The romance between Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Angel (David Boreanaz) is one of the longest arcs in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the show would have been completely different if Angel hadn’t been resurrected in season 3. Buffy first met Angel in season 1, where his enigmatic presence slowly turned into a doomed love story between the slayer and a creature she was supposed to hunt. But after Angel’s soul was stripped from him in season 2, Buffy was forced to kill him in the season finale, believing she had doomed him to hell at least until the character was brought back at the beginning of season 3.
While much of season 3 involved establishing Buffy‘s multiverse of madness, Angel’s resurrection caused large ripple effects across various character arcs and subplots, both in season 3 and in the seasons after. Most significantly, Angel’s return also resurrected the pair’s romantic subplot. This altered Buffy’s internal journey and impacted her relationship with the new slayer, Faith (Eliza Dushku). Angel’s rebirth also influenced Buffy’s response to tragedy in later seasons. Arguably, it could even have affected her future friendships and romantic relationships, including with Spike and evil Willow.
Grief & Guilt Would Have Been A Stronger Theme
By Buffy season 2, Buffy had already faced many trials and tribulations. None, however, were as deeply personal as the death of Angel. Although she had already died and been resurrected herself, Angel becoming evil Angelus, and his subsequent death, was more traumatic than anything Buffy had experienced previously. This is especially true since it was a loss forced upon her, not chosen like her decision to face the Master (Mark Metcalf) in season 1.
Her grief and guilt over his loss drove a wedge between her and the rest of her friends and was a major emotional beat in the first few episodes of season 3. Angel’s resurrection suddenly pivoted this emotional journey. If Angel had remained dead, Buffy would have had to face the long-term pain of permanent loss earlier in the show, maybe even changing how she shouldered the blow of her mother’s passing when Joyce was killed off in season 5. Instead, Angel’s resurrection changed Buffy’s journey of confronting her own mortality into grappling with grief for a loved one.
Buffy & Faith’s Story Would Have Been More Tragic
Buffy’s conflict with Faith was narratively positioned alongside Angel’s return in season 3, giving the show less time to devote to developing Buffy and Faith as two sides of the same coin. Instead, Angel was used as a pawn between the two slayers, which detracted from how Buffy could have turned to Faith as a kindred spirit in her grief. Because Buffy had Angel returned to her, she didn’t need to become as close to Faith, who quickly developed a crush on Angel herself. The friction created by Angel’s return cut short the Faith and Buffy team-up of powerful vampire slayers.
This made Faith’s eventual betrayal of Buffy for Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener) potentially less impactful. If Buffy had been closer to Faith without the complication of Angel’s return, their relationship in season 3 would have been more intimate than just a difference in personality. If Faith were the only powerful friend that Buffy could rely on in Angel’s absence, Faith’s betrayal would have been a more devastating tragedy.
The Battle With The Mayor Would Have Been Even Worse
While Angel’s resurrection limited some potential emotional beats involving Faith. However, his presence positively affected many other plot points. Without Angel’s strength and knowledge at hand, the final battle in season 3, episode 22, “Graduation Day Part 2,” would have been much worse for the students of Sunnydale High.
Angel led and was the strongest member of the second wave of resistance against Mayor Wilkins in one of Angel’s best Buffy the Vampire Slayer moments. He was key in ensuring that the students could counterattack against the wave of vampires hemming them in with the ascended villain. Without him, the casualties of the students would have been much worse, as multiple shots show Angel ruthlessly taking down any vampire that approached him.
Buffy & Spike’s Relationship Might Have Been Softened
Beyond Angel’s impact in season 3 itself, his death would have had longstanding consequences for Buffy‘s romances. After Angel, Buffy’s next serious romance was in season 4 with a human, Riley, before she began a romance with the vampire Spike (James Marsters). On its own terms, Buffy’s relationship was complex, given Spike’s former status as a villain before transitioning to a reluctant, dangerous ally.
If Angel had remained dead, Spike and Buffy’s possibly toxic relationship would have taken on a whole new dimension. If Angel had not been resurrected, Spike would have been an uncanny mirror of Buffy’s first love, a fact she couldn’t have failed to miss as they grew closer. Additionally, the two would have had a measure of common ground since, between Angel and Drusilla, both Buffy and Spike would have lost vampiric loves, leaving them with an understanding of each other’s particular loss. This might have made their relationship more empathetic and softer from the beginning.
Buffy Would Have Been Able To Save Evil Willow
If Angel had stayed dead, Buffy might also have been able to better approach Willow (Alyson Hannigan) when she turned evil in season 6. By then, Buffy had shouldered the blow of losing her mother and her own life twice. However, she had not lost a significant other as important to her as Tara (Amber Benson) was to Willow as part of Buffy‘s important LGBTQ+ representation.
If she had already had to bear Angel’s death, Buffy might have been able to better understand Willow’s grief and rage. Buffy could have stood alongside Xander with his unconditional love and empathy for their friend instead of just trying to battle the supernatural aspect of Willow’s actions. Angel’s resurrection spared Buffy from facing that kind of loss, leaving her less able to connect with Willow in her darkest hour.
Why Joss Whedon Brought Angel Back
There are several reasons why Buffy‘s creator, Joss Whedon, chose to resurrect Angel. Among them, he likely decided that Angel’s potential as a character outweighed the emotional gravitas of his death. Furthermore, Whedon may have decided that Buffy’s character development was better served by returning Angel to the fold as he catalyzed a variety of conflicts. Faith’s betrayal might not have stung as deeply as if Angel had not returned, but the love triangle between them was compelling and made Faith’s redeeming transformation emotionally satisfying.
More cynically, Angel could have been brought back for another season, not because of his or Buffy’s potential, but because he was a fan favorite, and the studio wanted to create a spinoff show for him. The decision to return Angel heavily impacted the show’s trajectory from that point, whether it was done for narrative or financial reasons. Ultimately, although Angel’s revival made for a different show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer still had the emotion and action to capture a generation.
