The Importance of Being Angel

[lostboy_lj]

So, I closed my poll.  The result wasn't close and didn't look like it was gonna be, and the topic chosen required a lot of work, so I thought I should get cracking on it right away.  It's coming along fine, but it's gonna take a bit more time to cook -- with myths like this one, I've discovered you have to do a lot of long, boring research and

Comments

[dampersnspoons]

There's a certain formula with series finales and character denouements that I think had to be respected.

I get that. And I respect that. All shows go full-circle (if they don't get cancelled) and I'm well aware of this. I think how they brought it full-circle was gimicky and pandering to the Bangel shippers and not realistic to the plot happening in that particular episode. Had he shown up and given her the amulet without that bizarre kiss out of nowhere, I might have stomached it a little better. That has nothing to do with me being a Spuffy shipper, but someone who doesn't understand how that's realistic or even fair to Buffy who by season 7 resembles a woman who isn't defined by the men in her life, but by her own strength and taking hold of it, and learning to trust someone she never thought she would. Angel's arrival was like a giant eye-roll.

I think it would have been cool if he'd helped them in the final battle, season 1-3 style, to complete their story, and have Buffy still choose Spike to wear the amulet, and everyone (me) is happy.

But I respect that you liked the episode and I understand why you did. I just can't deny my personal gut-reaction when I first saw it, which was, "NO."

[lostboy_lj]

Hummm... these are all good points.

I dunno. I still sort of liked the kiss, and even her lame, somewhat weird-ass "It was... a hello" explanation of it. I mean, Angel gets conked on the head and Buffy winds up having to take down Caleb by herself anyway, so I thought they were sort of subverting the trope immediately after celebrating it.

It's meant to be a very funny moment, I think, when Angel jumps up all ready to fight and Caleb is already chopped into a couple of evil preacher steaks. That and the sober conversation in the graveyard that follows seems to me to be deliberately in conflict with the swashbuckling entrance and the kiss, in a way that made me think about the scene itself as an analog to that delirious "hanging out with my first love" situation.

It's like, being around them again suddenly plays all these tricks on you and makes you think about how you've lost touch with your younger self, and for a moment your heart starts questioning whether you made all the right choices or not. Then, your brain takes over and slaps your heart across its heart-face, and your heart says, "Oh yeah. I remember now. Duh. Nevermind." Maybe I'm just artificially imbuing that scene with my own experiences, and it really was an incredibly crass pander, but given that it was the final episode, I'm sure they weren't worried about losing viewers, right? I mean Angel still had a season to go, so maybe they thought it would create more interest there, I'm just not sure how.

I think it would have been cool if he'd helped them in the final battle, season 1-3 style, to complete their story, and have Buffy still choose Spike to wear the amulet, and everyone (me) is happy.

I'm actually glad they kept him out of the final final battle (down in the Hellmouth), because then I think he really would be intruding too much on Buffy's tale.

[red_satin_doll]

Enjoyed this post a lot even though I'm not a Bangel shipper per se (I don't hate the guy either; I cried for Buffy in S2-3; then by S4 I couldn't remember why I was so worked up about it.) I can see the reason why they brought Angel on BtVS; and the first time watching (3 months ago in fact) I hated it, and hated the "cookie dough" speech; reading through 2maggie2's and gabrielleabelle's metas that explain how Bangel was a subversion of the True Love tropes really helped me see how the subversion continued in EoD and Chosen: Buffy saying "let me bask...ok, I'm done basking; what are you doing here?" acknowledges the pull of first love and the nostalgia for a simpler time; while the lines "oh my god are you 12?" and "Do I have to go with the [cookie dough] metaphor?" acknowledge the absurdity of the trope (and the obvious fanservice) in a very meta way. or at least that's how I read it.

So I guess what I'm saying is I can agree with both lostboy and dampersnspoons, if that's possible (is that possible?)

I think it would have been cool if he'd helped them in the final battle, season 1-3 style, to complete their story, and have Buffy still choose Spike to wear the amulet, and everyone (me) is happy.

I will disagree with personally - unless Angel also died in the battle, I can imagine certain people claiming that is "absolute proof" that she loved Angel more and he was the only one, forever and ever, blah blah. Which to me is missing the whole point. Each man in her life - starting with Hank, and including Giles, etc - is an important part of her journey. Personally I love the notion that she goes from an idealized daddy-figure to someone who is basically her equal on several levels. (Not to rain on anybody's 'ship.)

[red_satin_doll]

Oh and the way you constructed the post btw, with the frame from the comics and the captions is wonderful. (In a way it shows how much the writers have basically ignored Buffy's character growth S1-7 - which is where canon ends for me - so they can keep her stuck in a self-defeating loop.

The TV show was, to me, very much about a journey, about maturation; whatever has come since seems to be about "let's make Buffy a perpetual self-hating doormat, and a stupid one at that". Spike said he knew "the best and the worst" of her; in the comics we're only give the worst. Yuck.)

[lostboy_lj]

Thanks. Yeah, the comics lost me pretty quickly. Not necessarily because I wanted Buffy to be perfect in them -- there are always more lessons to learn, after all -- but because the writers didn't seem to understand where all her old scars really were. If Buffy's OOC, then the whole shebang falls apart, no matter what the plot is.

[lostboy_lj]

Thanks red satin doll. :)

So I guess what I'm saying is I can agree with both lostboy and dampersnspoons, if that's possible (is that possible?)

Yeah, I totally think that's possible. I don't think D&S and me are that far apart on it, anyway. I think some of the writers' decisions just didn't bother me as much as they did her. For instance, I liked the gut-wrenching ending of EOD, too, where Spike is looking on with The First at his side. It felt like the moment was The First testing Spike, which it did with all the other characters. Would this kiss drive him back into the darkness, or would he rise above it. Good stuff, IMHO.

Personally I love the notion that she goes from an idealized daddy-figure to someone who is basically her equal on several levels.

Yeah, I agree this plays a big part in what's going on.