When She Was Bad, Some Assembly Required, School Hard, Reptile Boy, Halloween, Lie To Me, The Dark Age, What's My Line parts I, II, Ted, Bad Eggs, Surprise, Innocence, Phases, Passion, Killed By Death, I Only Have Eyes For You, Go Fish, Becoming part I, II

When She Was Bad marks the first new episode of season 2, and begins the trend of Angel as a regular character on the show instead of just a recurring character. The summer's over, school's back in session, and with it, Buffy returns from LA. We can assume that Angel hasn't seen Buffy since Prophecy Girl and he's eager to rekindle their friendship. Unfortunately, Buffy's dealing with some major issues and hasn't got time for him. Angel exhibits a lot of patience in this episode...we know that he's constantly struggling to keep his demons in check, and the fact that he can and will do so lends something to his character. I mean, c'mon, the guy's a vampire, and the fact that he'll keep Buffy focused on what her duty is instead of taking her bait to fight him gives him more credibility. Angel builds up his role as "shoulder for Buffy to cry on" in this episode, and it's a trend that lasts throughout the better part of season 2.

Angel's role in Some Assembly Required has him helping out the Scooby Gang. He's first seen in the cemetery...he sneaks up on Buffy and they have some words, the kind that wanna-be lovers have, I'd say. He starts to leave, and Buffy runs after him, falling into an open grave... Anyhoo, he later frightens Cordy in the school parking lot...she hides in a dumpster when she hears someone following her, and this is how the whole cutting-up-the-schoolgirls mystery comes up. Angel's scene in the library with the gang serves to mount some jealousy on all concerned parties, including Xander, Buffy, Cordy, and Angel. No other big revelations here.

We find out more about Angel's past in School Hard...he does his quiet-man disappearing act from the library after informing the gang that Spike is no easy-to-kill vampire. Later, Xander goes to fetch Angel to help them when the vamps attack on parent-teacher night at the school. Angel tries to play the role of "I'm still a bad vampy" for Spike's benefit, but Spike doesn't buy it. It's here that we learn that Angel is Spike's sire..or yoda, as Spike said. Xander and Angel do a li'l bonding in this episode. Angel walks off leaving Xander to wonder about the whole faux-Angel-biting-my-neck incident.

Reptile Boy furthers the Angel/Buffy love connection, in a sense. Angel's been cool towards Buffy and it bothers her. So she ends up going to a frat party, gets in over her head, and is basically in some large trouble. Willow rounds up Giles and Angel and reads them both the riot act, and they go off to search for Buffy. Angel's in full-face vamp-mode when he finds out that Buffy's in trouble, and Xander notes this with some amusement when he says, "I guess that is the guy you wanna party with." Angel does some roughing up of the frat boys and later shows up at The Bronze to pay some attention to Buffy...

Halloween again has Angel playing protector to Buffy and the gang. He's first seen in The Bronze chatting with Cordy when Buffy walks in, causing her to bemoan her situation as Slayer. Angel reassures her, but she doesn't buy it. Later, when she's got her costume-induced amnesia going on, she senses that he's a vampire and is afraid of him. Angel does the fighting thing and later the two share smooches in her bedroom.

Lie to Me is the first time we see a scene between Angel and Dru. We're not sure what their relationship is until later in the episode when Angel reveals that, "I did a lot of unconscionable things when I became a vampire...Drusilla was the worst." Angel reveals to Buffy that he was obsessed with Drusilla and that eventually he drove her to insanity (also a convent)...he made Dru a vampire on the day she was to take her vows at the convent. Angel tells Buffy this so he'll believe her when he says that her old friend Ford isn't what he seems to be. Angel and Willow have what I think is their first just-the-two-of-'em scene. And Xander and Angel do a bit of the bonding thing. Well, as much bonding as 2 guys who don't really like each other can do...

In The Dark Age, Angel uses his demon to kill Eyghon. That's about it.

Angel plays the concerned, loving boyfriend in What's My Line parts 1 & 2. It's in this episode that he reveals he knows what's going on because "I lurk." He takes Buffy ice skating and he's the one who realizes that the Order of Turaka is hunting Buffy. Bad stuff happens to Angel in these episodes -- he's kidnapped by Spike because he's the only one who can help heal Drusilla. He's drained of a good deal of his blood, but manages to make it out of the episodes relatively unscathed.

Ted features Angel as the sensitive, wise boyfriend. He's still sporting some wounds from the last outing, though.

Bad Eggs is close to the last time that Angel's himself. We also learn that he can't make little vampires.

Surprise & Innocence mark Angel's spiritual death, in a manner of speaking. He tells Buffy & Co. who The Judge is...Later at the docks, he gives Buffy a claddagh ring for her birthday, and at the end of Surprise, he and Buffy consummate their relationship, which causes Angel to lose his soul. Innocence shows Angel as Angelus for the first time..he returns to Spike's and Dru's place where they're reunited as a family. He makes it clear for the first time that he intends to destroy Buffy for making him feel human. This is Angel at his most evil, and it's kind of amusing. At the end of the episode, he taunts Buffy by saying, "You can't do it. You can't kill me."

Phases is the first time that we see Angel kill someone that Buffy knows...his victim is a classmate of hers, Teresa. Angel also sees Oz in werewolf form, though he probably has no idea who the werewolf really is.

BBB features Angel as the object of Spike's hatred...the tension between the two of them has been mounting since Angel first turned...Spike's jealous of Angel's actions toward Drusilla. Angel continues to torment Buffy and we learn that he wants to get to her by killing all of her friends. He grabs Xander and yanks him through Buffy's window -- they begin to fight, but Dru shows up. She's also affected by Amy's love spell, and starts to make a play for Xander. When she tries to follow the mob inside Buffy's house to get to Xander, there's some kind of force field that prohibits her from entering the house. Angel's a witness to this.

Most Amusing Lines:
"I guess I really did drive you crazy." -- to Dru when he wonders why she's making a play for Xander.

"Sorry, Dru..guess you're not invited." -- to Dru when she realizes she can't go into the house.

Passion is Angel at his most evil. It's in this episode that he kills Jenny Calendar and is about to kill Giles, too. Buffy also shows up to save Giles and kill Angel, but she's unable to kill Angel only because she must save Giles from a fire that's broken out. Earlier in this episode, Angel's been tormenting most of Buffy's family and friends. Angel's unable to go into Buffy's or Willow's homes since they've reversed the invitations he previously had when he was Angel. Angel also destroys the Orb of Thessala and supposedly gets rid of the translated cure that would restore his soul.

An Amusing Yet Creepy Line:
"No thanks, been there, done that. Deja vu just isn't what it used to be." -- to Jenny Calendar when she tells him she's got the "cure" to restore his soul.

Killed By Death shows Angel trying to kill Buffy and her friends in the cemetery. But they're able to keep him at bay. Since Buffy's in the hospital in this episode, Angel goes to visit her and meets up with Xander. They have some words, and that's the last we see of Angel in this episode.

Angel's role is seemingly minimal in I Only Have Eyes for You. When he serves as the host to Grace Newman's spirit, Grace's words are such that they could also be spoken from Angel's point of view. This somewhat allows Buffy to have some closure -- she's been feeling responsible for "Angel's death" since their consummation, and is blaming herself for all of it. When Grace/Angel says to James/Buffy that what happened was an accident and that she/he "loved you with my last breath", this alleviates the tormented spirits of both James and Buffy. When the spirit possession is over, Angel's basically still as amped about hurting/killing Buffy as ever, and he's serving to incite Spike's jealousy by carrying on with Dru in front of him.

Angel appears briefly in Go Fish. He attacks one of the swimmers, Gage, but the blood is tainted with something, and Angel's spitting it out. That's about it.

Becoming part I gives us the backstory on Angel! His becoming a vampire, his becoming cursed, his becoming involved with Buffy...all of it! We see him first in Galway, 1753. He's just left a tavern with a friend, who passes out in the street from being drunk. Angel spies a beautiful woman in a nearby alley and goes to talk to her about being alone at night; he offers to escort her elsewhere. When the woman asks him if he's up to the challenge, he assures her he is. She asks him to close his eyes, and then her face shifts into its vampiric state, and she bites him. We're sure now that it's Darla, since we found out in the episode Angel that she made him a vampire. She slashes herself and makes him drink her blood, and the act is done.