Angel backstory
Feb. 2nd, 2004 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayI was talking with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jducouer a while ago about Angel, and he mentioned that he'd started watching in season three. It occurs to me that anyone who started watching after the end of season two is going to be missing a lot of what's going on now with the tattooed "Doyle" character. So I thought I'd write a bit of it up.
Firstly, "Doyle" isn't his real name. His real name is Lindsey McDonald. He first appeared (unnamed) in the pilot, and became a recurring character late in season one, sticking around until late in season two.
Lindsey is from a poor midwestern background, but had made a name for himself as an up-and-coming Wolfram & Hart lawyer. He was in the same division as Lilah Morgan, but they were competitors at least as often as they cooperated. Similarly, Lindsey and Angel, though primarily enemies, have sometimes found themselves working together -- not that they like it!
In 1.21 (Blind Date), Lindsey had a crisis of conscience, and very nearly left W&H -- but eventually decides not to. In 1.22 (To Shanshu in L.A., season 1 finale), during an altercation, Angel cut off Lindsey's right hand.
For most of season two, Lindsey had a very poor quality prosthetic hand, and a huge desire for revenge on Angel. He was instrumental in using Darla against him, and was even Darla's lover for a time.
The next critical Lindsey-moment is in 2.18 (Dead End). W&H are getting ready to do a review of Lindsey & Lilah's dept. One will be promoted and one will... well, let's not dwell on unpleasant thoughts like that, hm? At first, things look good for Lindsey, as W&H give him a special gift -- a transplanted, fully-functional hand.
But the new hand seems to have a few quirks. Like writing "KILL KILL KILL" on notepads when Lindsey isn't paying attention. He goes to Lorne's bar to get some guidance as to how to deal with his "evil hand" problem (and, incidentally, show off some *nice* guitar and vocal skills). Coincidentally, Angel & the gang are there as well, and Lorne insists that their two cases are connected, and that, however much they hate each other, they'll have to work together. Reluctantly, they do.
They find that Lindsey's hand came from an organ bank that W&H keeps -- of still living people. Well, sort of living, what with all the missing bits. Perhaps this is what happens to those who fail their performance review. And Lindsey actually used to be friends with the donor of his hand. Who finally communicates what he really wants: "Kill _me_." Angel and Lindsey trash the joint, rescuing those that are still whole enough, and mercy-killing the rest.
At the performance review, Lilah was getting ready to go out in a shooting spree rather than whatever other fate awaited her. But Lindsey grabbed the gun away from her, and pretended to be possessed by his "evil hand", in a funny-but-creepy scene, whcih included shooting one of the other execs in the foot. He claimed that they should promote Lilah, since (truthfully) she'd put in so many hours of overtime accumulating blackmail dossiers on them that she really deserved it.
And then Lindsey did something that I don't think many people have ever done: he walked away from Wolfram & Hart.
There was some parting banter with Angel, the gist of which was, "we're too mature to beat each other up for no reason -- but only just barely." And Lindsey drove away, in the same battered old pickup truck that he had presumably arrived in LA in in the first place. At the time, it looked like he was "dropping out of the game". But perhaps he was just changing sides -- or declaring himself to be a new side.
So, now Lindsey's back in town, and calling himself Doyle. So who was the original Doyle? Back in the first part of season one, before they brought Wes over, Doyle was the third regular cast member. He was a half-demon who had prophetic visions that told Angel where he would be needed. He also had a massive crush on Cordelia. In episode 1.09 (Hero), Doyle heroically sacrificed himself to save some innocents. Just before doing so, he grabbed Cordy for their first (and only) smooch. That smooch was special-effects-enhanced, and it soon became apparent that he had passed his "gift" of visions to Cordelia.
A great deal of Lindsey's actions and dialogue with Spike are deliberately close mirrors of how the real Doyle interacted with Angel back in the early days. Heck, Lindsey even picked him up some of those cool wrist-mounted spring-loaded stake holders that Angel used once or twice back in the early days. Naturally, Spike doesn't realize any of this, having not really been around for it. One wonders if Lindsey actually expects this ruse to hold up once Angel (inevitably) hears about this "Doyle".
Lindsey's tattoos are a relatively recent addition, designed to keep him off of the "psychic radar" of Wolfram & Hart. They may turn out to have other functions as well, I suppose.
The big question, of course, is what Lindsey's actual long-term motivation is here. There's no love lost between him and Angel, or him and W&H. Now that his two big enemies are on the same side, he may just be enjoying bringing them both down. Or maybe he has actually joined the Forces of Good. Or maybe he *thinks* he's now Good, but his methods will inevitably make him Evil (which certainly would tie into the whole Shades O' Grey motif we've got going this year).
It seems fairly clear (from a viewer standpoint) that Lindsey's visions are faked. Presumably the vampires are hired via connections made back in his earlier W&H days. But while he's put a lot of people in danger, he hasn't actually gotten anybody *hurt* who wasn't, in at least some sense, an Evil Vampire.
Looking forward to more plot developments!
"Chapter the Eleventh: In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much the Manner Of
a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken"
-- Steven Brust, _The Phoenix Guards_
jducouer a while ago about Angel, and he mentioned that he'd started watching in season three. It occurs to me that anyone who started watching after the end of season two is going to be missing a lot of what's going on now with the tattooed "Doyle" character. So I thought I'd write a bit of it up.Firstly, "Doyle" isn't his real name. His real name is Lindsey McDonald. He first appeared (unnamed) in the pilot, and became a recurring character late in season one, sticking around until late in season two.
Lindsey is from a poor midwestern background, but had made a name for himself as an up-and-coming Wolfram & Hart lawyer. He was in the same division as Lilah Morgan, but they were competitors at least as often as they cooperated. Similarly, Lindsey and Angel, though primarily enemies, have sometimes found themselves working together -- not that they like it!
In 1.21 (Blind Date), Lindsey had a crisis of conscience, and very nearly left W&H -- but eventually decides not to. In 1.22 (To Shanshu in L.A., season 1 finale), during an altercation, Angel cut off Lindsey's right hand.
For most of season two, Lindsey had a very poor quality prosthetic hand, and a huge desire for revenge on Angel. He was instrumental in using Darla against him, and was even Darla's lover for a time.
The next critical Lindsey-moment is in 2.18 (Dead End). W&H are getting ready to do a review of Lindsey & Lilah's dept. One will be promoted and one will... well, let's not dwell on unpleasant thoughts like that, hm? At first, things look good for Lindsey, as W&H give him a special gift -- a transplanted, fully-functional hand.
But the new hand seems to have a few quirks. Like writing "KILL KILL KILL" on notepads when Lindsey isn't paying attention. He goes to Lorne's bar to get some guidance as to how to deal with his "evil hand" problem (and, incidentally, show off some *nice* guitar and vocal skills). Coincidentally, Angel & the gang are there as well, and Lorne insists that their two cases are connected, and that, however much they hate each other, they'll have to work together. Reluctantly, they do.
They find that Lindsey's hand came from an organ bank that W&H keeps -- of still living people. Well, sort of living, what with all the missing bits. Perhaps this is what happens to those who fail their performance review. And Lindsey actually used to be friends with the donor of his hand. Who finally communicates what he really wants: "Kill _me_." Angel and Lindsey trash the joint, rescuing those that are still whole enough, and mercy-killing the rest.
At the performance review, Lilah was getting ready to go out in a shooting spree rather than whatever other fate awaited her. But Lindsey grabbed the gun away from her, and pretended to be possessed by his "evil hand", in a funny-but-creepy scene, whcih included shooting one of the other execs in the foot. He claimed that they should promote Lilah, since (truthfully) she'd put in so many hours of overtime accumulating blackmail dossiers on them that she really deserved it.
And then Lindsey did something that I don't think many people have ever done: he walked away from Wolfram & Hart.
There was some parting banter with Angel, the gist of which was, "we're too mature to beat each other up for no reason -- but only just barely." And Lindsey drove away, in the same battered old pickup truck that he had presumably arrived in LA in in the first place. At the time, it looked like he was "dropping out of the game". But perhaps he was just changing sides -- or declaring himself to be a new side.
So, now Lindsey's back in town, and calling himself Doyle. So who was the original Doyle? Back in the first part of season one, before they brought Wes over, Doyle was the third regular cast member. He was a half-demon who had prophetic visions that told Angel where he would be needed. He also had a massive crush on Cordelia. In episode 1.09 (Hero), Doyle heroically sacrificed himself to save some innocents. Just before doing so, he grabbed Cordy for their first (and only) smooch. That smooch was special-effects-enhanced, and it soon became apparent that he had passed his "gift" of visions to Cordelia.
A great deal of Lindsey's actions and dialogue with Spike are deliberately close mirrors of how the real Doyle interacted with Angel back in the early days. Heck, Lindsey even picked him up some of those cool wrist-mounted spring-loaded stake holders that Angel used once or twice back in the early days. Naturally, Spike doesn't realize any of this, having not really been around for it. One wonders if Lindsey actually expects this ruse to hold up once Angel (inevitably) hears about this "Doyle".
Lindsey's tattoos are a relatively recent addition, designed to keep him off of the "psychic radar" of Wolfram & Hart. They may turn out to have other functions as well, I suppose.
The big question, of course, is what Lindsey's actual long-term motivation is here. There's no love lost between him and Angel, or him and W&H. Now that his two big enemies are on the same side, he may just be enjoying bringing them both down. Or maybe he has actually joined the Forces of Good. Or maybe he *thinks* he's now Good, but his methods will inevitably make him Evil (which certainly would tie into the whole Shades O' Grey motif we've got going this year).
It seems fairly clear (from a viewer standpoint) that Lindsey's visions are faked. Presumably the vampires are hired via connections made back in his earlier W&H days. But while he's put a lot of people in danger, he hasn't actually gotten anybody *hurt* who wasn't, in at least some sense, an Evil Vampire.
Looking forward to more plot developments!
"Chapter the Eleventh: In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much the Manner Of
a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken"
-- Steven Brust, _The Phoenix Guards_
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-03 02:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-03 04:21 pm (UTC)In their parting back in season 2 (episode 2.18, "Dead End"), Angel and Lindsey had a little chat...
Lindsey: "The trick with Wolfram and Hart is to not let them make you play their game. You have to make them play yours."
Angel: "I'll keep that in mind."
This chat didn't end badly. These guys don't like each other, but at the end, they were not out to kill each other, and Lindsey was giving advice as how to deal with their common enemy.
Need we note that Angel is no longer following Lindsey's advice?
Re:
Date: 2004-02-03 11:12 pm (UTC)This chat didn't end badly.
Yes, I recall Angel politely warning Lindsey about how many police there were on the road -- and *not* mentioning that he'd attached a big sign to the back of Lindsey's pickup that read "COPS SUCK". Yep, they're real mature, those two :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-03 11:17 pm (UTC)Actually, having just bought the DVDs and glanced through the plot summaries, we started late in season two, just before the Pylea plot. In fact, I think that Dead End may have been the first episode I saw: I remember little of it (and understood less at the time), but I do remember Angel and Lindsey having their discussion just before Lindsey drove away in his pickup truck. So I was reasonably sure that Lindsey wasn't Doyle. (Unless he turns out to be possessed by the real Doyle, or something of the sort -- I've *almost* stopped trying to predict Joss, but it's still fun to think through all the possible twists.)
This explanation does fill in a lot of gaps, though, as well as confirming some things I was assuming from later discussion. Thanks...