Shroud of Rahmon
Written by Jim Kouf
Directed by David Grossman
Original Airdate: November 21, 2000
Plot: In order to help Gunn's cousin, Angel poses as a flashy vampire from
out of town to help steal the Shroud of Rahmon, an ancient artifact that
creates mind-altering affects in those who come in contact with it. The
biggest problem: Angel's contact threatens to bring out his dark side and
re-awaken his bloodlust.
Review
Warning: If you're looking to remain shrouded from SPOILERS for the latest
episode of Angel, "The Shroud of Rahmon" I encourage you to turn back now.
There are major SPOILERS just ahead.
In short: Disappointing.
There's just something about episodes of "Angel" and the Thanksgiving
holiday. Last year, I came away from "I Will Remember You" horribly
disappointed and upset. And this year, I am coming away from "The Shroud of
Rahmon" horribly disappointed and upset.
And that's a shame because on paper there was so much potential for this
episode.
The first and biggest shame is the fact that guest star Tony Todd was
pretty much wasted in this episode. Todd has turned in some fine, layer and
fascinating performances over the years on all three of the modern Trek
shows (he was Worf's brother Kurn on both TNG and DS9, he was the older Jake
in the classic DS9 "The Visitor") and he did a great job with a limited role
back in season two of the "X-Files." Todd is truly one of those stars who
can take the smallest of roles and make it totally and completely compelling
and unforgettable. If you've seen The X-Files' "Sleepless" you'll know
exactly what I'm talking about.
At least until he got onto Angel. I'm not sure what happened, but here
he was pretty much a non-entity. His character wasn't compelling or
interesting to me. I don't know who to really fault here--either Todd or the
writers. I am going to put the blame firmly at both of their feet. I
mainly give the writers the blame for not making his character interesting
enough to really grab my attention (indeed, all his character seemed to do
was yell a lot and complain about how the plan was going). But I must also
say that for most of the episode Todd seemed to be phoning in his
performance. He's done better with less material. (His presence in an
episode of Voyager lifted it from just an OK episode to a good one). And he
should have been able to do something more here.
Not that it helped that most of the rest of the cast seemed a bit flat.
In fact, the whole episode was just plain flat.
And that's a shame as we had some potential here.
Personally, while I've liked most of the arc concerning Darla and her
character this year, her affect on Angel has me worried. Angel has been
brooding about this for far too long. I feel almost as if we're in a
holding pattern of character development. It seems like every episode for
the past few weeks has begun with Angel brooding about Darla and her return.
It was interesting at first, but at some point, we've got to wonder if Angel
will snap out of it or take some kind of action. The act, as they say, is
starting to wear a bit thin.
Now, there are some who will argue that his brooding led him to the
actions that took place in this episode. I content that it was more out of
his friendship for Gunn that the events in this episode were set into
motion. I've liked the character of Gunn all year long--when they've allowed
him to be a three-dimensional character and not a stereotype. Unfortunately
this week Gunn's character seemed a bit more in his stereotypical, angry
young man from the wrong side of town that we saw in "First Impressions."
And I didn't like the character that we saw there. I've liked the character
we've seen in such episodes as "Guise Will Be Guise" and "Dear Boy."
Add to it that both Cordelia and Wesley seemed a set off and it all
added up to the supporting cast not really hitting the right notes.
Which I suppose would be OK most of the time. Usually with an ensemble
show such as we've seen with Angel, if one or more of the regular cast isn't
up to par, the rest make up for it. And if you've got an episode that has
the possibility of evil Angel rearing his ugly head, then you've got some
major potential that David Borenaz is going to shine and make the episode
watchable and compelling. And while it was nice to see Angel walk that fine
line between the dark side of his nature and the light side, it never went
far enough in either directions. One of Borenaz's strengths in playing evil
Angel is that he does it with such retrained glee and malice that it's a joy
to watch. However, here Angel is never allowed to go far enough over to the
dark side to be of any great interest. Yes, he drinks from Kate, but again
that's a ruse to keep her alive. And while I buy that Angel is able to take
a walk on the dark side to serve his purpose and to keep Kate safe. And I
like that from the character. And I can only hope that it leads into some
kind of resolution between the characters.
Because I feel that Kate's obsession with proving that Angel is bad has
really gone too far. It's reduce her character from a three-dimensional one
to a one-dimensional one. And she's been stuck in this rut far too long.
It's time for her to move on past her hatred of Angel. I think it's started
here. But again I'll have to wait and see how this develops.
Of course, the reason that the episode didn't really work for me was the
standard plotline. It's been a long-established plot of having an group of
unexpected allies come together in order to achieve a goal. In this case,
it's four very different people coming together to steal the Shroud. And it
had potential. The problem is the supporting characters were one-dimensional
and didn't really command much attention. That and the fact that except for
the fact I knew one was played by Tony Todd, I couldn't have told them
apart.
All in all, it led to a jumbled mash of an episode. But despite all of
this, there were still a few good things.
I liked Wesley's role at the police station. For some reason, this
really worked for me.
I liked the fact that no one had noticed Cody's hair change for 10 days.
Interesting based on the information we've been given over the past few
weeks and the speed at which events have been happening. It also shows how
cuaght up in their own lives and problems everyone has become of late. It
might have been funny to see that Gunn noticed a while back and that it took
Angel and Wesley this long to take notice.
I liked the fact that Angel fed on Kate and the implications of what
that could bring. This possible long-term development is what really
rescues the episode for me and makes me have hope that my overall evaluation
of it will improve over the course of the rest of the season.
So, I guess that about wraps it up for now. Overall I'm disappointed.
But there were some glimmers of hope.
My rating: 3.0 (out of 10.0)
Next up: Darla's ailing and needs Angel's help
Review Copyright 2000 by Michael T. Hickerson. All Rights Reserved.
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