How Happy You Made Us, Oh, Jasmine
People out there don't like Connor. I guess I understand a little bit, he's upset and whines a bit, but I don't think anyone can honestly say that they could have gone through everything that Connor went through and say they wouldn't have whined about it. Honestly, I think Connor's been through to much for people to be hating him.
Whenever I rewatch season four of Angel, I pretty much just want to cry for Connor. The whole world's against him, and finally he gets his daughter, who will love him, and she's a monster with a face full of maggots, but Connor is so desperate to be loved than he loves her back despite that.
He's so happy when she's around and it just breaks my heart knowing that he has contented himself with her when he knows it's all a lie.
But what else is he going to do? He doesn't have it in him to be let down again. His mother killed herself, his father is a monster who he just can't get along with, his foster father was evil the whole time, and Cordelia, who he was in love with, was actually possessed and is now comatose because of him.
So he ignores it. Pretends to be blessed with what everyone else sees. If you pretend you're happy for long enough, eventually you'll become happy.
In 4.19 "The Magic Bullet", Connor says to Angel, "You ruin everything." It's so sad, but, from his point of view, completely true. We know Angel loves his son very much, and he's trying to be a good father, but Angel is flawed and sometimes he ends up hurting more than helping.
Another reason I've noticed people disliking Connor for is the Connor/Cordelia storyline. Which, while it is ishy and disturbing, yes, isn't something you can fairly hold against him.
Despite people like Angelus saying the Cordelia is "the closest thing [Connor's] ever had to a mother,", Connor has no memories of Cordelia whatsoever. She's just another stranger in this strange new world. Even though we, the audience, and most of the older characters see the relationship as something akin to incest, Connor doesn't. It isn't his fault that we remember him being born.
And, for that matter, he's not exactly proud of the Oedipal complex he's got going on.
In the "After the Fall" comic "First Night, Part One", Connor regains all his memories. As in all of his memories. The ones that Cyvus Vail took from him, even the ones way down in his subconscious that he couldn't have processed for for being so young. Only now, he can process them. This comes to the extreme of Connor remembering being in Darla's womb.
It is here that he is able to appreciate why people were disturbed by his relationship with Cordelia, and he actually vomits in horror at this.
And then he makes some more Oedipus references.
It's a very disturbing moment when Jasmine pats him, smiles, and addressed him as "my dear boy." I was actually pretty creeped out by that moment, because she sounded exactly like his mother.
Not that Connor would know that. He never even met Darla, but it's still rather disturbing. (And Oedipal, naturally.)
When Angel and Connor sing together, it's simultaneously one of the sweetest and saddest scenes in the series. Sweet because they're finally getting along, sad because of everything that had to happen for them to get to that point. And what it says about Connor, again, is he just wants to be loved. He's not under a spell. He's really just standing there, grinning and singing a butchered parody of a Manilow song, because he wants to.
But why doesn't Lorne notice anything? That's what bugged me. Connor's free from the spell, and while he's happy, he does know the truth. Shouldn't Lorne have seen it then? Maybe not process it, but something...
And, for that matter, why isn't Angel affected by Jasmine? If her mother and father can see her true visage because they share her blood, then why not her grandfather? (Because it wouldn't have been as interesting.)
I think it would have been interesting if Jasmine had been born as a baby. People would be fighting over which of them gets the honour of changing her diapers. It would have been funny.
Anyway, slight tangent here, but in "Family Reunion, Part Two" Connor tells Angel that, since Buffy broke the Seed of Wonder, that without magic the spell that made him think the Reilly's were his family was erased. Which would be fine, if not for two problems:
One: Just because they don't remember him because of the spell, why don't they remember him from after the spell? He spent two years as their son, living in their house even. But they don't remember that? Even the things that actually happened?
And two: What about Dawn?! She was created by a spell. Physically. But she's still around somehow. And don't you think someone would have mentioned if suddenly they couldn't remember anything about Dawn before 2000?
"I have thirty-seven cats, and I've just changed all their names to Jasmine."
Oh, this is probably going to be my fate, for the record.
(If anyone is wondering about the tags, I've decided to classify the After the Fall comics as season six of Angel, just to make my life simpler.)
(A portion of this was originally sent as a text message on 8/7/12)
Whenever I rewatch season four of Angel, I pretty much just want to cry for Connor. The whole world's against him, and finally he gets his daughter, who will love him, and she's a monster with a face full of maggots, but Connor is so desperate to be loved than he loves her back despite that.
He's so happy when she's around and it just breaks my heart knowing that he has contented himself with her when he knows it's all a lie.
But what else is he going to do? He doesn't have it in him to be let down again. His mother killed herself, his father is a monster who he just can't get along with, his foster father was evil the whole time, and Cordelia, who he was in love with, was actually possessed and is now comatose because of him.
So he ignores it. Pretends to be blessed with what everyone else sees. If you pretend you're happy for long enough, eventually you'll become happy.
In 4.19 "The Magic Bullet", Connor says to Angel, "You ruin everything." It's so sad, but, from his point of view, completely true. We know Angel loves his son very much, and he's trying to be a good father, but Angel is flawed and sometimes he ends up hurting more than helping.
Another reason I've noticed people disliking Connor for is the Connor/Cordelia storyline. Which, while it is ishy and disturbing, yes, isn't something you can fairly hold against him.
Despite people like Angelus saying the Cordelia is "the closest thing [Connor's] ever had to a mother,", Connor has no memories of Cordelia whatsoever. She's just another stranger in this strange new world. Even though we, the audience, and most of the older characters see the relationship as something akin to incest, Connor doesn't. It isn't his fault that we remember him being born.
And, for that matter, he's not exactly proud of the Oedipal complex he's got going on.
In the "After the Fall" comic "First Night, Part One", Connor regains all his memories. As in all of his memories. The ones that Cyvus Vail took from him, even the ones way down in his subconscious that he couldn't have processed for for being so young. Only now, he can process them. This comes to the extreme of Connor remembering being in Darla's womb.
It is here that he is able to appreciate why people were disturbed by his relationship with Cordelia, and he actually vomits in horror at this.
And then he makes some more Oedipus references.
It's a very disturbing moment when Jasmine pats him, smiles, and addressed him as "my dear boy." I was actually pretty creeped out by that moment, because she sounded exactly like his mother.
Not that Connor would know that. He never even met Darla, but it's still rather disturbing. (And Oedipal, naturally.)
When Angel and Connor sing together, it's simultaneously one of the sweetest and saddest scenes in the series. Sweet because they're finally getting along, sad because of everything that had to happen for them to get to that point. And what it says about Connor, again, is he just wants to be loved. He's not under a spell. He's really just standing there, grinning and singing a butchered parody of a Manilow song, because he wants to.
But why doesn't Lorne notice anything? That's what bugged me. Connor's free from the spell, and while he's happy, he does know the truth. Shouldn't Lorne have seen it then? Maybe not process it, but something...
And, for that matter, why isn't Angel affected by Jasmine? If her mother and father can see her true visage because they share her blood, then why not her grandfather? (Because it wouldn't have been as interesting.)
I think it would have been interesting if Jasmine had been born as a baby. People would be fighting over which of them gets the honour of changing her diapers. It would have been funny.
Anyway, slight tangent here, but in "Family Reunion, Part Two" Connor tells Angel that, since Buffy broke the Seed of Wonder, that without magic the spell that made him think the Reilly's were his family was erased. Which would be fine, if not for two problems:
One: Just because they don't remember him because of the spell, why don't they remember him from after the spell? He spent two years as their son, living in their house even. But they don't remember that? Even the things that actually happened?
And two: What about Dawn?! She was created by a spell. Physically. But she's still around somehow. And don't you think someone would have mentioned if suddenly they couldn't remember anything about Dawn before 2000?
"I have thirty-seven cats, and I've just changed all their names to Jasmine."
Oh, this is probably going to be my fate, for the record.
(If anyone is wondering about the tags, I've decided to classify the After the Fall comics as season six of Angel, just to make my life simpler.)
(A portion of this was originally sent as a text message on 8/7/12)