Though the spin-off featured several nuanced, compelling female characters, too many of them met the same predictable end, sacrificed for male characters' emotional arcs.
Darla Julie Benz was Angel's partner in the century-long killing spree that came before his reformation; she was also his vampiric sire, the woman who literally turned him into a monster. Their relationship is the axis of the show's second season. Darla, brought back to life as human and then reborn as a vampire, attempts to pull Angel back into evil.
He tries to save her, then to destroy her; somewhere in there they have sex. Darla becomes pregnant, which is supposed to be impossible for vampires. Just as improbably, she finds herself feeling love for her future child, which she credits to the influence of its human soul growing inside her. Finally, afraid she won't be able to love the baby once it's born, Darla stakes herself in labor, dissolving to ashes and leaving her infant son, Connor played as an adult by Vincent Kartheiser , lying on the pavement.
Julie Benz said in that she found the exit of her character profound, a final selfless deed by someone whose character had primarily been defined by self-preservation. Unfortunately, Darla was only the first of three Angel characters to die in childbirth. With each of the next two, her death looked less like a tragic sacrifice and more like the beginning of a disheartening pattern. The last of the three was Fred Burkle Amy Acker , whose body was hijacked and used as an incubator to bring the ancient god Illyria back to life.
Fred doesn't literally give birth to Illyria, but the parallel is obvious. A foreign life form is placed inside her body by a man with whom she was briefly romantically involved. And when Illyria comes forth into the world, Fred is obliterated.
It's a crushing, painful, ugly death. It's not the resolution of a character arc or even particularly relevant to the season's main plotline. Mostly, it gives the primary male characters an extra helping of grief, rage, and guilt to carry into the season's final battle. And yet, as unjust and infuriating as Fred's death was, it wasn't as upsetting as the death I skipped over, the second and by far the most offensive of the show's three maternal mortalities.
I'm still trying to find the words for what happened to Cordelia Chase. She was a teen drama archetype: the hot, rich, mean girl with a slew of sycophantic followers.
But instead of stagnating at 17 like so many pop culture high school queen bees before and after, Cordelia blossomed into someone dynamic and fascinating. She was self-centered, with a mean streak that never entirely went away, but she was also brave, generous, and surprisingly tender. She wasn't always likable, but she was wholly her own person. Cordy's growth over three seasons of Buffy and three seasons of Angel is one of the most engaging character arcs on either show and in the whole of the Whedonverse.
She begins as a reluctant ally against evil, bemoaning the stains left on her clothes when she's held hostage by vampires, and develops into a daring, capable fighter. Either way, this relationship was just icky and wasted the arcs of both characters. This relationship was introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer , but it was Angel that really expanded on it. These two really did have an epic romance that spanned literal centuries.
Angelus and Darla may not have been quite as much fun as Spike and Dru, but fans loved seeing them together. Cordelia lived out her very own fairytale romance but it was once her prince came looking for her that the trouble really began. The Groosalugg, better known as Groo, worshipped the ground Cordy walked on and even traversed dimensions to get to her.
They were happy for a few precious episodes but Cordelia quickly threw him aside in favor of being there for Angel. To be fair, the vampire had a lot going on. Viewers never really got invested in this relationship, because by this point it had become apparent that the writers were intent on shoehorning in a romance between Angel and Cordelia. So, it was kind of hard to root for this couple. We know that this relationship could not be even remotely construed as healthy, but it was so much fun to watch it unfold.
Wesley really got the best character arc out of everyone on Angel and a lot of those exciting developments began during this romance. Aside from that, Stephanie Romanov and Alexis Denisoff were perfect in their scenes together.
Obviously, Lilah and Wesley were never the endgame here. Lilah was always a great villain, but her relationship with Wes was the one thing that actually humanized her. Their time together may have been a tangled web of lies, but their feelings for each other were certainly real. This is about wasted potential more than anything else. Before Spike died, Buffy finally told Spike that she loved him.
Angel refuses to comfort her the way she wants, but Faith manages to sneak in a kiss on the cheek, which Buffy happens to see. Before Spike went along and got his own soul, Angel was unique. Buffy season 2 reached this moment of perfect happiness by having Angel and Buffy sleep together.
In despair, Angel sleeps with Darla, hoping to lose his soul, but fails, having an epiphany. He instructs Darla to leave on penalty of death, and seeks out his team, humbly asking to work for them, instead of being their boss. They agree to do so hesitantly. Angel lost his soul twice: first, when he slept with Buffy Summers, and again, due to a spell.
On both occasions, he reverted to his identity as the murderous and twisted Angelus, and sought to sadistically punish the people around him until his soul was restored again. Have you actually watched the two shows? Canon is that Angel loves Buffy, but due to the curse on him, they cannot be together because if truly happy, he goes back to being Angelus.
Season two, episode 14 — Innocence After Buffy and Angel sleep together, Angel loses his soul, reverting to his supremely evil Angelus persona and teaming up with Drusilla and then villainous Spike. It is his soul, he fought for it and he loves having it. At this point, even without the soul Spike is a good vampire. As far as strength, they seemed equal in power. However, Angel allowed his doubt to weaken his resolve and caused him to tire, just as Spike got his second wind.
Spike was stronger mentally as well as physically strong and that decided the tale. Anyway, something that I just realized the other day while watching Buffy is that when Buffy and Angel started going out, she was around fifteen years old.
And Angel was about something. Now, say that we judge this off of how old he was before he was a vampire, which would be In furious disbelief, Buffy assaults Spike and they battle until Buffy unleashes her desire and kisses him, initiating such passionate sex that the abandoned house in which they were fighting collapses around them.
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