It's the meat, not the metaphor
Nov. 6th, 2003 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynYou know, frankly? Angel is a drama queen. And that's one of many reasons I love him. From his first appearance on Buffy to squealing the car tires for no reason, he's pulled out the diva stops. And good on him for that, because it's just plain adorable coming from a big brooding hulk of a guy. So me, I'm laughing. Now I'll go sit in the corner with my dunce cap on.
Just mostly a quick review because I loved this ep, and I don’t want anyone to kill the buzz for me, so I think I’ll keep it mostly to myself so I can enjoy my enjoyment. I like allegorical tales, I really do, and this one worked for me on a lot of levels. The obvious comparisons between Number Five and Angel came at just the right time in the season, to my eyes, because we’ve established so far that Angel feels out of place, that he’s constantly wondering if he made the right decisions, and feels insecure in his position as champion now that Spike is around, and because of the nature of his new business. This isn’t just Angel’s cautionary tale, it’s Spike’s too, and maybe even Wes’s and Gunn’s.
And even in the end, his speeches about doing good and going on because of the need to do good and carry on, still weren’t really enough to make him see that for himself, that it took Los Hermanos Numeros to make him see where he really is and what he has to do. It took all five brothers working together to defeat the demon the first time, even when they lost four brothers, and it took them working together again to win this time. Angel now gets that — that he’s not alone, he’s not unnecessary in the new W&H world, that maybe after all he does have that hope Wes reminded him of. Number Five couldn’t bring his brothers’ spirits back before because he’d given up, but they did come back when he needed them, when he believed again and was willing to give his life to that fight. And it’s a sharp reminder to Angel that he needs his team, he needs his hermanos (and hermana) to fight the fight. I loved the look on his face as they faded into the spirit world, the understanding that he’s got a job to do and he has to really mean what he says when he gives the speeches. And that maybe it’s not an either/or situation he’s living in.
It played nicely against the earlier scene with Gunn, where he knows he’s accomplishing something, yet feeling as though he isn’t because the normal channels are closed to him. He’s petty and pouty over the demon not wanting his heart, but of course, he isn’t supposed to be a hero — he’s cursed with being one, so it’s not a surprise that a demon wouldn’t see Hero in big letters, although of course it’s a disappointment to Angel. And neither is Spike supposed to be a hero, neither of them are fulfilling their vampire roles the way the universe expects, so now they both have to understand what that all means and just how prophecies fit into this champion thing. The scene with Fred and Spike was lovely, such a tender friendship and she’s so good at understanding how to get through to him, with his thickheaded dorkiness.
I loved that everyone got a part to play here (though not clear on why Fred doesn’t get to go out in the field; I don’t want her to become stay at home mom), and that Angel and Wes’s relationship was highlighted. Now that the beans are spilled about the Connor prophecy, Wes will be pondering what it means, and that might mean some lovely angst for the future if the story unravels. Wes is the intellect and psyche of the group, and it will be interesting to see what, if anything, he can do with such information, and how he’d react. He’s forgiven Angel a great deal, but could he forgive that? And it made a nice parallel with how Number Five felt forgotten, that their heroics had been reduced to mockery and a stupid show. Would the others feel as if everything they’d done had been made irrelevant, if the truth gets out? Would it affect their interest in wanting to be heroes in the future?
I admit part of what I enjoyed is that the one time I saw Mexican wrestling I thought it was hysterically funny; I loved the masks and the choreography and all. They captured that wonderfully in this episode, and I enjoyed the whole story about the brothers immensely. I’d wondered why there was a guy in the first ep running around in a Mexican wrestling mask, delivering mail, and I never expected we’d get an answer — I thought it was just a non-sequitur joke. It worked perfectly with him throwing Angel through the window, too, and Spike’s remark about how there could be worse things than being a ghost. What he seems like on the outside is not remotely what he felt like on the inside, and that sounds awfully familiar. Angel’s plaintive “I really hate this place” was a great setup for the storyline, as well, because of course he does — who is he now? Where does he fit in? He’s not certain, but this experience gives him a clue, and now he wants to understand it better. And so does Spike — I think it would be reductive to say that their mutual interest in the prophecy is a childish competition (or at least, I hope it isn’t that, but with ME, I just never know what to expect). To me, it seems more like they are both at odds with their sense of self, have been for some time, and that this may be the one link to a direction they are offered. On the surface, it gives Spike a chance to be jealous and covetous, but the way he acted around both Wes and Fred, clearly he wants more, and it’s not just about sticking it to Angel or winning the human prize. He’s never had a strong sense of destiny; now he’s wondering if there could be a new identity for himself, since he’s lost the old one. It didn’t seem to me as if they were setting it up so that the two are seriously battling for the prophecy, but more that they’re both wondering what shape it can give their futures, and if it can, what form will it take? What would it do to their lives?
At the end, Number Five says, “I may not be a hero, but I am no fool.” Angel has thought, until that moment, that he’s been on a fool’s errand. Running W&H, taking a passive role, not being able to fix the problems he wants to... Number Five reminds him then just what is important, and how what seems foolish on the outside may truly be heroic in the long run. And Number Five has learned the lesson Angel tried to tell him, even while Angel didn’t believe his own words until that moment — and that’s enough to give him his brothers back, enough to defeat the demon, and enough to be reunited with them in death. I think that Angel sometimes fears that the most — not only that he’ll go to hell in the end, no matter what, but that all those others will be lost to him, the loved ones and the people he’s helped. Those people may be together in the afterlife, but he’ll be stuck in some fiery pit with those he hates. Now he gets a glimpse of a possible future, and that’s enough to make him wonder about the prophecy again.
Now they all have their identities to figure out, they all have a chance to build new futures even though they’re not sure they’re walking the right paths. For me, this is fun and interesting, watching them try to balance old selves and new. When a lot of silly fun stuff is thrown in, I’m there. Plus? I could rewatch this a thousand times just to hear Wes say, “El Diablo Robotico.” Laughed my ass off.
Just mostly a quick review because I loved this ep, and I don’t want anyone to kill the buzz for me, so I think I’ll keep it mostly to myself so I can enjoy my enjoyment. I like allegorical tales, I really do, and this one worked for me on a lot of levels. The obvious comparisons between Number Five and Angel came at just the right time in the season, to my eyes, because we’ve established so far that Angel feels out of place, that he’s constantly wondering if he made the right decisions, and feels insecure in his position as champion now that Spike is around, and because of the nature of his new business. This isn’t just Angel’s cautionary tale, it’s Spike’s too, and maybe even Wes’s and Gunn’s.
And even in the end, his speeches about doing good and going on because of the need to do good and carry on, still weren’t really enough to make him see that for himself, that it took Los Hermanos Numeros to make him see where he really is and what he has to do. It took all five brothers working together to defeat the demon the first time, even when they lost four brothers, and it took them working together again to win this time. Angel now gets that — that he’s not alone, he’s not unnecessary in the new W&H world, that maybe after all he does have that hope Wes reminded him of. Number Five couldn’t bring his brothers’ spirits back before because he’d given up, but they did come back when he needed them, when he believed again and was willing to give his life to that fight. And it’s a sharp reminder to Angel that he needs his team, he needs his hermanos (and hermana) to fight the fight. I loved the look on his face as they faded into the spirit world, the understanding that he’s got a job to do and he has to really mean what he says when he gives the speeches. And that maybe it’s not an either/or situation he’s living in.
It played nicely against the earlier scene with Gunn, where he knows he’s accomplishing something, yet feeling as though he isn’t because the normal channels are closed to him. He’s petty and pouty over the demon not wanting his heart, but of course, he isn’t supposed to be a hero — he’s cursed with being one, so it’s not a surprise that a demon wouldn’t see Hero in big letters, although of course it’s a disappointment to Angel. And neither is Spike supposed to be a hero, neither of them are fulfilling their vampire roles the way the universe expects, so now they both have to understand what that all means and just how prophecies fit into this champion thing. The scene with Fred and Spike was lovely, such a tender friendship and she’s so good at understanding how to get through to him, with his thickheaded dorkiness.
I loved that everyone got a part to play here (though not clear on why Fred doesn’t get to go out in the field; I don’t want her to become stay at home mom), and that Angel and Wes’s relationship was highlighted. Now that the beans are spilled about the Connor prophecy, Wes will be pondering what it means, and that might mean some lovely angst for the future if the story unravels. Wes is the intellect and psyche of the group, and it will be interesting to see what, if anything, he can do with such information, and how he’d react. He’s forgiven Angel a great deal, but could he forgive that? And it made a nice parallel with how Number Five felt forgotten, that their heroics had been reduced to mockery and a stupid show. Would the others feel as if everything they’d done had been made irrelevant, if the truth gets out? Would it affect their interest in wanting to be heroes in the future?
I admit part of what I enjoyed is that the one time I saw Mexican wrestling I thought it was hysterically funny; I loved the masks and the choreography and all. They captured that wonderfully in this episode, and I enjoyed the whole story about the brothers immensely. I’d wondered why there was a guy in the first ep running around in a Mexican wrestling mask, delivering mail, and I never expected we’d get an answer — I thought it was just a non-sequitur joke. It worked perfectly with him throwing Angel through the window, too, and Spike’s remark about how there could be worse things than being a ghost. What he seems like on the outside is not remotely what he felt like on the inside, and that sounds awfully familiar. Angel’s plaintive “I really hate this place” was a great setup for the storyline, as well, because of course he does — who is he now? Where does he fit in? He’s not certain, but this experience gives him a clue, and now he wants to understand it better. And so does Spike — I think it would be reductive to say that their mutual interest in the prophecy is a childish competition (or at least, I hope it isn’t that, but with ME, I just never know what to expect). To me, it seems more like they are both at odds with their sense of self, have been for some time, and that this may be the one link to a direction they are offered. On the surface, it gives Spike a chance to be jealous and covetous, but the way he acted around both Wes and Fred, clearly he wants more, and it’s not just about sticking it to Angel or winning the human prize. He’s never had a strong sense of destiny; now he’s wondering if there could be a new identity for himself, since he’s lost the old one. It didn’t seem to me as if they were setting it up so that the two are seriously battling for the prophecy, but more that they’re both wondering what shape it can give their futures, and if it can, what form will it take? What would it do to their lives?
At the end, Number Five says, “I may not be a hero, but I am no fool.” Angel has thought, until that moment, that he’s been on a fool’s errand. Running W&H, taking a passive role, not being able to fix the problems he wants to... Number Five reminds him then just what is important, and how what seems foolish on the outside may truly be heroic in the long run. And Number Five has learned the lesson Angel tried to tell him, even while Angel didn’t believe his own words until that moment — and that’s enough to give him his brothers back, enough to defeat the demon, and enough to be reunited with them in death. I think that Angel sometimes fears that the most — not only that he’ll go to hell in the end, no matter what, but that all those others will be lost to him, the loved ones and the people he’s helped. Those people may be together in the afterlife, but he’ll be stuck in some fiery pit with those he hates. Now he gets a glimpse of a possible future, and that’s enough to make him wonder about the prophecy again.
Now they all have their identities to figure out, they all have a chance to build new futures even though they’re not sure they’re walking the right paths. For me, this is fun and interesting, watching them try to balance old selves and new. When a lot of silly fun stuff is thrown in, I’m there. Plus? I could rewatch this a thousand times just to hear Wes say, “El Diablo Robotico.” Laughed my ass off.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 02:21 pm (UTC)Plus? I could rewatch this a thousand times just to hear Wes say, “El Diablo Robotico.” Laughed my ass off.
His delivery was just perfect, wasn't it? That cracked me up too.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 02:35 pm (UTC)Tell 'em to kiss your ass.
Drama Queen Angel is my boy. And Spike-death-by-nightlight? Really has no room to talk. ;}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 05:27 pm (UTC)Just a quick note - I enjoyed the weird wrestling flashbacks, the strange quirkiness. It was vaguely reminiscent of an old, and not very good, X-Files ep, El Mundo Gira - you know, the one that had El Chupacabra. It too had narrators whose reliability was in doubt, and was suffused with a folk tale feeling, and of course, the magical realism.
The Angel ep was consistent in at least one way - in the Buffyverse and Angelverse, sometimes the imortant stuff comes in a very unassuming - or unlikely - wrapper. I'm thinking of Whistler, Cassie, the Puppet demon hunter. I'd probably think of others, and then this post would actually make some kind of sense, but I think I'm kinda hungry.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-07 02:37 pm (UTC)I adore the Spike & Fred scenes. He softens up so much around her and she genuinely likes him. So nice to see.
British slang
Date: 2004-02-18 11:08 am (UTC)I do hope that Spike is made corporeal soon, he is such a creature of violence and it's so sad to see him fail to make contact in a fight.
British here - it's frustrating being so far behind you lucky people, but that said at least we have a bit more series to watch, now it's likely to be the last.