Angel: 2x9 Full Reaction
Added 2024-08-04 19:40:05 +0000 UTC"The Trial"
Comments
I don't know if you still read these, or remember that a couple of episodes earlier in a flashback, Drusilla was walking with Angelus and Darla and talking to Darla about a vision she'd had, saying she could be her mummy. Drusilla knew for over 100 years that she would be turning Darla one day. It's crazy to think about.
Staineless
2026-02-07 08:19:48 +0000 UTCI keep forgetting Holland even said "save her soul" because in the end that really not the goal. Its all a manipulation tactic to try and get Angel to turn evil. The dream stuff at the beginning didn't work so they made Darla a sacrifice. Basically they figured if we can't get him happy in his dreams to lose his soul we'll try and dangle Darla in front of him and get him to turn her. Its all an effort to get Angel on their side. Wolfram and Hart do not care about Darla's soul and that line was just Holland being a cryptic weirdo probably manipulating Lindsey knowing he has feelings for her. And yeah Lindsey does have feeling for her in fact what he says to Angel at his place is pretty much showing disgust that Angel wont turn her because in his eyes vampire Darla is better than no Darla at all. In fact I'm pretty sure Lindsey's feelings for Darla was part of Holland's plans. Wolfram and Hart are playing a long game. They'd play this out for years if they could.
Nathan Conarroe
2025-02-26 09:24:13 +0000 UTCLindsey's morality is all twisted up. He DOES care for Darla, and he thinks this is the only way to save her life. She's dying if she stays human, so getting her turned into a vampire is the only way for her to stay alive.
dreamsofspike
2024-08-08 20:21:13 +0000 UTCThis!! Also telling us about Darla's priorities: survival, at any cost. Which very much lines up with what we see of her in the present day.
doctrfaustus
2024-08-06 15:10:18 +0000 UTCI think you are taking the "saving her soul" to literally. My interpretation is that Holland said that metaphorically. Impling that Angel would chose to kill/turn Darla in order to prevent her for sufering and going crazy cause of her human soul. So, in killing her, like Darla first wanted in that episode, Angel would "save her soul" for that human pain and sufering.
Milo
2024-08-06 01:57:09 +0000 UTCThe music cues when Drusilla enters a scene are unmatched.
Autumn Linder
2024-08-05 23:54:50 +0000 UTCβReally hope we cross paths with Lindsay in this oneβ *Monkey Paw finger curls in*
Isaiah Bryant
2024-08-05 12:52:08 +0000 UTCI think vampire Darla did wear red lipstick occasionally, but I've always read Darla wiping off the lipstick as her remembering drinking human blood. Human Darla is still suffering with the atrocities she committed as a vampire, so seeing the red smeared across her lips panicked her. She's also looking into a mirror, and a few episodes ago when she was mentally deteriorating, she smashed all of the mirrors in Lindsey's office. This episode parallels Darla and Angel with Buffy and Angel again. First with Darla's cross necklace (Buffy is given one by Angel when they first meet). Secondly, when Darla says, 'I don't wanna die'. Which is the exact same line that Buffy says in the BtVS season one. They also continue to describe Angel as being obsessed with Darla; Angelus was obsessed with Buffy in season two. When Drusilla is turning Darla, the camera lingers on Lindsey's face and you can see that despite him not wanting her to die, he feels conflicted about what's happening. Great face acting from Christian Kane!
Rebecca
2024-08-05 09:14:14 +0000 UTCI forgot the details but once the syphilis illness was uncovered I knew the ending was going to be explosive... correction epic.
Michael Labs
2024-08-05 02:29:39 +0000 UTCI think the flashback is pretty much juxtaposing Darla abandoning Angelus with Angel not willing to let human!Darla die.
Raymond Simon
2024-08-05 01:15:56 +0000 UTCDarla's karaoke song is "Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)" a Harold Arlen song from the 1930's. It gives us the nice irony of the ex-vampire singing the line about "the sunshine I'm needing." Your conclusion about The Host is pretty much how I've come to see him. He sees what's going to happen, but he can't change it. His way of helping is to prepare people, reconcile them to what's coming, give them some insight into why. When you can't change things, that's the best you can do.
DanielOrme
2024-08-05 00:31:42 +0000 UTCYes and Angel didn't save her life but he was so close to saving her soul the best he could (before Dru intervened) she was able to experience his empathy and his care and understood for the first time it was wrong to cheat death by becoming a demon and accepted her grim fate - which was the first and last step for good she could take in her situation. That's thanks in part to Lorne.
Jason Harrelson
2024-08-05 00:06:45 +0000 UTCDarla was truly dying. Lindsey stated that he would save Darla if he could, and that he expected Angel to do it (by turning her into a vampire). Lindsey is evil (like Angel said) and so the idea of Darla becoming an evil murderous monster is still 'saving' her from his perspective. He doesn't care that the "real" Darla is now dead and a demon is wearing her face, to him it's all the same thing. Drusilla isn't strictly speaking necessary to be the one to turn Darla, but she's of the same lineage and a very powerful vampire in her own right. Wolfram & Hart are probably hoping that will give Darla the same strength she had before. After all, everybody else in the lineage has been a legendary monster (The Master, Angelus, Spike, Darla the first time, that serial killer vampire Angel fought in the first season, etc.) so they're likely counting on it continuing. At least she'll have better odds than if it was some random schmuck turning her. They don't need another foot soldier, they're playing for Big Points. The Host did explicitly say that he was going to regret giving Angel the information he was asking for, but like Ahmad just said above, he saw that Angel wasn't going to give up without trying SOMETHING so he had to let him experience it for himself.
JBK405
2024-08-04 23:09:17 +0000 UTCIt was so much more powerful without her having any lines anyways. Great choice all around.
Captain Hammer
2024-08-04 22:27:17 +0000 UTCAlso we don't know the Karaoke psychic's name yet, but I think he knew how it would end for Darla but Angel wasn't accepting that Darla can't be saved, so the psychic lead him to the trial's anyway so Angel could see it play out himself.
Ahmad
2024-08-04 22:00:05 +0000 UTCLoved your reaction to Drusilla showing up haha! And Darla could enter Angel's dreams because of the magic powder she used not because of their connection, Lilah asked Darla about it in one of the earlier episodes this season. And I think the parallel of the flashbacks was Darla putting her life first and abandoning Angelus, where as now in the trial's Angel is sacrificing his own life to save Darla's life. So it puts it into perspective that Angel is willing to sacrifice his own life for her despite how she treated him as a vampire. Then at the end of the episode Darla says she finally understands Angel and everything he's been through and has done for her, so it's showing her growth and understanding and acceptance of her past sins and how she affected Angel/Angelus.
Ahmad
2024-08-04 21:56:07 +0000 UTCReally enjoyed your reaction to the episode, the Juliet Landau (Drusilla) entrance is a lot of fun.
James Smith
2024-08-04 21:26:41 +0000 UTCThat ending is epic. Gets me every time. The rest leading up to it is pretty good too, but Dru's entrance just takes it to the next level. Very much looking forward to the next episode, also. The karaoke man has never been named. We just call him The Host.
Steve Quast
2024-08-04 20:54:33 +0000 UTCAbout Julie Landau (Drusilla) not showing up until the end credits: if an actor speaks they have to be credited in the beginning of the episode. She doesn't speak in this scene so they can keep the surprise.
Adam Session
2024-08-04 20:48:52 +0000 UTCI think i found what made you think they want him to save her soul, from the episode "Darla" Lindsey steps closer: "Then what do you expect him to do?" Holland: "What he will do. What he must do. Save her soul." Here Holland is being cryptic, note how Lindsey doesn't ask "what do you hope he does" or "what do you want." He asks what Hollands *expects* Angel to do. And he replies because he knows exactly what Angel will do with no nod to their bigger plan, which I think you nailed when you called it psychological warfare.
Jason Harrelson
2024-08-04 20:43:28 +0000 UTC"Save her soul" was W&H's euphemism for turning Darla back into a vampire. She'd be dead, with the demon in her the way vampires do, but her soul having been released into the ether ie "saved" rather than her dying naturally and it probably would end up going to hell. So in the end W&H got what they wanted, after the plan to get Angel to turn her fell apart they were forced to bring Dru in to do it instead. They were able to put Juliet Landau/Dru's credits in the outro since she wasn't given any lines. Having to do with order of actor billing, pay scales, etc, once they get dialogue the guest star's name has to be placed up front during the intro.
Preaching to the Horse's Mouth
2024-08-04 20:39:12 +0000 UTCIn a previous flashback Drusilla is calling Darla "Grandmama"; which she hates. Drusilla tells her "I can be your mummy".
Keith Jones
2024-08-04 20:29:20 +0000 UTCnot really sure why you think wolfram and hart want angel to save her soul, maybe it was a random snarky comment someone made, but I don't ever remember the show trying to make us think they actually want him to save her soul. they were likely just making fun of his mission by giving him the hardest soul to save.
Jason Harrelson
2024-08-04 20:27:28 +0000 UTCπ§ββοΈ
CoreyIsSus
2024-08-04 19:40:45 +0000 UTC
