There aren’t manytelevision spinoff showsthat became quite as iconic as their predecessors.Fear the Walking Deadwill always be compared to the originalThe Walking Deadseries, and it’s hard to bring upHouse of the Dragonwithout thinking ofGame of Thronesfirst. However,Buffy the Vampire Slayerdifferentiated itself from other shows because it ran concurrently with its spinoff seriesAngel. Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe,Buffy the Vampire SlayerandAngelfeatured creative crossover events that were rewarding to fans of both characters. While both shows could be enjoyed on their own, they were more rewarding when they were together, and could build out a larger mythology. Although many of these crossover events were simply fun ways to reunite the characters, a storyline inBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s fifth season andAngel’s second season helped establish the show’s fictional history of vampirism. Ironically, the bestBuffy the Vampire Slayercrossover episode had nothing to do with Buffy.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
A young woman, destined to slay vampires, demons and other infernal creatures, deals with her life fighting evil, with the help of her friends.
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Needed Important Flashbacks for Angel and Spike
The vampire known as Angel (David Boreanaz) appeared inBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s first seasonas Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) mysterious ally, and eventual lover. After Angel’s vampirism was revealed in the episode “Angel,” the show steadily began revealing the events in the character’s life that led him to Sunnydale, California. It was revealed that Angel was once an 18th Century Irishman named Liam who had been bitten by the vampire Darla (Julie Benz); after initiating a reign of terror as the vampire “Angelus,” Angel was cursed with a soul. Angel begins working with Buffy in order to redeem himself from the lifetime of death and destruction that he caused.While the show hinted at some of the events in Angel’s past, the flashbacks were only inserted in brief instances when they were necessary to explain a current threat.
Thesecond season ofBuffy the Vampire Slayerintroduced Spike (James Marsters), an initially villainous vampire who also eventually became Buffy’s lover. After it became clear that Angel had no room left to grow onBuffy the Vampire Slayer, the character moved to Los Angeles to start his own detective agency with Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) and Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Alexis Denisof) in the spinoffAngel. This left Spike as the only main vampire character onBuffy the Vampire Slayer, andSpike was a very different character compared to Angel. While Angel was so haunted by his past that he barely spoke about it, Spike was willing (and even proud) of what he had done because he had not yet been cursed with a soul. Spike’s growing affection for Buffy inspired him to tell her how he, Angel, and Darla all became intertwined in the first place.
“Fool for Love” Showed Spike’s Backstory in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’
In theBuffy the Vampire Slayerepisode “Fool for Love,” Buffy forces Spike to explain how he killed two slayers in the past. At first, her question is purely strategic, as she wants to understand how best to defend herself from the threats that doomed other young women in her line of work. Spike is more than willing to brag about his past crimes, buthe steadily begins to open up to Buffy. Spike becomes a more sympathetic character. He reveals that prior to being bitten, he had simply been a lovestruck poet who was in love withthe woman Drusilla (Juliet Landau), who would also become a vampire. Spike would have likely lived a lonely, heartbreaking life had he not been bitten by Angel. The power that vampirism gives him turns his sadness into bitter, toxic masculinity, and inspires him to take vengeance on everyone who took him for granted.
“Fool for Love” was an instrumental episodewithin Spike’s character arc. Spike had the opposite character arc as Angel, whose villainous deeds were only revealed once he had already been established as a hero. The show had to prove that despite the crimes that Spike had committed, he was worthy of redemption. Although it initially appears that Spike is telling Buffy this story in order to brag, the only person he’s trying to convince is himself. After reflecting upon the slayers that he killed, Spike realizes that none of the choices in his life were really his. The standoffish, angry attitude that he has is simply a way for him to mask his inner sadness. This served as a great way to hint at the romantic connection between Buffy and Spike before they became involved with each other in the controversial sixth season.
“Darla” Explored Angel’s Point-of-View on His Own Show
“Fool for Love” had changed the audience’s perspective of the main characters. Angel comes off as aggressive, ruthless, and cruel, whereas Spike is docile, and almost comically so. Although it was important to show that Angel had a dark side to make his heroism more impactful, the series needed to prove that he was also a victim of vampirism itself. IntheAngelepisode “Darla,”the events of “Fool for Love” are shown from Angel’s point-of-view. Before Angel bites Spike, he was bitten by the vampire Darla, who had initially been killed inBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s first season before she was revived inAngelby the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart. Darla had been Angel’s love interest in previous centuries, and her resurrection allows them to reunite and rekindle their relationship.
“Darla” was important because it evoked sympathy for both Angel and Darla. It’s revealed that Darla was sired byanotherBuffy the Vampire Slayervillain, The Master (Mark Metcalf), in the 16th century when she was a prostitute. Darla was never given the chance to redeem herself like Angel, which made her arc more tragic.The episode explains why Angel and Darla are continuously drawn to each other, despite knowing that any relationship that they share will only cause them pain.The tender moments that Angel and Darla spend together help make her death, and the birth of their son Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) more profound. Together, “Fool for Love” and “Darla” proved that all the characters that became vampires were just victims. Spike, Drusilla, Angel, and even Darla are all broken characters forced to live with an unbearable curse.
Buffy the Vampire SlayerandAngelare streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
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