Lindsey McDonald
Lindsey McDonald is a
fictional character from the
American television series Angel. He first appeared in the series pilot, "
City Of", and featured prominently in the story arcs of seasons one, two, and five. He is portrayed by
American actor Christian Kane.
Angel Season One
Born into a dirt-poor
dysfunctional family in
Oklahoma, Lindsey worked hard to overcome his upbringing. While studying at Hastings College, he was recruited for the corrupt corporation,
Wolfram & Hart. Starting in the mailroom, Lindsey quickly worked his way up, becoming one of Wolfram & Hart's most valued lawyers.
His good looks are only surpassed by his
ambition. Lindsey legally represented many a
vampire and
demon, as well as evil humans. He meets Angel in the first episode in the series, when Angel kills one of his vampire clients. Since then, Lindsey has worked to kill Angel, and was the co-architect of a plan to hire renegade slayer
Faith to do just that. This was not particularly well received by his superiors, who wanted to keep Angel alive for their own reasons.
Lindsey experienced a crisis of conscience later, when Wolfram & Hart were planning to kill a small group of innocent children. Angel and Lindsey struck up a temporary alliance and were able to save the youngsters.
Lindsey was poised to leave Wolfram & Hart, but was wooed by a promotion and stayed, becoming an integral player in the plan to resurrect
Darla. During the ensuing battle, Angel chopped off Lindsey's hand, forcing Lindsey to use an artificial one. This only further cemented his
hatred for Angel.
Angel Season Two
When Darla was returned to life, Lindsey became enamored with the now human Darla, and was present when she was re-sired by
Drusilla. His infatuation did not end when Darla became a vampire, and he was one of only two spared by Darla and Drusilla in the
wine cellar massacre. With only him and Lilah left of the Special Projects Team, their rivalry reached an all-time high as the two started a power struggle for the vice-presidency of the team.
Darla manipulated Lindsey's feelings, which she never reciprocated, to gain his help after Angel had set Drusilla and her on fire. Darla stayed at Lindsey's house, manipulating him to gain insight into Wolfram and Hart and attempted to steal a ring from the Senior Partners. Angel was at the meeting and beat her to the ring and she was almost staked by Wolfram and Hart guards but Lindsey saved her. After finding Darla with the ring he figured out that Darla has slept with Angel.
Lindsey responded by brutally beating Angel with a sledgehammer, as well as hitting the vampire with his truck a few times, demanding to know what happened with Darla. Angel eventually gained the upper hand, smashed Lindsay's artificial hand, and stole his truck. Returning to his apartment, Lindsey finds that Darla had left town, taking all her clothes with her. Lindsey was left alone, beaten up both physically and emotionally.
Consequently, his work at the firm suffered, but he was still in a race with Lilah for the promotion. Hoping that his performance would pick up again with the return of his hand, his superiors arranged for him to receive a mystical transplant. But the new hand acted up, writing 'kill' whenever Lindsey didn't concentrate. Fearing the hand was evil, Lindsey went to Caritas and sang for
the Host, revealing that he used to be a regular customer and musician at Caritas until he lost his hand.
Lorne set him and Angel on the path that would end with the two working together to discover a Wolfram & Hart facility that specialized in unwilling limb-donors. Among them was the donor of Lindsey's hand, an old friend of his from his mailroom days. After figuring out that his hand wasn't evil but rather
suicidal, Lindsey pulled the plug on his friend and destroyed the facility, while saving those that could still be saved. It was then that Lindsey decided to leave the firm permanently.
In a last confrontation between Angel and Lindsey, the two buried the hatchet, and Lindsey warned him of the games Wolfram & Hart was trying to play. Lindsey left L.A. and went on a soul-searching trip, including, amongst other places,
Nepal. He did not reappear for two seasons.
Angel Season Five
In season five, Lindsey finally returned to
Los Angeles, when he learned that Angel had taken over the L.A. division of Wolfram & Hart. Although it seemed that Lindsey and Angel had buried the hatchet, Lindsey was unable to cope with the fact that Angel had gotten so easily the job that Lindsey had fought so hard for. His hatred for Angel returned in full force.
Rune tattoos covered his body, mystically hiding his presence from the
Senior Partners. At some unrevealed point, he began a relationship with
Eve for whom he showed true affection. Together, they manipulated events so that Spike, not Angel, would prove (or at least appear to the Senior Partners) to be the ensouled vampire foretold in the Scrolls of Aberjian, the one who would have a crucial impact in the Apocalypse and fulfill the
Shanshu Prophecy. He hoped that once the Senior Partners realized the folly of attempting to seduce Angel to their cause, that he would be stripped of his position at Wolfram & Hart, leaving a power vacuum which Lindsey could fill, gaining a measure of revenge on Angel.
The seeds of this plot were planted in season 4 of the series when Angel was given the Amulet which Spike eventually used to destroy the Hellmouth. Deposited, incorporeal, in Wolfram & Hart and unable to leave the city limits, Spike gradually grew attached to the city and reconsidered his initial intention to seek out Buffy in Europe.
Lindsey then initiated the next stage of his plan, making Spike corporeal again via what was likely a spell sent in a package to Spike at Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey sought out Spike under the assumed identity of a drifter named Doyle, closely paralleling the initial encounters between Angel and the real
Doyle. Claiming to receive visions from the
Powers That Be, he gained Spike's cooperation and trust.
Lindsey and Eve contrived a situation where Spike saved Angel from a demonic parasite (placed on an unconscious Angel by Eve), which simultaneously disheartened Angel, galvanized Spike and added weight and veracity to the claims made by 'Doyle'/Lindsey. Although the 'mind numbing' visions that Lindsey reported were non-existent, the events described (whether revealed to Lindsey through mundane or arcane means) were true, and for a time Spike did appear the far more likely candidate to fulfill the Shanshu prophecy.
However, when
Cordelia seemingly returned to life, it threw a monkey wrench in Lindsey's plans. He sent Spike to kill her, not expecting him to succeed, but it "was worth a shot". Meanwhile, he infiltrated Wolfram & Hart. When informed by Eve that Spike had failed, Lindsey activated the Senior Partners' program meant to kill Angel if he turned against them. The plan was averted though as Spike, Cordelia and Angel were able to uncover Lindsey's actions.
Angel and Lindsey faced off in the chamber where the 'contingency plan' was stored. The pair fought on a rising container, that held the creature meant to kill Angel while Cordelia tried to stop the process. Lindsey displayed the new abilities he had learned on his journeys, enabling him to keep up with Angel, but Angel finally defeated Lindsey, and his comrades were able to dissolve the tattoos that protected Lindsey from the Senior Partners' wrath.
Lindsey was incarcerated in a hell
dimension which emulated suburbia, complete with a wife and son. Time operated in a loop; each day he had his heart cut out by a demon hiding in the house's basement, reminiscent of the myth of
Prometheus. He was eventually rescued by Angel, Spike and
Charles Gunn for information they needed. They were only able to leave by the sacrifice of Gunn, who remained behind to take Lindsey's place.
Lindsey revealed that his plot to kill Angel was also meant to make him a member of the
Circle of the Black Thorn, the Senior Partners' instrument on this plane of existence, a secret society devoted to maintaining man's inhumanity to man in exchange for power. Lindsey noted that while Angel was sidetracked at Wolfram & Hart, the Apocalypse was already underway and Angel and his team were becoming more and more corrupt by the day.
Lindsey and Angel allied once more in an effort to stop the Circle. The two agreed to fight the upcoming battle together and at the end, resolve their differences, maybe even allowing Lindsey to take a powerful position at Wolfram & Hart as 'the devil they knew'. At least that was the plan.
Lindsey destroyed the Sahrvin demon clan with
Lorne's assistance as planned. However, Angel believed that Lindsey could never be trusted and that he would never be a force for good. Consequently, Angel secretly instructed Lorne to assassinate Lindsey after the Sahrvin were defeated. Taking two
bullets in the chest, a stunned Lindsey staggered back and slumped down by a wall, outraged and humiliated at being killed by (in his own words) a flunky, rather than his nemesis, Angel.
Thanks to an unrevealed mystical process, Lindsey became gifted with strength, speed and endurance on a par with Angel as well as rune tattoos meant to hide him from all known surveillance methods other than the naked eye. He was also capable of transmuting a small blade into a sword and was an adept swordsman. In addition, he had telekinetic abilities.
*Lindsey became the only character besides
Angel himself to appear in both the first and last episodes of the five year series.
*Christian Kane originally auditioned for the role of
Riley Finn*In "
You're Welcome", Lindsey calls Angel a corporate
puppet. Later in the season, Angel does literally become a puppet in the episode "
Smile Time."
*Christian Kane lends his real singing voice to the episode "
Dead End", causing a humorous and seemingly
jealous reaction by the Angel character in
Caritas.
*Though Christian Kane is a guitar player as well as a singer, it is his
KANE bandmate
Steve Carlson that lends his hands for the performance shots during the
Caritas scene in "
Dead End."
*The
fleur-de-lis bracelet that Lindsey wears throughout his time on the show is actually a bracelet that Christian Kane wears to remind him of his mother who is from
New Orleans
