"I Will Remember You"

Angel S1E8

For the Angel/Buffy fans. What are they called, anyway? Spuffy rolls off the tongue, but what is this, Bufgel*? I’m not going to google it on my work computer, that is for sure**.

*sounds like the tiger balm version of muscle milk
**that was the correct decision. However, buffyandangelcouples.wikia.com tells me that it is “Bangel” which seems a little mean considering how little they actually get to bang.

Anyway, Buffy visits Angel to tell him off for skulking around Sunnydale (“Pangs”), but while fighting a demon together it turns Angel into a human. Well, that’s cool, he thinks. Human souls are much more durable than vampire ones, so he and Buffy can have tons of sex. But as he adjusts to human vulnerabilities he feels guilty that The Powers that Be probably didn’t bring him back from hell so he could eat peanut butter chocolate ice cream in bed.

Since Angel is never happy unless he’s feeling guilty, he begs the oracles of TPTB to change him back. They reverse time, leaving only him with the memory of the day he and Buffy shared together. And it’s kind of an interesting extension of exactly what Buffy accused him of, him getting to see her but not letting her see him. He gets these memories and she doesn't? Honestly, Buffy really has his number this episode.

I mean, that kind of is it. Maybe not "fun", but for Angel, brooding is fun.

This episode was what made me agree that Angel and Buffy aren’t really right for each other. I never really bought “I can’t give you a normal life” bullshit, because back in Sunnydale, Angel fit right in. That drama felt kind of manufactured, and they had enough of that with the “we can’t have sex because then you’ll turn evil”. (I gotta say, they’re giving the curse a whole lot of credit. It seems after it happened once, you wouldn’t be very likely to achieve perfect happiness the next time, if you’re worrying about turning evil if you’re too happy. Would actually be quite the boner-killer, I’d assume. And really, trying to replicate the emotional highs and lows of “Innocence” would be quite a feat that everyday sex isn’t quite up to.)

But the point is, Angel fits into LA, and Buffy doesn’t. It’s not the place for the Slayer.

There’s also a really great Cordelia moment this episode. Angel has gone off to fight the demon, trying to prove that he can still do it as a human. Buffy goes up to the office looking for him, finding Cordelia in a huff about being out of a job if Angel is no longer the Champion (is he the champion yet? I guess in this episode he’s just called a warrior.) and runs over her in a very Cordelia manner, “nobody thinks about how this will affect me!” until Buffy cuts her off. And when Buffy asks where Angel went, she responds sheepishly that “Angel told me not to tell you.” Charisma manages to give that single sentence just the perfect amount of sympathy for both Buffy and Angel and man I just love her.

And bonus Cordelia-face! She's the best.