June 5th-11th Episode Discussion Led by HisMrs

BuffyElevated

BuffyElevated

Scooby
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
12,181
Age
44
Location
Tennessee
Sineya
In Season 1, Darla was the very first vampire we ever saw. She seemed like a real enough threat, but she was gone by the 7th episode of the season.

Did you like Darla?
Judging only by what we saw in BtVS Season 1, do you think Darla was a formiddable Big Bad?
Do you think Darla should have been kept til the end of the Season, to add more to the Buffy/Angel drama?
 
I like Darla I think she would have been more affective if she had been around for the entire first season. It would have also made her return on angel have more of an impact. I think.
 
xfivebyfive said:
I like Darla I think she would have been more affective if she had been around for the entire first season. It would have also made her return on angel have more of an impact. I think.
Click to expand...

Wow I disagree about her impact on ATS.

On BTVS I liked her at the beginning and I really liked her on the episode "Angel" but there simply wasn't enough of her. I think it was significant that Angel was the one to kill her.
 
Judging only by Season 1 i think Darla was an interesting character but there was no sense of their (Angelus/Darla) background needing to be clearer. It could have been played out more but The Master was the main focus and there were enough other characters to keep us intrigued.

Did I like Darla then? Despite the schoolgirl outfit i remember her as a well played also ran in the Sunnydale scenario.

Now if we were to go to hindsight we could do a lot more with the story but alas ....
 
I liked Darla and it really irritated me when I first watched that in season 1 you can tell there's a rich history between Angel and Darla, but we don't get to know any of it. If she had stayed to the end of the season and gone out with The Master (which is what I really wish happened), I would have really hoped to see Angel/Darla drama and find out at least part of what was between them. I mean knowing Darla is Angel's sire explains so much about their interaction and makes the fact that Angel stakes her mean so much more. I wish we'd gotten to see that.
 
Did you like Darla?
I loved Darla! (I did not love her hairdo though, mind.)

Judging only by what we saw in BtVS Season 1, do you think Darla was a formiddable Big Bad?
If they would have dug further into her backstory and dared to give her a bit more space I certainly think she could have een a formidable Big Bad. She was the Master's right hand after all. She could have been part in some epic schemes and fights.

Do you think Darla should have been kept til the end of the Season, to add more to the Buffy/Angel drama?
Well... yes. I think Darla's character is awesome. I think her back history with Angel was very engaging from start and keeping her around would only have added to the dynamic and maybe made all the "oh no we can't be together, you're a vamp... iiiihh" stuff less 'whiny'.
 
TheAnnointedOne
TheAnnointedOne
[No message]
VisionGirl said:
Wow I disagree about her impact on ATS.

On BTVS I liked her at the beginning and I really liked her on the episode "Angel" but there simply wasn't enough of her. I think it was significant that Angel was the one to kill her.
Click to expand...

I just mean nobody really knew who she was when she returned at the end of season one of ats but if she had been around for more of btvs if we had gotten to know a little bit about her and angel then it would have been more shocking to see her brought back.
 
Did you like Darla?
In S1 of BTVS I was indifferent to Darla. I personally felt like we didn't get to know enough about her too spark any real interest.

Judging only by what we saw in BtVS Season 1, do you think Darla was a formiddable Big Bad?
She was the Master's go to Vampire so clearly she was suppose to be a Big Bad but I felt like her character had so much more potential. If they had told us more about her past with Angel as well as her own past (she had been around for centuries and was one of the worse vampires ever, correct?) I think she would have been taken a little more seriously as a Big Bad.

Do you think Darla should have been kept til the end of the Season, to add more to the Buffy/Angel drama?
Yes. And not just for the Buffy/Angel drama, that would have been fun to see but by keeping Darla around they could had introduced us more to Angel's dark past as well as Darla's. Also, I felt like Darla was portrayed fairly weakly on BTVS, perhaps if she had been around longer we would have the chance to see some of the Darla we saw on Angel.
 
Great discussion so far, folks! Here's my answers for the questions I asked:

Did you like Darla?
Honestly, I didn't like Darla very much. I wasn't sad to see her go. She got on my nerves a little bit, and for supposedly being the Master's favorite vampire, she seemed kind of weak as far as her fear of Buffy went.



Judging only by what we saw in BtVS Season 1, do you think Darla was a formiddable Big Bad?
No I don't. The only way she could try to best Buffy was by using guns... Other than that, I don't think she was that scary.



Do you think Darla should have been kept til the end of the Season, to add more to the Buffy/Angel drama?
If they had kept her around, they should have developed the character more. If she were more like she was on "Angel", I would have loved to see her around more.
 
I learned to love Darla only when she got to Angel. I didn't like her at all up until then, so I didn't feel like wanting to know her better, or see her more. Though, she was a big big big part of Angel's past, past that we didn't get to see just yet. So it does seem a little ridiculous to me that such a big part from Angel's past didn't get too much attention. But I guess they (writers, Joss...) didn't figure everything out about Angel's past yet, even in Becoming, when it was the first time we see Angel's past.
Knowing everthing I know now, I do feel they missed out a little. She could have been a longer term character and maybe mess things up (for Buffy and Angel, and maybe for the others). Maybe they didn't see the potential. I didn't see the potential back then, so it didn't matter to me, I just didn't like her. It's all a little off.
 
zobothehobo said:
I liked Darla and it really irritated me when I first watched that in season 1 you can tell there's a rich history between Angel and Darla, but we don't get to know any of it. If she had stayed to the end of the season and gone out with The Master (which is what I really wish happened), I would have really hoped to see Angel/Darla drama and find out at least part of what was between them. I mean knowing Darla is Angel's sire explains so much about their interaction and makes the fact that Angel stakes her mean so much more. I wish we'd gotten to see that.
Click to expand...

I like her very much but the season was dedicated to Angel, his soul story and the big Angel helps Buffy road of redemption introduction. Darla as the character/metaphor of his past and Buffy/future; Darla pretty much had to be killed. Angel also had to be the one to kill her off - but I was sorry that the writers did not choose to make their history an interesting and powerful part of the season. As it was done, Angel killing her off, IMO, was done rather poorly. It was not at all interesting considering the importance of their relationship. While I am sure that I am in the minority, this did not come off as an especially "great Angel moment" - what it made me think of was what kind of a person would kill off his former lover, partner of a great many years, and sire with such little concern for their history.

I fully understand that the scene required that Angel protect Buffy and that I am totally irrational in feeling sympathy for Darla - but I did then and I still do.
 
Z
zobothehobo
[No message]
nmcil12 said:
I like her very much but the season was dedicated to Angel, his soul story and the big Angel helps Buffy road of redemption introduction. Darla as the character/metaphor of his past and Buffy/future; Darla pretty much had to be killed. Angel also had to be the one to kill her off - but I was sorry that the writers did not choose to make their history an interesting and powerful part of the season. As it was done, Angel killing her off, IMO, was done rather poorly. It was not at all interesting considering the importance of their relationship. While I am sure that I am in the minority, this did not come off as an especially "great Angel moment" - what it made me think of was what kind of a person would kill off his former lover, partner of a great many years, and sire with such little concern for their history.

I fully understand that the scene required that Angel protect Buffy and that I am totally irrational in feeling sympathy for Darla - but I did then and I still do.
Click to expand...

I don't think you're irrational at all! And I think all this makes her storyline(s) in ATS even more powerful. Angel's feelings towards her later on were much more ambivalent. I think you're right in that it had to be him that killed her in BTVS season 1. I don't know what made Joss decide to bring Darla back three years later, but I am sooo glad he did!

Do you guys remember what other flashbacks featured Darla in BTVS seasons 2-5?
 
F
FetalPig
Did you like Darla?
Not really - I thought she was cheesy and weak during S1.

Judging only by what we saw in BtVS Season 1, do you think Darla was a formiddable Big Bad?
Not at all - you could tell she was petty and that her and Angel had a thing, but it wasn't enough to make me go "oooo".
Do you think Darla should have been kept til the end of the Season, to add more to the Buffy/Angel drama?
Only if they had given more of their back-story. I am loving AtS S2 with all of their relationship being shown, but if she was to be in BtVS longer, they needed to do more with her.
 
S
sisterofmercy
[No message]
Just noticed this discussion topic - I know I’m passed the time (11th June) but I wasn't around then and it is such an interesting discussion - I will grab any opportunity to talk about Darla!!! 😛 haaa

I love Darla as a character - she is my favourite character on AtS. I think it is interesting you ask about her involvement solely in Season 1 of BtVS. I thought that she had a lot of potential to really grow in the season and become a central big bad alongside the Master, (Master: "She was my favourite. For four hundred years..."; Darla: “You [Angel] had a chance to come home, to rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years") and yes I felt her death was premature. There were glimmers of her being a formidable force and a great character - obviously high in rank with the Master, and she was also v funny in her dialogue and there were moments between herself and Angel (particularly in Angel) that could have been explored further - obvious chemistry, tension and a shadow of a rich history.

I do have to say, because of all those signs, the early exit was really frustrating. She also kind of slips to the background after the two-episode season opener (in which I thought she was fantastic) until Angel, where she becomes more interesting – she really does come to the forefront with her framing Angel in relation to biting Joyce and her dialogue with Angel here foreshadows some of the great lines she has in AtS. Her exit was too sudden though and although her using guns was funny, ("hmm, scary..... Scarier!!") it was over all too quickly. However I agree with [MENTION=10354]VisionGirl[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9775]nmcil12[/MENTION] though that it was significant that Angel was the one to kill her and her use as a metaphor for Angel's past.

I do think though that the holes we are left with in her plotline in that season made her comeback in AtS all the more interesting and engaging. We do not have full knowledge of her character - we have more in Becoming in BtVS Season 2 - but the way it unravels in AtS is so enticing because of the fact she is a shadowy figure from the past - someone at once knowable but mysterious.

I did read somewhere also that Darla was supposed to appear in Season 2 of BtVS, making her a key character in the show, but Joss instead decided to make her have a larger role in AtS - and I’m really glad it played out like that because she made that series for me!!

🙂
 
VisionGirl
VisionGirl
I can't give enough karma to this post! :)
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom