Why is Darla so popular? [Archive]

Low Rats

10-21-2005, 06:38 PM

Now I know Julie benz is immensely popular within the Buffy community so please don't consider this a knock on her, I have no beef with her acting at all and thought she did a tremendous job with a difficult character.

However as many people have figured out, I am a huge Doyle mark and consider his death to be truly heroic and beautiful in a mindnumbingly painful way. But what I dont get is that some people compare Darlas death to his.

Now, recently on the Buffyworld forum (worst forum ever) there was a "Most heroic death" poll and Doylea came up trumps with Darla a close second and Freds a third.

Now, Darlas death was a fitting end to the character and whatnot but how on earth was it heroic? She gave her life to save her child? How so? She didn't have much of a choice, she was gonna die whatever happenned, Jasmine made sure of that.

If Saddam Hussein had been mystically impregnated, he too would have had no choice other than to stake himself either to avoid further pain from labour (This scenario works in a twisted way, look at it objectively). This wouldnt make him a hero and if we believe the story, Darla killed more people than Saddam Hussein.

(I aplogise if I've offended anyone by using this example and will change it on request)

The thing is, as far as atonement goes, even Angel would scoff at darlas ratio. She kills thousands over 300 years and we're supposed to accept that saving (something she doesnt even have a choice in doing) this one life balances it out? Not to point out that this one life goes on to create a being that would almost ultimately enslave the world but hey, thats for another time and subforum.

I just gotta ask and please dont take this the wrong way, but just why is Darla so popular? Please don't tell me its because shes a little more huggable than the Master....?

VisionGuy

10-21-2005, 06:47 PM

I don't like Darla because of how she killed herself to save Connor.Although,that does give her some points.I like her because she is so evil and stylish and even though she was a vampire,I felt like you could still see some human in her.I think she really loved Angel.And the speech she gave in the episode where she died about her not wanting the baby to be born because she might not love it anymore is so heartbreaking.She really loved that baby and she thought that once he was born,she would want to kill him.I don't think this rant even makes any sense.I'm sorry to go on for so long.To make a long story short,I just like Darla because i think she's cool.The real question is why do some people dislike Darla.Just joking:D

FahrbotDrusilla

10-21-2005, 07:00 PM

Buffy Summers

10-21-2005, 08:01 PM

Not comparing Darla's death to Doyle's, but Darla's death is heroic. She was going to die anyway, it's true, but she could have just died and taken the child with her. Or she could have held on to the hope that the child would die and somehow she would survive. She made a sacrifice so that her child could live - that is where the heroism lies.

:)

eponinethen

10-22-2005, 04:45 AM

This wouldnt make him a hero and if we believe the story, Darla killed more people than Saddam Hussein.
Yes. And Saddam Hussein lives in the real world and Darla is a character on a TV show. In BtVS and Angel there are good and evil people/creatures/things, and we are allowed to like the evil ones just as much as the good ones. Not because we think they're doing the right thing, that's got nothing to do with this, but because they can be very interesting characters.

Please don't tell me its because shes a little more huggable than the Master....?
Again, got nothing to do with it. The Master was pretty much just evil, that's all we see of him, not very interesting in my opinion. Darla on the other hand – and especially on Angel – has got so many things, so many different sides. Angelus killed oh so many people, that doesn't make it impossible to like him now does it? Sure Angel "changed his mind" and became good. That makes him lucky, for "accidentally" getting a soul and maybe for being stronger than Darla was.

I am personally not a huge fan of Darla, but I can definitely see how people can find her death heroic. It doesn't automatically become unheroic just because she didn't exactly lead the best "life" ever – one could even argue that that makes it more heroic. That she came around in the end. That she wanted to die a different way than she "lived".

(And I don't see how it's even possible to compare Darla's death with Doyle's. I mean you can definitely have different opinions about them, think one of them is more "heroic", but to me those two situations were too different to compare.)

SpikedBuffy

10-22-2005, 03:30 PM

I would not compare Doyle and Darla's deaths. They are not the same.

But, on the topic of Darla, I belive that people saw her choice to kill herself to save her unborm child what a heroic thing. She was a vampire, without her own personal soul. Her behavior and 'humanity' was changing, all because of the child that she had within. That is a pretty big thing for a vampire... especially one who lived without remorse and for the kill for hundreds of years. That is why Darla is so loved. She showed a different side of a vampire that we had never seen before.

PrincessZombie

10-22-2005, 06:57 PM

I also wouldn't compare Darla's death to Doyle's, but Darla's death was heroic. She gave up her life to save her child's, I mean, she could of killed Connor along with her, but she didn't. And also, Darla was a very dynamic character. She was very interesting and Julie Benz is an awesome actress. I think that's where all the Darla-love comes froml. ;)

drtroy

10-30-2005, 04:48 PM

I was on the fence with darla for a while at time I found her annoying, but I guess at time we all have been annoyed with a certain character on btv/angel/firefly etc..but yeah it was heroic

MentPatient

10-30-2005, 06:57 PM

Darla only cared about Connor 'cause his soul was imposed on her...

I, too, don't see how it's heroic.

FahrbotDrusilla

10-30-2005, 07:45 PM

Darla only cared about Connor 'cause his soul was imposed on her...

I, too, don't see how it's heroic.
If you view it like that nothing Angel ever did is heroic because he had his soul imposed on him as well.

Edmund Blackadder

10-30-2005, 08:00 PM

The difference is, Angel's soul is Liams...it belongs to that body...darla was 'borrowing' connors.....thats not even her soul....

PrincessZombie

10-30-2005, 08:06 PM

Yeah, but a soul is a soul. Does it matter who it belongs to? It still made her act all soulful.

Edmund Blackadder

10-30-2005, 08:09 PM

Well yeah it kinda does....because your soul is your moral, ethical compass.....so each persons MUST be set at different levels because well....why can some people be saints and other serial killers......point is, the person who killed Darla...was it darla Influenced by Connor...or was it actually Connor because it was his soul?

SpikedBuffy

10-30-2005, 09:46 PM

Well, it would've been a little bit of both. Darla was only influenced by Connor because of the child's soul. Without the soul, Connor would've had no impact on the emotions of Darla.

FahrbotDrusilla

10-30-2005, 09:51 PM

The difference is, Angel's soul is Liams...it belongs to that body...darla was 'borrowing' connors.....thats not even her soul....
what make you think its Liam’s? it says he is the vampire cursed with *a* soul not the vampire cursed with *his* soul... anyway Liam was a jerk, so how does that make him better?

FahrbotDrusilla

10-30-2005, 09:52 PM

Edmund Blackadder

10-30-2005, 10:02 PM

Well, it would've been a little bit of both. Darla was only influenced by Connor because of the child's soul. Without the soul, Connor would've had no impact on the emotions of Darla.
and
It was Darla, because it was her actions. His conscious, maybe, but her actions.

Yes, it was Connors influence, it was Connors soul, had that have been Darla's soul, then would she have made the same decision, i mean the whore who was dying when the master sired her, would SHE have been willing to sacrifice herself for another, when in the first place she chose to be a Vampire, to hell with the consequences.

what make you think its Liam’s? it says he is the vampire cursed with *a* soul not the vampire cursed with *his* soul... anyway Liam was a jerk, so how does that make him better?

No offence but thats one of the silliest things i've heard. Of course it was Liam's soul, its the original inhabitant. Another soul, is another person, there is no single doubt that its Liam that is back in his body, because only one soul is the resident of it. IF it was plausible to have any old soul, then why after Fred's death, did it really dawn on everyone that Fred would never be back......

FahrbotDrusilla

10-30-2005, 10:13 PM

and

Yes, it was Connors influence, it was Connors soul, had that have been Darla's soul, then would she have made the same decision, i mean the whore who was dying when the master sired her, would SHE have been willing to sacrifice herself for another, when in the first place she chose to be a Vampire, to hell with the consequences.

Of course she would have, just because she was a hooker doesn't mean she wouldn't have loved her own child.

No offence but thats one of the silliest things i've heard. Of course it was Liam's soul, its the original inhabitant. Another soul, is another person, there is no single doubt that its Liam that is back in his body, because only one soul is the resident of it. IF it was plausible to have any old soul, then why after Fred's death, did it really dawn on everyone that Fred would never be back......
none taken, but seriously the curse says *a* soul... I was just stating that fact, I don't care either way. (because it doesn't matter)

Edmund Blackadder

10-30-2005, 10:58 PM

Of course she would have, just because she was a hooker doesn't mean she wouldn't have loved her own child.

There is no 'of course' in a situation like this is there. Nothing really is known of Darla's human life, and as she was a whore, its quite safe to assume she had either been impregnated and found a way to terminate or had children.....remember there was no contreception.....so then that could lead to wanting to terminate THIS child. Even if she had never been pregnant, tat still doesnt mean she would necessarily wat to keep the child, how many abortions are carried out everyday by souled people......some people would gladly give there lives for their children, but at the same time, someone who doesnt want a child would abort it instead of themselves.

none taken, but seriously the curse says *a* soul... I was just stating that fact, I don't care either way. (because it doesn't matter)

Actually IF you go back to the original curse, translated in becoming, it says quite clearly, 'Let this Orb be the vessel that will carry his soul to
him' obviously meaning the original inhabitant(soul) being sent back to his body,.....and if it didnt matter, why bother replying to this part at all:heee:

FahrbotDrusilla

10-30-2005, 11:03 PM

There is no 'of course' in a situation like this is there. Nothing really is known of Darla's human life, and as she was a whore, its quite safe to assume she had either been impregnated and found a way to terminate or had children.....remember there was no contreception.....so then that could lead to wanting to terminate THIS child. Even if she had never been pregnant, tat still doesnt mean she would necessarily wat to keep the child, how many abortions are carried out everyday by souled people......some people would gladly give there lives for their children, but at the same time, someone who doesnt want a child would abort it instead of themselves.

By then she had grown to love it. She didn't want to forget she ever loved it, which is why she did what she did.

Edmund Blackadder

10-30-2005, 11:35 PM

By then she had grown to love it. She didn't want to forget she ever loved it, which is why she did what she did.

No, by then the soul of the Connor had made her love it.....we don't know what effect her own soul would have had on the pregnancy....all we have as evidence is the fact the Soul of the Baby with in her, that soul influenced her decision.

MentPatient

10-31-2005, 03:00 AM

If you view it like that nothing Angel ever did is heroic because he had his soul imposed on him as well.I don't view Angel's actions as heroic...what make you think its Liam’s? it says he is the vampire cursed with *a* soul not the vampire cursed with *his* soul... anyway Liam was a jerk, so how does that make him better?They always did refer to the soul that Angel has as "his" soul.

FahrbotDrusilla

10-31-2005, 03:41 AM

I don't view Angel's actions as heroic.... I’m not disagreeing but were there particular things he did that made you think that he wasn‘t that heroic?

They always did refer to the soul that Angel has as "his" soul.
I have a friend who would beat it into you that that is not what they say... I don’t remember, I thought it was "a" especially with the prophecy… :shrug:

PrincessZombie

10-31-2005, 07:10 AM

No, by then the soul of the Connor had made her love it.....we don't know what effect her own soul would have had on the pregnancy....all we have as evidence is the fact the Soul of the Baby with in her, that soul influenced her decision.
It doesn't matter at all how she would have felt with her own soul. The point is, she DID love Connor, it doesn't matter why, and she sacrificed herself for him.

On a side note, sort of off topic, did we ever find out if that was actually Darla in Angel season 4 who talked to Connor?

Edmund Blackadder

10-31-2005, 08:23 AM

It doesn't matter at all how she would have felt with her own soul. The point is, she DID love Connor, it doesn't matter why, and she sacrificed herself for him.

But it really DOES matter.....your soul is who you are, its your personal emotional, spiritual, marl and ethical outlook on life. IF someone elses soul were to take you over, influence you, then you are going by their standards, thus meaning what your body is feeling isnt necessarily what you would feel in a situation....
So we can't know that Darla loved Connor truly, because, well, it wasn't Darla that was in the body, its Connor, who at that moment would have possibly been working on survival instinct(its natural and inate for children to work on that state alone)

StuckinTraffic

10-31-2005, 10:55 AM

But it really DOES matter.....your soul is who you are, its your personal emotional, spiritual, marl and ethical outlook on life. IF someone elses soul were to take you over, influence you, then you are going by their standards, thus meaning what your body is feeling isnt necessarily what you would feel in a situation....
So we can't know that Darla loved Connor truly, because, well, it wasn't Darla that was in the body, its Connor, who at that moment would have possibly been working on survival instinct(its natural and inate for children to work on that state alone)Interesting. I'm not sure that Darla's decision was made on the strength of Connor's survival instinct, tho. I think the mere presence of the soul, itself, led to her sacrifice. Had she possessed Liam's soul, the result would have been the same.

Edmund Blackadder

10-31-2005, 11:16 AM

I dont know, i mean, me being next to someone, doesnt mean i'm going to do what they percieve as right OR wrong, but if they somehow managed to get their influence over me then i would.
In this case, had the soul of Connor not been running on survival, then the outcome may have been different.
You use Liam as an example, well i throw any number of evil people, for instance, Charles Manson. What if a soul along the lines of someone like him had been in Connor.....pure evil, would that have affected the decision.....yes definately.....so again i say, its not a matter of a soul, its A matter of THE soul the moral, ethical, spiritual and emotional beliefs of it. It was that instinct in Connor that made Darla make the decision she did.....

On a side note, sort of off topic, did we ever find out if that was actually Darla in Angel season 4 who talked to Connor?
No but i think it was the First.....that makes sense, but then the PTB's make sense(Did Darla Touch anything, one i can't remember)

StuckinTraffic

10-31-2005, 11:41 AM

Hmmmm, yes, I see what you're saying. :wiggle: Still...may not have been pure survival instinct....what about just being pure and innocent? And what makes you think Charles Manson HAS a soul, even? Probably Liam wasn't the best example, because....let's face...he was no gift to humanity.

Edmund Blackadder

10-31-2005, 11:50 AM

StuckinTraffic

10-31-2005, 01:36 PM

EVERYONE does not have one! That kid in I've Got You Under My Skin didn't! So there! LOL! *sticks out tongue!*

I'm funnin' ya.....but I do see your point, maybe you're right. I don't know...I'll have to think about it more.

Black Eye Guy

10-31-2005, 02:03 PM

I am pretty sure that Angelus gets cursed with Liam’s soul, the soul is who you are in the buffyverse, that’s why when Fred is killed it was not possible to get her soul back, they could have gotten another soul but it would not have been Fred.

And Darla I don’t think you can compare with who she was before she was turned, The way I saw it Connors souls effected Darla, it did not give her her former soul, that’s why it was so much weirder, it was Darla with a soul, not the human Darla feeling sorry for all the things Vampire Darla had done wrong (as with Angel)

Did that make since?

Edmund Blackadder

10-31-2005, 05:23 PM

Darla: "No. No, I haven't been nourishing it. I haven't given this baby a thing. I'm dead. It's been nourishing me. These feelings that I'm having, they're not mine. They're coming from it."

Darla herself seems to think that her feelings are not genuine. What we know of human Darla shows that she loved life and was willing to destroy her soul for eternal life. The only time she accepted death was after the trials, so it really depends on how the pregnancy would have affected an ensouled Darla.
BUT that still doesnt mean she would sacrifice herself, nor does it mean she wouldn't.

PrincessZombie

10-31-2005, 07:55 PM

Because EVERYONE has one, its just everyones is different.....
It's hard to relate the soul-thing to real life, since some people don't actually believe that there are such things as souls.

Edmund Blackadder

10-31-2005, 09:02 PM

just because you dont believe in something doesnt mean it isnt there

MentPatient

11-01-2005, 04:29 AM

I’m not disagreeing but were there particular things he did that made you think that he wasn‘t that heroic?I don't know, I just never really thought he was a hero.I have a friend who would beat it into you that that is not what they say... I don’t remember, I thought it was "a" especially with the prophecy… :shrug:Well, not the propechy, but all the people. They always say that Angel got HIS soul back, etc.

PrincessZombie

11-01-2005, 06:43 AM

just because you dont believe in something doesnt mean it isnt there
No, it doesn't. Souls could exist. But just because you believe in it, doesn't mean it IS there. I'm not trying to start an argument or say your beliefs are wrong, I'm just trying to say that it's hard to make a real-life comparison to something that some people don't believe in.

THE BLUE

11-01-2005, 07:06 AM

I don't know really, I mean is she really popular? The way I see the most popular character is Spike and I really don't know why [on a second thought, I will open a thread in BTVS Season 7 about it] Back to Darla, I probably will always choose Drusilla over Darla and Darla over Cordelia. It is not about being a hero or anything. Darla was, is and always be the best character portrayed in ATS because she has the best story of all. As I have seen or as far as I have seen or read, there is a debate of Darla's death being heroic or not. Why heroic? She was a mother and died in order to let her child to live because that's what a mother does or will do when the time comes. They have an immense protectiveness of their child and they don't even know why it is the way it is. Why not heroic? Just because she was protecting her child because of her mother instincts doesn't reduce the effect of her act. She died to save another life. I don't remember anyone else doing it on ATS other than Darla.

Edmund Blackadder

11-01-2005, 08:00 AM

She died to save another life. I don't remember anyone else doing it on ATS other than Darla.

Doyle............................

THE BLUE

11-01-2005, 05:15 PM

Doyle............................

I remember that Angel was supposed to do the sacrifice, he even made his move but Doyle took charge and made the jump. If you refer Doyle dying to save Angel; that requires a different perspective or analysis; if you refer Doyle dying for the other half-demons [they were half-demons, right?] it requires another reading. Which one?

PrincessZombie

11-01-2005, 05:18 PM

I remember that Angel was supposed to do the sacrifice, he even made his move but Doyle took charge and made the jump. If you refer Doyle dying to save Angel; that requires a different perspective or analysis; if you refer Doyle dying for the other half-demons [they were half-demons, right?] it requires another reading. Which one?
He sacrificed himself for the half-demons AND for Angel.

Edmund Blackadder

11-01-2005, 05:38 PM

You didn't say human life, you said life. But even so, in the scheme of things, Doyles sacrifice, was for everyone in that room. Cordelia was part of that. The device killed anything with Human Blood....not just half-breed demons.
But the point is, Doyle knew that Angel needed to live, he knew that the world was a better place with him in, he forfeitted his life not just for Angel, not for the people in that room, but for everyone else that came after that episode, for all the good demons and Humans that are alive in the Whedon world because of his sacrifice.

So yeah, Doyle sacrificed himself, infact i would argue his sacrifice was more noble and for a greater good then Darla.

FahrbotDrusilla

11-01-2005, 11:37 PM

No, it doesn't. Souls could exist. But just because you believe in it, doesn't mean it IS there. I'm not trying to start an argument or say your beliefs are wrong, I'm just trying to say that it's hard to make a real-life comparison to something that some people don't believe in.yeah that's right, just cause you believe it doesn't make it true.

FahrbotDrusilla

11-01-2005, 11:41 PM

I don't know, I just never really thought he was a hero.Well, not the propechy, but all the people. They always say that Angel got HIS soul back, etc.
On the Vampire with a soul prophecy (http://www.atpobtvs.com/aberjian.html)

Edmund Blackadder

11-02-2005, 05:54 AM

On the Vampire with a soul prophecy (http://www.atpobtvs.com/aberjian.html)

What point are you trying to prove with this?

FahrbotDrusilla

11-02-2005, 11:04 AM

What point are you trying to prove with this?
the "a" thing... no point beyond that.

Edmund Blackadder

11-02-2005, 02:12 PM

But that then doesmnt mean anything, because the Prophecy 'a' soul doesnt mean anything at all...its just translated like that, the Vampire with HIS soul would sound poor.
But EVERY time the people in the show refer to Angel by name as the Vampire with a Soul its his soul....no one elses.

watcher1006

01-11-2006, 12:48 PM

Why is Darla so popular? I don't really know, I don't think it's any one act that she did, I think it's the combination of several things.

I think Julie Benz made the Darla character. It's a simplistic thing to say, but the thing about the casts of Buffy and Angel is that the actors could pull off the tragic and the comic, be villains and be victims, right on top of each other and make it all be cohere. Julie Benz was one of those actors. I was reluctant to dive into Angel for a long time because I wasn't sure I would like what happened to some of the figures from the early Buffy-Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and so on. But I realized finally I had to watch Angel in order to see the whole Darla story, and the whole Faith story for that matter as well. It was really quite a shift to watch her history in "My Boy" and "Darla" and see her go through her brief human existence in the present. I posted on another thread that I wonder if the Buffy creators ever regretted losing her so early (at least in the flesh) in the series.

And JB has a wonderful singing voice! I was startled listening to her sing at Caratos. She could have easily held her own with the Buffy cast in OMWF (and I noted the Angel cast got to show us their voices one season before the whole Buffy cast did so in their Season 6!). Julie Benz is the one Buffy also-ran that I can actually picture as Buffy. It's really hard now to imagine anyone but Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy but for me Julie Benz comes closest, even though she's about five years older than SMG.

Wicked

01-12-2006, 06:07 AM

No one could compare Darlas death with Doyles. Completely different circumstances.

But think back to when Darla was brought back. She was human. She was dying and terrified. But she made the right decision. She wanted to stay human and die rather than be turned back into what she once was. unfortunately Lindsay didnt wanna lose her and forced the chance. but point is, SHE made thae decision to stay human. Attone for what she did as long as she had left.

Surely that means something!

zombie.apparatus

03-27-2006, 06:57 AM

I defintely didn't compare Doyles death to Darla's. I love Darla... she is awesome... I love everything about her... and I love the fact she is different from other vamps... I think how she died was heroic... as was Doyles... but you don't compare different deaths like that, you arent competing to reach a level to become 'heroic' .... I love Darla... I love Doyle... two awesome characters.. .all the way!

Angel's vision

03-28-2006, 09:45 AM

Darla is so i don't care she really appealed to me in season two in terms of her vulnerabilty, plus her sacrifice was so moving...much more then Doyles.Not saying his was less heroic...like charmedslayer said i'm not comparing either just hers touched me more.i liked her character alot.

sizzle-sozzle

03-30-2006, 09:18 AM

ok so im watching season 2 of Angel at the moment and ive jus finished watching the episode called 'my boy' it was a really good episode and i think Darla is a really good character,she is just so funny,even though she is evil she's jus really funny.i think she's the type of character you hate to love... or love to hate,whichever way you wana look at it.i just think she is really funny even though she's evil...well used to be evil but is still trying to be evil.

postmortem

04-12-2006, 03:45 PM

Darla wasn't popular as much as I wanted her to be. Cordelia was more popular than her. Shame. Darla was the best character ever.

Wanabee-slayer

04-13-2006, 12:20 AM

Darla wasn't popular as much as I wanted her to be. Cordelia was more popular than her. Shame. Darla was the best character ever.

Cordy is sorry to say it better then Darla. ALthough neither were the greatest characters ever!

zombie.apparatus

04-13-2006, 12:27 AM

I love Darla.. but Cordy rocks too.. only recently have I started liking characters I thought I never would... but Darla come on.... she is awesome.... so awesome... :D

angeldarla

08-09-2006, 01:45 PM

darla is the best... the things she said to angel at lullaby were.. i dont know how to say! darla and doyles characters are very diff, so this as no point. the two are true heros.

mrcpu

08-17-2006, 02:51 AM

No ? that Darla was a great character. Definitely in my top 5, I just can't have my favorite character be a full-on soulless vamp... Gotta have some standards.

kimbonka

08-17-2006, 03:54 PM

Darla's character is suppose to be a love/hate kind of thing. She's loved because she's clever and witty, and loves what she does. But she's hated because she's the bad guy. Julie Benz did a wonderful job, kudos to her!

roguedemoness

08-18-2006, 08:26 AM

Personally, I can't stand Darla. Her voice irritates me, and when she was in Angel, I kept wishing she'd go away. I do like how she has an interesting relationship with Angel, but sometimes the character gets on my nerves.

kimbonka

08-18-2006, 11:10 AM

I love Darla. Her voice was never annoying to me, I don't tend to look at something as little as someones voice. She was a great character, and a great actress.

roguedemoness

08-18-2006, 04:52 PM

Nothing against the actress! I just didn't care for the character (esp. in Angel...) she just got on my nerves. Lots of people hate Dawn for the same reason (I've heard that she has a whiny voice, etc). Personally, I understand Dawn more than Darla. It all comes down to personal preference, I think.

kimbonka

08-18-2006, 08:41 PM

Yeah, I guess. I don't think people understand the type of character Darla is. They see her as the bad guy and thats that. Theres more to Darla then meets the eye.

roguedemoness

08-19-2006, 06:07 AM

Well, I guess I missed some of that. Maybe you are right-prehaps I need to re-watch some eps, see if I like her more.

Xin Rong

09-07-2006, 12:37 PM

I have never really got the impression that darla was unliked, in fact I generally get the complete opposite impression

RockManic

09-09-2006, 05:50 AM

I second that bum comment and add that her entire body is pretty much perfect. Definately one of the sexiest women on the show, I reckon. ;)

Apart from that though I really did love her character. For somebody who died in the seventh episode of Buffy she definately went on to have one of the best developed storylines of all the cast.

TabulaRasa

09-09-2006, 09:46 PM

alexa

02-15-2007, 07:59 PM

I liked both. I felt bad for Julie when she said on the Angel disc that fans hated her until she killed herself for connor...but I thought she was great. Mean baddie, but that was great for both shows.

Well I have to say that I didn't like her at the time, because she sort of seemed like a Buffy stand in.. if that's the right word. But now I really appreciate her character, both good and evil Darla and I love her contribution to the vamp gang (Angelus/Spike/Darla/Dru).

Edmund Blackadder

02-15-2007, 11:12 PM

I love her contribution to the vamp gang (Angelus/Spike/Darla/Dru).

Glad you pointed out who the 'vamp gang' was because I, along with others here i'm sure, would have had trouble working THAT one out;)

LOL, i'm teasing.

I didn't much like her in Season 1 Buffy but from season 1 Angel they created one of the greatest Whedonverse characters.

Little Bit_tc

02-17-2007, 10:56 AM

If fans didn't really like Darla, I would say because she came between Buffy and Angel when she was on Buffy, and then when she was on Angel, she tried so hard to get him to turn back into Angelus. Now, I personally love Darla because I love the evil vamp characters (like Angelus and Drusilla) but I also loved her layers. When she human on Angel, I felt so bad for her because she never asked for any of it, just like Angel. They had a lot in common.

Now, I never liked Dawn. I wouldn't even put Dawn and Darla in the same category. I just thought Dawn's character was, well, not pointless, but not really needed, all though she did cause Buffy to grow up considerably. I just found her, like someone mentioned, whiney and annoying. Oh well. Just me :)

Luciferian

03-01-2007, 02:38 PM

i loved darla. i thought she was a great addition to season 3. i didnt know much about her when i saw here in buffy so i didnt care too much, but when i started watching her in angel i started to like her ^_^

asukafan

03-06-2007, 06:44 PM

Me too! i remember watching the first season of buffy and not being impressed by her, but when she showed up in Angel she kicked ass! Julie Benz is awesome, and i love her voice.

Randy Giles

03-13-2007, 09:56 PM

I thought Darla was excellent, she was always great. I love her in season two when she and Dru go on their killing spree and when she's a human and Angel is trying to get her to redeem herself...and then I loved her most of all when her ghost appears to Connor and that thankless little twerp blows her off. She shoulda killed him in the womb.

JCC

03-15-2007, 12:04 PM

I always liked Darla.

In Buffy, in Angel.

I mean, in Buffy, there wasn't enough of her to make an opinion really, but when she got the two semi-automatics out and started shooting at Buffy, I just thought "Now that is pretty frikkin badass".

Immortal_Slayer

03-17-2007, 09:56 AM

I think Darla is great because you get to see her with a soul and having feelings for her child and killing herself so she wouldn't hurt the baby afterwards plus she's an awsome bad girl ;)

MarsGirl

03-17-2007, 06:30 PM

I love Darla's character because you get to see so much development in her over the seasons. I also liked how she was first introduced in "Welcome to the Hellmouth," where she just appears to be an innocent blond girl and then ends up being a vamp (sort of like Buffy, minus the vampyness, heh).

fivebyfiveanyanka

07-15-2007, 06:39 AM

I'll admit when I first saw Darla in the first episode, I was intrigued by her, but that curiousity just grew as her character developed, and she's one reason why I loved AtVS so much. Darla and Drusilla are two of the most interesting characters in either show IMO. I think Darla did the right thing by sacrificing herself, just seemed to make sense with where she was at the time, even though I wish she didn't die....

shanshuprophecy

07-30-2007, 03:02 AM

Personally I always loved Darla ....

I think she is just so dynamic !!

In fact all of Joss's evil girls (Darla, Lila, Dru) are just sooo exciting (as are the boys but i think that's taken as a given)

As for whether or not she was 'heroic' in killing herself, I think she did an heroic thing, but she was a long way from being a hero ... BUT - she set herself on the path of redemption in staking herself and in doing so aligned herself with the good guys on Angel coz if Angel is about anything, it's about redemption

codyw1

09-04-2007, 08:44 PM

I don't mind her in the flashbacks and the first season of Buffy, but when she came back from the dead in Angel I found her rather tiresome. Not my favourite character or storyline, sorry!

;)

palabravampiress

11-22-2007, 03:16 PM

Was she popular? How are we measuring popularity, here?

I liked her. And it had nothing to do with any one action. I don't care to compare her death to Doyle's or anything like that. What I like about Darla is that she was sort of the mother of most of the big, important, not-just-one-shot metaphoric evil that the characters faced. She was the Eve of evil - and also kind of the Buffy of evil, too. She had a purpose. She had a side. Nothing - not even death - could stop her. She was strong, mature, and cynical. Good and Evil combined in Darla to create Connor. It was neat on all kinds of levels. I don't want to write an essay right now. But just think about how Darla works on that whole metaphoric level.

The best part, though, is that she works as a very real and visceral person, too. It's easy to forget that she's a walking talking metaphor because she's also so easy to relate to as an individual. She's the jaded first wife married for lust and hijinks and then thrown over for a younger, purer, more suitable model. We see that in her quite clearly. Her jealousy. Her anger. Her confusion. Most of all, we see her determination. Darla was a hard-edged scrapper who's always got another fight left in her and didn't have time for remorse. It was fascinating to watch. It made her end - sacrificing herself for Connor - that much more fascinating. It reminded us that life still has surprises, even for the most jaded and hopeless among us.

GATEGOD

11-24-2007, 04:07 PM

I just watched epiphany and Darla's / Angel's scenes after they 'did it' where so cute.

Darla: "And you... And I..."

Angel: "3 times." :lmao:

-
Darla: "Not only have I been around for 400 years but i used to do this professionally."

I like Darla because she was 'AMAZING' in Angel... not so much in Buffy.

Her and Dru eating up all those people at the party... I have no idea what episode this is but i still remember it!!! :lmao:

Keanoite

11-24-2007, 04:24 PM

Darla was just fun! I can't describe her any other way...she was fantastic to watch

benboy606

12-03-2007, 05:50 PM

I liked Darla cause she was just a great villain. A great face from Angel's past, but I also love how she changed. I love how she loved Lindsey and how she changed him, and I loved how she finally wanted to live at the exact moment when she was sired and became an evil vampire again! :) And, I loved her with Conner and how being with Conner made her a better vampire.

I think her death was totally heroic! She sacrificed herself for her son! How so? She put a stake in her heart to save her child and make sure he was born. If she didn't, he wouldn't have been born. She sacrificed herself for him.

GATEGOD

12-03-2007, 06:06 PM

benboy606

12-03-2007, 06:08 PM

I just saw the episode "Darla" haha it was great told us alot more about her which is always a plus back story is great the way they do it in Angel.
Just one question though... How old is the master, he is so old that he no longer has a human face... and gives Angelus/Darla's relationship only a !!LOL!! 'century' which is A LONG TIME
In Buffy she kills him :/ though sad that a vampire that old is killed it would seem impossible ......

I think he was around when REAL vampires roamed the earth, what The Mayor in Buffy S3 was talking about. And, then, he had to take this form. I think that's where he was, or it may just me a guess from me lol.

GATEGOD

12-03-2007, 06:12 PM

I think he was around when REAL vampires roamed the earth, what The Mayor in Buffy S3 was talking about. And, then, he had to take this form. I think that's where he was, or it may just me a guess from me lol.

Woah living that long and little Buffy kills him ... seems so eh... lol
Just like Buffy made Spike and Angel love her while Dru and Darla couldn't make them love them >.<

hahaha funny though

benboy606

12-03-2007, 06:14 PM

Woah living that long and little Buffy kills him ... seems so eh... lol
Just like Buffy made Spike and Angel love her while Dru and Darla couldn't make them love them >.<

hahaha funny though

lol well, it's Buffy. She has to win. But, you saw, it took a pretty damn big stake to kill The Master.

GATEGOD

12-03-2007, 06:33 PM

palabravampiress

12-03-2007, 06:46 PM

I never new Darla was 400 years old wow... is she really :O

Edit:

Oh and In 'Darla' the episode, I also love the point of view we see when Spike tells them he bagged a slayer, compared to the point of view of spike when he was telling Buffy in BTVS!

Yeah, "Fool for Love" and "Darla" offers up an amazing exercise in POV. The same words, actions, and circumstances take on completely different meanings when viewed from a different POV.

GATEGOD

12-03-2007, 07:31 PM

awww i just saw Angel go through all the trials so save her, pass them all and not be able to help her still :( it was so sad he lost it :(

Jaded Wolf

01-22-2008, 03:51 PM

I don't think her death heroic. I find it tragic because Darla knew that the only reason she had feelings of love and concern for the child was because the child had a soul. Because of that connection between a mother and the unborn child, Darla was feeling the burden of having a soul. Darla knew that once the child was born she would no longer have a conscience and there would be no love for the child (at least that is what she feared). Therefore, Darla wanted to die.

In my opinion, this is a tragic death because of the circumstances of Darla's character and being a vampire. It can also be viewed as selfish because Darla ultimately was afraid of taking that chance and seeing if perhaps she could make the conscience effort to not kill her kid.

Darla to me is a likeable character because of the flamboyant nature she possesses. There is a sense of old world class with her because she came from the regal times and she carried that over to the modern world.

LittleMissLikesToFight

03-29-2008, 02:55 PM

Personally, i never understood Darla being popular too. I didn't like her in Buffy, and i didn't like her in Angel. I didn't find her all that menacing as a vampire...a little twisted, sure, but i found Angelus, Spike and Dru to be far scarier... and i always felt like Darla almost didn't fit with them as well.

Overall, i guess i was rather disinterested with her character and never felt the connection between her and Angel i was supposed to feel... maybe because i feel it wasn't fleshed out enough in Buffy, so when she was on Angel i kind of shrugged my shoulders to the whole storyline.

scarybunny97

04-19-2008, 03:26 PM

Well, her role in Buffy S1 was pretty basic and obviously when Team!Joss first wrote her, that's all she was supposed to be. They had no idea then that Boreaneaz would grow to be a popular enough character to carry his own series and that the character of Darla would then become important to fleshing out his backstory for an audience that may or may not have been fans of Buffy.

I feel that on "Angel" Darla really became impressive as a character--in fact, just today I had a thought that I'd love some feedback on: I've been considering the thought of Darla as the vampire version of Buffy. Now, I know there was that one nightmare ep. of Buffy in S1 where she *is* a vampire and she's nothing like Darla at all--but that whole thing was an illusion, so Buffy never actually lost her soul the way a real vampire would. So I started watching Darla in S2 and S3 of Angel, and it occurred to me . . . Darla follows her impulses/heart (which is a trait that Giles both chides and admires in Buffy), Darla is powerful, determined, but also possesses a great sense of fun (albeit an evil one). Darla the vampire threw herself into any challenge with confidence . . . take away the "evil" part and, well . . . you've kinda got Buffy, no?

I think fans loved Darla because of how well the actress played the plot she was given. Brought back as human, wanting to understand who she is/was, not even able to remember her original human name . . . then to truly connect with Angel, perhaps for the first time in their history, as he struggles to save her human life. Benz played out that storyline with a perfect, quiet sadness that impresses me every time I watch those episodes. And her story in S3 is even better. The idea that she and her old killing partner created a soul together is huge. Angel may have failed to save Darla's human life, but he did unwittingly give her a soul via the baby. The shared story of Darla and Angel is very poignant to me. And I think Darla's self-sacrifice is one of the all time great death scenes in TV history. I think the metaphors associated with Darla's plot are so vivid, and go to such a deep place in human experience (quest for self, birth, motherhood, survival) . . . that plus Benz's wonderful portrayal are what I think make Darla so popular as a character.

littlewilly

07-04-2008, 11:30 AM

Lindsey McDonald

07-04-2008, 06:19 PM

I wouldnt say 'souls' are individual personalities, just essential goodness and conscience.
Angel and Connors souls are pretty much the same, its the human personality gained through
life experiences that make people different, and souls can be corrupted, thats why Liam can have a soul and be a jerk.
But on the original question, imo, Darla as an individual wasnt that great(hot, but not great) it was more the storyline she was caught up in.
People like Spike and Willow etc, for the characters they are, but people like Darla, Jasmine and Glory i think are popular for their contribution to the overall storyline rather than their personality.

I dissagree with that, actually. Darla's story arc in season 2 was pretty tame in comparison with a lot of others, and I still loved her. It was the interplay between the vampires and their twisted family tree that was interesting. The character interaction was brilliant, and Julie Benz played a very different kind of vampire. She wasn't frightening because she wasn'y meant to be. Angelus was the twisted one, Spike was a monster, Drusilla was completely crazy, and Darla was the mother figure. She watched in the background and got more pleasure from Angelus' kills than her own. She was a much more quiet evil.

The real reason I loved Darla though was because every time there was a big reveal regarding her, the camera would zoom in, she would do that eyebrow thing, and say something like "Hello....Angelus". You can almost hear the *DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!*. And it was never cheesy! I don't know how Julie Benz pulled that off, but it was amazing!

Fake Shemp

07-07-2008, 05:09 PM

i didnt like the buffy version of her much until she turned up in a box in angel, then i appreciated her more in buffy after watching her in angel.... and nope it wasnt cheesy it was really funny....

best news about the saw series i heard was when i read she is in Saw V

Yam Sham

07-07-2008, 05:21 PM

I thought this said "Daria" instead of "Darla", and I was about to go on a rant about how it was pretty much the best cartoon ever made. Ha.
But I don't really understand it, either; I've never really hated her or anything, but I've never loved her. She was just kind of there for me. Though her plot in Angel did get annoying, and as horrible as it sounds, I was thrilled when she was killed off.
But I think she was pretty crucial to the plot overall, so I can't blame the writers for having her stick around for a while. Not that I was exactly a fan of the Connor plot (he was a cute baby, but after he came back from the hell dimension, just...UGH!), but it was pretty important in the end and helped Angel learn a lesson. And when he made Connor forget about him, it showed how truly unselfish Angel is.

Fake Shemp

07-07-2008, 05:36 PM

connor eghness indeed..... always grated my cheese that we gave up Darla for Connor, terrible trade off imo

lemst6

07-10-2008, 10:53 AM

I personally really like how Darla's character grows in Season's 2 and 3 of Angel, what I don't like about Darla is that in the first few episodes of Buffy, Joss portrayed her as a follower but after watching the seasons of Angel with her in them, you get the sense that Darla is a very independent vampire. I guess the thing I don't like is the inaccuracies with her character between Buffy and Angel, I understand that at first Darla was just meant to be a small role on a few episodes of Buffy, and I also understand that her character from those few episodes wouldn't have been strong enough to have a reoccurring role in Angel.

littlewilly

07-10-2008, 11:04 AM

Darla was only portrayed as a follower because she was in a gang with the Master(her sire) and Luke.
Not many vampires would stand up to them. But she didnt have any fear of Angel(in Angel the episode), so i dont think she seemed weak or just a follower.

lemst6

07-10-2008, 11:22 AM

LorneyTunes

07-10-2008, 11:30 AM

Darla is great , without her Angel wouldn't be here and then there would be no vampire family. Plus shes a great character in the first season of Buffy even if shes only in it for a while . Come on vampire with guns how cool is that x

Lindsey McDonald

07-10-2008, 02:38 PM

Maybe it's just how I portrayed it, however, I thought that the Master and Luke treated her as though she was a meek vampire who made mistakes, and she seemed scared of both of them, however in flashbacks in Angel particularly the one in "Darla" she is very independent, even when it comes to the Master, and it seems as though in that flashback the Master respects her, I didn't see that same respect in Season 1 of Buffy, but that's just my opinion.

Well, you have to remember that the last time she saw the Master before Angel was re-ensouled, she basically threw everything he had done for her in his face. She was bound to be a little less high in the rankings when she went back to him. I still think you can tell she's very independant in Buffy though; she directly goes against the Master's orders by drinking some of his happy meal. Anyone else who makes the smallest mistake loses an eye.

I think it was more seeing things from a different perspective. Darla is Angel's sire, therefore around him she has to seem in control. The Master, however, is her sire, ergo the more childish role she takes on.