Angel Season 5 - episode 16 - Shells (part 2)
Part 2 (of 3)
WESLEY
Having laboured through Fred’s painful, tragic death Wes is also present when Illyria rises using Fred’s body as its vehicle. Even in the face of death, the slow, lingering death of which he witnessed the culmination just moments before, Wesley’s first question on seeing the newly reanimated body is “Fred?”
Hope is hard to repress. Hopeless hope is no exception. But the newly reborn creature doesn’t even register the name, it completely ignores Wesley to go and examine its new form in the mirror. Wesley tries the other name. “Illyria?”
Now he gets a response, confirmation that the transaction has taken place. But a glimmer of hope, an echo, still persists:
Wesley: Who is Winifred Burkle?
Wesley wants to know if Fred is still trapped in there too, if any remnants of Fred are still tangible. The question, the name, means nothing to Illyria and hope is dashed. Fred is dead and all that is left is her shell, taken over by an opportunistic entity. Once he confirms that Fred is truly and completely gone Wesley tries to kill Illyria. Is he driven by a rational understanding that this unwelcome being is dangerous to the world and therefore should be eliminated, or is it an irrational drive for vengeance that only the death of the thing that murdered Fred can satisfy? Perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B…
The attack comes to nothing. The axe shatters as it hit’s the back of Illyria’s head, who doesn’t even flinch at the contact. And then Illyria does recall what Winifred Burkle is; it is the name the shell went by. Illyria’s unwitting attack is more successful, it pierces Wesley through the heart causing him to cry grief-stricken tears that disgust the new arrival. Wes wants it gone. This is not Fred and it is cruel that it should walk around in her beautiful skin. So he thinks; physically, he can’t hurt it, but maybe words can. He uses the obvious displeasure and revulsion Illyria has for humans and their unpalatable emotions against it, tries to cajole it into going away. Humans are everywhere, as bugs across the surface of the earth; this is not the place for it. Go, leave this shell. Come back when the humans are gone. Illyria sees what’s at the heart of his words; he seeks to save what is rotted through and there is no getting Fred back…ever.
Wesley heads to work. He is distracted and withdrawn. Reality has hit home. Even the knowledge that Knox is somehow involved only momentarily distracts him from his grief.
Wesley: Doesn’t matter anymore. Fred’s gone.
It is only when Knox starts expounding the ‘beauty’ of Illyria’s birth and the reason behind his choosing Fred for the great honour that Wesley’s fury is ignited. He goes in for the kill but is forestalled by Gunn:
Gunn: Wes, don’t. We need him. I know how you feel…
Wesley: Do you know? You didn’t feel her die. She was shaking with pain and terrified and so brave and she was better than anyone I’ve known and better than… and she’s gone.
All hope is lost… Until Angel returns in all his heroic magnificence, refusing to accept the finality of death:
Angel: Now let’s get her back!
Wesley doesn’t take the bait without some resistance. He’s sarcastic about Gunn’s belated efforts to discover how the sarcophagus got into the building in the first place, and as for Angel’s plan to ‘get her back’ he can only reply that there is no Fred anymore
Wesley: I watched it gut her from the inside out. Everything she was is gone. There is nothing but a shell.
Wesley could be talking about himself here too. Fred’s death has gutted him from the inside and everything he was is gone. He is nothing but a shell. But then Angel and Spike talk of souls and filling her back up - and they would know, they’re both experts on the importance of souls and know a thing or two about cheating death, this immortal escapee from a hell dimension and his pillar of fire surviving side-kick. They know what they are talking about. They could do it and Wesley is seduced by the prospect:
Wesley: You really believe there’s a chance of bringing her back?
He’s converted. He believes even in the face of everything he’s seen, everything he’s been told. He believes because this is the deepest desire of his heart, it’s what he wants more than anything and, hey, it doesn’t hurt that it’s Angel making the promise - if anyone can make it happen then Angel can.
Once Illyria has come and gone and demonstrated a sample of its special skills Wesley is sent to the lab to search for clues in Knox’s files. Wes confronts the sarcophagus. He tells Harmony that Fred was curious, that she was merely interested in what it was, wanted to know how it worked. The trait made her special, made him love her - yet it also caused her death. He hates her a little for that. Harmony tries to make him feel better, feel grateful for what he had with Fred:
Harmony: The girl of your dreams loved you. That’s more than most people ever get
Wesley: I know. But it isn’t enough
It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly long enough. There were no dates or romance or lovemaking or a draw at his place, a draw at hers. There was no moving in together, no engagement, no marriage, no children, no old age…no future. And that’s what it means to Wesley, that’s why it wasn’t enough - because there should have been so much more.
A cell phone leads Wesley to Gunn’s doctor. Wes arrives at his surgery just in time to overhear the extent of Gunn’s involvement in the plot and that Fred’s soul is lost for ever, burned up in the fires of Illyria’s resurrection. Hope evaporates into nothingness again; it was only ever a mirage anyway. Wesley is without reason. Charles bears the brunt of his wrath because his part in the scheme, although unwitting, is a betrayal to the team, to the family, to the trust that supposedly exists between them and he can’t forgive that it was Fred who paid the ultimate price for Gunn’s brain upgrade. Wesley stabs Gunn in the gut, doing literally to Charles what has been figuratively done to him.
Angel is not happy with the ‘stab Gunn’ addition to the agenda but Wesley is beyond caring. Nothing is right! Nothing will ever be right because they can’t get Fred back and even the great Angel is incapable of making the impossible happen. So now the focus shifts from retrieving Fred to stopping Illyria. Wes is told to suck it up, be bookman and focus on the job at hand. They find Illyria and Knox and as Angel gives a testimonial about his commitment to protecting the human race - each and every one of them regardless of worth, Wesley shoots Knox dead. His mission is not the same as Angel’s. Wesley’s mission is vengeance. Wesley kills Knox because he caused Fred’s death, simple as that. He wants to kill Illyria too but it is a harder fish to fry, so he follows Illyria into the temple, revolver ready and though the opportunity for revenge eludes him, he is able to take malicious pleasure in the fact that Illyria’s million year plan for world domination has come to nothing, that it’s world is gone. Now it knows how he feels.
Wesley is empty. He is a shell on autopilot as he packs up Fred’s things. Illyria arrives, drawn to the place of its shell, to Wolfram and Hart, to the lab, to Wesley. There is no chance that Fred can ever return, yet… fragments, electrical pulses, her memories have fused and are accessible by Illyria. It turns to Wesley - they have things in common; no place to belong, isolation, desolation, loss. Wesley agrees to help Illyria navigate this strange new world because, God help him, of its physical form. Together they cling to what is gone.
Illyria: Is there anything in this life but grief?
Wesley: There’s love. There’s hope…for some. There’s hope that you’ll find something worthy…that your life will lead you to some joy… that after everything, you can still be surprised.
Illyria: Is that enough? Is that ever enough to live on?
There’s hope, for some, but not for Wesley. It doesn’t bode well for him; you can’t live life without sustenance. As he told Angel some time ago, nothing matters more than hope; it's the only thing that will sustain you, that will keep you from ending up like Number Five…or, for that matter, an empty shell.
GUNN
Gunn, it turns out, has not killed Knox. He’s beaten him to a bloody pulp, tied him up but not killed him. Gunn is walking a fine line; he wants to know what Knox knows yet, he doesn’t want the scientist to spill the beans on his own involvement either. Wesley informs him that Fred is ‘gone’ and that they can’t get her back. Gunn goes into instant denial:
Gunn: You don’t know that!
Fred’s death, her irretrievable state is not what Gunn wants to hear. The guilt is unbearable, that shame crippling, the despair absolute. He wants to take it all back and Wes isn’t playing the game properly. Then Angel arrives and he knows the rules, he’s the bearer of hope! “Let’s get her back” he says and it’s music to Gunn’s ears. The game is on again and he’s ready to play. He’s all too willing to believe, he needs to make it so, if only to alleviate his own conscious, get rid of that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and undo what he allowed to happen. Then it won’t matter, and just maybe, no one will ever have to know…
He tries to reassure Wesley that they’ll get it sorted, “It’ll work out. It has to” and while his words are to Wes, the reassurance is also for his own benefit. He’s almost bought to tears when Wesley asks for forgiveness for being so harsh with him earlier:
Wesley: I’ve been unreasonable…because I’ve lost all reason. But I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I know you’ve done everything you can. I’m sorry.
Gunn: So am I
Its forgiveness and kindness he doesn’t deserve…if they only knew the horrible truth. It makes him feel even more sorry; sorry that he’s created this mess, sorry that they have to even be trying to get Fred ‘back’, sorry about the whole damn thing!
Gunn goes back to see the doctor who gave him the brain upgrade, the one who had him sign that damning piece of paper to free the ‘curio’ from customs in the first place and demands to know everything and, more importantly, how to get Fred back. The doctor confirms that they can’t but Gunn is getting desperate:
Gunn: I don’t believe that! You know a way. You have to.
The doctor explains that his part was simply to broker the deal - cognitive upgrade in exchange for the customs release. He can’t help get Fred back. It can’t be done. Gunn is crushed and like millions of humans before who’ve made an error of judgement that has led to unwanted consequences he wishes to turn back time:
Gunn: Then take it back! Everything you put in my head, the law, all the knowledge, take it back! Everything, take more, leave me a vegetable. I don’t care! Just bring her back. Please…bring her back.
The doctor can’t be moved. There is nothing to bring back. Miss Burkle’s soul was destroyed during the resurrection. Everything she was is gone. Forever. For better or worse, a deal was made Mr. Gunn, and the doctor suggests that he learn to live with it. Wesley, of course, overhears the last part - the irrevocable loss and Gunn’s involvement, and he is not happy. He demands a confession:
Gunn: It was just a piece of paper. I was losing it. Everything they put in my head. Everything that made me different. Special. And he could fix it, make it permanent. So I signed the piece of paper. It was a customs release form. I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.
Wesley is dubious - this is Wolfram and Hart we’re dealing with here, nothing comes for free. Gunn should have known that. He did know that:
Gunn: I couldn’t go back…to being just the muscle. I-I didn’t think it would be one of us. I didn’t think it would be Fred.
So, his explanations, his plea of naivety have been amended. In the second version he did admit to knowing there would be a consequence, but he was prepared to roll the dice because he wanted the permanent upgrade. So he told himself that no one he knew would get hurt, that it wouldn’t be one of them, but could he really be that naive? Who else would the senior partners go for? Who else were they trying to control? Who else were they trying to break? No, it was always going to be one of Angel’s team and Gunn is simply trying to justify his decision not to go back to what he was. Wes can understand the need to change but he can’t forgive the not coming clean with what he knew part. He stabs Gunn in the gut. Charles could expect no less; he himself threatened to kill Wes ‘like a chicken’ should he ever hurt Fred so it hardly surprising that Wesley exercises his right of reply.
Gunn is in hospital recovering from his injuries. He’s been temporarily relieved of his duties. Yeah that brain upgrade, it’s really useful now. He’s sad and sorry for himself and even the technically evil (or at the very least, amoral) Harmony is kind of appalled by his behaviour and questions how he could have done it:
Gunn: Because I was weak. Because I wanted to be somebody I wasn’t. Because I don’t know where I fit. Because I never did. Because of thousand other reasons that don’t mean a damn ‘cause she’s gone. She’s gone and she’s not coming back because of me. I did this and I’m sorry…I’m sorry.
He’s a shell. On the outside he’s all pretty and shiny; the impressive Charles Gunn, attorney at law but it’s just an illusion. On the inside he’s empty and hollow and now every time he uses that brain, hatches a legal strategy, answers a question, every time he thinks he’ll be reminded of the price of those thoughts and he hates and despises himself all the more. He’s a shell - empty and useless.
( Concluded here...)
WESLEY
Having laboured through Fred’s painful, tragic death Wes is also present when Illyria rises using Fred’s body as its vehicle. Even in the face of death, the slow, lingering death of which he witnessed the culmination just moments before, Wesley’s first question on seeing the newly reanimated body is “Fred?”
Hope is hard to repress. Hopeless hope is no exception. But the newly reborn creature doesn’t even register the name, it completely ignores Wesley to go and examine its new form in the mirror. Wesley tries the other name. “Illyria?”
Now he gets a response, confirmation that the transaction has taken place. But a glimmer of hope, an echo, still persists:
Wesley: Who is Winifred Burkle?
Wesley wants to know if Fred is still trapped in there too, if any remnants of Fred are still tangible. The question, the name, means nothing to Illyria and hope is dashed. Fred is dead and all that is left is her shell, taken over by an opportunistic entity. Once he confirms that Fred is truly and completely gone Wesley tries to kill Illyria. Is he driven by a rational understanding that this unwelcome being is dangerous to the world and therefore should be eliminated, or is it an irrational drive for vengeance that only the death of the thing that murdered Fred can satisfy? Perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B…
The attack comes to nothing. The axe shatters as it hit’s the back of Illyria’s head, who doesn’t even flinch at the contact. And then Illyria does recall what Winifred Burkle is; it is the name the shell went by. Illyria’s unwitting attack is more successful, it pierces Wesley through the heart causing him to cry grief-stricken tears that disgust the new arrival. Wes wants it gone. This is not Fred and it is cruel that it should walk around in her beautiful skin. So he thinks; physically, he can’t hurt it, but maybe words can. He uses the obvious displeasure and revulsion Illyria has for humans and their unpalatable emotions against it, tries to cajole it into going away. Humans are everywhere, as bugs across the surface of the earth; this is not the place for it. Go, leave this shell. Come back when the humans are gone. Illyria sees what’s at the heart of his words; he seeks to save what is rotted through and there is no getting Fred back…ever.
Wesley heads to work. He is distracted and withdrawn. Reality has hit home. Even the knowledge that Knox is somehow involved only momentarily distracts him from his grief.
Wesley: Doesn’t matter anymore. Fred’s gone.
It is only when Knox starts expounding the ‘beauty’ of Illyria’s birth and the reason behind his choosing Fred for the great honour that Wesley’s fury is ignited. He goes in for the kill but is forestalled by Gunn:
Gunn: Wes, don’t. We need him. I know how you feel…
Wesley: Do you know? You didn’t feel her die. She was shaking with pain and terrified and so brave and she was better than anyone I’ve known and better than… and she’s gone.
All hope is lost… Until Angel returns in all his heroic magnificence, refusing to accept the finality of death:
Angel: Now let’s get her back!
Wesley doesn’t take the bait without some resistance. He’s sarcastic about Gunn’s belated efforts to discover how the sarcophagus got into the building in the first place, and as for Angel’s plan to ‘get her back’ he can only reply that there is no Fred anymore
Wesley: I watched it gut her from the inside out. Everything she was is gone. There is nothing but a shell.
Wesley could be talking about himself here too. Fred’s death has gutted him from the inside and everything he was is gone. He is nothing but a shell. But then Angel and Spike talk of souls and filling her back up - and they would know, they’re both experts on the importance of souls and know a thing or two about cheating death, this immortal escapee from a hell dimension and his pillar of fire surviving side-kick. They know what they are talking about. They could do it and Wesley is seduced by the prospect:
Wesley: You really believe there’s a chance of bringing her back?
He’s converted. He believes even in the face of everything he’s seen, everything he’s been told. He believes because this is the deepest desire of his heart, it’s what he wants more than anything and, hey, it doesn’t hurt that it’s Angel making the promise - if anyone can make it happen then Angel can.
Once Illyria has come and gone and demonstrated a sample of its special skills Wesley is sent to the lab to search for clues in Knox’s files. Wes confronts the sarcophagus. He tells Harmony that Fred was curious, that she was merely interested in what it was, wanted to know how it worked. The trait made her special, made him love her - yet it also caused her death. He hates her a little for that. Harmony tries to make him feel better, feel grateful for what he had with Fred:
Harmony: The girl of your dreams loved you. That’s more than most people ever get
Wesley: I know. But it isn’t enough
It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly long enough. There were no dates or romance or lovemaking or a draw at his place, a draw at hers. There was no moving in together, no engagement, no marriage, no children, no old age…no future. And that’s what it means to Wesley, that’s why it wasn’t enough - because there should have been so much more.
A cell phone leads Wesley to Gunn’s doctor. Wes arrives at his surgery just in time to overhear the extent of Gunn’s involvement in the plot and that Fred’s soul is lost for ever, burned up in the fires of Illyria’s resurrection. Hope evaporates into nothingness again; it was only ever a mirage anyway. Wesley is without reason. Charles bears the brunt of his wrath because his part in the scheme, although unwitting, is a betrayal to the team, to the family, to the trust that supposedly exists between them and he can’t forgive that it was Fred who paid the ultimate price for Gunn’s brain upgrade. Wesley stabs Gunn in the gut, doing literally to Charles what has been figuratively done to him.
Angel is not happy with the ‘stab Gunn’ addition to the agenda but Wesley is beyond caring. Nothing is right! Nothing will ever be right because they can’t get Fred back and even the great Angel is incapable of making the impossible happen. So now the focus shifts from retrieving Fred to stopping Illyria. Wes is told to suck it up, be bookman and focus on the job at hand. They find Illyria and Knox and as Angel gives a testimonial about his commitment to protecting the human race - each and every one of them regardless of worth, Wesley shoots Knox dead. His mission is not the same as Angel’s. Wesley’s mission is vengeance. Wesley kills Knox because he caused Fred’s death, simple as that. He wants to kill Illyria too but it is a harder fish to fry, so he follows Illyria into the temple, revolver ready and though the opportunity for revenge eludes him, he is able to take malicious pleasure in the fact that Illyria’s million year plan for world domination has come to nothing, that it’s world is gone. Now it knows how he feels.
Wesley is empty. He is a shell on autopilot as he packs up Fred’s things. Illyria arrives, drawn to the place of its shell, to Wolfram and Hart, to the lab, to Wesley. There is no chance that Fred can ever return, yet… fragments, electrical pulses, her memories have fused and are accessible by Illyria. It turns to Wesley - they have things in common; no place to belong, isolation, desolation, loss. Wesley agrees to help Illyria navigate this strange new world because, God help him, of its physical form. Together they cling to what is gone.
Illyria: Is there anything in this life but grief?
Wesley: There’s love. There’s hope…for some. There’s hope that you’ll find something worthy…that your life will lead you to some joy… that after everything, you can still be surprised.
Illyria: Is that enough? Is that ever enough to live on?
There’s hope, for some, but not for Wesley. It doesn’t bode well for him; you can’t live life without sustenance. As he told Angel some time ago, nothing matters more than hope; it's the only thing that will sustain you, that will keep you from ending up like Number Five…or, for that matter, an empty shell.
GUNN
Gunn, it turns out, has not killed Knox. He’s beaten him to a bloody pulp, tied him up but not killed him. Gunn is walking a fine line; he wants to know what Knox knows yet, he doesn’t want the scientist to spill the beans on his own involvement either. Wesley informs him that Fred is ‘gone’ and that they can’t get her back. Gunn goes into instant denial:
Gunn: You don’t know that!
Fred’s death, her irretrievable state is not what Gunn wants to hear. The guilt is unbearable, that shame crippling, the despair absolute. He wants to take it all back and Wes isn’t playing the game properly. Then Angel arrives and he knows the rules, he’s the bearer of hope! “Let’s get her back” he says and it’s music to Gunn’s ears. The game is on again and he’s ready to play. He’s all too willing to believe, he needs to make it so, if only to alleviate his own conscious, get rid of that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and undo what he allowed to happen. Then it won’t matter, and just maybe, no one will ever have to know…
He tries to reassure Wesley that they’ll get it sorted, “It’ll work out. It has to” and while his words are to Wes, the reassurance is also for his own benefit. He’s almost bought to tears when Wesley asks for forgiveness for being so harsh with him earlier:
Wesley: I’ve been unreasonable…because I’ve lost all reason. But I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I know you’ve done everything you can. I’m sorry.
Gunn: So am I
Its forgiveness and kindness he doesn’t deserve…if they only knew the horrible truth. It makes him feel even more sorry; sorry that he’s created this mess, sorry that they have to even be trying to get Fred ‘back’, sorry about the whole damn thing!
Gunn goes back to see the doctor who gave him the brain upgrade, the one who had him sign that damning piece of paper to free the ‘curio’ from customs in the first place and demands to know everything and, more importantly, how to get Fred back. The doctor confirms that they can’t but Gunn is getting desperate:
Gunn: I don’t believe that! You know a way. You have to.
The doctor explains that his part was simply to broker the deal - cognitive upgrade in exchange for the customs release. He can’t help get Fred back. It can’t be done. Gunn is crushed and like millions of humans before who’ve made an error of judgement that has led to unwanted consequences he wishes to turn back time:
Gunn: Then take it back! Everything you put in my head, the law, all the knowledge, take it back! Everything, take more, leave me a vegetable. I don’t care! Just bring her back. Please…bring her back.
The doctor can’t be moved. There is nothing to bring back. Miss Burkle’s soul was destroyed during the resurrection. Everything she was is gone. Forever. For better or worse, a deal was made Mr. Gunn, and the doctor suggests that he learn to live with it. Wesley, of course, overhears the last part - the irrevocable loss and Gunn’s involvement, and he is not happy. He demands a confession:
Gunn: It was just a piece of paper. I was losing it. Everything they put in my head. Everything that made me different. Special. And he could fix it, make it permanent. So I signed the piece of paper. It was a customs release form. I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.
Wesley is dubious - this is Wolfram and Hart we’re dealing with here, nothing comes for free. Gunn should have known that. He did know that:
Gunn: I couldn’t go back…to being just the muscle. I-I didn’t think it would be one of us. I didn’t think it would be Fred.
So, his explanations, his plea of naivety have been amended. In the second version he did admit to knowing there would be a consequence, but he was prepared to roll the dice because he wanted the permanent upgrade. So he told himself that no one he knew would get hurt, that it wouldn’t be one of them, but could he really be that naive? Who else would the senior partners go for? Who else were they trying to control? Who else were they trying to break? No, it was always going to be one of Angel’s team and Gunn is simply trying to justify his decision not to go back to what he was. Wes can understand the need to change but he can’t forgive the not coming clean with what he knew part. He stabs Gunn in the gut. Charles could expect no less; he himself threatened to kill Wes ‘like a chicken’ should he ever hurt Fred so it hardly surprising that Wesley exercises his right of reply.
Gunn is in hospital recovering from his injuries. He’s been temporarily relieved of his duties. Yeah that brain upgrade, it’s really useful now. He’s sad and sorry for himself and even the technically evil (or at the very least, amoral) Harmony is kind of appalled by his behaviour and questions how he could have done it:
Gunn: Because I was weak. Because I wanted to be somebody I wasn’t. Because I don’t know where I fit. Because I never did. Because of thousand other reasons that don’t mean a damn ‘cause she’s gone. She’s gone and she’s not coming back because of me. I did this and I’m sorry…I’m sorry.
He’s a shell. On the outside he’s all pretty and shiny; the impressive Charles Gunn, attorney at law but it’s just an illusion. On the inside he’s empty and hollow and now every time he uses that brain, hatches a legal strategy, answers a question, every time he thinks he’ll be reminded of the price of those thoughts and he hates and despises himself all the more. He’s a shell - empty and useless.
( Concluded here...)