Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

Angel
Season 1, Episode 7
Airdate	April 14, 1997
Production Number	4V07
Written by	David Greenwalt
Directed by	Scott Brazil
← 1x06 The Pack	1x08 → I Robot, You Jane
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season One

This article is about the episode. For the character, see Angel (character). For the spin-off, see Angel.

Angel is the seventh episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy finds herself irresistibly drawn to the mysterious Angel, but must pull herself away when she uncovers his terrible secret and horrific past.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase)

and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)

Guest Starring: Mark Metcalf (The Master), David Boreanaz (Angel), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Julie Benz (Darla)

Co-Starring: Andrew J. Ferchland (Collin), Charles Wesley (Meanest Vamp)

Plot Overview

Angel's character is explored in this episode, in which the Master sends a group of warrior vampires called "The Three" to kill Buffy. They fail, though Angel is injured in the fight. Buffy takes him home to care for him, and he spends the night, though he sleeps on her floor. The next day, they kiss, and Buffy discovers that Angel is a vampire. Darla decides to try to turn Angel back to the Master's side, and she attacks Buffy's mom, Joyce, making it appear as though Angel is the culprit. In the end, Angel kills Darla, but only after Buffy discovers that Darla was the one to make Angel a vampire. Though Buffy and Angel recognize that they shouldn't be together, they share a passionate kiss at the Bronze at the end of the episode.

Notes

Monster of the Week

• The Three: The Master is the primary focus of this episode, but some of his minions are prominently featured. "The Three" are three warrior vampires who attack Buffy when she's leaving the Bronze. They are strictly loyal to The Master and are killed by Darla when they fail him. They are identifiable by the armor that they wear and the fact that they only travel in a pack.

Body Count

#	Whom	By Whom	How	Where
1/2/3	The Three	Darla	Staked	The Master's Lair
4	Darla	Angel	Staked	Angel's Apartment

Music

• Sophie Zelmani - "I'll Remember You"

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Vampire Lore: Another rule about vampires is brought up in this episode when Angel tells Buffy that vampires cannot enter someone's private home without being invited. This doesn't stop the Three from clawing at her from the threshold and trying to get through the door, but they don't follow her inside. In later episodes, it will also be revealed that the invitation stands until it's mystically revoked.

• The Gypsy Curse: In the explanation of what he is, Angel mentions a bit more of vampiric lore. When a vampire is sired, the demon takes over the body and that possession eliminates the soul. Without a soul, the vampire is lacking a conscience and remorse.

Characters

• Angel: After lurking in the shadows for since Buffy started slaying in Sunnydale, some light is shed upon Angel's history and character. Most notably, he's revealed to be a 247 year old vampire sired by Darla. Eighty years ago, however, he moved to America and shunned other vampires after a gypsy cursed him with a soul. Prior to becoming "the vampire with a soul," he was known as Angelus and terrorized Europe for over 100 years. Darla, in particular, mentions an earthquake in Budapest at the turn of the century. He also brings up "kimonos," likely a reference to the Boxer Rebellion in Beijing, where they last met. This plot point will be expanded in flashbacks through out both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Trivia

The Show

• Packing Heat: In the final act of this episode, Darla shoots at Buffy and Angel with two handguns. Joss Whedon is very staunchly anti-gun and, as a result, they very rarely appear in his series (excluding Firefly, although those are futuristic laser weapons). When they do appear, like in this situation, they only make things worse for the person using the guns.

• First episode of the series to begin with a "Previously on..." segment.

Behind the Scenes

• International Titles: Because Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an international phenomenon, the title of this episode has been translated into several different episodes to go along with the redubbed show. Some of these names are listed below:
  • French: "Alias Angelus" ("The Hyenas")
  • German: "Angel - Blutige Küsse" ("Angel - Bloody Kisses")
  • Italian: "L'Angelo custode" ("The Guardian Angel")
  • Japanese: "エンジェル" ("Enjeru" - "Angel")

Allusions and References

• Friar Tuck: A jovial friar in the legend of Robin Hood, and one of Robin's Merry Men.

Buffy: Giles, 20th Century? I'm not gonna be fighting Friar Tuck!

Memorable Moments

• This is the first time we see Angel fight.
• Buffy and Angel kiss for the first time.
• Joyce is bitten by Darla.

Quotes

• Willow: What about Angel?

Buffy: Angel? I can just see him in a relationship. "Hi, honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month."

Willow: He's not around much, it's true.

• Cordelia: Ouch! Please get your extreme oafishness off my two-hundred-dollar shoes!

• Xander: Y'know, hey, I don't know what everyone's talking about. That outfit doesn't make you look like a hooker!

• Xander: Boy, that Cordelia is a regular breath of vile air.

• Buffy: Look, I really don't want to fight all three of you, unless I have to.

• Buffy: Well, then why don't you go upstairs and get into bed, and I can bring you some hot tea?

Joyce: That's sweet. What'd you do?

• Buffy: Do you snore?

Angel: I don't know. It's been a long time since anybody's been in the position to let me know.

• Xander: Buffy, come on. Wake up and smell the seduction. It's the oldest trick in the book.

Buffy: What? Saving my life? Getting slashed in the ribs?

Xander: Duh! I mean, guys'll do anything to impress a girl. I once drank an entire gallon of Gatorade without taking a breath.

Willow: It was pretty impressive. Although later there was an ick factor.

• Buffy: My diary? You read my diary? That is not okay! A diary is like a person's most private place! I... You don't even know what I was writing about! "Hunk" can mean a lot of things, bad things. And - And when it says that your eyes are "penetrating" I meant to write "bulging."

Angel: Buffy...

Buffy: And "A" doesn't even stand for "Angel" for that matter; it - it stands for... "Achmed", a charming foreign exchange student, so that whole fantasy part has nothing to even do with you at all...

Angel: Your mother moved your diary when she came in to straighten up. I watched her from the closet. I didn't read it, I swear.

• Xander: (to Buffy) You’re in love with a vampire? What, are you out of your mind?

Cordelia: What?

Xander: Not vampire... (turns to Buffy) How could you love an umpire? Everyone hates 'em!

Cordelia: (to a girl wearing the same dress as her) Where did you get that dress? This is a one-of-a-kind Todd Oldham. Do you know how much this dress cost? Is this a knockoff? (checks the label) This is a knockoff, isn't it? Some cheesy knockoff! This is exactly what happens when you sign these free trade agreements!

Buffy: You think we have problems.

• Giles: There's mention some two hundred years ago in Ireland of - of Angelus, the one with the angelic face.

Buffy: You got that right.

• Willow: Okay, so let's review. Reconstruction began when? Buffy?

Buffy: (distracted) Huh? Oh, Reconstruction? Uh, Reconstruction began after the... construction... which was shoddy so they had to reconstruct.

Willow: After the destruction of the Civil War.

Buffy: Right. Civil War. During which Angel was already, like, 100 and change.

• Buffy: You want Xander, you've gotta speak up, girl!

Willow: No, no, no, no. No speaking up. That way leads to madness and sweaty palms.

• Willow: (talking about Angel) Wow! And it is kinda novel how he'll stay young and handsome forever, although you'll still get wrinkly and die, and... Oh, and what about the children? (off Buffy's look) I'll be quiet now.

• Buffy: Mom, this is Mr. Giles.

Joyce: The librarian from your school. What's he doing here?

Giles: Uh, I just came to pay my respects, wish you a speedy recovery.

Joyce: Boy, the teachers really do care in this town.

• Buffy: I invited you into my home and then you attacked my family!

Angel: Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends... and their friend's children. For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met and I did it with a song in my heart.

• Angel: The Romany. Gypsies. The elders conjured the perfect punishment for me. They restored my soul.

Buffy: What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?

Angel: When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone. No conscience, no remorse. It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the things I've done... and to care.

• Angel: I can walk like a man, but I'm not one. I wanted to kill you tonight.

• Darla: Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?

Buffy: Bad hair on top of that outfit?

Darla: To love someone who used to love you.

• Darla: There was a time when we shared everything, wasn't there, Angelus? You had a chance to come home, to rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years, but you threw that away because of her. You love someone who hates us. You're sick. And you'll always be sick. And you'll always remember what it was like to watch her die.

• Darla: So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the kneecaps. No fun dancing without them.

• Buffy: Okay, so what's the difference between this and the pre-fumigation party?

Xander: Much hardier cockroaches.

• Angel: I just gotta... Gotta walk away from this.

Buffy: I know. Me, too.

(several moments pass)

Buffy: One of us has to go here.

Angel: I know.

(the two kiss)