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revdorothyl at 05:58pm on 27/10/2003 under angel episode commentary
revdorothyl at 05:58pm on 27/10/2003 under angel episode commentaryTo begin with, a few more thoughts about my previous entry, "What else are we gonna do?" Having just rewatched "Angel" 1.20 (War Zone, was it?) that I taped off TNT last week, I was struck by the fact that, at the end of the episode, when Angel and Gunn are standing on the roof looking out over the city and Gunn asks Angel why he does it -- why he's out on the streets fighting the fight, when he doesn't have to be -- Angel's answer is "What else am I gonna do?" Practically the same words as in episode 5.04, but there's a world of difference in the tone. Angel's first-season rendition was almost an "aw, shucks" way to shrug off any imputation of heroism or nobility and lighten the mood (which, considering that Gunn had so recently had to stake his vamped-out sister, was understandably a bit on the gloomy side). Angel said it almost as a throw-away line, a light-hearted (compared to Angel's more angsty moments) description of the mission he'd undertaken. Hearing those words uttered in season one made me even more acutely aware of the total lack of anything approaching light-heartedness or hopefulness in Angel's words to Spike last Wednesday.
There's been a lot of very deep, very dark water under the bridge since season one (figuratively and literally), but still . . . some part of me wants to see the parallel phrasing as encouraging, hopeful. In AtS 1.20, Gunn had just finished telling Angel that caring for his (now dusted) sister had been the reason for all of it -- the organizing of the homeless kids, the training, the staking of vampires who sought to prey on them, etc. -- and implied that he was wondering, himself, what would drive him now, whether he'd be able to go on fighting, now that he'd lost the one person who mattered most to him, his only family. As we now know, Gunn DID continue to fight, hooked up with Angel & Co. in season two, and now leads a life very different from anything he could have imagined on that rooftop so long ago (don't rain on my parade by telling me that Gunn becoming a lawyer means that he is now evil, because even if it's true I really don't want to hear it or believe it; I'm hoping for the best). Dare I hope that Angel (and, by extension, Spike -- the other half of the "we") might be heading for a comparable light at the end of the tunnel, a renewal of vision and purpose, after having lost his only family (Connor and Cordy) and with them much of his reason for continuing to exist and fight evil? Okay, so I'm clutching at straws here, but the straws ARE there.
Next topic: Lois McMaster Bujold's new fantasy novel, PALADIN OF SOULS (sequel to THE CURSE OF CHALION) -- it's brilliant. Read it (preferably having read the first book, or -- if you're like me, and suffer from memory leakage -- having just re-read CHALION). The start can seem a little slow, since the hero of this tale, the formerly "mad" Ista, is suffering from a sense of depression, emptiness, purposelessness. Where in CHALION the hero's wounds at the start of the story were largely physical (his spirit was surprisingly strong, considering the betrayal and abuse he'd suffered), Ista -- outwardly a perfectly healthy 40-year-old woman -- carries deep wounds in her soul, and a deep anger toward all five of the Gods. Happily coming across a group of pilgrims who bear an astonishing resemblance to those in Chaucer, Ista is inspired by the example of that world's "Wife of Bath" to go on pilgrimage herself, as the only way to convince her well-meaning and stifling "care-takers" to let her go on the road and get at least a taste of freedom. A pilgrimage begun as a somewhat cynical plan for escaping from her cozy prison soon becomes an adventure, and then a spiritual journey in good earnest. Ista the angry, the empty, the bereft, the woman without a purpose or hope for the future, discovers (much to her outrage and vociferous objection) that she is just what the Gods need to clean up some pretty serious demonic messes. As a bonus or reward, in return for Ista having (however reluctantly) agreed at each step of the way (free will, you know) to assist the gods, there's a cute guy with great cheekbones, a wiry body, and a wicked sense of humor, who's also a formidable warrior, to become her lusty and devoted companion. If I add that she sort of has to rescue this guy from a living death, does the slight resemblance to a certain vampire become apparent? Plus, there's the "origins story" early on in the pilgrimage, in which the unlikely spiritual advisor for Ista's journey tells how a demon lord came to possess the soul of a saint and became the Mother goddess's most well-beloved champion, vanquishing whole demon armies on Her behalf, to the point where she conceived a son with him, the fifth God, known as the Bastard, who has dominion over the demons, as well as over the odd or out-of-place or out-of-season in the world. Add in the description of sorcerors' demonic power showing up as dark violet sparks or lightning (dark Willow in season 6, anyone?), and my "Buffy"-dominated brain tells me that Bujold may have a slight fondness for my favorite show.
I have more to say on that subject, but I'm out of time, so . . . later!
There's been a lot of very deep, very dark water under the bridge since season one (figuratively and literally), but still . . . some part of me wants to see the parallel phrasing as encouraging, hopeful. In AtS 1.20, Gunn had just finished telling Angel that caring for his (now dusted) sister had been the reason for all of it -- the organizing of the homeless kids, the training, the staking of vampires who sought to prey on them, etc. -- and implied that he was wondering, himself, what would drive him now, whether he'd be able to go on fighting, now that he'd lost the one person who mattered most to him, his only family. As we now know, Gunn DID continue to fight, hooked up with Angel & Co. in season two, and now leads a life very different from anything he could have imagined on that rooftop so long ago (don't rain on my parade by telling me that Gunn becoming a lawyer means that he is now evil, because even if it's true I really don't want to hear it or believe it; I'm hoping for the best). Dare I hope that Angel (and, by extension, Spike -- the other half of the "we") might be heading for a comparable light at the end of the tunnel, a renewal of vision and purpose, after having lost his only family (Connor and Cordy) and with them much of his reason for continuing to exist and fight evil? Okay, so I'm clutching at straws here, but the straws ARE there.
Next topic: Lois McMaster Bujold's new fantasy novel, PALADIN OF SOULS (sequel to THE CURSE OF CHALION) -- it's brilliant. Read it (preferably having read the first book, or -- if you're like me, and suffer from memory leakage -- having just re-read CHALION). The start can seem a little slow, since the hero of this tale, the formerly "mad" Ista, is suffering from a sense of depression, emptiness, purposelessness. Where in CHALION the hero's wounds at the start of the story were largely physical (his spirit was surprisingly strong, considering the betrayal and abuse he'd suffered), Ista -- outwardly a perfectly healthy 40-year-old woman -- carries deep wounds in her soul, and a deep anger toward all five of the Gods. Happily coming across a group of pilgrims who bear an astonishing resemblance to those in Chaucer, Ista is inspired by the example of that world's "Wife of Bath" to go on pilgrimage herself, as the only way to convince her well-meaning and stifling "care-takers" to let her go on the road and get at least a taste of freedom. A pilgrimage begun as a somewhat cynical plan for escaping from her cozy prison soon becomes an adventure, and then a spiritual journey in good earnest. Ista the angry, the empty, the bereft, the woman without a purpose or hope for the future, discovers (much to her outrage and vociferous objection) that she is just what the Gods need to clean up some pretty serious demonic messes. As a bonus or reward, in return for Ista having (however reluctantly) agreed at each step of the way (free will, you know) to assist the gods, there's a cute guy with great cheekbones, a wiry body, and a wicked sense of humor, who's also a formidable warrior, to become her lusty and devoted companion. If I add that she sort of has to rescue this guy from a living death, does the slight resemblance to a certain vampire become apparent? Plus, there's the "origins story" early on in the pilgrimage, in which the unlikely spiritual advisor for Ista's journey tells how a demon lord came to possess the soul of a saint and became the Mother goddess's most well-beloved champion, vanquishing whole demon armies on Her behalf, to the point where she conceived a son with him, the fifth God, known as the Bastard, who has dominion over the demons, as well as over the odd or out-of-place or out-of-season in the world. Add in the description of sorcerors' demonic power showing up as dark violet sparks or lightning (dark Willow in season 6, anyone?), and my "Buffy"-dominated brain tells me that Bujold may have a slight fondness for my favorite show.
I have more to say on that subject, but I'm out of time, so . . . later!