Angel
Written by: David Greenwalt Directed by: Scott Brazil
Cast : Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris, Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles.
Guest stars : Mark Metcalf as The Master, Andrew J. Ferchland as the Anointed One, Kristine Sutherland as Joyce, Julie Benz as Darla.
Original broadcast date : April 14, 1997
In his lair, as the Anointed One watches, the Master laments Darla¹s latest failure to kill the Slayer. The Master decides to employ stronger means The Three, a trio of pretty strong vampires.
At the Bronze, where the pre-fumigation party is going on, Buffy and Willow depressingly discuss their bleak love lives, while stomping cockroaches. As Xander, just rejected once more on the dance floor, comes to join them, Buffy decides to call it a night.
In the street, Buffy senses someone following her; just as she pulls out a stake, a vampire jumps down in front of her from the trees and two others attack her as well. As the fight turns badly and one of the vampire prepares to feed off her, Angel appears and rips him off Buffy. Angel ends up getting slashed in the ribs by a rod iron bar, and he and Buffy decide that the better part of valor is to run
Buffy invites Angel into her house and tends to his wounds. As they talk about how Angel is always there at the right place and the right time, Joyce comes in. A very uneasy Buffy introduces Angel, then both strongly hint to Joyce that she should go to bed. After Mom obliges, Buffy and Angel climb up to her room, where Buffy insists he stay the night.
The next day, Buffy tells Willow and Xander about Angel spending the night at her place (to Xander¹s obvious displeasure). Giles informs Buffy about the Three, saying in substance that Buffy must be causing the Master real trouble if he¹s sending these vampires after her.
Unbeknownst to Buffy, she need not worry about the Three, as the Master explains to Colin, the young Anointed One, the necessity of killing the Three for their failure. Back in the library, Buffy finds a crossbow and can¹t wait to use it. Giles tempers her eagerness and starts her off with a quarterstaff, but when she quickly overpowers him, he admits she¹s ready for the crossbow.
That night, at the Summers house, Buffy brings Angel some food, and discovers her diary open on her desk. Suspecting him of having read it, she panics and blurts out all the private things she thinks he¹s read. When he tells her that her mother was the one who took it out, Buffy tries to dig herself out of the embarrassing situation, which ends up with a kiss. Angel, deep in passion, vamps out, causing Buffy to scream in terror. Angel escapes through the window.
The next day, when the Scoobies learn the truth about Angel, the mood is gloomy. Xander encourages Buffy to dust Angel, but she protests that she loves him.
Meanwhile, when Angel arrives back at his apartment, Darla comes out of the shadows and tries to tempt him into going evil again. When he rejects her, she goes to Buffy¹s house, where she pretends to be Buffy¹s study buddy. After Joyce invites her in to wait for Buffy, Darla bites her just a bit - just as Angel bursts in. Darla throws a now unconscious Joyce at him and encourages him to eat, then escapes just as Buffy conveniently comes home to find her mother in the arms of a fully vamped-out Angel. Buffy angrily throws him out and calls an ambulance.
After seeing her mother to the hospital, Buffy decides to stake Angel out (in all senses of the word). Armed with a crossbow, she finds him at the Bronze. As she confronts him, Angel reveals to her how he got cursed with a soul after killing a gypsy girl, and how for a hundred years he hasn¹t fed off humans. She offers her neck, but he refuses. Darla comes out of the shadows armed with two guns, shooting away, trying to force Buffy¹s death if Angel won¹t do it for her. As the Scoobies come in, shouting to Buffy that Angel¹s not the one who bit her mother, Angel succeeds in staking Darla.
Days later, Angel and Buffy ponder their relationship at the Bronze, and decide to share a goodbye kiss before they put an end to it. Buffy walks away, leaving Angel¹s chest burned where her silver cross touched him as they kissed.
Summary by OttsFiveByFive.
Episode Ratings
Mac -
“The introduction of the soul-endowed Vampire. A Classic.”
DJ Angelus -
“Angel being a Vamp with a soul and in love with the slayer. While I consider the concept cheesy it made for some great episodes this being the first.”
Quotes
Key: B=Buffy, G=Giles, X=Xander, W=Willow, A=Angel, D=Darla, M=Master
W: So, we’re talking about a guy? B: Not exactly a guy. For us to have a conversation about a guy, there’d have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about. Was that a sentence?
B: Yeah, I could just see him in a relationship. ‘Hi honey, you’re in grave danger. I’ll see you next month.’
X: I don’t know what everyone’s talking about, that outfit doesn’t make you look like a hooker.
X: That Cordelia’s a regular breath of vile air.
W: Just sitting here watching our barren lives pass us by. Oh, look, a cockroach. *stomp*
X: Let’s stop this crazy whirligig of fun. I’m dizzy.
A: Good dogs don’t bite.
B: Angel, do you snore? A: I don’t know. It’s been a long time since anyone’s been in a position to let me know.
X: Wake up and smell the seduction!
X: I once drank an entire gallon of gatorade without taking a breath. W: It was pretty impressive. Although later there was an ick factor. G: Can we steer this riveting conversation back to the events that happened earlier in the evening?
W: How is it you always know this stuff? You always know what’s going on. I never know what’s going on. G: You weren’t here from midnight until six researching it. W: No, I was sleeping.
B: Good-bye stakes, hello flying fatality!
B: ‘Hunk’ can mean a lot of things, *bad* things!
B: ‘A’ doesn’t even stand for ‘Angel,’ for that matter. It stands for ‘Achmed,’ a charming foreign exchange student.
X: Angel’s a vampire. You’re a Slayer. I think it’s obvious what you have to do.
X: You’re in love with a vampire?!
A: What’s with the catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you, it was kimonos.
D: Is there anything better than a natural disaster?
X: I’m not saying anything. I have nothing to say.
X: Now I’m saying something. You saw him naked?!
W: I mean, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being someone who’s killing and maiming every night, and 1 being someone who’s… not.
X: Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly.
M: You see how well we all work together for the common good? That’s how a family is supposed to function.
W: No speaking up; that way leads to madness and sweaty palms.
W: It is kind of novel how he’ll stay young and handsome forever, although you’ll still get wrinkly and die… and oh, what about the children? I’ll be quiet now.
D: You’re hurting me. That’s good too.
B: You’re not an animal. Animals I *like*.
B: I invited you into my home, and you attacked my family. A: Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends and their friends’ children for a hundred years. I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart.
A: I fed on a girl your age. Beautiful. Dumb as a post.
A: The elders conjured up the perfect punishment for me: they restored my soul. B: What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?
D: Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is? B: Bad hair on top of that outfit?
B: Well, you’ve been around since Columbus. You are bound to pile up a few exes.
B: Just between us girls, you are looking a little worn around the eyes.
D: So many body parts, so few bullets.
X: Ah, the post-fumigation party. B: Okay, so what’s the difference between this and the pre-fumigation party? X: Much hardier cockroaches.
B: It’s weird, though. In his way, I feel like he’s still watching me. W: Well, in a way he sort of is…in the way of that he’s right over there.