Pink Clouds – As the finale of Angelyne begins, Rachel and Leah run around and play together. Someone tells Rachel not to go in there before she begins knocking on the door. Rick Krause (Hamish Linklater) knocks on the door and calls Angelyne’s name. Angelyne (Emmy Rossum) continues telling herself that she is an icon. She tells Rick to read the article. He begins reading it to her. Jeff Glaser (Alex Karpovsky) admits he was curious about Angelyne although it can be destabilizing for the person you’re writing about. They sometimes think you hate them or love them, but it is just journalistic scrutiny. Ang says she was riveted by Jeff’s story. As for Max Allen (Lukas Gage), he has no clue who Jeff’s source was. He admits he was pretty bummed about it.
When Jeff meets with his source, the man gives him a folder that will tell the true story of Angelyne. He explains that he synthesized it from a global network of public databases. The man argues it isn’t illegal since he believes she forfeited any claim to privacy when she ran for Governor of California. We jump back to 1967 as Danny (Michael Angarano) asks Rachel why she didn’t wake him. He is in a hurry to get back because they missed curfew already. Once they reach Ang’s house, Danny offers to go inside with her, but she thinks that would make things worse. In the present, Danny says he thinks about the year before they were married and she was still living at her father’s house. At first, he didn’t know why she didn’t want him to come inside.
Rick complains that he doesn’t want to read this. He finds out that Rachel was born in Poland as the daughter of Polish Jews during World War II. They went to Israel before boarding a ship to New York. On the ship in 1959, Leah calls for Rachel to come because the show is about to start. While they hide nearby, Eli (Ian Fisher) and Bronis (Hani Furstenberg) talk about turning down the reparations on principle. Eli argues it is their money that the Germans stole so they shouldn’t thank them. A woman goes on the stage in a pink dress to sing for the guests. Everyone seems mesmerized by the singer (Alisha Soper) until Eli notices his daughters and sends them away. Later that night, Rachel tells her sister what it is like in America and how the air smells like suntan lotion.
Jeff says people weren’t talking about the Holocaust in the 50s, 60s, and 70s because it was too big and awful. Children of the Holocaust were running from that pain while the Goldman family entered a realm of complete fantasy. He doesn’t think it is hard to see how Angelyne came up with the idea to reinvent herself. In 1963, Rachel watches television to learn how to be an attractive person. They look at photos. When a car arrives outside, they rush to hide the photos so their father won’t see them. Eli enters and learns that their mother left him food. They claim she is at a doctor’s appointment. He calls for the girls when he finds one of the pictures on the ground. Their mother enters before he can do anything and offers him a drink. Later, her mother helps Rachel with her dress and refuses to make it any shorter.
Her mother says pink is a good color for her. Rachel asks her mother about the photos her father keeps under the desk. She questions why he keeps them if he wants nobody to see them. Her mother says he wants to know where they are. Rachel wants to hear how they found each other again. Bronis says it happened in the camp after the war. They both wanted a family and nothing else mattered at the time. Rachel asks what would happen if she wanted something different. Her mother believes she’ll find it easier if she wants the same things as men. Her mother’s back begins hurting as she reveals she is seeing someone next week, but insists it is nothing. Later, she goes to the hospital to show her mother the pink dress is going to wear at the talent show.
She made the dress herself so she can portray Marilyn. Her mother tells her she will look just like her. Rachel says the talent show isn’t until next month and parents can come, but her mother believes she might have to stay a little longer than they’d hoped. Rachel begins crying while saying she doesn’t want to do the talent show anyway. Her mother claims that is nonsense and she will do it. She will be wonderful. Her mother passes away. At home, Eli forces Rachel to leave her mother’s room. He tells her to sit down and his new wife reminds her that she heard her father. Rick reads that Eli remarried another Holocaust survivor and divorcee named Leora when Rachel was 15.
Goldman acquired two younger stepsiblings. Angelyne claims her parents died when she was little before she was adopted. Her adoptive parents went to live in another state so she lost touch with them. In the past, Rachel sees her family watching I Dream of Jeannie before she props a chair against her door and sneaks out of the windows. Danny says she depended on him a lot because she didn’t have a car. As they walk through a cemetery, Rachel tells him that these people don’t mind because they’re free of all this nonsense. She leads him over to Jayne Mansfield. They sit down and Rachel tells him they’re going to meditate. Rachel asks Danny whether he has ever felt trapped before suggesting meditation is a solution.
Danny tells her that she can talk to him about anything. Rachel confesses she wishes she never had to go back to that house. Danny wishes the same. Rachel suggests they get into the car, drive, sleep on the beach, and never look back. Danny wonders if he should start high school first. Rachel tells him to forget school because it is only good for teaching you to think like other people. They discuss what they want to do with the rest of their lives as Danny admits he just wants to spend it with her. In the morning, Danny wakes up and realizes they’ve missed their curfew. She teases him before climbing back through her bedroom window. When she makes it through, Eli and Leora (Aleksandra Kaniak) are waiting for her. Rachel apologizes and says they fell asleep.
Leora locks her in the closet. Angelyne says emotions are our tortures and the things that hurt people the most. When you feel trapped, write your name on a piece of paper and light it on fire. Watch it disappear. Danny says they got married to get Rachel away from them, but it might not have been far enough. They get married in 1968 and would be divorced within a year. Angelyne explains why she thinks marriage should be a 24-hour agreement. Danny says the marriage at least got her out of that house since she moved in with his family in Beverly Hills. She seemed happy so he’ll never know why she decided to leave. One night, they return to her family’s house because they’re having Leah’s birthday dinner. Rachel tells Danny she knows what this is so she isn’t going in there.
Danny just wants to understand why she left him. He asks whether it was this night when she and her father argued. Danny remembers her father called her a b!tch or something like that. He should’ve told Eli that he couldn’t talk to her like that. Rachel says it wasn’t one thing or another. Danny remembers Eli going to hit her. He didn’t know how to throw a punch so he grabbed the lamp. He told Eli not to hit her because he won’t stand for it before they just walked out. Danny believes he protected her. Rachel gets out of the car and walks away from him. Danny can’t remember the last time he saw Rachel. He claims she just turns the world off and goes into one of her fantasies. He tried to look for her and even her sister didn’t know where she was. She just disappeared.
Angelyne says all religions basically come from the same idea that involves a struggle between dark and light. Since she goes for the light, that is why she wins in the end. Rachel finds a hidden room with a ladder that she begins climbing. She finds herself on a pink planet with a door to apartment number four. Rachel looks around the apartment until she finds a room called the control room. When she opens the door, Angelyne turns around and says “I am you is me is we”. They’re in a place of painless existence. Angelyne tells her to sit there and she’ll know what to do.
She watches videos of Angelyne’s adventures while Angelyne goes outside and gets into a small spaceship. She sets the destination to 1981 before heading to Earth. Angelyne says they might think they’ve solved some kind of mystery, but that doesn’t mean there is no mystery left. She still has mystique and is still a sex goddess. That is never going to change because that is just who she is. Jeff believes it is a beautiful tragedy that people are meant to have their fantasies taken away. LA is more complicated and darker than people give it credit for and Angelyne is the same. Rick tells Angelyne that he has talked to their attorneys and he won’t get away with this.
Angelyne begins getting calls from NPR for an interview and people sympathizing with her. She says the mystery will never be solved and that is just the way it is. Then, we see Angelyne peddling merchandise from the back of her vehicle. Max says what Angelyne said about The Hollywood Reporter story and for this is likely as close as he’ll get to her commenting on his. She says part of being famous is coming with a set of rumors. Angelyne is going to write her own story. Cory Hunt (Philip Ettinger) says she is happy selling out of her car because she wants the adulation. He thinks it is dangerous for Angelyne to give strangers rides in her car for money. Danny can’t say what made her become Angelyne although it is a persona that must’ve suited her. Bud Griffin (Antjuan Tobias) says Angelyne the character is Angelyne the person.
Angelyne lands her spaceship near one of the billboards and replaces it with her billboard. She doesn’t want to deny it all so she doesn’t get the sympathy and empathy that the article gave her. She admits she did have a lot of challenges trying to dig Angelyne out of who she was supposedly born as. Ang claims all the details are not true. However, what she represents to Hollywood is who she is inside and out. Once she claims she is for real, she yells at Rachel to see how that was. In the spaceship, all the screens turn off. They turn back on and we see old clips of Angelyne.
Angelyne Review
The final episode of Angelyne was somewhat of a mess that left many questions, but this was always going to be a difficult series to end. A satisfactory ending was probably never in the cards considering Angelyne is still out there doing her thing. It is easy to see why people hated this, but I would argue it wasn’t as bad as most people claimed. While the finale was a bit weak and some episodes were better than others, it was still fun going back in time and learning more about Angelyne’s rise to fame.
This would be a good lead-in to a possible Angelyne documentary if one is ever made. Ultimately, this is a show that people will either enjoy or hate. The finale scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Angelyne are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support Reel Mockery at this link.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
