Buffy The Vampire Slayer, “Angel" Review (1x07)

Brief Synopsis: “After Angel saves Buffy from a gang of vampires known as ‘The Three’, their relationship starts to become more intense. As their love blooms, Buffy learns that Angel has been hiding a dark secret. She hesitates, not sure what to believe, but when Angel's secret puts her mother in danger, she knows what she has to do.”

"The Pack" (1x06) quick link here                                                                                              "I Robot...You Jane" (1x08) quick link here


Before getting started on this review, here are a few notes about how these reviews will be formatted...

1) I will be reviewing the episodes in bullet point form. This is because it makes the reviews simple to read, and helps break up the vast amount of text.
2) I will be uploading a new review every one or two days, so be sure to check back often! Alternatively, you could subscribe to the blog via email to receive the reviews in your inbox (the subscription box is located to the right-hand side of this blog).
3) If you are watching the show for the first time along with these reviews, please be warned that there may be a few spoilers for things that haven’t happened yet.
4) If you are here from my Buffy The Vampire Slayer/Angel fan page from Facebook (located here :- www.facebook.com/BTVSFC), these reviews are similar to the rewatch reviews that I wrote for that page, only they are longer, more detailed, and in a much nicer format than Facebook allows (curse their lack of italics, bold, and underline!)
5) The basic layout for the review will be the review itself, the ‘quote of the episode’, and then the final score for the episode (out of ten). All of the final scores will also be placed on a separate tab so that you can refer to them easily.

With that being said, let’s get started, shall we?



•    This is the very first Angel-centric episode of the Buffyverse. It revolves around Buffy discovering that Angel is a vampire and the ramifications of that (which include Joyce being bitten, Darla trying to kill Buffy, and an appearance from ‘The Three’). Very exciting times indeed.
•    FINALLY! After half a season of watching some brooding dude who likes leather, we actually get some backstory and character development for him! This is my second favourite episode of season one (after “Prophecy Girl”). Angel is my favourite character in the Buffyverse overall...I think. I’ve got to be honest; it changes between Angel, Xander, Willow, Wesley, and Spike (amongst others) on an almost-monthly basis.  Interestingly, Angel was never my favourite character on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. In fact, he wouldn’t even make my top 10. Angel became my favourite character after he moved to Los Angeles and began to grow...and develop more than one mood and facial expression.
•    I really love The Master and The Anointed One’s relationship. It’s like a dysfunctional father-son. Having the Anointed One be a child was a great choice because it allowed The Master to teach Colin (the Anointed One) all about vampire ethics and mythology, whilst teaching the viewers. This is one of those ‘two birds, one stone’ (Angelus has tarnished that phrase forever) situations. Clearly vampire ethics are different to human ethics, but members of the Order of Aurelius do follow certain rules. For example, they live beneath the ground and don’t try to integrate themselves with humans at all.
•    ‘The Three’: So good that Buffy later names them as her toughest opponents that she’s ever faced (bar Angel), in season three’s “Faith, Hope & Trick”. I still maintain that Buffy was suffering from memory problems when she said that. What about The Master? What about The Judge? Spike? Drusilla?

•    Why are ‘The Three’ only in half of one episode?! They would have made excellent second-in-commands to The Master for the rest of the season (especially after Darla’s death) and they could have been killed during the fight at Sunnydale High in “Prophecy Girl”.
•    Xander: “*sarcastically* I don’t know what everyone’s talking about, that outfit doesn’t make you look like a hooker.”
That, my friends, is what we call a ‘closer’. There is no coming back from an insult of that calibre. Well played, Mr. Harris, well played. Someone needs to find Cordelia a tube of E45 cream for all that buuuurn.
•    Anyone who thinks that Buffy and Angel have no chemistry needs to rewatch this episode. Their chemistry is phenomenal. It probably has to do with Sarah and David dating in real life for a while.
•    Angel: “I’ll take the floor.”
Buffy: “No, that’s not...”
Angel: “Believe me, I’ve had worse.”

Like living in an alleyway for years and years, Angel?

•    Angel tells Buffy that vampires killed his parents. That’s technically not lying, right? He just left out the part that it was him. Minor details...
•    I love me some Angel backstory. His character gets fleshed out better than almost any character in the Buffyverse over the eight years that he appears on TV, and this is the start of that.
•    Xander: “Guy’ll do anything to impress a girl. I once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath.”
Willow: “It was pretty impressive...although later there was an ick factor.”
Giles: “Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events that happened earlier in the evening?”

I cannot emphasise enough how much I love a grumpy Giles or a sassy Giles. I would genuinely watch a spinoff show where nothing happened at all except Giles saying sarcastic and sassy phrases.

•    It seems like a waste for The Master to kill ‘The Three’. It’s one of the most stupid decisions a ‘Big Bad’ has ever made. Firstly, he’s not exactly overburdened with allies. Secondly, earlier in the episode he mentioned that ‘The Three’ were his “most vicious disciples”. Why would he kill them?! Because they failed him once?! They’d have had plenty of opportunities to make it up to him! Also, The Master needs Buffy to escape his prison (as he mentions in “Prophecy Girl”)...why would he want ‘The Three’ to kill her at all? Spock is not impressed with this logic.
•    This episode is one of those episodes where Xander annoys me. Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of my favourite characters in the Buffyverse, but his obsession with Buffy in the first few seasons leads to some highly annoying moments and some very questionable decisions (more on those as they occur). I understand why Xander’s against Angel after he’s told that Angel is a vampire. Vampires are evil, and not even Giles can find a single record of a vampire turning good. However, Xander is against Angel for the wrong reasons. He’s not against Angel because Angel is a vampire; he’s against Angel because Buffy is attracted to Angel. Xander just comes across as whiny, insecure, and annoying for the vast majority of this episode. We get it, Xander, you like Buffy. Either ask her out or move on! I’ve said it before, but Xander can be extremely annoying until he starts to grow up (this occurs during seasons four and five primarily).
•    Buffy beating up Giles with a quarterstaff remains hilarious in every way imaginable.
•    Buffy: “Brought you some dinner. It’s a little plateless, sorry.”

Plateless...that’s so beyond funny! Platelets, plateless, get it?...oh, never mind...

•    Buffy, you are a terrible liar! Especially for someone who spends the vast majority of her life lying to the people around her (Joyce, Flutie, Sunnydale High students...). Although, I like your use of the term “bulging” for Angel’s eyes. That scene was just awkward...
•    So, who guessed Angel was a vampire before the big reveal? Personally, I had inklings that he was. He was never in direct sunlight, he was very pale, and I noticed in “Welcome To The Hellmouth” that he never touched the cross, he just touched the box.
•    Angel and Darla’s relationship is one of the biggest highlights of the Buffyverse for me. They have over two hundred years of history that gets explored in great detail over the next eight years through the use of flashbacks. I’m SO GLAD that they bring Darla back on Angel, and that she has a much larger role. The exploration and depth to their relationship on Angel is definitely one of the greatest things that the show ever did. I can’t wait to get to those reviews!
•    Side note: It’s bloody hard to type about this episode because there is an ‘Angel’ character, an ‘Angel’ episode, and an ‘Angel’ TV show. Damn them.
•    Julie Benz. That is all. Darla is one of the best recurring characters from either Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Angel, and Julie Benz is a huge part as to why. Julie is a fantastic actress.

•    My only major criticism of this episode is the initial meeting between Angel and Darla. As we saw in Angel season two’s “Darla”, the last time these two characters saw each other it was incredibly volatile (Darla trying to stake Angel and sending him scattering into the night). Now they meet up a hundred years later and they’re civil instantly? Doesn’t make a great deal of sense. Darla trying to convince Angel to return to his evil ways does make sense, but their first interaction just doesn’t seem realistic at all. Obviously the writers hadn’t intended on bringing Darla back at this point, so it wasn’t even thought about, but it still makes for unrealistic continuity.
•    Season one is my least favourite Buffy season. I think continuity is a big part as to why. When Joss (and the rest of the writing staff) wrote season one, he didn’t know that a second season was coming. Therefore, he tried to make season one work in such a way that he wasn’t thinking beyond season one (but still leaving it open-ended in case a second season materialised). It’s completely understandable, but it means that a lot of season one has very little relevance for the rest of the series. Angel and Darla’s interaction here, Joyce’s lack of reaction to Buffy proclaiming she’s a Vampire Slayer in “Witch”, the lack of consequences for some of Xander’s actions...when you take the circumstances into account, it makes perfect sense, but like I said, it makes for terrible continuity sometimes. “Angel” is one of very few episodes that has significant development for a season other than season one.
•    Angel: “I haven’t fed off of a human being since that day.”

Lies. So many lies. We’ve seen Angel feed off of at least 3 humans since regaining his soul. I think at the time this was written it was true.

•    I love the way The Master talks. His voice is mesmerising. He should do audiobooks. “Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, read by The Master”. I’d buy it.
•    I need to make note here of how much I adore Joyce in this episode. Let’s not forget, Joyce doesn’t know that Buffy is the Slayer. All Joyce is aware of is Buffy getting kicked out of her last school and that Buffy is already starting to skip classes at Sunnydale High. Joyce does a fantastic job in this episode of walking a tightrope between concerned parent and supportive mother. Not once in this episode does it come across as though Joyce doesn’t believe in Buffy’s abilities. Just look at Joyce’s genuine enthusiasm when Darla shows up at the house! Granted, Darla is a vampire, but Joyce just thinks that Darla is a student who is helping Buffy study. I think it’s often forgotten about what a difficult situation Joyce is in (not knowing that Buffy is the Slayer).
•    Angel has a brief second of pause, where he contemplates drinking from Joyce. Ooooh, internal struggle! Gotta love internal struggles. This becomes a recurring theme with Angel for the next eight years; struggling to stay on the path of redemption and resisting his urges. Angel hasn’t fed off of a human for a long time (I’m doing this from memory, but I think the last time was when he drained the dying diner worker from the flashback in Angel season four’s “Orpheus”) and having a bleeding human in his arms really tested his will-power.

•    In addition to the chemistry between David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar, I must say that David Boreanaz and Julie Benz have superb chemistry too...perhaps David just has great chemistry with everyone who isn’t a werewolf named ‘Nina’ from Angel season five.
•    One of the most underrated scenes in Buffy history is the scene where Buffy bares her neck to Angel. Buffy walks up to Angel and bares her neck, daring Angel to bite her! Remember that this is 1997. There were very few female heroes in popular culture. What made Buffy Summers so memorable is that she’s a strong, fearless leader (but still very female)! Buffy has no fear in this scene. Not only that, but she’s daring Angel to bite her! That moment is what convinced Marti Noxon to join the writing staff for the show. Television desperately needed a female hero for young women and Buffy Summers delivered.
•    I love the speech where Angel reveals his gypsy cure and the fact that he’s re-ensoulled...“I can walk like a man, but I’m not one”. That’s heartbreaking. Angel/Angelus is a great metaphor for the darkness and good that is in all of us. This sentence also reminds me of Angel’s speech to Buffy in “Amends”, where he’s about to kill himself...”It’s not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy, it’s the man.” At this point in time Angel is completely unique. There has never been another re-ensoulled vampire in history. One of the most fascinating thing about Angel’s character is watching his internal struggles.

•     It’s unnerving to see a gun on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. They’re almost never used. They always remind me of Tara *cries into pillow*...plus, Darla, a vampire, was using a gun. Talk about unexpected. Vampires never use guns! That choice instantly takes this great scene to another level.
•    Angel’s face just after he stakes Darla is amazing. He manages to convey anger, relief, betrayal, hurt, and loss all in ONE LOOK. David’s acting has certainly improved since the pilot. How the casts of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel didn’t win more Emmy’s and awards is a travesty.
•    Buffy and Angel’s talk at the end of the episode at The Bronze is really well written and acted. I think a lot of people can relate to wanting to be with someone, but agreeing that in the present moment it can’t work. It’s interesting that two and a half years later, Angel and Buffy break up for pretty much the exact same reason. As much as these two want to be together, they simply cannot work under the present circumstances. Just my personal opinion, but I think that Buffy and Angel can never work until one of two things happens... 1) Buffy is turned into a vampire. 2) Angel shanshu’s (becomes human).
•    Interesting to see that Buffy’s necklace burning itself into Angel’s chest didn’t cause him to vamp out.
•    One final point of interest is that the song “I’ll Remember You” by Sophie Zelmani is playing during the final scene between Buffy and Angel. The song title is interesting when you consider the Angel episode “I Will Remember You”, where Buffy forgets about her perfect day with Angel. It’s a complete coincidence, but it works absolutely perfectly!
•    To conclude, this is my favourite episode of the season thus far with ease! It tells a fantastic story, it establishes Angel as an actual character, rather than just ‘hot guy in a leather jacket #4’, and the quality of acting from Sarah Michelle Gellar is phenomenal (David is improving a lot too)! 


Quote Of The Episode

Angel: “When you become a vampire, the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience, no remorse... it's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done, and to care.”

This statement is haunting. It’s one of the most memorable things to sum up Angel’s character. Guilt. Angel feels guilt and remorse. Angel has a conscience. This episode reveals why Angel is so broody and mysterious constantly. I have so much to say about Angel’s character, as it’s one of the most interesting and complex characters ever, but I’ll be talking about it in little snippets when it’s relevant, rather than explore it all here. 



FINAL SCORE: 8/10



So what are your thoughts on "Angel"? Did you enjoy this episode? Dislike it? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments section below!