"Fool for Love" was a brilliant, BRILLIANT episode. It had Spike backstory! And some seriously awesome editing. AND DRUSILLA. ♥ (Also, Juliet Landau = luckiest woman in the entire world, y/y?)

It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that the floppy-haired, bespectacled poet was actually Spike. I mean, the hair, and the accent, and the well, entire personality. His scenes with Cecily made my heart all achy, because while that one dude is reading his poem? William looks toward Cecily with this hopeful little smile, but then she runs away, and it falls. And then he goes and tries to comfort her, and she brushes him off, and OH MY HEART. Also, Cecily's dress was more ridiculous than any of Darla's weird-ass hats.

BUT THEN, William runs outside all teary and tearing up his poems, and he collides with a man, and I immediately know it's the Fanged Four (Minus One) because of Angel's caveman hair, though Dru's curls and Darla's hat serve as additional confirmation. AND THEN DRU AND WILLIAM MEET, AND DRU IS ALL CRAZY MYSTERY WOMAN, AND I FLAIL AROUND LIKE A HEADLESS CHICKEN.

Blah blah what's a Slayer blah blah, SCENE OF SEX AND BRIGHT RED LIGHTING AND PERFECTION. I was practically drooling the first time I saw that scene. By the fourth or fifth, I'd recovered from my impromptu brain-melting enough to wonder about the practicality of having sex in a burning room, but the fire made everything just look prettier, so I couldn't bring myself to care very much. And just when I persuaded myself that the episode just couldn't get any more awesome, they cut to Spike and Dru being all post-coital giddy in the streets. OH SHOW.

I also adored the editing of Spike's fight with Nikki Wood and Spike's fight with Buffy. The scene at the end where Buffy throws the money at Spike's face and goes, "You're beneath me", and Spike just starts crying, had me IN TEARS. It's just difficult to see Spike so vulnerable. Thing is though, Spike/Buffy makes even LESS SENSE than it did before. Buffy's made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with him, and there's a very clear parallel to Cecily. I still don't get why Spike didn't just shoot her in the end and go back to Dru go on his merry way.

I found Lindsey's desire to get into Darla's pants immensely hilarious, especially seeing as Darla doesn't seem to care about him half as much as he cares about her. Seeing as this was my first ever episode of Angel, I was kind of confused, but what really drew me to the episode, besides the flashbacks of awesome, was Angel's intense reaction to Darla. I ADORED the scene where Darla calls Angel, and he hears her heartbeat on the other end (never mind the fact that I'm pretty sure no phone is going to pick it up, whatever).

The 'seeing scenes from different perspectives' thing has always been one of my favorite methods of storytelling, so I was delighted by the reverse on the Fanged Four (Minus One) collides into William scene. Because Dru dreams about her knight, and then Will bumps into them, and Angel and Darla laugh, but Dru doesn't because she knows, and OH MY GOD I DO NOT CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS: LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

My other favorite flashback moment was the campfire scene, just because it shows what a FAMILY the Fanged Four are. I mean, Darla's trying to get rid of Angelus' new soul, and then Dru walks up wondering about him, and Darla's tone immediately shifts into that motherly, 'don't you worry, dear' one, and it's just so perfect. ♥