#ats: s04e22

[starryeyesxx]

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, January 14

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for a couple of new editors! Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Old Habits Die Hard (Angel/Buffy, PG-13) by fatalfae

Another Hole in the World (Fred/Wesley, PG-13) by fatalfae

Sunlight (Dawn, Spike, PG-13) by axolotl356

Her Name Was Sarah (Angelus, OFC, R) by fatalfae

Musings (Buffy/Spike, G) by fatalfae

[Chaptered Fiction]

Adjust and Adapt Chapter 1 (Buffy/Giles, NC-17) by froxyn

What You Do Afterwards: Season Five Chapter 46 (Cordelia/Doyle, R) by myheadsgonenumb

Who are You in Twenty Years? Chapter 2 (Buffy/Faith, R) by StrangeBint. Complete story

sometimes enough Chapter 25 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by taxicab12. Complete story

Shadow Over Hellmouth Chapter 50 (Buffy/Tara, NC-17) by Tuxedo_Mark

Splits Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, Not Rated) by 19BBY. Complete story

All That Is And All That Seems Chapter 6 (Faith/OMC, R) by MalkMcJorma

Coexist Chapter 17 (Buffy/Faith, PG-13) by Coraniaid

Faith at the Bus Station Chapter 2 (Faith/OFC, NC-17) by LadiesWhoLunch

You Can't Fight Fate - But You Can Bitch About Him Chapter 46 (Buffy, DCU xover, Not Rated) by Hermione2be

Willow Rosenberg and the Next Last War Chapter 10 (Willow/Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter xover, R) by zedpm

Kill Me Now Chapter 8 (Tara/Willow, Gilmore Girls xover, G) by Buffyworldbuilder

Wallflower Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Girlytek

The Slayer and the Vampire Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by violettathepiratequeen

Chain of Ascension Chapter 1 (Xander-centric, NC-17) by Graefoxx

[Images, Audio & Video]

Icons: 10 icons for fandom10in30's by nondenomicon

Fanvid: The Body (Ensemble) by anomalykru

ATS 103. In The Dark (Angel, Spike) by tmcarlee

Willow sketch by Qu33nCcL

[Reviews & Recaps]

Video: This Episode Should Be Taught| Buffy The Vampire Slayer~S04E22 by SoFieReacts

Video: Buffy 2 Wrap-Up by DodoReactions

That Hashtag Show: BUFFY THE LAST VAMPIRE SLAYER #2 [REVIEW] by Jessica Lancaster

[Fandom Discussions]

Something that bothers me about "Helpless" by tk_woods

Most annoying Buffy or Angel fanfic tropes and/or OC issues by BaitTrapTroll

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel Talk || Season 4+1 Q&A by alley box.

[ao3feed-btvs]

Would You Know Me Now?

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3g6HuCl

by calenlily

They call LA from the road, once they’re clear of the wreckage of Sunnydale, to pass on the message that the second front isn’t needed but a place to rest and regroup will be.

The Hyperion welcomes them with open doors. Once the wounded have been tended to and she’s confident that everyone’s basically settled, Buffy goes looking for some quiet away from the chaos and soon finds herself in Angel’s suite. She doesn’t know whether it’s a blessing or a curse that every time they’re together it’s like the years just fall away, but it only feels natural that she ends up in his arms and telling him everything.

(Set immediately after Chosen, not compliant with AtS s5)

Words: 2741, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Angel: the Series

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Buffy Summers, Angel (BtVS)

Relationships: Angel/Buffy Summers

Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s07e22 Chosen, Post-Episode: s04e22 Home, Dialogue Heavy, Addressing years of issues in a single conversation

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3g6HuCl

[turtle4235-blog]

Top 10 reasons I prefer Angelcakes and the Fang Gang to The Scooby Gang

Spin off shows have a terrible reputation for a reason. Normally, they exist because someone decided to try and squeeze that extra bit of cash out of a popular character and loyal audiences. There are a few exceptions, and I think Angel the Series is one of the best. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but while I agree that Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a better constructed show, I always preferred watching ATS. The scope and ambition seemed wider, and even though it didn’t always work out (*cough* season 4 *cough*), it’s hard not to admire. So below are my top 10 reasons for preferring ATS to BTVS.

Spoiler alerts!

There’s more greys in ATS; not all demons are “bad”, and not all humans are “good”. Sometimes, humans do awful things, and sometimes demons don’t want to just murder us. It was a bit more cut and dry in BTVS, where the only “good” demons were Anya, who was turned human, and Spike and Angel, who were chipped and/or souled. But in ATS, we get characters like Doyle, who fights for the good side but is half demon, and Lorne, who just wants to run his violence free karaoke bar, or Merl, who whilst snivelling and a bit pathetic, isn’t exactly evil either — he does help out the Angel Investigations team, just not always of his own volition.

We also have Wolfram and Hart, the Big Bad of the entire run of ATS, who are a law firm comprised of humans who knowingly defend and help evil demons, and who are willing to deploy demons to help them get their way — Lindsey and Lilah are some of the Angel’s greatest adversaries. BTVS was neater, as each season had a Big Bad that was defeated in the end, but Wolfram and Hart is a much more captivating “villain”, because it represents the invincibility of evil. The greatest example of this is in Season 2, when Angel thinks he’s going to go to Hell to defeat the Senior Partners, and instead he’s just taken back to Earth, because they don’t need to do anything- humans do horrible things to each other anyway. This far reaching scope of evil adds an extra level of threat to ATS, as Wolfram and Hart transcend not only the world, but dimensions too, whereas in BTVS, the threat seemed to be distinctly targeted at Sunnydale.

The main themes of BTVS are growing up, and coming to terms with being “the chosen one”. Instead, the main themes in ATS are the idea of unconquerable evil, and the quest for redemption. The latter’s themes are more identifiable, especially as the grey’s of that world mean that the characters have to constantly choose to fight for redemption, and against evil. That constant struggle is something that a lot of people can relate to, there is no “happy ending” because things carry on after that. The show Elementary has a great scene describing the tediousness of carrying out a never-ending task.

There was always a greater risk of the characters in ATS of losing their way on the right path, as the situations they face make them question their roles as heroes. The risk is obviously greatest with Angel, as the threat of Angelus coming back was always looming on the horizon. Whereas in BTVS, we never really felt that any of the characters would go dark for long. It’s more compelling to watch characters struggle to stay on the good path, and see the consequences of hard or wrong choices.

The fight felt more real; the team didn’t always win. Sometimes the person they were trying to help died, or they killed someone who was fighting for good, or they lost one of their own. I know that members of the Scooby team did die throughout the series, but they were always the peripheral members, or they were quickly reversed, but ATS wasn’t afraid of letting the core members die, and it wasn’t always in a season finale. The characters could die at any time. Even the deaths of recurring villains felt more significant than the ones in BTVS. I especially love the scenes between Wesley and Lilah in S04E13 Salvage and S04E22 Home where we really get to see the connection between the two and they humanise Lilah just enough that her death does feel tragic and significant in the show.

I thought the Angel Investigations team had a stronger bond than the Scooby team did, because they are all fighting for the same thing — redemption, something that really resonates with a lot of people. In contrast, the Scooby team don’t really have that compelling reason to fight together — it felt like they fought together because the show needed them to. Also, I found it ironic that the Scoobies were kind of cliquey in their own way and they never really accepted Angel, Cordy, Wes, or even Spike into their team, for various reasons, which resulted in the outcasts of the outcasts managed forming their own team.

We get to see way more of Spike and Angel interacting. They have such an interesting frenemy dynamic, and they clearly know each other better than any other character in either show, due to their long history. Also, that cavemen vs astronauts argument is still hilarious!

Angel as a character was just so much more interesting in his own show. In BTVS, he was only really allowed to be dark, brooding, and tortured. Then, in ATS, we discovered that actually he’s kinda dorky, and that he can enjoy things, including an embarrassing love of Barry Manilow. He was even allowed to smile and laugh! Hurrah! We also got to see his more heroic side, as someone who would do anything to help those in need, whereas in BTVS he basically seemed to be helping because he was told to and to spend time with Buffy. We get to explore a lot more of his backstory, and it’s fascinating to watch.

Wes really came into his own in ATS. In BTVS, he was just a bumbling idiot, and we were supposed to root against him, as someone who was just there to replace Giles. But he really does bring value to the Angel Investigations team, and we see him grow into a leader who isn’t afraid to make the hard decisions.

Cordy was another character who fared much better in ATS. She started out as just another mean cheerleader stereotype, but in ATS, she grows into this compassionate person, who always tries to do the right thing. Even if you’re not a Cangel fan, you have to admit that Buffy never really accepted Angel for what he was. She seemed to accept him despite being a vampire, but Cordy isn’t afraid to embrace that side of him. We see her hug him in full on grr face, and she heats up blood for him.

Phew, I’m glad I got that out. As always, thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear your thoughts about which show is better.

[starryeyesxx]

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