I am incapable of posting this before eleven o'clock. And I have had so much time today too! God, self, such a slacker.
Darla's story is very much filtered through Angel - which, I mean, obviously, he is the main character. Her relationship with Angel is pretty much her character's most important, defining relationship. I think Julie Benz and David Boreanaz had really fantastic chemistry together, which is needed to sell a relationship that supposedly lasted over a hundred years. Horrifying "Irish" accent aside, I really loved DB as Angelus because it seemed like he was really having fun with it and, with Darla, he was sort of able to access that fun without being, you know, pure evil. The entire season two Darla arc is just so good; it brings all this ambiguity to Angel's Big Damn Hero thing and gives Darla herself all this fun layer-y goodness.
Anyway, rather than getting even more verbose about the entire length of their relationship, I thought I'd do one of my favorite scenes of theirs, their first real interaction after Darla returns from the dead and he learns she's actually back - she'd been stalking him and tormenting him and infiltrating his dreams and pretty much making him think he's insane, but now he knows it's really her. She's back and she's human.
Darla's story is very much filtered through Angel - which, I mean, obviously, he is the main character. Her relationship with Angel is pretty much her character's most important, defining relationship. I think Julie Benz and David Boreanaz had really fantastic chemistry together, which is needed to sell a relationship that supposedly lasted over a hundred years. Horrifying "Irish" accent aside, I really loved DB as Angelus because it seemed like he was really having fun with it and, with Darla, he was sort of able to access that fun without being, you know, pure evil. The entire season two Darla arc is just so good; it brings all this ambiguity to Angel's Big Damn Hero thing and gives Darla herself all this fun layer-y goodness.
Anyway, rather than getting even more verbose about the entire length of their relationship, I thought I'd do one of my favorite scenes of theirs, their first real interaction after Darla returns from the dead and he learns she's actually back - she'd been stalking him and tormenting him and infiltrating his dreams and pretty much making him think he's insane, but now he knows it's really her. She's back and she's human.
Er... Inadvertently ended up transcribing practically the entire scene. IT'S JUST SO GOOD THOUGH.
Angel: Wolfram and Hart didn't bring you back for fun. What's the big plan, huh? Get me so screwed up I go bad again?
Darla: Kind of trite, I know. What do you expect? They're only human.
Angel: You better embrace that mediocrity, honey. You're talking about your own kind now.
Darla: But I'm still me. And I remember everything, Angel. Everything we did. Everything we can do.
Angel: Yeah. But the bitch is you have a soul now. Pretty soon those memories are gonna start eating away at you. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to escape the truth of what you were. Believe me, I know.
Darla: Kind of trite, I know. What do you expect? They're only human.
Angel: You better embrace that mediocrity, honey. You're talking about your own kind now.
Darla: But I'm still me. And I remember everything, Angel. Everything we did. Everything we can do.
Angel: Yeah. But the bitch is you have a soul now. Pretty soon those memories are gonna start eating away at you. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to escape the truth of what you were. Believe me, I know.
Darla: But you can escape. You can escape it all. Remember what it was like to get lost, huh? Every thought a million miles away, every part of you being alive! All you have to do is let me give you one little moment of happiness.
Angel: You took me places, showed me things, huh? You blew the top off my head. But you never made me happy.
Darla: But that - that cheerleader did? We were together for a hundred and fifty years! We shared everything. You're saying - never?
Angel: You couldn't understand.
Darla: I understand all right. Guy gets taste of something fresh and he thinks he's touching god.
Angel: It wasn't about that -
Darla: Oh, you bet your ass it was! There was a time, in the early years, when you would have said I was the definition of bliss! Buffy wasn't happiness. She was just new!
Angel: You took me places, showed me things, huh? You blew the top off my head. But you never made me happy.
Darla: But that - that cheerleader did? We were together for a hundred and fifty years! We shared everything. You're saying - never?
Angel: You couldn't understand.
Darla: I understand all right. Guy gets taste of something fresh and he thinks he's touching god.
Angel: It wasn't about that -
Darla: Oh, you bet your ass it was! There was a time, in the early years, when you would have said I was the definition of bliss! Buffy wasn't happiness. She was just new!
Angel: You know - you are getting awfully bent over this, Darla. I couldn't feel that with you because I didn't have a soul. But then I got a second chance - just like you have.
Darla: What a poster child for soulfulness you are. This is no life, Angel! Before you got neutered you weren't just any vampire, you were a legend! Nobody could keep up with you - not even me. You don't learn that kind of darkness. It's innate. It was in you before we ever met. You said you can smell me? Well, I can smell you, too. My boy is still in there and he wants out!
Darla: What a poster child for soulfulness you are. This is no life, Angel! Before you got neutered you weren't just any vampire, you were a legend! Nobody could keep up with you - not even me. You don't learn that kind of darkness. It's innate. It was in you before we ever met. You said you can smell me? Well, I can smell you, too. My boy is still in there and he wants out!
Darla: (After she burns him with a cross) See? No matter how good a boy you are, God doesn't want you! But I still do.
This sense of mutual dependency is created between Darla and Angel when she comes back, especially as Angel becomes more isolated from his friends. She is the only person who can really understand the darkness in him and he is the only person who understands what it's like to suddenly have a soul again - to feel the full crushing weight of every bad thing they've ever done.