There’s no doubt we love Amy Acker in everything she’s in. However, it’s her role as Winifred “Fred” Burkle in Angel that stole our hearts.
As much as there is a cloud over Angel, there were some excellent characters within the series. Acker’s Fred is the best, stealing our hearts the moment that she entered the world.
We didn’t even get to meet Fred at her strongest, but she still stole our hearts. She was able to show her survival skills immediately, making it clear that she would make a beloved and excellent member of Angel Investigations. Without her, Angel, Wesley, and others would have been killed a million times over.
I’m still salty over the way Fred’s storyline ended, though. As much as I actually enjoyed Illyria and loved seeing Acker take on this other world, I wished that Fred could have made it to the very end.
Why Fred is the ultimate Angel character
Let’s just start with the way Fred was introduced. This was a character introduced not even on Earth. Angel had ended up in an alternate dimension where humans were hunted down. There was a huge story behind how Fred got there, but that’s not what we’re focused on right now.
It’s the fact that Fred survived. She was in a world she didn’t really know. Always hunted, she had to figure out how to keep herself alive both in a natural survival sense and away from the demons—Lorne’s family. She was human, a human who didn’t know much about the supernatural world before finding herself in this alternate dimension.
If that didn’t prove her worth, then nothing else would. Angel certainly saw her worth, helping her heal in the hotel when he managed to get home with her. This gave her the chance to find safety, gaining a family that she didn’t really experience before being sent away. Sure, she had her parents, but it was Angel, Wesley, Gunn, and the others who made her feel welcome, happy, and safe.
As the seasons went on, Fred was able to prove just how valuable she was to the team. Her brains helped get them out of multiple situations. Her empathy helped to get to the bottom of cases each week. She never lost her heart when she was trapped in that hell dimension, which is what would have happened with most people.
Even when Spike came along, Fred tried to help. She was able to look past Spike and Angel’s problems and the fact that Spike was a vampire. She saw the man that he could become, especially when he had a soul. She even helped him become corporeal again, proving that it didn’t matter what people had done but who they wanted to be.
What did you think of Fred on Angel? Who was your favorite character on the series? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Angel is currently available to stream on Hulu.
Why Winifred Burkle is the best character in Angel
Source: Pinoy White Knights
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