Angel : Season One, Episode Eight : I Will Remember You

Grade: A

Angel returns from Sunnyday following the events of "Pangs", depressed after having seen Buffy from a distance without interacting with her. As Cordelia and Doyle attempt to convince him to move on with his life, Buffy herself shows up at Angel Investigations headquarters, confronting Angel over his decision to become involved in her life without consulting her. Doyle and Cordelia withdraw while Angel and Buffy become embroiled in a long argument. Just as Buffy makes up her mind to leave as soon as possible, a demon crashes through the window of Angel's office, leaving before either Buffy or Angel can kill it. Deciding that she might as well neutralize the demon before leaving LA, Buffy agrees to accompany Angel into the sewers to track it. Given more opportunity to talk, their resolve to stay away from one another only grows stronger, and they split up to hunt the demon. Angel finds it in another sewer tunnel, gaining a deep cut on his hand before killing the demon, spilling its blood into his own wound. Back at headquarters, Doyle and Cordelia attempt to clean up the aftermath of the demon's attack when Angel walks in, making no attempt to avoid the sunlight. Despite Cordelia's confusion, Doyle at once detects signs of life on Angel, who has been returned to a mortal body. The three determine to say nothing to Buffy until Angel has found out what the change means; asking Doyle to help him, Angel makes contact with the Oracles, an immortal pair who exist in a small, separate pocket of reality. They inform him that his vampirism has indeed been canceled by the demon's blood, leaving him a mortal man. Assured of the condition's permanence, Angel seeks Buffy out, revealing his ability to withstand sunlight and bringing her back to headquarters. The two attempt a detached, logical assessment of the situation, but end up spending the night together, determined to stay in a relationship whatever the cost. However, Doyle has a vision of the demon, itself brought back to life by the regenerative properties which cured Angel. Unwilling to trouble Buffy with the matter, Angel takes Doyle and attempts to fight the demon himself, but, robbed of his vampire powers, is unable to harm it in any way. Buffy, learning of the situation from Cordelia, arrives at the scene in time to save Angel's life and to kill the demon once and for all by crushing its skull. However, unsettled by the experience and realizing that his life as a human with Buffy might not be nearly as idyllic as they both imagine, Angel returns to the Oracles and begs them to restore him to his former state; despite their hesitancy to do so, the Oracles eventually consent to turn back time twenty-four hours, returning Angel to the moment before the demon first attacked him. Agreeing to their terms, Angel returns to Buffy; explaining the situation to her, he insists that they have no future together, and that both of them had been successfully rebuilding their lives before this ill-advised interlude. She panics when he tells her that they have less than a minutes left before their day together will be erased, and he attempts to comfort her by assuring her that she will not be forced to live with the memory. The two of them fade into oblivion and start again the previous day, just as Buffy decides to leave Los Angeles; the demon attacks them, but Angel, the only person with any memory of the erased day, kills it before its blood can make him human, and Buffy leaves for Sunnydale none the wiser.


Observations: 

• Certainly an interesting look at the possibilities (and, ultimately, impossibilities) of Buffy and Angel's relationship. Their dynamic and attraction are based solely upon the drama and pathos of the type of forbidden love they've always shared, and, when that element is removed, however much they both might claim to long for a normal relationship, it would never succeed between them. Sharing an ordinary, healthy romance would, at best, neutralize them both, something Angel realized within hours of becoming human.
• This episode definitely adds a bitter touch to Buffy's casual mention in Sunnydale of the five minutes she spent with Angel in Los Angeles.