Comments | lostboy_lj: The Importance of Being Angel

lostboy_lj

The Importance of Being Angel

Jun 18, 2012 14:47

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 ( Read more... )

thinky thoughts, meta, buffy the vampire slayer, btvs

Comments 49

norwie2010 June 20 2012, 11:39:01 UTC

What's there to add?

Nothing, much. I think this is so spot on (including the snark) that it's really all that is there to say about the subject.

So: Looking forward to "Beer Bad" ;-)

lostboy_lj June 21 2012, 00:01:44 UTC

Thanks, norwie :D

(Beer is Bad but Liquor is Quicker!)

bone_dry1013 June 20 2012, 21:50:23 UTC

Hahaha. Oh, the interjection of the comic panels was almost as hilarious as you comparing AtS to Angel's Ghostbusters existential crisis moment ( ... )

lostboy_lj June 21 2012, 01:13:37 UTC

I can never really decide whether or not I like Angel. I always felt like that whole "I will always be there for you" thing was just a large line of bullcrap, especially after his behavior when Faith shows up after body-switching with Buffy and is in general being her usual psycho self (as much as I love Faith).

Ha! Yeah, but, I don't think we can blame him (too much) for that. Faith even faked out Buffy's own mom with her act.

Also, the fact that he was trouncing around in Pylea while Buffy was jumping off the tower to her death to save the world always did piss me off.

XD XD XD

I know what you mean. But... aw, c'mon!!! The Plyea stuff was all about trying to save Cordy. Also, that allowed Angel to say one of my top five "AtS" lines:

"Can everyone just notice how much fire I'm not on?"

(<<

bone_dry1013 June 21 2012, 01:41:24 UTC

Faith even faked out Buffy's own mom with her act. Yeah, but Angel knows firsthand Faith's Golden Globe acting abilities ("Enemies"), and I don't know that it would have occurred to Joyce "Oh, it's obvious, my daughter body-switched with the psycho chick that was threatening to murder me earlier..." whereas with Angel Buffy was physically standing there telling him what happened and his response was to declare LA his personal turf and fuck you, Buffy, go back to Sunnyhell where you belong ( ... )

lostboy_lj June 21 2012, 02:45:48 UTC

and I don't know that it would have occurred to Joyce "Oh, it's obvious, my daughter body-switched with the psycho chick that was threatening to murder me earlier...

Yeah, but, oh God, but you really are just conjuring the image in my head of Joyce tied up on that bed completely..... DEFANGING..... Faith with her words. I think that was Joyce's most awesome moment and maybe the best of any character's moments in that season. Joyce may not have known Faith well enough to detect the swap, but she knew Faith well enough to burn her bad.

Thread 5

dampersnspoons July 9 2012, 17:05:21 UTC

I like Angel. Period. I liked him better in his own series, and I think I am the only one on planet earth who adores Connor's storyline. The dude had fucking teeth on a string and cut another dude's ear off and sank his father in the ocean in what is probably, hands down, my favorite scene in the entire series! COME ON ( ... )

lostboy_lj July 9 2012, 18:35:45 UTC

I liked him better in his own series, and I think I am the only one on planet earth who adores Connor's storyline.

Nuh uh! I loves me some Connor. I get the feeling the anti-Connor stuff sprung up around the time that he was gettin' nude and rude with Posessed!Cordelia. Before that, I thought he was the perfect Anti-Dawn, with the miraculous birth and the badassedness and everything.

lostboy_lj July 9 2012, 19:00:31 UTC

I totally agree with you that his scant appearances after season 3 were directly related to whether or not his spin-off was going to make it, and that just hurts Buffy's storyline when you think about it.

I think his appearances in season four ("Freshman" dream, "Pangs", "The Yoko Factor") were totally about walking on eggshells around the Angel pilot season, but once it got renewed I think they really just put the character to bed on BTVS. After "Yoko" he only appears in two more scenes in the entire series (Joyce's grave in "Forever", the Caleb battle in "EOD/Chosen"). I personally think those appearances were purposeful, to illustrate how loved ones pull together in times of death and desperation.

While his scene in "Forever" felt somewhat contrived/Cosby-like to me, I honestly think I have less of a problem with Angel's "Chosen" scene than I almost anyone I know in fandom. I think they really had to include him somehow, not just to pander to certain fans but also to wrap up the series properly. There's a certain formula with ( ... )

dampersnspoons July 9 2012, 19:11:28 UTC

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 ( ... )

Thread 9