The rationale of endings.
I really liked it. I know I said that before, but I've been thinking about why.
I've always love Angel the show, it was darker and more suited to my world than Buffy. Buffy gave me the giggles, but Angel gave me the thinks.
And it fit in place. In 2000, I really lost my faith. I believed in democracy and the Supreme Court and in justice and apple pie and all that. But with one decision, I realized that this America that I love is a volatile, intangible being and at any second it can embody all that I destest and all that I love. So Angel's epiphany (epiffannny, hee) that there wasn't a divine plan, there isn't redemption was a beautiful and perfectly timed thing.
And the ending was true to the show, it was yet another statement that, Yea, we're not going to win, but we're not going to go quietly. That no matter how dismal the world is, no matter the odds, you've got to fight. With Buffy, there was always the comforting knowledge that even if Buffy died, there were more slayers to continue the fight. The battle would go on, and eventually good would win.
But with Angel, there isn't that comfort. Good may not win, evil just might triumph. But if it does, it doesn't matter. There will always be pockets of heroes fighting. Even if their fights don't matter, and their lives don't matter, they'll fight. Because that's what we do, we make it difficult, we don't roll over and let things be evil. We struggle, we live, we breathe, we love and despite all the overwhelming odds we believe that this time, we might make a difference.
So yeah, he took out the Black Thorn. The Partners will have a time getting the power balance back, and maybe he started the Apocalypse, but he went out on his terms.
Everything that Angel had been given as carrot on a stick to keep him fighting was taken away. There will be no ice cream adventures with Buffy, he can't save everyone, there's no Shansu, there's no peace. There's only the fight and the knowledge that at the end of the day, you stood and fought.
These are the true heroes. The ones who have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. At the hand-raising point in Power Play, the gang realized that they had nothing to lose. There was no life for them after this, there would be no happy ending. And that's when they became heroes. Granted the world sucks and after they're gone the world may still suck, but for a bright shining moment, they fought.
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred
This is what makes humanity strong, this urge to fight with our last breaths. Angel got shansu, he was human in that alley, he was the best of us. He fought although there was no hope of winning. He fought for his son to have a chance. He fought for the memory of those lost, he fought for those yet to come. He fought to say to those stronger than all of us, "You may be eternal. You may be powerful. But we will not let you have this world, you will have to fight us every step of the way, every breath you take will have to be won in blood."
Like another great soldier in the face of death said, "A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship-but it is not this day.
An hour for wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day, this day we fight. By all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid you stand, men of the west."
The courage of men did not fail. And we stood.
I've always love Angel the show, it was darker and more suited to my world than Buffy. Buffy gave me the giggles, but Angel gave me the thinks.
And it fit in place. In 2000, I really lost my faith. I believed in democracy and the Supreme Court and in justice and apple pie and all that. But with one decision, I realized that this America that I love is a volatile, intangible being and at any second it can embody all that I destest and all that I love. So Angel's epiphany (epiffannny, hee) that there wasn't a divine plan, there isn't redemption was a beautiful and perfectly timed thing.
And the ending was true to the show, it was yet another statement that, Yea, we're not going to win, but we're not going to go quietly. That no matter how dismal the world is, no matter the odds, you've got to fight. With Buffy, there was always the comforting knowledge that even if Buffy died, there were more slayers to continue the fight. The battle would go on, and eventually good would win.
But with Angel, there isn't that comfort. Good may not win, evil just might triumph. But if it does, it doesn't matter. There will always be pockets of heroes fighting. Even if their fights don't matter, and their lives don't matter, they'll fight. Because that's what we do, we make it difficult, we don't roll over and let things be evil. We struggle, we live, we breathe, we love and despite all the overwhelming odds we believe that this time, we might make a difference.
So yeah, he took out the Black Thorn. The Partners will have a time getting the power balance back, and maybe he started the Apocalypse, but he went out on his terms.
Everything that Angel had been given as carrot on a stick to keep him fighting was taken away. There will be no ice cream adventures with Buffy, he can't save everyone, there's no Shansu, there's no peace. There's only the fight and the knowledge that at the end of the day, you stood and fought.
These are the true heroes. The ones who have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. At the hand-raising point in Power Play, the gang realized that they had nothing to lose. There was no life for them after this, there would be no happy ending. And that's when they became heroes. Granted the world sucks and after they're gone the world may still suck, but for a bright shining moment, they fought.
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred
This is what makes humanity strong, this urge to fight with our last breaths. Angel got shansu, he was human in that alley, he was the best of us. He fought although there was no hope of winning. He fought for his son to have a chance. He fought for the memory of those lost, he fought for those yet to come. He fought to say to those stronger than all of us, "You may be eternal. You may be powerful. But we will not let you have this world, you will have to fight us every step of the way, every breath you take will have to be won in blood."
Like another great soldier in the face of death said, "A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship-but it is not this day.
An hour for wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day, this day we fight. By all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid you stand, men of the west."
The courage of men did not fail. And we stood.