THE CHARACTER PROGRESSION OF LINDSEY MCDONALD

As Angel continues to battle for good, the Wolfram & Hart team is planning how best to rid themselves of him. With the help of associate Lilah Morgan, Lindsey hires Faith to kill him ("Five by Five"). Who better to kill a vampire than a Vampire Slayer? There's a meeting in Lindsey's office, Faith displays her ability to make a lasting point by breaking every bone in Lee Mercer's (another lawyer at the firm) face, and eagerly accepts the job of killing Angel. Before anyone at W&H can get too comfy with the status quo, Faith reveals plans of her own, and Lindsey is thwarted once again as Faith fails to kill Angel and instead turns on the path towards redemption ("Sanctuary").

Perhaps this was an omen. When next we see Lindsey, he is representing a blind woman who is actually an assassin for W&H ("Blind Date"). He seems to have a problem dealing with this client and can it be that something has finally gotten under that tough facade he wears every day? This certainly seems to be the case. When he discovers that her next assignment is the murder of three special, visionary children, he suffers his own crisis of conscious and turns to Angel himself for help. Despite Angel's lack of trust in Lindsey, and some rather touching moments when we learn that Lindsey grew up dirt poor and starving (which Angel mocks and disregards), they join forces. Lindsey helps him break into the vaults of Wolfram & Hart to take essential files pertaining to the blind assassin. When his treachery is discovered by his superior, Holland Manners, Lindsey is not killed. Instead, he is reminded that he was chosen from his class in his second year at Hastings for a reason and is given the chance to make his own destiny. He and Angel save the prophetic children, the assassin is disposed of, and we see Lindsey return to the firm. Some kind of personal bargain seems to have been made within him, and he is promoted to junior partner. Maybe it was the ungodly benefits package that got him.

Meanwhile, Angel has taken something other than files from the vaults - the Scrolls that contain the Prophecies of Abergion. With Lindsey as part of the team to recover the stolen and much needed item, they raise a demon to collect the Scrolls ("To Shanshu in L.A."). The Voka demon first curses Cordelia with never ending visions, and then destroys Angel's office building and injures Wesley in the process. The next confrontation Lindsey has with Angel costs him more than he could have expected. He completes a ceremony that raises something unknown in a huge box, something Wolfram & Hart are planning to use to wreak mayhem and take Angel out. When he attempts to destroy the Scrolls in an effort to prevent Angel from gaining possession again, he loses his hand.

One can only assume that Lindsey feels as though things haven't gone quite as well as he hoped they would. However, the last we see of him before the end of Season 1, he is being assured that the Senior Partners appreciate his sacrifice. Somehow we get the feeling that Lindsey isn't too thrilled despite the good news from the Home Office.

We first see Lindsey again in the season premiere, "Judgment". It's the first time we see the interaction between the newly-risen, human Darla and Lindsey, who appears to be her keeper. Darla is with Lindsey in his office attempting to soothe her with music she favors when Lilah interrupts them with taunting aimed at Lindsey's new infirmity. For a significant period of time, Lindsey's life is tied and bound to that of Darla's.

In "Dear Boy", we witness further Lindsey/Darla interaction and receive an explanation, of sorts, from Lindsey for the dreams Darla brings Angel: to force him to embrace his darkest impulses and, one would assume, then no longer be a nuisance to W&H (and Lindsey in particular). Lindsey's personal vendetta stemming from his severed hand is also reinforced by Darla's asking about Lindsey's feelings regarding it, and her feeling empathy for his warped bitterness: "You're fun for a human." The first real test of Angel's sanity is also undertaken by Lindsey and Darla (and a fool actor who took the wrong job) when Darla pretends to be a contented housewife out for lunch with her husband. She taunts Angel, who recognizes her scent regardless of Darla's insistence that she doesn't know any "Darla", and he seeks them out at their home. At the house, a false attack is staged, setting Angel up to be the fall guy, and Lindsey rejoices at the Angel pain.

The Darla/Lindsey dynamic is elaborated upon in "Darla" . The first scene finds Darla après psychotic fit sitting amongst debris with Lindsey attempting to comfort her. Darla inquires about his life as a prelude to further rambling on about herself, and Lindsey admits he's pretty much a work-a-holic and single. Once they arrive at Evil Central (W&H headquarters), Lindsey continues to be oddly sweet to Darla until Holland appears to discuss the situation with his underling. Holland is thrilled to find out that Darla is losing her marbles, much to Lindsey's confusion. Not to be put off by Holland's warnings that Darla might be dangerous, Lindsey continues to try to calm her. Darla philosophises, Lindsey is further confused by this development (he could also be messed up in the head at Darla implying he's gay earlier). In this scene, we learn two things about Lindsey: his only other scruple besides not being party to killing children appears to be an unwillingness to force himself on women, and that he isn't into S&M (Angel needs a memo). Darla and Lindsey also kiss in this scene (see splash for illustration). Darla escapes from Lindsey to go to Angel after a violent confrontation in the W&H offices that leaves a guard dead and Lindsey with a new tattoo of his telephone on the side of his face. Later we find it is all rigged up by that puppet master, Holland. Lindsey is shown the video of his newest betrayal of the firm and gets all kinds of pissy when Holland tells him he's off the Darla case, and that Darla is being "terminated". Lindsey skulks out to his car only to be garrotted by Angel looking to find Darla himself. Lindsey was calling him anyway and informs Angel of where he can most likely find Darla before she dies. Angel makes snotty remarks which Lindsey certainly uses to stoke his hatred of The Gelled One. Lindsey returns to the office and sees the security guard he believed he killed and realizes this was yet another Machiavellian trick perpetrated by Holland. Holland comes into his office and tells him it was the way it had to be and alludes to his knowledge of Lindsey's affection for Darla.

"The Trial" (a.k.a. The Further Bondage Adventures of Angel) reunites those star-crossed lovers, Darla and Lindsey, after Darla flees W&H to a seedy motel, and Lindsey tracks her down. He brings her back to W&H (he also finally cut his hair, maybe that's why Darla consents to go with him). Lindsey and Holland inform Darla that she's dying. Angel arrives at Lindsey's apartment sometime that night, and Lindsey displays his deathwish by inviting Angel inside. We see that Lindsey's apartment has odd, modern art on the walls, and that the bar is the largest feature in the place (what a shock). Angel is there to strangle Lindsey some more and, perhaps, glean some information about Darla's illness. Lindsey tells him that she's reaping what she sowed four centuries past, that she has a heart condition brought on by syphilis. Angel is obviously upset and lashes out at Lindsey by asking him if he's in love with Darla. Lindsey bares his heart by telling Angel how he would do anything to save her, and Angel postures and insults Lindsey then leaves. The last scene of this episode finds Angel and Darla back at the roach motel Darla's been inhabiting when the door bursts open and some Initiative looking men tazer Angel into submission. Lindsey walks through the door looking smug followed closely by Drusilla, who, much to Angel's horror, revamps Darla.

In "Reunion" we discover that Lindsey has moved (maybe he hated the art too). He's busy dealing with Dru (who is planning an elaborate rising ceremony of the newly made Darla). Lindsey and Lilah exchange barbs, as per usual. Holland forces Lindsey to leave Dru with Darla's body before the rising. Back at the office, Holland informs Lindsey that he needs to form "healthy attachments" away from the office, but where Lindsey is supposed to meet these non-warped people to date is not forthcoming. We learn that there's a party at Holland's that evening, that Holland drinks expensive wine, and that Dru overheard all about the party while standing in the corner with Miss Edith. Darla makes a sudden appearance and shows she's still interested in Lindsey in some way by throwing him across the room rather than chowing down on him. Holland tells Lindsey that Darla isn't what he had in mind for the dating pool. Sometime later, Angel cracks through the window if Lindsey's office (which is fairly high up, go Spidey-Angel) and demands to know where "his women" are. Angel is manhandled out by cops, and he and Lindsey exchange pleasantries. Cut to Holland's soirée. D&D show up at the dinner party and eat Holland's wife. Darla and the rest of us find out that Lindsey isn't scared of death, maybe because his Playstation scores will never be the same. As Angel shows up on the scene and locks all the humans in the cellar with D&D, Lindsey smiles.

"Redefinition" finds Lindsey alive and gloating about being the only one left after the massacre, until he learns Lilah is as well. (Internal dialogue left out of the episode "Curses, foiled again!") No doubt he was well on his way to an elaborate fantasy, wherein, Darla saved him in order to perpetrate some serious vampire lovin' on him. Back at Evil Central, Lindsey doesn't have any messages and is not exactly pleased when Lilah arrives on the scene. They squabble. When they arrive upstairs, Dru and Darla are waiting for them. Darla tells Lindsey that if she wanted him dead, he would be, taunts him with her knowledge of his obsession for her and calls him Sweetpea, too. Lindsey and Lilah are informed by Darla that the diabolic duo plan to keep their connections to W&H while they wreak havoc on the population of LA. Later that night, Lilah tries to frame Lindsey with a fake plan to steal from the firm. He's on to her routine, and also bates her with much sexual innuendo. He tells her that they have a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, and that she should buck-up. The next day, Lindsey and Lilah spar about Angel setting Dru and Darla on fire. They are then confronted by a bizarre man with odd glasses who lets them in on the fact that they are less than exemplary employees, but W&H adore making horrible decisions, so they are both being promoted to fill Holland's vacant position.

Lindsey shows up half-way through "Blood Money" when Lilah comes to him to complain about Angel threatening her in her car. While Lindsey tells her how much he doesn't care, a large demon muscles his way into his office to tell the two of them about his personal vendetta against Angel. Lindsey decides to hire the demon, Boone, to kill Angel against Lilah's objections that the Senior partners want Angel alive. Lindsey displays his humor: "Boo-hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my plastic hand!" We are amazed to learn that Lindsey actually does do more than pine after Darla and plot to thwart Angel. He's got a side-deal using a teen shelter as a tax break for W&H. Lindsey walks in on Angel in the shelter with Boone in tow. He fronts that Boone is there to protect Anne, the shelter Mother Theresa and former vamp-wanna-be ("Lie To Me") and street chick ("Anne"), and tells Boone to wait up, he'll get his real crack at Angel soon. Anne confronts Lindsey about trying to screw the shelter over, and Lindsey disavows it. He tells Anne that Angel is a wack-job, and the he has no proof that W&H plan anything untoward. Anne is dubious; Lindsey is not pleased. Lilah and Lindsey, in yet another display of their combined mental prowess, discuss Angel having proof of their sordid plan on a public street and realize Angel could be taping them after they have disclosed all the pertinent facts. Lindsey calls to have the security beefed up at the gala. At the ball, Lindsey checks out the security situation and tells the vamp detectors to alert Boone the second they sense something. As the beautiful and rich mingle on the lower levels, Boone and Angel crash onto the money table Lindsey and Lilah are presiding over, and Lindsey figures out that Boone screwed them over and is in cahoots with Angel (trusting demons just never seems to pay off). While Lilah and Lindsey flip right out thinking Anne is about to play the secret recording of their dastardly plans, Boone makes off with the money collected at the ball, so they are screwed doubly: they look insane, and the money is gone. Back at Evil Central, their new boss castigates Lilah and Lindsey for botching everything up AGAIN. Lindsey stands up for himself and demands to know why corporate policy can't be altered to allow him to dispose of Angel. The Boss informs him that Angel is a major player in the apocalypse, and the more they make him walk the line of darkness the better it will be when the final battle occurs. Oh, and if Angel kills one of them, that's all good too. Neither Lindsey nor Lilah say "Doh!" Remarkable restraint on their part.

Lindsey and Lilah have a walk-about in the W&H offices in "Reprise", and we learn that the 75 year review is nigh. The associates are peeing themselves, and Lilah is all over Lindsey about Dru and Darla. She's afraid they will reappear suddenly and muck everything up. Lindsey tells her to chill, and that what will be will be. Lindsey comes home, and lo, Darla is on his sofa recuperating from her full-body combustion. He doesn't mention at any time that she shouldn't have stood in a puddle of gasoline; his deathwish is not that strong. Lindsey displays his still smoldering affection for Darla by bringing her dinner (the bottled variety), and they discuss how he saved her from the sewer. He traipses off to shower, and Darla makes faces at his admission that work makes him feel dirty. We are all to make note that Lindsey's morals seem to be exerting themselves again for some reason. When he's out of sight, she pilfers through his briefcase. Cut to the 75 year review. Angel busts in with Lilah as his prisoner. We soon see that Darla has gotten into the building. Angel and Darla fight. Lindsey punches Lilah. Angel sends the Senior Partner back to where ever he lives most of the time, and Lindsey escorts Darla out of the room. Angel leaves via the window. Lilah has a bloody lip.

When Lindsey comes home from the emergency meeting after the review ("Epiphany"), he finds Darla back there. He wants to know why she didn't answer the phone when he called. She's standing by the window, and he closes the drapes and tells her it isn't safe for her to be so exposed. Soon, he discovers things are much worse than he had any clue about. Darla tells him she has the demonic summoning ring because Angel gave it to her as payment (for all of you who missed that part, payment a la her old profession, Angel and she got it on). Lindsey is pissed as hell and demands details. Next we find them sitting on the sofa not looking at one another. Lindsey stomps to the closet and gets out his shit-kickers. Angel, post-getting-a-grip, is trying to help Gunn and Wes rescue Cordelia when a primer tinted circa 1960-something, Ford, pickup truck runs him over. (We surmise that sleeping with Darla causes one to turn away from the dark side and step into the metaphorical light. It must have been hell on repeat customers back in the old days.) We see Lindsey at the wheel in a flannel shirt getting ready to make another go at squashing Angel with the truck. Lindsey runs him down a couple more times, stops the truck and gets out bedecked in full-on redneck gear: jeans, the boots and plaid flannel. Wielding a sledgehammer, he goes after Angel. Lindsey commences to beating the information about their liaison out of Angel. Not getting anywhere with this tactic, Lindsey goes to his truck for a stake. Angel apologizes to him and sends Lindsey reeling with a punch. He keeps apologizing as he beats the crap out of Lindsey, and then steals his truck. Sometime the next day, Lindsey finds his truck (which has Oklahoma plates) on the street with a note on the windshield from Angel reading: "Thanks". Lindsey is looking worse for wear. His day gets even better when he walks into his apartment calling out for Darla to find all her belongings gone and her nowhere to be seen.

In "Dead End," we have gone a week without Lindsey and of course as in most episodes we have no idea of how much time has passed. Time enough for him to be completely healed from his ass-whoopin' in "Epiphany" at any rate. We're treated to the sight of Lindsey in bed, and the one and only view we ever get of his now healed stump when he shuts off his alarm clock. We're privy to how Lindsey's morning routine plays out: shaving, dressing, attaching the prosthetic hand and finally opening his closet to reveal an enormous collection of pre-tied ties. (One wonders who tied them and how much per hour that gig pays.) He chooses one and when the camera pans back we see him gazing at his guitar, delegated to the tie closet but obviously too important to ever be given away.

Cue the daily meeting at Evil Central. The new head of the division, who is not Drew Carey's Evil Uncle despite appearances but is indeed Nathan Reed, quizzes Team L (that's Lindsey & Lilah) on the status of an important case and Lindsey manages to piss Lilah off while looking incredibly bored at the same time. He also lets us all know that he's just about done with the whole Angel business ("He's up, he's down, he's good, he's bad. He's a barrel of dead monkeys...") As the meeting breaks up, Lilah looms over Lindsey and basically tells him he can go screw himself (oh, but she chooses a much more to the point phrasing which sadly gets cut off, this being the WB and not Showtime). Nathan intervenes by calling Lindsey to his office and the smirk Lilah gets from him is priceless. She stands there fretting as we see Nathan and Lindsey conferencing. Inside of Nathan's office however the talk is more on the level of Lindsey getting a grip. Literally, as we find out in the next scene. Nathan informs Lindsey that he's cleared his calendar for the day and made him an appointment at this little place he knows. If this were a Dracula movie, we'd have a crash of thunder at that point, just to let us know that something is about to happen. But this is Angel, so we get the blurry transition instead.

Turns out that good ol' Nathan has secured a brand new hand for Lindsey. OK, they had to take it from someone else, but a hand's a hand and Lindsey is drugged up before he can ask too many questions. Make note here that we see the operation from Lindsey's somewhat blurry viewpoint. What, they can't afford general anesthesia? At any rate, we hear the doc noting his progress and calling for the Pokla demon. When it finally arrives, shrouded like the Grim Reaper, it sprinkles magic demon dust over Lin's newly attached hand and the Frankenstein stitches fade away to a neat little red scar. The doc says to ship him out and we're apparently done with the surgery portion of the evening.

Next morning, same shot of Lindsey in bed. The man never changes position when he sleeps? Anyway, the alarm goes off he wakes up and does some deep thinking about both his hands, flexing the new one to be sure it's working. We get the same shot of the alarm clock being turned off, this time with the new hand. Again with the routine, although when he's in the bathroom he takes a moment to appreciate the joy that is splashing your face with water. Oh yes, it's the little things that make you happiest. Speaking of, he hauls out the guitar and sits on his bed and strums a little. Not that he looks happy about it, mind you. He still wears that little frown of anger that seems to be his most prominent expression. When we see him in the office later that morning however, he's all smiles as he's shaking hands with various other Evil Lawyers who no doubt are congratulating him on his amazing recovery. Or maybe on the way he managed to regenerate a limb overnight. Either way, Lilah is not amused and lets him know it. Nathan brings up the newest client and Team L is off to work. In the conference room, the client rambles on about how it's not his fault all these people died from eating his poisoned candy, blah blah blah. Lilah assures him that should it even go to trial, the jury will be well under control of Evil Incorporated. Meanwhile Lindsey has been taking notes and comes up with a clever scheme to get the client out from under the mantle of responsibility. As the client expresses his pleasure at the way Lin's twisted little mind works, Lindsey notices something odd about his notes. Instead of the usual scrawl of doublespeak one would assume a lawyer writes in meetings, his new hand has decided to let him know how it feels about the whole thing. The Hand (and we can call it that for now, since it's acting on its own for the moment) is mad as hell and not going to take this anymore. Lindsey freaks and leaves the meeting, heading home to his apartment to conduct a little experiment in how to make the Hand write some more fun things. He sits at the desk and holds a pen. Nothing. He pokes the Hand with his other hand. Nothing. Never big on subtlety, he decides now is the time to poke it with sharp implements and jabs it repeatedly with a letter opener, drawing blood. The Hand is acting like the singing frog from the Bugs Bunny cartoon, though, and it's not performing on demand. What's a frustrated young lawyer with a guitar to do? You guessed it. Time to see the Host.

Actually it's rather nice to see someone perform other than the Host who can actually sing. Lindsey sings about LA and being cold and other things that we don't get to hear about because Angel and Company arrive working on their own missing body parts case and we lose Lindsey's singing time to Angel's snarking about it. Everyone else is duly impressed, especially Cordelia who looks like a major fangirl in the making. The Host lets them all know that Lin was a regular before Angel whacked off "his strummin' hand." When Lindsey finishes, to overdone applause and still wearing that pissed off face we know so well, the Host brings him a huge honkin' glass of his favorite drink which appears to be tequila. The Host informs Lin and Angel that they need to work together on this case. Reactions are pretty much what you'd expect: Angel scoffs, Lindsey threatens to kill him and stomps out of Caritas. So, no encore, which is a shame.

Next we find out that Lin is no ordinary lawyer. No, he's also a hacker of some talent. He breaks into Nathan Reed's office and accesses his computer with ease. (Side note: the family picture on Nathan's desk is one of the scarier props around. The son looks like he's going to grow up and own a motel on a cliff somewhere and watch pretty girls take showers.) Some random viewing of files gives us first Lilah's stats and then the Fairfield Clinic, home of transplants and Pokla demons. His little fact-finding tour complete, Lindsey leaves and catches Lilah going through the files in another room. She stuffs papers into a purse that contains a bottle of pills and a gun. Lindsey fades into the shadows like a good little ninja-hacker-lawyerboy and leaves.

He heads right on over to the guy who apparently rounds up the volunteers for the clinic, who is in no mood to share information. The only reason this episode doesn't end with a dead lawyer is because Angel has managed to find out the guy's address as well and distracts him with the time honored method of throwing something and running away. When the guy sticks his head out the window (brilliant move on his part, I have to admit) Angel grabs him by the neck, allowing Lindsey to break free, grab the guy's gun, and have a really entertaining temper tantrum. There's enough banter there to fuel endless speculations, and then finally Angel vamps out and the guy spills his guts. Off go Angel and Lindsey in the Angelmobile, giving Angel lots of time to tell Lindsey that he's young and healthy (and attractive, although that remains in the subtext) and yet he seems so unhappy. (Hello pot, this is kettle.) Lindsey basically tells Angel to stop trying to convert him and that he's not in the mood to share. They arrive at their destination, a travel agency and Angel hops out of the car. Pops the trunks and grabs the same guy from the apartment to check their accuracy, then stuffs him back in the trunk and grabs a nice big ax. They approach the storefront, Lindsey says his talent for hacking into security systems is not much use without a laptop and Angel solves the whole problem by smashing the door and suggesting Lindsey work off a little aggression the old fashioned way - kicking ass.

They find their way to the basement of the place where Lindsey is confronted with the reality of Evil Inc. Bodies are everywhere in silver canisters that function as life support systems and most of them are missing various appendages. Angel points out the donor for Lindsey's hand. (Side note: there is no way this guy donated that hand, people. He's hairy as an ape right down to the knuckles on his remaining hand, bad choice of casting. Yes, yes, it's not for real but please let me suspend my disbelief with less effort.) The donor apparently worked with Lindsey in the mailroom at Evil Inc. at some time in the very distant past. New factoid there that we never knew before, Lindsey McDonald - mailroom clerk. Donorboy begs for death and Lindsey, finally knowing now whom The Hand has been asking him to kill, disconnects the life support tubes and watches Donorboy die. Cue another temper tantrum wherein things get broken, and they are off and running, saving the whole people and supposedly letting the others finally die when Angel blows up the building.

Next day, we're back to the boardroom at Evil Inc. It's time for the final review for the position and Team L sits together and waits for the announcement. Lindsey looks slightly less angry than usual. Perhaps it's because he got to break things. Perhaps it's because the Hand has stopped having independent thoughts. Perhaps he spent the night with Angel -- but I digress. Nathan begins the talk that will let us know that Lilah is the one being cut. She freaks and makes a grab for her purse. Lindsey stops her, and begins the highlight of the episode - The Evil Hand Rant. During which he manages to insult the entire body of Special Project Lawyers, disarm the guard and shoot him in the foot, let a whole lotta Oklahoma show in his voice, shoot up the very expensive items in the board room, utter the beloved line "Stop it, Evil Hand, stop it!", reveal that Lilah holds enough paperwork on them all to make them the Senior Partners next meal, and quit Evil Inc. That's a lot for one formerly evil lawyerboy to squeeze into 5 minutes or so, but he manages nicely. Lilah gets the promotion, Lindsey gets to walk out and the Evil Hand gets to know the feel of Lilah's ass before the scene is over. All in all, a meeting just packed with excitement, even by Evil Inc's standards.

The tearful goodbye scene never really happens. What we do get are lots of Angel and Lindsey exchanging smirks and commentary that make them look like old lovers who had a breakup that neither one has gotten over yet. Lindsey leaves for parts unknown after telling Angel the key to beating Evil Inc, and Angel warning Lindsey not to come back. If there were any more subtext in that scene it would need a little flashing banner warning viewers about it. So our favorite son drives off in his still battered Ford pickup, complete with a DorkAngel hand lettered sign proclaiming "Cops Suck."

Speculate at will, people. And be sure to thank Joss and David G. for fulfilling the subtext need.