Lonely Hearts (Angel episode)
Encyclopedia
"Lonely Hearts" is the second episode of season one of the television show Angel
. Written by David Fury
and directed by James A. Contner
, it was originally broadcast on October 12, 1999 on the WB network
. In "Lonely Hearts", Angel Investigations
looks into a series of killings linked to a trendy L.A. singles club. While there, Angel (David Boreanaz
) meets Kate Lockley
(Elisabeth Röhm
), an LAPD detective also tracking the serial killer - who believes, because of circumstantial evidence, that the murderer is Angel himself. After discovering the murderer is actually a body-hopping demon, Angel seeks Kate's help in tracking down the bartender, now possessed by the demon, and killing him. Kate, believing the bartender committed the murders, accepts a provisional truce with a circumspect Angel.
Fury wrote this script to replace "Corrupt
", which introduced a darker characterization of Kate Lockely.
arrives, with a Friday-night plan for the three of them to go out together. He wants Angel to get out but also wants him to put in a good word for him with Cordelia
without letting her know he's half-demon. Shortly after Cordelia arrives with a box of the calling cards she had printed up for Angel Investigations
. Doyle is seized by a vision of a night club, and they all go to the club.
Meanwhile at D'Oblique, the club in Doyle's vision, the lonely and desperate Sharon and Kevin meet and leave the club together, just after the Angel Investigations
team arrives. Cordelia immediately begins to pass around Angel's business cards until Doyle stops her, cautioning her to stay "under the radar". Angel makes no progress with people near the bar or the bartender until a woman named Kate asks if he's all right. They awkwardly strike up a conversation, and despite a slow start, Angel and Kate find they have some things in common. Across the room, a guy mockingly speculates that the AI calling cards give Cordelia's number for services of a more personal kind. Cordelia is indignant and Doyle tries to stand up for her, but the guy is backed up by his friend, so Doyle stops negotiating and wades in. Having just declined Kate's invitation to go someplace quieter (making Kate suddenly very frosty), Angel charges into the fight and thrashes both guys, before the bartender kicks the guys out.
The next morning after spending the night with Kevin, Sharon calmly gets dressed, unperturbed by the bloody sheets and Kevin's dead body on the bed. At the office, the team spends the day researching any past incidents connected to D'Oblique. Their search turns up a badly mutilated woman and an eviscerated man. While Doyle and Cordelia look for more links, Angel goes back to D'Oblique to see if he can spot the killer. On his way in, Angel bumps into Kate, who takes umbrage when he tries to warn her of a suspiciously non-specific danger. Inside, Angel finds out that Kevin disappeared after going home with Sharon. He finds her in the phone book and runs straight to her place to try to prevent the next murder. Angel arrives at the apartment just in time to see that Sharon is dead while Neil, the geeky guy she took home, is alive and hosting a parasitic demon. Angel and the demon fight, but it gets away just as Kate arrives and finds Angel at the crime scene. Pulling a gun on Angel, Kate
reveals she's a detective with the LAPD
, and tries to arrest him. Knowing Kate won't be convinced he's not the killer, Angel breaks away and dives out the third floor window. Meanwhile, the demon goes back to D'Oblique. As dawn approaches, Angel makes his way to Cordelia's dingy apartment, not knowing that Kate has gone to illegally search his own place. Waking Cordelia and Doyle, Angel asks them to research eviscerating burrowers—demons that move from body to body, endlessly seeking the perfect one to live in forever. They discover their burrower is vulnerable to fire. Seeking help to destroy the powerful demon, Angel calls Kate and requests a meeting to prove that he isn't the killer. That night at the club, Kate asks the bartender to notify her when Angel arrives. A few minutes later the bartender tells Kate he thinks Angel is out back but, when they get there, the bartender smashes a wine bottle into the back of Kate's head. Angel arrives just in time to keep the burrower demon from transferring to Kate's body, forcing it back inside the bartender. Though weakening, the bartender host is still strong enough to fight Angel until Kate recovers. Then, not wanting to deal with them both at once, the demon tosses Kate and Angel down into the basement and locks them in.
While the demon cruises for a fresh, undamaged body, Kate and Angel escape the basement and split up to search. Angel locates the bartender first and again battles the demon in its bartender host, which is still strong enough to injure Angel. Angel barely manages to throw the demon into a nearby burn barrel before collapsing to the pavement. Engulfed in flames and howling, the demon lurches purposefully toward Angel, who is on the ground and unable to move. Circling back, Kate arrives just in time to shoot the bartender, knocking him to the ground and halting the attack on Angel. After more police and emergency services arrive on scene, Kate gets a moment alone with Angel. She admits that she never would have guessed the bartender was the killer and thanks Angel for saving her life earlier. Agreeing that the bartender had ample opportunity, Angel makes no mention of a body-hopping, parasitic demon being the real killer. After Angel thanks Kate for saving his life as well, she apologizes for searching his apartment. She wants the two of them to start over from the beginning with no secrets between them; Angel pauses almost imperceptibly, then agrees. He offers her his new business card and invites her to call if she has future problems, then characteristically disappears when her back is turned.
At the office, Angel generously and very awkwardly suggests that the three of them go out together, but is deeply relieved and gratified when Cordelia and Doyle instead take pity on him and leave him to brood in the dark, alone.
David Boreanaz's stunt double, Mike Massa, says the scene in which he is tossed across the room upside down is his favorite stunt of this season. To get the effect, he was shot across the room using an air ram
. "The reason I like it so much is because it really knocked the heck out of me," he says. "It was 900 pounds of thrust on the air-ram. I had to hit the corner just right. If I was off, if I hit dead center of the corner with my shoulders spread it could have broken a collarbone. I had to hit it sideways, my back flat to the wall and kind of skip into it, but it just pile drove me right to the ground." Director Jim Contner "was jumping up and down... He thought that was the best stunt he'd ever seen."
In an essay examining the use of cinematic effects of time on Angel, Tammy Kinsey points out Doyle's visions are depicted on film for the first time in this episode. Although short and simple compared to later visions, the quick cuts and flashes of light establish the aesthetic approach of Angel compared to the more conventionally filmed Buffy.
At 27:30, a cameraman can be seen in the lower right-hand corner as Angel is tossed across the room.
wrote this episode to replace his original script, titled "Corrupt", which also introduces the character of Kate. However, in Fury's first script, Kate had a crack cocaine
addiction and worked undercover as a prostitute. Producer Tim Minear
says the episode was "a little bit too hopeless, a little too grim"; after the WB Network rejected the episode it was completely rewritten.
Angel (TV series)
Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
. Written by David Fury
David Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
and directed by James A. Contner
James A. Contner
James Atwater Contner is an American television and film director and cinematographer. His work includes episodes of such television series as Miami Vice, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Star Trek: Enterprise...
, it was originally broadcast on October 12, 1999 on the WB network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. In "Lonely Hearts", Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
looks into a series of killings linked to a trendy L.A. singles club. While there, Angel (David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz
David Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director, known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Special Agent Seeley Booth on the television crime drama Bones....
) meets Kate Lockley
Kate Lockley
Kate Lockley is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Angel, portrayed by Elisabeth Röhm. Kate first appears in the episode "Lonely Hearts." She is a young, skeptical detective for the Los Angeles Police Department....
(Elisabeth Röhm
Elisabeth Röhm
Elisabeth Röhm is a German-born American television actress. She is known for playing Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn in the American TV series Law & Order, and as Detective Kate Lockley in the TV series Angel....
), an LAPD detective also tracking the serial killer - who believes, because of circumstantial evidence, that the murderer is Angel himself. After discovering the murderer is actually a body-hopping demon, Angel seeks Kate's help in tracking down the bartender, now possessed by the demon, and killing him. Kate, believing the bartender committed the murders, accepts a provisional truce with a circumspect Angel.
Fury wrote this script to replace "Corrupt
Corrupt (unaired Angel episode)
"Corrupt" was originally intended as the second Angel episode, but the production was abandoned, and instead "Lonely Hearts" was written and produced.-Summary:...
", which introduced a darker characterization of Kate Lockely.
Plot
At the office, Angel sits in the dark, alone. He blinks when the lights come on and DoyleAllen Francis Doyle
Allen Francis Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Angel. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn.-Character history:Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father...
arrives, with a Friday-night plan for the three of them to go out together. He wants Angel to get out but also wants him to put in a good word for him with Cordelia
Cordelia Chase
Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
without letting her know he's half-demon. Shortly after Cordelia arrives with a box of the calling cards she had printed up for Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
. Doyle is seized by a vision of a night club, and they all go to the club.
Meanwhile at D'Oblique, the club in Doyle's vision, the lonely and desperate Sharon and Kevin meet and leave the club together, just after the Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations
Angel Investigations is a fictional detective agency run by the title character Angel previously on the WB television series Angel . It is sometimes abbreviated as AI...
team arrives. Cordelia immediately begins to pass around Angel's business cards until Doyle stops her, cautioning her to stay "under the radar". Angel makes no progress with people near the bar or the bartender until a woman named Kate asks if he's all right. They awkwardly strike up a conversation, and despite a slow start, Angel and Kate find they have some things in common. Across the room, a guy mockingly speculates that the AI calling cards give Cordelia's number for services of a more personal kind. Cordelia is indignant and Doyle tries to stand up for her, but the guy is backed up by his friend, so Doyle stops negotiating and wades in. Having just declined Kate's invitation to go someplace quieter (making Kate suddenly very frosty), Angel charges into the fight and thrashes both guys, before the bartender kicks the guys out.
The next morning after spending the night with Kevin, Sharon calmly gets dressed, unperturbed by the bloody sheets and Kevin's dead body on the bed. At the office, the team spends the day researching any past incidents connected to D'Oblique. Their search turns up a badly mutilated woman and an eviscerated man. While Doyle and Cordelia look for more links, Angel goes back to D'Oblique to see if he can spot the killer. On his way in, Angel bumps into Kate, who takes umbrage when he tries to warn her of a suspiciously non-specific danger. Inside, Angel finds out that Kevin disappeared after going home with Sharon. He finds her in the phone book and runs straight to her place to try to prevent the next murder. Angel arrives at the apartment just in time to see that Sharon is dead while Neil, the geeky guy she took home, is alive and hosting a parasitic demon. Angel and the demon fight, but it gets away just as Kate arrives and finds Angel at the crime scene. Pulling a gun on Angel, Kate
Kate Lockley
Kate Lockley is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Angel, portrayed by Elisabeth Röhm. Kate first appears in the episode "Lonely Hearts." She is a young, skeptical detective for the Los Angeles Police Department....
reveals she's a detective with the LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
, and tries to arrest him. Knowing Kate won't be convinced he's not the killer, Angel breaks away and dives out the third floor window. Meanwhile, the demon goes back to D'Oblique. As dawn approaches, Angel makes his way to Cordelia's dingy apartment, not knowing that Kate has gone to illegally search his own place. Waking Cordelia and Doyle, Angel asks them to research eviscerating burrowers—demons that move from body to body, endlessly seeking the perfect one to live in forever. They discover their burrower is vulnerable to fire. Seeking help to destroy the powerful demon, Angel calls Kate and requests a meeting to prove that he isn't the killer. That night at the club, Kate asks the bartender to notify her when Angel arrives. A few minutes later the bartender tells Kate he thinks Angel is out back but, when they get there, the bartender smashes a wine bottle into the back of Kate's head. Angel arrives just in time to keep the burrower demon from transferring to Kate's body, forcing it back inside the bartender. Though weakening, the bartender host is still strong enough to fight Angel until Kate recovers. Then, not wanting to deal with them both at once, the demon tosses Kate and Angel down into the basement and locks them in.
While the demon cruises for a fresh, undamaged body, Kate and Angel escape the basement and split up to search. Angel locates the bartender first and again battles the demon in its bartender host, which is still strong enough to injure Angel. Angel barely manages to throw the demon into a nearby burn barrel before collapsing to the pavement. Engulfed in flames and howling, the demon lurches purposefully toward Angel, who is on the ground and unable to move. Circling back, Kate arrives just in time to shoot the bartender, knocking him to the ground and halting the attack on Angel. After more police and emergency services arrive on scene, Kate gets a moment alone with Angel. She admits that she never would have guessed the bartender was the killer and thanks Angel for saving her life earlier. Agreeing that the bartender had ample opportunity, Angel makes no mention of a body-hopping, parasitic demon being the real killer. After Angel thanks Kate for saving his life as well, she apologizes for searching his apartment. She wants the two of them to start over from the beginning with no secrets between them; Angel pauses almost imperceptibly, then agrees. He offers her his new business card and invites her to call if she has future problems, then characteristically disappears when her back is turned.
At the office, Angel generously and very awkwardly suggests that the three of them go out together, but is deeply relieved and gratified when Cordelia and Doyle instead take pity on him and leave him to brood in the dark, alone.
Production details
Special effects supervisor Loni Peristere explains that to get the effect of the demon burrowing through the characters' bodies, Dave Miller built a prosthetic back to identically match the actor. "We shot the actor doing his action with tracking points, little marks on his back, and I just soft edged, matted and tracked in a locked-off version of the actors back with the burrowing demon and stuck it on there," Peristere says.David Boreanaz's stunt double, Mike Massa, says the scene in which he is tossed across the room upside down is his favorite stunt of this season. To get the effect, he was shot across the room using an air ram
Air ram
The air ram is a pneumatic device that catapults a stunt performer through the air. To simulate the effects of an explosion the performer steps on a large "pedal" and using hydraulics and compressed air the "pedal" is released sending the performer hurtling through the air...
. "The reason I like it so much is because it really knocked the heck out of me," he says. "It was 900 pounds of thrust on the air-ram. I had to hit the corner just right. If I was off, if I hit dead center of the corner with my shoulders spread it could have broken a collarbone. I had to hit it sideways, my back flat to the wall and kind of skip into it, but it just pile drove me right to the ground." Director Jim Contner "was jumping up and down... He thought that was the best stunt he'd ever seen."
In an essay examining the use of cinematic effects of time on Angel, Tammy Kinsey points out Doyle's visions are depicted on film for the first time in this episode. Although short and simple compared to later visions, the quick cuts and flashes of light establish the aesthetic approach of Angel compared to the more conventionally filmed Buffy.
At 27:30, a cameraman can be seen in the lower right-hand corner as Angel is tossed across the room.
Writing
David FuryDavid Fury
David Fury is an American television Screenwriter and Producer, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost, 24, and Fringe.Fury was a Co-executive producer and Writer for the first season of Lost...
wrote this episode to replace his original script, titled "Corrupt", which also introduces the character of Kate. However, in Fury's first script, Kate had a crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
addiction and worked undercover as a prostitute. Producer Tim Minear
Tim Minear
Tim Minear is an American screenwriter and director. He was born in New York, grew up in Whittier, California, and studied film at California State University, Long Beach....
says the episode was "a little bit too hopeless, a little too grim"; after the WB Network rejected the episode it was completely rewritten.
Arc significance
- This episode introduces the character of Kate LockleyKate LockleyKate Lockley is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Angel, portrayed by Elisabeth Röhm. Kate first appears in the episode "Lonely Hearts." She is a young, skeptical detective for the Los Angeles Police Department....
, who plays a recurring role until the end of season two. Kate and Angel will meet several more times before she learns in "Somnambulist" that he is a vampire, after which their tentative relationship grows extremely strained until their final encounter in "Epiphany". - The interrelated elements of DoyleAllen Francis DoyleAllen Francis Doyle is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Angel. The character was portrayed by Glenn Quinn.-Character history:Doyle was born to a human mother and a Brachen demon father...
's attraction to CordeliaCordelia ChaseCordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
, his attempts to hide his demon heritage from her, and her attitude about the "gift" of his visions are all established in this episode, and will all bear fruit in "Hero".
Continuity
- Kate tells Angel to "go to hell" to which he quietly responds with "been there... done that." Angel was sent to hell by Buffy in "Becoming, Part Two" and returns in "Faith, Hope & Trick".
- Cordelia's rosy-tinted remark that "dating was easy in high school" is explicitly belied by events in "Lovers WalkLovers Walk"Lovers Walk" is episode 8 of season 3 of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing in a Series.- Plot synopsis :...
." In fact, BuffyBuffy SummersBuffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
and her friends find dating to be one of the chief horrors they face during their three adventurous years together in SunnydaleSunnydaleSunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
(Buffy, seasons one through three). Although he sidesteps Cordelia's conversational gambit and declines to expand on the topic of his curse, Angel himself found dating the SlayerBuffy SummersBuffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
traumatic in the extreme during that interval, particularly around events in "Surprise" and "Becoming, Part Two". He is still wracked by the ordeal of breaking up with Buffy ("The Prom"), then of leaving her altogether ("Graduation Day, Part TwoGraduation Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)"Graduation Day" is the season finale of the WB Television Network's third season of the drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, consisting of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes. They are also the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth episodes of the show overall...
") just a few months ago. - Cordelia remarks about Doyle's visions "If they were my gift, I'd return them". In the episode "Hero" she receives then she does indeed try to lose them but when presented with the opportunity to give them up in the season 2 finale, she refuses stating that they're "a part of me".
- This episode marks the first time a "vision" is seen as how Doyle experiences it.
Cultural references
- BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
: Doyle says to Angel, "It's not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky whenever you need help, right?" Elsewhere in the episode, Angel pulls out a grappling hook gun and fires it over a wood beam, causing Kate to ask, "who are you?" This is a direct reference to a scene in the 1989 BatmanBatman (1989 film)Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
film. - Ken and BarbieBarbieBarbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
: When Sharon mentions her childhood dreams, Kevin looks around at all the plastic people in the crowded noisy room and says, "Ken and Barbie had it easy. They didn't have to come to places like this." - Peter Pan complex: Cordelia demonstrates her strange mixture of insight and obliviousness when she singles out D'Oblique patrons for her pop psychology lesson to Doyle. In fact, many people in the room could have issues with social (im)maturity and loneliness and abandonmentSarah, Plain and TallSarah, Plain and Tall is a children's book written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the 1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change....
(Angel perhaps most of all). What Cordelia doesn't seem to grasp is that people (including herself) connect with other people, not with abstracts such as relative wealth or a model's good looks. Unlike the Talamour they're tracking, she still confuses initial attractiveness with substance. - Naked CityNaked City (TV series)Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
: When Angel asserts that he'll be able to recognize the eviscerating Talamour demon in whatever body it inhabits, Doyle quips, "That only leaves about five million suspects in The Naked City." This could be one of the clearer mission statements for the entire series, which incorporates elements of mysteryMystery fictionMystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
, drama and noir within the context of a big cityLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
intended to function as a character in its own right. Cordelia explicitly makes the noirFilm noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
connection again in the first episode of season two, "Judgment". - Cagney & LaceyCagney & LaceyCagney & Lacey is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from October 8, 1981 to May 16, 1988...
: In "Somnambulist", Cordelia also refers to KateKate LockleyKate Lockley is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Angel, portrayed by Elisabeth Röhm. Kate first appears in the episode "Lonely Hearts." She is a young, skeptical detective for the Los Angeles Police Department....
as "Police WomanPolice Woman (TV series)Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...
."