"Angel"
The Master is angry that the Slayer keeps killing his minions, so Darla offers to take care of her for him. He opts instead to send "the Three." Buffy and Willow hang out at the Bronze during the annual fumigation party (kill a cockroach, get a free drink) and Buffy talks about Angel. Xander tries again to fit in with the cool kids but is once again shot down by Cordelia. On her way home Buffy thinks she’s being followed by Angel, but her pursuers are actually the Three. Angel saves her and they head to her house. Things start to turn friendly while Buffy tends to Angel’s wounds but Joyce arrives and interrupts. Buffy tells her mother that Angel is in college and is tutoring her in kissing…er, history.
Buffy offers to let Angel spend the night on her bedroom floor and the discussion turns to his family, who is out of the picture. The next morning Xander is shocked to hear about the impromptu sleepover. Giles researches the Three, warrior vampires who the Master sent after Buffy for a reason. Disappointed with the Three’s results, the Master lets Darla kill them. Back at home Buffy brings Angel dinner and thinks that he read her diary. She tries to cover up the entries she’s obviously written about him and is embarrassed to learn that he didn’t invade her privacy. Things turn friendly again and they share a kiss. The romantic moment is ruined with Angel reveals that he’s a vampire.
Buffy tells the other Scoobies about Angel; Xander tells her she’ll have to kill him. Darla pays Angel a visit; they’re old friends from way back. She encourages him to tell Buffy about his "curse." Giles finds records about Angel, once called Angelus - he’s 240 years old but stopped killing humans almost a century ago. Darla shares her plan with the Master - she’ll get Angel to kill Buffy, and then invite him to wreak havoc with them again. She spies on Buffy and Willow, then goes to Buffy’s house and tells Joyce she’s Buffy’s history tutor. Darla attacks Joyce just as Angel arrives, and when Buffy gets home she believes that Angel has tried to kill her mother.
At the hospital Joyce (who believes she fell on a barbeque fork) tells Buffy about her "friend" who was at the house. Giles encourages Buffy to slay Angel but she doesn’t need any urging. Darla warns Angel that the Slayer is coming after him and tells him to kill her before she can kill him. Joyce tells Giles about Darla and he realizes that she, not Angel, attacked Joyce. Buffy and Angel meet up and face off at the Bronze. He explains that he killed hundreds of people, including his own family, but after he killed a young gypsy girl he was cursed with a soul. She believes him when he tells her he didn’t attack Joyce. Darla arrives and trades barbs with Buffy. During their fight Angel grabs a bolt and kills Darla. The Master is furious when he hears the news and the Anointed One promises to kill Buffy himself. Back at the Bronze (at the post-fumigation party) Angel and Buffy chat, deciding that they can’t pursue a relationship. However, they give in and share another kiss - and Buffy’s cross burns Angel’s chest.
MORAL, or CRAMMING COMPLEX ISSUES INTO A NUTSHELL: If someone bites your mother, make sure you have the right culprit before you try to kill him.
R.I.P.: Darla (until the Angel episode “To Shanshu in L.A.”)
GRADE: B The truth about Angel is out, and it! Changes! Everything. But not really.
MEMORABLE QUOTES: "Y’know, hey, I don’t know what everyone’s talking about. That outfit doesn’t make you look like a hooker!" - Xander to Cordelia
Darla: "Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?"
Written by David Greenwalt; directed by Scott Brazil
Buffy: "Bad hair on top of that outfit?"