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Angel: Parting Gifts
(S01E10) Angel: Wesley.
Wesley: I'll wager you never thought you'd see me again.
Angel: To tell you the truth, I hadn't given it much thought one way or the other.
Hello, and welcome to Angel, Season 1A. You're probably scratching your heads at this categorization, since you're pretty sure that the first season of Angel wasn't broken up into two separate pieces. Well, actually, if you think about it, it really was two separate seasons.
Season one (the first nine episodes) set up the environment where Angel took place. We saw the beginning of some threads that would be carried throughout the series (The Powers That Be, Wolfram & Hart), but they were very subtle. With Doyle being the one who had the visions, and Cordelia trying to find her purpose in life, it seemed like a very different show. With the tenth episode, however, the dynamic of the show changed dramatically and set the stage for many events that would continue to the very end of the series. Hence, the reason that Season 1A begins with this episode.
Three factors contributed to the shift in focus. The first was Angel himself. During the first episodes he was just your normal vampire with a soul who was trying to do some good in this world to pay for the sins that he had committed in the past. In the past two episodes he began to realize (with a little help from Doyle) that his purpose in life was a bit grander than he thought. After directly confronting the Oracles this episode he realized that he could no longer work alone and he would need all of the help he could get to avoid the planet from being absorbed by an unimaginable evil.
The second factor was Cordelia. The kiss that Doyle planted on her at the end of the last episode wasn't just to say good-bye. He actually gave her the gift (or curse, depending on your belief) of the visions. Two things happened when she realized what he had given her. First, the maturity that had been brewing for several episodes finally surfaced. Second, she was no longer just the office manager, but someone who was now in danger equally as much as her boss. That was clearly seen this episode when she became an item on the auction block because of her visions. This would be a recurring theme throughout the rest of the series.
The third factor: Wesley. While a secondary player on Buffy the Vampire Slayer during that show's third season, he became a major player in the show. And, while shown as a bit clumsy this episode, he showed talents for research and demon languages that Doyle never exhibited. His knowledge would lead Angel into the larger role of 'world saver' as the season and series progressed.
So that's my argument, folks. While the first episodes of Angel where sad, funny, and majestic they also stood on their own in the history of the series. Starting with this episode we saw the birth of the Angel (as well as Angel Investigations) that would eventually help save more that just the population of Los Angeles.
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