Angel

(S01E09) Doyle: You never know until you’ve been tested. I get that now.

Alas, poor Doyle, we hardly knew ye. And, we were really starting to like you. You had a charming edginess to your personality. You were a tough bloke; yet, you were shy and uncomfortable that your face became a human pin cushion whenever you sneezed or got angry. You were also loyal to your boss, Angel, and would sacrifice anything to save him because you knew (from being a vassal for The Powers That Be) that he was destined for grander things than just being a paranormal detective.

However, your destiny was already set (by the producers of the show, that is) and you decided to take the classy way out and become a hero. And heroism is pretty much what this whole episode of Angel is about.

At first it was the heroism of Angel himself. Cordelia and Doyle both knew that our brooding vampire with a soul was the real deal when it came to heroes. However, once he disclosed the events that occurred last episode (when Buffy swung into town) his heroism went up a notch in both of their eyes.

But, then, the story was placed squarely on the shoulders of Doyle himself, as he took the role of unsuspecting hero. After learning that The Scourge were hunting down and killing demons across Los Angeles, Doyle took it upon himself to get them all to safety. He even went so far as to search the city for one young demon who thought all of the talk of safety was a giant ball of poop. Using that charm of his, Doyle convinced the boy to come with him to safety.

Being the hero, he almost got the girl as well, as Cordelia found out about his little secrets (being a demon and having a crush on her). In what was a very dark episode the one bright spot was when it seemed Cordelia and Doyle were going to hook up. Then, The Scourge (who resemble decomposing humans in German SS shock-trooper uniforms) find where the demons are hiding and ruin it all by activating a device that will wipe out all beings with even a trace of human blood.

Luckily, Doyle saves the day. No, you heard me right, Doyle. Realizing that Angel has more important reasons to remain alive than he does, Doyle knocks him away, kisses Cordelia good-bye, and disconnects the device, dying heroically in the process.

This episode was, by far, the darkest yet of the series. And, I’m not just talking about its tone, either. About 95% of the episode was shot in darkness. Some scenes were so devoid of light that I had to squint at the screen to see what was going on. Yet, it was a good setting for what was going on. Glenn Quinn’s performance was excellent as he showed many sides of his character that we hadn’t seen during the first eight episodes. Even though Quinn’s death was planned it didn’t seem forced. There was actually a feeling of sadness that we wouldn’t see what could happen in the future with Doyle and, especially, between him and Cordelia.