"One Girl in All the World" Re-Watch: "Angel" & "I Robot, You Jane"

 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

We are getting some classic episodes that deal with the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." One is a classic that the series will refer to for its entirety and the other... is not. But it does introduce a character that will be very important to the series as a whole. Let's get to it.

"Angel"

Darla: "Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?"

Buffy Summers: "Bad hair on top of that outfit?"

The Master sends the warrior vampires, The Three, after Buffy. Angel helps Buffy escape them and she takes him back to her house to hide out. Buffy and Angel get closer and kiss and that is when Buffy learns Angel's secret: he's a vampire. While Buffy deals with this news, the Master and his minion, Darla, hatch a plan to bring Angel back into the fold.

Now keeeessss....

This is the first episode since the premiere that really shows you the greatness of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It combines all the things that make the show great. There is the humor, the drama, the action, the romance. All the things that really make "Buffy" so freaking amazing. The episode was written by David Greenwalt who was one of the most prolific writer/directors of the Buffyverse. He went on to become the showrunner for the "Angel" spinoff ofr its first three seasons. So, it's no surprise that he was the one to pen Angel's origin episode.

After six episodes, we finally learn the origin of Buffy's mysterious guardian. It turns out Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul. As Angelus he terrorized humans for over a century until he murdered the favorite of a Romany tribe and they cursed him with a soul. I love this addition to the mythology of vampirism. In the Buffyverse, when a person becomes a vampire, the demon takes over their body but they don't get their soul. The returning of his soul caused Angel to remember and feel all of the horrible things that he did for all that time. From the moment that his soul was restored, Angel stopped feeding on humans and attacking them. 

Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz have phenomenal chemistry and it is fully on display throughout this episode. After Buffy and Angel battle the Three and they are back in Buffy's house, Angel is shirtless and Buffy is administering first aid and it is extremely sensual and nothing really happens. Buffy is so close to Angel, almost touching and it almost makes you lean forward. There's a lot of talk about how Buffy feels about Angel, before and after she learns his secret, but that would mean nothing if we didn't see that. And we do whenever the two of them are together. My favorite moment of the episode is the kiss between Angel and Buffy at the end that sears her cross necklace into his chest. If there is a better metaphor for their relationship, I don't know what is.

One of the things I appreciate about this, is that Buffy is seemingly always ready to do her duty when it comes to Angel. You can tell that she's not psyched about it, but she knows where her responsibilities lie. And when she confronts Angel at the abandoned Bronze, it certainly doesn't seem like she's fucking around. When Angel taunts her, it's clear that she misses him with the crossbow bolt on purpose. It's his one warning. 

Julie Benz is great as Darla. She's seductive and snarky and just like Sarah Michelle Gellar, she has a ton of chemistry with David Boreanaz. It's no surprise that *spoiler alert* despite her death in this episode this is not the last we see of Darla. One of my all-time favorite Buffy moments is when Buffy whips out her crossbow and Darla's answer is to whip out two giant handguns. I've never understood why more vampires in general didn't employ this technique. 

We also get the vampires can't get into your domicile unless they are invited in. It plays a pretty big part in the episode because it gets Angel entrance into the Summers home and Joyce invites Darla in. I do think another thing this episode does well is show us that maybe not everyone is safe. When I first watched this episode, I was nervous for Joyce. Was she going to get really hurt? And that is really something. Although, one thing that still bothers me is that the three are able to get their hand across the threshold of Buffy's house. Later in the series, if a vampire tries to enter at all, they are hit by like an invisible force field. Gotta love continuity errors.

In this episode's installment of "Xander is the worst," its nothing major. Just more of his general perviness where Buffy is involved. Offering for her to stay in his bedroom when he learns that Angel slept on her floor. Gross.

Grade: A-

"I Robot, You Jane"

Jenny Calendar: "You here again? You kids really dig the library, don't ya?"

Buffy Summers: "We're literary."

Xander Harris: "To read makes our speaking English good."

New computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar, is dragging Rupert Giles into the 20th century. She and the kids in her class are digitizing various texts in the library. Willow scans in a text that contains the demon, Moloch the Corruptor, and unknowingly unleashes him onto the internet. Moloch takes the form of a online suitor for Willow named Malcolm and attempts to use the members of the computer science class to give him a new body. Can Buffy and particularly Giles stop a monster that is inhabiting an environment completely unfamiliar to them?

Never trust someone named Fitz.

In the mid to late '90's, if there was a science fiction or fantasy television set in modern times, there was going to be at least one episode dedicated to the perils of that new and scary invention: the internet. All these episodes had a lot of the same hallmarks. They usually included an evil person/entity catfishing either one of the main characters of the show or a bit player brought in to be a victim. There are antisocial computer nerds who are so into the internet and so into the belief that the internet is the future that it is off putting to everyone. And something bad usually happens to them that is meant to each viewers, particularly the younger viewers, a lesson about how the internet is scary and dangerous. There is usually at least one level headed rational person who is knowledgeable about the internet and there is one person who won't stop talking about how the internet is just some passing fad. These episodes are usually full of cliches and don't age well. And I am here to tell you that "I Robot, You Jane" ticks all the boxes and is indeed full of cliches and didn't age well.

It's pretty clear from the jump that this episode is not going to be great when we get that cold open set in 1500's Italy that looks like we are watching a low budget production put on by a high school A/V club. Willow is our resident brainy, computer geek so of course, she is the one that gets catfished by Malcolm aka Moloch and we get all the same old tired stuff. And these cliche's are articulated through arguments with her two best friends. How can you fall in love with someone you barely know? Who you've never met? Why do looks matter? Blah, blah, blah. We have the computer nerds: Dave and Fritz. Fritz is a caricature of a caricature. Unhinged to the point of being homicidal even before Moloch gets his hands into him. It's almost laughable. No, it is actually laughable.

The best demons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are either memorable because of their gimmick or design or a combination. But, Moloch is so nondescript. His powers are vaguely defined. He somehow engenders loyalty into people to the point where they are willing to give their life for him, but we don't know how or why. In fact, I'm pretty sure they just re-used Moloch's design when Giles gets turned into a demon in season four. It's even worse when Moloch enters in to his robot body. It just looks like a low rent metal predator. 

I would recommend you skip this episode altogether, but it does introduce a character that is pretty important to the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mythos: computer science teacher and technopagan, Jenny Calendar. Ms. Calendar is the voice of reason when it comes to the computer nerds and she spends most of her time this episode arguing with stuck in the dark ages, Giles. Their arguments are so spicy that you just know that they are going to end up together. And lo and behold, there are signs that the two are going to fight but then fuck. Ms. Calendar becomes a member of the Scooby gang in this episode. A pretty fast turnaround. She uses members of her group to do like a techno circle to get Moloch out of the internet but who really cares?

My favorite part of this episode is at the end when Buffy, Willow and Xander commiserate about their weird dating lives and how the "joke" about how they will never have a functional, normal romantic life ever. And that is maybe the most prescient thing about season one. 

In this episode's edition of "Xander is the worst" he wears a t-shirt that says "Porn Star" in the cold open, which would have definitely got him sent home. And he continues to take advantage of Willow.

Grade: D

Next up, the Sunnydale High talent show is just as unhinged as you'd think and the gang's nightmares start coming true.

What do you all think of these episodes? Is "Angel" a classic? Is "I Robot, You Jane" in the top ten of worst Buffy episodes? Let me know in the comments.