The Shroud of Rahmon

Season 2, Episode 8
Written by Jim Kouf
Directed by David Grossman
Original Airdate: 21 November 2000

“When are they gonna start making some pretty demons?”
Gunn

REGULAR CAST

David Boreanaz as Angel
Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase
Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

GUEST CAST

Elisabeth Röhm as Kate Lockley
W. Earl Brown as M. James Menlo
Dwayne L. Barnes as Lester
R. Emery Bright as Detective Turlock
Tom Kiesche as Detective Broomfield
Tony Todd as Vyasa

CO-STARRING

Robert Dolan as Bob
Michael Nagy as Jay-Don
Jim Hanna as Surveillance Cop #1
Danny Ricardo as First Cop

SYNOPSIS

Two detectives talk to a man in an interrogation room about a murder an attempted murder. The man turns out to be Wesley and he tells them it shouldn’t have happened, but everything just went very, very wrong. Without revealing the vampire’s name, Wesley explains that Angel wasn’t supposed to be there, but since he’s so stubborn, he was there anyway. Before this, Wesley stopped by the hotel and talked with Cordelia. She’s cut her hair and he’s noticing it for the first time. Since Angel is on a case with Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley go to a movie premiere.

Angel and Gunn meet with Gunn’s cousin, Lester and he asks for their help. Lester is supposed to be a driver for a demonic robbery but he wants nothing to do with it. A vampire Angel knows by reputation, Jay-Don, is being brought in to help. Much to Gunn’s dismay, Angel takes charge of the case. Angel returns to the hotel and finds Kate in his room. She wants information on Darla and despite the cross she carries, Angel is not threatened and warns her to back off before she is killed.

Wesley and Cordelia are overly happy that Angel is back into the game and not so worried about Darla. Angel meets Jay-Don at the bus station and kills him, taking over the un-life of the very exuberant vampire. A demon named Menlow meets with the vampire he thinks is Jay-Don and takes him to the others. Another demon, Vyasa, a human security guard, Bob, and Gunn pretending to be his cousin complete the team. Cordelia researches museums to find which one may be the location of the robbery. They find information about the Shroud of Rahmon, that they believe to be the target.

Wesley and Cordelia continue their research on the shroud and find that it causes people around it to act differently, and possibly insane. After blowing through the lock on the vault, the only one who can pass the thermal scan, Angel, breaks inside and finds the shroud within a tomb that belongs to a demon, Rahmon. Being near the shroud causes Angel looses control and shift to his yellow eyes and vampire visage. Wesley and Cordelia enter the building and are immediately hit by an invisible wave that alters their behaviour. The demons, humans and vampires slowly carry the tomb on a path out of the building.

The shroud begins to affect them all, causing Gunn and Angel to attack each other. Vyasa kills Bob by ripping of his head. Cordelia talks to a mannequin and takes the jewelry decorating the plastic human. Wesley encounters Kate at the building and has trouble keeping focused on his mission to help Angel. Wesley confronts Angel and tries to warn him about the shroud.

Kate finds Angel and the others and pulls a gun on them. Angel confronts her, knocking her gun out of the way and biting her. A police team arrives and finds Wesley leaning over Kate’s body. The tomb is carried to another building and shroud’s effect on the demons, Angel and Gunn leads them all to fight over it. Gunn and Angel play tug of war with the shroud until Angel convinces Gunn to let go. After dousing the shroud in alcohol, Angel sets it aflame.

Again in the interrogation room, the detectives are convinced that Wesley is the killer. Just as they’re about to arrest him, Kate shows up and tells them to let him go. She remembers that Angel did bite her briefly, but told her to stay down or be killed. Wesley and Cordelia think about what happened, and Wesley worries that Angel’s bloodlust has been reawakened by the taste of human blood. They seem to be right as Angel sits in his room, his thoughts focused on biting Kate.

TRIVIA

Elisabeth Rohm does the Previously on Angel… narrative in this episode. She’s the only non-regular to ever do so, which implies that she knew she was leaving at this point.

CONTINUITY

Darla is still wanted for the murder of her ‘husband’ in Dear Boy.

Another mention is made of Trevor Lockley’s murder in The Prodigal.

Wesley is still attending parties with Virginia, and it’s still annoying Cordelia. They started dating in Guise Will Be Guise.

Gunn mentions his sister’s death at his hands in War Zone.

Wesley mentions that Angel hasn’t drank human blood for a while, which was actually in Graduation Day (Part 2).

GOOFS

The nitro in the vial that they use for the break-in is yellow. In reality, nitro is clear.

When the vial of nitro gets dropped and hits Angel’s foot, normally it would’ve gone off, blowing off said foot.

The group supposedly needs Angel to walk into the vault because his undead body won’t raise the air temperature. In reality, simply opening the door and letting the outside air in would change the air temperature and set off the alarm if it’s as sensitive as they claim it is.

During the museum scene Kate’s hair changes from one style to another and back again depending on the camera angle.

The first time the group drop the box with the shroud, the glass shattered a lot with a lot of cracks. But when they all take it back to the garage to open it up, the crack is much smaller and cleaner.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

EPISODE
Darla / The Trial

STORY ORDER
Shadow / Listening to Fear