I'm about 2 or so years behind the pack on this HBO special, partly because

- I don't get HBO (missed first run in US),
- Missed it on Showcase (Can't ever remember to watch TV shows @ the same time every week), and
- Couldn't get the courage to get through them w/o SBF with me.

My buddy downloaded high quality versions of the series and burned in on a DVD-R for me. I watch the first episode on my Mac late at night and called SBF squeezing a moshi in pillow in shock. I thought it was some regular drama w/some typical Will&Grace queer character character in it - Not an AIDS drama about pain, lonliness, self-deprecation and heartbreak between gay men! BAH!!!

After leaving pathetic messages/hang ups to SBF's cell phone answering machine (he was out w/friends that night-how DARE him!) I realized I couldn't watch this alone anymore. Thankfully SBF also wanted to see the series as well and we ended up watching the rest together.

This was a great series. Angels is actually theatre adaptation, and they remained true to theatre in their treatment in this series. In short, Angels shows both the tragic reality of AIDS and spiritual fantasy as a prophet, lawyer and morman interact with Angels.

Angels showcases the power and brutal relentlessness of the AIDS virus, equating it to the great plagues of centuries past. The play explores the sexual, racial, spiritual, political, psychological and social issues confronting the country during the Reagan years as the AIDS epidemic spreads. It showed me how AIDS affects and gives no regard every pillar of our social framework, infecting anything living in its path to keep moving forward. The insuppressible activity AIDS virus is shadowed in the Angels world by man's need for growth and movement. The advancement of man over the past century has plagued the Angels and caused torment and destrution in their world. As man fights the growth of AIDS, Angels fight the growth of Man. We come to the conclusion that either will never willfully stop moving, and we must deal with what we've got and make the best of what's around (yes, Dave, your timeless and prophetic words relate here as well!)

As with all good plays, Angels had rich and in-depth characters. The only problem I had was using Al Pachino, who played what else other than Al Pachino: A loud mouth, hotshot and power-wielding asshole...But this time he was a hotshot lawyer w/AIDS. But I know this was the character, so who better to play it than Mr. Pachino. There were a ton of religious and spiritual references, partiularily Jewish references in the play (Sorry, no mention of Jesus Christ in this production my Christian friends!) . I'm sure i would have caught more nuances and references if i were Jewish myself!

The themes of escape, love, spiritual retribution and reconcile were common amoung the characters, which i think everyone feels at one point in there life. Each character was very convincing, enough for any viewer to appreciate what their going through. It was also interesting to see the relationship amoung them, and how messed up things can get when you throw on person into the mix.

I hope that one day they plays will come back to the theatre. It would be incredible to see something like this performed on stage... and this time, Mr. Pachino can stay home in hollywood for this one.

Take care

RE

"eat drink and be merry"