I think there needs to be a sliding scale of Evil, though.
I mean, Buffy and Angel, in the very least, exist in the same dimension (give or take a mindwipe). Which means that in this 'verse, there are demons attempting to eliminate the world as we know it... eh, at least once or twice a year, figure.
Wolfram and Hart funds bad guys. Wolfram and Hart, however, are rarely ACTIVE bad guys. Which is to say, Lilah has done evil things, and totally deserves to be condemned for them. She made her own bed, lie in it, etc. But the evil things that she's done have been less destructive, overall, than even what, say, Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew did.
Which is not to say that the nerd troika isn't currently roasting away in Hell. Although I guess maybe we can, if we assume that Jonathan was redeemed for his remorse, Andrew was redeemed by being a tiny girly-man, and Warren's been flayed and then used as an Object Lesson. Lilah, conversely, is actively burning, eternal hellfire, etc., for being a cog in a greater machine of Evil.
We know from s4 that she has no actual desire for Angel's death and dismemberment; she was for it when it saw W+H plans through, but she didn't seek it actively herself. (Of course, that in and of itself is conflicting directly with Loyalty and the infamous Count Me In of Badassery, which could in turn be seen as Lilah working with the SPs since well beyond the Summer of Smut... but I digress.) She wants her pretty things, and if we infer that in Untouched she was seeing a lot of herself in Bethany rather than just pushing corporate propaganda, there's a degree of salvation that she got from working at Wolfram and Hart. We know she has money- enough to send to her mother who's in some kind of home- and she has power, and I do think it's worth noting that, while she didn't stop doing evil (obviously; still at the job), in season four the only things we saw her do were attacking Lorne and stalking Connor, both directly related to the firm's goals of carrying out prophecy. Which makes her intent not for the act of doing bad things, per se, but for the greater good of her company.
She did bad things. She deserves to be punished. But the intention is muddled here, and that's making it hard for me, at least, to formulate an argument either way.
Agreed on the sliding scale. Nobody's hands are clean here. And yeah, I'm having trouble formulating an argument one way or another as well. Which is cool with me, actually, cause I prefer the moral questions to have messy answers. (Hmmph. Maybe *I'm* difficult.)
I mean, Buffy and Angel, in the very least, exist in the same dimension (give or take a mindwipe). Which means that in this 'verse, there are demons attempting to eliminate the world as we know it... eh, at least once or twice a year, figure.
Wolfram and Hart funds bad guys. Wolfram and Hart, however, are rarely ACTIVE bad guys. Which is to say, Lilah has done evil things, and totally deserves to be condemned for them. She made her own bed, lie in it, etc. But the evil things that she's done have been less destructive, overall, than even what, say, Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew did.
Which is not to say that the nerd troika isn't currently roasting away in Hell. Although I guess maybe we can, if we assume that Jonathan was redeemed for his remorse, Andrew was redeemed by being a tiny girly-man, and Warren's been flayed and then used as an Object Lesson. Lilah, conversely, is actively burning, eternal hellfire, etc., for being a cog in a greater machine of Evil.
We know from s4 that she has no actual desire for Angel's death and dismemberment; she was for it when it saw W+H plans through, but she didn't seek it actively herself. (Of course, that in and of itself is conflicting directly with Loyalty and the infamous Count Me In of Badassery, which could in turn be seen as Lilah working with the SPs since well beyond the Summer of Smut... but I digress.) She wants her pretty things, and if we infer that in Untouched she was seeing a lot of herself in Bethany rather than just pushing corporate propaganda, there's a degree of salvation that she got from working at Wolfram and Hart. We know she has money- enough to send to her mother who's in some kind of home- and she has power, and I do think it's worth noting that, while she didn't stop doing evil (obviously; still at the job), in season four the only things we saw her do were attacking Lorne and stalking Connor, both directly related to the firm's goals of carrying out prophecy. Which makes her intent not for the act of doing bad things, per se, but for the greater good of her company.
She did bad things. She deserves to be punished. But the intention is muddled here, and that's making it hard for me, at least, to formulate an argument either way.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment