Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Angel (1x07)

[fajrdrako]

Angel. Aaaaah what a delicious episode.

See, romance on television is a delicate and terrible thing. I love romance, especially capital-R Romance, and we live in an unromantic age. I get my fix from Dunnett and 19th century poets and the like. Not often from books published as "romance", which are sometimes good but not what I'm looking for, and still less from television. One of the reasons I loved "Doctor Who" so much is that it presented me with one of the best romances ever on television. (The Doctor and Rose, if you're wondering what I'm talking about.)

Knowing Joss Whedon's track record, the last thing I expected from Buffy was really good romance. I expected sexy stuff and lots of action-adventure and humour and heartwarming stuff and good characterization and clever writing, but I didn't expect anything truly romantic because I've learned not to look for that on TV. Ever. And "Firefly" was mostly counter-romantic, but it had its moments. My belief is that Joss likes to present us with wonderful classic romance in the finest heart-wrenching fashion, and then twist it out of shape.

But here, in "Angel", we get real classic brilliantly-written doomed romance and I can hardly believe it. It doesn't matter what comes after this. It's a moment of romantic glory. It's set up so carefully - yes, of course I knew Angel was a vampire, because I'm coming in way after the fact, but if anything that foreknowledge just made it more effective.

Amazing. I can hardly believe my eyes.

Okay, now I've had my little rave, on to precise points.

1. Darla returns. I felt like cheering. Why was I happy to see her again? Maybe because she was one of the few vampires we've seen so far who actually has a personality. One of the only two, I'd say, the other being Angel. (I have the feeling that the Master has a sort of personality, but I haven't figured it out yet. So far he seems like a mouthpiece for dialogue. There's nothing real about him.)

2. I like Darla's line: "I don't get to have any fun." She's a sulker, isn't she?

3. "I will send the Three," says the Master. Joss seems to like using numbers this way. Prime numbers? Well, that's sort of traditional for the mystical, the mythical and the horrific. Snow White and the Six Dwarfs wouldn't sound as good. I'm not sure if I think this use of numbers is trite or clever.

4. The Annual Cockroach Rodeo. Eeuw.

5. Buffy: "For us to have a conversation about a guy, there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about. Is that a sentence?" That's the kind of things writers write. And it amuses me.

6. Buffy: "Buffy: When [Angel] is around... it's like the lights dim everywhere else." So romantic! It sounds like something Lois McMaster Bujold would write.

7. Cordelia: "Please get your extreme oafishness off my two-hundred-dollar shoes!" This struck me as particularly bitchy, materialistic and prime Cordelia characterization. I hope she eventually develops into less of a one-note role. She has been consistently amusing but I'm getting impatient with her. She's becoming predictable in an unamusing way.

8. Xander to Cordelia: "Y'know, hey, I don't know what everyone's talking about. That outfit doesn't make you look like a hooker!" Oooh, good left hook! Is he developing some backbone? Some wit? Some defenses? And this is followed up by another good Xander line: "Boy, that Cordelia is a regular breath of vile air."

9. Liked Willow's depressed line, too: "Just sitting here, watching our barren lives pass us by." Aaaw.

10. I wouldn't have got it if I didn't already know the basics of Angel's story, but I loved the way it's set up when, after being attacked by the Three, Angel and Buffy run to Buffy's place, where she says, "Get in! C'mon!" and then, as the Three lurk around, Angel says, "It's all right. A vampire can't come in unless it's invited." Oooh. Deftly done, Joss.

11. I don't want to like the Three because they're hokey and they have no personality, but you know - I like the Three. I love their armour which implies, I don't know, a long and dramatic background of mid-Renaissance warfare in the steppes of Transylvania. Or mountains. Whatever. They're so tough and old they might be Vampire Huns.

12. I couldn't really make out Angel's tattoo properly. Were we suppose to see what it was?

13. Buffy's kind of unsubtle trying to keep her mother from seeing Angel. Surely every teen-age girl knows this kind of things is futile? But then her mother, later on, doesn't even hear Buffy and Angel talking in her room, which, unless they were totally soundproofed, seems extremely unlikely to me. Not a big deal. Just something... not handled very smoothly.

14. Sort of a rhetorical question here, so don't answer it: why does Angel spend the night in Buffy's room? Would the Three really kill him? Or is it just that he wants to hang around with Buffy? Or keep out of the Master's way? I'm hoping it's reason #2 there, but it might not be.

15. The next day: I like Xander's reaction - "Buffy, c'mon, wake up and smell the seduction. It's the oldest trick in the book." Pretend to be chivalrous - why don't more guys try it?

16. I still glaze over in boredom whenever the Master and the Anointed appear on screen. Yawn.

17. The diary conversation between Buffy and Angel was amusing. I know a lot of people (including myself) have dire "he read my diary" stories. (And in fact, the subject came up in last week's Torchwood...) I like the dialogue about his family, too: a nice set-up, first to make him seem sympathetic (poor guy, family killed by vampires) then horrific (he's a monster - as a vampire, he killed his own family). Effectively done.

18. So Angel says he wants to kiss her but it's a bad idea because he's "older". Right. He does seem to have unvampirelike scruples. Maybe even unhumanlike scruples. C'mon, Angel. Just kiss her.

19. He did.

20. And transforms. There's something a little "Beauty and the Beast" about that. Isn't the kiss supposed to turn the frog into the prince, not the prince into a vampire?

21. Cool, anyway.

22. But I still don't take back all those nasty things I've said about vampire romance. This is clearly and obviously a unique exception.

23. Xander isn't very compassionate about this. Sometimes he is... unendearing.

24. Love the dialogue between Angel and Darla:

Angel: What's with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos.
Darla: And last time I saw you it wasn't high school girls.

She has a point.

25. Nice Darla line: "Is there anything better than a natural disaster?" Heh.

26. I absolutely love the exchange between Darla and Angel:

Darla: You and your new friend are attacking us, like one of them. But guess what, precious? You're not one of them. (Sunlight.) Are you?
Angel: No. But I'm not exactly one of you either.
Darla: Is that what you tell yourself these days?

27. Giles says Angel/Angelus is "the one with the angelic face". I've seldom seen anyone who looks less angelic to my eyes. Now, Lymond looked angelic, a Della Robbia angel. But Angel? He looks human to my eyes. I've got over flinching at his looks (good) but I still don't find him particularly attractive - kind of interesting-looking, maybe, but certainly not angelic.

28. So Angel has been a vampire for 240 years. Cool.

29. Lovely Buffy-Willow exchange:

Buffy: You want Xander, you've gotta speak up, girl!
Willow: No, no, no, no. No speaking up. That way leads to madness and sweaty palms.

30. I loved Buffy's new mixed feelings about killing Angel. "I'm the Slayer, and he's a... vampire. God, I can't! He's never done anything to hurt me..." Interesting dilemma. Such a set-up. A totally impossible situation. (Rivalled, perhaps, only by Mal and Inara.)

31. I loved Darla telling Buffy's mother she's a friend of Buffy's, and getting Joyce to let her in. (Shudder.) And the Buffy comes and thinks it's Angel who attacked Joyce. Brilliant! It's the old "what's the worst thing that could happen?" trick. I love it.

32. And then I love the way Joyce just refers to Darla as "your friend" so Buffy thinks she's talking about Angel. Nice, nice set-up. Plausible.

33. Barbecue fork? Heh.

34. This isn't really a good Giles episode. He's fine, but doesn't get the best lines, the isn't the focus of any of the action, he doesn't give good advice or wisdom or (much) knowledge, and is generally overshadowed by the Buffy/Angel theme. About which he seems to have no advice or thoughts whatsoever.

35. I liked it when Joyce said, "That school is amazing," but I don't really like the way the plot (or the line) plays on her ignorance. It isn't quite fair.

36. Great Buffy-Angel exchange:

Angel: I'm just an animal, right?
Buffy: You're not an animal. Animals I like.

37. Great Angel-Buffy fight. Best fight in the show yet, I think.

38. More great dialogue, albeit a little expository:

Buffy: I've killed a lot of vampires. I've never hated one before.
Angel: Feels good, doesn't it? Feels simple.
Buffy: I invited you into my home and then you attacked my family! Angel: Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends... and their friend's children... For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart.

[This reminds me of the Doctor's destroying Gallifrey in "Doctor Who". Same principle.]

39. So we get the story of Angel's curse. When my friends told me about this curse way back when the show was first on, it didn't make much sense to me. It makes more sense now, actually seeing how the action goes, and hearing what Angel says.

40. So Buffy offers herself to Angel. Vampirically speaking. Woo. But I love the symmetry: Buffy can't/won't kill Angel, he can't/won't bite Buffy. Powerful stuff.

41. I'm pretty sure Darla will be back. To interesting to disappear or die.

42. Good Angel line at the Bronze: "I just gotta... I gotta walk away from this." Hah! Famous last words.

43. So they kiss. Of course. Quite right, too. And another great bit of romantic dialogue/visual action:

Buffy: You okay?
Angel: It's just...
Buffy: ...painful. I know.

Then we see, but she doesn't, how her cross has burned him.

~ ~ ~


I liked it. A lot. In case you didn't already notice.

Comments

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

First of all, let me say that I am utterly enjoying your utter enjoyment of being able to see Buffy for the first time.

And this all reminds me of how hard it was for me to get into the series during its first season. All that you point out (Cordelia being one-note and getting tiresome fast, Xander needing a backbone, the vampires having no "real"-ness, no personality, and many other things) all served to slow me down, back when I first saw these... which was during reruns soon after they aired initially. Now, I can see all of it as Joss taking the first season to figure out how he wanted his universe to work, and how he wanted his characters to act within it. Much more is to come, be assured!

Must tell you, tho' -- Buffy did know that her cross had burned Angel, during their kiss. This was one of my favorite early "Buffy uses all her senses and all her sense" instances. You will see many more examples of this -- up to and including one in which she reaches up and catches something thrown at her by someone she couldn't possibly have seen except by extreme peripheral vision. Oh, yes, Buffy knew the cross burned him, and knew that he knew, and kept kissing him, and knew that he was going to keep kissing her too. Watch it again, see if you don't pick up all those nuances! You will want to start practicing, you see, for future episodes [hee].

As for the romance... ah, yes. I had not thought about it exactly, but you are indeed right: romance in Buffy, little in Firefly. I think that Joss had done romance to his happiness and satisfaction in Buffy (and if you don't agree by the time you've seen all seven seasons, I'll be surprised) and so did not pursue the same path in Firefly, but instead there played with other things.

As for Xander and Angel... he just doesn't trust him. You will learn to trust Xander's caution. At the least, it shows that he has a heart of gold which will never fail him (okay, except once, but I still don't consider that episode canon, rebel that I am).

As for Giles saying "the one with the angelic face"... to me, Angel is not attractive so much as striking; however, I can see how a face that holds so much deep anguish can be called "angelic," as I am not stuck on thinking that angels have a pass from feeling horrible feelings very deeply -- I'd say that their "angelic" nature would enhance their ability to feel things deeply, bad things as well as good things. Angelic torture on his face. Hm. Odd-sounding, maybe, but this is Joss Whedon we're talking about!

Lacks and unflattering bits like Joyce being played for a fool are just more evidence of Joss finding his way in the early episodes. You will love Joyce later -- she becomes truly heroic as only one's mother can ever be, belive me.

And I too loved that Willow/Buffy exchange -- that way leads madness and sweaty palms, that one -- it was one of my first favorite Willow/Buffy bits, and many more are to come. The fanfic that pairs the two of them is not far off the mark: their onscreen friendship really is that deep and genuine.

Angel sometimes struck me as too "normal" for carrying all that agony around in him. I'm not sure it's possible to write a character always on the edge of angst-driven madness, and make that character realistic. That's waht Angel was. Much more is to come with Angel. He will be magnificent, and Buffy will also, sometimes directly in reaction to him.

Oh. And I wanted to mention the fight sequences, because you do. This show became brilliant for the fight sequences. Look closely, and you still cannot tell when Sarah Michelle Gellar's stand-ins (she had two) take her place in the visuals. Gellar became as adept at "physical acting" as did Lucy Lawless; either of them could easily play any given comic book superhero, I'd say! It is a joy to watch the fight sequences just for the details in them. Well, maybe not in the first season. Later, however, I'd always have to play them over several times just to be sure I'd caught all the good stuff that had been put into them.

I am so glad you enjoy what you are seeing. And much more to come!

[dargie.livejournal.com]

Have to agree about Angel's looks. I think he's angelic not so much in a pretty, androgynous way, but in a fallen, warrior angel way. Angry, wounded, but not without hope.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

One of the mythic paradigms I have always particularly loved is the "fallen angel" thing - which is why I love the Hjortsberg novel of the same name, and the character of Lucifer in DC comics, and Milton, and Elizabeth Knox's The Vintner's Luck and just about any example where the archetype turns up.

And yes, Angel in that light is most interesting. Angry and wounded. That makes him interesting.

I'm not quite sold on the 'curse' background and I'm not sure why.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Buffy did know that her cross had burned Angel, during their kiss

Huh. I have to disagree with you there - I have never thought that Buffy knew. The point you made about her senses is interesting, but I can't believe that Buffy would deliberately hurt Angel like that and I think that she would be mortified to hurt him by accident if she didn't rememeber about the cross until they were kissing.

Also, having watched it again, SMG is totally standing on a box for that scene! Either that or DB is in a hole.

This show became brilliant for the fight sequences.

Oh yeah. I'd completely forgotten how much lower the standard was in S1, because all the ones I remember are from later seasons. And SMG does sell them brilliantly. (Though you can tell when the stand ins replace her in later seasons because she's about 2 dress sizes smaller than them!)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'd completely forgotten how much lower the standard was in S1, because all the ones I remember are from later seasons.

I must say that I've thought most of the fight scenes have been pretty lame - they either cut away in mid-scene, or just don't make much sense. More acrobatics than confrontation.

Luckily, this isn't a problem - I'm not here for the fight scenes.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I am utterly enjoying your utter enjoyment of being able to see Buffy for the first time.

I like hearing that. And I love having this sort of ready-made fandom that three quarters of my friends are already into. That being said, I feel starved for more Torchwood talk!

Much more is to come, be assured!

So everyone tells me. As of "Angel", I see the seeds of that, I think.

Angelic torture on his face.

Lovely sentence. Downright Lymondesque!

The fanfic that pairs the two of them

Er hmm. I never thought of that. Why didn't I think of that? I don't know them well enough yet to be into it, but... nice idea.

You will love Joyce later -- she becomes truly heroic as only one's mother can ever be, belive me.

Wonderful!

Angel sometimes struck me as too "normal" for carrying all that agony around in him. I'm not sure it's possible to write a character always on the edge of angst-driven madness, and make that character realistic.

Well - 'realism' is not necessarily a value for vampires, though everyone keeps telling me they're metaphors. Right. So far, I can buy it: everyone wears their own personal agony (or madness) in different ways. Angel has his way. So far I find him utterly realistic in that regard. Often looking as if he has a stomach ache.

So far the fight scenes have been a little clumsy and arbitrary; I'm glad to hear they get better. By "arbitrary" I mean there are instances where Buffy looks to be in peril of imminent danger - the end of the first episode is a good example, and the scene in "The Pack" where Xander appears about to rape her - and in the next scene she's out of the peril and in a different situation. We know she hit Xander with a desk, but the plots logistics and/or implications aren't the point - it seems like cheating to me, that we get to see the imperilment but not the resolution of it.

Put another way: girls in danger are a dime a dozen in any TV show or movie. Buffy is remarkable because she's a superhero and can fight her way out. I don't much like the imbalance of seeing the threat but not the triumph.

Or at least... it bothered me enough to notice it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Buffy did know that her cross had burned Angel, during their kiss

You may be right, but how can we know? I'd have to watch again to be sure, but as I recall, we don't see Buffy after that, and there's no indication that she knew - she had immediately turned away because of her own emotional pain.