A vampire can’t come in unless it’s invited

 

Love hurts. Just ask Angel.

Angel, poor guy, is stuck between two worlds; the evil, nasty, kill-bitey one, and the sensitive, if a bit mopey, decent human being one. Angel as an episode is a bit hard for me to relate to “real life” because it’s so tied up in what will be the show’s mythos, but it does have elements that can be applied to real life. Wouldn’t be a Buffy episode if it didn’t.

There’s first love, burgeoning sexuality, there’s… well, there’s…

Um. There’s…

Right. There’s real stuff and shit. Ahem.

Anyway, this is obviously an Angel-centric episode. In the show’s mythology, it establishes (or tries, anyway) the concept of “soul” and how it qualifies what we thought was a simple thing like “vampire.”

There are also other words thrown around, like “curse,” “Gypsies,” “conscience,” and “remorse.”

Angel gives us to understand that a vampire is basically some kind of a hedonistic evil thing driven by two imperatives: feed and kill. Although, there is talk of a “song in my heart,” and “love.” Sure, there’s that whole evil filter, where the song in the heart thing is used to describe the joy of killing, and love is mentioned by an evil being. But the fact remains. There is something damned fishy with the definition of soulless demon thus far.

The point is, souled Angel still has darkness in him, which suggests that the demon still has a bit of sway, and Darla has enough… eh, let’s call it “light”… in her to be able to love. In a twisted, way fucked up way, sure… But still. If Angel’s darkness means the demon has some influence still, then the other side of the coin would imply that the humanity remaining in Darla, however minimal it is, may influence her as a demon. How (and why) else form attachments and jealousies? Perhaps it’s not as easy to determine as “soul=good,” and “no soul=evil.”

Quod erat demonstrandum.

However, we are still working in a Season One frame, where the choices are still relatively simple and the ‘verse only has an eensy bit of gray. For the choices to remain simple, we have to accept the slightly misleading soul/no soul dichotomy. For now.

(Source)

Mmm.

Stray observations:

•                                      “This is exactly what happens when you sign these free trade agreements!”
• “Thresholds have historically held significant symbolic value, and a vampire cannot cross a threshold unless invited. The connection between threshold and vampires seems to be a concept of complicity or allowance. Once a commitment is made to allow evil, evil can re-enter at any time.” (Source)
• How can Giles be researching The Three from 12-6 when Buffy never called?
• Buffy has trouble with history…  and History… and History majors…
• For Angel to honor Buffy’s “don’t come near us again” request, he’d have to be the er, honorable guy Buffy assumes he is.
• Not to spoil potential new watchers or anything, but Angel has fed on humans since the Gypsy girl.
• Gotta love the symbolism of the cross burn on Angel in the ending scene. Love leaves its mark.