Angel 5x16 - Shells

[butterfly]

This episode is even better on rewatch. How much ass does that kick?

JAR gives such an amazing performance -- grief and horror and sorrow and sheer agony. Wonderful stuff.

Actually, I think that all of the actors were just perfect in this. Harmony, while still being the same Harmony she's been all season, came across incredibly sympathetically. Angel and Spike are a great combination -- a duet, to steal from due South. Lorne's totally lost or losing his faith in his own powers and that was good to see, because they've had a horrible track record lately, with the exception of the Fred thing. Knox is such an amusing guy -- he's very Buffy, actually.

This really does work as a two-parter with A Hole in the World. They flow right into each other, literally even. And it starts and ends with the Fred flashback.

And then we have Illyria and Wesley. Wow, wow, wow. Talk about powerhouse performances. Amy was so awesome as Illyria. I really did get that alien, 'off' feeling (similar to Chiana from Farscape). And there's an great moment of connection between them, in its ruined temple, when he says, "Now you know how I feel," it looks up at him and you do see that it understands that this human, this... thing, is not so different from itself. That this one is perhaps one that it can respect. It helps, I think, that Wesley is so very open with Illyria -- with him, it sees none of the deception that bothered it about humanity. Wesley's very open and raw because of what happened with Fred, which really worked well in realistically creating someone for Illyria to actually have a chance of understanding.

And Wesley's whispered 'yes' in response to Illyria broke my heart to teeny shards. He knows that it's probably a stupid decision -- he knows that he has 'lost all reason'. He knows that he's psycho right now.

I pretty much adored everything that Illyria said. It's so... pure, in a cold, distant and ruling way. It didn't think of humans as on its level, but then when it saw what had become of its temple and army, it went to the one human who had made it think outside what it knew before. Maybe it's partly Fred's memories, but I saw Illyria changing its mind -- at least about one human.

It always was supposed to have a guide, a high priest, but because the world has changed, it is also willing to change. To accept Wes' terms.

Considering Illyria's expressed distaste for 'sneakiness', I doubt that it's trying to pull a fast one on him. Illyria's actually very honest, even to the point of telling Wes that it's overwhelmed and needs help.

The final Illyria/Wes scene -

Illyria: "You grieve still... for a single life."
As opposed to Illyria, who is mourning for a world and a way of life -- for its kingdom.

Wes: "Why are you here?"
Illyria: "I... am uncertain."
Which can mean two things -- a) just answering the question, Illyria is uncertain about why it returns to what belong to the shell and b) Illyria comes to Wes because it is uncertain in general, about life and meaning, and it has lost its guide, by Wes' hand.

Illyria: "This place... was part of the shell."
Wes: "Don't call her... The woman you killed had a name."
Illyria: "This is important to you. Things have names."
Things -- shells -- humans, which are not people by Illyria's definition. And yet, it doesn't seem to place Wesley in the same category. It challenges Knox when he places himself outside the human race, but not when Wesley does at the beginning of the episode. And it isn't "this is important", it's "this is important to you".

Illyria: "The shell. Winifred Burkle. She can't return to you."
Maybe it's my own warped perception, but Illyria seems almost... gentle here. It transitions from calling Fred a 'shell' to saying her name and to using a female pronoun. It corrects itself.

Wes: "I know."
Illyria: "Yet there are fragments."
In the beginning of the episode, Illyria doesn't remember Fred until Wes attacks it. Both its moments of memory are connected directly to Wes. Probably in part because Fred died in Wes' arms, after just starting a relationship with him -- her mind and thoughts were saturated with Wesley. And at this line, Wesley looks up and this is when he's lost to Illyria. In the teaser, he wasn't willing to hit Illyria until he was certain that none of Fred remained. Fragments -- they aren't enough, but they're something that he's willing to take, if that's all he can have. Wesley is pretty much the definition of obsessed when it comes to Fred.

Illyria: "When her brain collapsed, electrical spasms channelled into my functions system. Memories."
Reminding us that, yep, there are no organs left in Fred's body. And yeah, the memories thing. Poor Wes.

Fred's voice: "Please... Wesley, why can't I stay?"
Wes: "No. Leave."
Illyria: "I've nowhere to go. My kingdom is long dead... long dead."
I love how it transitions from anger to grief.

Illyria: "There's so much that I don't understand. I become overwhelmed. I'm unsure of my place."
The set-up. Illyria had a guide in place for a reason -- it knew that it would need someone to show it the way of whatever sort of world this ended up being (though it obviously didn't expect humans to last as long as they have) and now, because of Wesley's actions, it needs a new guide. It's uncertain and Wesley is the only thing that it seems to even try to understand... to take on his terms instead of enforcing its own.

Wes: "Your place is with the rest of your people -- dead and turned to ash."
Illyria: "Perhaps."
I find this fascinating, that Illyria is willing to allow that Wes may be right.

Illyria: "But I exist here. I must learn to walk in this world. I'll need your help... Wesley."
And here's the pitch. It uses his name and directly asks for his help.

Wes: "If I were to help you find your way, you have to learn to change."
Illyria's face is, again, utterly fascinating. I'd be willing to bet that no one has ever asked it to change before.

Wes: "You mustn't kill."
Illyria: "You killed the Qua'ha'zan. In defiance of your leader."
Which is probably something that puzzles it a bit, as certainly Illyria wouldn't have held with anyone defying it.

Wes: "He murdered the woman I love."
Illyria: "And that made it just."
Wes: "No. It wasn't just. I'm probably the last man in the world to teach you what's right."
Illyria: "But you will. If I abide, you will help me."
Wes: "Yes."
There's the deal, right there -- if Illyria abides by Wesley's 'no killing' rule, he will help it.

Illyria: "Because I look like her."
Wes: "Yes."
In the trailer, they made this all seem very sinister -- Wesley aides the enemy because it looks like the woman he loves. Whereas here, it's clear that he's aiding Illyria if it stops acting as an enemy and because it looks like Fred. And that first bit is pretty important. "If I abide." If it puts up with the unpleasantness of dealing with his restriction, he will help.

Illyria: "We cling to what is gone. Is there anything in this life but grief?"
Wes: "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 enough to live on?"

Wow, I love that whole scene, from start to finish. Surprised. Yes. And I think that he's talking about this moment in that last sentence. After everything, Illyria surprised him.