Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

[This post contains some spoilers.]

The following comment from Miss Murchison on last night's "Angel" season 5 premiere got me thinking further, as she suggested that the new episode DID represent a paradigm shift, at least in that on-screen corner of the Buffyverse (or Joss-verse):

"The paradigm is completely different from the old Buffy growing up themes or the down-and-outs on Angel fighting against the big bad guys."

I hadn't really thought about the difference in world-view in those terms, yet, but I couldn't help but notice the shift last night. Now, it seems that the questions for this year's heroes are all about trying to figure out what evils you can compromise on and which ones you have to oppose, and at what cost, and trying to figure out if ANY compromise is already too far down the road to hell (that which is paved with good intentions), etc..

I'm almost tempted to say that this season of "Angel" represents a whole different stage of life issue or set of challenges -- maybe even the "Individuation" work that Jung said is the crucial task that begins at the midpoint of life (trying to figure out what, beneath all the external stuff of career and relationships and raising kids and being who everybody else needs you to be or says you are, YOU really are or are in the process of becoming) -- what your true Self with a capital "S" is, at its core, and how you're going to cope with all the gray areas of life and all the losses of external verities that come with the second half of life. Where do you draw the lines in yourSELF, when the external boundaries between good and evil, right and wrong, us and them, seem increasingly permeable or non-existent?

I mean, to some extent, "Angel" has DONE the parenthood and relationship and career stuff in past seasons. The title character has faced those issues and dealt with them (not always with a great deal of success, but they HAVE been wrestled with), as have (to a lesser extent) the supporting characters. Now, some of the relationships have run their course (the Gunn and Fred romance seems to be over, and we seem to be entering the mourning phase for Cordy, in spite of her ongoing, off-screen coma), the "kids" (Connor and, to some extent, Jasmine) have moved out and moved on (taking with them even the memory of their existence, except for Angel and Eve), and suddenly our heroes are at the PEAK of worldly success in their chosen careers (Gunn's even a high-powered and super-hot lawyer with a head-full of Gilbert & Sullivan, now). We're ready for the next set of challenges: trying to find meaning and your true identity in the midst of all this seeming success.

If we're really entering into a Jungian transformational journey, here, is Spike to be cast in the role of "psychopomp"? (As I dimly recall from my work on Jung, "psychopomp" means the "Soul Guide", the spirit or intuitive type who leads the way in the descent and rebirth narratives -- it doesn't imply that he's a psychotic egotist or has a crazy pompadour hair-do, or whatever else it may sound like.) Is he to be the intuitive commentator, the one who observes what's happening to the others and forces them to face the truth about themselves? Is he to in some way personify the journey they're all on? That would seem to be character for him (at least the inconveniently observant and perceptive part).

As a person nearing the midpoint of my own life, I'll be VERY interested to see how this develops.