Angel. The Fall

Dec 13, 2010 17:09

The main complaints against Angel's arc I saw online boil down to two claims: a) Angel is out of character and b) to service Buffy's journey, Angel is destroyed.

Judging by Jeanty's Q&As, Angel's arc in season 8 is over. He won't be in #40. It's time to sum up his story. What the hell has happened to him?
Angel, Joss way )

comics, angel, btvs season 8

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Comments 94

veiriti December 15 2010, 21:16:31 UTC
Great essay, Elena! I think Angel is absolutely OC. And about Whistler, PTB and Twilight I think they are emanations of one and the same hight power - a brand new universe who wanted to born and who wanted a soul, well, to steal the soul of the old universe... and that twilight higher power has chosen Angel to do that dirty work ( ... )

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moscow_watcher December 15 2010, 22:06:30 UTC
Hey, Veiri!

And about Whistler, PTB and Twilight I think they are emanations of one and the same hight power - a brand new universe who wanted to born and who wanted a soul, well, to steal the soul of the old universe... and that twilight higher power has chosen Angel to do that dirty work.
I think Angel has been duped and mislead from the very beginning. These hight powers pointed out on his champion ego - you know they made him first to help to the crashing plane. And I think all these years Whistler and PTB were training Angel like their obedient dog. Remember who has shown Buffy to Angel - Whistler. I wouldn't be surprised if all Bangel thing is a product of a destined breeding plan, i.e. Buffy and Angel fell in love in the beginning because they were destined to do that, not because their free wills...I thought about that option, too. That in season 9 Joss will retcon his universe once again and explain that Angel was manipulated by Whistler since their first encounter ( ... )

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veiriti December 15 2010, 22:49:30 UTC
Actually there is another parallel between Angel and Hitler. I've read books about the occult history of the Nazism and Fascism. Hitler fell under the influence of the Thule society and I think he has been mislead by their ideas for a great and destined nation who will rule a brand new world - the Third Reich. The other nations supposed to being exterminated or to turn into their slaves. Very familiar, innit? ;)Even Thule and Twilight sound a bit familiar ;)
I know that debates like these went ugly - I had a similar debate with an Angel's fan (can you guess who ? ;)) over the IDW forum. Actually I'm not accusing Buffy into anything, Angel is responsible for everything, Buffy's only guilt is that she believed in his lies... and jumped in his arms like a silly teenager...

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moscow_watcher December 16 2010, 12:24:26 UTC
I've read books about the occult history of the Nazism and Fascism. Hitler fell under the influence of the Thule society and I think he has been mislead by their ideas for a great and destined nation who will rule a brand new world - the Third Reich.

I know that Hitler was into occult, but I didn't know details. Interesting parallel, good food for thought/

In my country, Bolsheviks fought agaist occultism - at least that's what we were told. Right now, occult stuff is very popular in Russia.

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local_max December 16 2010, 13:03:56 UTC
Great essay! Have to ponder. (Don't have much time right now.) I think there are big execution problems with Angel's arc, though some of that might go away depending on how they handle his material in season nine (or even, ye gods, in the IDW line). The issue that brought Angel home the most for me was 36--there was a real sense of devastation at the world he's lost, reluctance at being "called" quickly giving way to acceptance that it's obvious it's he who deserves the gift he's been given. (The issue also goes against any claims that Angel's hands are at all clean--"Does it involve killing?" "Wish I could say it doesn't." I'll take that over interviews ( ... )

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moscow_watcher December 16 2010, 14:41:30 UTC
Great essay!

Thank you!

Part of this season's view of Angel is that the heroic sheen has been removed or amped up to 11. But in the process a lot of his actual personality and canniness (Angel is a moron sometimes, but he's often quite bright) has been taken away. The season plays a lot with skewed perspectives, so I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing; it's been pointed out that Angel's page in 37 is him living out his own fantasy.

I have a lot of issues with the scene where he tries to seduce Buffy with the idea of them living their dreams in paradise. I really don't know if these scenes seem false to me because I don't ship Buffy/Angel post season 3. Maybe because we're supposed to think that it's the unholy glow speaking for them, instead ot their real personalities.

But there is one thing for sure: I'm really, really curious about Angel's further journey.

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