We meet two couples. Gay couple Walter and his Jewish boyfriend Louis have been together for four years. When Walter sees first signs of lesions on his skin depicting that he must have contracted AIDS, his partner Louis spends no time in running away in opposite direction, with no intention of being a maid to his dying boyfriend. IN Brooklyn, we meet a straight couple. Joe, the clean-cut Mormon chief clerk to an appeals court judge has been offered a big job with the attorney general’s office in Washington, D.C., by the ultra-connected Cohn. His wife is always high on pills getting no love from Joe. Interestingly, both Pitt and Cohn are in the closet: Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and image. As the chance encounter between Joe and Louis leads to a possible connection and relationship, their respective partners float off into criss-crossed fantasy worlds. Things take a turn when Cohn is diagnosed with AIDS and is admitted to hospital. Threatening to sue doctors if anyone even heard of this news. He is taken care of by gay nurse Belize who also is close friend to Walter and hates Louis' guts for leaving Walter at such a stage. When Joe's religious mother shows up during all this turmoil, she becomes an interesting anchor to all these individuals. The rest of the series shows us the events that happen with the inter connected life of these individuals.
It takes a while to get used to the vey unusual narrative style of this series. Yes there is a primary story thats going on, but the very theatrical nature of the whole thing along with huge elements of fantasy and angels, makes it very different from anything we had seen when it came out and anything even we have seen so far. When Walter has high fever, he dreams of lengthy scenes of angel. He is also visited by ghosts of two distant ancestors, all this while being support by his nurse gay best friend Belize (in a smashing performance by the lead actor, who deserves all the awards he eventually won for this role). At the same time, the elite Cohn, dealing with his disease and reaching almost dementia like stage he feels being visited by Ethel Rosenberg. In the last three episodes, we see mix of Joe coming out, the emerging budding relationship between Louis and Joe and Louis realizing maybe leaving Walter at a stage when he needed him the most was not a nice thing to do after all. We see Belize, who represents the kind of ultra-effeminate gay Cohn most despises, becomes night nurse to the man who stands for all he most detests about America. Some of the best scenes in this series are between Belize and Cohn, two powerhouse performers exchanging insults to each other but also creating a mutually beneficial relationship. A similar unexpected encounter happens between Walter and Joe's mother, a graceful Meryl Streep who has played 4 different roles in the series.
Of course there are overturns of political changes happening in the country. A 1990-set coda features a gathering of four veterans of the foregoing wars — Walter, Louis, Belize and Joe's mother — kibitzing about Gorbachev and Perestroika (no mention of Reagan’s role here) and hitting some AIDS-specific chords that come across as the only overly didactic notes in the entire piece. All the same, brief sequence allows the viewer a chance to finally exhale after six hours of tumult and exhilaration. Splendid actors like Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrik Wilson etc give the much needed gravitas to a series like this. We also have Emma Thompson playing dual role of nurse and the angel. With a mad swirl of irony, intense drama, outrageous humor, and unexpected twists and turns, ANGELS IN America is almost sure to hold your attention. I am not sure to be honest, as to how much of the younger generation will be able to connect with the series. It is not a straight forward story and takes time to sink in. It takes patience and commitment and struggle to understand and appreciate the vision of the makers. Truth be told, I myself was uneasy at many places where I would think maybe this scene is going a bit overboard (for example when Walter sees two ghosts). That scene goes on forever. But I do understand where the makers were coming from and appreciate their vision.
The show is inspiring, touching, educating, sensitive and beautifull. You may not appreciate everything about it but it does talk about of the cruelest chapters of gay people's life around the whole AIDS pandemic. There is no way you can ignore this. (8.5/10)
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