The Bachelor Party

[PuckRobin]

The Bachelor Party
Written by Tracey Stern

This is an interesting first season episode. Of course it lays the groundwork for the big upcoming "crossover magic" between Buffy and Angel. Doyle sees a photo of Buffy at the beginning, and then a vision of Buffy at the end. The vision sets up Angel's visit to Sunnydale for the next week. But there's another link to the Sunnydale gang. When considering the romantic prospect of Doyle, Cordy remarks "I swore when I went that road with Xander Harris, I'd rather be dead then date a fixer-upper again."

We get some world-building -- how Angel's LA is very different then Sunnydale. Here's a demon clan running restaurants -- a group of supposedly assimilationist immigrants. Doyle's ex-wife Harry is an ethno-demonologist -- not a member of some secret society of Watchers, but what sounds like what you could study at UCLA. We find monsters who are not necessarily a threat -- just different. Of course, any positive message is diminished with the somewhat humourous twist that they want to eat Doyle's brains.

And then, there's Allen Francis Doyle. For such a short-lived character, we learn a lot about him this week. He was a third-grade teacher, a volunteer at a food bank -- quite different from how he's been depicted so far. It's tragic to find out he only discovered his demonic heritage at 21 -- diverting well-established life plans. And there's the tragedy that Harry didn't leave Doyle because she couldn't accept who Doyle was. Their marriage fell apart because Doyle couldn't accept who he was. Doyle himself defined himself as the monster. In some ways, the relationship comparison to Xander is fitting, and it touches upon the reasons why Xander left Anya at the altar.

It's so close to Glenn Quinn's departure -- I have to wonder how this shaped the story. Did they know that Doyle only had two episodes to go? Was this story already planned before they decided to write out Doyle? If Doyle had stayed, would they have actually held back some of the information. The episode makes us feel a great deal of empathy and sympathy for Doyle -- just two episodes before he sacrifices himself. Knowing Doyle this well makes his sacrifice more powerful.

What do you think of it?

[Double Dutchess]

It's been a long time since I watched this episode, and TBH I didn't remember much about it, but I recently listened to Pop Culture Role Call's podcast about it so that refreshed my memory. I think you are right that they used the episode to increase the impact of losing Doyle a few episodes later, and maybe also to make it more likely that Cordelia started to fall for him. It's a good assumption that they would have spread out all the information that was now crammed into one episode across multiple episodes if Doyle has stayed on for longer.

[Stoney]

Really interesting comparison to Xander PuckRobin with that self destructive element in fearing the worst of themselves.

I quite like Bachelor Party. Although I do think they try to present us with a past for Doyle that's somewhat hard to believe in, I find it an enjoyable episode and it adds an interesting layer to him and his connection with Angel and their struggles with their demon sides. But it does feel like a lot has happened in not such a huge passage of time for him to have lost everything, sunk to rock bottom and then also be gifted with the visions and a certainty that he should help Angel find his path. It's a little forced maybe.

I think Double Dutchess is right in raising the connection to the Cordelia/Doyle storyline too. His statement to her in Hero about not having time to find out if his demon face was one she could learn to love links back to his failed relationship with Harry from his doubts about himself. That element ties well across the first part of the season and his reluctance to be honest with Cordelia about his demon side. Part of me feels like it was a bit rushed to get to the point when that would come up between them in so few episodes, but then I think that actually works for feeling like Doyle's sacrifice was spontaneous and circumstances interrupted his story and the potential for other elements in his life being given up. His is a character that it feels like there was a lot more to see, but that adds in to the sense of loss and works well overall.

[American Aurora]

The Bachelor Party
Written by Tracey Stern

This is an interesting first season episode. Of course it lays the groundwork for the big upcoming "crossover magic" between Buffy and Angel. Doyle sees a photo of Buffy at the beginning, and then a vision of Buffy at the end. The vision sets up Angel's visit to Sunnydale for the next week. But there's another link to the Sunnydale gang. When considering the romantic prospect of Doyle, Cordy remarks "I swore when I went that road with Xander Harris, I'd rather be dead then date a fixer-upper again."

We get some world-building -- how Angel's LA is very different then Sunnydale. Here's a demon clan running restaurants -- a group of supposedly assimilationist immigrants. Doyle's ex-wife Harry is an ethno-demonologist -- not a member of some secret society of Watchers, but what sounds like what you could study at UCLA. We find monsters who are not necessarily a threat -- just different. Of course, any positive message is diminished with the somewhat humourous twist that they want to eat Doyle's brains.

And then, there's Allen Francis Doyle. For such a short-lived character, we learn a lot about him this week. He was a third-grade teacher, a volunteer at a food bank -- quite different from how he's been depicted so far. It's tragic to find out he only discovered his demonic heritage at 21 -- diverting well-established life plans. And there's the tragedy that Harry didn't leave Doyle because she couldn't accept who Doyle was. Their marriage fell apart because Doyle couldn't accept who he was. Doyle himself defined himself as the monster. In some ways, the relationship comparison to Xander is fitting, and it touches upon the reasons why Xander left Anya at the altar.

It's so close to Glenn Quinn's departure -- I have to wonder how this shaped the story. Did they know that Doyle only had two episodes to go? Was this story already planned before they decided to write out Doyle? If Doyle had stayed, would they have actually held back some of the information. The episode makes us feel a great deal of empathy and sympathy for Doyle -- just two episodes before he sacrifices himself. Knowing Doyle this well makes his sacrifice more powerful.

What do you think of it?

I imagine it was initially written before they knew of his departure - but probably goosed to give him a grand sendoff once they knew.