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coraniaid · 1 year ago

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Buffy for the character asks?

General opinion/how much I care about them: What can I say about Buffy Summers? When she was fifteen years old a representative of an ancient mystical order told her that she alone had the power to stop bad things from happening in the world, thereby confirming something she had hitherto only strongly suspected. She had to keep a fundamental part of her life secret from the world for years but she never learned how to tell a convincing lie because she was too busy thinking up puns. She had a 95th percentile SAT score despite mostly studying in between fighting vampires in a cemetery every night and cutting classes to sneak out of school and fight yet more vampires during the day. All her favorite teachers died or never noticed she existed. She is both a quintessential only child and somebody who would fight a god to save her annoying little sister. She blackmailed the management of a fast food chain so that they would let her keep doing a minimum wage job she hated with co-workers whose last names she can’t remember. She burned down her old high school gym and blamed it on mice and blew up her new high school library while she was at her graduation ceremony and she sunk her hometown into a giant hole in the desert and drove away in a school bus. She died twice before she turned twenty-one. She is one of my favorite fictional characters in any medium.

A ship I love: I didn’t really talk about why I love Fuffy in my Faith answer, so let me try now.

Of all of Buffy’s shadow selves, Faith is the one who spends the most time actually in her shadow. She doesn’t get later character development that takes her in a different direction and makes her her own person; she didn’t start out as something else entirely and get reworked later when the plot required it. She doesn’t even get the illusion of a family and moments of happiness, like Drusilla has in Season 2. When Faith’s not hanging out with Buffy she’s sitting alone in her motel room or lying in a coma or counting down the months in jail. She exists to be a version of Buffy who is not Buffy, who is worse than Buffy, who doesn’t have friends or family or any external support. That’s really all she is. And she knows it. And she hates it. How could she not? “You get the Watcher, you get the Mom, you get the little Scooby gang … what do I get?”

Because Faith is Buffy – the part of Buffy who never came back after she ran away from home and got kicked out of school; the part who can admit to craving a little more than low-fat yogurt after a night patrolling; the part that never got to make friends with Xander and Willow in Season 1 and never had a Watcher who cared about her – so on a fundamental level Fuffy is about Buffy accepting those suppressed and hidden angry parts of herself. But it’s also about Faith accepting the forgotten and ignored parts of herself that are present in Buffy: the idea that she can be a hero, that there are people in the world who care about her, that there are people who she can trust. It’s about asking what if all of the Season 3 subtext – Faith’s whole arc this season paralleling Angel’s a year ago, and “what are friends for?” and “It’s kind of a Slayer thing”, and Joyce marching in the Slayer Pride Parade – was text, and what if the show existed in a world where the characters could act on it?

And because of how Season 3 turns out, it’s also about Buffy and Faith forgiving themselves, and each other, for doing almost unforgivable things to each other. Because there were never meant to be two of them, and they’ve never been able to tell each other what they mean, and because “kill me, you become me”, but she tried and it didn’t help. And it’s about crappy presents and knives to the throat and forehead kisses and shared dreams and hopelessly entangled destinies. It’s ”She could be terrified. Maybe [...] she’s sorry and she’s alone” and “You think you matter, you think you’re a part of something, and then you get dumped” and “All my life there was one person who tried to be my friend” and “I tried so hard to help you and you spat on me” and “Willow said you needed me. Didn’t really give it much thought.”

As much as I wish Faith was in Season 7 more, part of me is glad that this is all we got, because I really don’t think the show could ever have done all this justice. And the little we get is enough to make me a bit crazy.

A non-romantic relationship that I love: I already talked about Buffy and Willow, so I will try to subvert expectations a little here and go with Buffy and Giles. Not the fandom version of their relationship I like to complain about where Giles is an uncomplicated Good Dad, but the messy and complicated and heartbreaking version where he just won’t allow himself to be that person.

I mean, I think it’s very clear from the show that Giles really does care about Buffy far beyond the extent he is supposed to as a Watcher (he tries to go and fight the Master in her place! Even though he knows it would kill him! Even though this is Season 1 of the show and we’ve not yet seen Giles fight a single vampire!) but that everything about his training and his past tells him that he shouldn’t. Buffy cares about Giles a lot (“You can’t leave me, I can’t do this alone” / “it’s a little like having Mom back”) and it’s clear that she would really like Giles to be more involved in her life (she wants her Mom to invite him around for Christmas, she goes to his house for Thanksgiving, she tries so hard not to show how hurt she is when she confuses his attempts to be dispassionate with genuine disinterest) but Giles is convinced that he cannot be that sort of parental figure for Buffy and it would only hurt her if he tried, and so – by purposely distancing himself from her and not letting her get close to him– he ends up hurting her in exactly the way he fears.

And the tragedy is that I think Giles really does believe the line he keeps feeding Buffy about how important it is not to be “distracted” by “personal concerns”. When Quentin Travers told him he had “a father’s love” for Buffy, Travers meant it as a rebuke – and that’s exactly how Giles takes it. He thinks getting closer to Buffy would be bad for her! He thinks by leaving her in Season 6 he is helping her become self-reliant and a better Slayer! Of course he is wrong, but that’s what he thinks, and it is consistent with how he’s always thought. It’s not character assassination or some unjust subversion of his previously established personality: it is a natural and predictable and awful thing for him to do. And he does it because he cares about her and doesn’t know what to do about that! He thinks she’s a much better person than he is (“she’s a hero, you see. She’s not like us”) and he doesn’t want to bring her down to his level! “If you care so much about [these people], why didn’t you leave town?” Ethan asked him in The Dark Age, and Giles didn’t have an answer!

The NOTP: Going to cheat a bit here (honestly, mostly because it feels a bit mean to keep picking on Xander at this point), and say that the ship I don’t like isn’t with a specific person but rather with an idea that I see applied to all sorts of ships. Namely the idea – not supported at all by the text – that Buffy’s various romantic interests are Good People who teach Buffy important life lessons and make her a better person or protect her from the dangerous world around her. I mean, sorry, but this is not how it works! This is a boring fantasy you have projected onto the show in place of what it was actually telling you. The feminism of BtVS is paper-thin, but give it some credit!

In canon, Buffy absolutely does not learn from her boyfriends. She does not rely on them for emotional support. They all cause her more problems than they help her. She rescues them. She makes them better. Honestly her boyfriends all kind of suck. Because that’s her type! She likes losers with no friends who are kind of obsessed about Buffy Summers! (Losers just like Faith!)

Buffy textually hates it when Angel talks down to her: we see repeatedly how furious she gets when he treats her “like a kid” or makes important decisions about their relationship on her behalf. She doesn't mind physically upstaging Riley (“I was holding back a little”) and secretly likes it when he gets hurt because, to quote Dawn, “she says you look even cuter when you’re all weak and kitteny”. The iconic twin shots of Spike and Buffy in The Gift and After Life are deliberately staged so that Spike is looking up the stairs at Buffy and she is looking down at him (“you’re beneath me”, as she told him in Fool For Love). And as she says later in Conversations With Dead People: “Their opinions don’t matter. They don’t know. They haven’t been through what I’ve been through [...] I feel like I’m better than them. Superior.”

So, you know, the preferred power balance is pretty explicit here! I don’t think the show is being excessively subtle. And yet people keep insisting that, oh no, Buffy learns a lot from her boyfriends, or that she can’t possibly cope without their support, or writing fanfics where they swoop in to town to rescue Buffy from trouble. But that is not who Buffy is! She is not some unsophisticated naif or damsel in distress. She would hate that so much! Ship Buffy with whoever you want, but let her be Buffy!

… but also, yeah, rewatching the second season really reminded me how awful I’d have found Buffy/Xander and how glad I am that the show stops hinting at that after Becoming. Sorry, Xander. You can take solace in being … well, a loser with friends?

My biggest headcanon about them: Some time after Chosen Buffy definitely goes back to college and gets that English degree she deserves. I don’t want to think about Buffy living in a gloomy castle in Scotland and still being forever isolated from the world or about her becoming a cop with superpowers or whatever other nonsense the comics insist happens to her after the show ends. I want her to be able to have some time off and read some poetry and make Willow jealous academically.

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: One day I will finish my Season 7 rewrite in which Drusilla is the Big Bad and Faith gets broken out of prison earlier and Amy and Willow get to have a proper resolution and Kennedy is another Slayer from the start and Marcie and Ethan come back for cameos and people remember that Jesse and Kendra ever existed and Dawn actually gets something to do. But first I will probably have to start writing it.

Something that makes me think of them: Nothing makes me think of Buffy. I choose to be like this (for some reason).

#btvs #buffy summers #asks #thanks again!

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rock-and-compass · 4 months ago

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Angel 5.9 - Harm's Way

Precursor - I wrote about the fifth season of Angel many years ago - probably around the time that the season 8 comics were first being published. I originally published these meta essays over on LiveJournal and I've decided to re-post them (as written), mostly for archival reasons. I love season 5 of Angel. It's such a shame it got axed before it could get the envisioned 6th and 7th series

Written by Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft

Harm’s Way is an episode about perspectives. First and foremost, it showcases Angel’s new regime at Wolfram and Hart from a perspective outside the core ‘family’ unit. On a secondary level it is about how other people view those around them; a dramatisation if you will, of the old proverb that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Harm’s way is interesting mainly because it gives us an alternative perspective of Angel from the vantage point of a character we are familiar with and who was associated with Wolfram and Hart prior to the arrival of Angel and Co. Harmony functions as our protagonist for this episode and it is important to realise that the events are seen entirely through her eyes. If Angel and associates seem brutal and mean it is because this is how they are viewed by Harmony who is not one of the inner circle, and because their arrival at the firm has presented her with a whole set of new challenges which she must navigate in order to survive the dog-eat-dog world of Wolfram and Hart, Attorneys at Law. We knew Angel and his team have found the shift somewhat problematic, both personally and professionally but this episode demonstrates that the transition of power has been a testing experience for others as well.

The character of Harmony has been a fixture in the Buffyverse from the very beginning. Mercedes McNab, the actress who portrays Harmony, appeared in the unaired pilot production that was filmed in order to entice network interest in the proposed series. Harmony appeared sporadically throughout the first three seasons of Buffy as a friend (or more accurately, a rival) of Cordelia’s. She was one of the ‘in’ crowd who keeps her place at the top of the high-school food chain by relying on her looks, solidarity with others in the ‘popular’ echelon and a general expertise in bitchiness. Intelligence is certainly not one of her more prominent characteristics. In Graduation Day (part 2) Buffy leads an army of graduating students against the ascending Mayor and his vampire minions. In the midst of the melee, we witness Harmony being bitten by a nameless vampire. We assume that is the end of her, a casualty in the never-ending fight against evil. Not quite.

Harmony’s human life may be over, but becoming a vampire opens up a whole new realm of existence for her. In season four’s The Harsh Light of Day she makes her return to the series with an unsuccessful attempt to bite Willow and boast that her ‘boyfriend’ will seek retribution on her behalf. Her boyfriend turns out to be none other than Spike. The relationship is hardly romantic. Spike makes no secret of his contempt for her, even going so far as attempting to stake her when she gets too annoying even for him. And while Harmony might love her ‘platinum baby’ Spike is clearly only using her for convenience and to work through some ‘issues’ he has with women as a result of Drusilla’s betrayal. It’s no wonder the liaison is short lived, though they do have a brief reunion after Harmony makes a laughable attempt at embracing her inner evil by taking on the slayer aided only by some dubious minions and ill-thought-out plans.

After getting the final brush-off from Spike in Crush, Harmony heads to L.A. and tracks down her old pal Cordelia. In Disharmony she reveals how difficult she finds her vampiric existence. She craves a place to fit in, be someone, like she was in high school. She swears she can be part of the team, after all, Angel is a vampire and he’s doing OK, so she can too – if they just give her a chance. But she’s a soulless vampire with a natural inclination for evil so all her good intentions are ultimately useless. Inevitably, she turns on Team Angel and escapes, disappearing into the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles until her reappearance as Angel’s secretary in Conviction.

Employment at Wolfram and Hart would have been the ideal solution for a little lost un-dead girl such as Harmony. After some years of futility, ineffectuality and disorientation it would have offered conformity and stability in an environment that was tolerant, even encouraging, of evil tendencies, didn’t care what you got up to in your off hours and was populated by like-minded beings. She would have finally found a place where she felt like she belonged. And then Angel arrived…

This episode opens with an ‘inspirational’ promotional video for the wonderful institution that is Wolfram and Hart, albeit with a few changes: (Maybe find a video of this – of there is one)

Welcome to the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart. We're the oldest and most powerful law firm in the city. Founded in 1791 on ground deconsecrated by the blood of mass murderer Mathias Pavayne, Wolfram & Hart has put roots down in this glamorous city that grow deep, and branches that reach right into the heart of every major corporation including Yoyodyne, Weyland Yutani and Newscorp. That captain of industry? We own his soul. That fabulous movie queen? She owes us her first born. But times change, and Wolfram & Hart is changing right along with them. Under our new C.E.O., Angel, we're focusing less on power and more on using that power for good. We have a zero tolerance policy for killing, and that includes you, vampires. That better be pig's blood, mister. Yes, our esteemed president has made it clear that this is a new company for the new millennium, and he wants to work with you.

ANGEL: If you don't kill, we won't kill you.

That's right, no more employee sacrifices. At Wolfram & Hart, you're part of a family now. You can work your way up the ladder, and there will always be a hand to help you up it. Every life and unlife is as important to our new management as their own. So go ahead, relax, and enjoy your new Wolfram & Hart family, because at our firm, everyone matters. You matter. Buddy, you're going places.

The episode begins in earnest with a montage of our ‘working gal’, Harmony, as she goes through her morning routine to prepare for a day at the office. Apart from the usual ablutions and clothes choosing, there are a few things that remind us that Miss Harmony is not a regular girl. As she brushes her teeth she adopts her ‘game face’ in order to brush those fangs, she uses her super vampire strength to lift her dresser by one leg so she can retrieve her missing shoe and neighbour, Mrs. Jacobi’s spunky little dog growls at her because it recognises her as the evil un-dead. Once she arrives at the office Harmony looks the part; every inch the perfect secretary, the very definition of efficiency and reliability as she hangs up Angel’s dry cleaning and goes to get his morning cup of blood. But in the lunchroom things aren’t so rosy. She is excluded from conversations and can’t quite seem to make a connection with her fellow ‘grunts’. They want nothing to do with her and are openly contemptuous of her attempts to be social. At the microwave Harmony jumps the queue and interrupts another person, lording over the disgruntled other with her status within the company:

Harmony: Oh, I know. It's so unfair. Just because my boss is your boss's boss, his needs coming first and all.

Harmony might be a ‘grunt’ but in the ‘grunt heap’ she’s top of the pile and she likes everyone to know it. Hmmm… not such a mystery why she can’t make any friends after all.

Back at her desk, Harmony is still being quite impressive. She’s on top of Angel’s schedule, knows exactly where he should be at what time and with whom. She goes above and beyond the call of duty. She’s everything a good personal assistant should be and Angel doesn’t even notice. He doesn’t notice her good work, he doesn’t notice her. From Harmony’s perspective her job is a thankless one, recognition is never given, and gratitude is never offered. Buddy, you matter? Not bloody likely!

It is time for Harmony’s random blood sample, just to make sure she, or any other employee, is not on the 'juice':

Harmony: Oh, come on, Rudy. You know I've been off the human blood for months

She’s making an effort in playing to the new set of rules, trying her hardest… And then we meet someone who’s not. Eli is a decayed looking fella from accounting who has been called up to see Angel (with complete disregard for Harmony’s scheduling!) He’s hopeful his good work is going to be recognised. He thinks he’s going places. But no – rather it is his extra-curricular activity of dismembering virgins that has garnished his reputation. His reward for flouting office policy is a good and thorough beheading. Harmony can’t help but protest the harshness and is reminded in reply:

Angel: Called a zero tolerance policy, not a "maybe this once" policy. Nobody in this office gets away with murder, not anymore

Well, nobody except Angel ;)

Spike turns up just as the entire team has assembled in the foyer. Apparently he’s been missing in action since the re-corporialisation. He had a fair bit of drinking to catch up on but now he’s come to say his good-byes to them all, seeing as how he’s got "someone" waiting for him (much eye-rolling from Angel here). Wesley cautions against his departure as the whole Shanshu prophecy thing is still unresolved. But Spike is non-responsive telling Angel:

Spike: You're welcome to that heroic destiny, whether you deserve it or not. Me, I got better things to do than wait around for the four bloody horsemen

Life is for living, not brooding. Angel can keep his ‘destiny’. Spike demonstrates that the quest for the Cup of Perpetual Torment in the previous episode was never about claiming a destiny he believed was his, it was about claiming a destiny because he could. He gives it to Angel because he can. And it irritates Angel because he contravenes all the ‘rules’ that he’s so carefully put in place and adhered to for so long and makes all of his efforts worthless.

After gaining the donation of a set of wheels from Angel (who will do anything to hasten his departure) Spike saves some genuinely kind and appreciative words for Fred; her belief in him, her efforts on his behalf mean more to him than just about anything. Harmony witnesses the departure from the vantage point of an outsider. He doesn’t have any special words for her despite their previous connection. She voices a tearful objection but receives no reassurance, but rather, just a derogatory piece of advice to ‘keep it simple’ because it suits her. No good-bye, no apology, nothing. She’s very firmly reminded she’s not one of the gang.

Meanwhile, Angel is mediating a long-running feud between two particular demon clans, the Vinjis and the Sahrvin. Angel hopes to broker a truce; just part of the services offered by the new and improved Wolfram and Hart. Success will ensure that the demon world knows that Wolfram and Hart mean business and are to be taken seriously in their drive to use their power for good. There’s a lot riding on it and if things don’t go according to plan the new Angel regime will be left with little credibility, and so put the whole rationale for taking over Wolfram and Hart into jeopardy. As the group confers, Lorne’s personal assistant arrives with the seating plan he’s working on. Lorne is full of praise and admiration. Harmony, sitting in on the meeting taking notes, takes the opportunity to try and impress with her freshly researched knowledge of superstitions held by the clans only to be bought sadly to earth:

Harmony: You don't know the half of it. I've been doing a whole bunch of research on these guys, their customs and stuff? Did you know that they think poodles are wicked bad luck?

Wesley: Harmony, I'm glad you're here . . . We'll be needing lunch.

While Lorne’s guy gets recognition Harmony is told to get lunch. Yep, at Wolfram and Hart everyone matters! Harmony? She’s going places… as long as it’s the local take-away… but not Thai again – they want something a bit lighter. Contrasted to the implied group lunch attended by Angel’s inner circle is Harmony eating lunch alone in the communal lunchroom. Again she tries to break into a conversation being had by others, again she is unceremoniously rejected, her observation that Wesley has a crush on Fred dismissed outright. Lorne’s assistant arrives with a muffin basket courtesy of his boss. The other workers openly admire him and the way that Lorne is grooming Dan for success. Harmony tries desperately to compete:

Harmony: Angel grooms me, too. Office girl #2: Explains the haircut. Harmony: I'm his right arm. He's taking me places. We're so connected

Only to be completely undone when Angel calls to demand her presence and asks with loud fury, why she can’t do anything right!

Turns out Harmony, after researching the cultural practices of the feuding demons, has ordered a live camel. The meat is considered a delicacy and as host of the festivities, Angel would get the honour of slicing off the hump and plunging a red-hot poker into its heart which would then be followed by the demon leaders ripping the carcass apart with their bare hands. She suggests that it would be an excellent way to get the summit off to a promising start. But Angel is having none of it. He doesn’t want a live camel in his foyer, and he certainly doesn’t want to butcher it! He just wants Harmony to answer the phone, make appointments and anticipate his every need. Which to be fair to Harmony is what she’s been trying to do. Just because Angel doesn’t fancy a camel sacrifice doesn’t negate the fact that Harmony did the research, found out about their particular customs and had good intentions even if the actual live camel was not the best idea in the world. Fred diplomatically suggests chips and dip as a viable alternative, but Harmony decides that Angel has rejected the suggestion because Angel hates her. That everybody hates her. Fred contradicts this and before she knows what’s happened she’s been roped into a ‘girl’s night out’.

Fred and Harmony are at a bar, having a cocktail and Harmony confides that she can’t quit her job because she has nowhere else to go:

Harmony: I tried being out on my own, all independent and evil. I'm just no good at it

She desperately wants her and Fred to become ‘gal pals’, so that Fred can teach her about life, and she can teach Fred about fashion. In essence she wants a relationship that is reminiscent of her high-school friendships, the last she knew as a human. Harmony still craves high-school type ‘popularity’ rather than real friendship. Her emotional stagnation is, in part, related to her being a vampire, but also because the person she was before she was sired had little understanding of true human connections that are not based on popularity, looks, clothes and cliques. Like both Spike and Angel, the human she was is highly influential on the vampire she became.

Harmony spies a good-looking man at the bar and with Fred’s encouragement, goes to talk to him. She pretends to find his personal details interesting and thus demonstrates that she is really quite incapable of any kind of meaningful interpersonal relationship. Though not so bad that she can’t get a little action. Harmony wakes up with the man from the bar but is unable to remember his name. Very embarrassed she tries to rouse him only to discover that he’s dead with fang marks in his neck. Oops

Harmony disposes of the body down her garbage shoot and goes to work trying to act au naturale. The blood testing guy, Rudy, is doing his rounds so Harmony slouches down in her chair trying to look inconspicuous but only succeeds in getting chewed out by Angel for being late and not getting his morning blood. While waiting for the blood to warm she tries to remember the events of the previous evening but can’t recall a thing so decides to blame Fred who ‘made’ her talk to the guy in the first place. She has a drink from her unicorn sticker-covered thermos and guzzles greedily; stress eating she decides.

The police call Angel and tell him about a body that they found in the city dump that just happens to be owned by Wolfram and Hart. The dead man is Tobias Dupree, and he, unfortunately is the demon rights activist who brokered the idea of the summit in the first place. Angel, Gunn and Wes are worried that the peace treaty will be derailed or that someone is deliberately trying to sabotage it. Harmony is just worried about her own neck.

The clans are upset. They demand vengeance before the summit can proceed. Angel gets on it, bringing the body back to the lab. Harmony panics and rushes to see if Fred knows anything that implicates her in Dupree’s death but Fred hasn’t put two and two together. She tries to engage Harmony in gossip about the previous evening, and even suggests they go out again sometime. Harmony has too much on her mind to be responsive. While contemplating a flight to Mexico, Harmony is caught unawares and has her blood tested by Rudy. She tests positive for the consumption of human blood. Harmony responds by knocking Rudy out and stashing him in the utility closet. She happens across Lorne and questions him as to what happens to the blood test results and is dismayed to discover that they are automatically sent to the lab. A noise from the cupboard alerts Lorne that something is up and necessitates his unconscious storage in the closet too.

She heads straight to the lab where Fred, having already seen the test results starts backing away. Harmony tries to explain. She thinks she was drugged and that she can’t have bitten him because he was bitten on the wrong side of the neck…and that someone must have spiked her thermos. Fred is dubious and tries to call Angel. She advises Harmony to just come clean and confess all to the boss. “Zero tolerance policy” Harmony protests, sure that the revelation of her positive test will result in her decapitation. Fred insists that Angel will understand, gets knocked out and added to the growing pile of bodies in the janitor’s storeroom. Harmony promises to buy them dinner once she clears her name.

As Harmony hides from Angel she hears that the demon clans are demanding a substitute blood sacrifice if they can’t have blood of the killer. The confab is in jeopardy and Harmony fears for her life, worried that Angel would happily sacrifice her in the name of progress for demon communications, particularly with the fate of Eli fresh in her memory and the corporate spin of Wolfram and Hart ringing in her ears – ‘if you don’t kill – we won’t kill you’

Angel asks her to go find Fred and Harmony detours to the lunchroom to get herself together. She finds Dan rifling through the fridge and instantly accuses him of tampering with her blood supply. Dan has no idea what she is talking about and is quite terrified until another girl steps in and knocks Dan out. But rather than helping, she reveals that she wants Harmony to get the blame, wants her to get fired. Harmony is incensed:

Harmony: Why would you want to? Hey! It was you! . . . Who are you?

Turns out, this girl, Tamika, has a real thing about Harmony. Tamika used to sit next to Harmony in the steno pool, for all of about five weeks. Then Harmony was pulled out of obscurity to the best desk in the building and gets to hob-knob with the in-crowd while Tamika, who types 80 words per minute and has been with Wolfram and Hart for five years gets nowhere! Resentment issues indeed. Harmony is bemused but from Tamika’s perspective she’s on the A-team. She’s at all the important meetings; she’s on the fast track. She’s going places.

It’s a strange thing, perspective; strange how the same situation can look completely different to two different people. To Fred, Angel is a helper. He helps the helpless, that’s what he does. To Harmony, he’s a chopper; a chop first, ask questions later kind of guy. Same bloke; different perspectives. Harmony sees herself stuck on the outside of team Angel, Tamika thinks she’s securely ensconced within.

Turns out Tamika is a vampire too, so the whole murder and frame-up plot – not so surprising. And hey, Harmony has learnt a few moves since her bitch-slap fight with Xander in The Initative (B4.07). So they fight, with chopsticks; quite dangerous for a couple of vampires really.

Meanwhile, the conference is not going so well. Tempers are frayed on all sides and there is a substantial amount of hissing and growling and clicking going on. Oh, and they are still demanding that sacrifice. Suddenly Tamika and Harmony crash through the office window, landing on the conference table. Harmony stakes the other girl with a chopstick instantly turning her to dust. Angel looks startled but the demon clans are satisfied, ready to sit down and talk at last.

In the aftermath, Fred, Rudy and Lorne have been liberated from the closet and Angel tells Harmony that she should have come to him for help. She assumes that she’ll be fired but Angel gives her another chance – perhaps it was her saying that she has to work twice as hard at being good because she doesn’t have a soul. It must have resonated, even just a bit. It’s been damn hard for Angel to do the right thing at times, and he does have a soul.

Later Harmony is sitting alone in the bar pouring out her woes to the bartender, lamenting the fact that she got no thanks for saving the summit, just a demand for coffee. Spike appears; he’s not gone to Europe after all:

Spike: I was on my way, had a boat ticket and all. Then I put a little thinking into it. A man can't go out in a bloody blaze of glory, savin' the world, and then show up 3 months later, tumbling off a cruise ship in the south of France. I mean, I'd love to, don't get me wrong, but, it's hard to top an exit like that … I expect Buffy would be happy enough to see me. It's just, I gave up my life for her, the world, and if I show up now, flesh and bone, my grand finale won't hold much weight. All of it... won't matter.

So, Spike has fears and worries and for the first time ever we see them stand in the way of what he wants. Perhaps the soul also allows him to hear that little voice in the back of his head that cautions and stresses and vocalises fears and makes him think of all the reasons why he shouldn’t and all the things that could go wrong. Maybe the idea that Buffy would certainly remember him fondly is too precious to give up. Maybe those words spoken, those words denied in the Hellmouth are too terrifying to even contemplate. What if what she said was not true? . . . What if it was? And so we discover, if we didn’t already know, that Spike is not all bravado. It’s all an act. He’s scared. Scared about seeing Buffy, worried that his sacrifice will be diminished in her eyes, unsure if he will be loved – and thus, this determines his underlying motivation for a good portion of the remainder of the series. Spike makes a conscious decision to stay away from Buffy and see what he can make of himself without her.

Harmony can sympathise with the fear of not mattering but here we are shown the vast amount of distance that separates the souled and unsouled vampires. Spike is able to balm Harmony’s wounded sense of self-worth by pointing out that she does matter because someone tried to frame her for murder; that because others are envious of her, she matters. Yet the same explanation does not satisfy him. By his own logic, the fact that he mattered enough for someone to go to all the effort of retrieving the amulet, sending it to Angel and then re-corporialising him should have Spike feeling pretty pleased with himself. But it doesn’t. He wants to matter, not to an anonymous mass of envious co-workers, but to a blonde slayer somewhere in Europe and, one suspects, to a frequently grumpy grand sire. He wants to matter for the right reasons and so, he stays.

Next up: Soul Purpose

#angel #Spike #harmony #angel season 5 #Angel the series #harm's way

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myreia · 1 year ago

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1, 6, 22 for the ffxiv asks? c:

Thanks, Meredith! 🖤✨

01. Where were they during the Calamity?

Aureia was in the Garlean provinces and with her special ops unit. She was known as Kira back then, and was the second-in-command of her unit with her brother as commander in the field. They were due to be rewarded for their service and a mission going well when the news of what happened in Carteneau reached them.

The Calamity only reinforced something she had been feeling for quite some time, leading her to question everything she knew about her life, the country she was raised in, her purpose and what she was being used for. It took her several months to grapple with it and make the decision the defect (a messy incident in and of itself, she had to fight her whole unit--people she once trusted and cared very much about--on the way out).

06. How did they deal with the massacre on the Waking Sands?

Not well. She was very blinded with rage and grief and the sense of powerlessness. It's the worst encounter she had had with Garlemald since she fled. Her anger manifested in a lot of different ways--mostly at herself at being so scared and holding her tongue. She has a wealth of knowledge about how the Empire operates, she saw the holes in the Waking Sands' defenses, she feared something like this would happen because the location felt so insecure, so underprepared, they didn't know who they were dealing with, not really…

But she put herself first, choosing to bury her history deep rather than help. It's a wake-up call that she can't sit on the sidelines, shut up, keep her head down, go where she needs to go and do what she's told. She knows things the others don't--she needs to put that to use.

She didn't realize how much she actually cared about them all until she lost them.

22. Do you have a unique tale for their job class or is it pretty much like what it is in the game?

Most of Aureia's job classes follow parts of the job quest storylines, but have unique spins on them. Her timeline is 10 years long, so there's a lot of space to shove things in different places. She's a combat specialist and she's been a trained soldier since her youth, so she is canonically an omni-classer. She can pick up pretty much anything and use it, although her skill level will vary and she tends to gravitate towards certain fighting styles over others.

Black Mage is what she knows best, but Red Mage becomes much more important to her later in life in terms of personal growth and balance. Dark Knight and Reaper are what she goes for when her back is against the wall, but they're both extremely unsafe for her to use long-term. By post-ENW, she's mostly reaching for Gunbreaker and Sage.

Mostly Canon-ish

THM/BLM is pretty much canon for her, same with GLD (but not PLD). Both are part of her year of Ul'dah adventures pre-ARR when she's new to the city and trying to scrape together a living.

GNB is mostly canon, with a few additions because of her Garlean history (Vitus Messalla knows exactly who she is, what her unit did, who exactly she killed, and how her defection went down).

DRK is mostly canon, though I'm still fiddling with her relationship with Sid and Fray.

CNJ no, but parts of WHM yes (namely the stuff with Sanche and Gatty). She is also friends with Eschiva.

SGE, yes. Side adventure post-Shadowbringers not long after she expresses an interest in learning how to heal. She doubles down on techniques when she's in Old Sharlayan and starts experimenting; SGE is one of the skills she reaches for the most later in life.

RPR is pretty similar to its quests, with the addition that she's known Drusilla for years and finally breaks down and accepts her offer because she's at her wits end pre-Endwalker and is in bad enough of a mental place to start looking for last resorts.

ROG/NIN has parts that are canon, parts that aren't. The main difference is that Aureia has been very uncertain about using dual daggers because that's her brother's fighting style; she still has the knife she took from him when she thought she killed him when she defected. Training with Oboro opens her up to different skills and a new way of approaching it; she heals from some of her familial trauma by meeting the NIN characters.

MCH, she gets pointed towards Stephanivien by Hilda; I'm not sure how much of the early quests are canon for her, but the Stormblood ones definitely are.

DNC mostly all canon, although Aureia never performs. Troupe Falsaim digs her out of the crowd one day based on her natural grace and she goes along with it because she's intrigued by the fighting style and wants to learn it. She gets in a little too deep and sticks around because she's very concerned they're handling magic they're unequipped to deal with and she's worried they're going to get themselves killed.

RDM is pretty much all canon. She's very fond of X'hrun and Arya; X'hrun's the only mentor figure she trusts implicitly.

Unique Tale

I love the AST quests very much, but she picks up celestial magic from Urianger post-Shadowbringers because she lost a bet (I do think she still runs into Leveva at some point, but she may not be ASTing at the time).

MNK is non-canon; she goes to the Pugilists' Guild in early ARR patches because she can't cast anymore after fighting Lahabrea (residual trauma from using destructive magic against Thancred, she almost killed him). Fighting hand-to-hand is for when she gets scrappy or if she loses her weapon or if for whatever reason she can't draw on aether anymore. The techniques help ground her, and later in life she doesn't truly fight hand-to-hand anymore but she still does the exercises.

For DRG, she started training as a dragoon during Heavensward as an extension of her black mage physicality (she's no turret caster, she's very physical - staffs can be lances!! She will hit you with the pointy end as she sets you on fire!), so the LNC/DRG quests are firmly non-canon for her.

ARC/BRD isn't canon. She can shoot a bow, but not very well. She had to learn on the fly because it was the only weapon she could get off a corpse after falling down into the Palace of the Dead pit. She can't play instruments at all. She has a difficult relationship with music, and certain tones or musical phrases can trigger bad memories and reactions.

ARN/SCH/SMN are not canon. She learns how to summon during some down time in Old Sharlayan near the start of Endwalker. Her carbuncle is very weak, very small, and has no colour and Alphinaud and Alisaie get a little too into helping her figure out what is going on there. The more comfortable she gets with summoning and the more she learns, her carbuncle grows and gets his ruby colouring, but he's always a bit… small and feral and will bite.

I don't know where WAR or SAM fit at this point, since I haven't played much of them!! I will find out soon, I'm sure. 😂I don't think WAR will be canon at all, she's not really a greataxe person. But SAM... we'll see. 👀

#ffxiv #aureia malathar #oc tag #answered

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takaraphoenix · 2 years ago

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Spike for the character ask game please, and if that has been done already, Izzy Lightwood

OHOHOHO MY BOY! YES you can ask my boy!! Blorbos are always welcome *^* And I'll take Izzy too ;D Thanks for playing, dear! <3

SPIKE:

Favorite romantic ship(s): BUFFY by a mile, but also Drusilla because Spike would not be Spike without Drusilla and these two with their Morticia/Gomez vibe *chef's kiss*, also in a very decided "I do not want to see them date ever but I need the canon that these bitches are exes, it is very important to me, and to them" Angel and Spike

LGBT+ headcanon(s): bisexual, I know he never gets a canon label assigned and they treated it more as a ~joke~ but they gave me "Spike and Angel fucked" and if they thought that I'm not taking that for my bisexual polyamorous Spike (twas an evil polycule <3), also I headcanon him as enby!

Job headcanon (in an AU/or future): this loser is unemployed and meant to be a trophy husband to his girlboss wife <3

Favorite canon thing about them: that he is bisexual, even if they don't label it and treat it as a joke, and that he loves with his whole chest and heart and everything like this man went and got his soul back for love!!

Least favorite canon thing about them: *dissociates as I stare at Seeing Red* I hate you, Joss, for hating Spike (and for many other things)

IZZY LIGHTWOOD:

Favorite romantic ship(s): LYDIA, Raphael, Simon, Aline, Helen, Clary, in an AU I like the idea of her and Sebastian

Favorite platonic dynamic(s): Jace and Alec!, Clary, I still think her and Magnus would have had tremendous potential if the show cared about platonic dynamics (fashion icons with snark who care about Alec? C'mon. How did they never bond)

LGBT+ headcanon(s): mmh I don't think I ever really decided whether I headcanon her as bisexual or pansexual...

Job headcanon (in an AU/or future): either a doctor, or a tattoo artist/jewel designer (that cover story of hers kind of stuck with me and I like to keep the Shadowhunter aesthetic of runes in some kind of way through tattoos)

Animal shifter headcanon: I mean, a snake offers itself to her, but I lean toward birds for the Shadowhunters and there, I like to make her a peacock

Favorite canon thing about them: that she can do basically anything, I mean she is a badass fighter, she is a forensic scientist, a general scientist and kind of doctor?, she can forge weapons, what CAN'T she do!

Least favorite canon thing about them: Ironically, the same as my favorite thing, because while I can use it as "she is very talented", on a writing-level it just always came off as "we need a Shadowhunter to do x uuuh let's use Izzy" and I didn't like that, because it didn't feel like it was about her

Character Ask Game

#Isabelle Lightwood #Shadowhunters #Spike BtVS #Buffy the Vampire Slayer #Character Ask Game #send me asks

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annyankers · 2 years ago

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hi train! you're sucking me back into your lore too (it's soooo good and i'm invested) so tell me more about your version of darla?

dkfghkls Sorry this took a bit to get to I've been in the Pit with some other stuff that kept making me forget this was in my inbox rip

LET'S TALK DARLAAAAAAAAAAA [AIR HORNS]

Darla My Beloved, My One, My Only. My changes to Darla are honestly super minimal on like, a base level. I love Julie in the role and I think she builds a truly Iconic Character.

Mainly my thing is that it's Fucking Dumb And Stupid that she dies. In one s6 btvs/ats crossover/combination fanfic I swear to the GODS I'll finish plotting and writing I use an oc to help make sure she survives the pregnancy but honestly I don't care how you do it. She Just Does.

I like to keep Connor and her pregnancy because I think it creates a really interesting and unique conflict for Darla that plays well with her utterly heartless and self-centered character. Sharing Connor's soul is the second brush she's had having with one in under a year after 400 years without one. That's super duper fun and interesting to work with. It's fun to have her be conflicted about still being a heartless bitch and maybe caring for at least 1 (one) person just on the principle that they're helpless and cannot survive without someone who cares.

I don't really like the idea of "motherhood makes her better" because that's uhhhhh.... that can be ummm....... but I think there's something to be said for "jerkoff takes some responsibility for her actions and the lives of others". At the end of the day, Darla is still a vampire and still soulless but now she's got some Complex Feelings about stuff and also things. She's more in the Spike Zone of soullessness and how to deal with it in the face of doing shit like giving a fuck about people compared to Angel's whole vibe about the topic or the Master's -- which is her previous stance.

Connor is Her Baby, he's an extension of Her which is important to the douchey narcissist in her. Even after some brushes with having a soul I don't think she'd even CONSIDER a change of heart or just an adjustment to her lifestyle for anyone who's not somehow "Hers". Darla is about Darla before she's about anyone or anything else. Connor being From Her forcibly extends her circle of Self Interest and cracks open the Padora's Box of Possibly Giving A Shit About Others.

The things she felt while she shared his soul also have a big impact on her, she does care about him and his well being. Her stance on the rest of humanity's wellbeing? Less concerned lol. She's not interested necessarily in ~becoming a better person~ but she DOES realize she has to make some change, some life choices, and get better at covering some shit up because Connor WILL look to her as a role model as he grows up and she'd like to minimize the damage she does to him lol. Also recognizes she needs to make some lifestyle changes so that she's got more than just Drusilla helping her raise and protect Connor or WORST SCENARIO IF SHE DOESN'T-- have that asshole Angel STEAL HER SON FROM HER AND DENY HER ACCESS because she's "A Psychotic Heartless Murderer" or whatever dumb shit he's wanking about now. Loser.

She's TRULY the Vegeta or the Hiei she IS the Regina George and you DO have to bribe her into helping. She's a barely domesticated villain she's only here because all these numb nut goody two shoes can't muster up the spine to say no when she asks them to babysit. She and Spike actually end up having much more familial relationship because they're both working through all this Weird Shit about being vampires with no soul who're also grappling with doing weak ass pansy nice guy shit like losers but also it's weirdly fulfilling??? tf???? Since when tf did they like kids-- and not just as dinner??? what happened here???

She's fond of Cordelia because she's Mean, they bully Angel for sport. She and Buffy probably end up with a weird chilled out vibe eventually as two very sexy narrative foils of each other. Shadow selves Baybee. Darla and Anya would be ride or die let's just be real about that they're both unhinged. Illyria is the only person Darla is afraid of lol. Darla and Angel have the most CURSED on and off again sex relationship that torments everyone around them.

Basically Darla is the Cassandra Truth in a lot of ways for ATS. She's the Greek Chorus pointing out all the flaws and issues with Angel's dumbass plans and how X is a trap and OBVIOUSLY So-And-So is upset you ninny. She doesn't listen any of them she's the oldest person in the room she's not taking orders from CHILDREN. Angel is 100000x more competent with her around, it's almost like she was always the brains of the operation lol. Basically she and Drusilla are the muppet critics who're also raising a baby and sometimes help fight crime but only because if they don't they'll have to pay rent.

#answered #darla (train's version)#btvs #ats #meta

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impalementation · 4 years ago

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spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 2

part 1: “When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

“Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

For all that I’ve just discussed all of the ways that the first three seasons subvert the romance of Angel, it’s also true that the writing still fundamentally takes him—and Buffy’s relationship with him—seriously. To some degree it has to. Because Buffy is the show’s emotional anchor, if the writing didn’t take her emotions seriously, the audience wouldn’t either. It needs to be sympathetic to her (regardless of whether it endorses her, per se), or else it would run the risk of losing all pathos. Making fun of Buffy and Angel makes for a great gag in “The Zeppo”, and fits with the general way that season three undermines the romanticism of them, but if that was the show’s attitude the whole way through, it would come off as simply meanspirited. It would seem like it was making fun of Buffy for being a stupid teenage girl in love, instead of sympathetically depicting the human experience of being caught up in big, tempestuous emotions.

But at the same time, if the writing were to only take romance seriously, that wouldn’t feel very true either. Or fit with the general Buffy ethos, which loves to flip between serious and silly moods in order to capture all sides of whatever it’s exploring. And therein is the magic of Spike’s addition to the chemistry of the show. Practically from his introduction, Spike parallels Buffy’s romantic storylines, except unlike Buffy, Spike is allowed to do the comic or morally incorrect thing. His status as a soulless vampire means that the show is free to use him to point out both the sillier and darker sides of romance, without tainting Buffy’s heroism or the seriousness of her emotions.

In “Becoming, Part 2” for example, Spike is free to explicitly say that he’s saving the world because he wants Dru back, and leaves Buffy to die once he’s gotten her. Whereas Buffy, despite also wanting the person she loves back, ultimately chooses to save the world rather than keep him. Spike allows the episode to show what Buffy’s, or anyone’s, romantic id might want, without Buffy herself going through with it. He also allows the episode to show the ridiculousness of the romantic id, by giving him comic moments like “Didn’t say I wouldn’t”, or “God, he’s going to kill her”, or beating Angel with a tire iron, or any of the times that Buffy makes fun of him (“The whole earth may be sucked into hell and you want my help ‘cause your girlfriend’s a big ho?”). All of which is in contrast to the tragic seriousness of Buffy’s heartbreak. Spike in season two is not a character without pathos; in fact, he has quite a lot of pathos that parallels Buffy’s--think of the tortured close-up on his face as Angel and Drusilla taunt him in “I Only Have Eyes For You.” But neither is he limited or defined by that pathos.

He plays a similar role in both “Lovers Walk” and “The Harsh Light of Day”. In “Lovers Walk” he’s devastated by the loss of Drusilla, as Buffy was devastated over Angel in “Anne”, yet the way they get out of their respective depressions is very different. Tonally, “Anne” plays Buffy’s misery extremely straight, and when Buffy decides to stop moping and become an agent in her own life again, her version of “agency” means getting in touch with her leadership and heroism. Whereas for Spike, agency means a love spell, or torturing Drusilla into liking him again. The romantic id tries to re-possess the object of its desire, whereas the ego or superego is able to set that desire aside, whether or not it wants to. More obviously, Spike in “Lovers Walk” parallels all of the other characters and their romantic situations. All of them are behaving somewhat selfishly or self-destructively in their love lives (Xander and Willow cheating, Buffy and Angel torturing themselves with friendship) but are in denial about the fact that they’re doing so. And then Spike blazes in with his version of love that is selfish, scary, grandiose, charming, pathetic, genuine, and absurd by turns—and suddenly, everyone’s romantic weaknesses are out in the open. It makes perfect sense that Spike finishes the episode gleeful and optimistic, because “Lovers Walk” as a whole represents a triumph of the romantic id over the romantic ego, if only temporarily. And it’s all handled with a brilliantly whiplash-y mix of comedy and tragedy because at the end of the day, the power of the romantic id really is ridiculous. The way that Spike turns on a dime between being scary and pathetic parallels the way it’s at once absurd, and kind of frightening, that your id would make you, say: cheat on your wonderful high school boyfriend, just to have a chance with your childhood crush.

Because Spike is often treated as the show’s romantic id, the writing’s relationship to his romanticism gets complicated. Like Angel, there is something romantic in his aesthetic and behavior, even if he doesn’t look like Angel’s conventional Byronic hero. He wears a long, dramatic coat, poses rebelliously with his cigarettes, and dotes on his paramour with the elaborate attentiveness of Gomez Addams. But unlike Angel, he is not just a romantic symbol or object, he is also a romantic subject. That is to say, Spike’s romantic storylines tend to emphasize his romantic desires, and use those desires as motivation. By contrast, Angel’s storylines don’t really have much to do with whether he’s “gotten” Buffy or not—instead they have to do with whether Buffy has gotten him. The fact that Buffy and Spike are both treated as romantic agents in this way is a key indication that the two characters are meant to parallel each other. Angel’s side of the Buffy/Angel romantic storyline has to do with whether he can control himself around Buffy, whereas Buffy’s has to do with whether he likes her or wants to be with her. Similarly, Spike’s romantic storylines hinge on the status of whether Drusilla or Buffy want him.

Not only is Spike a subject when it comes to romantic relationships, he’s also a subject when it comes to Romantic thinking. He is a character practically defined by his romanticism. He aspires to romantic things, and therefore can be used to poke at romantic outlooks. Despite his grand love for Drusilla for instance, she still cheats on him, and he still has to knock her out, do a love spell, or torture her to get her back. Or he’ll make grand pronouncements that are immediately followed by things like getting tasered by the Initiative or falling into an open grave. Because of this, Spike is able to parallel Buffy’s Romantic thinking as well, not just her romantic desires. Notice how in “The Freshman”, when Buffy is feeling out of touch with her Romantic Slayer self, that she has a scene where she’s treated like Spike--she delivers a dramatic threat and then falls through a ceiling. Or in “Some Assembly Required” when she obeys her id and hotly demands that Angel listen to her, she falls into an open grave. This kind of comedy has a lot in common with the deadpan Angel humor discussed in the last section, but notice that the target of that humor is Angel’s romantic objecthood rather than an outlook Angel has. Angel’s role, when it comes to romanticism, has to do with how Buffy and the audience sees him, whereas Spike’s role (at least in the early seasons) has to do with how Spike sees, period.

The show doesn’t just poke at Spike’s outlook though, it also uses him to poke at other people’s romanticism. In season two, for example, Spike is the one who gets impatient with Angel’s grandstanding, sarcastically explaining that “we do still kill people, you know” and “it’s a big rock.” In “Lovers Walk” he’s the one who cuts through Buffy and Angel’s drama, reducing it to “googly eyes” with a dismissive handwave (while also building it up in his projection-y “you’ll never be friends” speech). In “Something Blue” he points out that Willow is barely holding it together. In “Pangs” he’s the one who brings the debate over the Chumash nihilistically back down to earth, and in “The Yoko Factor” he schools Adam on Yoko not really splitting the Beatles apart. In other words, Spike attempts to see both the romance and the reality of things. He is the avatar of both, which I would argue makes complete sense, because in many ways romance and reality are really two sides of the same coin. Poetry and stories are fake and bigger than life, but you use them to tell truths. But being the id, his point of view can be hypocritical and biased as much as insightful, just like anyone’s gut reactions and poetic notions can be. After all, you can use poetry to tell lies, too.

Lastly, on a meta level, there is a tackiness to Spike that undermines his romantic qualities better than making him dangerous ever could. Spike likes Passions and Dawson’s Creek (in contrast to Angel reading La Nausée by firelight). He lives in a crypt, but the vibe is more “homeless” than “Dracula” (in contrast to Angel’s tastefully decorated apartment). Spike may act like a romantic, but what does it say about how romantic romanticism really is, that the romantic things he likes can be so unrefined? And with the chip, he’s rendered impotent and pathetic. To me, there’s no more perfect image of how the writing uses Spike than the image of him in his black coat, red shirt, and big, leather boots, blasted under the fluorescent light of his Initiative cell. Light that makes his aesthetic seem suddenly fake and silly and surreal. For all that the writing subverts Angel, he is still the kind of character who gets to disappear mysteriously into the shadows, because he is the romance that Buffy has been forced to abandon. Whereas Spike is left with no place to hide.

If Angel represented the idea of binaries, then Spike represents the lack of them. There is a reason that Spike invites so many queer readings. He is a vampire, but he loves. He is an object, but he’s a subject. He tells the truth, but he lies. He is a villain, but he is a hero. He is masculine, but he is feminine. He is insightful, but he’s a fool. He is pathetic, but he is sympathetic. He is on the outside of the Scoobies, but he is on the inside. These aspects of him are not split between different personas, but exist within him simultaneously. It is telling that the show introduces human, mythos-bending vampires like Spike and Dru in a season about disillusionment, and it is telling that Spike’s role in the show becomes ascendant in the seasons after Buffy leaves Angel and his split personality behind. As Buffy begins to reckon more deeply with her id, and her dualities, she will begin to reckon with Spike.

part 3: “Something effulgent”: Season five and the construction of Spike the romantic

#romanticism series #buffy #spike #angel #s2 #s3 #s4 #gen #btvs

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theleafpile · 3 years ago

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Bear with me but I’ve been thinking again about a way to change up the storyline of season 2 to make Angelus into the villain he was supposed to be, Mr. Suave It Takes Real Artistry Death Guy.

So about midway through the season Angel has his One Moment of Pure Happiness moment with Buffy and by the end of the season he’s re-ensouled but sent to the Hell dimension. Angelus is described as the kind of vampire who enjoys mental torture, who likes to kill people from the inside. “To kill this girl, you have to love her.” He doesn’t take Spike’s “fist and fangs” approach but prefers some “finesse.” He finds beauty and pleasure in it. Unlike his human counterpart Liam, Angelus is supposedly cool and focused.

But we never see it. After one encounter with Buffy (in his apartment the morning after) he immediately fesses up that he’s soulless, revealing himself to be Angelus again. Then he begins going after her friends, starting with killing Jenny Calendar in an act of self-preservation. I guess you could argue that since Angelus has been waiting in the wings for so long he’s grown impatient, but that’s not how he’s been talked up to be. He’s the vampire who drove Drusilla insane, after all. That takes patience!

So here’s what I would have liked to see:

Firstly, a stark visual difference between Angel and Angelus. I would have liked to see Angelus frowning at Angel’s wardrobe, at all the soft shirts and big leather jackets. In the beginning he’d pick the nicest among them, some sleek and more subdued number that still matches Angel’s usual style, even if it’s a little nicer than his usual threads. Angelus is a snappy dresser, with some timeless elegance. He’s vain and holds himself above all others, and his clothing reflects that. After he goes shopping, he gets nothing that draws the eye too much, of course, but prefers quality, expensive brands. And the perfect character to bring up the difference? Cordelia. She is very impressed with his new style, complimenting his newfound taste. This can irk Buffy, whom Cordelia in a snide one-off manages to make her feel frumpy or tasteless in comparison. This can also spawn a small crisis moment for Buffy, who (like Willow later) complains that she doesn’t have enough “mature” clothes, that all her clothes reflect her teenager-ness, and if she’s going to be with Angel on a more “mature” level (now that they’ve had sex) then she should look like the woman she’s becoming. (Becoming. Get it?)

When he and Buffy do have sex again (and they must, to keep up the ruse) Angel is . . . different. I mean, what did Buffy expect? He did the whole make love thing for taking her virginity, and it was sweet, but he obviously wouldn't be like that all the time. He's older, and more experienced, and he wants to be with her, and knows she can take him being a little . . . rougher, than before. She's just new to this and that's why she's all confused and unsure. And this is definitely not something she'll bring up to Angel until Willow forces her to in her best-friend-and-I-care-about-you well-meaningness, but after talking with Angel Buffy really only feels worse.

Throughout, Angelus plays the loving boyfriend. He continues to play the hero, staking vampires as necessary and using the opportunity of splitting up with Buffy during a patrol to take a victim for himself, then acting all self-deprecating in a way she feels she has to soothe when he claims that he just wasn’t fast enough, that he staked the vamp but wasn’t able to save the victim in time. When the gypsy subplot comes up--Jenny’s uncle can still come to town, Jenny can still discover the ensoulment spell--Angel(us) plays hurt by the accusation. The other Scoobies step in to his defense, putting Jenny and Giles on the outs. Of course he’s not soulless! He’s one of us! He’s a good guy trying his best and you’re making it worse by thinking he could lose control of himself so easily! With some behind-the-scenes machinations from Angelus, this leads to Jenny and her uncle leaving town . . . or so everyone thinks. Again, in an act of self-preservation, Angelus stalks Jenny and kills both her and her uncle--knowing he’s risking the ire of the gypsies who cursed him.

The loss of Jenny (again, just thinking she’s left town, but is also not returning his phone calls or emails) throws Giles off his game. Angel(us) steps up to relieve the poor Watcher of some of his burdens so he can take some time to himself. Angel(us) helps with research, leading the gang in that more than he ever did. He helps determine when and where Buffy should patrol. This begins a subtle, but noticeable, shift in control.

Obviously Angelus doesn’t want Buffy around him all the time. While he’s always playing nice with Joyce, he turns it up a notch, and tells Buffy that out of respect to her mother he doesn’t want her sneaking out at night to see him anymore or spending the night over at her place. There will be plenty of time for that soon enough. She’s still in high school! I know how fleeting lives can be, he says, especially those of our parents. I wish I’d spent more time with mine instead of fighting all the time. So Buffy caves. We see her getting closer with Joyce, which helps Angelus immensely. No more nights over at his place, except for maybe the occasional weekend . . . when he can’t manufacture some unavoidable evil that takes all night to fight.

Next, I’d like to see Angel do what Spike did with Adam: begin fracturing the friend group. He wants to isolate Buffy as much as possible, but he can’t do that by saying bad things, like Spike did later. No, all must seem to be in her best interest. For example, he could pressure Willow to look into colleges out of state. Look at Buffy, he tells her, when she becomes reluctant. She’s doing better than ever. He can sense the latent power building in Willow and wants her as far away as possible. Maybe he sets up Oz with a once-in-a-lifetime band touring opportunity (without anyone knowing it was him, of course). With Oz gone for months, what’s to keep Willow here? Doesn’t she know that he’ll follow wherever she goes? And he’s just as smart as she is--doesn’t he deserve a chance at a fulfilling academic life just as much as she does?

This brings up Xander. What to do with Xander stumps Angelus to the point of disbelief, and he becomes increasingly frustrated witht he boy in a way that’s getting harder to hide. He considers killing Xander in some kind of accident, but knows that he has to take the boy out of Buffy’s life in a way that makes it look like it was his own free will, like he did with Jenny. He tables the issue.

Then, Angelus has to make Buffy reliant on him, not just as a Watcher stand-in but also as the love of her life. So what does he do? He sets things up so it makes him appear like he’s interested in Cordelia. Nothing big--a smile, a laugh at her joke, telling the gang that some idea of hers is a good one. Angelus and Cordelia are never alone together, of course. They’re just friends! Angel doesn’t have many friends, right? So to make one is such a big deal and Buffy should be happy for him, right? Naturally, Cordelia soaks up all the attention and crumbs of affection. God, she’s so easy to play. Buffy becomes paranoid. It gets to the point where Buffy wants Cordelia out of her life. She’s just getting in the way! And who steps up for her? Xander. Accusations fly. He’d rather defend Cordy than be Buffy’s best friend? Angelus is loving it. Everything’s looking up.

Then, the event occurs that’s the beginning of his downfall. He gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The smallest sliver of doubt at his intentions and excuse begin to creep in. Xander suggests seeking out Jenny or her people for some answer, way on the D.L., to which Giles replies that he hasn’t heard form her in months. Something about this sits wrong. They all seem to have vanished. This becomes suspicious.

Sensing this, Angelus doubles down. He brings Buffy to a nice date, like the ice rink. He reassures her that if he were to lose his soul, she would know. She would sense it, intuitively, as the Vampire Slayer but also as his girl. They are just that close. Besides, he adds cheekily, I’d probably just slaughter all of your friends. Then you’d know.

They hug. First we see Angelus’s smug grin. Then we see Buffy, who looks decidedly unsure.

After this, the season’s Big Bad ramps up its game. Spike and Drusilla returning work in nicely here. Angelus, unable to help himself, reveals that he’s back to them, but wants/orders them to stay out of it. The Slayer is his kill.

Spike is chill with that. Why? Because now he knows he has ammunition to get the Slayer on his side against Angelus, whom he wants payback against for any number of slights, the least of which is sleeping with Drusilla again. Spike is not on Angelus’s team, but Angelus, in his cockiness, doesn’t realize that.

There comes a point, near the finale, where the characters are at their lowest. The friends have separated. Giles feels lost. Buffy is second guessing herself, her instincts, resulting in her getting unusually hurt during a basic fight.

But who figures out the truth first? Cordelia. (Which works in the context of Angel 1x1 too.) Cordelia goes to reveal the truth of Angelus to the others. Angelus interferes and tries to talk her out of it, but she is not buying it, pal. She knows an evil vamp when she sees one, and you are it. Angelus, done with wasting time, drinks her dry--to the point of death. He leaves her.

Drawn by the scent, other vamps come sniffing around. Buffy slays them, and in a heroic moment where Buffy puts aside how she feels about Cordelia, saves her life. At the hospital, with the gang all there (minus Angel) there’s some confusion, but Cordelia is absolutely adamant that it was Angel who attacked her--and why.

Brought together by this unlikely event, the Scoobies realize their worst fear has come to fruition: Angelus has returned.

The question becomes . . . how long has he been back?

Now, that’s a villain.

#btvs #btvs meta #angel #angelus

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dontmindmyshadowhunting · 4 years ago

Text

Meet Drusilla Blackthorn (fan fic)

This is Chap 3 of “Welcome to Faerieland”, a sequel to my Kitty Fan Fic "To never being parted" although it can be read as a standalone story.

I am introducing Dru & Jaime in this Chapter.

And of course, Kit & Ty are being as gooey as ever.

AO3 Link here.

*****

“Look at you trying to flee from the crime scene.”

Jaime startled and his hand froze on the doorknob. He whirled to face Dru, who was watching him with a glitter of amusement in her Blackthorn blue-green eyes. She was lying on her side, arm angled upwards, head on hand. Her large black shirt hugged her soft curves and barely covered her thighs, revealing a criminally vast expanse of her smooth milky skin. A message was printed at the level of her chest. Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234. Apparently, it had been a gift from Jace. Her long dark brown hair was pulled in a braid, crossing over one of her shoulders. He knew from staring at her beautiful face while she was sleeping or otherwise unaware, that tiny freckles sprinkled her rosy cheeks, that her long dark eyelashes - not unlike her brothers’ - followed a perfect curve as if she was constantly wearing mascara and that the luscious red of her full lips deepened when she bit them. As she was doing right now. He gulped and hoped with everything he had that she couldn’t hear the loud thump thump of his frantic heart.

“I am not-”

“Relaaax. You look like you just hid a corpse in the cupboard and are trying to make a run for it.”

How could she not understand? When he had met her three years ago, he had thought she was cute, sweet, funny, dependable and - admittedly - already a badass. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had occurred but, over time, sincere friendship had turned into deep affection and deep affection had somehow turned into lust and… love? In any case, there definitely was lust. He fought the urge to cross himself reflexively.

She had never looked her age, and that hadn’t changed with the years. She had entirely grown out of her baby fat, her features sharpening and her limbs lengthening, but she still had a voluptuous figure. She looked like a sexy grown woman, and certainly not like a sixteen-year-old girl. But she was, he reminded himself.

Even if the mundane statutory rape laws dit not apply to Shadowhunters, he still felt like he was breaking some kind of unspoken rule, thirsting after a sixteen-year-old. It didn’t help that the package came with an army of very scary brothers. The villains from Dru’s favorite horror movies had nothing on them. The thought of Julian Blackthorn alone discovering the truth was enough to keep him up at night.

“You know what it will look like if I bump into one of your brothers. If they find out I have spent the whole night here…”

“So? Nothing actually happened. And you did nothing wrong except fall asleep in front of “Old Boy”...”

“Dru- I am serious…”

“So am I! This movie is awesome! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Dru…”

Dru sighed and moved to a sitting position against the headboard, knees up, arms encircling her legs. Jaime tried not to stare as her shirt lifted higher over her thighs.

“Jaime. You know what your problem is? You still haven’t gotten into your head that it’s not my brothers you should be afraid of. The Blackthorn women are much scarier.”

“I can believe that…” Jaime muttered under his breath.

“Anyway, don’t worry about them, they’re probably going to sleep in since they’ve been very busy last night. Mark with Cristina, Julian with Emma, and Ty with… Kit.”

Jaime’s eyes widened.

“You think Ty and Kit…?”

Dru lifted both her dark eyebrows at him. “Are you seriously asking me to confirm or elaborate on my brother’s sex life?”

“No, no, of course not…” Jaime felt heat rushing to his cheeks. Why did everyone get to have sex but him? Maybe because you've been pining for a sixteen-year-old for months now, he reminded himself for the thousandth time. He wanted to punch himself.

“Just kidding, Jaime. Look at you blushing… Wait- I hope you don’t have a problem with my brother being with… a guy?”

She suddenly leaned forward, her gaze piercing.

Jaime knew how fiercely protective of her siblings Dru was. She had quite a reputation at the Shadowhunter Academy, as someone not to be messed with or rubbed the wrong way. She had somehow found a way to acquire knowledge on people and discover their most dirty secrets. She had no qualms using the intelligence when it came to protecting her family or the Blackthorns’ reputation. Although she did not hesitate to break a few arms and ribs to prove her point, most of the time, she operated in a more subtle way. With finesse, one could say.

A Shadowhunter student who had had the ill-conceived idea of calling Mark Blackthorn “the Unseelie King’s sex toy” was living proof of that. Jaime had not heard the full details of the story but it apparently involved a wide collection of dildos, very enthusiastic piskies, and had earned the boy several nicknames that he would probably never part from.

Judging by the look on Dru’s face now, Jaime’s life was hanging by the thread of his answer. She didn’t need to worry.

“No! Hey! What the hell? Of course not! You know me, right?”

She relaxed, leaning casually against the headboard, her arms crossed behind her head.

“Not as much as I would like to...” she replied, with a wink. “But yeah, I guess so.” A wicked grin split across her face.

Forgive me, Father, for I am this close to becoming a sinner, Jaime thought as he hurriedly escaped from the room.

****

Kit grabbed Ty by the arm just as he was slipping out of bed.

“Not so fast, Centurion.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Are you trying to sneak out? You got what you came for and now you’re tossing me like an unpaired sock? I am wounded.”

Ty just stared at him.

Hmmm. Maybe too early for humour.

“I don’t think I’ve had my fill yet, that’s all…” Kit clarified, as he stretched like a cat. Or a lion. Definitely like a lion.

Both Ty’s V shaped eyebrows rose.

“I thought… You said you needed your rest.”

“Ty, I was not talking about that, however tempting. There are other things in life than sex.”

“Is that a fact?” Ty asked playfully, a corner of his mouth lifting. Okay. Virgin Mary turned into the God of Sex overnight. How the hell did that happen?

“I want a cuddle.” Kit pouted as he snuggled up against Ty and encircled him with his arms.

Ty surrendered to his embrace, falling back on the bed. Kit rolled on top of him and pinned his arms above his head. He started alternating between brushing and pressing his lips over Ty’s face, tracing his beautiful features from memory, with his eyes closed.

“I… have… some… errands...to… run… Mysteries… to… uncover,” Ty gasped between feathery kisses.

“I am a mystery.” Kit nibbled Ty’s earlobe, before whispering in his ear. “Uncover me.”

“You are naked,” Ty rightfully observed, though his voice was quavering and his breaths short.

“I am. But have you explored every avenue?”

“Fair point, Watson,” Ty said in a husky voice, before swallowing hard.

“That’s what I am here for, Sherlock,” Kit replied. He kissed Ty’s eyelids, his nose, and started exploring Ty’s mouth with his tongue.

They rubbed against each other, their limbs entangled, as the kiss grew deeper, hungrier, until both had to draw back to catch their breath.

“I love you,” Kit blurted.

“I love you too,” Ty replied softly, staring at Kit with his gray eyes half closed. He looked dizzy.

“I love you more,” Kit retaliated.

“How could you ever verify that?” Ty asked, his eyes widening with a look of genuine surprise.

“Easy. I just know that no one in the history of the universe could have ever loved anyone the way I love you.”

Ty looked - if possible - even more puzzled.

“I know it because my soul belongs with yours, Ty. If there are other worlds out there where I exist and you don’t, I don’t ever want to meet myself there. For what kind of empty shell - or monster - would I be if I hadn’t met you?”

They both startled as they heard a knock on the door.

“I am not decent!” Kit answered, as he reached hurriedly for a blanket to cover Ty’s body.

“This has never bothered you before,” Jace ‘s voice replied through the door. “Does this mean you are not the only one who’s not presentable in there? I just came across Mark running around naked in the corridors and I am pretty sure I have seen enough Blackthorns’ buttocks for the rest of the day.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kit answered, his voice muffled under the blanket covering both his and Ty’s bodies completely, like two kids curled up under a makeshift tent. Ty was shaking with silent laughter.

“Sure you don’t,” Jace answered, but Kit could hear his footsteps receding.

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spikedru · 3 years ago

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Top 5 drusilla moments and Top 5 tara moments :)

drusilla momentz

appearing as jenny while torturing giles its brutal and awful and i love it so much

appearing and killing angel in buffys dream in surprise (that dress? the tension? excellent)

when she nearly claws out the eyeballs of the nerd vampire and then puts his broken glasses back on his face and pats his head like :3

in crush when harmony is yelling at her for hurting spikes feelings bc shes like how dare you break my booboo's heart and drusilla just. looks over at him and mouths "booboo? u3u" and spike looks like he wants to crawl out of his skin its so. funny

when she tortures angel in whats my line i want to write a dissertation on the whole angel/drusilla dynamic it fascinates me so much. just the languid, calm exterior while she burns him with holy water covering the seething anger towards her sire its so complex i loveeeeee it

tara moments :)

"what is your magical proficiency level?" FIVE.

the gay hand holding in hush

tara comforting buffy in the body. shes so sweet but also extremely frank about grief and her emotions its such a simple thing to say to a grieving person that its always sudden and its okay to feel the things youre feeling the body is an ep that hits me like an exposed nerve for personal reasons but tara is just so steadfast its so good

the gay rose magic scene

thumb wrestling with dawn while the other scoobies investigate a dead body

#thank you for this i love my girls so much.#asks #i need to draw more buffy dru things GOD.

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gaylonelydyke · 4 years ago

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if it’s not too late, 12 for episodes and ships, and 17!

its never too late! thankyou for the ask 🥰 oo damn this is gonna be a hefty one, just to prepare you this is gonna be long 😅😅😅

spoiler alert for my friends who are finishing up season 2 rn, be careful if you look at my top five episodes, pay attention the the episode numbers, i will put [ ] in bold at the beginning and end of spoilers!

12. Top 5 ships

5. faith x myself because have you seen faith? shes such a babe! spare consensual kiss maam?

4. willow x oz, i dont know if this is an unpopular or not but i feel like if the 90s had been more accepting of term then willow wouldve been bisexual, but like even now tv shows will rarely let characters say that word :( but anyway i love them! theyre both quirky and kinda awkward but its such a sweet relationship and you really see how they go from awkward crushes to an actual deep relationship, oz is one of my favourite characters too what a dude!

3. giles x jenny, mlmxwlw solidarity in this bisexual couple! there is no an ounce of straight between them and i love it, i love their dynamic, i love that giles *respects women* (im staring daggers at xander rn), also the original girlboss x malewife couple askdjaksjhd

2. drusilla x spike, these two!!!!!! once again a bisexual couple with zero straight between them, the vibes are off the charts. sexy vampires, goth x punk love, i just love them man, and their relationship is so interesting to delve into. like theyre vampires, theyre soulless and yet they have a capacity for love, they care deeply for eachother, theyre so tender towards eachother in season 2 in the way they take turns to care for one another, also drusilla picking spike up with one hand made me gay and thats on that

1. willow x tara!!!!! lesbians man lesbians! they have a beautiful relationship, until a certain point wink wink, they feel like a perfect match, willows become more outgoing due to buffy and xander snd having a proper group of friends, so its cool to see her as the more outgoing independant one in the relationship, and tara is such a honey 🥺 the biggest sweetheart in the world what a babe!!!! also like how groundbreaking was their relationship? as a queer couple, they had p much the dame amount of screentime as a aueer relationship today! and willow says the word lesbian so many times and is always making gay jokes which is something shows today are too scared to do, its honestly refreshing which is weird for a show in the 90/00s

12. Top 5 episodes

this is so hard because its such a damn good show so i had to rlly be picky about this but here we go

5. 6x22 ‘grave’- i watched buffy for the first time last year at work coz i worked with one other person just packing shit, and THIS was the episode that made us cry infront of eachother. the scene with willow and xander at the end is one of my all time favourite scenes and like legit we were watching and we starting going like ha.. this is so sad Q_Q and we looked at eachother and we were both crying akdjdjsjdhs its SO GOOD, like this is a friendship ive been so invested in and [seeing xander be able to pull her back from that dark place was so heart wrenching and amazing god its so good]

4. 3x12 ‘helpless’ - im finishing up s2 in my rewatch rn so i havent rewatched this one to double check but i remember loving it man. buffys father daughter relationship with giles is my favourite of the whole show they make my heart ache, so i love that this is an episode that really shows you how dedicated giles is to her, [its the breaking point where he finally disregards the fact that hes a watcher and acts as her father once and for all, its a turning point for their relationship where he is finally embracing the fact that shes like a daughter to him and i just love to see it Q_Q get you a dad who will leave his lifes calling for you]

3. 4x22 ‘restless’ - season 4 is interesting coz it has really good episodes and them some gd awful ones 😂😂 but this one just blew me away, i love a good character study episode and this is THE SHIT! its so weird and creepy but in the most perfect way, its not on the nose its so subtle, it feels like an uncanny valley version of buffy almost, i like that they finished the season first and then took this episode to do something out of the box and different i feel like it lets them fully explore this idea without the pressure of needing plot included. [also the cheese man is iconic. dont however like xander being all nasty with willow and tara but whats new there man]

2. 1x12 ‘The Prophecy Girl’ - for my first watch of buffy i wasnt that into the first season, like i enjoyed it but i didnt think it was anything super special? but this episode changed EVERYTHING for me. up until now buffy had been fun, witty, charming, but not anything new atleast for me, maybe in the 90s it was but right now its your average teen supernatural show. but this episode!!!! the emotion! buffy facing her death, her speech about how shes just 16 and shes scared and she doesnt want to die, that is what i wanna see!! its heartbreaking and it made me cry, and then it gives us the wonderful moment of giles trying to take her place and buffy realising that she has to be the one to do it, man its so good! basically anything with buffy and giles being a duo is gonna make it an automatic yes from me and this is indeed the case for this episode, i just love that the show remembers that shes a child! shes not brave all the time, shes not strong all the time, shes just doing her best and sometimes its overwhelming, 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 i bow to this episode

1. 2x17 ‘passion’ - i know i just sang praises about prophecy girl but THIS EPISODE IS THE SHIT, the best episode full stop. i wont accept any argument. angel is probably my favourite big bad, its so funny to see plain bread, mopey brooding angel become this charismatic, funny, poetic, blood thirsty angelus, hes everything i want in a villain and in this episode he delivers! rip jenny tho love her. i think the tension built around angel is so good, because of his drawings and notes left around, every scene youre worrying like is he here now? are they safe or what? its so tense! and also it is me and im a slag for buffy x giles father daughter moments and this episode fucking delivers! giles discovering jennys dead body is probably one of the best scenes on the show, the dramatic irony is heAVY, we know jenny is dead, we know that these flowers arent from her, but giles is so so happy, and i want to see him happy but you just know somehing horrific is about to happen and damn does it. its a masterpiece! i love jenny and giles so much it is so sad, but also the fact that it gave us that scene makes me almmmoost ok with it? i also love the moment where giles breaks down in buffys arms, hes been there for her and now shes returning the favour and hes accepting it i just 😭😭😭 also on a different note, angels narration of this episode is amazing! it gives us great insight to who he is as “evil angel” and like even though hes awful i was also kind of rooting for him coz hes just such a great villain

sorry this is so long lmao, last question!

17. Which characer do you wish had less of a focus on them in the show?

i dont wanna get yelled at butttttt i dont like the amount of focus on dawn. i think it makes sense for the her first season considering the story arc but that season really does double down its focus onto dawn and buffy and it barely leaves room for anyone else to have a storyline, it keeps the episodes super depressing too its like a constant level of just sadness the whole time because we’re so stuck in THEIR arc, theres no room to balance it out and have a breather, some people might like that its more serious but i really really didnt like, i love episodes like prophecy girl where it is campy and brings the more emotional notes in when the time comes, but dawns whole arc is just constantly depressing the whole time i just hate it, and also just shes not a character i felt i could connect to because of how suddenly shes introduced, so its weird to have her SO focused on in the first half of that season coz we dont know her yet so i feel like the emotional moments dont land the way that they should? basically they shouldve eased us into dawn or introduced her differently and maybe i would like her enough to want the focus on her but i really just dont

adksjakjshd apologies for the essay this is, thanks for the ask!

#btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #why did i write a paragraph for everything im so sorry #i wish i knew how to add a read more link but i dont on mobile #my post #dawn fans please dont murder me #i dont hate her i just dont like her yanno #i am scared people are gonna hate me for not liking her but we all have our tastes

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mistwraiths · 3 years ago

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5 stars

No one is more shocked than me that I really loved this book as much as I did! Last books are hard things and I mostly find them far too slow or long. While this BEAST is nearly about 900 pages, it really doesn't feel long or slow in the thick of it. It actually wasn't until the end where I felt a little like the story dragged and I'll explain why later.

Julian's and Emma's story is probably my favorite of the Shadowhunter series so far. I love their whole tortured, forbidden romance and the love they have for their family. I mostly dislike when a character either takes their emotions/love/memories/fill-in-the-blank-here but for Julian deciding this course of action felt like it made perfect sense. I loved how it affected EVERYTHING and it was an all throughout part.

The beginning of this book made me so god damn emotional and I teared up a LOT because this book picks up basically RIGHT after Livvy's shocking death. I loved how grief was handled and how it showed differently in other people. I LOVED that no one instantly moved on either, it again was all throughout the story.

So much happened in this book. Julian stripping his love for Emma. The Cohort taking over Alicante. Julian and Emma going to Faerieland. And then Thule!!! Thule was such a terrible place and seeing the alternate world was fascinating. Seeing Livvy being older and a bad ass was amazing and heartbreaking. I also LOVED that Julian was able to be himself and he and Emma hashed things out.

The Blackthorn family I want to protect with my life. Especially Ty and Drusilla. From the epilogue and also the way things ended, I hope we get to see more in the future. I want Ty and Kit to work things out and I don't think Kit's story is over. Drusilla had that moment with Ash a whole book ago so I feel like that might be important later. I'm pleasantly surprised that Cassandra did the poly romance and the trans romance and they ended up happy!!!

Battle scenes are hard to keep entertaining and they often feel dragged on too long, and this book does suffer a bit from it. A lot of stuff happens with the confrontation and the Unseelie King and Emma and Julian turning into giants that glow or whatever. THAT was hard to follow. Conveniently after the battle, Jem tells some lost shadowhunter story. The main thing is Emma and Julian, after somehow surviving, end up losing their parabatai bonds. Which is GREAT yes but honestly, it felt a little sudden and cheap. I would have loved to see them find a way to remove it or cure it or fix it. It just felt, in my opinion, oh its over!!! After all that worrying, it's fine now!!!

Honestly, and I feel like a terrible person for saying it, the ending is where this book really falls flat. Not only does it last too long, the battle ends near about 760-780ish pages but the story still continues for over a hundred more.

First, after learning about all the lies, killing innocent Downworlders, jailing innocent Shadowhunters, making people SUFFER, CREATING A REGISTRY FOR DOWNWORLDERS THAT SCREAMS WW2 VIBES, and exposing all the other evil shit the Cohort has done, we're supposed to read about how everyone needs a voice and we have to be merciful and blah blah blah. I'm not saying kill the evil characters (although many deserve it) BUT THEY DO NOT DESERVE A VOICE AT YOUR MEETING AND THEY DO DESERVE PUNISHMENT. I really hate when good guys are like ohhh we cannot stoop to their level. Like no, they deserve to eat shit. And then for them to whip out some "we will unalive ourselves if you don't leave". Like okay then bye???? It just felt so over the top bullshit that really soured the win just achieved. The only good thing is that maybe now the new Shadowhunter government won't be so awful.

Lastly, I know this is just a ME thing, but I hate when authors at the end give me every single happy ending fed to me on a silver platter. I am a BIG believer of you don't NEED to see a HEA explicitly written to know there's one. I know the Blackthorns are going to be taken care of. I know Magnus and Alec will marry. I loved seeing the wedding, don't get me wrong, but it dragged the ending of this book. Every love story and hiccup is neatly tied up quickly and I know for some people they enjoy that. It's not bad. It just I don't need it to know that things will work out. Open-endedness lets readers have our own thoughts and opinions.

Overall, this was such a good series and I think the nearly 700+ pages of good outweigh the 150 chunk of pages I disliked. 2

#queen of air and darkness #cassandra clare #steph's book review #steph reads #book review

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ifeveristoday · 4 years ago

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I got out my DVDs for this rewatch (that’s not actually a big deal. I only have season 3 on DVD. 😂) so let’s get to it.

I forgot they did a cold open for this episode!

I know it’s for ambiance but man does Angel have a lot of candles displayed. Probably too ‘mainstream’ for his taste but the thought of Angel furtively going to a Bath and Bodyworks in the mall during their semi-annual sale and just buying out their whole candle selection gives me the purest joy. Let’s be real though, Angel would shop at some boutique/hole in the wall owned by a wizened old character with a twinkle in their eye and everything marked up 20%. Or it would be a steel and glass monstrosity with a collection labeled Candles for Men. That’s the range.

Back to the enormous fire hazard that this scene is -

Wait. Does fire burn on stone?

Shout out to the stunt doubles.

I think that Angel getting food for Buffy for a sort of alfresco picnic while training is really sweet, actually. Also, can't miss the opportunity for both carbs and phallic symbolism ala bread.

Everyone is so embarrassingly horny in this moment. I'd say get a room except they're in a whole giant mansion.

Always remember the bread! What did Angel do with the food after Buffy fled? Fed the no-doubt cursed pigeons that live in Sunnydale.

Thanks for the workout (insert stereotypical dirty laugh).

Oh yes, the awkward 'let's talk about your birthday without mentioning the last birthday you had at all because it's horrifying' chitchat. God, the anxiety Angel is radiating here and Buffy trying to smooth it over. You can't unfrost that trauma cake!

Angel, you utter dork. You're lucky Buffy finds you pretty. Very powerful himbo energy here. And it's nice to see some light-hearted flirting/banter between them.

How do you know when someone's aura's dirty? Buffy is only asking the reasonable questions everyone has.

Do you hear yourself, Giles. "I'm aware of your distaste in studying vibratory stones..." I can't imagine what that section of the Slayer handbook looks like. Are there pull-out charts?

Faith being conveniently gone for this episode. Boo, hiss.

That workout really did a number on Buffy. I see what you're doing with those crystals.

One of the sad parts of rewatching Buffy is that you just don't have the first time discovery feels of watching it - that magic is gone, but even though I know why Buffy's wobbling in her fight, the reveal is still upsetting. Thinking about how in Season 5, when she does get staked, just as she's questioning her powers - and here, where she's losing them.

Also, obvious observation is obvious - the sexual violence imagery is really, really blatant here - with the vampire crouched over her with the stake aimed toward her heart, just as she playfully staked Angel earlier in a more romantically set scene.

AND THEN THE THEME KICKS IN. Like, damn! Three minutes and you can pretty much tell what the plot is going to be - Buffy and Angel's UST is getting out of hand, Buffy's lone Rangering it, and something is wrong with her. And it's her birthday.

And Buffy's resourcefulness saves the day.

Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing knives in the library, Buffy.

Did they do a geography lesson on Cuernavaca? It's also just fun to say. Like La Cienega. Brief moment to ponder yet again about a show set in Southern California, actually shot in Southern California, with the huge Latine population we have and the Spanish-influenced names and culture and - getting sidetracked by all this casual 90s racism.

"We do it every year for my birthday," except your seventeenth, presumably because of the murderous ex-boyfriend stalking the town you live in and all your loved ones. [Or, he did take her and it was not shown on screen!] Sometimes I wonder if the continuity editors just go, you know, I'm going to let this one go for the 'emotion' and not just so years later, a Virgo with a deep-seated need to obsess over throwaway details will go into a thought spiral to make it make sense.

I think this is also the last time Hank Summers was spoken of with any real affection because then he was Deadbeat Dad for the remainder of the show. Oh, look. The Scoobies are surprised about the traditional birthday ice show that I'm going to nitpick about forever.

Oz is so supportive, and then the clunker of a 'deep' line of ice being cool because it's water then it's not. I do like the Whedonesque school of dialogue, but sometimes you gotta reel it back. I remember the dialogue on Dawson's Creek was getting pinged for the teenagers talking like grad students.

Quiet reflection. Oh you poor girl, you have no idea.

Quarterly projections - is a convincing filler phrase for when you don't need to know what the job is, because it's boring but sounds vaguely official. What does Hank actually do? Who cares! He's an asshole.

Sunnydale Arms, because of course, Sunnydale has a broken down abandoned murder hotel.

Quentin Travers. Boo. Hiss.

The scary music is very scary. Also one of the Council flunkies looks like a very young Vincent D'Onofrio.

This scene with them in the library is so bittersweet because Buffy is fishing for Giles's attention as a father figure substitute ("very sophisticated people go!" breaks my heart) and he pointedly is rejecting this for training talk.

Look for the flaw at its center. THE FLAW IS YOU GILES. YOU YOU YOU.

it's just so terrible, this scene because of how methodical and clinical it plays out. And Buffy is just not there, and then Giles smiles like nothing has happened.

Buffy makes it through another night - next day (another reason why this trial is so horrifying is that it takes place over several days - it's not on Buffy's birthday but leading up to it, so the idea of her getting weaker and weaker and unable to fight to make it to 18 in the first place) and it's time for the Cordelia has had enough of toxic masculinity scene!

Also, Willow blithely ignoring a person's feelings and treating Amy as just a rat is played for laughs and cuteness, but yeah...you can't treat people like puppets or rats [law and order sound]

I love Cordelia's coat. And also, while it does suck that she stood him up, he's not entitled to her time or attention and certainly not to threaten her. Go, Cordy! Fight like a girl! Yes! Pummel him into the hallway.

I also love Willow's outfit here because I think the colors are so complementary and warm and it's a cute outfit. Okay, the knit wooly hat is a bit too Blossom-esque, but whatever.

Buffy is tiny, we all know this, but I do think they purposefully dressed her in larger than her size coats in this episode to make her look even more tiny and vulnerable.

Giles is TOO BLASE for this scene also shut your mouth about throwing knives like a girl

"It's an archaic exercise in cruelty." SO WHY DID YOU GO ALONG WITH IT, BRAIN TRUST. (I am going to be very mean to Giles this whole rewatch, deal with it.)

"But I'm the one in the thick of it." No, you're not. You are going to be adjacent to it, at best.

Hey it's that guy!

Okay, in better lighting, flunkie does not look like Vincent D'Onofrio.

It's impossible to pin down one type of Vampire in the Whedonverse, except for the delineation between Grunt Bait Vampires, and Special Guest Star/Master vampires, but Kralik is the only other example of a vampire with mental illness besides Drusilla, yet he's medicated. Makes me wonder how exactly they got Kralik...he was a monster before he was a vampire, but who vamped him? I don't put it past the Watchers to have vampires created for this purpose.

Curse against lawyers!

Xander and Oz bonding over comic books is so fun. I regret they didn't really get closer until after Xander and Willow cheated because Oz was the one male friend Xander had.

They mentioned her birthday! Thinking about Buffy's love of poetry later on, this is a nice little detail, and it *is* a thoughtful, sweet gift. Also those poems: horny. Oh yes, maybe in a restrained way, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew what was up.

The Buffy and Angel relationship in season three is full of these starts and stops that I can see why and agree with others about how it's frustrating on a number of levels. They know why they can't be together, but they still try to find a common ground because they want to need the other one. They still have their identities to figure out - Buffy as the slayer and a young adult, Angel as a person, separate from Buffy and being Buffy's ex sort of maybe.

But this conversation in Helpless is genuinely sweet and a glimpse at what a normal couple at the crossroads would talk about - I think I'm also being soft on this because the other Important Male Figure in Buffy's life in this episode lets her down so spectacularly bad, that Angel being supportive and kind in his awkward way is a nice respite. It's good to be away from the angst and the horror that their relationship has had.

And the self-aware puncturing of the Moment between them is something Buffy does very well. "Taken literally, incredibly gross - I was just thinking that too". Look, it's cute and soft and I will allow it.

The horror of this episode (and there are so many) is that we have to watch Buffy become the helpless blonde in a slasher flick who is being chased by the monsters and she can't do anything about it - that she has to be rescued or die. That the real world with men catcalling and bystanders who ignore women's cries of distress is far scarier than the literal demons that inhabit the town - and Buffy brokenly saying she can't just be a person, she can't be helpless like that [like women are, still, today] is a gut punch. It's uncomfortable and unhappy because Buffy is supposed to be the hero, the [sigh] strong female lead who can kick ass and take names, and this episode is all about finding who Buffy is, separate from her super powers. Also an exercise in emotional torture, but must be Tuesday.

The physicality - the weakness that both Buffy and Giles display in this scene is so, so good. The way Buffy's hand trembles toward the needle in the case and the dawning realization of what Giles has done, has chosen to do - and he bloodlessly tells her what the Cruciamentum is.

Her tiny little "Liar."

GOD WHY DIDN'T SHE GET AN EMMY (rhetorical we all know genre tv only matters if it was Game of Rapey Thrones)

"You will be safe now, I promise you." LIAR.

Another puncturing a heavy moment - Cordelia as cavalry - I love it. Cordelia taking the most obvious approach to the situation - 'oh Buffy might have lost her memory, well he's Giles,'

I can't believe they robbed us of a conversation in the car scene with Cordy and Buffy.

Kralik had to have found a polaroid camera and a metallic sharpie for this whole scenario -- OH I KNOW WHO HE REMINDS ME OF. The Night Stalker and any number of serial killers that terrorized SoCal. Is the show being self-aware of the problem with mothers and parents in general?

Probably a glib accident.

I don't have much to say about the part where Buffy hunts Kralik because it's so masterfully done with the atmosphere and music.

Nice of Giles's backbone to enter the chat now.

This is not business. Ooo.

Buffy's "I thought I killed a man" emo overalls!

Like it's shadowy, but there's still enough light to see facial expressions. Lighting guy, I salute you.

Little red riding hood metaphor. Oh, that's so her stunt double.

CREEPY SEXUAL VIOLENCE REARS ITS DEFORMED HEAD AGAIN

Jump stair scare. I remember the first time I saw it, I jolted in the living room.

Serial Killer Shit. Why are vampires such drama queens?

THAT'S RIGHT, BUFFY DID THAT

The ending scene in the library is cathartic in that Buffy gets to stand up for herself finally, and recognizes what Giles gives up by helping her, delayed as it was, also there's the feeling of hate punching Quentin Travers via your eyes.

Still don't think she should have forgiven Giles so easily, but we don't get to see a lot of aftercare for Buffy when she gets hurt, and it is a very tender scene.

The Scoobies are being way too upbeat if they knew about the fact that Giles poisoned Buffy, which is why I'm assuming she told a very abbreviated version of events ending with Buffy killed the bad guy and Giles got fired, oops.

Xander's big strong man comment and then looking immediately to Willow to open the jar and not Oz...

I could watch this episode again with episode commentary from David Fury, but another day.

#a bit later #but here it is #saff rewatches buffy

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idabbleincrazy · 4 years ago

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Lineage ~ A Missing Scenes Ficlet

Fandom: Angel (Buffyverse)

Rating: T

Pairing: Spangel

Characters: Spike, Angel, Mentioned: Wes, Fred, Dru, Angelus, William, Anne Pratt

Word Count: 1425

Warnings: Angst with a hopeful ending, Mutual pining (kinda), Introspection, Sire/Childe dynamics, Vampire Dynamics/Vampire Family Dynamics, Parental Issues All Around, Missing Scene Fic, 5x07: Lineage, past Spangelus

Summary: Spike muses on his failed attempt at comforting Wes, and finds some comfort of his own from Angel.

A/N: Minor warning of Spike reflecting on his mother's demon and the things she said before he staked her, but not detailed. I really had to think long and hard on what scene i wanted to expand on for this one given that it was a Wesley-based episode with only slightly more interaction between Spike and Angel than the last. Think I did pretty good at bridging the gap to help ease the way into the happenings of Destiny.

Feedback is golden!!!!!

Spike watched Wesley beat a dejected path back to his office, a pang of sympathy aching in his silent chest for the ex-Watcher. His wording may have been off-putting, but he did understand quite well how Wes would have felt for those scant few seconds when he thought he’d killed his father. After all, unlike most vampires, he hadn’t wanted to kill his mother. He’d tried to save her, and had been gut-wrenched when the demon in her turned out to be so wretchedly vile. He had only wanted to give her her health back, show her the kindness a loving mother deserved, only for it all to be thrown back in his face, for the truth of his mother’s long-hidden hatred of him to be revealed once the soul no longer kept her from speaking it.

Was this why the majority of other vampires killed their parents, rather than share the gift their Sires bestowed upon them? Did their lack of a soul finally pull the wool away from their eyes, finally allowing them to see how their fathers had tried to mold them in their image with no thought to what they might want, how their mothers would clutch them to their breast but only to keep them under their thumb, the only way to feel as though they had some semblance of control over anything in their pre-planned lives? Had they finally seen the truth that their parents only loved them so long as they remained in line, kept their heads down and did as told? Less and less fledges bothered to seek out their parents for their first kill these days, but Spike had put it down to the fact that Sires barely bothered to stick around long enough to see them fight their way from the dirt, let alone order them to kill off their family.

He had once figured it was a rite of passage, from one life to the next; scratch out your old family to begin again with your new. Because that’s what your Sire was, along with anyone else of the shared bloodline, family. Any other Childer they still kept with them and their own Sires, if they had stuck around, were family. Near pack-like in their devotion, and with similar pecking orders, each Clan had a duty to their blood, and so, he had always figured each fledge had been told to rid themselves of any mortal ties as a show of dedication to their new life, an act of fealty. Maybe he’d been wrong, maybe he was just one of the few who had been fooled into thinking they had actually been loved by their parent. Drusilla had never thought to order him to kill his mother, had never explained the deeper meaning of it. And by the time he had met Angelus, the mishap had already fled his mind, tucked away as just another tragic loss, and he never thought to ask.

Spike sighed, shaking himself from his thoughts. Any more brooding, and he’d start turning into Angel. Lord knew he did enough of that for the both of them.

Spike decided it was worth a check-in with his Grandsire; knowing him, he had probably done the same thing he had in an awkward attempt to comfort Wesley, calling forth the remembrance of killing his own father once he had risen from the grave. At least the pillock was talking to him again, instead of turning him away with a wordless look or grunt, or ignoring his presence all-together. He still couldn’t quite figure out the whole cold-shoulder stint, and was anxious to keep it from happening again. He was after all, family. The only one left who he could still turn to. Family had always meant too much to William for his own good, and Spike was just the same, no matter the years between the two lives. Angelus had treated him like family, much as any vampire could, and that bond still smouldered there, regardless of all the pain and anger of their past. Too deep to smother even with a pair of souls between them. Odd, that even as a not-quite-a-ghost, those feelings lingered, bolstered even, by this new level of loneliness that came with his intangibility.

He floated through the closed door of Angel’s office, and as expected, found him staring out the window, lost in thought.

“Can feel you brooding from all the way out in the lobby, mate. Take it you tried to comfort Percy too, eh?”

“Yeah,” Angel spoke softly, not turning from the view as Spike sidled up alongside him. “Don’t think it worked very well. Killing your father in a hatred-fueled bloodlust isn’t exactly the same as thinking you killed your father to protect someone you care about.”

“Guess not. Don’t worry, Peaches. You’re not the only one with egg on ‘is face. Told him ‘bout me mum. There’s a bit of info he probably never got from all those books at the Academy.”

Angel huffed a quiet laugh, turning to look over at Spike. There was an odd sadness in his eyes as he regarded his insubstantial Childe. Spike felt almost as though he were standing in another ghost’s cold-spot as his Grandsire considered him, a shiver running down his spine.

“You always were more human than demon, weren’t you William?” Angel ignored the look Spike gave him at the use of his old name. “You tried to save your mother, instead. I’m sorry that didn’t work out for you the way you had hoped.”

“Nah, worked out for the better, in the end, didn’t it? Angelus woulda had a field day takin’ the mickey out of me for it, straight away. A fledge with mummy issues. Do wish the demon in her hadn’t shown itself to be quite so crass though. Took a while to shake that off.”

Angel frowned, knowing all too well what Angelus would’ve done. How he would have tormented the boy to no end, used his mother to bring him to heel, only to stake her right in front of him. He found himself wishing yet again that he could reach out and actually touch Spike, the demon in him wanting to provide some paltry comfort to the melancholy Childe beside him.

“There’s a reason why fledges aren’t meant to Sire anyone. Whelps, either. Had Dru been thinking clearly, she would have thought to forbid it. The turn, it doesn’t work out right if the Sire isn’t at least close to master status. I’ve heard tales of it going even worse than your attempt. What your mother became, wasn’t her. A demon that unfit would have taken even the purest love and twisted it.”

Spike was grateful he couldn’t cry in this ghostly form, his eyes stinging with the unshed tears. He focused his thoughts and reached out to lay his hand over Angel’s where it rested against the back of the couch, his lips curling up into a sad smile.

“Thanks, Grandda. Not sure how much I really believe that, but thanks all the same. Reckon it provided me more comfort than either of us gave Head Boy.” Angel huffed again and looked down at their hands. Spike gave his fingers a squeeze, his soul lifting a bit as he saw Angel register the feeling with a flutter of his eyelids. “Saw Brain Girl headed over to ‘is office, maybe she’ll do a better job at it than us, yeah?”

“Hmm, hopefully. Fred’s usually pretty good with that stuff.”

Spike pulled his hand away and made to leave, not wanting to wear out his welcome so soon as he’d regained it.

“Guess I’ll be off then, let you get back to your musin’.”

“Spike.” Spike paused mid-turn, his head tilted in confusion. Angel rolled his eyes to diffuse his own nerves. He spent weeks keeping his Childe at a distance and figured they could both do with a bit more of each other’s company; he knew how much the boy hated being alone so much. “You can stay, really. I can brood just as easily with you here.”

Spike scoffed and returned to his spot, this time his hand merely resting on the couch next to Angel’s, unwilling to push his luck. He may not quite be walking on eggshells with his Grandsire, but he could feel how fragile their companionship still was. He could make do with the silence for now if it meant they were taking a step closer to what they were before.

“Ta.”

~~~~~

@thewhiterabbit42 @prose-for-hire

#angel: ts fanfic #buffyverse fanfic #spike/angel #spike #angel #missing scene fic #pining

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impalementation · 4 years ago

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spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 1

I said a long ways back that I thought the switch from Angel to Spike as Buffy’s primary love interest represented an interesting evolution in the show’s attitude towards—and interrogation of—romanticism, and I finally felt like expanding on what I meant by that. This is very long, very meandering, and not terribly academic or well-edited, but I hope there’s something of interest in it nonetheless. It is about 20,000 words in total, and will discuss, in more or less chronological order, the arc of the show’s attitude towards romanticism as it is embodied in Spike, Angel, Buffy and Buffy’s relationships with both of them. I was going to release it as one long post, but because it’s so long, I figured a series of posts might be more readable. Here’s the first one.

“When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

Both Spike and Angel are at once capital-R Romantic figures, and lower-case romantic interests, and in both cases that Romantic/romantic duality is what makes them such effective avatars for ideas around romanticism. In the case of Angel, the show is aware from the beginning that he is very much a Romantic idea of something. In “Welcome to the Hellmouth” Buffy describes him as “dark” and “gorgeous”, evoking the “tall, dark and handsome” cliche. He’s mysterious. He gives her a necklace and his coat, gestures out of high school romance fiction.* In “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” Giles lampshades the romance of him: “A vampire in love with a Slayer. It’s rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way.” Initially, Angel is basically designed to be a teenage girl fantasy, and it’s no coincidence that his successors like Edward Cullen or Stefan Salvatore conform to similar tropes.

*(Think of how five seasons later, a vampire will give Dawn his letterman jacket in “All the Way”. It’s hard not to read as a deliberate echo of Angel’s gift in season one. Once again, a vampire makes romantic gestures towards a high school version of “Buffy”, and later turns on her. But more on this much later in the series.)

The difference between Angel and those other, more typical Supernatural Romance love interests however, is that the show ultimately attempts to subvert the romance of him. As part of its commentary on Gothic themes, season two makes Angel more Romantic than ever (the Claddagh, the tormented past), and makes the romance between him and Buffy central to the story in a way it wasn’t in season one. And then, of course, the season tears it all apart. The first time we learn what Angel did to Drusilla it’s horrifying, but still somehow abstract. Something that seems more like it’s meant to contribute to Angel’s dangerous, Byronic image. As in, something to make him more Romantic. And then suddenly it becomes real. Suddenly, it’s something that Angel could do to Buffy, or the people Buffy cares about. It turns out that his darkly romantic aura was not just an aura, but genuinely dark all along.

In turn, Angel’s devastating transformation is a metaphor for broader disillusionment about romantic ideas. It’s less to me about a “guy going bad after sex”, and more about what it means and feels like to have the scales fall from one’s eyes in that sort of situation. As Buffy copes with the fallout of Angel’s transformation, and later is forced to kill him, I see it as being about the tragedy of having to see the world in ways that are less simple, easy, or pretty as one gets older. As Buffy and Giles say in “Lie To Me”:

BUFFY: Nothing's ever simple anymore. I'm constantly trying to work it out. Who to love or hate. Who to trust. It's just, like, the more I know, the more confused I get.

GILES: I believe that's called growing up.

For more on this, I recommend this livejournal post on “Lie To Me”, which goes into great depth on the way season two frames stories as pretty lies that one needs to look beneath, and how Buffy’s romanticization of Angel symbolizes that.

The whole arc of the season is Buffy’s failure to see the danger presented by Angel. In this opening scene that danger is foreshadowed. More to the point for this essay, Angel goes on to lie to Buffy about having encountered Drusilla. He doesn’t want Buffy to know about the nature of Angelus – which means that his first inclination is to mask the danger he presents to Buffy. This is one episode after Halloween, where Buffy’s romantic fantasies about what Angel wants (a damsel) nearly get her killed. Nor is she completely over those fantasies, as she notes that the mystery woman talking to Angel had a pretty old-fashioned dress. So against the backdrop of Buffy’s fantasies about her dark and mysterious boyfriend we have the truth about what he is, which is quite horrifying.

Season three then takes this to another level, by not just pointing out the darkness of the romance of Angel, but in fact puncturing his romantic image. Instead of emphasizing his dangerousness, as season two did, season three emphasizes his adulthood. It emphasizes the way that Angel is someone Buffy sees in secret, or away from her friends. He’s not integrated with her teenage, high school life, and doesn’t fit with the peppy, high school movie aesthetic that characterizes a lot of season three. By doing this, the writing indicates that at this point in their lives, Buffy and Angel are ultimately incompatible and holding each other back. Regardless of however much they might care for each other, Angel can’t fully appreciate her teenage longings like dances, and college, and having a boyfriend. And Buffy can’t fully appreciate his adult need to find himself on his own terms. By the end of season three, Angel is less of a shadowy, tragic figure, and more just an adult man who needs to finally grow up a bit.

Season three also starts making jokes where the punchline is that Angel isn’t living up to the romantic aesthetic he embodied in seasons one and two. In “Helpless”, for example, he and Buffy have an exchange where he waxes sincerely about wanting to “keep [her heart] safe, to warm it with [his own]” and although Buffy says the sentiment is beautiful, a second later she deadpans: “Or taken literally, incredibly gross.” To which Angel replies, “I was just thinking that, too.” Or in “Graduation Day, Part 1”, Angel trips on a doorway instead of making a silent entrance and Buffy again deadpans: “Stealthy.” Angel’s romance slips at moments when Buffy herself is feeling weak, either because she has lost her Slayer powers, or she’s investigating the scene of her sister Slayer’s crime. Her Romantic Slayer half is betraying her, and her romantic girlish half is feeling insecure. This is echoed by the reminder that Angel is no longer a straightforward fantasy man--or a terrifying, larger-than-life villain--but a guy who is sometimes both verbally and physically inelegant.

(Notice how one of the few times season two makes similar jokes about Angel it’s in “Lie to Me”, the very same episode that begins to peel off the layers of deceptions and unknowns about him. Angel slumps around Willow’s bedroom and jokes about “honing [his] brooding skills”, he insists that the vampire wannabes know nothing about vampires right before a guy walks by wearing his exact outfit, and Xander runs color commentary, saying “you’re not wrong” after each of Ford’s observations. In “Lie to Me” one of Angel’s hidden faces is his dangerousness, yes. But another hidden face is simply his human awkwardness.)

There’s an interesting Slayage piece by Elizabeth Gilliland that discusses the idea of Angel as a Gothic double for Buffy, specifically connecting him to the story of Jekyll and Hyde. It argues that Angel’s split identities represent Buffy’s fears that her human and Slayer halves are irreconcilable, and she cannot fully control either half. In season three, the fact that Buffy and Angel must continuously resist a loss of control with each other, and are treated as romantically incompatible, reflects this fear.

In Season Three, replete with various factors in Buffy’s life that threaten to put her role as Slayer and girl into imbalance once more [...] Angel once again returns [...]. The season culminates in an attempted attack on Buffy’s classmates during graduation, which essentially forces her to “out” herself to her community and combine her roles as Slayer and daughter, classmate, and friend for the first time publicly (“Graduation Day: Part 2” 3.22). The worst has happened: her secret has been revealed, the entire school knows about both of her personas, and she has not only survived, but emerged with a stronger sense of self [...] Buffy has conquered her first Gothic fear, and proven to herself that she can not only exercise control over both dualities of her persona, but allow them to peacefully co-exist. Thus, Angel’s continuing struggle with Angelus can no longer act as her shadow, and he literally and metaphorically leaves her to continue the rest of her journey.

It’s an interpretation I mostly agree with, and see a lot of evidence for. But in keeping with the focus of this series, I think you could also read Angel as embodying a duality between the romantic and the unromantic. In this view, Buffy’s struggle between her human and her Slayer halves is not just a struggle between personas, but a struggle to see the world correctly. In season one, it’s not Angel that revives Buffy in “Prophecy Girl”, because Angel is a vampire trope just like the Master. He cannot help her, because he is exactly the kind of traditional romantic concept--like a candle-lit cavern, an ancient Nosferatu-looking vampire, or a Chosen Hero duty--that Buffy is trying to escape. In season two, loss of control is specifically associated with passion, romance, and romanticism. Buffy’s human half longs for the romantic, but her Slayer half, and Angel’s vampire half, prove that sometimes the romantic is something dangerous and violent. The fact that Buffy’s Slayer identity and Angel’s Angelus identity both end up being outed by the end of the season (especially to Joyce, a figure of Buffy’s human home life), echoes Buffy’s loss of innocence. Season three then continues this suspicion of passion. Buffy fears that like Faith, enjoying the violence and power and desire of being a Slayer, means that she will go down a dark path. She also fears that indulging in her sexual and romantic desire for Angel will unleash Angelus. To some extent, these fears are even borne out, given that her love for Angel results in her attempted murder of Faith, and near death at Angel’s hands. But to some extent they also aren’t, given that she, Faith and Angel all live.

To me, what really gets resolved at the end of season three is not quite the issue of Buffy’s human and Slayer halves, given that Buffy will continue to struggle with that duality until the end of the show. Rather, what gets resolved is the need for binaries. Binaries are romantic things. When Giles gives his speech to Buffy at the end of “Lie To Me”, it is the language of binaries that he uses:

GILES: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.

BUFFY: Liar.

In season three, Buffy thinks she must resist both Faith and Angel. She thinks she can only be either a human girl or a Slayer leader. Many plots in season three have to do with the danger of binaries, whether that’s the witch-hunting parents in “Gingerbread”, Willow dealing with her vampire self in “Doppelgangland”, the various alter-egos in “Beauty and the Beasts”, or Cordy choosing a Buffy-less world in “The Wish”. And no character in the Buffyverse embodies the concept of binaries so starkly as Angel does. Thus by the end of season three, Buffy collapses the binaries within herself by merging the human and Slayer parts of her life, as Gilliland observes, and taking on Faith’s traits. She acknowledges her shadow by kissing her tenderly on the forehead, and bids farewell to the illusions and binaries that Angel embodies. Buffy is leaving that part of her life behind, and starting a new chapter where she can no longer split either the world, or herself, into any one thing or another.

part 2: “Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

#romanticism series #buffy #angel #s1 #s2 #s3 #s6 #gen #spike #btvs

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