More Wesley and Angel thoughts on Lineage
Nov. 17th, 2003 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterfly"Somewhere in that moment of panic, a decision got made."
Cordy says that to Bethany, but it applies to Wesley. He chose to shot his father. Nine times. Each shot a kill shot. Nothing he can do or say will change that.
"...people that have thought that you were helpless before - have died."
His father (the facsimile of his father) underestimated him. Thought him weak. Thought that because his opinion mattered to Wesley, that Wesley wouldn't be able to take action to stop something he thought was wrong.
Wesley takes Fred with him. He tells Angel why - she can explain the weapon convincingly, she wouldn't put Emil on guard, and he can trust her. Angel snarks about Fred being the only possibility, but the truth is she was. Wesley doesn't trust the Wolfram and Hart employees. Lorne wouldn't be able to explain the weapon. And neither Gunn nor Angel would set Emil at his ease. In Wesley's mind, Fred was the only option.
But Angel sets him down and says something that's very disturbing - "My people."
"Your people?" Wesley echoes, as if he can't quite believe his ears. This is a Wesley who still responds to 'boss' and a Wesley who assumes that Angel trusts him. This is a Wesley who doesn't remember doing something unforgivable (and the word 'forgive' still hasn't appeared in Season Five yet, to the best of my recollection (I should probably rewatch Lineage... just to check).).
And Wesley leaves without agreeing with Angel, but when he sees Fred next, he's unsure of himself. He's off-balance. Just in time for his father to appear and set him even more off-balance. Wesley bumps into something for the first time since... God, when was the last time? Spin the Bottle and that was under a spell. Before that, was there a time after Guise Will Be Guise where Wesley acted the fool?
Angel tries to shake Pryce Sr.'s hand. And he gets a big dose of where Wes comes from when he realizes that Roger has dismissed him as 'lesser' because he's a vampire. And he's much more understanding in his next scene with Wes, treating him as he did back in S1, back during the first time he had to coax the hero out from the klutz. The genius out from the failure.
And isn't it interesting how Angel is always surrounded by high-quality people? Doyle was majorly smart (teaching credentials at age 20, I mention again), he'd just given up on life. Wesley is Wesley and Fred is Fred. Gunn was always smart - he could always figure out the angle. And Spike's very smart and very adaptable. Cordy does well on standerized tests, and more importantly, she's very people-smart. And Lorne's a prodigy, too - the only one of his people who could hear music. Angel surrounds himself with exceptional people, he challenges them to become more, and then gets surprised when they challenge him back.
Of course, Angel's exceptional, too. Smart, artistic, and very insightful. Angelus is all of these things and that means that Angel is, too.
One of the themes of the show is that people are always more than they present themselves to be. People hide their own strength and their own brilliance. There's the glitzy surface, which is pretty to look at, but all the important stuff is under the glamour.
And Angel has a way of carving away the glamour.
Cordy says that to Bethany, but it applies to Wesley. He chose to shot his father. Nine times. Each shot a kill shot. Nothing he can do or say will change that.
"...people that have thought that you were helpless before - have died."
His father (the facsimile of his father) underestimated him. Thought him weak. Thought that because his opinion mattered to Wesley, that Wesley wouldn't be able to take action to stop something he thought was wrong.
Wesley takes Fred with him. He tells Angel why - she can explain the weapon convincingly, she wouldn't put Emil on guard, and he can trust her. Angel snarks about Fred being the only possibility, but the truth is she was. Wesley doesn't trust the Wolfram and Hart employees. Lorne wouldn't be able to explain the weapon. And neither Gunn nor Angel would set Emil at his ease. In Wesley's mind, Fred was the only option.
But Angel sets him down and says something that's very disturbing - "My people."
"Your people?" Wesley echoes, as if he can't quite believe his ears. This is a Wesley who still responds to 'boss' and a Wesley who assumes that Angel trusts him. This is a Wesley who doesn't remember doing something unforgivable (and the word 'forgive' still hasn't appeared in Season Five yet, to the best of my recollection (I should probably rewatch Lineage... just to check).).
And Wesley leaves without agreeing with Angel, but when he sees Fred next, he's unsure of himself. He's off-balance. Just in time for his father to appear and set him even more off-balance. Wesley bumps into something for the first time since... God, when was the last time? Spin the Bottle and that was under a spell. Before that, was there a time after Guise Will Be Guise where Wesley acted the fool?
Angel tries to shake Pryce Sr.'s hand. And he gets a big dose of where Wes comes from when he realizes that Roger has dismissed him as 'lesser' because he's a vampire. And he's much more understanding in his next scene with Wes, treating him as he did back in S1, back during the first time he had to coax the hero out from the klutz. The genius out from the failure.
And isn't it interesting how Angel is always surrounded by high-quality people? Doyle was majorly smart (teaching credentials at age 20, I mention again), he'd just given up on life. Wesley is Wesley and Fred is Fred. Gunn was always smart - he could always figure out the angle. And Spike's very smart and very adaptable. Cordy does well on standerized tests, and more importantly, she's very people-smart. And Lorne's a prodigy, too - the only one of his people who could hear music. Angel surrounds himself with exceptional people, he challenges them to become more, and then gets surprised when they challenge him back.
Of course, Angel's exceptional, too. Smart, artistic, and very insightful. Angelus is all of these things and that means that Angel is, too.
One of the themes of the show is that people are always more than they present themselves to be. People hide their own strength and their own brilliance. There's the glitzy surface, which is pretty to look at, but all the important stuff is under the glamour.
And Angel has a way of carving away the glamour.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 12:45 am (UTC)Cordelia - Buffy = Lilah. Brains, beauty and a streak of calculated cruelty.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 01:10 am (UTC)And Buffy's smart, too, just selective about what she was smart about. As Giles said, she doesn't do well in History, for example, because she doesn't really care about it. When she cares, she picks stuff up quickly.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 08:33 am (UTC)But yeah, Wes' time on Angel ripped away the gloss, brought us to the steel. And Angel tried to cover them back up, but that protective coloring just isn't there anymore, not for any of his crew - he did too good a job of pulling away the inessentials, and now the core easily shines through the glittery surface.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 08:42 am (UTC)Just askin.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 08:57 am (UTC)But yeah, I just watched Untouched and it made me think of Wes (and by extention, Angel, because Wesley always leads to Angel, because Angel was instrumental in creating Wes as he is). I'm in a Wesley frame of mind.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 09:25 am (UTC)Heh. Yeah.
That first scene between Wesley and Angel nearly broke my heart. Angel might've sucked it up, and been supportive throughout Wes's father-drama, but the two of them still have Issues. And the longer this situation goes on, they're going to get worse.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-17 09:32 am (UTC)That's the problem for Wes - given what he knows, Angel is overreacting.