Angel
"Dear Boy"

Airdate: October 24, 2000

I just can't seem to get a break. First Buffy is sullied by an hour-long Dawn-fest, and then what do I get when I turn to Angel for comfort? I get Darla, the only character I like less than Dawn, and I get a lot of her. There's really no justice in the world.

"Dear Boy" brings the Darla sub-plot -- which has been running in the background for several weeks now -- to a head, as the Darla and her fiendish friends at Wolfram & Hart finally make their play. Angel's been haunted by dreams of his dead sire, but little does he know that she's also visiting him in reality; he killed Darla in Buffy's first season, but Wolfram & Hart brought her back as a human to use her against Angel. Despite the fact that she's no longer soulless nor a demon, she's still a big ol' bitch, and helps Lindsey to set Angel up for a very big fall.

When Angel sees her walking around like a normal person, first at night, then in a hotel restaurant during the day, he thinks she's come back, but his friends just think he's cracking up. Unfortunately for him, Wolfram & Hart have put Kate on his trail, and she's determined to see Brood Boy go down. When he busts into the house supposedly owned by Darla's alter ego, the actor hired by Wolfram & Hart to pose as Darla's husband has been killed by a vampire, and the frame-up's complete. Kate storms into the Hyperion looking for Angel, but he's kidnapped Darla and dragged her off to have a little talk.

Gunn points out that Darla's story -- in which she describes a crazed Angel stalking her and bursting into her house -- can't be true, because Angel would need an invite to get inside. Wesley cements it all by showing Kate a very old picture of Darla, but the Detective isn't swayed much; she wants to look out for the innocents who get caught in the crossfire of Angel's fight against evil, and she sees Angel as one of the bad guys, too.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Darla admits to who she is as she tries to Angel's evil side to come out and play... as Lindsey put it, the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart don't want Angel dead, they want him dark. Darla's trying to make him a happy boy so he'll lose his soul again, but he informs her that though she took him places, showed him the world, and blew the top off his head, she never made him happy: he didn't have a soul back then, so happiness wasn't really in the cards. And he's also got a dose of truth for his one-time mentor: she's human now, soul included, and she won't be able to ignore her conscience and her guilt for long.

After an uncharacteristic display of emotion -- and what I would almost call acting from Julie Benz -- Darla makes her escape into the daylight where Angel can't touch her. This leaves her still at large and dangerous, but maybe one day she'll become one of those souls Angel lives to protect.

The episode's a surprisingly good one that kept me engaged and entertained throughout, despite the heavy involvement of Julie Benz. I was surprised, however, that only Gunn had the presence of mind to see through Darla's frame-up job, and that Kate continues to be played with such one-note determination that makes her a sort of single-minded almost-villain. I hope that at some point in the future they'll do something cool with her.

Maybe she could shoot Darla for me.

-- Lisa Kincaid

Angel airs at 9/8c, Tuesday nights on the WB.

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