I think that, when some people are turned into vampires, sometimes a little bit of their soul remains behind. Remember when the Judge used his power to kill a vampire shortly after being put back together? That vamp still had some residual soul left in him. The Judge hinted that Spike did, too. Angelus, on the other hand, was completely devoid of a soul (the Judge couldn’t hurt him) and was revolted by the idea of love: he wanted to kill Buffy for having made him feel compassion.
I get what you’re saying, and I think you might not be far off. Traditionally, curses always have to have an “out,” a way of lifting the curse: get kissed by a prince, fall in love despite being a big, hairy beast, etc. The gypsies cursed Angelus, not Angel. Therefore, the “out” has to be something that end up aiding Angelus, not Angel. The gypsy who cursed Angel tailored the out to the curse, but I don’t think he had a choice about including it in the spell.
I wondered about this myself, all through last season. They’re always making jokes on the show about Angel being “a eunuch” now, and going on and on about how he dare not have sex. But it’s not about sex, it’s about happiness, and it sure looked at times like Connor made him very happy. I was waiting for the coin to drop with people that sex wasn’t the only thing that might make Angel turn back into Angelus. It might have been Connor, or if Cordy had actually been able to tell him that she loved him . . .
Yeah, and Angel obviously shagged Darla, which made Connor possible, and, as has already been pointed out, he didn’t experience that soul-evicting moment of happiness.
And what was Angel doing shagging Darla anyway? I thought she was supposed to be evil.
Maybe I should start watching Angel, or at least bop down to Buffyguide.com and read the episode summaries so I know what’s going on.
I just answered my on question by re-watching season one - the pack. FY’aI, animals have spirits, which, depending on the animal, may or may not be demon-like.
As Joss says on the DVD commentary to this episode (Innocence?), the curse isn’t supposed to make sense. For the gypsies, vengeance is a living thing; therefore, like the rest of us, it can be irrational. That’s why the perfectly valid observation that the curse is flawed is immaterial – this is just the way it works.