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Angela Chase

Angela Chase is a fifteen year old female who is a sophomore at Liberty High School. She is the daughter of Graham and Patty Chase. She is the older sister of Danielle Chase. She appears in all 19 episodes and narrates all but two.

Biography[]

Angela has been friends with Sharon Cherski most of her life. She and Sharon were Girl Scouts together and their mothers, Patty Chase and Camille Cherski, have been friends since high school.

Sometime during her sophomore year, Angela befriends Rayanne Marie Graff and "drops" Sharon, spurring Sharon to confront Angela in the girls' bathroom to ask what she did. She cites many changes in Angela's appearance personality, such as her dyed red hair, which Sharon hates, and her sudden disinterest in the yearbook, an elective which she dropped. She claims rumors are circulating about Angela, but it appears to be a ploy out of jealousy.

She has been kissed four times and obsessed with Jordan Catalano.

Despite what her friends may do or say about her personal beliefs, Angela chooses to remain a virgin and does not drink, smoke, or do drugs.

Angela's mother owns a small print shop in Three Rivers that was passed down by her grandparents. Her father, Graham Chase, also works at the shop with Patty for the first half of the series. Angela is often supportive of her father's dream to become a chef and open a restaurant.

See the Timeline for more details.

Relationships[]

Jordan Catalano[]

Jordan is the main love interest of Angela throughout all 19 episodes. Although Jordan was aware how she felt about him, the two only officially dated for one episode.

Angela first encounters Jordan at a house party in the Pilot episode. While watching television in a dark room, she makes small talk with him after she sits next to him on the couch. He sees her again the next night outside of a club as she's being loaded into a police car with Rayanne Marie Graff.

Jordan-Catalano-Being-ignored

Rayanne attempts playing match maker in "Dancing in the Dark" by telling Jordan exaggerated facts about her and asks if he can get her a fake ID. Jordan arrives at Brian Krakow's house to deliver the ID to her and attempts to kiss her twice, but he is rejected both times. After a brief conversation, Jordan asks her to leave his car and drives away. He returns shortly after to apologize but upon encountering Brian sitting outside instead of her, he claims he is looking for Tino and leaves again.

After attempting to kiss her in his car, Angela becomes a main victim of gossip in "Guns and Gossip" when Brian tells Sharon Cherski that Angela and Jordan had sex outside of his house. Jordan approaches her with the idea of having sex, since people think they already did it anyway, but is turned down. Feeling guilty for assuming she's that kind of girl, he tells her that he's decided to tell people he's not interested in her at all so the rumors will stop.

Angela has her first real kiss with Jordan in "Why Jordan Can't Read," which escalates into secret boiler room make-out sessions in "Self-Esteem." The make-out sessions eventually cause her emotional distress after noticing that Jordan ignores her outside of the boiler room. She finally confronts Jordan about his behavior which sparks an argument between the two resulting in him telling her to leave. Jordan later realizes while listening to Mr. Katimski read Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 aloud to the class that he is in love with Angela and he officially asks her to be his girlfriend.

Jordan and Angela only date for one episode, "Pressure." During their brief relationship, Jordan continuously, and unsuccessfully, pressures Angela into having sex with him; first by letting her drive his car and then by sneaking into her house in the middle of the night while her parents are asleep. Jordan meets Angela's father and his future business partner, Hallie Lowenthal, before taking her to a house party so they can have sex. Angela gets cold feet and makes up an excuse to leave so she doesn't have to go through with it. The next day, she tries to explain herself causing Jordan to feel hurt that she lied to him and continued to reject his advances. He then insults her by claiming she's abnormal for not wanting to have sex with him and the two break up.

Angela and jordan

Although they broke up, Jordan and Angela remained close friends. A friendship seemed realistic between them until "Betrayal." Angela claimed to be completely over Jordan and began to make him jealous by getting involved with the school play and talking to Corey Helfrick more. After asking Rayanne if Angela was into Corey more than him, and admitting that she confused him, Jordan drunkenly has sex with Rayanne in his car. Brian unintentionally captures it on videotape and after telling Sharon, word quickly spreads about what happened. When Angela found out it was true, it causes an abrupt end to her friendships with both Jordan and Rayanne.

In the series finale, "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities," Jordan seeks the help of his tutor to win Angela back. After failed attempts to talk to her and apologize, he convinces Brian to write her a love letter. Jordan is forgiven by Angela after she reads the letter and shortly after, he finally meets her mother, Patty Chase. Upon meeting Jordan and hearing his side of what happened between him and Rayanne, Patty gives her blessing for him to date Angela again. The show's finale implies that Angela chooses Jordan over Brian, even though she knows the love letter was actually written by Brian and that he is also in love with her.

Brian Krakow[]

Angela has been living next door to Brian since they were both five years old. Although the two have never shared a romantic relationship, and Angela often expresses annoyance with Brian, he has been in love with her for as long as he can remember. Brian also uses any excuse he can to spark a conversation with Angela just so he can talk to her.

Brian and angela

Angela attends the World Happiness Dance with Brian in "Life of Brian" and although they both had different dates in mind, they do manage to round out the evening on good terms.

Brian feels intense competition and jealousy with Angela's main crush, but he manages to be civil with him once they are paired together as tutoring partners in "Resolutions." After Jordan sleeps with Angela's best friend, Brian resolves to help Jordan write a love letter to Angela. Brian uses his own feelings towards Angela to compose the letter and admits to Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez in the series finale, "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities," that he was the one who wrote the letter. Rickie informs Angela who the real author was and she chooses to confront Brian later that night. After being confronted, Brian decides to lie and say that he didn't write it so Angela could be happy with Jordan, but she knows the real truth. Even knowing that Brian wrote the letter, she still chooses to leave him sitting in front of his house as she goes out for a drive with Jordan.

Corey Helfrick[]

Angela has a very brief exchange with a fellow student named Corey. Although he was initially a love interest of Rickie, Angela decides to explore Corey more after she feels that she is completely over her crush on Jordan Catalano. She and Rickie begin working with Corey behind the scenes for the school play, Our Town, in "Betrayal." She quickly makes Jordan jealous with how much attention she is giving Corey.

After discovering Jordan and Rayanne had sex in "Betrayal," she tries to use Corey to ease her pain and make both of them jealous. After being called out on her behavior by both Rickie and Rayanne, she decides to stop speaking with Corey and focuses her attention back to Jordan.

Friendships[]

Rayanne Marie Graff[]

Rayanne and angela

Rayanne and Angela in "Betrayal."

Angela befriends Rayanne during her sophomore year and the two quickly become close. Despite the initial disapproval and discomfort felt by her mother, Angela continues to be Rayanne's friend even after she overdoses and suffers alcohol poisoning at a house party in "Other People's Mothers." Angela and Rickie save Rayanne's life by calling Angela's mother for help.

Rayanne expresses a lot of desire to be like Angela throughout the series and gets worried about being a major disappointment to Angela. Rayanne also makes a point to continuously stand up and confront Jordan Catalano about his behavior towards Angela so he will treat her better. Two of the most notable confrontations between Rayanne and Jordan take place in "Guns and Gossip" and "Self-Esteem."

Angela was instrumental in opening up a door for Rayanne to be a part of Jordan Catalano's band, The Frozen Embryos, in "On the Wagon."Although Rayanne was only in the band for a matter of days, Angela was the person who spoke to Jordan about giving Rayanne the opportunity.

Angela's friendship with Rayanne abruptly comes to an end after she learns that Rayanne had sex with Jordan Catalano in his car. Although Angela managed to make amends with Jordan, she and Rayanne never reconcile before the series finale despite Rayanne trying repeatedly to earn Angela's friendship back.

Sharon Cherski[]

Angela has been friends with Sharon most of her life. She and Sharon were Girl Scouts together and their mothers, Patty and Camille, have been friends since high school.

Sometime during her sophomore year, Angela befriends Rayanne and "drops" Sharon, spurring Sharon to confront Angela in the girls' bathroom in the Pilot episode to ask what she did. Sharon cites many changes in Angela's appearance personality, such as her dyed red hair, which Sharon hates, and her sudden disinterest in the yearbook, an elective which she unexpectedly drops, and her jealousy spikes throughout the series.

Sharon and Angela

Sharon Cherski and Angela

Tensions rise between Angela and Sharon until "Strangers in the House" when Sharon's father suddenly has a heart attack. Angela's parents, Graham and Patty, offer to allow Sharon to stay at their house until Camille is able to leave the hospital. Angela and Sharon work through their problems and come to a common ground about their differences.

Angela seeks the advice of Sharon in "Pressure" to try and gain insight about sex and relationships. After assuming that Sharon and Kyle broke up because Sharon had decided to remain a virgin, Angela finds out that Sharon had been having sex with Kyle the whole time. Sharon lets Angela borrow a VHS tape about sex and gives some insight about introducing sex into a relationship. After speaking with Sharon, Angela decides to remain a virgin despite how much Jordan Catalano is pressuring her to have sex.

Sharon becomes a main support system for Angela after she discovers the truth about Rayanne and Jordan Catalano in "Betrayal."

Rickie Vasquez[]

Angela and Rickie

Angela and Rickie

Angela and Rickie became friends around the same time that she started hanging out with Rayanne. Rickie and Angela always seemed to share a sense of reality and understanding on how to be a loyal friend and Angela eventually becomes closer friend to Rickie than she does with Rayanne. When Rayanne overdoses at a house party in "Other People's Mothers," Rickie and Angela come together and call Angela's mom, Patty, for help. Rickie connects with Patty in the hospital and is accepted by her as Angela's friend.

In "So-Called Angels," Rickie becomes homeless after being beaten and "thrown away" by his aunt and uncle. Angela's family temporarily takes Rickie into their home when Angela tirelessly puts her own safety at risk to find Rickie and make sure he is safe.

Although Rickie does tend to not hold onto information too tightly, he does often tell the truth to Angela whether she wants to hear it or not. He confirms to Angela that the rumors about Jordan and Rayanne were true in "Betrayal," and remains on her side and defends Angela to Rayanne. At the end of "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities," Rickie chooses to tell Angela that Brian was the real author to the love letter given to her by Jordan Catalano. Although it was a surprise to her, she plays it off to Rickie that she already had figured it out.

Jordan Catalano[]

Angela is no doubt Jordan Catalano's most loyal friend. The two dated for one episode, "Pressure," but they broke up due to Angela's desire to remain a virgin. Despite still crushing on him, she does maintain a friendship with Jordan and always pushes him to be the best he can be.

MSCL

Angela and Jordan Catalano

After a love letter she wrote about Jordan accidentally winds up in his hands, she discovers that he has learning disabilities, likely dyslexia, after he admits to her that he couldn't read the letter. She begins doing Jordan's homework for him so he can continue attending school without flunking out. After he refuses to allow her to continue doing his homework in "Resolutions," Angela signs him up for a peer tutoring program where he's paired with Brian Krakow.

Angela abruptly ends her friendship with Jordan in "Betrayal" after finding out he had sex with her best friend, Rayanne. After receiving a love letter from Jordan, Angela chooses to forgive him and receives the blessing from her mother, Patty, to date him again.

Behind the Scenes[]

Angela is played by Claire Danes. Danes won her first Golden Globe award in 1995 for her portrayal of Angela Chase.

Series creator, Winnie Holzman, has said in interviews since the series ended that if there would have been a second season, Angela would have gotten back together with Jordan Catalano.

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