Darla

Angel Episode Review

In which we learn about Darla.

What Happened

Darla appears to be going insane, which makes Holland happy, because that's what he wanted. He sets it up so that Lindsey tells Angel that Wolfram and Hart are about kill Darla, and naturally Angel rushes to her rescue.

In between, Angel recalls the events surrounding his first meeting with the Master, Drusilla's turning Spike into a vampire, and what happened when Angel, now suffering from the gypsy curse, tried to rejoin his "family" in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

Safe at the hotel, Darla pleads with Angel to make her vampire again...

The Good

• Uh, Darla's lost it, Lindsey, what have you got left?
• The Master turning Darla into a vampire, as she lies dying from syphilis. I love it when origin stories are as cool as this one.
• Angelus winning Darla from the Master by offering her something besides a dank sewer tunnel. He had that frat boy kind of arrogance going, centuries before there were any frat boys.
• "She's way ahead of schedule." Holland's got it all laid out.
• "It's not me you want to screw." Darla and Lindsey.
• "Go on, kill things." Darla leading Drusilla and Spike into the gypsy camp.
• All the scenes in the Boxer Rebellion. Nice war zone they had going there, and the idea that Angel would have gone looking for Darla, telling her that he could play along even with the soul, fits his character.
• The big orchestral thrum as the four vampires walk slow-motion through the streets. There's a real cinematic feel to it.
• Angel and Darla's final conversation, cutting back and forth between China and the hotel as the dialogue overlaps. Her last words, "Don't look for me again," work in both moments.

The Bad

• Angel's hair. Always. Wigs bad.

The Cliche

• Offering the guy who's trying to fake being bad an innocent to kill.
• They avoided a big one with Darla asking Angel to turn her back into a vampire instead of asking for a place to stay, as if the hotel was some sort of shelter for stray secondary characters.

Best Lines

Angel: "We'll find her. It's what we do."
Cordelia: "It's what we suck at. Let's face it, unless there's a website called 'www.oh-by-the-way-weve-got-Darla-stashed-here.com,' we got nothing."

What Did I Think?

Fantastic flashback fun.