Angel S2-07: The Short Review

'Darla'

Written and Directed by Tim Minear

'Darla' is such a pivotal episode in terms of plot development and the series mythology that it's hard to imagine not knowing of the events that take place and their implications. It is absolutely full of little details; merely listing everything we learn about the charcters in this episode would take pages. It is also riveting viewing.

Perhaps the single most astonishing thing about the episode is that it makes sense. 'Darla' draws just about all the disparate threads of the famous four's history, from both 'Buffy' and 'Angel', together and somehow manages to weave a consistent, satisfying whole. Two aspects that I particularly like are the Master's siring of Darla, and Angel's seeking out of Darla in China. Both are filling in of key blanks in the series mythology, and both feel absolutely right. Of course, 'Darla' is also a crossover with 'Fool For Love', and the two episodes form a perectly matched pair. Interestingly, though, in this case 'Buffy' viewers miss out if they don't watch 'Angel' far more than the 'Angel' viewers miss out if they don't watch 'Buffy'; in previous crossovers, the reverse has been true.

However, in all of this the ongoing arc is not forgotten - indeed, 'Darla' sees some of the most interesting revelations to date. It is made very clear that Lindsey has been played by Wofram and Hart at least as much, if not more so, than Darla has been played by Lindsey. He doesn't know the true plan after all, which leads one to wonder what the point of his actions in 'Dear Boy' were. My theory is that they were never meant to be an end in themselves; the plan was never supposed to work. At most, it was intended to put Angel and the A-team on edge, uncertain of what was to come. At the least, it was simply a way of keeping Darla - and, to a lesser extent, Lindsey - occupied, not asking questions, whilst the rest of the pieces of the plan came together. Holland says Darla is ahead of schedule, suggesting firstly that they knew her mental state would take time to degenerate, and secondly that they have more planned - and it wouldn't surprise me at all if this 'more' also requires time to gestate. Quite what the ultimate goal is, however, has become if anything more mysterious. Why does Wolfram and Hart want Angel to save Darla's soul?

Interestingly, Lindsey and Holland seem to both be operating with the implicit assumption that the perfect happiness clause in the curse activates with 'physical intimacy'. Do they have the research into gypsy curses to back this up, or are they basing their understanding on the one occasion Angel has lost his soul? Whether they are right or wrong about this, it is intriguing that they don't want Angel to lose his soul.

Despite the high proportion of flashbacks, the A-team still get a fair amount to do this week - and Wesley, in particular, seems to spend most of it trying (with only limited success) to reason with Angel. Whilst still deferential to Angel's authority, it seems that some of the confidence Wesley gained from his exploits in 'Guise Will Be Guise' has been retained. Unfortunately, whilst his intentions are good, he appears to be barking up the wrong tree. Although he has no way of knowing it, it seems highly unlikely that Darla's role is either as a distraction, or merely as bait. Similarly, his idea that human was the only way Wolfram and Hart could hope to control Darla is tempting, but unlikely once we know that Angel saving Darla's soul is a key aspect of the plan. Cordelia also gets several nice moments ("No, that's what we suck at"), although Gunn is once again short-changed.

'Darla', then, is perhaps the episode 'Dear Boy' should have been; one that really does develop the arc in new and interesting directions. There is much, much more I could talk about - I haven't, for example, mentioned the final scenes between Angel and Darla which, like the ones in 'Dear Boy' are marvellously tense; nor have I discussed the question of what Darla is, or the content of the flashbacks. On the latter issue, I'll content myself with saying that, once again, Rob Kral has come up trumps, and that the flame-lit walk in China is one of my defining memories of the season.