It is impossible to forget the first few images of Kris Munroe entering the Townsend offices for the first time.  Many years younger than her co-workers, Sabrina and Kelly, Kris showed innocence and vulnerability and an extraordinary degree of naiveté like no Angel before or after her.  Eager to please, Kris went undercover on a nude beach to look for clues ("Angels in Paradise"), much to the amusement of her new partners.  From the start, it was quite obvious that Kris was the perfect replacement for her big sister, Jill, who went off racing and touring the world.

      Throughout her employment at Townsend Associates, it was hinted more than once that Kris still had deep roots in her childhood.  Taking her Hansel & Gretle book with her on every trip she takes, Kris holds on to the precious momentum from her youth in lieu of the fact that it was a good luck charm from her mother ("To See an Angel Die").  As the child of an alcoholic ("Harrigan's Angels"), Kris probably never really had too much of a childhood and thus, explaining her need to still hang on to the aforementioned book and to her Raggedy Ann doll, as well as a "Mother Goose" Koala bear ("To See an Angel Die" & "Mother Goose is Running for His Life").  During an unfortunate spell of amnesia, Kris recalls fondly her days as a child playing on the beach and of her college romance with a boy named Tommy ("Angel on my Mind").  Kris's innocence would slowly fade away after working as a detective for four years, but she would always remain one of the sweetest Angels ever.

      Chances are Kris may have had somewhat of an identity crisis as the little sister of Jill Munroe, who was always beautiful and always full of life.  Kris was stuck in "pigtails and braces" ("Angels in Paradise") while Jill was graduating from the Police Academy.  Wanting to be more like her sister, Kris snuck off from college to join the San Francisco Police Department.  Even two weeks on the vice squad couldn't taint her perky demeanor ("To See an Angel Die").  She came to the Townsend offices full of gusto and ready to work.  Going undercover in dozens of fun roles like a knife-throwing target ("Terror at the Circus"), a clown ("Angels on Ice"), and even a rag doll mannequin ("Mother Goose is Running for His Life"), Kris seemed to be having a grand old time playing detective.  Taking a more mature turn, Kris liked to imitate her sister's gold digging ways by playing money grubbing women on the make to help bag a thief or trap a con-man quite often ("Diamond in the Rough" & "Love Boat Angels").  Kris hardly seems to be as materialistic as Jill was, just quite fashionable and fun loving.

      The incident that helped carry Kris from the threshold of childhood into adulthood was the night she shot someone for the first time ("Angel Baby").  It affected her so much, the image of it would haunt her while recovering from amnesia.  While rescuing Kelly from a black-market baby ring, Kris shoots a murderer and becomes paralyzed at the horror she feels she has just caused.  Sabrina comforts the "little" Angel and Kris is later relieved to hear that the man she shot did not die.  Another strong factor in taking Kris over the line was the fact that she was always being kidnapped.  Julie had been abducted once - Tiffany and Bosley twice.  Sabrina and Kelly only a handful of times.  But nothing compares to the number of abductions Kris faced.  Amazingly, she was never seriously abused or raped.  By the time of her most dangerous kidnapping ("To See an Angel Die"), Kris had come full circle and proved just how fed up she was with all the low lives she had been dealing with for the past three and a half years.  Ordering her captor to "Go to hell!!!", Kris showed viewers that she was no longer the innocent little Angel that breezed through life only a few short years before.

      Like Kelly and Bosley, Kris was very loyal to the Townsend partnership and was always there no matter what.  She went into cases with the intention of correcting evil and in one incident she even disobeyed Charlie's orders ("One of Our Angels is Missing") and almost ended up being a rape and murder victim in the Nevada desert.  Wanting to be even more like her sister, she also insisted on going undercover in a female prison to investigate the death of an inmate ("Caged Angel").  Since she never states why she HAS to be the one to go in, it can only be assumed that she still is modeling herself after Jill.  Once inside the jailhouse, she is terrorized by a group of lesbian prisoners, one an evil heifer who despises her youthful beauty!  This wasn't her first encounter with a jealous obese woman either.  In "Angels in Springtime", Zora, the menacing physical therapist, wants to actually watch Kris die as she places layer upon layer of steaming towels on Kris's naked body.  This is after she had already locked her in the sauna the afternoon before.  These constant victimizations of Kris took their toll on her.   In yet another strange parallel to her sister, the perky personality began to fade away.

      Hormonally, Kris had an eye for a gorgeous man.  Upon seeing a photograph of Ali, the handsome son of suspect, Kris makes no bones about it that she is going to work him over ("Diamond in the Rough").  The same thing happens when she sees a photo of bank robber, Ted Markham ("Angel on a Roll").  Kris never repressed her desires, going right after what she wanted.  So far as to unknowingly steal Kelly's first real love and then having the nerve to make Kelly feel bad about it all!  In "One Love Two Angels", Kris shows off the dent in her personality for the first time.  After saving Kelly from a murderer and receiving a "thank you" from the rescued Angel, Kris angrily snaps "That was for Bill!!"  Another Monroe sister changes colors.

      Even with the Bill Cord incident looming over her, Kris was a great friend to all her fellow employees.  When Tiffany is bashed in the face ("Angel Hunt") and disappears into the river, it is Kris that loses it and attempt to go after her even though she is destined to be killed.  In another incident, when Kris devises a plan which fails and Julie ends up being kidnapped, Kris blames herself for thinking up such a plot ("Hula Angels").  And it is Kris that takes it the hardest when Kelly is shot in the head, again ("Let Our Angel Live").  She demands that Charlie Townsend finally show himself once and for all!  Whenever Jill visits, Kris seems extremely delighted to see her big sister, and is devastated when she learns that Jill is in town and hasn't notified her ("Fallen Angel").  When Tiffany suggests that "Maybe she is hiding something", Kris dashes out of the office at the very thought and seeks out her sister for the truth.  This only makes matters worse, for Jill proves Tiffany right, much to Kris's dismay.

      Whereas Jill was incredibly athletic, Kris was incredibly talented in other fields, like theater.  Not only did she play the role of Jennifer in the college production of ‘Sweet Misery’, but she also landed the part in the film version while working on a case at a haunted studio ("Angels in the Wings").  Singing and dancing away, Kris showed her co-workers just how multi-talented she really was.  In another fun turn, when Kris is left alone in a bootlegger's antique mansion, she lets loose like never before when she hears a thirties tune on an old victrola ("Rosemary for Remembrance").  Her free spirit was just another great aspect of her dynamic personality.

      The one episode that best defines Kris is "Terror on Skis".  Posing as a bodyguard to protect a politician, Kris befriends a grouchy government official named Chadway.  He tells Kris that he is envious of her because she is "always looking for something positive".  How true.  Even though she has been subjected to all sorts of various horrors (prison, multiple kidnappings, a dead boyfriend, amnesia, and even a celebrity sister), as an Angel, Kris still remained true to her job and to her friends.  She may not have been the naive and vulnerable girl Kelly and Sabrina first met, but her heart had never turned completely to stone like Jill's seemed to.  Even though this Angel had grown up and matured a great deal, she still found reasons to laugh and smile and could still have a good time in spite of it all.  Kris Munroe really was an Angel, in every sense of the word!