Angel's a Vampire. Hands Up Who Didn't See That Coming?
Well, I'd have to nominate my daughters, who argued with me about this very thing right up until Angel aired, and they were forced to admit that mum was (as always) right.
Evidence.
This is the episode where - Hallelujah! - Angel's character finally started to make some kind of sense (though since the gypsies only cursed him with a soul, not to speak in riddles) it still doesn't really explain his Cryptic Guy schtick.
Never mind. He looks so pretty in BtVS season 1 (my favourite season Angel Looks-wise) that I can forgive him.
Evidence.
It's also the only episode of BtVS (as opposed to AtS) where Darla's character has any kind of depth. Kudos to Julie Benz for making her almost (if you squint) sympathetic, while wearing a truly awful outfit.
Yuck! Poor Darla! Bet if she'd known Angel was going to stake her she would have worn something different.
For that matter, it's the only episode in season 1 where any vampire (apart from Angel, obvs.) is allowed to show any recognisable human emotion (unless you count Fork Guy being scared of Mantis Lady), in that, firstly Darla obviously believes that what she felt for Angel was love,
and when the Master learns that Darla is dead, his grief is 100% genuine.
He's really, really upset. So much so that the Annoying One has to comfort him by telling him that Darla was weak and they don't need her. He then leads the Master away, as if he were the adult and the Master were the child.
Aww!
What else do we learn?
Well, for a start, though Buffy and Angel are very attracted to each other, neither of them are blind to the fact that the attraction can't really lead anywhere. In fact, they both seem quite clear-eyed about it, which shows impressive maturity on Buffy's part for a sixteen year old (though possibly somewhat less maturity from a two hundred plus-year-old - then again, maybe the Cryptic Guy thing was Angel's attempt to keep himself aloof from someone he knew he shouldn't get involved with? Ooh, boy! Looks like I've just found a rational explanation for it.)
(Included just for the pretty).
Firsts for this episode: it's the first time (I think) that Xander plays his devil's advocate role. He wants Buffy to slay Angel the minute they learn he's a vampire (and yes, the fact that Xander sees Angel as a 'love rival' does not redound to his credit).
Willow, meanwhile, plays the opposite role, and acts as Buffy/Angel cheerleader.
It may also - with Joyce's barbecue fork explanation for the wound on her neck- be the first example of the Sunnydale Effect, which causes most of the adults in the town to selectively not see what they don't want to see.
It's also the first time that the good folks at Mutant Enemy show that, like it is for Buffy, history (and geography, for that matter) is too difficult for them (or they have trouble applying themselves), even if it's only the history of their own show, since we later learn that Angel last saw Darla in China during the Boxer Rebellion, but according to Angel in this episode, last time he saw her 'it was kimonos.'
We also have the first example of vampires having a rather different take on sexuality, in Darla's, "You're hurting me. That's good too."
Best line: There aren't really any standouts in the ep, except for the previously mentioned Joyce/Giles exchange about Buffy and history.
Giles: She lives very much in the now, um, and, uh, history, of course, is, is very much about the, uh... the 'then.
Finally: Two utterly daft things in this episode:
Darla's magical reloading handguns.
And this.
Okay, I get that it's romantic.
Really, really romantic.
But it's just not physically possible for Buffy's cross to have burnt Angel where it did, cuz she isn't tall enough.
Never mind. Have a nice Giles picture.
Thoughts, anyone?
Evidence.
This is the episode where - Hallelujah! - Angel's character finally started to make some kind of sense (though since the gypsies only cursed him with a soul, not to speak in riddles) it still doesn't really explain his Cryptic Guy schtick.
Never mind. He looks so pretty in BtVS season 1 (my favourite season Angel Looks-wise) that I can forgive him.
Evidence.
It's also the only episode of BtVS (as opposed to AtS) where Darla's character has any kind of depth. Kudos to Julie Benz for making her almost (if you squint) sympathetic, while wearing a truly awful outfit.
Yuck! Poor Darla! Bet if she'd known Angel was going to stake her she would have worn something different.
For that matter, it's the only episode in season 1 where any vampire (apart from Angel, obvs.) is allowed to show any recognisable human emotion (unless you count Fork Guy being scared of Mantis Lady), in that, firstly Darla obviously believes that what she felt for Angel was love,
and when the Master learns that Darla is dead, his grief is 100% genuine.
He's really, really upset. So much so that the Annoying One has to comfort him by telling him that Darla was weak and they don't need her. He then leads the Master away, as if he were the adult and the Master were the child.
Aww!
What else do we learn?
Well, for a start, though Buffy and Angel are very attracted to each other, neither of them are blind to the fact that the attraction can't really lead anywhere. In fact, they both seem quite clear-eyed about it, which shows impressive maturity on Buffy's part for a sixteen year old (though possibly somewhat less maturity from a two hundred plus-year-old - then again, maybe the Cryptic Guy thing was Angel's attempt to keep himself aloof from someone he knew he shouldn't get involved with? Ooh, boy! Looks like I've just found a rational explanation for it.)
(Included just for the pretty).
Firsts for this episode: it's the first time (I think) that Xander plays his devil's advocate role. He wants Buffy to slay Angel the minute they learn he's a vampire (and yes, the fact that Xander sees Angel as a 'love rival' does not redound to his credit).
Willow, meanwhile, plays the opposite role, and acts as Buffy/Angel cheerleader.
It may also - with Joyce's barbecue fork explanation for the wound on her neck- be the first example of the Sunnydale Effect, which causes most of the adults in the town to selectively not see what they don't want to see.
It's also the first time that the good folks at Mutant Enemy show that, like it is for Buffy, history (and geography, for that matter) is too difficult for them (or they have trouble applying themselves), even if it's only the history of their own show, since we later learn that Angel last saw Darla in China during the Boxer Rebellion, but according to Angel in this episode, last time he saw her 'it was kimonos.'
We also have the first example of vampires having a rather different take on sexuality, in Darla's, "You're hurting me. That's good too."
Best line: There aren't really any standouts in the ep, except for the previously mentioned Joyce/Giles exchange about Buffy and history.
Giles: She lives very much in the now, um, and, uh, history, of course, is, is very much about the, uh... the 'then.
Finally: Two utterly daft things in this episode:
Darla's magical reloading handguns.
And this.
Okay, I get that it's romantic.
Really, really romantic.
But it's just not physically possible for Buffy's cross to have burnt Angel where it did, cuz she isn't tall enough.
Never mind. Have a nice Giles picture.
Thoughts, anyone?