Christianity can be a problematic necessity in the Buffy/Angel universe. Since much of western vampire mythology effluences Christianity, a Christian context cannot be ignored, but in order to maintain the audience appeal and widen the scope of the diverse themes of the show, Christianity must be torqued to accommodate the supernatural-generated themes. One useful way of understanding the reconciliation is to view the show in terms of Ferdinand Saussure.

Saussure’s analogy of a chess game serves to illuminate the necessary format for reconciling orthodox and unorthodox Christianity in Buffy and Angel. The analogy is simple. The chess game is closed. Only two players are allowed to play; however, within that closed system are infinite possibilities of moves. Such is the Buffy/Angel universe. It, like the chess game, is based on a closed, oppositional system that allows infinite relations/moves.

Christian opposition plays itself out over and over again in Buffy and Angel, but it is most apparent in character identity. The characters become known only by what they are not. They are often set up against their opposites, creating definite signification while reinforcing the Christian concept of polarities, with Angel being the most well defined oppositional character. Within Angel, the two factions that define Christianity are allowed full play. Angel is a structural microcosm for the entire universe, and it is in his moments of doubtful self identity, when he ceases to identify himself with one of the polar opposites, that we see the orthodox Christianity more fully revealed.