Lindsey and Angel: reflecting masculinity

Wolfram & Hart lawyer, Lindsey McDonald is the only character who appears in the first and last episodes of Angel apart from its title character, and his long-term development makes him an interesting parallel to Angel, as this paper explores. While vampires like Angel and Spike are sired, Lindsey is self-made and his character is reinvented more than once. While Lindsey is introduced as a professional, the focus soon shifts to his body and the physical, something that allows his character to more effectively shadow, or reflect, Angel. Throughout, the ongoing homoeroticism of this antagonistic relationship is matched with superficial heterosexuality and this adds further complexity to their respective versions of masculinity. Lindsey and Angel constantly function as reflections of each other, and of the ways masculinity, as well as characters, are reinvented by the show