The Angel

The Angel is the second episode of the first season of Hemlock Grove and the second episode in the series as a whole.

Summary
Roman confronts Peter at the crime scene, finding common ground. Letha reveals a shocking secret and Olivia and Norman fall into old habits.

Plot
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Without Commentary

 * Roman and Peter face off at the site where Brooke was murdered, each believing the other to be the killer. The police arrive and begin to interrogate Roman. Frustrated by his remarks, the police try to arrest Roman, but he demands that they leave. The police obey, but Roman suffers a minor nosebleed.
 * Roman and Peter face off at the site where Brooke was murdered, each believing the other to be the killer. The police arrive and begin to interrogate Roman. Frustrated by his remarks, the police try to arrest Roman, but he demands that they leave. The police obey, but Roman suffers a minor nosebleed.

Nearby, Letha Godfrey dreams of a shadowy figure who raises his arms, causing a pair of angel's wings to appear. Shelley Godfrey is painstakingly typing an email to her uncle Norman, celebrating her first small act of defiance against her controlling mother. With the encouragement of her brother, and the kindly waitress, Jenny, Shelley asserts herself and stands her ground.

The next day, as Norman reads the email from Shelley, his wife and daughter enter with the news that Letha is pregnant. At school, Roman spots a tampon in a classmates bag, following her when she excuses herself for the bathroom. As he performs oral sex on her, Peter overhears, listening at the door. He is seen by Letha, who gives him a disgusted look.

At a hotel bar, Norman angrily confronts Olivia Godfrey, accusing her of being involved in Letha's pregnancy. Olivia expresses confusion, and Norman continues that his daughter claims to still be a virgin and that she was visited by an angel. Norman believes that Letha was raped, but has repressed the memory. Afterwards, the pair have sex and Norman attempts to end the affair, though it is clear this is not the first time he has done so. Olivia is flippant, but that night during a tryst with the young bartender from the hotel, when he mentions Norman, she breaks down in tears.

At school, the students are preparing for the Halloween Homecoming Dance. Peter cheerfully strikes up a conversation with Shelley in a hallway, but is interrupted by a ggroup of bullies. Roman helps Peter pick up his belongings and offers him a lift home. On the ride, they bond over stories about their families and a shared admiration for Roman's car. Roman raises the subject of the Ouroboros and his feeling that "something important is about to happen", but Peter shuts the conversation down.

That night, Christina is getting ready for the dance with her closest friends Alexa and Alyssa Sworn. She tells them about her crush on Tyler, and the twins joke that Christina is a prude. The girls are dropped off at the dance by the Sheriff, while Roman picks up Letha. At the dance, Roman watches disapprovingly as Letha talks to Tyler, quickly becoming bored after the pair part ways. Christina and Tyler meet up, going into the hallway, but awkwardly fail to make conversation. The dance abruptly breaks up when the snake released by Roman is spotted.

Roman drives Letha home, drinking from a flask. She is forced to tell him about her pregnancy when he insists that she take a drink. He does not question her story about the angel, but seems angry. Letha reassures Roman, holding his hand, but they suddenly spot a man lying in the road. Roman calls for help while Letha attempts to calm the man who is raving about the murder of Brooke, amongst other things. When Roman approaches, he points at the younger man with an accusatory "it was you".

Peter wakes from a deep sleep to find that vandals have spiked a halloween Werewolf mask in his yard. Back inside, he reflects on his grandfather, Nicolae Rumancek, telling him that the Upir were monsters that looked like humans, but that they could be identified by the darkness in their eyes.

At school, Roman approaches Peter, but Peter shuts him down and walks away. Later, in class, Roman tosses him a note asking "can I watch?" Lynda is shocked when Peter tells her about the arrangement, but eventually concludes that it is due to Peter not having friends before. Roman arrives at the trailer and he and Lynda share a tranquilizer while Peter nervously prepares.

Outside, Roman observes as Peter falls to his knees, bones cracking and flesh ripping, as the wolf tears its way free and begins to eat the shredded skin.


 * }

With Commentary
Hemlock Grove’s second episode picks up right where the first left off: Roman Godfrey and Peter Rumancek facing off in the middle of the open field where Brooke Bluebell died. Peter answers Roman’s question – “How did it feel when you killed that girl?” – by saying that he didn't, but that he was under the impression that Roman had. Roman also denies it. They begin talking about werewolves, however their conversation is cut short when a police car rolls up and two officers (they’re referred to both in the book and in the show credits as “Neck” and “Nose”) start menacingly towards them. Peter begins to panic, but Roman takes over the interrogation. He fields the cops’ questions easily, and when they get frustrated with his smart-ass remarks and try to arrest him, he gazes deep into their eyes and uses his power to get them to leave.

Peter is unnerved by Roman's manipulation of the cop, and leaves soon after. Once the intro credits roll, we briefly see Letha Godfrey in a creepy dream sequence, where she’s approached by a shadowy figure with angel wings. The scene then changes to Shelley Godfrey, who is typing out an eloquent email to her uncle, Norman, telling him a story about a recent experience at a restaurant. Apparently Norman has been encouraging Shelley to stand up to her controlling mother, Olivia Godfrey, and Shelley has finally managed to do so. In a flashback, we see Olivia ordering “the usual”, a slab of meat for Shelley at a fancy looking restaurant, despite Shelley having indicated several times that she wants a salad. With the encouragement of her brother, Roman, and Jenny, a sweet waitress at the restaurant, Shelley stands her ground and asserts herself to her mother as an “intelligent, autonomous individual with valid desires.” In his own home a little ways away, Norman is reading Shelley’s email with a fond smile, until his wife and daughter come in with some news – Letha is pregnant.

At school the next day, Roman exhibits his bloodplay kink again by cutting class so he can apparently have oral sex in the girl's restroom with a girl on her period. Peter overhears the pair as he walks by the girls’ restroom and listens in front of the door until Letha passes by and gives him a disgusted look. Meanwhile, Norman and Olivia meet up at a hotel bar, where Norman angrily demands answers from Olivia concerning his daughter’s pregnancy, asking if she or Dr. Pryce had anything to do with it. When Olivia expresses confusion as to why he’d even come to that conclusion, he explains that Letha told him she’s still a virgin, and that she was “visited by an angel” over the summer and that it had gifted her with a child. However, Norman believes Letha had been raped and has subconsciously come up with this story as a way of coping with her trauma. After confiding in Olivia, the two of them go upstairs to a hotel room and have sex. Afterwards, it’s revealed that they've been having an affair for quite awhile – even after J.R. Godfrey’s death – but that Norman had tried to end it with Olivia the last time they met. Before he leaves the room, he tells her again that it’s over. She pretends that she’s unbothered, but later on, during a tryst with another man, Olivia starts to cry, showing that she actually does care.

Back at Hemlock High, everyone is preparing for the Halloween Homecoming dance later that night. When Peter runs into Shelley in the hallway, he cheerfully strikes up a conversation with her that’s interrupted by a couple of students who call him a “wolf fucker” and smack his books to the floor. Roman walks up shortly after to help Peter pick up his stuff and offer him a ride home. On the way to the Rumancek trailer home, Roman and Peter bond over family stories and Roman’s car. When Roman tries to talk to Peter about his ouroboros dreams, and the feelings he gets sometimes that “something really important is about to happen,” Peter completely shuts him out even though it’s obvious he feels the same way. He ditches a dejected-looking Roman and spends the rest of the night hanging out with his mom, Lynda, instead of going to the school dance. It seems every teenager in town is going to Homecoming except Peter. Christina is getting ready for the dance with her friends, Alexa and Alyssa Sworn, daughters of Sheriff Tom Sworn. She tells them about her crush on Tyler, a boy who apparently went out with Letha Godfrey, the “only bigger prude in school than Christina” – a comparison that Christina doesn’t quite like.

The girls get dropped off by the Sheriff, who has an argument with his twin daughters as he tries to convince them not to use the word “slutty” and to be back by “10 o’clock sharp.” The girls make their promises, then skip away giggling. Roman picks Letha up at her house before Homecoming, but spends a good chunk of time during the dance glaring as she talks with her ex-boyfriend Tyler instead of him. Eventually, Tyler meets up with Christina, and the two lovebirds leave the dance floor to awkwardly sit in a stairwell not really looking at each other. The dance ends early and everyone is evacuated when Roman releases a snake into the school. Roman and Letha drive off, a smirk on Roman’s face. On the drive home, Letha is forced to tell Roman that she’s pregnant when he won’t stop pestering her to drink alcohol.

When she tells him that the father was literally an angel, he doesn't look like he believes her, but doesn't question it. The cousins share a moment as they hold hands in the moonlight before getting back in the car and continuing home. They are forced to stop the car for a man lying in the middle of the road raving about seeing things. Roman phones for help as Letha bends down to comfort the man, who seems to be calmed by her voice. He tries to tell her about ouroboros, but when the man sees Roman’s face he starts screaming again – this time about the cheerleader who was killed, Brooke Bluebell.

Peter wakes up suddenly from a deep sleep to find that someone vandalized his yard with a Halloween store-bought werewolf mask on a spike. When he goes back inside to wash up and get ready for the day, he remembers something his grandfather told him when he was young: that upir are monsters that look like humans, but that you can always identify them by the darkness in their eyes. At school, Roman comes up to Peter again trying to be friendly. Peter calls him out on it – Roman only talks to him because of the way other people look at him when Roman talks to him – and then walks away.

Later on during class, Roman tosses a note onto Peter’s desk that reads, “Can I watch?” Surprisingly Peter agrees. Lynda is shocked and appalled, but eases up when she finds out Peter’s reasoning: that Roman is the only one in town who doesn't think Peter is a murderer, and that Peter has never actually had a friend before. Roman shows up early for the big event, and he, Peter, and Lynda sit down in the trailer and talk while they wait. Roman and Lynda share glasses of milk and a tranquilizer (provided by Roman) as they wait for Peter to turn. Just before he turns, they go outside to watch as Peter's skin starts breaking open and falling off of his body, along with his eyes and teeth. When the werewolf emerges, it starts to eat the shed skin and eyes before running off into the forest.

In Roman’s words, "You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me."

Main Cast

 * Famke Janssen as Olivia Godfrey
 * Bill Skarsgård as Roman Godfrey
 * Landon Liboiron as Peter Rumancek
 * Penelope Mitchell as Letha Godfrey
 * Freya Tingley as Christina Wendall
 * Dougray Scott as Norman Godfrey

Supporting Cast

 * Lili Taylor as Lynda Rumancek
 * Kandyse McClure as Dr. Clementine Chasseur (credit only)
 * Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce (credit only)
 * Laurie Fortier as Marie Godfrey
 * Aaron Douglas as Sheriff Tom Sworn
 * Kaniehtiio Horn as Destiny Rumancek (credit only)
 * Ted Dykstra as Francis Pullman
 * Nicole Boivin as Shelley Godfrey
 * Amazon Eve as the body of Shelley Godfrey

Guest Cast

 * Emilia McCarthy as Alyssa Sworn
 * Eliana Jones as Alexa Sworn
 * Holly Deveaux as Jenny Fredericks
 * Dylan Trowbridge as Nose
 * Marty Adams as Neck
 * Noah Jaggard as Young Peter
 * Don Francks as Nicolae Rumancek
 * Emily Piggford as Ashley Valentine
 * Joe Bostick as Vice Principal
 * Landon Norris as Tyler Lane
 * Steve Lund as Bartender (Alex is on his name tag)
 * Alanis Peart as Mrs. Pisarro

Songs from the Show

 * "Busman's Holiday" by Allah-Las (Roman and Peter's ride from school)
 * "Pretty Mama Picture" by Dave Tough (Christina, Alexa, and Alyssa getting prepared)
 * "In Decay" by Phèdre (Homecoming Dance Song #1)
 * "Love Ablaze" by Phèdre (Homecoming Dance Song #2)
 * "Geri" by Superhumanoids (Roman and Letha's drive home from the dance)
 * "Mississippi Mud" by Black Blood & The Chocolate Pickles (Waiting for Peter's transformation)
 * "Cranky Moon" by Sam Shelton (end credits)

Random Trivia

 * The snake originally shown in its terrarium is a ball python, however the snake shown slithering across the gym floor is a kingsnake.