Watching "Darla" before "Fool for Love"

Several readers kept posting on the comments section of my viewing guide that they want me to switch the order of "Darla" and "Fool for Love" back to its originally aired pairing as, with "Fool for Love" first and "Darla" second. As I wrote my final response on the subject, I realized my response would be more at home as an essay than as a comment.

I encourage everyone to use their own preferences when viewing the episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. But as for me and my list, "Darla" and "Fool for Love" will eternally be grouped together with "Darla" first and "Fool for Love" second. I have explained my reasons ad nauseum in my viewing guide and in its associated comments section, but I will do it once more for the record here and refer people here to this article from now on.

If I only had one shot at winning someone's love for Buffy and Angel, then these two episodes combined in this way would be what I would choose to show them. First "Darla" and then "Fool for Love." The entire reason why I posted a viewing guide to Buffy and Angel in the first place was in part to showcase this serendipitous discovery.

When I was watching Angel for the first time, I decided to intersperse it with Buffy since I heard that's how they originally aired. Only having the DVDs as my guide at the time, only air dates were provided, not airing times. So I was unsure which show aired first in the evening. So on that initial viewing of Angel, I guessed (incorrectly) that it aired first.

My reasoning was unimportant for this discussion, but this momentary lack of facts and a lack of google in a iPhone, led me to first order Angel and Buffy tgoether that way. And if it was not for this accident, I would not have stumbled on the best pairing of Buffy and Angel I had ever seen: "Darla" then "Fool for Love."

Later when I discovered the episodes actually aired in the reverse order of what I had watched, I was sure on my next rewatch to view them in their correct airing order. And to my surprise, I did not like it as well. Do not get me wrong: they were both still excellent episodes that I loved, but there was just something about them that did not resonate as strongly with me.

So I decided at one point to explore the original way I had the episodes and contrast it with the original airing order. And I discovered a few important things that helped me understand why I probably prefer watching "Darla" first and "Fool for Love" after.

These two episodes feature extensive flashbacks to the shared history of the four central vampire characters on the show: Darla, Angel, Drusilla, and Spike. I discovered that if one looked solely at the flashbacks, then "Darla" is the natural starting point as it begins in 1609 and progresses through to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. "Fool for Love," on the other hand, begins and ends at much later dates, starting in 1880 and progressing through to 1977.

As these episodes do provide a rather complex mixture of past flashbacks contextualizing present day story developments, anything that is done to simplify this process of the audience will aid in viewer comprehension and can be processed mentally a little more efficiently.

Darla and Angel's lives and points of view in "Darla" take place earlier in the story and then crossover with the newer vampires, Drusilla and Spike, whose points of view take up the forefront of the flashbacks in "Fool for Love." The transition into the newer vampires' romance helps showcase a pattern revealed in "Darla" when the Master felt challenged by the up-and-coming Angelus, much the same way Angelus later feels challenged by the up-and-coming Spike later.

Therefore, when the episodes are paired this way, it creates a more subtle and chronological story to follow as we experience the exuberance of youth conflict with the caution and forethought that comes from old age. This lends the episode pairing with a strong beginning, middle, and end that does not present itself quite as easily when viewed in the original airing order.

When viewed in the original airing order, the story formed by the two episodes is basically that of Spike butting heads with his mentor Angelus and carrying on a bitter rivalry with him. Then we the audience later discover that some of this rivalry had more to do with Angelus receiving his mortal soul again, and he was in a desperate attempt to reconcile his vampiric bloodlust with his newly reinstated conscience, all in an attempt to still carry on with Darla

While both approaches to this story material work on a dramatic level, the interplay of youth and maturity as it relates to vampiric immortality was a slightly more interesting way to the view the story than generational miscommunication resulting in misunderstandings.

Now, let us compare the two episodes on a dramatic level and how they contrast with one another differently depending on the viewing order. While Darla and Angel are compelling in "Darla," I will make no qualms about it that Spike's flashbacks in "Fool for Love" are the most inspired flashbacks in either Buffy or Angel.

"Darla" builds up an emotional peak as we see Darla and Angel's former passion and verve for the kill being replaced in modern times with a conscience that makes them feel an odd mixture of revulsion and nostalgia for their soulless state as monsters. The episode delves into the despondency Darla experiences and ends with Darla clearly wanting to forfeit her mortality in favor of returning to her formerly nonconflicted state of being.

In contrast, "Fool for Love" begins with Buffy in a very similar state of despondency, but desiring a way to rediscover her mortality. Buffy has waltzed through much of the show with nearly godlike power, but she almost dies at the hands of a nobody whom she would usually have no problems dispatching. Buffy begins to questions herself and her powers and starts to ask herself tough questions about how the former slayers died.

Did they too just slip into a moment of mediocrity and find themselves on the wrong end of a wooden stake like she did? Buffy does not want this odd despondency to be the end of her, so she searches for to avoid slipping into a complacent death. Spike is the only one in existence who she question who was present at the deaths of former slayers, so she bribes him to help her discover how to get out of her current rut.

The strange confusion Darla feels at the end "Darla" perfectly transitions into Buffy's despondency as she becomes aware of a growing death wish that she too has been building up inside her. And strangely enough, Angel and Spike serve as excellent foils to these women, who they are both in love with (and obsessed with) while trying to counsel their beloved to face hard truths. As we explore Angel and Spike's pasts, we discover enlightening commentary on what Darla and Buffy are suffering from at present.

This story energy continues building up throughout "Fool for Love" more and more as Spike's feelings finally come to the surface in a powerful, explosive moment of revelation that Buffy finds completely incomprehensible. Spike's emotional explosion at Buffy is the culmination of the everything that took place in both episodes, building up to an impassioned climax of hatred and rage that bends to the power of love and devotion.

And in that way, "Fool for Love" helps illuminate everything that was set up earlier in "Darla," too. Hatred and rage that Angel felt for Darla and Spike felt for Buffy just cannot truly stand in the face of their deep feelings of love and devotion they feel for them. As much as they logically despise each other, they feel almost powerlessly drawn towards them in a desire to help and save them.

If you forced me to pick my favorite scene of Buffy and Angel, then it would be the last two minutes of "Fool for Love." It is the most powerfully acted, written, and directed scene from either TV show. To see James Marster's performance as he transforms from murderous rage to consolatory friend in just a few remarkably intense seconds is frankly one of the most remarkable moments captured on film.

When looking at the creative output of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, I am astounded at the number of brilliant moments captured on film. But for me, none is stronger than combining "Darla" with "Fool for Love," making the strongest and most cohesive joint dramatic presentation either TV ever pulled off.

From a storytelling point of view, this particular pairing of episodes illuminates the characters in the clearest and most enjoyable way possible. And it also provides the easiest door for a new viewer to open to connect to this show on an emotional level. I feel most viewers experiencing the show for the first time will be set up for greater success when viewing these episodes in this order.

Yanking on the audience's chain to make them wonder if Angel's boxer rebellion stint makes sense chronologically or not is not nearly as illuminating or intriguing to watch as getting a full dose of Spike's emotional tour de force at the climax of this beautiful 85 minute presentation.

The great thing about modern technology, you can watch the episodes in any order you want. I will always choose improved narrative flow and dramatic impact over any other concern when it comes to my viewings of Buffy and Angel. And I invite you to join me watching these episodes my preferred way some time and see if it helps the episodes resonate more deeply with you, too.

Michael Warren, Author's Post Script Note Added on 05/19/2021

It has been six years since I wrote the above article and yet I still receive repetitive comments on my viewing guide page essentially attempting to brow beat me into submission with regards to my alteration of the viewing order for these two episodes on my guide. I will delete any further comments of this nature posted on my guide and re-post them here below.

I will point out that none of these comments below ever address the salient points I make in this article and they simply repeat the same bullet points they hear from the other like-minded commenters. For all I know, it could just be one annoying troll creating multiple accounts to parrot the same arguments in an attempt to make it look like many people disagree with me on this point.

Whether one troll or many, I doubt any of these commenters even read this follow up article I wrote specifically to address them. Completely ignoring me and spouting their drivel repeatedly is not just insulting but also boring.

Any time someone trolls the guide with a similar comment, I will re-post their remarks down below here so they can be heard. I have no desire to censor a legitimate viewpoint. But I also will not let my guide become a dead end of annoying comments for trolls to try to insult me either. So if you want to discuss this point, comment below on this article ONLY. Thank you.



RE-POSTED COMMENTS


Stargazer1682May 18, 2021 at 6:25 PM

I know this an old thread, but it makes absolutely no sense to put Darla before Fool For Love; and it's not just from a airing order standpoint. In Fool For Love, we see Spike bump into who turn out to be Angel, Dru and Darla; that scene alone is more effective when you DON'T already know how that scene plays out or that they're the ones he bumped into. You see that first then find out in Darla the other side of that encounter; and that's arguably how it was intended.

Putting Darla before Fool For Love also spoils the reveal in Fool for Love of William as the dandy poet; and Darla talks about Spike killing a Slayer - which, obviously we already knew Spike had killed two Slayers, but but it's effectively a spoiler for a plot point in Fool for Love. It also spoils the implications that Angel had a soul and was actually hiding people during the Boxer Rebellion scene; which again was probably intentional. So there's plenty of reasons that it makes no sense to put Darla first.


Michael Warren, Author's Response:

Many have echoed your arguments Stargazer1682 and I have written a lengthy article on this very topic of why my decision makes perfect sense. Here is the url to my explanation: http://josswhedon.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-darla-is-better-watched-before-fool.html

Please post all your future comments there from now on. Thank you.

You are free to disagree with my reasoning, Stargazer1682, but to claim it makes "absolutely no sense" for me to order these two episodes in question in the way I do is frankly preposterous given the meticulous explanation for why I did it and why I continue to stand by my original decision.

You may not agree with me, but to claim there is no sense in it is just plain aggravating for the sake of being aggravating and I would appreciate it if you would stop using hurtful invectives in your arguments. They are just annoying me and do not further the discussion.

I have pointed out that those who prefer to view these two episodes in their originally intended viewing order can certainly do so. I understand why from a continuity perspective one might be tempted to do so. I do not argue that it is "wrong" to watch those two episodes in their original viewing order. Nor do I claim that you are wrong for doing so. However, you, Stargazer, and your ilk, do constantly insult me and berate me and belittle me on this topic and act like my point of view should not be allowed to exist.

If anything, the only thing lacking sense here is your absurd position that because of a few points of continuity, we should totally abandon the greater emotional resonance of my ordering of these episodes. It is a perfectly sensical and reasonable supposition and I have repeatedly heard from others who agree with me making this departure from the original viewing order.

So do not pretend there is no merit to my preference. In my experience, far more people like the change then do not like the change. You are in the minority on this point. Not me.

And let me be clear, my argument is, and always has been, that those two episodes are noticeably and qualitatively better when watched in my preferred order, i.e. "Fool for Love" AFTER "Darla" instead of BEFORE.

In the prologue of my viewing guide, I bring up my deciding factor when resolving all potential conflicts between strict story continuity and emotional resonance: I always side with the strongest emotional resonance. Period. End of discussion. I find that far more interesting as a viewer to take into account.

Yes, there are occasionally a couple of funny story reversals and nuances lost by choosing to favor stronger emotional resonance in my viewing order. And if any readers of this episode order guide wish to depart from my recommendation and decide to watch "Fool for Love" BEFORE "Darla," then more power to them. That is a personal decision and my guide is just my best suggestion on how to improve the story's presentation. It is not a definitive statement on what is allowed or not, which frankly seems to be more of what you are attempting to do Stargazer.

No one will stop you or anyone else from watching those two beautiful episodes in their original viewing order if you prefer it. I personally don't prefer that. I think my way, these two episodes form a tight and stylish made-for-TV movie that captures the heart of what the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel are all about.

Watching 1. "Darla" and then 2. "Fool for Love" results in a glorious combination of emotions perfectly made to climax in Spike's ultimate confrontation of Buffy at the end of the episode. It is powerful. It is surprisingly well set up and pays off as likely the most gloriously beautiful moment of the series.

I would never jeopardize that type of dramatic power for the sake of landing a couple of clever twists better. You can. I won't.

This is my website and I will present them in my preferred order. Period.

I don't watch Buffy and Angel over and over again because a particular joke and punchline set up between two episodes lands so well. I watch these shows over and over again because the shows have a powerful dramatic experience that makes me connect emotionally to the characters and help me connect with my own humanity in profoundly deep and unique ways.

As fun as it is to view Spike bump into some random people in "Fool for Love" and then get the payoff that those random people were indeed the vampire characters from our show later in "Darla," I do not watch Buffy and Angel because of interesting little fun asides. They are salt to the show's dramatic meat.

And yes, Spike starting out as a more terrifying vampire and then being revealed to have been a dandy is a funny payoff and excellently done. And thinking that Angel was super dark and evil during the Boxer Rebellion and then discovering later that he was totally posing to attempt to win back the respect of Darla, Dru, and Spike, man that was a good reveal. Bravo to the writers.

But personally, I would never want to watch those two episodes in their original viewing order just for those payoffs. Not when there is a vastly superior way to view those episodes in a way that gives you an emotional gut punch for the ages. Man, that is damn good television!

For those who disagree, cool; more power to you. But on this website I listen to everyone's advice and honly if I agree will I implement it. I will not change the viewing order because someone is annoying me about it.

So please, once I have made my decision, do the decent thing by respecting my right to disagree and let us move on. We do not have to agree on everything about Buffy and Angel to be bonded together by our mutual love for these interconnected shows.

And in fact, if everyone agreed with each other, then I am sure the world would be a worst place for it. So by all means, view those episodes in whatever way you prefer. I do not deserve online bullies trying to cajole me into changing it. Give it a rest.

The viewing order stands as is. That is my final decision on the matter.

If any future comments are made repeating the same bullet points, then I will simply delete those comments. If you want to actually have a legitimate discussion though and comment on the finer points of my arguments as I laid them out, then please feel free to do so in the comments section to this article here and not on the main guide page. Thanks!