The Watcher Diaries 01.02.08: Angel - Buffy Episode Seven
Posted by Jason Chamberlain on 01.02.2008
Buffy is in for a big surprise this week as she finds out her new beau is a vampire! 411's Scooby Gang has the full review of a seminal BTVS episode!
Happy New Year! And welcome back to The Watcher Diaries. After a break for some holiday turkey, Christmas presents and New Years merry making, we're jumping into the wayback machine again (1997 to be exact) to review a first season episode of Bufffy the Vampire Slayer.
The show was pretty good when it hit the airwaves, and its growing pains were minimal. Nevertheless, it didn't truly hit its stride until year two, and year one suffered from a bit of inconsistency. This episode, however, is a flash of brilliance that really displayed just how effective the show could be. It's all about this guy named Angel....
First, let's go to J.D. Dunn for an episode recap!
Episode 1.07 - "Angel"
W: David Greenwalt
D: Scott Brazil
Original Airdate: April 14, 1997
Synopsis: Angel saves Buffy from "The Three", a gang of mercenary vampires, so she invites him for a sleepover…just to be safe. However, when Buffy kisses him, he accidentally reveals that he is a vampire! Love is complicated. Complicating matters further is Darla, who it turns out, is an old flame of Angel's and wants a reunification. Giles' investigation turns up stories of Angelus, one of the most vicious vampires on record. When Darla attacks Buffy's mom, Buffy mistakenly thinks that it was Angel. Buffy sets out to kill Angel while Darla sits back and waits for him to return to her. When Buffy tracks him down, Angel tells her about a Gypsy curse that gave him his soul back -- something that torments him every day of his non-life. Buffy also learns that Darla was the one who sired Angel centuries ago. When Darla attacks, it is Angel who is forced to kill her (for the first time). Although disaster is averted, Angel feels that a relationship would just be too difficult.
Thanks J.D.! I'm taking the reins for the review of this episode, so let's get to it!
As I said above, this episode was, to me, one of the highlights of the first season. While the season as a whole didn’t match up to the consistent greatness of the second and third years, it did have a few shining moments that signalled what was to come and this was one of them.
Since the series began, there had been a slow burn on the Buffy/Angel relationship. She was clearly attracted to this mysterious, good looking stranger who routinely showed up to give her cryptic warnings on the dangers soon to erupt from the Hellmouth, and as their interactions became more frequent, they developed a flirty edge to them. Even Angel, who before the revelation of this episode could still be termed too old for Buffy, seemed to be growing quite interested in the young slayer. So it was no surprise when, after a charged slayage encounter, the pair finally shared a kiss.
And what a kiss! The kind of kiss that makes Angel spontaneously revert to his true visage, just in time to horrify his beautiful companion. Yep, Angel’s a vampire, and that really throws a wrench in the burgeoning romance.
As star crossed, ultimately doomed love affairs go, this has got to be up there as one of the best in recorded works of fiction. It’s the Capulets and the Montagues for modern times, if vampires and demons walked the Earth in modern times that is. A vampire in love with a vampire slayer. And a vampire slayer in love with one of the very creatures she is sworn to destroy.
Talk about love overcoming the odds!
Naturally there are bound to be complications. With the benefits of eight years of Whedonverse foresight, we the viewer (if we’re up on our viewing history anyway) know all about what the characters slowly learn in this episode; Angel is a vampire, yes, but a vampire cursed with a soul and a conscience. In essence, he is the man he was before he was sired, yet he has the vampire powers and he is fully aware of the atrocities committed by the demon that once lived inside of him. Imagine being a good hearted person who has to live with the knowledge that your hands have two centuries worth of blood on them and you’ll be in the ballpark of what Angel goes through.
It also throws Buffy, Giles and friends for a loop because a good vampire isn’t supposed to exist. It’s a truly rare case (in fact, to date, Angel is the only one) and so they don’t know how to handle it. That makes it easy for Darla to manipulate the situation, as she attacks Joyce and pins it on Angel, whom Buffy is then fully prepared to destroy. A quick fight and discussion later in the Bronze and Buffy has the full story; Darla attacks, and Angel performs the monumental vampire sin of killing your own sire when he stakes her. Death doesn’t quite take for Darla, of course, but for now Angel has made his choice, and it’s Buffy.
But enough from me. Let’s hear what the rest of the Scoobs think!
J.D. Dunn
The first true emotional roller coaster episode -- something that would become a trademark for the show. An excellent metaphor for teenage love. Angel tells Buffy he has feelings for her, but she has every reason to believe he's lying. Who doesn't experience that kind of doubt at 16?
Ron Martin
I guess this was a necessary evil. At this point in the series, Angel wasn’t much more than a shadow and David Boreanaz was the weakest link in the very inexperienced cast. Even though Angel’s newfound back story didn’t jive with a lot of what the character had already done, I feel this is one of the few times the show slipped. At this point, a show that had repelled clichés and traditional formats fell into the biggest of them all. I understand the analogy of the girl who is attracted to the wrong guy, and it is a fun moment when Angel vamps out after their first kiss, but it just feels lazy to me. I would have enjoyed it more if the two were to date first, then have Angel become a vamp later. I am also very upset that the delicious Julie Benz is written out of the series here. Sarah Michelle Gellar tries to carry Boreanaz here, but the episode is flat. It’s important because of the story elements it provides, but other than that, it’s just there.
Jerome Cusson
Angel started off as a cocky arrogant soothsayer that I didn't really like. This serves as an unofficial pilot for theAngel television series that would come three years later. This also serves as the beginnings of the most epic romance I've ever seen on television. This is a relationship that makes Ross and Rachel look like amateur hour.
Mike Gorman
Girl meets boy...
Girl and boy get chased by deadly vamps so they have to hide in her house...
Girl finds out boy is also a deadly vamp...
Ah the age old story of "girl meets boy" plays out in its usual unusual fashion in this episode. What exists on one level as the start of a classic story of doomed love takes so many twists and turns by episodes end that I know I was just as drawn in and confused as Angel and Buffy were themselves. We now know why Angel broods and why Buffy will risk her life and the lives of others in order to fulfill her love in the years to come. Even poor Darla who gets dusted in this episode is not off the hook as she will be brought back to life in Angel's spin off a few years down the road... but that is the story of another day. For now it feels great to be a fan reliving the start of what I consider to be one of the greatest tragic love stories in television history.
That's it for another week. Until next time.... GRR!!! ARGH!!!
The 411: Of course this is just the beginning of the long, interesting tale of Buffy and Angel’s love, but a great beginning it is, one that set the stage for plenty of drama, pathos, and make out sessions in years to come. And it’s one of the best episodes this season has to offer.
