March 2nd, 2010
Angel
The funny thing about this episode is that even though it’s very important to the whole BTVS and Angel mythology, it’s completely lame. And on top of that, the only good scenes are the ones with Darla.
The Master sends the Three Stooges after Buffy. (Of course they fail. This show isn’t called The Three.) Then Darla decides to make Angel kill Buffy, and almost pulls it off. Why? Because Darla has had 400+ years to work on her manipulation skills and she knows Angel better than anyone on the planet. Bitch is totally old school.
I do give Angel some credit for being concerned about the age difference. I guess that was so we wouldn’t think he was ephebophilic. But really, it’s better if we don’t think too hard about it. Because that’s the only reason we think it’s okay that he killed his ex-girlfriend for Buffy. I know I’m supposed to be buying into this special fated love thing, but this episode does not get me there. All I can think is that Humbert Humbert just killed his wife for Lolita. Ick.
Anyway, I give this episode a D. I was going to up it to a low C for Darla’s sake, but she gets killed off. Even the Masters total shit-fit afterward wasn’t enough to bring it back.