Deep Down - Angel's son
Dec. 1st, 2003 04:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterfly"He's Angel's son."
That's Fred's reasoning for helping Connor in the beginning. It was all about Angel.
It was never about Connor. And it was never about Wesley (to flash back to S3). She instantly chooses Angel's side over Connor's and over Wesley's. And the cause was sufficient, and yet. Angel was the handsome man who saved her from the monsters. Anyone who tries to hurt her hero is automatically in the wrong.
"Go on, Fred. Hurt me some more. You get used to it."
And her twist into violence is so heartbreaking for Connor. Because, though he was lying to them, he had embraced their life and their caring. And to find out that it was never real must have only confirmed everything he felt about love. He was doing his best to cling to the good and lay waste to the evil. But the good lies and hurts (Fred lied for a quite a while, to get close enough and get his guard down enough so that she could zap him), while the evil is, at least, more upfront about it all.
"What does that mean? Really? Being good, doing the right thing— by whose judgment? Good, evil… they’re just words, Connor. Concepts of morality they forced around your neck to yank you wherever they please. You’re with me now. You don’t have to live by their rules."
Cordy is the only person who treats him as his own entity and not as "Angel's son". Of course, she's manipulating him and using him, but it was because she needed him, personally.
Darla's... memory and feelings appear to him and she says that she has a message.
"It has to be your choice. You can stop this."
It's a trick of a choice, but it is a choice. Liam chose to 'see the world'. William chose something effulgent. Cordy chose to be a higher power. And Connor chose belonging over doing what was right. Connor chose the beautiful lie.
They all got what they wanted, if not in the form they thought it would come in.
Cordy did become a higher power - Jasmine. Angel has seen the world, and himself, and it has caused him more agony than he could have ever imagined. Spike burned up letting the light come, but the fire didn't consume him (otherwise, how could the flames be eternal - Lilah reminded us of that).
And Connor, who was defined by being Angel's son, is now defined by not being Angel's son. The beautiful lie.
To twist back to the beginning: damn, Fred is unperceptive. She accuses both Connor and Wesley of not caring, and they're the ones who care the most about the situation, the ones most defined by Angel. She really doesn't understand them at all.
That's Fred's reasoning for helping Connor in the beginning. It was all about Angel.
It was never about Connor. And it was never about Wesley (to flash back to S3). She instantly chooses Angel's side over Connor's and over Wesley's. And the cause was sufficient, and yet. Angel was the handsome man who saved her from the monsters. Anyone who tries to hurt her hero is automatically in the wrong.
"Go on, Fred. Hurt me some more. You get used to it."
And her twist into violence is so heartbreaking for Connor. Because, though he was lying to them, he had embraced their life and their caring. And to find out that it was never real must have only confirmed everything he felt about love. He was doing his best to cling to the good and lay waste to the evil. But the good lies and hurts (Fred lied for a quite a while, to get close enough and get his guard down enough so that she could zap him), while the evil is, at least, more upfront about it all.
"What does that mean? Really? Being good, doing the right thing— by whose judgment? Good, evil… they’re just words, Connor. Concepts of morality they forced around your neck to yank you wherever they please. You’re with me now. You don’t have to live by their rules."
Cordy is the only person who treats him as his own entity and not as "Angel's son". Of course, she's manipulating him and using him, but it was because she needed him, personally.
Darla's... memory and feelings appear to him and she says that she has a message.
"It has to be your choice. You can stop this."
It's a trick of a choice, but it is a choice. Liam chose to 'see the world'. William chose something effulgent. Cordy chose to be a higher power. And Connor chose belonging over doing what was right. Connor chose the beautiful lie.
They all got what they wanted, if not in the form they thought it would come in.
Cordy did become a higher power - Jasmine. Angel has seen the world, and himself, and it has caused him more agony than he could have ever imagined. Spike burned up letting the light come, but the fire didn't consume him (otherwise, how could the flames be eternal - Lilah reminded us of that).
And Connor, who was defined by being Angel's son, is now defined by not being Angel's son. The beautiful lie.
To twist back to the beginning: damn, Fred is unperceptive. She accuses both Connor and Wesley of not caring, and they're the ones who care the most about the situation, the ones most defined by Angel. She really doesn't understand them at all.
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Re: Fred Defense
Date: 2003-12-01 10:42 pm (UTC)And yes, Cordy/Jasmine was definitely smackworthy. That was when I lost my emotional connection to Cordy. I am grateful for the Jasmine retcon because it excuses Cordy somewhat from what was really a terrible failure of friendship, especially given how close she and Wesley used to be. Plus as Fred points out to her in The Price, Cordy was the only one of them whom Angel would have really listened to in regards to Wesley.
Incidentally, the Jasmine retcon brings up the interesting question as to why Jasmine didn't want Wes back. I mean, it's clear why she wanted Cordy fixated on Angel only - so that the subsequent C/C would hit Angel all the harder - but maybe she also thought Wes would have had a chance of figuring it all out in time if he had been asked back to the fold then.
Re: Fred Defense
Date: 2003-12-02 10:29 am (UTC)Well, she wouldn't want another 'family' member around if she could avoid it, I don't think. Plus, at that point, I think, Jasmine wasn't all that powerful in her - I think she could provide the drive - Care About Angel - but not the specifics.