#think very early bangel only works for me when i see it from her pov and don't make the mistake of thinking about it from his

[wombathos]

1.7 angel

- “taken so many of my family” “we who walk at night share a common bond” “[bringing angel] back to the fold” the master really stressing the communal aspect of the vampiric lifestyle in this one

- look at The Three™️ smoking, almost like they’re evil or something

- “one minute we were kissing, the next minute...” this is like the coldest take possible but look at angel providing not one but two moments of immediately turning out to be evil when he and buffy have an intimate moment

- it’s probably good that they don’t focus too much on the interiority of angel’s side of the relationship especially in s1, not just because he’s meant to be older mystery guy to buffy so it wouldn’t make sense for us to know too much about what’s going on in his head, but also because the older I get, the odder him being attracted to buffy feels (especially in that bedroom scene just before he kisses her). to be clear I could not care less about age gaps in my vampire romances, that really isn’t why I’m here, it just feels off on an emotional level since buffy comes across as.... really young

- darla already got a personality revamp since the opener and it’s such a shame this is the last we see of (present day) her in btvs. the way the catholic schoolgirl thing got reframed as a deliberate performance of mock purity (and also mock youthfulness) (rather than just like, a metaphor for it) is smart too

- the cinematography of this episode is nice, especially all the lovely shadows, especially all the lovely shadows on their faces

- when angel says “I wanted to kill you tonight” and then she puts her weapon to the ground and then offers him her neck... it’s still a great moment. this episode really does a good job at capturing the alluring romanticism to their relationship, not just the forbidden romance angle but also just the general tension resulting from their proximity (culminating in surprise/innocence). catholic schoolgirl showing up to remind angel to be all guilty about his desires and all

- it’s such a central part of buffyverse mythology that it feels odd even remarking on it, but the idea of being cursed with a soul, a conscience, a moral self, as punishment, t’was a good one (even though one thing I did really appreciate about AtS, and in a different way BtVS s6-7, is that the journey from getting that moral self to actually atoning and trying to do good is complicated. angel had a solid nihilism phase but at least he could choose to do so and then also, y’know, get over it) 

- darla showing up with guns is still a classic. good on her tbh

- speaking of shadows, the way angel’s face is entirely shrouded in darkness when he murders darla is good

- speaking of speaking of shadows, there’s these silhouettes constantly passing across the screen when angel and buffy are talking in the bronze at the end of the episode

- oh also love that moment after their bronze kiss where buffy says that it hurts and then leaves and the camera pans down to reveal where the cross has burnt angel. good, memorable final image, works within the literal context of their relationship as vampire and slayer, her tool of the trade (which he gave her!) hurting him/acting as a boundary between them, plus you can make all the obvious metaphorical connections to sacrifice and pure versus impure, etc etc

- apart from ted and anne, I can’t actually think of any other episodes that are like... a single name. obvs stuff like the storyteller or the zeppo are referring to specific characters, and then faith, hope & trick consists of the name of three characters. oh, and then buffy vs. dracula is another one. they reference his name when giles mentions records of the “face of an angel” and buffy goes “got that right”, which... yes, there’s again the mockery of purity and goodness and all, he’s a vampire called angel, not much more to say