Angel/Shiny Happy People

Shiny Happy People
Season 4, Episode 18
Airdate	April 9, 2003
Production Number	4ADH18
Written by	Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain
Directed by	Marita Grabiak
← 4x17 Inside Out	4x19 → The Magic Bullet
Angel — Season Four

Shiny Happy People is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of Angel, and the eighty-fourth episode overall. Jasmine makes her first public appearances and sways all that see her into worship. When the façade is broken for Fred, she is forced to flee or else suffer the wrath of Jasmine's followers.

David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), Amy Acker (Winifred "Fred" Burkle), Vincent Kartheiser (Connor), Andy Hallett (Lorne)

and Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce)

Guest Starring: Gina Torres (The Woman)

Co-Starring: Sam Witwer (Young Man), David Figlioli (Vamp Leader), Suzette Craft (Teacherly Woman), Annie Wersching (Awed Woman), Steven Bean (Middle-Aged Man), Lynette Romero (News Anchor), Lyle Kanouse (Diner Counter Guy), Tawny Rene Hamilton (Host of Good Morning LA), Chane't Johnson (Martha Jane), Jackie Tohn (Woman #1)

Plot Overview

The being that Cordelia gives birth to, soon christened Jasmine, turns out to be not malevolent, but peaceful. Easily and without effort, everyone who casts eyes upon her bows in reverence and service. The entirety of Angel Investigations peacefully unite to eradicate evil with Jasmine as their encouragement However, a few incidents leave suspicions that things aren’t what they seem.

Notes

Monster of the Week

There is no monster of the week in this episode.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1/2	Vampire	Angel	Staked	Bowling Alley
3	Vampire	Wesley	Staked	Bowling Alley
4	Vampire	Angel	Staked	Outside Bowling Alley
5	Demon	Angel	Decapitated	Lair
6	Demon	Wesley	Stabbed	Lair
7	Vampire	Connor	Staked	Graveyard
8	Demon	Connor	Snapped Neck	Graveyard

Music

There is no licensed music in this episode.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Big Bad: Despite the face she puts on for humanity, something allowed a man at the café and Fred to see through her disguise. Jasmine is actually some kind of undead demon with a maggot infestation in her skull.

Characters

• Cordelia: After giving birth to Jasmine, Cordelia goes into a coma that will last throughout the end of this season and throughout most of the next.

• Fred: Fred sees the true face of Jasmine and is alienated from her friends. She escapes from the hotel and attempts to hide, to no avail.

Referbacks

• 2x09 - The Trial: After Wolfram & Hart brought Darla back to life, they neglected to tell her that she was still dying of the syphilis that would have killed her in the 1600s, had she not been turned. Angel performed three challenges in order to give Darla a new life, but because she had already been brought back once before, the master of the challenges was not able to cure her.

Jasmine: The day Lorne sent Angel and human Darla into the trials to earn a new chance at life.

• 4x04 - Slouching Toward Bethlehem: In order to figure out how to give Cordelia back her memories, the gang asked Lorne to read her to find her future. When this happened, it gave Lorne huge amounts of feedback because he saw the coming apocalypse at hand. Cordelia, who had all the knowledge but couldn't piece it together, had similar feelings.

Fred: Remember before the big brain suck, when Lorne read you and it was all scary, headachy, pukiness?

Trivia

The Show

• Before Man: Jasmine's story about the beings that came before man echos the same stories told by Giles and the First Slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The story is, essentially, that demons came before man and the Slayer was created to protect humanity.

Behind the Scenes

• Ratings: On its first airing, this episode scored a 3.4/5 in the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Allusions and References

• Shiny Happy People: The title of the episode is a reference to the R.E.M. song of the same name, off their 1991 album, Out of Time. The song was the biggest hit from the album and seems to echo Jasmine's message fairly well with lyrics like, "Everyone around love them, love them." Incidentally, the band hates the song and left it off their greatest hits collection. They have also never played the song live, barring the one time on Saturday Night Live.

• Cleopatra 2525: When Gunn suggests to call the as yet unnamed Jasmine by the name of "Helen", this is probably a nod to Gina Torres's starring role as Helen ("Hel") in the science fiction show Cleopatra 2525.

Jasmine: Helen is beautiful as well.

Quotes

• Fred: I should have done this a long time ago. I don't know what I was thinking, letting these books be all unorganised.

Lorne: Well, one does tend to let the housekeeping slide during an apocalypta-lite.

• Fred: Well, there's been an awful lot of dismembering going on in that basement lately, if you ask me.

Lorne: Well, it's been a busy month.

• Gunn: Okay, so what are we dealing with?

Fred: Eight legs? Three heads? Horns?

Lorne: Hey!

Fred: No offence.

Connor: Two legs, one head, no horns.

Lorne: Lemme guess, green?

Angel: No. Kind of... mocha.

• Angel: They don't understand.

Connor: No.

Angel: We don't want to kill her. We just... want to find her, so we can worship her. That's all.

Connor: She's amazing. You'll go nuts.

Gunn: Yeah, that'll definitely help us relate better.

• Lorne: My God.

Jasmine: People keep saying that.

• Fred: Well, I tried. (holds up sweater) What do you think?

Wesley: It looks brand new.

Fred: (crying) It is!

• Lorne: I'm as tickled as... someone so tickled they're all out of similes.

• Diner Counter Guy: Looks like you just lost your best friend.

Fred: All of them. I never thought--

Diner Counter Guy: Yeah, well, that's life in the big city.