Goodbye, my love . . .

2.13: Surprise

2:14: Innocence

2:21: Becoming, Part 1

Drawing from Angel's case, vampires have no conscience—and in fact, they have no need for one: since they have no eternal soul, their physical actions will never be judged, and thus the consequences are immaterial. The vampires all share a very spiritual vocabulary, often full of religious terms whose general meanings and connotations have been reversed. For example, the "bad" Angel addresses the demon as he is about to pull out the sword, saying that he had been "lost" and is now about to be "redeemed." They often chat about events like the crucifixion and, oddly enough, wind up at different times in churches—though they still shy away from crosses, crucifixes, and holy water. Even "Angelus" or "Angel" is a reference no doubt to a "fallen angel"—or the head fallen angel, Satan himself. The fact that the "bad" Angel is one of the worst vampires—the most like a "monster" of them all—is constantly being reiterated by different characters.

I've been into Dracula-lore for many years but I'd never given the battle between actual darkness and light that much thought. First, vampires avoid sunlight: it burns them, destroys them, they are creatures only of the night. (The Apostle John was a master at this kind of subtle symbolism, which features everywhere in his gospel: example, "Judas went out, and it was night," before he sold his Master for 30 pieces of silver. Later Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. It is a painfully familiar idea.)

Nightmares in Buffy's world are also thousands of times more frightening because of their staggering plausibilty. While Buffy is visited by rashes or dreams whenever something momentous is on the way, being almost like a sort of her own "Watcher," on the other side of the mirror is Drusilla and her bizarre and erratic visions of the future. We discover in "Becoming, Pt. 1" that Dru was actually plagued by this disturbing foresight before Angel turned her. For her, it was actually instrumental in Angel's warping of her mind before he recreated her as a vampire: he apparently used and abused the notion through impersonating someone she trusted implicitly: a priest, her confessor.

There is a clear contrast between the relationships shared by Buffy and Angel (before he re-loses his soul, of course) and Drusilla and Spike. Angel and Buffy are honest and straightforward with one another. I half-expect Angel to say, "This is true love. Do you think this sort of thing happens every day?", Westley-style. (Incidentally, it's the first time I noticed their love theme: piano or flute.) They really share information: their thoughts, ideas, and feelings, while the vampire couple never tell one another the whole truth; their conversations are ambiguous, enigmatic and obscure. Alongside the "affection" that the Judge sensed between them, their relationship is extremely physical–it’s not just because they’re both evil vampires. There is physical attraction, and also the attraction each feels of finding a kindred spirit–two of a kind, as it were. It brings to minds the characters in the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane": "They had one thing in common:/They were good in bed."

For Buffy and Angel, there is obviously desire there–but rather than being the shaky, lustful foundation of a short-lived affair, it is a natural extension of their depth of feeling for the other. When they kiss, the reason is (not only) for personal satisfaction, but is instead chiefly an expression of their love for each other. They move carefully through the stages of their relationship, weighing the odds for each individual’s needs and best interest, while fully considering all factors, reasons and possibilities. These two deal with sacrifice and "good of the whole rather than of the part," while Spike and Dru's actions are driven by personal gain. Since they ARE evil vampires, their sick and twisted wishes usually mesh. There is yet so much that Drusilla doesn’t reveal to Spike about the way her mind works, since—well, she IS just a little crazy.