S8 Comics-- Issue #36
So yeah, I realize I'm way behind, and I didn't read anyone's thoughts on this issue. In fact, I just read it. There were some things that stuck out in my mind as interesting, curious, off putting or just plain yucky.
Thanks to Emmie for the screencaps.
( Scarlet's (perhaps unpopular) thoughts on Issue 36... )
Thanks to Emmie for the screencaps.
( Scarlet's (perhaps unpopular) thoughts on Issue 36... )
Joss decides to have Angel regress. He's seen first hand what can happen when one is offered the option of becoming a "higher being"
Which might be why his reaction to the offer is scepticism, sarcasm, and then turning his back on the dog and trying to walk away, maybe? ;-)
Except, of course, he's not "offered" the powers at all. He discovers he already has them, when he manages to save the lives of several hundred people by using them... (And honestly, when has Angel ever NOT accepted the word of a powerful mystical being who says he's the subject of an ancient prophecy? From Whistler in 'Becoming' to Cordelia's final vision in 'You're Welcome', Angel really is not a sceptic when it comes to prophecies. He even fell hook line and sinker for Eve's cup of Mountain Dew prophecy. Joss might not be writing your Angel, but he's certainly writing mine.)
The real Angel has been here several times--Buffy's life is almost always in danger
Like in 'Pangs' when Angel dropped everything to go and save her, and in 'End of Days' when Angel dropped everything to save her - yes, I agree. :-)
Buffy describes that day as the "weirdest, bestest, weirdest best day" of her life because of Angel
But Buffy was buttering Angel up and flattering him because she was about to tell him to go away... and it can't have been all that subtle, because even Angel realised what she was doing.
"bonk (which should be "boink," right?)
No. Bonk is how it's said in Britain. And I think Spike certainly is counting Angel as the bad guy here, even if his chronology is a little out -and why wouldn't he include himelf as a bad guy in season 6? He kept on reminding everyone else he was still evil, after all... ;-)
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Uh, what. S5 of AtS is all about how Angel is a skeptic when it comes to prophecy, especially post-Jasmine. The idea that Angel would buy any of this claptrap post-Jasmine is ludicrous; the only person he was willing to buy it from was Cordelia in "You're Welcome", because he trusts her and she's a human being who ascended rather than a god lowering herself to human level. And that wasn't a prophecy, it was a path back to the mission.
Wrt "Eve's prophecy", Angel hears it as a supposed extension of an existing prophecy he has reason to believe in (due to The Oracles, The Conduit, etc), from the mouth of a human academic authority he trusts (Sirk). It's not like Eve rants at him and he's like OMG MUST DO AS YOU SAY. Plus, it's more about Spike believing it -- and the threat that presents to Angel -- than Angel himself buying into it completely.
Like in 'Pangs' when Angel dropped everything to go and save her, and in 'End of Days' when Angel dropped everything to save her - yes, I agree. :-)
Uh, Angel didn't drop anything in "End Of Days". The Jasmine crisis was long over and he took his sweet time going over there to give her the amulet, if you compare show timelines. In "Pangs" there was an imminent threat to her life and he did his best to stay out of her way.
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Also, bear in mind that what we're seeing here isn't a single event; it's a whole series of flashbacks (including those for the previous Riley one-shot as well). Angel took a whole lot of convincing over a long period of time before he agreed to go along with this.
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No, what makes his life meaningful is what he puts into it himself. "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." This is the guiding principle of the entire series.
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Yes, the awesomely awesome series that (apparently) have no bearings on the comics...
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Agreed on "Pangs," but "End of Days"? He merely dropped by. If he really thought she was in danger, he would have stayed no matter what she said. Buffy specifically tells him to go and be her "second front," which implied to leave in case she failed (e.g. died) and this battle surpassed the boundaries of Sunnydale. And Angel said okay, cause he grew up by then. Buffy died twice already, and he couldn't stop it or save her. He was used to that by then.
But Buffy was buttering Angel up and flattering him because she was about to tell him to go away... and it can't have been all that subtle, because even Angel realised what she was doing.
But she didn't tell him to go away indefinitely....It was strategy so she could work on that "simpleton" Spike without interruption.
Spike wasn't evil in s6, and he only protested he was still "bad" in s4. And even then, he protested way too much...
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Plus like I said in the reply above: we're not just seeing a single event here; we're seeing a whole series of flashbacks. Angel took a lot of convincing, apparently... even though he had indisputable evidence - his sudden ability to fly and pick up jet liners, frinstance - that something mystical and weird was going on.
But she didn't tell him to go away indefinitely
She never does. Not even in the cookie dough speech.
Spike wasn't evil in s6
That's not a view that's universally accepted, you know. ;-)
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But that doesn't mean it was right or that it should be accepted. Take for instance Cordelia's multiple mystical pregnancies. They (the AI team) didn't just sit back and accept it as if it were her destiny to carry that stuff out. Bottom line is, show/canon!Angel would have known better. I cannot in good conscience compare that character to whatever is going on in the comics.
That's not a view that's universally accepted, you know.
Well, you can apply that to pretty much anything in fandom ;)
And on a scale of one to evil, Spike was perhaps a two in s6, and lower still on the totem pole of bad behavior of the cast of characters--beneath Willow, beneath Warren, and beneath Buffy.
Of course, that's my view.
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