|
| Episode 8, Season 2 Title: "The Shroud of Rahmon" Written by: Jim Kouf Directed by: David Grossman Original Air Date: November 21, 2000
Suddenly a flashback, we see a blond haired girl being embraced and then she slumps to the floor. Angel stands over her in vamp face, blood on his fangs and a rye smile on his lips. ACT I:
Eight Hours Earlier: Angel Investigations, and Wesley is in shock. "Your head! I mean... hair!" Seems Cordelia went and got a new 'do'... ten days ago. But the shorter, sassy look does Cordy justice. Wes is all spiffed up as well for another gala event with Virginia Bryce, much to Cordy’s chagrin. Yet, he’s more concerned about Angel's lack of things to do. Au contraire, Cordy corrects. Angel bides his time with much ‘brooding of Darla’, followed by more brooding of Darla, and then topped off with a little Darla brooding. Still, it seems Gunn’s cousin has fallen into a bit of trouble and Angel has gone to assist in the matter, leading Wesley to believe getting him 'out and about' is a good thing. Wesley surprises Cordy with an extra ticket to the premiere and she happily accepts.
Back at the Hyperion, Angel enters his darkened room. Sensing someone, he calls out, "Darla?" Seems that’s just who Kate is looking for as she steps out of the shadows. Angel confesses he doesn’t know where she is, but warns Kate that there’s a storm gathering where Darla is concerned and he doesn’t want to see her get killed. On the defensive, Kate pulls a nifty cross and stake combo out on Angel to show she’s not unprepared. He easily disarms her and reiterates that if she gets stuck between him and Darla it’ll be the last thing she’ll ever do. Later that evening, Wesley and Cordelia return. Cordy is a bit upset that Wes spilled shrimp cocktail sauce all over her new dress in front of Chow Yun-Fat. Angel is impressed that they met someone so famous and notices Cordy’s hair, ten days too late. Angel informs them that there is a group of thieves in town to steal something of great mystical powers from a local museum. This flashy Jay-Don vampire ran with the whole Sinatra Rat-Pack gang back in the 40’s and 50’s and Angel’s going to take his place, although he’s known for his flamboyant nature Angel’s sure he can pull it off. "What?" L.A., Downtown bus station. Angel approaches Jay-Don posing as a lackey for the gang. Once he discovers there is no password, Angel makes quick dust of Jay-Don and takes his place as the real pick up arrives, a husky looking demon. Time to act flashy, and Angel does his best to impress, "Yo, two things get the chicks, the 'do' and the ride!" They head out to an automobile junk yard where another spiny demon and a security guard named Bob are waiting. They enter a building and wait for Lester, their driver, who’s late. Just then Lester arrives, and to Angel's surprise, it’s Gunn. ACT II: The auto junk yard. Angel is not happy that Gunn took Lester's place, but it’s too late now as the five of them go over the museum floor plan. They are to steal the Shroud of Rahmon which is said to be worth 2 million dollars on the black market. They go over the plan, enter the museum through the basement and go to the vault. Since Angel has no body temperature, he is ideal to get through the vaults thermal sensor security system. But the case that the Shroud is contained in is big, made of consecrated wood, edged in gold, lined with lead inside and it weighs a ton. All their strength will be needed to get it back to the auto yard. Angel knows this is too dangerous for Gunn and starts a fight to get him out of there but the husky demon pulls his guns and states that no one leaves. The job is going down tonight. Angel Investigations. Cordy and Wes are in research mode. They hit the computer and look for recent acquisitions at the local museums. They quickly discover that the Southern California Museum of Natural History is showing The Shroud of Rahmon which an archeological team recently unearthed from a newly discovered tomb. Cordy makes the obvious observation, "People, you gotta leave your tombs earthed!" The Museum of Natural History, a moving and storage van drives up to the back entrance. Angel, Gunn, the two demons and the security guard go inside as the back door has been taped open. Bob has the proper codes and they enter the freight elevator heading to the basement. Bob informs them they have one minute until another guard, Earl, makes his rounds. Just as they head for the vault, Earl arrives and is rendered unconscious. The spiny demon, Vyasa, tells them to hurry and they go to work to blow the vault. Meanwhile at the L.A. Police Station, our two detectives are conversing over security photos of the thieves. The museum guard is Robert Skale, M. James Manlo (the husky demon) likes to crack vaults but they don’t know who this one guy is. Det. Carlton thought Kate might be able to help them and as she is shown a picture of Angel. Kate replies, "I’m interested."
The Hyperion. Wesley is reading the origins of the Shroud. Seems it was woven by a priest to keep the demon Rahmon, known for causing insanity to those around him, entombed as the Shroud absorbed his power. Wesley accounts that in 1803 the residents of El Encanto discovered the Shroud and the entire town went insane, as people hacked each other to death. Cordy observes that since Angel hasn’t returned that he’s probably in it’s possession right now and aren’t they glad they got his mind off of Darla by sending him to go crazy in an evil killing sort of way? The vault is open, and Angel enters to disable the alarm system. But strange things are happening. He feels odd and his eyes change to their feral features. ACT III: Inside the vault, Angel's demon form comes to the surface. He quickly shakes it off but things are not right. He pulls the wires from the alarm and the rest of the gang enter the vault. Gunn feels something weird and asks Angel if he’s ‘gonna change or something’ as they go to lift the case out. Wesley and Cordelia arrive at the museum and find the back door open. They enter and immediately feel a strange sensation. Not too far behind, Kate arrives. As she gets out of her car she calls in for back-up as this could possibly be a 4-5-9 in progress. She heads into the museum from the main entrance.
Kate is going through the museum, gun at the ready, when she hears a noise. She runs down the stairs and hits a man in the head with her gun, knocking him down. Surprised to see it is Wesley, she asks him where Angel is. Wesley is more than confused and not just from the blow. "Your hair! It’s... blond!" He fades in and out of madness, finally telling her that ‘the Shroud makes everybody act differently.’ Cordy is in the Native American section of the museum admiring how large her teeth are in the reflection of a glass display case. But wait, a plastic person is not in need of that beautiful necklace and so she puts it on and continues to wander about. Kate looks around, trying to grasp what Wesley is rambling on about and as she turns back around, he is suddenly gone.
ACT IV: Kate's police back-up arrive and enter the museum. In the hallway only Wesley is there, kneeling over the unconscious Kate. The officers draw their guns on Wesley and call on the radio, "Officer down!" The moving van arrives back at the auto yard and crashes into the parked cars. Angel, Gunn and the demons bring the case inside. Gunn is shocked and reminds Angel that he just drank from Kate as they go to open the case. When they reach in to grab the Shroud they all begin to fight over it. The Demon Rahmon's power takes over and the two demons kill each other. Angel and Gunn struggle over the Shroud, but just then Angel gains a moment of clarity and asks for Gunn's trust. Angel takes the Shroud outside, pours alcohol on it and sets it on fire, destroying it. The Present: In the interrogation room the detectives are not buying what Wesley is selling. "I know how it sounds." Just as they stand him up and announce that he’s under arrest for murder, Kate enters the room. She is very pale, her eyes are dark and shallow but she orders them to let him go.
The Hyperion. Wesley and Cordy are sitting in the lobby reflecting on the events of the night. What concerns Wes is that for the first time in a very long time, Angel has drunk human blood and worries what effect this will have on him now. Cordy surmises that they may have reawakened his blood-lust. Not a good thing. Meanwhile, Angel sits upstairs in the dark, also reflecting on his embrace of Kate, seeing it again as his hands gripped her hard and he moaned passionately while he drank from her.
|
In a police interrogation room, two Los Angeles detectives are questioning a dark haired man dressed in dark clothing, his head resting on the table as his shoulders are slumped over in exhaustion. We can not see his face... is it Angel? The two man converse with each other, discussing how ‘this creep must have metal problems’ and rationalizing with him that he must have 'gotten in over his head.' The one detective warns the seated man that there is ‘one dead body already, and if she dies... ’ "She shouldn’t have been there, she didn’t know," comes the soft whispers of madness as Wesley raises his head. He mutters on as they watch him. "He didn’t know... you didn’t bring it here did you? He grabbed her hard... it all went terribly wrong."
Wesley continues to fragment the events that had taken place to the two detectives, the events that lead up to this moment in the police station.
In a dark, abandoned area of seedier L.A., Angel and Gunn meet with Gunn's cousin, Lester, who explains that he is to be the driver for a museum heist but is now having second thoughts. A psycho vampire from Vegas is coming to town for the event whom Angel is familiar with. Jay-Don has a rep and if he’s involved it’s going to be dangerous. Jay-Don is scheduled to arrive at midnight at the downtown bus station and although Gunn wants to take care of it, Angel insists on taking the job by himself and drives off.
Back at the vault, the bickering continues and not in a good way as Angel just barely catches a vile of Nitro on his foot. "Allow me," as he places it into the opening. They blow the vault.
In the vault, the arguing starts again. Gunn accuses Angel of being responsible for his sister's death. Suddenly the weight of the case causes them to lose their grip and they drop it as the glass top breaks, exposing the Shroud. A mist escapes from the case and madness ensues as Gunn tries to stake Angel. Bob announces that he needs to be tied up to make the robbery look real but is too eager to be hit and Menlo obliges by ripping his head completely off.
In the basement, the gang is carrying the case off the freight elevator and Vyasa becomes obsessed with wiping the walls of their finger prints. Angel, Gunn and Menlo continue to carry the case but Gunn starts to freak and Angel changes to his vampire face as Wesley arrives. He tells Angel that the Shroud is very dangerous as Kate comes around the corner. She pulls her gun on Angel and he verbally attacks her for being obsessed with her fathers death. Angel hits Wesley and Kate fires at him as he grabs her and bites her neck, drinking from her.
Later, Kate is in her office. As she touches the bite makes on her neck and gazes out through the glass, she reflects back on Angel biting her. We again see the scene unfold. Angel attacks her, biting into her neck and drinking deeply from her. As he turns her, she sees Menlo holding a gun on her and hears Angel whisper, "Stay down or they’ll kill you." Angel lets Kate drop to the floor and she closes her eyes. In the present, Kate now wonders...