Angel is referred to as a ‘puppy’ on a couple of occasions. In The Wish, vampire Willow keeps Angel locked in a cage as her plaything, and refers to him as “Puppy”. In The Harsh Light of Day, when Parker asks Buffy about the scars on her neck, she replies that they they were caused by an “angry puppy”. They were actually from when Angel bit her in Graduation Day (Part 2).
Puppies are a recurring theme with Angel - in Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, Giles tells Buffy that one Valentine’s Day, Angel nailed a puppy to something (we don’t find out as Buffy stops him before he can finish). In Orpheus, we see that Angel saved a puppy from being killed in early 1920s Chicago.
August 5th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
Buffy refers to Angel as an angry puppy but tells Dawn that Riley isn’t well enough to patrol in season 5 and describes him as being “weak and kitteney” (sp?!)I’ve always thought that puppies were cuter than kittens —maybe Buffy thought the same and started to realise that she didn’t care for Riley as much as she did for Angel!!
August 5th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Haha, yes indeed. Angel was a puppy, Riley was a kitten, and Spike was…em…a ferrett.
August 5th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
In the Angel episode “Orpheus” 4.15, ensouled Angel saves a puppy from being hit by a car.
August 6th, 2005 at 5:02 pm
Also in the Angel episode “Into the Dark” 1.03, Spike mocks Angel: “I’m just a big fluffy puppy with bad teeth.”
August 6th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
On Angel being a puppy, Riley a kitten/cat: in “Fool for Love”, Xander says: “You know what he’s like? He’s like a cat. You know, a big jungle cat. How come I’m not like that? It’s just so cool.”
August 6th, 2005 at 7:42 pm
Scary how it’s all coming together! Not related to Angel, but I love Xander’s “cancer of the puppy” line in The Freshman.
August 15th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
It’s a little related, since Buffy is also missing Angel a lot in that scene, as evidenced by that she thinks she sees him there just before Xander shows up.
August 15th, 2005 at 11:43 pm
Maybe it has something to do with puppies are very dependsnt, adn want to be with you all teh time. Kittens are independant, and do what they want
August 22nd, 2005 at 10:06 am
holy s**t you all are friggen geniouses
October 24th, 2005 at 1:02 am
Also, in Enemies, Faith refers to Angel as a puppy, when she talking about how her drunk mom would never let her have a puppy.
December 30th, 2005 at 4:52 pm
Also, Willow says in Triangle “…like trying to hit a puppy by throwing a live bee at it… which is a weird image and you should all just forget it”
I think the Buffy writers like puppies.
January 13th, 2006 at 6:00 am
In ‘Passion’, after Angelus kills her fish, Willow says “For the first time, I’m glad my parents didn’t let me have a puppy.” Maybe that’s why vampWill calls Angel ‘puppy.’
She always wanted one, and Angel would likely have killed it.
February 6th, 2006 at 7:39 am
Yeah, but in the alternate wish reality with Vampire Willow and Vampire Xander, Angel never went evil after he was ensouled because he turned evil from sleeping with Buffy and he had never met Buffy in that reality, let alone had sex with her. God, if there was ever a run on sentence…
February 6th, 2006 at 10:09 am
That’s a good point, about Angel not having met Buffy in the alternate universe of the Wish. But then how did it come to be that he was trying to work for the side of good, since I thought Buffy was his complete inspiration for coming out of the dank alley ways and feeding on rats?
February 6th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
3 years later? I’m a little confused. She was in high school in the movie, I guess she had to be a freshman and then she’s in sunnydale as a sophamore. I watched the movie yesterday, first time since it came out. There is so much conflicting mythology etc… between the movie and the series I guess the only thing we can take from the movie is, buffy was in LA, was called. Sometime between the movie and the tv series, she burnt down the gym and was kicked out of school?? i’m confused
February 6th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
onliman, that’s what I’m saying about the wish. Why was Angel in Sunnydale if (due to Cordelia’s Wish) Buffy had never moved to Sunnydale? That was my point, there seems to be a whole in continuity leading to the alternate universe of The Wish.
And Beags, don’t take the movie seriously, Joss left mid-production because it was straying so very far away from his original intentions and vision. In fact, he did not want Marti Noxon to see it because he did not want her to think that was what he was expecting from the writing. So, I guess you’re right, just take the facts that she was in LA, she was called there and met her first watcher and got kicked out of school.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:09 am
Yes, the movie is whack. But, it was neat to watch and try to picture the kristy s. character as buffy. A couple times I could almost feel it.
Also, it made me appreciate dusting sooo much. I never realized what a beautiful/brilliant idea that was til I watched the movie again.
One possible excuse for Angel in The Wish is: With the master gaining absolute power he could afford the resources to track down Angel just for the amusement. They did have a history and the master was hurt by Angels turn to the good side.
February 7th, 2006 at 1:27 am
If I may jump in here, The Wish takes place in season 3, when Buffy is a senior, which is 3 years after her time in L.A. The episode takes them to an alternate universe, not back in time. Angel would have seen her for the first time right before she was called, during her freshman year.
Also, has anyone else read any of the related comic books? Many of the comics are written by Buffy writers like Jane Espensen or Joss himself. They tend to fill in the holes a little bit. There’s one comic (sorry, I can’t remember the name of it now, but I can find out if anyone is interested) that fills in the time between L.A. and Sunnydale. During that time, Giles is interviewing for the librarian job and getting ready in Sunnydale even while Joyce and Buffy are pulling names out of a hat to decide where to begin a new life. It implies that Angel could have come to Sunnydale before Buffy in anticipation of her arrival there, but then she never showed up. Does that make sense?
Also, I never noticed the puppy/kitten Angel/Riley thing before. This show is so deep you could study it forever and learn something new every day.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:06 am
oh, three years…. i see what you meant now.
February 8th, 2006 at 8:20 am
That’s exactly what I meant, Sunnydalehigh. :-) What you said makes perfect sense. Angel went to Sunnydale to prepare for Buffy’s arrival because that was where she was supposed to go. However, due to Cordelia’s wish, she was made to go to another town instead.
This means Angel is already committed to fighting the good fight. I’m sure a part of him continued to wait for Buffy, but when he realized she wasn’t going to get there in time, he tried to stop the Master himself. Thus, he got captured and kept alive as punishment.
February 8th, 2006 at 8:45 am
Eureka! (”He really says ‘eureka?’”)