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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