The messenger has arrived.
Original title
Angels in America
Released
12/7/2003
Origin country
US
Genre
Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Production companies
Avenue Pictures, Avenue Entertainment, HBO Films
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
1
Number of episodes
6
Follow six New Yorkers whose lives intersect amidst the AIDS crisis and the rapidly changing socio-political climate of 1985.
Millennium Approaches (Episodes 1-3): It is 1985 and AIDS is causing mass death in USA. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Louis, his lover, that he has AIDS; Louis, unable to handle it, leaves him. Joe Pitt, a Mormon and Republican attorney, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the US Department of Justice. Both Pitt and Cohn are in the closet: Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and image. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, hallucinating constantly and longs to escape from her sexless marriage. An angel with ulterior motives commands Prior to become a prophet. Perestroika (Episodes 4-6): Prior is helped in his decision by Joe's mother, Hannah, and Belize, a close friend and drag queen. Joe leaves his wife and goes to live with Louis, but it does not work out because of ideological differences. Roy is diagnosed with AIDS and dying, while haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg.
Prior Walter is diagnosed with AIDS that changes his life and he must deal with such new obstacle. Moreover, his partner abandoned him. He has also increasing hallucinations and Mormon's mother comes to New York in order to save her son's marriage. Meanwhile, Roy Cohn checks into the hospital.
Louis abandons a hospitalized Prior; Joe and Roy confide in each other over drinks. Later, Prior hears voices from his hospital bed while Louis solicits sex from strangers, and Joe makes a drunken confession to his mother.
Prior returns home and is visited by a pair of spectral namesake ancestors who herald the arrival of the messenger; a tussle with Joe leaves Roy with the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. Later, Joe and Louis hook up in Central Park while Prior meets the angelic messenger.
The story continues with Prior finally confronting the visions, Cohn desperately trying to manipulate the system to his benefit - all the while haunted by one of his victims, and Harper attempting to regain control of her life.
Louis arranges a meeting with Prior; Joe visits Roy in the hospital and gets an unwelcome father's blessing; Prior drags Belize to the courthouse for a surprise meeting with the clerk and later strikes up a friendship with Hannah. High on morphine, Roy paints a different picture of heaven.
A fight with Joe leaves Louis badly scarred; Roy plays a final practical joke on Ethel; Prior wrestles the Angel and then addresses a review board in Heaven; Harper heads out West; Prior, outliving his diagnosis, pays a visit to his favorite angel and vows to keep living--free of secrets.
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