Characterization In The Buffyverse — ‘Angel’ Season 1, Episode 9
by Benjamin Hall
This is part of a bi-weekly series concerning the characterization of Buffyverse characters. The first installment in this series can be found here. Arguably the best place to begin reading this series is at the beginning, but that is up to each reader. As a reminder this column will cover major and some minor characters from the shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer(1997-2003) and Angel (1999-2004). Other Buffyverse media, such as the graphic novel Spike: Into The Light (2014) are not pertinent to this series. Also there will be no referencing real world events that have direct relation to either show in this bi-weekly series.
This week: Angel (David Boreanaz) most go undercover to save some half-demons. Also, Allen Francis Doyle (Glenn Quinn) tries to make a commercial for Angel Investigations.
(Warning of spoilers from this point on!)
Angel distorts the tale of “the day that never happened” from the last episode when relating it to Doyle and Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) (Angel Season 1, Episode 8, ‘I Will Remember You’). Thus, he manipulates them by making the decision to erase the day appear to be a group choice. This causes Doyle and Cordelia to view him as more of a hero than he really is. The rest of Angel’s characterization in this episode is mostly running away from bad guys, pretending to join them, and then thinking about being a martyr type hero. He gets to do things, but he gets no positive development from these actions.
Doyle displays survivor’s guilt regarding his past inaction against The Scourge. He also gets character development via the events of the flashback that explains both his inaction and his first vision. Yet, there is no explanation as to whether he knows on any level that he is transferring his prophetic power to Cordelia. Speaking of his actions prior to his death, Doyle believing Angel to be a true hero is probably why he stops Angel from saving the day — something that occurs more to the needs of the plot than anything else. Finally, there is Doyle’s life ending with a bit of romance via Cordelia accepting him for himself once she knows about his demonic status.
Cordelia is mainly Doyle’s love interest here. She also becomes his replacement for the visions after they kiss. There is also the possibility that she swindles Captain Randy (Paul O’Brien) in regards to the amount of his debt Angel is willing to forgive. However, that is too unclear to state as a fact. Overall, she really doesn’t do much in this episode.
Tiernan (Lee Arenberg) and Trask (Anthony Cistaro) are the leading members of The Scourge. They, like the rest of their group, are obvious Nazi analogues. Yet, the reasons behind their bigotry does not see exploration. Even a sentence to explain their origins would help make them more than paint-by-numbers analogues. Since they lack any originality — or subsequent appearances — they (arguably) come across as less menacing when watching this episode more than once.
Captain Randy, the first mate (Ash Taylor), Storm Trooper #2 (Christopher Comes), the Cargo Inspector (David Brickford), Rayna (Michelle Horn), the Elder Lister Demon (James Henkrikson), Reiff (Tony Denman), and Lucas (Sean Gunn) are all plot devices in one way or another. They all lack more than one-dimension to their respective personalities other than descriptors like “victim” or “aggressor.”
This episode references bigotry, specifically of the Nazi level, but does not really seem to understand the awful effects of it — partly because viewers never learn anything about The Scourge or their various victims. Also, besides Doyle’s demise and some other deaths that happen in a flashback, The Scourge reek of menace, but not of total terror. Thus, viewers get an analogue that does not quite live up to the hype that Lucas and other characters verbalize. While Doyle gets to be a hero against these zealots, the dearth of references back to him or The Scourge after this season exemplifies the poor characterization is in this episode. In the end, Doyle is just Jesse (Eric Balfour) from the first episode of Buffy (but with more episodes) and The Scourge a weak depiction of the terrors of bigotry.