On Angel: the Series, it's all about Angel:

[butterfly]

Which makes sense. It's his show, therefore everything is About Angel, just as everything on BtVS is About Buffy (notice the differences in both of them when they go to each other's shows and shift from being the primary agent to being a shadow piece of that show's protagonist - and I love that the writers do this, because Buffy as seen through Angel is going to be a different creature than Buffy as Buffy, and this is also why I had no problem with the difference in S7 Willow and Orpheus's Willow (and Willow has a very interesting path in BtVS, as she goes from the embodiment of Buffy's innocence to the embodiment of Buffy's power.).).

On true ensemble shows, all the characters interact with each other in a roughly equal fashion, but on a show with a strong single lead, everything we see can be translated through the filter of the main character. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is Buffy's journey in Sunnydale, as Angel is Angel's in L.A. (which is why it would not surprise me if either Angel or L.A. moved on at the end of the series run - the place is nearly as key as the person, as the place represents where they are in their journey).

I'm just about to watch Untouched. Now, this episode amazed me the first go-round. Bethany is such a strong personality and such a fascinating character. But this time, I suspect I'll see far more into how she connects with Angel and his journey. She almost, but doesn't quite, kill her father, unlike Angel. Bethany actually strikes me very much as a key to looking at Wes. This was our second hint about Wes' childhood (the first coming in I've Got You Under My Skin), as he pierces right to what Bethany is repressing. Now, we don't know how extensively Wesley was abused by his father - we do know that his father dismisses him and looks down on him, and we know that his father locked him up under the stairs (shades of Harry Potter), but we don't know if his father was ever physically abusive. We know that Wesley was damaged very deeply by his father. "What our parents do to us," Angel says in Sense and Sensitivity. And he also said his parents tasted like chicken - interesting thought, as they were certainly terrified of what he'd become, before he killed them. Angel wasn't literally locked up, but he certainly felt emotionally locked up by his father. Wesley is an extreme case of a part of Angel, and Bethany is an extreme case of a part of Wesley.

And then there's Lilah. Lilah, who just isn't top priority, not compared to Angel or Lindsey. Lilah, who recruits for evil at high schools. Lilah, who we know has a perpetuity clause (does Lindsey? Would Holland care so much about corrupting and keeping Lindsey if he'd already had him locked up tight?). Wolfram and Hart can fuck with Lilah all they want - they own her. And all she can do is take it, because she made the deal, signed away her soul, and fire can't burn what's already hopelessly charred. Lilah never has a doubt in her mind about what side she's fighting on. We never see her doubt her career choice (unless she did in one of the S3 eps that I haven't seen yet). Lilah knows that this is where she has chosen to be and that that choice is final.

Sometimes, the Lilah/Wesley angle reminds me of Damned Yankees (two lost souls). She's locked up tight, he signs up (and ultimately does break free) but leaves himself an opening (I can't see Wes signing anything with a perpetuity clause). I always did like Lola.

And Lilah/Wes has shades of Darla/Angel. She is what he is capable of. Wes and Lilah played the same game, but played for different sides. They knew the stakes and they knew the rules. And it was the same game, just as Darla and Angel played the same game (whereas too often, Angel and Wes are playing two different games).

And now to watch the episode.

Comments

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Willow has a very interesting path in BtVS, as she goes from the embodiment of Buffy's innocence to the embodiment of Buffy's power

*blink* That's a really interesting insight, that I'd never thought of before. Thanks for sharing it.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome.

It's actually something that I've been thinking about recently (as in, it came to me as I was writing the above thoughts). Xander is Buffy's humanity, good and bad. Giles is her path - the embodiment of what the Slayer must do (he leaves in S6 and she abandons that path, returning to it with a scary vengeance when he returns for good in S7, then she voluntarily pushes away that part of her in favor of redeemed shadow-figure of Spike, which actually turns out for the best). And Willow starts out as her innocence - the part of her that's unknowing and helpless in the face of evil, the part that must be protected. Over time, this gets stripped away from Willow, and the switch happens in S5 with the introduction of Dawn as Buffy's innocence (and we see an interesting journey with Dawn, too - she never leaves the role of innocence, but transforms her weakness into strength - moving with the vampire instead of going toe-to-toe with it. Dawn does what Willow could not - accepts her role and finds out how to make that useful, instead of wanting a different, 'better' one).

And this actually does work with the heart, mind, spirit (both innocence and power work here, which is great, really) triad that we see in Restless. And Buffy is the hand - she's the action, the one who puts all these pieces together.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

*nods a lot*

You have been thinking about this, haven't you? I'm kind of past the point where I can believe the writers did all of that on purpose, but I still think you're picking up on something very real there. And the Willow-to-Dawn transfer is fascinating.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I doubt that they consciously did all of it, though I do believe they did intend some of it, but the very nature of the work makes these kinds of connections almost inevitable. And actually, it seems to be a Joss thing - I've noticed the same thing on Angel, where the other characters are all reflections and pieces of the main character while being strong characters in their own right (and there were strong flickers of it on Firefly as well). These people have such a deep sense of life to them.

But yeah, most non-Whedon shows I've watched, I can't say the same thing for. When I watch Farscape, it's not the same kind of deep character exploration, though there is exploration. But the other characters never feel like an pieces of John, because that's not what the show is about.

The only other show where I have felt the same kind of personal/mental/social connection is due South, where everyone could be, I believe, connected to Fraser and his journey (and due South is exactly the same type of show as BtVS and AtS at its core - exploration of a character and a place, with the show beginning with the character arriving in the place (and in both dS and AtS, it ended with them leaving that place.) and showing us how that place changed them. All three of those journeys are ones of personal growth - for Buffy, for Angel, for Fraser.).

Edit:

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Right, I actually meant that both due South and Buffy ended with leaving the place, as Angel hasn't ended yet.

And I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up leaving L.A. at the end of the series, one way or another.