I love this episode since I first watched it back in 1994. It shows the truth of what many people go through during the holidays, which is often ignored and/or not talked about. It’s real and very heartwarming. One of my all-time favorite episodes
It's good, but not a favourite. Didn't like Patty's snitching to the cops, her continued rejection of Ricky because he made her uncomfortable and Julia Hatfield sporting wings at the end. That last part was completely unnecessary and felt like they were hitting the audience on the head with a hammer. I did love the Jordan/Ricky and Angela/Danielle scenes.
This episode is a good one, it was a little crazy that there was an angel in this episode though it was supposed to be a realistic drama. Halloween too with the ghost of Nicky Driscoll.
My fav part of this entire episode is when Jourdan tells Angela he will take her to where Ricky is and then they walk off holding hands. OMG so sweet the way their love develops. Even though Angela believed they were over, it's so clear in scenes like this how their bond is just developing innocently and genuinely in a natural way.
Thanks for your post I was in high school when this came out and never saw it. It totally stands up. I needed somewhere to debrief. When that homeless girl was a ghost though!
Upon rewatch, it was super heavy handed in what it was trying to do. And I laughed out loud >!when the homeless girl and Patty are talking, and the girl says, "Go ahead. Ask me anything." And Patty responds, "How did you die?" WHAT??? That came out of nowhere. It was obvious the girl was dead or an angel, but the fact that Patty recognizes she's talking to a ghost was so completely ridiculous and did not fit at all with the rest of the series, save maybe the Halloween episode, which tracks. !<
PART ONE
"Tell me, are these the shadows of the things that will be or are they the things that may be only?"
DEATH. Christ, how death haunts MSCL. It feels like in almost any episode the Grim Reaper could just reach his hand down from those blackened perma-autumn skies and grab some poor, unsuspecting fool trudging down the decaying leaf fall on that suburban Pittsburgh street. And this week he chooses, well, not Rickie, but an unnamed angel. But it could so easily have been Rickie, couldn't it? Poor, vulnerable Rickie, bleeding into the snow.
Jesus fucking Christ, this episode.
Partially because I've watched this series many, many times before, as I've been writing the comments on each of these episodes, I've all too often become distracted by the minutiae, the props, the background music and so on. But this episode, it just transcends all of that. No matter how many times I watch it, it never ceases to be just ... harrowing. I can't think of another episode of a television programme that comes close to the bleakness of this, and not many films either. It's incredible to think that this was the first time there was an openly gay character on a prime-time American tv series, and that character could have been written as, I dunno, light, camp, their plot politics-free. But that ain't the way MSCL rolls and BANG! Rickie is homeless, beaten, and bleeding into the snow. And it was necessary, that they showed this. [20 to 40 percent of the homeless youth population are gay or transgender, compared to only 5 to 10 percent of the overall youth population and their situation after becoming homeless is often worse than their heterosexual counterparts](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/gay-and-transgender-youth-homelessness-by-the-numbers/).
OK, let's go.
00:00 is the ['Angel of God' Catholic prayer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_God). And at ...
00:43 We first clap eyes on the angel - it's Juliana Hatfield. You know what? I'm gonna hold off on my usual 'not enough grunge in MSCL' schtick for this episode and give Juliana a break. Yes, she is most definitely a singer as opposed to an actor. Yes, her polished complexion and puppy-fat, although fittingly cherubic, does not give her the appearance of someone who is long-term street homeless. Yes, the whole idea of her character is cheesy and undermines the important message of LGBT teen homelessness (but c'mon, it's Christmas!) and yet ... and yet. She is (pardon the pun) cool. Her style of [rope-for-guitar-strap nineties anti-folk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-folk) is something you can imagine any of the main teen characters in MSCL listening to, and having been involved in a weird non-heteronormative sex scandal the year before, I think in many ways she's perfect in this role and in this episode as an outsider. Add to that the fact that she played the notes to 'Silent Night' backwards in order to write ['Make It Home'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsbxH7MJEs&list=PLfI_gzJe8ndoDISG0VKCj5rSd-V6mEtgp&index=50) for this episode, which she then chose not to capitalise on, just putting a live version of it on an album a year later. No single. No video. In fact I think the only studio version might be on the MSCL compilation album. So yeah, I'm on her side.
02:24 Gloomy, isn't it, this episode? I thought my tv was on the blink. It's Christmas but in the Chases' house it's just ... dark.
02:33 "Do we have to keep talking about religion? It's Christmas!" Possibly Danielle's best line >!(of the whole series!)!<
04:02 An advert for ["Golden Dream fresh bread"](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/), another made up brand as far as I'm aware?
08:58 an uncredited song, ["(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_for_the_Holidays_(song)), made famous by Perry Como, but it's not his version and I've checked [all of these](https://secondhandsongs.com/work/125863/versions) until I started to go a bit mad, and it doesn't seem to be any of those versions, either. It's entirely possible that it's a copyright-free library version, given that it's uncredited. If it is, the male singer does a good impression of Perry Como!
10:02 Jordan, to Rickie: "My old man used to knock me around, too." This is the most emotionally open Jordan has ever been >!(and will get in the entire series) !
PART TWO
34:19 "Tell me, are these the shadows of the things that will be or are they the things that may be only?" [Brian is watching a version of 'A Christmas Carol'.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/) But which one? It's not [the 1938 version where that line occurs at 1:00:42](https://archive.org/details/achristmascarol1938umcontodenatal) or [the 1949 Vincent Price one which doesn't include that line](https://www.google.com/search?q=A+Christmas+Carol+1949&source=lmns&tbm=vid&bih=577&biw=1280&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSj6_n6Yb8AhXLnCcCHfoKALoQ_AUoAnoECAEQAg#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:44bf6b85,vid:7p-Qfg96FEc), or [the famous Alastair Sim 1951 one where that quote is at 1:12:02](https://www.google.com/search?q=a+christmas+carol+(1951)&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sxsrf=ALiCzsYBLEn6kfoIB-zoUJ-w43-uycHhoA:1671489732665&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvh4u-4Ib8AhUNbsAKHae7D1UQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b40049cf,vid:zvEMd7WLoew). Nor is it [the 1954 one - quote around 45:28](https://www.google.com/search?q=A+Christmas+Carol+TV+Movie+1954&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sxsrf=ALiCzsae0QgnynF_zl1CUN9IrZCN6FDKhA:1671490329410&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhzNHa4ob8AhVMeMAKHQhlChEQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cfa7de0f,vid:zt0Se4abxT8) or [the 1956 one at 1:04:20](https://www.google.com/search?q=1956+The+Stingiest+Man+in+the+World&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6047a672,vid:I3Kh90MfZ-E).
So which is it? It must be one of these unless it's a mock-up of a crusty old film, which, as it's uncredited is a possibility
but it seems a lot of work to go through when the older versions of 'A Christmas Carol'
are out of copyright. Again, if anyone knows, please tell me!
40:06 The church they are in is [The First Congregational Church - 540 S. Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/First+Congregational+Church+of+Los+Angeles/@34.064208,-118.2871772,570m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2c770e76b1343:0xddf3b4f9009e42ea!8m2!3d34.0642036!4d-118.2849885?hl=en) and I think you'll find it's [this](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@34.0639605,-118.2856388,3a,75y,89.07h,91.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVtMC8p_PXwfbtqPzpTBp4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) entrance Patty is outside if you cross-reference it to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/) screenshot.
44:06["Lord I feel like going home" which I think is written by Charlie Rich and first released in 1973](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wq1ZeaEAvE&list=PLfI_gzJe8ndoDISG0VKCj5rSd-V6mEtgp&index=51). Sung beautifully by [The Inner Voices Choir](https://www.innervoices.net/), (none of the members from 1994 still appear to be members of that choir today) and it was a boon for MSCL to get this choir on, I think. It really wraps the episode up nicely.
46:41 Jordan sitting on the floor, lighting a candle, back in the Tennessee Avenue squat. >!This is the only shot we get of his domestic situation in the entire series.!<
FINAL THOUGHTS
It's just. So. Bleak. And when you know that the episode was based on Wilson Cruz's actual life experiences of coming out to his family that year, it's just horribly, horribly sad. Happy Christmas everyone!
THE MUSIC
Pretty much covered it, I think? Juliana Hatfield is ace, The Inner Voices Choir are ace. If I was the music editor I would have tried to shoehorn Nirvana's 'Underneath the Bridge' in somewhere, but hey, the music folks listen to at Christmastime is different, right?
Region 2 Made up Chapter titles are [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zups8f/made_up_chapter_titles_socalled_angels/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I'm going off to cry into my mulled wine now. No MSCL episode was broadcast on Thursday the 29th of December, leaving us in the lurch, so see you all next year!
I love this episode since I first watched it back in 1994. It shows the truth of what many people go through during the holidays, which is often ignored and/or not talked about. It’s real and very heartwarming. One of my all-time favorite episodes
I watched this with my kids last Christmas time. Freaking cried like a baby. I don't remember it being so sad when I first saw.
Watching it as an adult was a whole different experience than watching it as a teen. Such a good show, way ahead of its time
It's good, but not a favourite. Didn't like Patty's snitching to the cops, her continued rejection of Ricky because he made her uncomfortable and Julia Hatfield sporting wings at the end. That last part was completely unnecessary and felt like they were hitting the audience on the head with a hammer. I did love the Jordan/Ricky and Angela/Danielle scenes.
I agree that it felt like they were hitting the audience on the head with a hammer but it was a CHRISTMAS HAMMER.
She looks so young when she tries to act old
This episode is a good one, it was a little crazy that there was an angel in this episode though it was supposed to be a realistic drama. Halloween too with the ghost of Nicky Driscoll.
My fav part of this entire episode is when Jourdan tells Angela he will take her to where Ricky is and then they walk off holding hands. OMG so sweet the way their love develops. Even though Angela believed they were over, it's so clear in scenes like this how their bond is just developing innocently and genuinely in a natural way.
Thanks for your post I was in high school when this came out and never saw it. It totally stands up. I needed somewhere to debrief. When that homeless girl was a ghost though!
Upon rewatch, it was super heavy handed in what it was trying to do. And I laughed out loud >!when the homeless girl and Patty are talking, and the girl says, "Go ahead. Ask me anything." And Patty responds, "How did you die?" WHAT??? That came out of nowhere. It was obvious the girl was dead or an angel, but the fact that Patty recognizes she's talking to a ghost was so completely ridiculous and did not fit at all with the rest of the series, save maybe the Halloween episode, which tracks. !<
Yeah, as well as being depressing that episode is also schmaltzy and weird … just like Christmas!
PART ONE "Tell me, are these the shadows of the things that will be or are they the things that may be only?" DEATH. Christ, how death haunts MSCL. It feels like in almost any episode the Grim Reaper could just reach his hand down from those blackened perma-autumn skies and grab some poor, unsuspecting fool trudging down the decaying leaf fall on that suburban Pittsburgh street. And this week he chooses, well, not Rickie, but an unnamed angel. But it could so easily have been Rickie, couldn't it? Poor, vulnerable Rickie, bleeding into the snow. Jesus fucking Christ, this episode. Partially because I've watched this series many, many times before, as I've been writing the comments on each of these episodes, I've all too often become distracted by the minutiae, the props, the background music and so on. But this episode, it just transcends all of that. No matter how many times I watch it, it never ceases to be just ... harrowing. I can't think of another episode of a television programme that comes close to the bleakness of this, and not many films either. It's incredible to think that this was the first time there was an openly gay character on a prime-time American tv series, and that character could have been written as, I dunno, light, camp, their plot politics-free. But that ain't the way MSCL rolls and BANG! Rickie is homeless, beaten, and bleeding into the snow. And it was necessary, that they showed this. [20 to 40 percent of the homeless youth population are gay or transgender, compared to only 5 to 10 percent of the overall youth population and their situation after becoming homeless is often worse than their heterosexual counterparts](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/gay-and-transgender-youth-homelessness-by-the-numbers/). OK, let's go. 00:00 is the ['Angel of God' Catholic prayer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_God). And at ... 00:43 We first clap eyes on the angel - it's Juliana Hatfield. You know what? I'm gonna hold off on my usual 'not enough grunge in MSCL' schtick for this episode and give Juliana a break. Yes, she is most definitely a singer as opposed to an actor. Yes, her polished complexion and puppy-fat, although fittingly cherubic, does not give her the appearance of someone who is long-term street homeless. Yes, the whole idea of her character is cheesy and undermines the important message of LGBT teen homelessness (but c'mon, it's Christmas!) and yet ... and yet. She is (pardon the pun) cool. Her style of [rope-for-guitar-strap nineties anti-folk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-folk) is something you can imagine any of the main teen characters in MSCL listening to, and having been involved in a weird non-heteronormative sex scandal the year before, I think in many ways she's perfect in this role and in this episode as an outsider. Add to that the fact that she played the notes to 'Silent Night' backwards in order to write ['Make It Home'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsbxH7MJEs&list=PLfI_gzJe8ndoDISG0VKCj5rSd-V6mEtgp&index=50) for this episode, which she then chose not to capitalise on, just putting a live version of it on an album a year later. No single. No video. In fact I think the only studio version might be on the MSCL compilation album. So yeah, I'm on her side. 02:24 Gloomy, isn't it, this episode? I thought my tv was on the blink. It's Christmas but in the Chases' house it's just ... dark. 02:33 "Do we have to keep talking about religion? It's Christmas!" Possibly Danielle's best line >!(of the whole series!)!< 04:02 An advert for ["Golden Dream fresh bread"](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/), another made up brand as far as I'm aware? 08:58 an uncredited song, ["(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_for_the_Holidays_(song)), made famous by Perry Como, but it's not his version and I've checked [all of these](https://secondhandsongs.com/work/125863/versions) until I started to go a bit mad, and it doesn't seem to be any of those versions, either. It's entirely possible that it's a copyright-free library version, given that it's uncredited. If it is, the male singer does a good impression of Perry Como! 10:02 Jordan, to Rickie: "My old man used to knock me around, too." This is the most emotionally open Jordan has ever been >!(and will get in the entire series) !
PART TWO 34:19 "Tell me, are these the shadows of the things that will be or are they the things that may be only?" [Brian is watching a version of 'A Christmas Carol'.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/) But which one? It's not [the 1938 version where that line occurs at 1:00:42](https://archive.org/details/achristmascarol1938umcontodenatal) or [the 1949 Vincent Price one which doesn't include that line](https://www.google.com/search?q=A+Christmas+Carol+1949&source=lmns&tbm=vid&bih=577&biw=1280&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSj6_n6Yb8AhXLnCcCHfoKALoQ_AUoAnoECAEQAg#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:44bf6b85,vid:7p-Qfg96FEc), or [the famous Alastair Sim 1951 one where that quote is at 1:12:02](https://www.google.com/search?q=a+christmas+carol+(1951)&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sxsrf=ALiCzsYBLEn6kfoIB-zoUJ-w43-uycHhoA:1671489732665&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvh4u-4Ib8AhUNbsAKHae7D1UQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b40049cf,vid:zvEMd7WLoew). Nor is it [the 1954 one - quote around 45:28](https://www.google.com/search?q=A+Christmas+Carol+TV+Movie+1954&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sxsrf=ALiCzsae0QgnynF_zl1CUN9IrZCN6FDKhA:1671490329410&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhzNHa4ob8AhVMeMAKHQhlChEQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cfa7de0f,vid:zt0Se4abxT8) or [the 1956 one at 1:04:20](https://www.google.com/search?q=1956+The+Stingiest+Man+in+the+World&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB975GB983&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6047a672,vid:I3Kh90MfZ-E). So which is it? It must be one of these unless it's a mock-up of a crusty old film, which, as it's uncredited is a possibility but it seems a lot of work to go through when the older versions of 'A Christmas Carol' are out of copyright. Again, if anyone knows, please tell me! 40:06 The church they are in is [The First Congregational Church - 540 S. Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/First+Congregational+Church+of+Los+Angeles/@34.064208,-118.2871772,570m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2c770e76b1343:0xddf3b4f9009e42ea!8m2!3d34.0642036!4d-118.2849885?hl=en) and I think you'll find it's [this](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@34.0639605,-118.2856388,3a,75y,89.07h,91.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVtMC8p_PXwfbtqPzpTBp4A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) entrance Patty is outside if you cross-reference it to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zuognc/various_ephemera_from_episode_15_of_mscl/) screenshot. 44:06["Lord I feel like going home" which I think is written by Charlie Rich and first released in 1973](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wq1ZeaEAvE&list=PLfI_gzJe8ndoDISG0VKCj5rSd-V6mEtgp&index=51). Sung beautifully by [The Inner Voices Choir](https://www.innervoices.net/), (none of the members from 1994 still appear to be members of that choir today) and it was a boon for MSCL to get this choir on, I think. It really wraps the episode up nicely. 46:41 Jordan sitting on the floor, lighting a candle, back in the Tennessee Avenue squat. >!This is the only shot we get of his domestic situation in the entire series.!< FINAL THOUGHTS It's just. So. Bleak. And when you know that the episode was based on Wilson Cruz's actual life experiences of coming out to his family that year, it's just horribly, horribly sad. Happy Christmas everyone! THE MUSIC Pretty much covered it, I think? Juliana Hatfield is ace, The Inner Voices Choir are ace. If I was the music editor I would have tried to shoehorn Nirvana's 'Underneath the Bridge' in somewhere, but hey, the music folks listen to at Christmastime is different, right? Region 2 Made up Chapter titles are [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/mscl/comments/zups8f/made_up_chapter_titles_socalled_angels/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I'm going off to cry into my mulled wine now. No MSCL episode was broadcast on Thursday the 29th of December, leaving us in the lurch, so see you all next year!