S2. E07: Darla

[Joe Hellandback]

DARLA

The Good; Everything between Angel and Darla is just superb, adds a whole new dimension to the Buffyverse

The Bad; ?

Best line: Angel; "You damned me!"

Jeez, how did they get away with that? Everything with Darla, Dru and Spike is just TRAGIC. Angel garroting Lindsey is also pretty near the knuckle.

Apocalypses: 4

Angel Clichés Damsel in distress; 17

DB get's his shirt off; yep,10

Cordy's tattoo;3

Cheap Angel; 5

Fang Gang in bondage: Cordy: 5 Angel: 8 Wes: 2

Fang gang knocked out: Cordy: 10 Angel: 12 Wes: 5 Doyle; 1 Gunn; 1

Kills: Cordy: 5 vamps, 1 demons Angel; 17 vamps, 18 and 1/2 demons, 3 humans Doyle; 1 vamp Wes; 1/2 a demon Kate; 3 vamps Faith; 16 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans. Gunn; 5 vamps.

Fang Gang go evil: Cordy: 2 Angel: 2

Alternate Fang Gang: Cordy: 2 Angel: 6

Characters killed: Dru kills the sailor, Spike kills the Slayer offscreen. 29

Recurring characters killed; 4;

Total number of Angel Investigations: 4, Angel, Cordy, Wes and Gunn

Angel Investigations shot: Angel: 8,

Packing heat; Wes; 2 Doyle; 1 Angel; 1

Notches on Fang Gang bedpost: Cordy: 2 ?+Wilson/Hacksaw Beast Angel: 1;Buffy Wes; 2; Virginia and the bleached blonde

Kinky dinky: "You're leaving with the stallion" You know they just don't have dialogue like that on Dawson's Creek. Darla asks Lindsey to kiss her. We have confirmed what we always suspected, that she was a prostitute in her human life (women weren't allowed to own property during the Elizabethen era so she could hardly be anything else)

Captain Subtext; Gunn shows his legal mind for the first time, working out that WR&H would place Darla's expenses as a tax rebate. Angelus appreciates human life whilst the Master wishes to end it. That said he let's Darla go as he seems to have genuine affection for her. Darla wonders if Lindsey has either a boyfriend or girlfriend. Little hints of humanity in Dru, she hints she could be Darla's mummy as she will

Spoiler

eventually be when she sires her.

Once again Spike calls Angel(us) a poofter.

Know the face, different character; 2

Parking garages; yep, where they go to kill Darla 5,

Buffy characters on Angel; 13 The Master rears his ugly head Wetherby, Collins and Smith. Angel, Cordy, Oz, Spike, Buffy, Wes, Faith, Darla, Dru, Master

Questions and observations; Dru sires Spike. The cleverness of this scene is that when we see it on Buffy we think the Fang Gang are the kings of the world. Although when we see it on Angel we realise it's all a lie, Angel is resouled. Despite being resouled Angel still kills criminals, rapists and murderers, an undead version of the Punisher. So what's Darla's real name? In season 1 of Buffy 'Angel' he comments that the last time he saw Darla she was dressed in kimonos which fits here. So what happens to the baby Angel saves? I like to think that she grows up under his watchful eye, much like Rachel in the Highlander series, that Angel visits her as an old lady on her deathbed and holds her hand as she passes to the afterlife and rejoins the rest of her family. Interesting when we compare Angelus, the bullying father of the fang gang with his own domineering father.

Marks out of 10; 9/10