Darla

This blog is a result of my pervasive preoccupation with all things unhumany. I have a zillion theories, annoyances, comments, opinions, true loves, and almost all of them are a part of the Whedonverse. How did it start? Well, technically, I suppose, it started with the First. Or, we could get into the physics of the Master and all that, but I'd prefer to skip over the uber-lumpies. It all started with Darla. Darla created Angelus. Angelus, Drusilla. Drusilla, Spike. And Spike? Well, Spike is one of the most dynamic characters ever written, and that's enough for me.

When we first met Darla, it was "Buffy," season 1, and she was very toothy and bumpy, wrought with all sorts of nasty special effects and yellow eyes and very, very bad hair. She rejoins the Master, the Order of Aurelius, Angel stakes her in the Bronze, etc etc. We thought this was all, but it's not, and this is precisely the reason that Joss Whedon is so brilliant. He has this rare ability to create histories. He gives us a world, preliminary rules of the world, and we meet the important parts and people and places in the world, and then he draws on that world, creates new facets in time and in space, in weirdness and normality, and all of a sudden, we're sucked in.

The most interesting and complex part of all, is the order of vampires that starts with Darla. I think of that infamous scene that shows up in both "Angel" (episode, Darla) and "Buffy" (episode, Fool for Love): Darla, Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike storm forth from the chaos of the Boxer Rebellion, just after Spike kills Slayer 1 of 2. This image is among the most iconic in the "Buffyverse." And these characters? Among the most exciting and original, each crafted with their own peccadilloes and moments of insanity. Unless, of course, we're talking Dru, who is her own little moment of insanity. What's that line? "Do you love my insides? The parts you can't see?" Ah, delicious. Darla is grandmother. She's over 400 years old at the time of her (third) death, a milestone in vampiric martyrdom to save the human child in her womb. I won't be getting to Connor quite yet, because he's mostly an annoyance, and he's not a vampire, not a real part of the order, and despite his androgynous hotness, I don't like him one little bit.

Anyway, this is just the beginning. Just like Darla. How I love Darla, her ruthlessness, those human moments with Lindsey, with Angel, her heroic death. She's the most historic character in the Buffyverse. It started with Darla.