Angel - 2x02 "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been" FULL REACTION

One of my favourite episodes of Angel ever. Show well done.

Mel Saville

Yeah this is one of my favorite episodes of Angel the way it's written and shot is like watching a movie rather than a TV episode, a lot of my favorite episodes of Angel are from season 2, Season 2 of Angel is my favorite and Season5 of Buffy is my favorite so you're on my favorite seasons.

Cameron Rayburn

This episode has special significance for me because when Judy confesses that she is biracial and does not fit anywhere, “I’m not one thing or the other! I am nothing!,” it really hits me. I’m mixed Asian raised by a white family, but I’m ethnically ambiguous enough for people to ask me my whole life, “What are you?” “Where are you from?” etc., and I grew up never seeing myself represented on television. It’s very alienating and also infuriating to be constantly reminded that you’re not white, you’re Other, but you don’t feel like you really belong anywhere. I feel so bad for Judy suffering for fifty years, but the ending where Angel gives Judy the thing he wants most of all, forgiveness, is so beautiful that I cry every time.

Rachael

Any scene Jim Rash is in I start singing "Gay Dean" from Community.

Ryan Martinez

This episode is so good, I am glad you were able to appreciate it despite the technical difficulties.

Vicky N

Same after 35 it all stops

Bisibia

So many film references: The Shining, Barton Fink, Titanic (opening shot through the doors); and Judy is an amalgam of several characters: Judy from RwaC, Marion from Psycho (stole money and dies at the hotel), and the daughter from Imitation of Life who passes as white. Probably more that I'm forgetting. Also, there is a literal death of a salesman. That shouldn't make me smile, but "Restless" ruined "Death of a Salesman" for me. Thanks, Riley and you men, with your sales. I appreciate that you put "communists" in quotation marks. I thought they depicted the overall bigotry, fear, and paranoia of the 1950s fairly well (not that I was alive then but you know). The McCarthyism aspect of this episode feels ultra scarily contemporary in the U.S. :( IIRC, Tim Minear's DVD commentary is really good. I'll probably watch it tomorrow.

Rachael

Great reaction Liam, sorry for the tech issues, but you didn’t miss too much. You did however miss things in the intro credits, so you should probably watch them. There’s really nothing there to spoil you. The only time I can think of that you should skip the intro credits cause of major spoiler is for episode 5x01 ( which is still awhile from now).

Ariel17

One thing that wouldn’t be obvious to you is that this is set in a particularly paranoid period in U.S. history—the McCarthy/Red Scare era. Senator McCarthy is seen on a TV in the background in one shot. The title of the episode “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” was a phrase used during the hunt for “communists” in Hollywood during this period. So what better period for a paranoia demon to come into ascendancy. Also of note, the place where Judy talks to Angel away from the hotel is Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, which featured in a lot of movies in the early 1950s, including “Rebel without a Cause” starring James Dean, and the costuming and framing of that scene are an homage to a similar scene in the James Dean/Natalie Wood movie.

Steve Maxey

Whenever a reactor has problems with a faulty copy of an episode, I have this overwhelming desire to run over to their house with my DVDs. I live on the west coast of Canada though, so running to England would require a couple of months and a sturdy life jacket.

UTU49

Could y'all watch the entire episode? I get 35 minutes in and it stops everytime.

Paul Lytle

This is definitely a "top tier" episode. So good. Also, with the touching of racism, it was also done with the black family being refused entry to the hotel. Not sure if you missed that bit due to the buffering of the video.

Salv Mancuso

I wonder if they included a clip in the Previously On of Angel and Jo in “Judgment” coming across the Hyperion when they were fleeing the bounty hunter demons. Angel realizing he lost sight of his mission to save souls and connecting that to his Hyperion shame is what drew him back in this episode. “I feel a bit triggered because 217 in Buffy was ‘Passion’.” Aww. Also, great memory! Room 217 is the room in the novel, “The Shining.” It was changed to Room 237 in the film adaptation because the RL location hotel owner didn’t want customers to be afraid to stay in 217.

Rachael

My favorite Angel monster-of-the-week episode so far. Just such an excellent effort all around that I only whish there was more of it. I feel like I could explore the setting and those characters for hours if given the chance. This is (I think) the fourth reaction video I've seen of this episode, but the first one where I've felt like the reactor actually gave the episode it's proper level of admiration, so that's also pretty cool.

Thomas Hansen

One of my favourites too. This episode always takes me back to "Belonging part 1" where we see Angel as a complete loner hiding away from humans and I love that this story tells us why. The end where Judy dies is so heartbreaking even though I hated her for what she did but she had so much guilt for all them years I really felt for her in the end. Such a beautiful episode

Donna

Welcome to the Hyperion where all the mirrors are literary. It's amazing when the story and the point of the story fit together so well, especially when both reach such high marks emotionally. So many lives, and lifetimes, lost because of prejudice or fear or hatred.

Bruce Trogdon

The end: "Angel, you don't think I'm especially paranoid, do you?" "Not especially." "Oh, thank God. I was worried." So you missed the last second.

UTU49

I prefer to refer to Liam as O' Holy One!

Sherlyn

Yeah I know, I was halfway through my thought then he said that but I had to finish it 😂

one thing I disagree with you on - for possibly the first time lol. Angel didn't leave to try and help the people in the hotel. He says "take them all" because he is pissed off that he tried to help them all and they turned on him in the worst way. If you recall previous flashbacks, by the 90s he is alone, looking homeless and gross, living on rats, hating himself. I feel like this episode was a period where he tried to integrate, and in the end thought of it as a failure, and leaving those people to the demon weighed on his soul, made him feel guilty, pushing him away from people and into that homeless version of himself. Until Whistler finds him, and he finds Buffy. great reaction though!! the ending to this episode always makes me sad.

Holi117

Finished watching.. love your reaction as usual!! ☺ You're okay to watch the opening credits now, there's nothing there that you don't already know 😂 You might notice the background or frame around Wesley is his own now as in Season 1 they kept using Doyle's (his apartment) for Wesley. 😔 During the earlier glitch you missed the hotel manager turn away the family that came to the front desk for a room which made you understand the attitude people had then so when Judy explains about her parents you understand her fear that she'll be found out. Thank you Liam ☺

Have you tried downloading it?

This is one of my all-time favorite Angel episodes. It's so beautifully written, directed, and edited. Can't wait to watch your reaction.

Rachael

Dropbox keeps freezing on me. Tech difficulties on top of your tech diff not so much fun. 😥

Sherlyn

God, I love this episode. (Is it inappropriate for me to refer to Liam as "God"?)

UTU49

YES! Excited fro this episode - never mind the tech difficulties, I'll deal.

Bellatronics

That's uploading now 😊 Should be up in a few hours

I thought for sure the Buffy season 5 premiere would be next in the watching order but no matter—all Liam content is good content

Ritchie

I was just about to watch a film then I saw the email 🙄

Ahhhhh! I’m just getting in the car to leave for work. This will be like torture all night long but at least I’ll have something to look forward to after a long shift at Walmart. Thank you sweetie.

Lostmyshoe22