15 Best Angel Episodes
5. Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been (Season 2, Episode 2)
"Take them all."
By season two, Angel had really become its own show. After the emotional adventures of the first season, the increased world-building and the new characters, the series was happy being out of the shadow of Buffy and willing to really dig into the psyche of its eponymous character. In Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, fans are treated to a sordid chapter in Angel's life that occurred years after he got his soul back.
Taking place in the 1950s in the Hyperion Hotel (soon to be Angel Investigations new HQ), the episode follows a lonely Angel as he finds himself at the centre of a mysterious suicide, racial tensions and increasing paranoia. In the end, betrayed by a friend and hanged for a crime he did not commit, Angel allows a demon to punish the hotel's staff and residents for their sins.
It's a dark chapter in the vampire's story, a dark but refreshing character study that gives more insight into Angel's past whilst painting a vivid picture of 50s America - a place and time built on prejudice, paranoia and violence. It's brilliant in every way.