Ever since she joined the series in the second season, Cheryl Ladd has quickly become my favorite of the Angels, not just because she is extremely good-looking, and not just because her character Kris is so sweet and good-natured, but also because Ladd is an underrated actress who can pull off the comic and the dramatic aspects of her role equally well; for anyone doubting this, I particularly recommend the season 2 episodes "Angel Baby" and "The Sandcastle Murders". "Angel On My Mind" provides further proof. Here, she is convincingly lost and vulnerable after a violent incident leaves her with temporary amnesia; however, her detective instincts are still highly alert, as three guys trying to steal her purse find out - the hard way! Kelly, Sabrina and Bosley also do some of their best detective work, as they try to track her down before a murderer - who knows she witnessed one of his crimes - does. In fact, if there is one weak point about this otherwise standout episode, it's the motivation of the murderer - OK, he's ill-tempered, but killing a restaurant owner with several blows to the head just because they had an argument about the service? *** out of 4.
6 Reviews
good acting, ludicrous storyline
riku-281605 March 2020
There is a good and bad in this episode. The worst being that you could drive a truck through the plot holes in this story. Kris forgets her memory but has her handbag with her, wallet to pay for taxi rides but forgets her name!! The handbag is obviously needed because of the need to pull out her gun later in the story. And I laughed out loud when the other angels wonder where Kris is when seconds before there is a stock shot of the Townsend office with her unmistakable white car parked outside.
On the other hand the acting by Cheryl Ladd does something to redeem this otherwise poor story.
Amnesia Angel
adamcshelby16 August 2021
This was a somewhat ponderous episode. It was rather slow moving with some weak character motivation, particularly from the villain. Michael Whitney plays a violent man named Ted Burton. While Bosley and the Angels are having a lunch at a Mexican restaurant, Burton's character violently attacks the restaurant owner in the back parking lot, eventually robbing and murdering him.
Kris leaves the lunch a little early and exits out to the back where her car is parked. It's there she witnesses Burton and tries to stop him but he backs his car up right into her, sending her flying into trash bins. The end result is that Kris suffers from a case of temporary amnesia.
She leaves the restaurant and ends up almost getting run over by a taxi. Famous little person Billy Barty plays a newspaper seller who witnesses it. Kris takes the taxi and it eventually drops her off at the beach, which is of course where she lives, so it's probably why she was drawn there.
When Kris doesn't show up to the office the next day the other Angels are immediately worried and begin the process of tracking her down.
While wandering the beach Kris finds trouble, first from a group of three vagrants who seek to rob her, then she runs into a homeless man in a tent who she ends up having a conversation with. Soon Kris is invited to join a group of people playing volleyball and having a cookout. Star Trek the Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes plays one of the group, and he shows genuine concern for her well-being, earning the wrath of his jealous girlfriend. Upon first viewing I did not even recognize Frakes as he was without his beard.
Meanwhile the Angels investigate the Mexican restaurant and start asking questions, and inexplicably Ted Burton returns to the scene of the crime. Michael Whitney as Burton is perfect as a villain, he's large and menacing and really seems like a sociopath. But his motivation for returning to the scene of the crime makes no sense. He even ingratiates himself with Sabrina and Kelly and gives them his real name to help them find Kris. It's all a ruse of course, because Burton wants to kill Kris for witnessing his crime. A crime he's already gotten away with and almost certainly would have had he not foolishly returned to the restaurant.
One other guest star of note is Jordan Ladd, Cheryl's two or three-year-old daughter, who plays Kris Monroe as a youngster in her own flashbacks. There are several scenes of Kris recalling her idealic childhood playing on the beach. My only criticism is there was no scene including her sister Jill.
A missed opportunity if you ask me, for the sake of continuity.
Overall the episode was a little slow but it does well to establish the great friendship among the Angels, that they genuinely care for each other.
Kris leaves the lunch a little early and exits out to the back where her car is parked. It's there she witnesses Burton and tries to stop him but he backs his car up right into her, sending her flying into trash bins. The end result is that Kris suffers from a case of temporary amnesia.
She leaves the restaurant and ends up almost getting run over by a taxi. Famous little person Billy Barty plays a newspaper seller who witnesses it. Kris takes the taxi and it eventually drops her off at the beach, which is of course where she lives, so it's probably why she was drawn there.
When Kris doesn't show up to the office the next day the other Angels are immediately worried and begin the process of tracking her down.
While wandering the beach Kris finds trouble, first from a group of three vagrants who seek to rob her, then she runs into a homeless man in a tent who she ends up having a conversation with. Soon Kris is invited to join a group of people playing volleyball and having a cookout. Star Trek the Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes plays one of the group, and he shows genuine concern for her well-being, earning the wrath of his jealous girlfriend. Upon first viewing I did not even recognize Frakes as he was without his beard.
Meanwhile the Angels investigate the Mexican restaurant and start asking questions, and inexplicably Ted Burton returns to the scene of the crime. Michael Whitney as Burton is perfect as a villain, he's large and menacing and really seems like a sociopath. But his motivation for returning to the scene of the crime makes no sense. He even ingratiates himself with Sabrina and Kelly and gives them his real name to help them find Kris. It's all a ruse of course, because Burton wants to kill Kris for witnessing his crime. A crime he's already gotten away with and almost certainly would have had he not foolishly returned to the restaurant.
One other guest star of note is Jordan Ladd, Cheryl's two or three-year-old daughter, who plays Kris Monroe as a youngster in her own flashbacks. There are several scenes of Kris recalling her idealic childhood playing on the beach. My only criticism is there was no scene including her sister Jill.
A missed opportunity if you ask me, for the sake of continuity.
Overall the episode was a little slow but it does well to establish the great friendship among the Angels, that they genuinely care for each other.
darkness and William Riker
robrosenberger20 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Are you stunned that i'm not caterwauling like a harpy because Jonathan Frakes is in this episode? I certainly am. The reason i'm not shrieking is because this one is so richly excellent, it actually outshines Will Riker of STAR TREK. This one's a stunner, for two reasons. It achieves a four-star rating without causing a spike in the sexiness meter, something no other four-star entry has done. And there is a moment of action that is so sudden and realistic, you're completely taken by surprise. Classic ANGEL action usually makes you howl with laughter, not scream in alarm. Kris witnesses a murder, and the murderer creams her with his car. She comes to, not knowing who she is, and wanders off. She ends up lost and wandering on the beach. The best ANGEL episodes occasionally had a dark quality. Three shiftless men stalk her on a deserted stretch, and the looks in their eyes can only end in assault and rape. There's a poignant scene with an old drunk who befriends her. Nine years before NEXT GENERATION, Frakes is a beach partier who feeds Kris (Cheryl looks so much like his eventual wife, Genie Francis of GENERAL HOSPITAL, it's downright eerie). The other Angels search for her, not knowing that the killer is also searching. Along the way, as she recovers her identity, there is genuine poignance as she contrasts the innocence of her childhood with her present life, full of "angry people". In the final scene, you can tell she's still shaken, and will be for a long time. All that, and Billy Barty as a newspaper salesman.
Memories May Be Beautiful
sambase-3877328 February 2023
When Kris gets hit by a car she loses her memory and heads for the beach. All she can remember is that she is supposed to meet somebody at the beach, but she doesn't know who. She thinks it must be "friends", but that's all that comes to mind. In actuality she's supposed to meet her partners who are now looking for her and are very worried about her.
This episode is about losing your way in life and about wishing you could go back to your childhood. Something I can relate to oh so well. So I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for Kris in this episode. It's a very tender episode with some very touching moments.
This episode is about losing your way in life and about wishing you could go back to your childhood. Something I can relate to oh so well. So I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for Kris in this episode. It's a very tender episode with some very touching moments.
Could've been better
LaverneandShirleysucks6 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The guy who wants to off Kris because she witnessed him kill someone, meets Sabrina, Kelly and Bosley at the crime scene the next day where he learns that they're detectives trying to find their fellow detective---and he offers them his full real name before leaving. No criminal in his right mind would do that lol. Even a stupid one.
It was just a ridiculous plot hole so his name can come up later on in the episode by Charlie and the girls say "Oh we met that guy!" and they can catch him. He surely would've given them a phony name especially after learning they were detectives!
And Kris has amnesia but has $50 in her purse to pay the taxi which means her wallet is in there too, but she doesn't think to look inside for her identification?! I know she's blond but come on! A huge rewrite of this script could've made it a much better episode.
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