As far as epic TV shows with amazing spin-offs go, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s companion piece Angel have pretty much permanently set the standard for what shows could and should be. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show about the trials and tribulations of growing up (through a supernatural lens, of course), while Angel is more about the trials and tribulations of actually being a grown up.
And this duo of tightly-written and wildly creative TV shows are still having an impact on media and culture today. They’ve cemented their place in the annals of classic supernatural and horror television, and it’s clear to see that most supernatural shows on air today draw some inspiration from Buffy and Angel. But while these shows are both top-notch, there are gaps between them that don’t make a lot of sense. They’re supposed to exist in the same universe, but it doesn’t always feel that way. So here are 10 of the most obvious inconsistencies between Buffy and Angel.
No Slayers Vs. An Army Of Slayers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a TV show rife with many awesome, classic moments, but the writers pulled out the big guns for the series finale and made every Potential into an actual Slayer. It was one of the most inspiring moments in Buffy history and a perfect way to wrap up the story of the Chosen One. However, Angel kept going after Buffy ended, and it’s more than a little weird that even though now there were dozens, hundreds, or maybe even thousands of Slayers out in the world, there wasn’t even one stationed in Los Angeles.
Wolfram And Hart
Wolfram and Hart is an enormously powerful law firm that is run by demons and that to have a lot of influence and control on this dimension as well as many others. And once Angel took over Wolfram and Hart, it was clear that they had law firms all over the world trying to enact their evil endgame. However, why did Buffy never factor into this at all? She’s supposed to be the greatest hero in the world, but she doesn’t appear to even be on Wolfram and Hart’s radar, and Wolfram and Hart has never once been on her radar either.
Cordelia’s Family
Even when she was still on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia Chase’s parents never made an actual appearance on the show. And although their financial troubles were readily apparent in her last seasons on Buffy, Cordelia started off the show as a completely spoiled brat.
She even had a license plate that said Queen C, for crying out loud. Once she moved to LA, it wasn’t that weird that her parents let her fly the nest, but it was weird that Cordelia went through so many dramatic life changes and eventually even died without anyone ever seeing or hearing a peep from her family.
How Far Is Sunnydale From LA?
Obviously Los Angeles is a real place, but the town of Sunnydale where Buffy the Vampire Slayer takes place is entirely fictional. And it’s unclear where exactly Sunnydale is supposed to be, but it’s safe to assume that it’s at least within driving distance of LA. So with that in mind, why weren’t there way more crossovers in both shows? It’s obviously understandable from a production standpoint because crossovers are a lot of work — and at one point, Buffy and Angel were airing on two different networks — but from a logistical standpoint, when people’s lives are hanging in the balance, it’s kind of strange that the Scooby Gang and Team Angel weren’t teaming up all the time.
How Important Is The Apocalypse?
So in the same vein as the previous inconsistency, okay, maybe the Buffy and Angel teams wouldn’t be rallying together to square off against the forces of evil on a nearly constant basis. However, if the fate of the literal world was hanging in the balance, then why wouldn’t they provide some assistance to each other?
It seems like both groups are facing up against an apocalypse more often than not, but not only do they not help each other, it seems like half the time whoever isn’t trying to save the world at the moment doesn’t even know that the world might be ending somewhere else.
Angel’s Destiny
As soon as Angel shows up in Los Angeles, he comes into contact with the two forces that will have the greatest impact on him as a character throughout the course of his show. He meets Doyle, who explains that he’s been sent by the Powers That Be to help Angel on his path to redemption, and he runs into Wolfram and Hart, the evil law firm that is trying to destroy the world. And those two forces spend most of the series battling over Angel, but it’s really strange to think that somehow he was this important to them, but didn’t warrant any interaction or intervention until he got to LA.
The Hellmouth
One of the fundamental elements of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a series is that the entire town of Sunnydale is sitting on top of the Hellmouth. It’s definitely a cool plot device that explains why such a tiny town is so flooded with demonic insanity; however, it’s kind of confusing in Buffyverse canon overall.
This is supposed to be the mouth of hell, but according to the show’s own lore, there are hundreds of different hell dimensions. Buffy kind of glosses over this multiverse for the most part, but Angel shows a variety of different hell dimensions, so why is Sunnydale’s “hell” the one of the only hells we see on Buffy?
Faith Vs. Willow
So in the third season of Buffy, “Slayer Number Two”, aka Faith, goes way off the rails. She accidentally kills a man, doesn’t seem to care, and then succumbs to her most evil instincts before being put into a coma by Buffy. And when she wakes up she eventually heads to LA, where she decides to turn herself in to the authorities to serve time for the murder she committed. But what’s weird is that later on in Buffy it seems like Willow follows a similar dark path, including committing murder, and there’s not even a thought of her facing legal punishment or serving actual prison time for her crimes.
Evil Demons
The mythology of Buffy and Angel was very good at evolving when it needed to, and the perception of demons within the show’s lore did seem to transform somewhat over time. But there is a bit of a discordant note between the way Buffy sees demons and the way Angel does. On Buffy the demons are somewhere on the spectrum of evil and benign, whereas on Angel there are demons that are evil but there are also demons like Lorne who seem to be good. Heck, even though demon Skip wound up being evil, he was supposedly working for the Powers That Be, and he’s not the only demon that we’ve seen on Angel working for the forces of good either.
The First
When Buffy was clearly coming to its end, it made a lot of sense to make her ultimate final battle against the First Evil, but that created some questionable plot holes for both Buffy and Angel. First off, what was the First even doing for all of that time when it was apparently dormant? Second, when the First initially made itself known to Buffy, it went after Angel in particular. So why did this force of evil never even make an appearance or even warrant a mention on Angel? If it truly was the origin of evil, then you’d think it would have been more of a presence in both shows.
