Riley one-shot by Jane Espenson: scattered thoughts
The issue features two parallel stories: Riley and Sam joining the Twilight's army as Buffy's undercover agents and Angel talking to Whistler who convinces him that he has to manipulate Buffy to save the world.
Angel: I hate it all, Whistler. I hate this plan.
Whistler: Too bad. It's the only thing with a chance or working then, huh?
[...]
Angel: She should be the most powerful player in the game. Not a piece on the board. This is wrong.
Whistler: You know the answer to that, Angel. If you tell her, it doesn't happen. She needs to feel powerless in order to find the ultimate power. You can do what she'd want or you can do the right thing. Torture the former cheerleader, save the world.
[...]
Whistler: There are a lot of possible futures, Angel. It's just that some of them aren't very likely. You and Buffy falling in love, that was one of those - a long shot that paid off. And now there's this prophecy, the biggest one the powers have ever seen, so that's messing with the math, killing off time-lines. Anyway, I've seen some of the futures. In some of them, right exactly at this point, you tell her what's going on. You work as a team, fight side by side.
Angel: Really, you've seen this?
Whistler: You lose the war side by side. Very romantic. You can save the world together, but only if you're not together. You have to decide where your loyalty lies... with the girl or with the world.
It becomes harder and harder to give opinions on separate issues because we don't know the big picture. It's like reviewing a separate chapter of Agatha Christie's novel. Plot-wise, it doesn't add up so far. The ultimate "exposition guy" Whistler managed to make the situation even more incomprehensible.
So. Several years ago a badly-dressed demon recruited Angel on a mission of helping the slayer. The demon forgot to mention that Angel shouldn't sleep with his mission. Either he didn't know about it, or deemed it not important, or kept it from Angel for some nefarious purposes. That resulted in a disaster. Angel lost his soul, almost ended the world and spent 100 years in a hell dimension.
Now the same demon approaches Angel with much more outrageous plan - and Angel believes him blindly. He's neither brainwashed nor under a spell. He acts on his own free will. As #38 solicitation elaborates: "As Twilight he was given a clear mission in regard to Buffy - help her reach the next plane, together create a new world, and end all suffering." Angel does what he was told and - surprise! - his actions bring the apocalypse on Earth. In #35 Angel looks shocked when he discovers it.
So, judjing by what I see on the page, Whistler lied that the plan was to save the world. The plan was to destroy the world. Angel believed his lies (because, you know, he's such a credulous guy) and became the instrument of the apocalypse.
Or maybe Meltzer and Espenson forgot to exchange notes. Meltzer has written his arc long ago, back in 2006-2007. There are weird discrepancies: in Meltzer's story, it's the universe who's behind the whole plan; in Espenson's story, it's Whistler who might be the "face" of PTB or work for somebody else. Looks like in Joss' arc it will be the universe' machinations again. (Well, given that both the universe and PTB are just writers' self-inserts, writers' "because I say so", it's not an important discrepancy - but still.)
Back to the plot. The Angel I know would figure out that Whistler manipulates him and start, in turn, manipulate Whistler. My pet theory is that maybe Whistler ordered Angel to kill Buffy (because PTB, aka Joss, love torturing us), and Angel tried to keep her in paradise to prevent her death. So, in #35, he asks her to stay with him not because he wants to isolate her from her friends, and not because he's in denial, but because he knows that she will die if she returns back to Earth.
The weakest link in this theory is equating Angel from TV shows with this bizarre creature in a Mexican wrestler's costume. On TV, Angel was anything but an idiot. He was cunning, shrewd, ruthless, if necessary. But the comics!Angel is an enigma. Meltzer's Angel is Edward Cullen on steroids. Espenson's Angel is mostly brooding. So - who knows? - maybe the guy has been imprinted with a new personality. And the discrepancies may be simply the result of lazy writing. There were so many plot inconsistensies so far - it's impossible to figure out if this is another one.
But maybe Angel is playing a dangerous game against the whole world.
Interestingly, Riley says "hope that nothing I have to do to preserve the cover will cost my eternal soul". The parallel between him and Angel is very obvious. Angel feels bad about his actions - but is it enough to redeem him within the moral boundaries established by the show?
So far, BtVS was based on the idealistic worldview. "The lesser evil" dilemmas were unacceptable. In "Choices" Willow's life is pitted against averting the apocalypse - and Scoobies choose Willow. In season 5 the characters briefly ponder on Dawn's life agaist the end of the world - and reject the option. BtVS heroes always found the next "out-of-the-box" way out. AtS characters don't have such luxury. There is no "out-of-the-box" a way to save Fred. There is no way to avoid killing Drogyn without blowing the cover.
It's interesting to see what worldview - BtVS or AtS - Joss plans to apply here. My guess is the former. Buffy's title --> Buffy's ideology. Angel choosing "the lesser evil" turns into a catastrophe. From #38 solicitation: "now Angel has to answer for his failings as Twilight - willingly or not." In interviews we were told to be "very afraid" for Angel.
OTOH, all Jossverse heroes are usually dragged through mud before Joss allows them to do something heroic. Remember how unsympathetic Xander was in season 6, before he saved the world? Angel may follow in his footsteps.
I want to end this post on something Angel-positive, so I'd love rec a wonderful new ficlet Hunter by scribesds. It's short and funny - and, at the same time, it offers a great insight into Angel's controversial nature and it brings refreshing irony into Angel's hero journey.