User Reviews

This episode has Darla, Dru, Angel and Spike in it, which means I'm giving it 10 starts right out of the box. All four of them are together in very few scenes in the larger Buffyverse. (Basically, it's just "Darla," season five's the "Girl in Question" and "Fool for Love" over on BTVS.) It's really unfair, since their history and relationships are so important to BTVS and "Angel." Really, I kind of see Dru, Darla, Spike and Angel as an evil Scoobie gang. The four of them are a darker counterpoint to Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles over on BTVS. Or Cordy, Angel, Wes and Gunn here on "Angel." They're all "family groups" who work together to survive and prosper, who occasionally fight with and betray each other, but who still love one another at the end of the day. Only I sort of like the vampires best. Spike and Angel are my favorite characters, and I just adore Darla and Dru. So really, "Darla" could be 48 or so minutes of them playing Scrabble and I'd still love it. Luckily, "Darla" is an excellent episode in and of itself. It gives Darla a back story, shows her fear of being human again and highlights her desperation to go back to her former vampire ways. It really moves the Angel and Darla story line forward and you need to see it if you're watching the season.

This episode revolves around "Darla." she's having trouble adjusting to the human world. Lindsey is becoming more and more attracted to her, but Darla is slipping. She destroys mirrors so she won't have to see her reflection and is beginning to see her soul as a "cancer." She's scared to live and scared to die. She calls Angel for help. Angel has been desperate to track Darla down. He wants to help her adjust to her soul, since he knows what she's going through. Wolfram and Hart sets things up so Angel has to "rescue" Darla from them. He takes her back to the Hyperion and tries to talk to her. Darla won't listen to his assurances that things will get better. She doesn't want to be human. She wants to be a vampire. She asks Angel to sire her, but he refuses. Darla runs off.

"Darla" corresponds with the BTVS season five episode "Fool for Love." (Which shows the scenes in London and during the Boxer Rebellion from Spike's point of view.) You really need to see them both to get the full story.

There's a lot to like about this episode. Lindsey's creepy fixation/romance with Darla is really interesting. I just adore Lindsey, so I like watching him betray everyone in an effort to keep her. Within a few episodes, he'll have separately double crossed Darla, Angel, and Wolfram and Hart so he can hold on to her. But, he's so oddly sympathetic that I always sort of vote for him. I also really like Wes and Cordy in this episode. They know that Angels' going down a dangerous path, but they can't take a stand and just walk away from him. They're worried about him and his choices (with good reason) but they won't leave him to battle things out on his own. It's sweet.

Mostly, though, I love the flashbacks in this episode. We have Darla in the Virgina Colony in 1609 as a dying prostitute, which is sad. Then Darla taking Angelus to meet the Master. It's really cool to see him again. And you just have to laugh when Angelus mutters that he'd never live in dirty sewers, isolated from humans, considering Angel will spend several decades doing just that. Then we switch to 1880, where Dru is pouting that she needs a playmate. She decided to sire "the bravest knight in the land." Dru spots William/Spike and Darla says, "Or you could just turn the first blubbering idiot that you come across." Dru has this thoughtful expression on her face as she stares after Spike, which fits in with later assertions in "Fool for Love" that she senses something special in him. Then we switch to Romania where Darla is trying to get Angel's curse lifted by threatening the gypsies. She, Spike and Dru have attacked their camp, but Darla apparently didn't explain her plan very well. Spike kills all their bargaining chips and Angel is stuck with a soul. (I wonder if Angel knows that part of the story and whether or not he'd thank Spike for inadvertently making him a White Hat.) Then, finally, we reach the Boxer Rebellion, where Spike kills a Slayer and Angel tries to rescue missionaries. In "Fool for Love" Spike claims that this was the "best night of his life." I think that maybe it rates so high, not just because of the Slayer's death, but because it was the last time he, Dru, Darla, and Angel would really be together. Angel can't go back to being Angelus, but he wants Darla too much to admit that he's changed. When Darla tries to push him into eating a baby, Angel can't. He rescues the baby and runs off. You're seeing all this playing out along side the "present day" story lines and it all just fits together really well. Angel left Darla because he had a soul and couldn't be evil anymore. Now Darla's leaving Angel because she has a soul, but she doesn't know how to be good. It's just really cool.

On the down side, I think it's sort of sad that we never know Darla's real name. Also, I'm not real clear on how the Master picked her out to sire. How did her get into her house?

My favorite part of the episode: Darla, Angel, Spike and Dru in the Boxer Rebellion. Just watching the four of them walking together, back lit by the fiery destruction, ROCKS. Have I mentioned that I love them?

I gave you eternal life. Now it's time for you to return the favor - This is exactly the reason why I think that 'Tim Minear' was by far the best writer/director of ANGEL. He wrote the only flawless ANGEL/BTVS crossover. The first hour is called 'Fool For Love', it's the 7th episode of BTVS' 5th season, he made me love 'Spike' even for just 45 minutes. His second hour was even better, 'Darla' brought out the best performance of Julie Benz that i've seen. What I most love about these two episodes are the repeated scenes that you'll only get after watching both episodes. Most notable is when 'Darla', 'Angelus' and 'Dru' are talking about vamping someone for 'Dru', then 'William/Spike' bumps into them which leads 'Dru' to turn him, in the 'Fool For Love' episode you only see him bump into some people and later getting vamped by 'Dru', on the 'Darla' episode you only see those three talking about turning someone. Another thing I loved was that both flashbacks and the normal scenes were both spectacular, while the flashbacks are usually a lot more memorable. The most important flashbacks are the ones where 'Darla' gets vamped by 'The Matser' and when she leaves him with 'Angelus', although 'The Master' didn't seem to be fond of 'Angelus' while he seemed to be fond him him during the first BTVS season. The normal scenes were also just as brilliant, I loved the scene where 'Darla' asks 'Lindsey' what they brought back and when she kisses and bites him, that scene alone made me a 'Dinsey' shipper for more than a year. Also loved the scene where 'Darla' calls 'Angel' and he can hear her heart beat through the phone. But the most powerful scene was probably the last one with the flashback and normal scene put together, in the flashback 'Darla' wants 'Angel' to eat a baby but he can't and flees with it, in the normal scene 'Darla' begs 'Angel' to turn her back into a vampire but 'Angel' refused. This whole episode is just a huge masterpiece, it makes me wish that the show only had Darla-centric episodes. DARLA: Now do you know what we've become? LINDSEY: Enemies. DARLA: Oh no. Much worse. Now we're soulmates. (10 out of 10)

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 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

In this episode, the tension between Darla and Angel finally comes to a head as Darla deteriorates more and more as her soul weigh her down. Darla must decide which direction she wants her life to go. Meanwhile Lindsey begins to fall for Darla.

This is another good episode of Angel that further develops the show's plot. But my favorite sequences from this one were actually all the flashback sequences showing us the origins and history of some of the most famous vampires we've seen on this show. I never knew Darla was converted by The Master. I sat up in my seat when I saw him on- screen, so excited I was for his return to the Buffy- verse. Seeing Angel's initial reluctance to leave Darla, even when he had a soul, was very interesting. We really got to see Angel at his loneliest and most fragile.

When we'll see Darla again, I don't know. I really do enjoy the chemistry her and Angel seem to share so hopefully it won't be too long before the two interact again.

I really love this episode. We get to see Darla's entire history, which we usually don't for non- main cast. We see how in the early 1600s, she died from syphilis, because she was a, well I don't want to say hooker, but she was a hooker, so I'll just say it. She was a hooker and died from syphilis. We see how The Master came when she was on her deathbed and turned her into a vampire. We see all these kinds of things. How at one point, she chose Angel, well Angeles, over The Master. It is just so interesting to see how she became the person or thing that she is today.

Overall, I give this episode a 10 out of 10.

What did you bring back, Lindsey? What am I? Did you bring back that girl, whose name I can't remember?... Or did you bring back something else? The other thing?

Darla is a look back into Darla's past and her relationship with Angel, as her mental state in the present declines.

The episode contains a lot of flashbacks, always welcome. The best of which include Angelus meeting the Master, I like how the Master cracks a smile of respect for the young whippersnapper. As well as Drusilla picking the first drooling idiot that comes along to sire, in Spike. The present day isn't so enthralling however, with Darla moping around. Angel's situation's interesting though and his interaction with Darla, important.