Remember all the wonderful eleven ways Dean Winchester is like Buffy Summers? You’ve got to figure that young, snarky demon hunters would have something in common, right?
What about a demon hunter and a demon-hunting vampire? I admit this list is a bit leaner, but as I watched Supernatural progress, I couldn’t help but be bonked over the head with the whole theme of Sam Winchester‘s redemption and the similarities to Angel, our friendly neighborhood vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his own spin-off, in that aspect.
Both of their true loves died
Sort of. It all depends on who you consider Angel’s true love-to-be. If you’re in the Angel / Buffy camp, I suppose you could still argue that Buffy did die, twice in fact. Really, though, I was thinking about Cordelia, who did eventually die, after a possession, ascension and coma.
Sam’s true love, Jessica, died in the pilot episode of Supernatural, and when she succumbed to the demonic flames and spun around spastically on the ceiling, Sam decided to avenge her death and help Dean hunt demons. Because of these deaths, our heroes became …
Broody
Again, sort of. Sam definitely became broody, since he started off the series as happy, go-lucky college guy with a love and a future. Jessica’s death, the reality of the hunting life and eventually his temptation by demonic power made Sam a rather broody guy. Sure, he tried thinking positively for a while, but the life got to him.
Angel started off Broody and only came out if it with the help of Cordelia. So when she died, it was land o’ brood all over again.
Sam and Angel both have alter-egos, so to speak
Angel, the vampire with a soul who fights the good fight … well, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. Or make that happy, because God forbid this guy ever have an orgasm and lose his soul. Angelus is one of the most sadistic vampires you’ll ever meet and when Angelus comes out to play, all bets are off.
Are you convinced of the existence of Demon Sam? I suppose it’s a very fuzzy area, but there was something there to begin with, what with all of Sam’s headaches and visions and furniture-moving powers. When Ruby convinces Sam to drink demon blood, the line between Sam and Demon Sam becomes all too fuzzy. Which brings me to …
They both drink blood
Angel, the demon (vampire), drinks human blood to survive. Sam, the demon hunter, drinks demon blood to get powerful. Interesting that Angel was only doing what he had to do to live, and got his beverage of choice from a blood bank. Sam, on the other hand, really got hungry for the power, and whether or not he started out with good intentions, the dude screwed up.
Redemption
Angel’s whole life (death?) has been about redemption, about paying it forward for the evil deeds he did as Angelus. It’s what drives him as a character, it’s his base motivation. There is no theme that plays greater throughout the series of Angel than redemption.
So this season on Supernatural, because Sammy screwed up so big, he’s been seeking redemption too. Trying to earn back the trust of Dean and Bobby, and trying to trust himself around demon blood. His situation is like that of a mini-Angel — not a whole century or so of screw-ups, but the one biggie that leaves him feeling guilty and sorry.
Both banged a werewolf
In season five of Angel, we were introduced to Nina Ash, coffee-buddy-turned-girlfriend- turned-sexual-partner to Angel, King of Brood. Oh yeah, did I mention she was a werewolf?
In Supernatural season two’s “Heart,” our friend Sammy had a fling with Madison, a newly turned werewolf. Talk about loving them and leaving them … um, killing them, eh Sam?
I leave you with this incredible coincidence, because really, there aren’t too many people out there who have sex with werewolves. I may be onto something…. Did I miss any similarities between Sam and Angel?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 10, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
ummmm…maybe it’s because I spend a lot of the time while watching Sam yelling at the TV, “he’s such a little girl!!” that I have trouble seeing the correlation to Angel. Like in the episode “Abandon all Hope”, at the end where Lucifer is doing his thing and Sam’s just standing there looking all angst-full(okay, I may have just made that term up…) It drives me CRAZY. Angel would have been doing SOMETHING, grabbing a rock, lunging at the guy, yelling…something…anything to keep at it, and keep fighting. He wants “it”, redemption, if you will – bad and he won’t stop till he gets it.
*POST AUTHOR*
HA! I too, have been known to refer to Sam as a little girl. I do think that as a whole, he got better after “Mystery Spot,” when he was on his own so much (I think it was about 6 months) when Dean was dead. Then, when Dean died again, it didn’t seem to help … hmmmmmm….
So true!
oh, and Angel’s true love, always Buffy.
Your facts are incorrect. Angel does not drink human blood from a blood bank, it provides too much temptation if he does that, he up until season 5 drinks pigs blood, from a local butcher, after that harmony introduces him to pigs blood with a hint of otter. You should get your facts straight before making a list like this.
And you, Marossa, should try not being an insolent brat when someone gets one detail incorrect. Especially when that detail doesn’t change or impact the point that was trying to be made.
Um, Angel’s true love is pretty much up in the air. Both Angel and Buffy moved on from each other and were able to love, again. YOU may think Buffy is Angel’s true love, and I respect your opinion, but it’s NOT a fact. So, for you to tell the writer of this article that it’s Buffy, is pretty ridiculous.
Meh……weak list. And I agree with DaniG……Angel’s true love will always be Buffy. He may have loved Cordy…..which I still don’t buy…..but he wasn’t devastated by her death. Buffy’s death….yes. And Angel didn’t lose his soul just from having an orgasm. He had sex with Darla and that didn’t bring out Angelus. It was having the one true moment of happiness that caused the gypsy curse to disappear, and that moment was with Buffy.
Angel didn’t drink human blood, not even from a blood bank…he got animal blood from the butcher. Nitpicking I know, but they made a big deal about how Connor smelt like food to Angel after WR&H switched the animal blood for Connor’s. Not to mention Harmony’s disgusted look after tasting the blood in the second season episode where she tries to be a “good” vampire only to fall in with the pyramid scheme.
Obvious Bangel – meet obvious Cangel. Angel did love Cordy. That’s just canon. So you can’t say he had only “one true love.” Not to mention Buffy’s various loves after Angel. Buffy and Angel loved each other once and then they grew up and loved others. It happens.
And Angel lost his soul after just dreaming of having sex with Cordy, so Buffy was not the only woman he loved enough to invoke the curse.
Actually, the author is right in a way in regards to the human blood. The first two seasons of BTVS, Angel drinks blood from blood bags. There is a scene where he opens the fridge in his apartment, and there are blood bags. It isn’t until BTVS S3 that we see him going to a slaughterhouse for his blood needs. It’s an inconsistency that has been discussed numerous times.
For the article, I think too that Angel and Sam have the overarching “destiny” angle in that Angel is going to play an important part in the Apocolypse and the yellow-eyed demon wanted Sam from birth for his own nefarious purposes. Maybe the fact that sometimes, they get used by evil without realizing it (thinking Jasmine here for Angel, YED for Sam).
As to the Buffy vs. Cordelia issue, Angel lost his soul during a dream of his perfect day which included smooching Cordelia as well as making love to her. The commentary for Awakening makes it clear that his mention of Buffy at the end is to tell the audience he is losing his soul, nothing more. In regards to him not mourning Cordelia, in the After The Fall continuation comics, approved by Joss Whedon, Angel says that it was so painful losing Cordelia, he couldn’t even talk about it or say her name.
Buffy fell in love with other people after Angel and she continues to fall in love with others in the canon comics continuation.
Most people love different people over the course of their lifetimes, and considering that for a show about a vampire slayer, BTVS was very realistic, it’s only natural that Buffy and Angel would move on.
the hopeful romantic in me will always think that Buffy and Angel are each others “one true love,” even if/when they fall/fell in love with others.
P.S. Nikki, relax, it’s all just opinion, I’m not trying to tell Debbie McDuffie anything. It’s just fun getting everyone’s opinions, don’t you think?
Whoops, sorry, Debbie, that should have been McDuffee.
Well, considering that Spike is Buffy’s true love, I guess Angel just loses out again :P
Spike was also the TRUE champion, he fought for his soul and Angel fought to keep from getting his back..several times. I will always love Spike, but when Angelus shows up the fun really starts. He is pure evil and I love it.
Angel’s soulmate is Buffy. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can take Joss’ word for it. He’s commented on the subject MANY times. See: Any number of interviews, numerous DVD commentaries, etc.
Yes, they’ve had other relationships, and even loved other people, but they always come back to each other.
Angel true love is Buffy.
Sigh, you’re as gullible as Angel. Cordy’s death was obviously faked by The Pwoers That Be to let her go off and do her enxt mission for them unhindered.
Buffy and Angel were like a High School couple. Angel and Cordy were more like an adult couple. Different kind of loves.
Spike didn’t really MEAN to fight for his soul. He fought to get the chip out of his head so he could go back to being an evil killing machine, because his feelings for Buffy were driving him crazy.
Anyway, Angel’s feelings for Cordelia were just as real as his feelings for Buffy. Just because Buffy came first doesn’t make it any more or less “true”.
I feel both Sam and Angel have issues with the people who are supposed to be on the side of good; Sam with the angels, Angel with the Powers That Be. Besides that though I think the biggest similarity is that they both have somewhat iconic hair. I mean anyone in the fandoms knows the importance of either of their do’s.
*POST AUTHOR*
You are so right, on both counts — nice additions to the list! :-)
Very good points, but Sam is also somewhat like Willow in certain ways. He is smart and he turns evil, then good again.