The Beaming Dead

2000 was the year Spike turned pink on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The same year, Kate turned pink on Angel.

I guess pale was out of fashion in the Buffyverse, for vampires as well as humans.

The Kate screenshot comes from "Dear Boy", an episode of Angel in which Darla, the vampire who turned Angel originally, newly resurrected as a human, poses as an ordinary human to make Angel's friends think he's crazy. I suspect it continues the influence of Vertigo seen more directly a few episodes earlier in "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been". Vertigo references always make me happy (and aren't going out of style since WandaVision ended with one). But I also like the Darla plot in Angel season two for how it starts to bridge the gap between Angel and Angelus, his evil self. It can seem like kind of a cheat, the ideal of souls on the two series. Why should Angel feel guilty now for things he did when he was essentially possessed by a demon? 2000 was the year lines started to blur a little.

On Buffy as well. This was the year Spike realised he was lusting for Buffy. Or the year he realised he was in love with her, depending on how you interpret it. What does it mean for him to love without a soul? It certainly seemed like his relationship with Drusilla was more than lust all along.

I kind of like that the shows never really explored their implicit Christian rulebook. We never find out why crosses hurt vampires. We never find out exactly what having a soul means. The ambiguity tortures the characters in a pretty credible way.