- Title: Angel – Dear Boy
- wiki: link
Throwback Thursday takes us back to Los Angeles and the adventures of a vampire with a soul. The Second Season of Angel is fixated on Darla (Julie Benz) and the return of Angel’s sire. After being gaslit for several episodes, an already shaky Angel (David Boreanaz) discovers that not only is Darla alive but is human. We witness Wolfram & Hart’s plan to turn Angel evil by framing him as an unhinged obsessive responsible for the murder of Darla’s husband (an actor hired, and promptly killed by Wolfram & Hart). The crime leads to the return of Detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Röhm), a character that never quite worked and would exit the show just a few episodes later. “Dear Boy” also highlights Angel’s disgust at the seedier side of being a private investigator when he’s hired to spy on a cheating spouse supposedly abducted by aliens.
The episode, written and directed by David Greenwalt, has a number of interesting aspects. Lorne (Andy Hallett) refuses to give Angel information about Darla, understanding that any involvement he has with her will end messy and only take him off his path. We witness Wolfram & Hart’s willingness to piss off Angel just to see if they can force a reaction (a tactic which will continue over the course of the series). We’re also given flashbacks of Angelus and Darla together including the circumstances behind Drusilla (Juliet Landau) being driven mad and turned into a vampire (a fate that even shocks Darla at the level the depravity Angelus can discover). Also of interest here is the idea that both Angelus and Angel have a thing for convents. It’s a small point, but one that suggests a closer relationship to the man and demon than some other episodes of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are willing to entertain.