Angel Season 1, Ep 8
Added 2022-05-20 15:24:15 +0000 UTCoh heyyy buffy stopped by............................
Comments
I've been waiting for this episode! IMO one of SMG's best acted scenes (though of course there are a ton). It reminds me a lot of the season finale of Buffy season 1, where she doesn't want to die. I think it also adds a lot of Angel character development. We see him get exactly what he wants and then lose it. I love making fun of his broody personality but I gained a lot of empathy for him this episode. He must feel so alone.
Svetlana Grabar
2022-05-21 21:13:31 +0000 UTCWhat a strange episode! I guess from an artistic perspective having it only be about 5 minutes long really serves to emphasize the conversation between Buffy and Angel, but it's such a bizarre choice. I can't believe the network let them get away with it. I wonder how they filled the rest of the hour the night they aired this? ;) Alright, enough joking around. I've always said that one of Angel's biggest character flaws (other than, you know, the demon living in him that could break out at any time if Angel ever stops feeling guilt for the things that demon did for a moment) seems to be his tendency to make big decisions--especially ones that he sees as self-sacrificing--for the "good" of others without actually consulting them. Our guy really does have "a real addiction to the brooding part of life", as Doyle said earlier in the season. That said, the more I've thought about it, the more I think his decision in this episode is ultimately for the best. He came back from hell for a reason--to use his unique position as a vampire with a soul to help people--and he probably feels that he hasn't even come close to making up for what he did as Angelus yet. As you pointed out, it's the same dilemma he faced in "In the Dark", and he ultimately makes the same choice: to turn his back on something that *looks* like his redemption, because he knows he hasn't earned it yet. Still, even with all of those considerations, it probably wouldn't have been worth it if it meant that Buffy would have to remember what they *could* have had... but she won't. And while one could argue that he should have involved her in the decision... well... it's like he said. He wasn't sure he would be able to go through with it if he waited. All in all, definitely the best episode of "Angel" so far IMO. A great view-in-miniature of what the Buffy/Angel relationship was for people who came into this show without watching Buffy, and a great epilogue to that relationship for people who watched it from the beginning.
ghostofdurruti
2022-05-20 20:33:03 +0000 UTC
