YMMV / Angel S 02 E 02 Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been

aka: Angel S 02 E 02 Are You Now Or Have Your Ever Been

• Growing the Beard: David Greenwalt later cited this episode as the turning point for the writers figuring out and understanding the show.
• Harsher in Hindsight: we see a Hollywood writer holed up in the hotel who has been blacklisted for his suspected communism (as was Joss Whedon's own father in real life). After the revelations about his extra-marital affairs with Buffy actresses and complaints about his demanding attitudes on set Joss Whedon too would find himself a victim of the "cancel culture".
• Magnificent Bastard: The Thesulac demon in the Hyperion Hotel is responsible for its cursed history of murders and suicides. Thriving off of creating paranoia in humans, the Thesulac begins one particular incident by driving a salesman to suicide, then whispering in the other guests' ears to convince them that he was actually murdered by another guest. Within days, the guests' paranoia reaches their peak, convincing them that Judy must be the murderer just because she's a thief, then turning on Angel when she accuses him instead. After Angel is lynched by the hotel guests, the Thesulac appears to him and gloats that this is humanity's true nature, convincing Angel to leave him to his food for fifty years. After being made corporeal in the present day, the Thesulac reveals that he never had to leave because Judy's strong emotions sustained him for years, providing endless "room service" for the hungry demon.

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