The Angel Chronicles: Destiny.
eeee!!!!!!!
(I actually said this out loud. Alone. In my room. I'm so cool.)
LINDSEYLINDSEYLINDSEY!!!!!!
Happy now :D Lindsey is easily one of my favourite characters and I'm so happy he's back! But there were so many amazing things about this episode...
Angel/Spike
WHAT was that burning hand bit if not thinly veiled homoerotic subtext? Also very Fight Club. Just saying :D And I must say, I don't ship them but their relationship in this season is so brilliantly pulled off. I love it :D It's like Spike is Faith to Angel's Buffy! I'm still annoyed that the Chosen recap didn't involve this little exchange...
Buffy: I love you.
Spike: No you don't. But thanks for saying it.
...because omg just how much would this have informed Destiny? Especially Angel saying "that's why Buffy never truly loved you". Grrrr... Anyway. Brilliant episode. Especially loving the flashbacks. David Fury, though you are responsible for some of the worst misogyny on SPN, I will not deny that you write well. Especially when it comes to homoerotic relationships.. :P
Harmony/Spike
Yaaaay Harmony and Spike! I love this ship so much! It's stupid and totally not destined or important but it's just SO FUNNY.
Lindsey/Eve
Hmm. Not sure about this. Not sure how I feel about Eve either. She's kind of a non-character at the moment. What I love about Lindsey and Lilah is that they are real people. Linsey's got his moral qualms and Lilah's... well, she's just awesome. Eve's... meh. She seems little more than a doll atm. Hopefully through this ship we'll see a development of (or any form of) character from her.
Spike and the soul
SPIKE IS THE SAME WITH AND WITHOUT A SOUL. I will never cease to believe this. I personally don't believe in souls, so this concept of the show kinda passes me by. As I was discussing at length with my psychology friend Dave, my interpretation is that becoming a vampire does corrupt a person. By giving a human power, a thirst for blood, and the shock of dying and becoming a monster, you are basically giving them an evil pass. One of my theories is that becoming a vampire strips away a person's super-ego (see Freud's theories), leaving them with an id in control, and an ego floating around in the background. For those of you that didn't grow up on a steady diet of Frasier, an id is a person's basic instincts and desires. As we grow up, we develop a super-ego, a society and family informed conciencse. The ego balances the two.
Another one of my theories is that a soul can be created. Spike was never really aware of his soul's existence until he was told it was gone. Then through seasons 4, 5 and 6 of Buffy, he grew to care about good people, and therefore desired to do good things to help them. Eventually he fought for the only thing that would make them (or just Buffy) accept him as a person and friend. By making that choice and fighting for a soul, he created one.
But honestly I think a soul is just an illusion. We are who we are. Spike, who never really thinks about it, who just does what he wants to, is incredibly similar with or without an apparent soul. Darla is similar to Spike in this respect: with a soul she still wanted the same things as without, and the only thing a soul gave her was human emotion - compassion, empathy and love. Spike experienced all these emotions apparently soulless. Angel, on the other hand, has an obvious different personality without a soul. This could because, without the excuse of a soul to keep him in check, his repressed rage and warped personality takes control. But this doesn't mean a soul exists - many people have this sort of multiple personality disorder.
It's hard to watch this show and not believe in souls. Especially as there's all this magic that apparently shows it. But because there are so many inconsistencies in the nature of having, or not having, a soul, I'm inclined to believe my third theory. After all, the effect a soul has is dependent on the person itself: Darla and Angelus could not experience love, whereas Spike, Drusilla and other vampires could. But this is getting into essay territory. I've been thinking about this topic for months, so maybe one day I'll do a proper essay for y'all but not today.
All in all, a great episode. And I'm loving S5 so far. Yes, Angel is suffering from lack of Cordy, but honestly in my mind she exited the show in S3. After that it was just a twisted bastardisation of her character so we'd be glad to see her go. I wouldn't call it character assasination if she'd come back at the end of the season to reclaim her life, destroy Jasmine, and remind us of who she truly is. I don't really count You're Welcome (though admittedly I haven't seen it yet) because originally it was going to be Buffy in that episode. I mean yeah, symbolically Cordelia got the finale she deserved. But as that wasn't what was intended it's kinda a bitter victory IMO.
But, things I have said before. In any case - yay S5! :D
~Lili
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