Buffy The Vampire Slayer

"Am I the only one who was absolutely stunned by the parallelisms between "Angel" and "Buffy" in recent episodes? Keep in mind that "Angel" is running a couple of episodes behind "Buffy," so "Habeas Corpses" (episode 4.8) is roughly parallel with "Sleeper" and "Never Leave Me." What happened in "Sleeper"? The gang suspected that one of them (Spike) had a connection with the Big Bad. At the end of "Never Leave Me," the unstoppable UberVamp was born from the Hellmouth using Spike’s blood. In "Bring On the Night," Buffy and company tried to kill the UberVamp, pronounced it indestructible and decided, basically, that "it’s going to take a force far stronger and smarter than us" to kill it (not to mention the First). Not to mention that in "Never Leave Me," the Watcher’s Council, the ultimate source of knowledge about the demon-y world (to Buffy) was destroyed by the First. Buffy was hesitant to call upon the Watcher’s Council for info, but we all knew that if anybody could figure out what the First was and how to defeat it, it’s the Watcher’s Council. In "Habeas Corpses," the Beast destroys Wolfram & Hart, the ultimate source of knowledge about the demon-y world for Angel. Angel was likewise obviously hesitant to call upon Wolfram & Hart for info, but it was the knowledge that they sucked out of Lorne’s brain and organized that led Angel and company to the Beast.

So, on both shows, we have a seemingly unstoppable evil that has a connection to at least one of the key members of each group. The ultimate source of knowledge for each group has been destroyed by the evil thing. The Scoobies have gone through the first stage, i.e. freaking out about the big bad thing. The Fang Gang is going through that now. The Scoobies are moving on to the second stage, i.e. false confidence about their abilities to defeat the big bad thing without any knowledge or additional weaponry. Based on the preview, it appears that Angel gives his St. Crispin’s Day speech next week and then battles the Beast. Will they battle at a construction site so his friends can watch?"