Exploring The Complexities of Angel & Darla 

When Darla staked herself to save their child, I cried so hard. After all her evil, she committed the greatest sacrifice.

It's funny how the character of Darla started from a random Vampire who was supposed to be killed by Willow - with holy water in the second episode of S1 of Buffy to a fleshed out developed tragic character. Gotta love the development.

Angel was a show about cruelty and the hope of redemption, a hope that is constantly squashed. Their relationship is a perfect reflection of the themes of the show. Amazing analysis.

I really find, on rewatches, that I fall more and more in love with this complex relationship.

Julie Benz played Darla so well. Not to mention what a beautiful women she is

Beautifully put, Darla and Angel were so enthralling. And Julie really cared for Darla making her performance so captivating. I loved Buffy and Angel but Buff never understood the complexity of his life. Re-watching Angel now, and Darla is always a treasure in the show.

Darla probably had the record for most deaths in the series at 4. Died as a human when The Master turned her into a vampire, staked by Angel, turned back by Dru and staked herself to birth Connor.

The character development on these two... Amazing.

Darla episodes are masterpiece

One moment that was so sad, is when they realised that Darla couldnt physically give birth to Connor, becuase her body was dead and she couldnt go in to labour... That's why she staked herself, it was the only way to save the life of her baby.

This is one of the best relationships that made it on screen.

OMG I love this! I’m so glad I came across this. While the entire fandom is at war over Buffy/Angel or Cordelia/Angel, for years I’ve been over here quietly like ~ my favorite is Angel/Darla and apparently very very few agree with me 👀 thank you for this!

Angel was an all time fave show of mine. I really enjoyed your analysis on Darla + Angel. They were my favourite “couple” to see on screen just because of how tragic and complicated it was. With Bangel, I could never really fully get over the idea of Angel being 200 years older than Buffy who had been 15-16 at the time they started their relationship. I was also interested in knowing more about Darla before she became a vampire. I kept hoping for one episode about her origins, but the one we got, while written beautifully, was still pretty vague. But I guess that does go with the theme of Darla not remembering anything about her human past. She clearly had painful memories she wanted to avoid, given how she definitely preferred her vampire life over her human one.

I rewatched Buffy recently but it's been years since I saw Angel, I remember really liking their relationship

Masterful! I have noticed that the sex with Darla parallells Buffys sex with Spike. Your ending line about a relationship rooted in darkness ending in light made me wonder how far that parallell goes.

Darla's character was gone way too soon. And she's so 🔥

Hard to believe they wanted to bring her back in season 3 showing her on a rooftop making a monologue and slipping off, accidentally staking herself and nobody knowing her fate as a joke. The rooftop thing had already been done in Buffy where Spike does it only to be tasered and taken by the Imitative anyway.

I like that’s it’s not their love for eachother that heals them... Cus that would have legitimized the lie of toxic love, trying to fix eachother. It turns out their love for their child heals both of them and turns them into more...friends or kindred beings.. whose shared pain is finally understood by one another... but not in a romantic way.

I find it really really interesting, looking back, how Darla and Buffy look physically almost identical. Ummm...

You're so insightful with your videos and the fact you do them on shows like Buffy, Angel and Charmed makes me so happy because I don't see many videos on them. You just got a new subscriber ❤

This was amazing!!! Darla is hands down my favorite Buffyverse vampire

I can pinpoint the flashbacks in The Prodigal as the moment where I really fell in love with Darla and realised how incredible Julie Benz is. It's been great to see her have a prolific career afterwards but she'll always be Darla to me lol

Loved the buffy the vampire series but I loved the Angel series even more. Even watching buffy I always wanted more about angels story. Angels show was a lot more darker than buffys. Shame we didn’t get season 6 on tv but it’s on comics. I always said Buffy was for teenagers and the Angel series was for Adults and teens. Will always be one of my favourite tv shows ever 🙌🏽🙌🏽

I will forever be waiting for your video on Bangel vs Spuffy

Angel try to save Darla the same way he saved Faith. But the thing he neglected is that Darla rubb on to him like no one else. They have a beautifully tragic relationship.

This was a great video. I never understood Darla. Probably because I was so young when Angel originally aired. This breakdown shined alot of light on her. I just never really thought about their relationship and the many layers there were to it. 🤔 This was a great vid. 👏

Darla started off being a textbook villain.. hated the world, was dealt a bad hand, given new lease by the master, went on to sire her own student and partner, held no pity, remorse or hesitation in killing and conquest. Yet she goes on to gain new and unlikely humanity in her resurrection which may or may not have been due to being pregnant while she was briefly alive again.. maybe the humanity and life from her unborn child leeched into her, or maybe because she's the only vampire to get pregnant with an actual life, maybe the self sacrificial love bond is something that is normal for an undead parent- whichever way, she changed and was no longer driven by basic hunter instincts. When her own creation (Angel) stopped killing and changed with his soul restored, she got angry, disappointed as she saw it as a failure on her part to create another evil demon like her, and was a wasted investment. Because she also loved him in her own complicated vampire way, she couldn't kill him like she would a conscious, good living person, but likewise couldn't abide the stink of humanity radiating from him- reminding her of the awful life she had while she was alive. So she moved to hoping he got fixed but going their seperate ways and her pretty much rejoining the order of Aurelius underground, effectively ending the four member group with Spike and Dru. Through all that 200 year turmoil Angel even with his soul never stopped loving Darla even though she was evil and twisted, she was still the one who granted him his escape from drunken mundanity to immortal freedom. So he respects her always for that. A part of Angel probably also stuck around hoping that Darla would one day regain her soul too. He was scared to death of being alone.

Stefan and Katherine's relationship were clearly inspired by Angel and Darla. Angel and Darla are my favorite relationship in Buffyverse.

i have been waiting for a video like this! love this!

wonderful video, one of my favorite couples in the buffyverse, i’m a SUCKER for my baby darla 🥵❤️ their relationship to me is so much more fleshed out, mature, complicated, and darkly beautiful than bangel

This was epic 🙌🏽 Well Done.

Amazing work Rache!

I wish conner could have know how much his parents loved him...also I actually liked angel and darla together. It wasnt romantic but they would have been an effecient team motivated by their parental duties

Great video! I love the relationship between Darla and Angel, it’s just so interesting! And you explained its complexity so well!

Never shoulda killed Darla. The show wasn't the same without her.

I just read a comment in a S2 reaction video that put the character of Darla in general down because they didn't like that Angel wasn't listening to his friends. I just remember thinking that typing something in reply will not get me anywhere. I don't think the person behind the comment understood the complexities of the relationship or even the fact that Wesley, while not fully understanding the Angel/Darla relationship, still understood it wasn't just obsessiveness (as he said when he talked to Virginia about Angel firing the group).

Very good analysis 👍

When Darla (Angel's sire ) turn into human and sick , Angel tried to take care of her , "Vampire Diaries" copied that storyline with Katherine ( Stefan's sire) turn into human and were dying , Stefan tried to take care of her .

Very interesting analysis 👍🏻😊

This channel is so interesting.

This was really well done and thought out. Will you be looking at the relationship between Angel and Connor in the future?

Great video

Beautifully broke down and I LOVE how the how addresses the word DARKER-side. because as humans we can relate to all of these things in different ways. In real life, another show and character I relate Angel with and too is Dylan from 90210 ( thegrea l Luke Perry rip)tv show. Dylan/Angel mirror each other other than the supernatural part. And debates about their love interests mirror each other too.Bringing another icon The Joker says in the Dark Knight tells Bat man he uses a knife to see a person open up. In that moment of router you see who and what the truth is. Same when Spike has that vampire tourther Angel(about the ring that can truly make a vampire immortal in the sunlight) Spike calls Buffy an addiction. The Vampire is sorta like Drusilla, he stabs him and asks him what does he really want and he says to be forgiven. He knows as longas he's a vampire no matter what he's doomed to hell. Thus brings me to Spike and Angel who loves Buffy more. Spikecan love and obbesses but he still had chip inn his head "weather or not"he wanted a soul or not. He still was a vampire.Now if he went their and asked if he could fight to be a man again maybe it be different. But its like having a bad addiction and you take medicine for it. I don't wanna offend anyone in saying that either cause either way its hard. But that's why it took Angel 100 years t learn truly what he did wrong was the things he put others through. When he finally was forgiven he wished away not because he truly didn't love her. He knew the bigger picture was her to fulfill her calling and duties as the slayer. Buffy would have died if he stayed that way. I think he loved Buffy more than anything. Darla he loved in a different way. Their relationship caused pain to others.

Btvs has a lot of comic references. When Darla remembers Budapest, is that an avengers reference establiched in the comic or is it the other way around?

I hated conorr😅😅😅... What a waste.. All this drama for a child like that!??? He was horribleee

Can we have a Tara video please?

This is why I’ve always stood by the notion of Buffy being (mostly), a rebound for what he knew before. Because Angel was struggling with a serious identity crisis, and because he really did not have a choice to return to his former life, becoming involved with her was an “antidote” to prolong the serious work that he himself had to do. I think it’s very much like when an older man goes through a divorce and takes a younger partner. He couldn’t really love Buffy, a teenaged girl, without truly embracing his unique identity. He was mourning a century long companionship- a deeply psychological bond overdue for closure.

When Darla was brought back as human by means of a supernatural spell, how did she remember all the things he (angel) & her did during centuries of evil doings?? He remembers because he is still a vampire the time she came back with the aid of wolfram & harts spell.

I really liked the Darla and Angel storyline. I didn't like the Connor storyline, as it killed off Darla and we were left with the Connor, Jasmine, Cordelia storylines, which didn't sense and really was not invested in those.

Bangel 4ever❤

They're first love. They have biological son Connor together. Connor is their salvation. Children like Connor is redemption of parents like Angel and Darla. Connor have three moms in his life is his biological mother Darla, his surrogate mom Cordelia Chase and his adoptive mother Colleen Reilly.

Darla is best girl.

The show WAY overdid the cruelty and brutality that Angelus and Darla and Spike and Drusilla inflicted on innocents. And because of this, it was next to impossible to root for any of them or even regard them with sympathy. Frankly, the technicality that they didn't have souls when they unleashed their savagery is the show wussing out on the concept of atonement, accountability, repentance and redemption. IF Angelus NOT having a soul was the reason he did that, once he was ensouled, why should he be "atoning" for anything Angelus did? After all, he did NOT have a soul when he did those things, right. Human beings WITH souls do terrible things like the Wolfram & Hart folks. They should be the ones repenting, atoning and seeking redemption. THIS never really made much sense to me. Regardless, there are great thematic elements in the show, particularly of redemption, and service...being a noble crusader to help those in need as Angel says: Nothing in the world is the way it oughta be. It’s harsh…and cruel…but that’s why there’s us…champions. It doesn’t matter where we come from, what we’ve done, or suffered. Or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be.

I was never able to enjoy of this couple like i wanted because their high dosis of toxicity. They were vampires, kill people is what they do, i know that, but the twist side of their cruelty with their victimes makes it unfeasible for someone minimally sane to like this couple.

isn't syphilis curable?

Comment war....is Darla, Buffy, or Cordelia....Angel's true love?

And then they fucked up conors character 😅

Darla was like a Mother to Angel

I shipped them more than Bangel 🤷🏼‍♀️

Conner was such a boring dud. How did that happen with having such dynamic parents?

I like Darla and Angle more than Angle and Buffy

Angel & Darla > Angel & Buffy I know you hate me but only truth hurts 😉

Buffy x Angel is the worst couple

What a bunch of crock listen when Darla first met Angel she wanted him yes but she did not ask him if he wanted her she can tell that whole situation and then when he got a soul she left him after she became human up until Connor all she wanted to do is when ovulating stop giving the woman a pat on the back