How can Darla be pregnant? Like she hasn’t had sex (with Angelus, even) thousands of times in the past 400 years and never got pregnant before?
Ah, but she never had sex with a vampire with a soul before. I predict this baby (which from the looks of things is due any day now) will something very special, and will have a soul of its own. And, that it will be Darla’s path to redemption.
It’s good to have everyone back; I just wish we could have seen more of Lorne last night.
You forget all those changes Darla went through — human, back to vampire, yadda, yadda, yadda. Weadon is a fantastic writer, and there is more than enough room to patch up this continuity hole without major stitching.
I want to know what kind of role Anne Archer’s character will be playing. The opening credits had her marching off to battle with the others. Is she becoming a demon slayer? What will she bring to the party?
I can’t wait.
(Note to Weadon lovers: his miniseries for Angel, co-authored by him, is out in comics stores starting last week.)
Whedon, not Weadon.
Amy Acker, not Anne Archer. Anne Archer was Michael Douglas’s cuckolded wife in Fatal Attraction. My prediction for Fred this season: her talk about a “click” last night wasn’t just talk. She’ll have a “click” sometime this season, and its effect on Angel and company will be profound.
And I didn’t mean to imply that Darla’s pregnancy was a “continuity hole;” I’m sure it will make perfect sense when it’s explained. I just want to see us speculate on how it will be explained.
Kudos to Joss, David Greenwalt, et al. for keeping that great plot twist secret. None of the spoiler pages I frequent had any inkling that Darla would be back this soon, or that she’d be preggers.
Well, at least she’s quit drinking while she’s pregnant…
Did anyone else watch the FX Buffy rerun of ep.1, then the Angel premire? Oh, and the “invincible” vampire in Angel, just what time unit was he invincible for 6 of? (behold my mutant power, confusing syntax!)
Ugh. Personally, I hated the season premiere. I’ll give you my list of reasons. It’s kinda on topic because the pregnant Darla is part of it. Ready? Then let’s begin.
The heartless vampire. Not a big deal, but whenever they create a new loophole for the previously established vampire rules, it bugs me.
Pregnant Darla. I personally think she got preggers by Lindsey before being re-vamped, but without an explanation this is just more of problem #1. That’s two loopholes in one show - a bit much for me.
Darla is back. I was tired of her about half way through last season. Can’t we just dump her in Flashback City and move on?
The reactions to Buffy’s death were far too understated. Not just Angel, but shouldn’t Cordy have reacted more than just “I miss her too”? I know it’s been three months, but still…
Hey, wasn’t Gunn going to ditch this crew and go back to his old friends after getting back from the Host’s home? Did I miss something?
However, in fairness, I should mention the things I liked.
Amy Acker. I really like Fred and look foreward to seeing more of her.
Phantom Dennis.
Unfortunately, that’s about it.
I haven’t forgiven Whedon for unceremoniously dumping (and dumping on) my favorite TV lady cop. I thought so much more could have been done with her character, but she shrank from 2 1/2 dimensions into 1 after her father died.
Also rather upset that Lindsey is gone. Not because I cared a great deal about the character, but the actor is so easy on the eyes.
And I’m really disappointed that Fred is in the cast. Her gibbering idiot act got real old real fast last season and I’m not looking forward to more of the same now.
On the plus side, I am looking forward to seeing what happens with Darla’s baby. One possibility that’s been overlooked is that Darla may have been pregnant before she originally turned 400 years ago. She was a prostitute after all and they didn’t exactly have reliable birth control in the 16th Century. A four-century pregnancy, with the fetus going through transformation, dusting, re-animation, re-transformation again? Now that could be interesting.
Also remember that Angel did that gauntlet thingie to try to save Darla’s life, only to find out she was already on her second try, and you only get two. They owed Angel another life, right? This could be it…
Was Darla a vampire when she slept with Angel, or was she still alive?
Yes, but she dies of syphilis, which is notorious for being hard on developing fetuses. That may be a little more reality than permitted on TV.
Ethilrist:
She was a vampire again.
But I hadn’t thought about the Lindsey possibility. That would make sense, since Darla looks more pregnant than she should be if Angel’s the father.
A vampire/human hybrid isn’t unheard of in vampire lore; I think it’s called a “dhampire,” but I know little of such things.
I doubt this is a pregnancy stretching all the way back to her first human life in the Jamestown Colony. If pregnant women stayed pregnant when they became vampires, we’d have heard about it before, wouldn’t we?
Gah! I MISSED IT!
My hope for this season is that they will give Gunn more to do. There were episodes last season where he barely had lines.
And Darla’s BACK?!?! 
I am so bored with her little girl voice and her little girl smile. Can’t someone really kill her for real?
Please?
The pregnancy is a great plot twist. As long as they kill Darla soon.
Damn you, Joss! Bless you, Joss!
I really liked the flashback scene.
I wished Angel would have sounded a little, um, darker when he was talking to Cordie about his (lack of) reaction to Buffy’s death. C’mon, the guy’s made a life out of being bothered by things. He should be more upset about not being too upset.
Wesley and Gunn were good last night.
Fred could be either a really good or really bad idea. It’s too soon to tell, but my money is always on Joss to pull it off. He’s let me down so few times that it’s good to roll with the odds.
My only gripe: FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THE GODS, KILL The Host AND KILL HIM SOON. That Barry Manilow-lovin’ insight into the demon world souce of information subplot was all right for about two hours, but that annoying drip should never have been allowed to become a recurring character. Count that as one of the times Joss let me down.
The Host really bothers me, in case you couldn’t tell.
FRED GOOD!
Sure, she’s a bit unstable right now, but it’s a gibbering genius act, not gibbering idiot. She’ll pull through that and be a wonderful addition to the show. Plus, she’s even hotter than Willow (Don’t tell Willow I said that!).
I’m glad to see Darla back too, I like her character. I like Drusilla a bit more, and hope we get her too.
I think Angel played his reaction to his lack of reaction to Buffy’s death just about right. Any more, and it would have undermined the whole thing. What’s going to hit him though, is when she comes back.
The Host is great! I want to see him become a regular.
A thought just occurred to me: maybe Drusilla is the father of Darla’s baby. After all, in her last appearance on Buffy we saw clearly that she took Spike’s cojones when she left him.
TheNerd, I’m afraid you’ll have to wrestle me for Fred.
Well, Darla didn’t die of syphylis. She had syphylis when she turned originally, the progression of which presumably was arrested by her vampirism. When she came back as human she got the clap along with it.
But point taken re the effects on a developing fetus, although if it’s a bouncing baby vampire or hybrid perhaps the disease won’t be a factor. Or maybe it will be a factor, i.e. syphylitically insane vampire baby! Woohoo!
And put me down in favor of the Host, except the whole “cut off my head and I’m OK as long as I’m not dismembered” thing was stoopid. In fact, the whole Host’s realm storyline was stoopid. Stoopid and Fred-inflicting.
I did get to see it last night, but I really can’t comment too much - just an observation.
Channel 11 in NYC is out due to WTC, so I had to watch on a very fuzzy Ch. 64. I could generally make out who was who and what was happening, but I couldn’t make out facial expressions, reactions, and the like. And I discovered how much that affects my enjoyment of the show. I was disappointed in the pilot, but I think I would have had a different reaction if I could see it better (which, to my mind, places the cast above Joss in terms of importance).
Sua
Oh, a thought. I can’t see Angel being the father for two reasons.
First, a few years back he told Buffy he can’t be a father - which eliminates all but magical means. Second, while the timeline is a bit fuzzy, she looked waaaaaay too pregnant to have been knocked up by Angel when they boinked.
Sua
Trion:
This really shouldn’t bug you. Does a 100-foot fall kill a person? Sure, usually, but in exceptional circumstances people have been known to survive. Likewise, as long as these loopholes are presented as being extremely unusual (this one was) and there’s a high price for them (as there was here: it kills you) it’s really more realistic to have them than not.
I just re-watched the episode. Has anyone else noticed how much demon activity there seems to be in Latin America? Consider:
Spike and Drusilla holed up down there the first time they left Sunnydale. And later, I think it was in Brazil that Dru left Spike for a fungus demon.
When Riley rejoined the Army it was to join a mission to wipe out a band of demons terrorizing a Panamanian village.
Now we see Darla hanging out in Nicaragua.
Is this perhaps because we perceive Latin America as being an undeveloped backwater where lawless rogues can go without attracting the attention they’d get in, say, Peoria? Or is maybe Joss building toward something?
Speaking of builds, did y’all check out Cordy in that tight blue shirt? Mmmm…
It is indeed. I’ve usually seen it spelled “dhampyr,” but spelling is uncertain in these matters. Thing about dhampyrs is, according to legend they are the greatest natural vampire hunters in the world. Whether they need to drink blood or not depends on who you talk to. (Side note, this legend is the basis of the anime, “Vampire Hunter D.”) Interesting to see how that would fit in with the slayer thing, if that’s the way they decide to go.
I wonder, though, if anybody on the Angel writing staff is familiar with this legend. As vampire myths go, it’s one of the more obscure ones.
And Fred, as it shouldn’t be necessary for me to point out, is cute as a button.
I like Fred. I am hoping for good things as she makes her way toward sanity.
Riley’s group went to defend missionaries who were being terrorized, not just villagers. I think the implication was that there are lots of Christian missionaries in South America and the demons were targeting them.