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Darla is anxious to kill the Slayer, but the Master sends "The Three" to dispose of her.  Meanwhile, at the Bronze, Buffy is lost in thought about Angel (who wouldn't be?).  She leaves Willow and Xander at the Bronze, but is stalked home by The Three.  They turn out to be supervamps who pin her in short order.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Angel arrives and helps her fight the vampires off.  They run to Buffy's house and discover that Angel's been slashed in the ribs.  Angel takes off his shirt (aaaahhhh!) and Buffy bandages him.  They flirt a little, but are interupted when Buffy's mom comes home.  Buffy sneaks Angel up to her room to wait out the night, and he sleeps on the floor by her bed.  The next morning Xander is jealous, and Giles has determined that the Master must be worried about the Slayer, or else he wouldn't have sent such powerful vamps out after her.  He also feels she should step up her training with weaponry. That night at home, Angel has been hiding in Buffy's room all day.  When asked what he'd done all day he tells her he spent most of it reading and thinking.  Buffy mistakenly thinks he's read her diary and freaks out, saying that the feelings for him she expressed in her diary weren't exactly what he thought.  Angel reassures her that he hadn't read her diary, but then tells her he can't get her off his mind.  He basically admits his own feelings for her, but says it could never work out.  That doesn't stop him, however, when they kiss anyway.  Unfortunately, moved by passion, Angel loses control and shows his "vamp" face.  Angel is a vampire.  Buffy screams in shock, and Angel flees.  The next morning, Buffy is confused as to why Angel would want to make her care for him, if he was a bad guy.  Angel goes home, but Darla is there.  She accuses him of turning traitor, living like "them", like humans.  Hunting his own kind.  She tells him he's not like them...but Angel says "I'm not exactly like you, either."  She taunts him about his "true nature", and leaves.  The Scooby Gang has been doing research, and discovers a vampire by the name of Angelus in the books.  He came from Ireland, and was the most bloodthirsty monster there was until about a hundred years earlier, when he stopped killing, moved to America, and shunned all other vampires.  Meanwhile, Darla is plotting to bring Angel back in the fold by pitting him against Buffy.  She wants Angel to kill Buffy, so he'll give up this 'being good' thing, and come back to the Master's court. Darla goes to Buffy's house and bites Joyce, Buffy's mom.  Angel had just been about to knock, when he heard a scream.  He breaks in and makes Darla let Joyce go.  She throws the woman into his arms and encourages him to drink of her, then leaves.  Angel cannot control the return of his vamp face, because he is tempted, but ultimately refuses to do it.  Unfortunately, Buffy comes home at just that moment, and sees the vamp-Angel holding her mom, who has been bitten.  She thinks he did it, kicks him out, and gets her mom to the hospital.  Then she goes after Angel.  In the meantime, Darla is needling Angel about the fact that Buffy is hunting him, and how he'll never be anything more than a vampire, and trying to get him to kill Buffy.  Buffy and Angel end up meeting at the Bronze.  They fight briefly, but Buffy puts down her weapon and gives Angel a chance to explain.  He tells her he didn't bite her mom, and explains why he's not like other vampires. A hundred or so years ago, Angelus had fed on the daughter of one of the gypsy clans.  The elders of the clan had cursed him because of this.  They had cursed him with a soul so that he might live forever, remember what he had done, and be tortured by it.  For the past hundred years Angel had refused to feed on humans, and wanted to help the forces of good. At the reconciliation, Darla shows up and tries to kill Buffy.  She almost succeeds, but Angel puts an arrow through Darla's heart before she can hurt Buffy.  Darla turns, sees him, and says "Angel?" in this hurt tone before she turns to dust.  Angel looks up to see if Buffy is okay, and then vanishes without a word.  Much later, they all meet at the Bronze, and Buffy and Angel meet each other on the dance floor to say "goodbye", because they realize that it could never work out.  They kiss goodbye, and she leaves.  The shot pans down to show where his chest is burned from the cross she wore. Flaws:  None found Thoughts on the episode:  This is one of my favorite episodes.  This is the one that made me fall in love with the Angel character.  It contained one of the best non-verbal communications in the whole series (when Angel kills Darla, and Buffy realizes what he's just done for her, and what she must mean to him), and we got to see Angel without his shirt on for the first time.  What more could you want? Best Line: Darla:  "You had a chance to rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years, but you threw that away because of HER.  You love someone who hates us.  You're sick.  You'll always be sick.  And you'll always remember what it was like to wach her die."

"Angel"

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