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butterflyI've been thinking about BtVS and AtS. Mostly, about the recent season of AtS and what it means about the BtVS characters.
Some people expressed disappointment at various times for the Scoobs not trusting and not helping the AI crew. But the two crews have, for the most part, been very separate the last few years. The big exceptions -- Angel showing up to comfort Buffy at her mom's funeral; Willow showing up at the Hyperion to tell the AI crew about Buffy's death; the unseen meeting between Buffy and Angel post Buffy's resurrection; Willow going to LA to restore Angel's soul; and Angel going to Sunnydale to offer the amulet.
In Sanctuary, Angel very pointedly tells Buffy to stay out of his city. It's interesting that she doesn't once go to LA after this, as far as we can tell. The two characters that cross over after that are Angel to Buffy and Willow to Angel. Buffy's spirit and power can travel to LA, but she can't -- classically, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Buffy's heart remains firmly in Sunnydale (of course, as long as Buffy is 'of Sunnydale', there's no way that Xander ever could leave). In other words, when Willow goes to Sunnydale, Buffy is, in a sense, astral-projecting. Willow's appearance shows her trust in Angel, which is why Willow doesn't show up in AtS Season Five.
Because the last key component is mind. And Giles doesn't trust Angel. Giles is rationality. He's the part that argued for Spike's death (as did Xander, heart -- the part that rails emotionally against the killer and rapist -- Buffy, as she does most often, lives with the forgiveness of spirit instead of the passion of heart or logic of mind. Spirit and mind are both unaware of the violence against flesh -- of the attempted rape - because neither of them are of the flesh. That's heart and hand alone.). Giles is the unseen interactor, the only part of the core four who speaks to Angel, and even then, it's from a distance.
Giles is Buffy's voice of reason (which doesn't, of course, always make him right), so it's really appallingly perfect that his interactions with Angel are through a telephone. Voice alone -- no flesh, no face, no heart, no spirit. Just voice and mind.
So, looking at the progression of Buffy's interactions with Angel, we can probably see an interesting pattern.
First season, Buffy herself goes to LA. Once chasing Angel, once chasing her own shadow-self. But before any of that, Oz is sent. Oz, who had a gig in the area. Spirit's lover, who, like Angel, is man and monster both. But unlike Angel, Oz is unaware of his need to face his darker parts -- he points out that Angel is 'pale. paler than most people', but Oz himself is just as pale, if not paler. Oz, like Willow, is in denial about his own inner 'other'. And if one takes the 'gay now' premise at face value, then Oz is, in himself, denial personified. He is spirit's denial of its true nature, of the glory and the horror that both dwell within (and, of course, part of the journey of BtVS is de-monsterifying the Other).
So Buffy sends her denial of spirit to aid her lover. In the end, that is what Angel is destroying when he smashes the Gem of Amara -- that denial that Oz, that Willow, that Buffy cling to. Angel refuses to embrace the hope of a normal life, denial of the underlying nature that thrums in him. Buffy's first thread to Angel, as a possible link to a normal future, is severed.
Next, Angel travels to Sunnydale. Angel always goes in person, in flesh, because he takes with him only himself to see his once-lover. He attempts to stay out of view, but Buffy finds out about him piece by piece -- mind, spirit, heart. And, of course, the heart is the only part of Buffy that could never keep the presence of her love from her. Her heart is what lets her know that Angel has been there. Mind and spirit both interact with Angel and show no signs of sharing that with the knowing, active part of Buffy (Willow for Orpheus, Giles for quite a bit of AtS S5).
Because Buffy's heart saw Angel in Sunnydale, she travels to LA. But flesh alone -- her heart remains in Sunnydale, with her family and friends. And she gets the chance to join with Angel, flesh to flesh. But because heart and mind and spirit are not there to complete the connection, it is a faulty one. One that will lead to doom and one that she doesn't even remember. Because Angel's path is no longer in Sunnydale, it is a path that Buffy cannot travel for the moment. The next thread is severed.
The next journey starts with Faith. Buffy's purest shadow-self. Faith is the only human being that made Buffy contemplate cold-blooded murder (Graduation). Faith tries to steal Buffy's life, tries to rise up out of the shadow by force, but is once again cast into the shadow -- as Buffy tells Jonathan in Superstar, it isn't about the big gestures but about daily life. Faith can't become Buffy in one moment, she must learn how to be Buffy moment-by-painful-moment, pulling herself out of the mud.
Buffy tasted what it meant to be Faith, and found the fruit bitter. Faith's mind-switch made Buffy a victim because it made her Faith and until Faith broke at the end of Five by Five, she was victim to her own darkness and weakness. Faith is Buffy's darkness, and it's telling that all of Buffy's dark souls eventually reach the light.
Buffy's shadow escapes to LA, to her lover. Attempts to commit suicide via vampire. Angel saves Buffy's shadow, realizes that even in this darkness, there is light.
But Buffy cannot yet recognize herself in Faith. Faith is still too low and Buffy too high for her to make out the similarities. Buffy casts the two of them together in a club of murderers. "I can't understand you," she wants to believe. "I could never fall so far."
She hasn't yet learned that it isn't how fall you fall that matters -- it's whether or not you have the strength to get up again.
Buffy's shadow-self stakes a place in LA, traps herself there to watch over her own dark soul and her lover. Buffy herself cannot stay, and so Faith stays in Buffy's stead (and does, indeed, come to Angel's need when the time comes). Buffy is sent out of LA, barred from her lover's gates. Another thread snaps, and Buffy's flesh will never again go to LA, yet the line holds.
Season two/five. Angel comes to offer Buffy comfort when her mother dies. They kiss and hold and though they wish for forever, they know they have only a moment. Mind and spirit and heart's absence speak to that -- this is the comfort of former lovers and it is only for this day. Buffy dies, and the appearance of spirit alone tells Angel this. The flesh of Buffy is gone.
Season three/six. Buffy and Angel meet, but we do not see it. They meet without benefit of eyes that see. They meet neither in Buffy's heart nor in Angel's. Their love lacks witness, but Angel's selves parodies the meeting, while Buffy's cannot speak of it. They react to loss each in their own ways.
Season four/seven. Buffy's spirit travels to LA to return Angel's soul. Buffy's shadow travels into Angel's mind and soul to see his deepest shame and to see him fight back. Buffy's spirit brings her shadow back home, healed but not yet forgiven. Fear for Buffy's life fails to motivate Angel in Home -- he made that bargain once before, in I Remember You, and she still died, but once he has the power that he bargained so dearly for, they meet again, in Buffy's heart (her heart that is soon to be torn down to make room for something new, for the next journey). The only witness to that meeting is her shadow-lover, who will come back to haunt Angel in the next season.
Season five. First, we have the advent of Spike. Spike is an inverse of Angel and a shadow of Buffy. He is the fighting personification of what Buffy's willingness to choose spirit over all else can do. He is Buffy's legacy in Angel's life. He burns up in Buffy's fight using the amulet Angel gave her. We also have Harmony, who is linked to Cordy who was Buffy's original shadow-self. Then we have Giles and Andrew.
"Buffy doesn't trust you anymore." The only contact that we have to Buffy's people are through Giles and Andrew. Mind and pity/charity. Buffy's old life was destroyed, partly by choice. And Angel isn't part of her new life. Willow is 'astral projecting' and Xander is 'in Africa'. Giles is the one of the core four that speaks to Angel directly. He sends Andrew, which speaks volumes. But we already knew that Giles doesn't trust Angel. The mind is leery to trust someone who has betrayed trust before (also, I can't see Giles letting Willow within spitting distance of anyone wanting her to raise the dead, considering everything that's happened and his own feelings on the subject). Spirit would be willing, but she (and heart) are busy searching out new possibilities. And the hand, the body, Buffy, is in Rome. Is with family.
What to make of the Immortal? He's Angel. He's Spike. He's all of Buffy's issues rolled up into one person. And she's not crazy about him. Everyone that the Immortal has been with makes it clear that there's no bitterness, no heartbreak after. They cuddle, they dance, but they won't regret. It isn't a love affair, that much is made clear.
All of which is to say that I have no problem with the portrayal of the Scoobs in Angel.
Some people expressed disappointment at various times for the Scoobs not trusting and not helping the AI crew. But the two crews have, for the most part, been very separate the last few years. The big exceptions -- Angel showing up to comfort Buffy at her mom's funeral; Willow showing up at the Hyperion to tell the AI crew about Buffy's death; the unseen meeting between Buffy and Angel post Buffy's resurrection; Willow going to LA to restore Angel's soul; and Angel going to Sunnydale to offer the amulet.
In Sanctuary, Angel very pointedly tells Buffy to stay out of his city. It's interesting that she doesn't once go to LA after this, as far as we can tell. The two characters that cross over after that are Angel to Buffy and Willow to Angel. Buffy's spirit and power can travel to LA, but she can't -- classically, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Buffy's heart remains firmly in Sunnydale (of course, as long as Buffy is 'of Sunnydale', there's no way that Xander ever could leave). In other words, when Willow goes to Sunnydale, Buffy is, in a sense, astral-projecting. Willow's appearance shows her trust in Angel, which is why Willow doesn't show up in AtS Season Five.
Because the last key component is mind. And Giles doesn't trust Angel. Giles is rationality. He's the part that argued for Spike's death (as did Xander, heart -- the part that rails emotionally against the killer and rapist -- Buffy, as she does most often, lives with the forgiveness of spirit instead of the passion of heart or logic of mind. Spirit and mind are both unaware of the violence against flesh -- of the attempted rape - because neither of them are of the flesh. That's heart and hand alone.). Giles is the unseen interactor, the only part of the core four who speaks to Angel, and even then, it's from a distance.
Giles is Buffy's voice of reason (which doesn't, of course, always make him right), so it's really appallingly perfect that his interactions with Angel are through a telephone. Voice alone -- no flesh, no face, no heart, no spirit. Just voice and mind.
So, looking at the progression of Buffy's interactions with Angel, we can probably see an interesting pattern.
First season, Buffy herself goes to LA. Once chasing Angel, once chasing her own shadow-self. But before any of that, Oz is sent. Oz, who had a gig in the area. Spirit's lover, who, like Angel, is man and monster both. But unlike Angel, Oz is unaware of his need to face his darker parts -- he points out that Angel is 'pale. paler than most people', but Oz himself is just as pale, if not paler. Oz, like Willow, is in denial about his own inner 'other'. And if one takes the 'gay now' premise at face value, then Oz is, in himself, denial personified. He is spirit's denial of its true nature, of the glory and the horror that both dwell within (and, of course, part of the journey of BtVS is de-monsterifying the Other).
So Buffy sends her denial of spirit to aid her lover. In the end, that is what Angel is destroying when he smashes the Gem of Amara -- that denial that Oz, that Willow, that Buffy cling to. Angel refuses to embrace the hope of a normal life, denial of the underlying nature that thrums in him. Buffy's first thread to Angel, as a possible link to a normal future, is severed.
Next, Angel travels to Sunnydale. Angel always goes in person, in flesh, because he takes with him only himself to see his once-lover. He attempts to stay out of view, but Buffy finds out about him piece by piece -- mind, spirit, heart. And, of course, the heart is the only part of Buffy that could never keep the presence of her love from her. Her heart is what lets her know that Angel has been there. Mind and spirit both interact with Angel and show no signs of sharing that with the knowing, active part of Buffy (Willow for Orpheus, Giles for quite a bit of AtS S5).
Because Buffy's heart saw Angel in Sunnydale, she travels to LA. But flesh alone -- her heart remains in Sunnydale, with her family and friends. And she gets the chance to join with Angel, flesh to flesh. But because heart and mind and spirit are not there to complete the connection, it is a faulty one. One that will lead to doom and one that she doesn't even remember. Because Angel's path is no longer in Sunnydale, it is a path that Buffy cannot travel for the moment. The next thread is severed.
The next journey starts with Faith. Buffy's purest shadow-self. Faith is the only human being that made Buffy contemplate cold-blooded murder (Graduation). Faith tries to steal Buffy's life, tries to rise up out of the shadow by force, but is once again cast into the shadow -- as Buffy tells Jonathan in Superstar, it isn't about the big gestures but about daily life. Faith can't become Buffy in one moment, she must learn how to be Buffy moment-by-painful-moment, pulling herself out of the mud.
Buffy tasted what it meant to be Faith, and found the fruit bitter. Faith's mind-switch made Buffy a victim because it made her Faith and until Faith broke at the end of Five by Five, she was victim to her own darkness and weakness. Faith is Buffy's darkness, and it's telling that all of Buffy's dark souls eventually reach the light.
Buffy's shadow escapes to LA, to her lover. Attempts to commit suicide via vampire. Angel saves Buffy's shadow, realizes that even in this darkness, there is light.
But Buffy cannot yet recognize herself in Faith. Faith is still too low and Buffy too high for her to make out the similarities. Buffy casts the two of them together in a club of murderers. "I can't understand you," she wants to believe. "I could never fall so far."
She hasn't yet learned that it isn't how fall you fall that matters -- it's whether or not you have the strength to get up again.
Buffy's shadow-self stakes a place in LA, traps herself there to watch over her own dark soul and her lover. Buffy herself cannot stay, and so Faith stays in Buffy's stead (and does, indeed, come to Angel's need when the time comes). Buffy is sent out of LA, barred from her lover's gates. Another thread snaps, and Buffy's flesh will never again go to LA, yet the line holds.
Season two/five. Angel comes to offer Buffy comfort when her mother dies. They kiss and hold and though they wish for forever, they know they have only a moment. Mind and spirit and heart's absence speak to that -- this is the comfort of former lovers and it is only for this day. Buffy dies, and the appearance of spirit alone tells Angel this. The flesh of Buffy is gone.
Season three/six. Buffy and Angel meet, but we do not see it. They meet without benefit of eyes that see. They meet neither in Buffy's heart nor in Angel's. Their love lacks witness, but Angel's selves parodies the meeting, while Buffy's cannot speak of it. They react to loss each in their own ways.
Season four/seven. Buffy's spirit travels to LA to return Angel's soul. Buffy's shadow travels into Angel's mind and soul to see his deepest shame and to see him fight back. Buffy's spirit brings her shadow back home, healed but not yet forgiven. Fear for Buffy's life fails to motivate Angel in Home -- he made that bargain once before, in I Remember You, and she still died, but once he has the power that he bargained so dearly for, they meet again, in Buffy's heart (her heart that is soon to be torn down to make room for something new, for the next journey). The only witness to that meeting is her shadow-lover, who will come back to haunt Angel in the next season.
Season five. First, we have the advent of Spike. Spike is an inverse of Angel and a shadow of Buffy. He is the fighting personification of what Buffy's willingness to choose spirit over all else can do. He is Buffy's legacy in Angel's life. He burns up in Buffy's fight using the amulet Angel gave her. We also have Harmony, who is linked to Cordy who was Buffy's original shadow-self. Then we have Giles and Andrew.
"Buffy doesn't trust you anymore." The only contact that we have to Buffy's people are through Giles and Andrew. Mind and pity/charity. Buffy's old life was destroyed, partly by choice. And Angel isn't part of her new life. Willow is 'astral projecting' and Xander is 'in Africa'. Giles is the one of the core four that speaks to Angel directly. He sends Andrew, which speaks volumes. But we already knew that Giles doesn't trust Angel. The mind is leery to trust someone who has betrayed trust before (also, I can't see Giles letting Willow within spitting distance of anyone wanting her to raise the dead, considering everything that's happened and his own feelings on the subject). Spirit would be willing, but she (and heart) are busy searching out new possibilities. And the hand, the body, Buffy, is in Rome. Is with family.
What to make of the Immortal? He's Angel. He's Spike. He's all of Buffy's issues rolled up into one person. And she's not crazy about him. Everyone that the Immortal has been with makes it clear that there's no bitterness, no heartbreak after. They cuddle, they dance, but they won't regret. It isn't a love affair, that much is made clear.
All of which is to say that I have no problem with the portrayal of the Scoobs in Angel.