God is nowhere
May. 1st, 2003 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynSpoilers for Angel episode of April 30, Peace Out —
Really! Spoilers ahoy!
First, I have to get this out of the way: Angel backlit by flames... preeeettyyyyy. Second, I loved the little shout-out to David Greenwalt and his erstwhile Miracles, with the God is Nowhere sign on the church. V. funny. Miracles… sob.
But anyway. A lot of this felt anticlimactic for me, and in a way a little disappointing in its prosaic quality after such a dramatic build-up. But at the same time, it had some interesting ideas even if they were trying to cram some of it into too tight a space. I especially liked the idea of Jasmine being a power that really did have the happiness and peace of everyone on the planet as her central interest, even if it was for largely non-benevolent reasons and to be worshipped and … well, eat people. I almost kind of wish it could have been explored a little more simply because it’s interestingly dichotomous, and the notion that free will and choice and living our lives as we want to results in strife and fear and violence is a nifty statement to make, and one I wish hadn’t had to be abandoned so quickly. It’s especially interesting in the Angelverse, because Angel had his free will taken from him in so many ways, and yet he’s taken a stand to keep that despite how the imposition of the will of others has affected his own life.
Not that I in any way have warmed to the brat at all, but I did like the fact that Connor turned out to have seen Jasmine’s true face all along, and understood fully about her eating people and all of that, yet he made his choices because it didn’t matter to him. That for him, what she represents is a more peaceful and happy solution than living in his father’s world, and that all he sees or understands of Angel Inc. is that they like to fight — not why they fight, but that they live to do it. He consistently reduces things down to their lowest levels, and can’t see the forest for the trees, so Jasmine shows him a bigger picture that’s based on falseness and he responds positively because it’s better than any reality he’s ever understood. I think this gets at the fundamental reason why I can’t stand the character —that despite all the things he’s seen, he still does nothing but complain and willfully misunderstand everything that drives Angel and the others, that he doesn’t see the larger role they’re playing in the universe and with the Powers. He’s of course forgetting that he has on more than a few occasions put the others at risk and done dangerous things himself (or maybe we’re meant to forget that, too, in order to make us like the character, I don’t know), and that his own history is far from spotless in this regard. It’s very hard for me to care in the slightest about his “pain” not being cured by Jasmine when a lot of that seems brought on by himself. But then, I’m cynical. Still, despite all that, it played more interestingly than any of his other appearances this season (except the Mandy duet), and I did love that guy freaking out about him saying “and I’ll crush” rather than or.
Raise your hand if you thought that Angel’s fight with the namey demon reminded you a lot of Spike’s trials with Glowy. And of course there were a number of other allusions to Buffy, I thought, but the To Serve Man was a cute little cross-series joke. I’m just getting more and more fascinated with Wes all the time — he just never gives up on the trying to figure things out. While I was loving the darkness and all, what I really enjoy most is that his mind is always working and he’s always trying to figure solutions and reasons and all. He’s just such an interesting character with so many levels, and I’m very interested to see how he reacts to this return of Lilah. (After cutting off her head and everything, he might have a few issues. And I like Wes with issues.)
Which, to my mind, has to be one of the nicer little “whoa” tags I’ve seen in a long time. Really makes you want to tune in to see what happens next. The teaser also looks fascinating — one of the things I’ve always liked about Joss’s shows is their not relying on cliffhangers for the most part. I really hate cliffhangers, especially because so many series get cancelled and it’s too painful to never know the ending (Gwyn grinds teeth over Now and Again, and recognizes the pain of her Farscape friends). Outside of the ending of Angel and Buffy last year, Joss has pretty much stayed away from cliffhangery endings, and I’m really wondering if he’s going to resort to that now, or not. I’m hoping not, simply because they wrapped up the Big Bad storyline here, and maybe the next ep will simply be about setting the foundation for next season… one can hope. It looks cool, nonetheless. I wasn’t spoiled for this ep, so seeing Lilah was quite a shock, and a wonderful treat. Can’t wait to find out what or who she is!
Really! Spoilers ahoy!
First, I have to get this out of the way: Angel backlit by flames... preeeettyyyyy. Second, I loved the little shout-out to David Greenwalt and his erstwhile Miracles, with the God is Nowhere sign on the church. V. funny. Miracles… sob.
But anyway. A lot of this felt anticlimactic for me, and in a way a little disappointing in its prosaic quality after such a dramatic build-up. But at the same time, it had some interesting ideas even if they were trying to cram some of it into too tight a space. I especially liked the idea of Jasmine being a power that really did have the happiness and peace of everyone on the planet as her central interest, even if it was for largely non-benevolent reasons and to be worshipped and … well, eat people. I almost kind of wish it could have been explored a little more simply because it’s interestingly dichotomous, and the notion that free will and choice and living our lives as we want to results in strife and fear and violence is a nifty statement to make, and one I wish hadn’t had to be abandoned so quickly. It’s especially interesting in the Angelverse, because Angel had his free will taken from him in so many ways, and yet he’s taken a stand to keep that despite how the imposition of the will of others has affected his own life.
Not that I in any way have warmed to the brat at all, but I did like the fact that Connor turned out to have seen Jasmine’s true face all along, and understood fully about her eating people and all of that, yet he made his choices because it didn’t matter to him. That for him, what she represents is a more peaceful and happy solution than living in his father’s world, and that all he sees or understands of Angel Inc. is that they like to fight — not why they fight, but that they live to do it. He consistently reduces things down to their lowest levels, and can’t see the forest for the trees, so Jasmine shows him a bigger picture that’s based on falseness and he responds positively because it’s better than any reality he’s ever understood. I think this gets at the fundamental reason why I can’t stand the character —that despite all the things he’s seen, he still does nothing but complain and willfully misunderstand everything that drives Angel and the others, that he doesn’t see the larger role they’re playing in the universe and with the Powers. He’s of course forgetting that he has on more than a few occasions put the others at risk and done dangerous things himself (or maybe we’re meant to forget that, too, in order to make us like the character, I don’t know), and that his own history is far from spotless in this regard. It’s very hard for me to care in the slightest about his “pain” not being cured by Jasmine when a lot of that seems brought on by himself. But then, I’m cynical. Still, despite all that, it played more interestingly than any of his other appearances this season (except the Mandy duet), and I did love that guy freaking out about him saying “and I’ll crush” rather than or.
Raise your hand if you thought that Angel’s fight with the namey demon reminded you a lot of Spike’s trials with Glowy. And of course there were a number of other allusions to Buffy, I thought, but the To Serve Man was a cute little cross-series joke. I’m just getting more and more fascinated with Wes all the time — he just never gives up on the trying to figure things out. While I was loving the darkness and all, what I really enjoy most is that his mind is always working and he’s always trying to figure solutions and reasons and all. He’s just such an interesting character with so many levels, and I’m very interested to see how he reacts to this return of Lilah. (After cutting off her head and everything, he might have a few issues. And I like Wes with issues.)
Which, to my mind, has to be one of the nicer little “whoa” tags I’ve seen in a long time. Really makes you want to tune in to see what happens next. The teaser also looks fascinating — one of the things I’ve always liked about Joss’s shows is their not relying on cliffhangers for the most part. I really hate cliffhangers, especially because so many series get cancelled and it’s too painful to never know the ending (Gwyn grinds teeth over Now and Again, and recognizes the pain of her Farscape friends). Outside of the ending of Angel and Buffy last year, Joss has pretty much stayed away from cliffhangery endings, and I’m really wondering if he’s going to resort to that now, or not. I’m hoping not, simply because they wrapped up the Big Bad storyline here, and maybe the next ep will simply be about setting the foundation for next season… one can hope. It looks cool, nonetheless. I wasn’t spoiled for this ep, so seeing Lilah was quite a shock, and a wonderful treat. Can’t wait to find out what or who she is!
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no subject
Date: 2003-05-01 10:01 am (UTC)I thought it was a nice bit that his rant about the others' addiction to violence was punctuated by the smashing of the pulpit.
For my part, I really enjoyed the episode, because I've always liked Connor, and the Jasmine issue was wonderfully ambiguous. Gina Torres did an amazing job with the part, I think.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-01 10:27 am (UTC)Can you elaborate on why you've always liked him? I'm actually curious, because for me this has been the only real drag on the season for me, so I'm wondering about other ways to look at it.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-11 04:45 pm (UTC)I'm not good at being articulate, but I think Connor fascinates me because he's so alien to everything. His childhood was so incredibly different from the norm (as they emphasized in the last episodes) that I, personally, can't expect the same maturity as I would of say, Dawn. (Not that she's always mature.)
I think the finale gives the best example of his character, as it's clear that he's had very few choices in his short life, and he never had the moral compass to guide him to the right ones. There wasn't any possible happy ending for Connor, and I think I gave him more leeway because of it.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-12 08:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-01 11:35 am (UTC)I totally agree with pretty much everything you said, Gwyn. I really loved the fact that they let Jasmine seem to genuinely care about the world, both as a source of food and just, well, because she cared. But that she might have been a benevolent dictator didn't make her any less a dictator. That it all came back to free will pleased me greatly. Angel, our own little serpent in the Garden of Eden.
I agree, too, that Connor seemed almost more interesting than he ever has been. Really, the kid is so not my favorite character, the whiny teenager bit getting really old after a very short time. But knowing that he had always seen her true face (which makes sense--Jasmine might have been made in Cordelia, but she was at least partially made from Connor, too) and he just didn't care really worked for me. And the fact that he's just plain tired of fighting, which he's obviously been doing all his life, really made sense to me as one of the biggest motivating factors of why he helped her.
I was spoiled for Lilah returning, but I didn't know how they would show it. That was definitely cool. And I really do want to see Wesley's reaction next week. I do believe that they won't end with a cliffhanger, per se, though they're mainly going to be setting up for next year. I know nothing specific, mind, that's just my feeling.