Episode Trivia
Elizabeth Craft
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Elizabeth Craft (with Sarah Fain) wrote several Angel episodes including Underneath, 5.09 Harm’s Way, 5.03 Unleashed, 4.18 Shiny Happy People and Players. Together, they have also written episodes of The Shield, Glory Days, All About Us and Just Deal.
Gina Torres
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Born in Manhattan to Cuban parents, Gina Torres (who played Jasmine), grew up in the Bronx. A gifted mezzo soprano, she began her performing career as a singer, attending New York City’s High School of Music and Art. Torres also trained in opera and jazz, and she performed in a gospel choir.
She has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Cleopatra 2525, Alias, 24 and The Shield. Joss Whedon fans will recognise her as Zoe in Firefly and Serenity.
In 2001 she won the ALMA Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Syndicated Drama Series for her role in Cleopatra 2525. In 2004, she was nominated for the International Press Academy’s Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Drama, for her role as Jasmine in Angel.
Her film appearances include The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, where she met her husband Laurence Fishburne. They married in September 2002 at The Cloisters museum in New York City.
Hey, it’s like a metaphor
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The flower jasmine has been compared to vampires twice in the Buffyverse. In 2.19 I Only Have Eyes For You:
Drusilla: “Wow! Look. Jasmine.”
Angelus: “Night blooming.”
Drusilla: “Like us.”
And then in Angel’s 2.09 The Trial, Darla says of the jasmine in the courtyard at the Hyperion Hotel:
“Hmm, jasmine. It blooms at night. I remember what that was like.”
Season four’s entity Jasmine was named after the same plant looked at by Darla.
Jasmine
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Jasmine was a once higher being who manipulated herself into human form, using Cordelia and Connor as her parents. A seemingly beautiful woman, Jasmine gave those who came in contact with her a feeling of complete peace and serenity. She had the ability to control the minds and hearts of her ’subjects’. In order to sustain herself she had to feed on the people who worshipped her, by devouring them whole. Whilst devouring people she gave off a vibrant green light, and extended tentacles to engulf her victims, absorbing them within her own flesh. With each human she consumed, her body becomes stronger and less susceptible to harm.
When Fred was touched with Jasmine’s blood, and saw her in her true form - a maggot-ridden manifestation. Fred managed to infect her friends with Jasmine’s blood so they could see the truth and the group set about stopping Jasmine from taking over the minds of the world’s population. Jasmine’s goal was end to war, disease, and poverty in the world but the price was too high for Angel Investigations - the loss of personal choice by the human race.
They discovered that her true name was her weakness. Angel found and defeated the Keeper of the Name, who spoke the name out loud, causing Jasmine’s subjects to see her in her true form, thus ending world peace. Jasmine was killed by Connor.
R.E.M.
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In 7.01 Lessons, Halfrek says of the singing couple:
“Oh look at them with the shiny happiness”.
‘Shiny happy people’ was an R.E.M song from their album Out of Time.
The title of the season four Angel episode 4.18 Shiny Happy People is also a reference to this song. The lyrics include the line, “Everyone around love them, love them” which echoes Jasmine’s message of peace.
In 4.10 Awakening, Cordelia says the line:
“Drop the Hallmark crap. That might placate the Shiny Happies over there but I’m working with a little more investment.”