
Page by Webmaster Mathew - Fenruary, 2003
Special thanks to The Complete Buffy Episode Guide for
inspiration and technical help, as well as Buffy episode links and all the
readers of the
Watcher's Diary for their feedback in making this page what it is.
