Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Buffy is in for a big surprise this week as she finds out her new beau is a vampire! 411’s Scooby Gang has the full review of a seminal BTVS episode!

Happy New Year! And welcome back to The Watcher Diaries. After a break for some holiday turkey, Christmas presents and New Years merry making, we’re jumping into the wayback machine again (1997 to be exact) to review a first season episode of Bufffy the Vampire Slayer.

The show was pretty good when it hit the airwaves, and its growing pains were minimal. Nevertheless, it didn’t truly hit its stride until year two, and year one suffered from a bit of inconsistency. This episode, however, is a flash of brilliance that really displayed just how effective the show could be. It’s all about this guy named Angel....

Episode 1.07 - "Angel" - Writer : David Greenwalt - Director : Scott Brazil - Original Airdate : April 14, 1997

Synopsis: Angel saves Buffy from "The Three", a gang of mercenary vampires, so she invites him for a sleepover…just to be safe. However, when Buffy kisses him, he accidentally reveals that he is a vampire! Love is complicated. Complicating matters further is Darla, who it turns out, is an old flame of Angel’s and wants a reunification. Giles’ investigation turns up stories of Angelus, one of the most vicious vampires on record. When Darla attacks Buffy’s mom, Buffy mistakenly thinks that it was Angel. Buffy sets out to kill Angel while Darla sits back and waits for him to return to her. When Buffy tracks him down, Angel tells her about a Gypsy curse that gave him his soul back — something that torments him every day of his non-life. Buffy also learns that Darla was the one who sired Angel centuries ago. When Darla attacks, it is Angel who is forced to kill her (for the first time). Although disaster is averted, Angel feels that a relationship would just be too difficult.

As I said above, this episode was, to me, one of the highlights of the first season. While the season as a whole didn’t match up to the consistent greatness of the second and third years, it did have a few shining moments that signalled what was to come and this was one of them.

Since the series began, there had been a slow burn on the Buffy/Angel relationship. She was clearly attracted to this mysterious, good looking stranger who routinely showed up to give her cryptic warnings on the dangers soon to erupt from the Hellmouth, and as their interactions became more frequent, they developed a flirty edge to them. Even Angel, who before the revelation of this episode could still be termed too old for Buffy, seemed to be growing quite interested in the young slayer. So it was no surprise when, after a charged slayage encounter, the pair finally shared a kiss.

And what a kiss! The kind of kiss that makes Angel spontaneously revert to his true visage, just in time to horrify his beautiful companion. Yep, Angel’s a vampire, and that really throws a wrench in the burgeoning romance.

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