Angel #1.3: In The Dark
“In The Dark” was the first real crossover episode between Angel and Buffy. In the Buffy episode, Spike tears up Sunnydale trying to find a ring that makes vampires unkillable. At the end, Buffy sends the ring to Angel via Oz. So in Angel, Oz shows up and gives the ring to Angel. And then Spike shows up right behind and tries to get it. (Also it was framed around Angel helping another blonde girl–3 for 3 so far!) This was an extremely dark episode, what with Spike around, being bad-ass and all. And for a big part of it, Angel was being severely tortured. And Angel told Cordelia and Doyle to go hide, it was too dangerous, so he had to fight Spike alone. So the whole thing was of a loner taking on bad guys by himself.
In the end, Angel saved the ring from Spike (and the creepy pedophile torturer vampire). He then destroyed it. He did not want the ability to go in the light. This was an interesting choice, but really in these 3 episodes it is clear that Angel likes to stay in the dark. Not sure how to take his decision to destroy the ring–noble, I guess? His little speech at the end made it sound like there’s more trouble he can protect at night. But I don’t think that can be, or is, the whole reasoning. He doesn’t feel like he deserves the light, and is always wary of what he might do. 200 years of lurking has certainly made him comfortable in the shadows, but the scenes he had in the light/sunset before destroying the ring showed that he did enjoy it and that it was a big sacrifice on his part. I think he just knew it he is always close to Angelus. Being invincible would probably make it even easier to push him back over to the evil side.
Unfortunately, I never got a real full sense that this debate was being played out–only in reminiscence on thinking about it here. Whether the writers intended it to be subtle, I don’t know, but I hope they continue to explore the border of Angel and Angelus.