VasquezE(11/27/03 03:35:00)
Смех-смехом, а ведь были в ту пору версии, что Эндрю встретил там Хармони!
На другую тему:
Обнаружила на Спарклях роскошное эссе по Destiny. Говорят - с сайта Tabula Rasa, но там я его не обнаружила, и ссылку дать не могу. Поскольку на Спарклях это перепечатали в запароленной ветке, я внаглую копирую текст сюда. В "необспойленный" раздел не могу, поскольку там есть спойлеры.
This essay was posted by Tallgent on TabRas the other day. I just loved it and wanted to share it with all of you! He said he loves Sparklies and would be honored if I posted this here.
Maybe we can chew on this for a bit.
Thoughts on Destiny
Oh. Hell. Yeah.
1. Like "Fool For Love" and "Lies My Parents Told Me" before it,
the juxtapositions were brilliant. But I loved the humor as well,
especially when it went from "We will be the best of friends..." to a
terse "Leave me alone, Spike."
2. I think there's a very crass kind of humor missed here when it
comes to the Harmony bit. We already know that Spike thinks more
below the belt than with his head. But this was after all a lovesick
poet who was called "Willy" and corrupted by the carnality of
Drusilla.
2. And speaking of corrupted, the whole "Anything you can do, I
can do better" bit between Angel and Spike started when they first
met. Why am I not surprised.
3. Here's something else to consider. Have you noticed that Spike
has developed an emotional connection with each of the people he has
rescued? First there was the friendship that he developed with Fred,
although it isn't as demonstrative as it once was. And now he calls
Gunn "Charlie-Boy." Angel always withdraws from people he rescues.
SPOILERS
And it's interesting in the dream/hallucination he gets that
Spike tries to get to know the couple he rescues.
END SPOILERS
4. Though it would have been painful, I wish we would have seen
the first time William tries to fight Angelus because then we would
see the cycle that Spike was always used to. As bad-ass as he was,
he could never be badder than Angel, so he internalized being
subservient to him in all areas. That's why he relished killing the
Slayers, because it was something he had up on Angelus.
5. Nice to see Spike discover that the gravity is lighter in
L.A. then it was in Sunnydale.
6. More cross imagery. Though it's a long way from the broken Spike
draped over the cross. Frankly, I don't know how to feel about that.
6. "Ponce." Idiot." Ah, brothers...
7. I wish we would have seen more Juliet Landau, too. Drusilla
seemed woefully underwritten.
8. Anyone else miss Wesley?
9. Anyone else wish Eve would vanish?
10. And I wonder if we've just been introduced to the Big Bad of
the season? The reveal was so priceless, though I wonder if the late-
coming Angel fans know the significance of tatted bare-chested boy.
11. David Boreanaz and James Marsters finally let the reins loose
and the result was the kind of inevitable chemistry that Whedon and
the boys knew each had in them. Bringing Spike to "Angel" is looking
genius.
12. And I advise you all to check out Angel's Soul Spoiler Board
or All Things Philosophical on Angel and BtVS for some kick-ass
essays on Destiny from Shadowkat, Ramses II, Rufus, and many others.
In fact, I can't remember the last time an episode spawned so many
thoughtful posts.
13. So we come to another watershed Spike episode. "Fool For
Love" started the Redemptionist outlook. "Intervention" revealed
Spike's selfless devotion and, arguably, the start of
Spuffy. "Chosen" gave us Spike as a redeemed martyr/champion. And now
we get a Spike who has finally defeated Angel. This was a mythic
Great Santini. Ths son bested the father and can now truly call
himself an equal. And the father knows it. If Angel's doubts about
his life mission were in doubt before, they're now in serious
reassessment.
But the frustrating, and somewhat exhilarating way, that Fury
represents Spike is that he doesn't act like a hero. In "Destiny,"
Spike had his moments of being a self-serving jerk. His
recorporealization made Spike want to indulge in all kinds of
physicality. Contrast this with Angel, who would probably be elated
beyond words at first, and then slink back into broodiness.
I admit it, I don't laugh with innocent glee at Spike's antics, I
chuckle with naughty id-releasing abandon. Spike is cathartic for the
devil in me. He's so unconventional as a hero. The Wolverine of
Vampires.
But make no mistake about it, Spike is a hero. I loved how Marsters
just dropped that voice dripping with sarcasm and said with
conviction that he was a hero that fought for his soul and saved the
world That's right, Gramps. "Willy" is on the level with you finally.
So whatever Angel may do to put Spike in his "place", Spike will have
none of it. He's no longer the Luke to the Yoda. He's no longer the
second-best vampire. He is his own person now, just as worthy for
reward as Angel is. Just as worthy of Drusilla as Angelus thought he
was. And just as worthy of Buffy as Angel thinks he is.
It doesn't matter that Angel will never tell Spike this, the point is
Angel knows it. He was beaten. He can be bested. And he can be bested
by his child, the one person he thought would never best him, let
alone spare him. Now will Angel realize he needs to invest himself in
the mission again, and he needs Spike to help him do it, or will he
allow the self-doubt to fester, the resentment to spread, and doom
them both to the real enemy, the one plotting right under their
jealous noses?
14. And yet, it sees karmically Angel may get the better deal. I was
thinking of the end of
Almost Famous when Penny Lane brought William Miller and,
Russel, the guitar hero god of her dreams together to reconcile.
Buffy teased that she wanted to bring Angel and Spike together to
rassle it out. With oil.
She got her wish. Sans oil.
But two things fill me with dread, both in Spike's character and for
Spike's quest for love. In "Conviction" we have a bit of potential
retconning with Angel saying that unsouled beings still have free
will, so really the lack of a soul is no excuse.
Now if we look at Angelus's turning, he was a reprobate in the
beginning so ultimately it was Liam who is at fault for what he
eventually became. Darla may have turned him, but the establishment
of Angelus as the most notorious vampire in history is all him.
Spike blames his evil on Angel trying to shape him. But, again,
William made the choice to follow him, even if he went against every
search for beauty in his poetic being. And if Willam is guilty of any
a priori sin, it is in not discerning the difference that all artists
or lovers of art should, mistaking ugliness for beauty.
So each has only themselves to blame.
And what rips brothers apart, and eventually brings them back
together? Common loves (or in Drusilla's case, common conquests) Each
vampire revealed incomplete truths. Spike said he got the soul
because it was the right thing to do. Angel says he only did it to
get in good with Buffy. They're both right and both wrong.
Spike did get a soul because it was the right thing to do. He
couldn't trust himself to not let the demon in him hurt Buffy, so it
was right that he made it possible to insure he would never do it
again by getting a soul. But he also did it to be the type of man
Buffy would want. And she did.
Then there is the similar failure of their great love. Lorne said
they both loved and lost. Which is probably true from both sides.
But Angel knows of Spike's insecurity and he preys on it, just as he
did as Angelus. He knows that Spike believes Buffy never loved him so
he uses it. It is the most hurtful weapon he can use, as was pointed
up here not too long ago.
Spike uses his weapon that he was more intimate with Buffy than Angel
could ever dream of. And perhaps Buffy loved Angel, but Spike made
her scream and come back for more.
With Angel she just screamed in terror.
Still if you had to choose, what would you rather have? Love without
the fulfillment of the private celebration of that love. Or sex
without the foundation that love provides. And in Spike's view, Angel
got the better deal. Angel was loved and he wasn't. So it's hollow.
It makes Angel mad because that's why he left; he couldn't provide
the physical aspect of love that Buffy wanted, but Angel got Buffy's
heart.
Spike doesn't know. And the tragedy the writers may have in mind is
that Spike will never know. He'll always believe that when it comes
to love, he'll always be second. And to Spike, love is the most
important thing. More important than the soul and more important than
being a champion.
But at least he can take satisfaction in taking something away from
Angel. Finally, after so many years of Angel taking from him.
It is the whole Buffy pissing contest which adds the sad coda in
Spike sparing Angel, demonstrating his soulful mercy, something Angel
didn't think Spike was capable of. Spike tells Angel he doesn't dust
him because he doesn't want to hear Buffy bitching about it. I take
it as Spike believing that if Angel had dusted him, Buffy wouldn't
have really been affected. Maybe a nod and a sigh, but she'd be
snogging Angel in no time. Spike just doesn't measure very high on
her concern scale, according to him.
And maybe that's the thing here, Spike will ultimately end up unloved
and under appreciated in the romantic scheme of things. Just for the
simple fact that You're. Not. Him.
And I find it kind of ironic how Spike in being an unloved character
in his world is arguably the most loved by fans of the show. There
are more websites devoted to Spike than any other character.
That can't be a mistake on the part of the writers.
SPUFFY AND SPIKE SPOILERS
Unlike so many other Spuffies, I am glad that Spike makes the
decision to not go to Europe. It will be interesting how the writers
will come up with the ultimate reason, but to me it makes sense that
he allows Buffy to live her life. That to me is an expression of love
that I thought he would come to earlier, sparing Buffy the knowledge
of his return and letting her concentrate on her mission. Or enjoy
life for the first time since being Chosen. Or find love.
What's interesting is how after he makes the decision, the past he
tries to leave behind comes back, as if he's being punished by fate
for staying away and not following his heart. We have the return of
Andrew, Willow's alleged return, and Dana, a tragic reminder of the
consequences of the spell that changed the Slayer line forever. Each
one leads back to Buffy.
And then there are those damn hands. I was reminded that metaphors
change in the Jossverse last week and emphasis was once again placed
on Spike's hands, specifically how he took up the cross that Angel
rejected. Those hands are cut off, leaving Spike incapacitated. Maybe
we will see Angel, whether he likes it or not, having to take up the
cross of his role as Champion of the people because Spike is
incapable.
It just might be his rightful place as champion.
And where this leaves Spike is anybody's guess.
END SPOILERS
14. I loved how this ended. Not only for the wonderful surprise
and the idea of things coming full circle for Angel in potentially
facing his great W&H nemesis on said nemesis's home turf. But for
setting up the new dynamic Spike and Angel have to get to.
I was afraid that Spike would be the ideological Big Bad of the year.
Maybe he wasn't evil, but he was an obstacle that Angel would have to
overcome to achieve Shanshu.
But with the introduction of Eve and Lindsay as the dynamically
devious duo, a more serious threat is on the horizon. And it's no
longer about one soulled vampire defeating the other. It's about how
each of them must use their combined resources to defeat a common
enemy, and maybe come to respect, like, and eventually love each
other as true brothers in the cause.
I wonder of the writers aren't saying something about Angel and Spike
fans in general here and it's something Shadowkat alludes to in her
essay. Does it matter if Spike fought for his soul while Angel was
cursed with his? Does it matter that Spike conquered his demon while
Angel has yet to truly conquer his? No. What does is that each
vampire is on the road to redemption, they are both champions, and
both are warriors for the common good.
The fight at the end reminded me so much of Smashed. Both had a
vicious fight, both contained uncomfortable truths, and both ended
with acts of love. Loosely in the case of Smashed with its carnality,
ultimately empty carnality. But in Angel pleading to Spike with
concern about the rash choice he was about to make, he had for a
moment transcended the past of his enmity with Spike. In that moment
Spike wasn't an enemy. And both episodes were turning points. Things
could never go back to what they once were.
And if Almost Famous had Penny bring Russel and William together,
then perhaps Buffy's wish may have had a more altruistic intention
then first thought. Not so much to fight for her love. But in
fighting learn to love each other as Buffy may have perhaps loved the
both of them.
Yes, Spangels. You may go wild over that last sentence.
I too will sing the praises of Mel Odom's Buffy/Angel
crossover "Cursed." Odom portrays Spike's conflict well, how he was
always torn between being an evil vampire and a "soulful" romantic.
And I love how it's hinted at Buffy seeing potential in Spike to
become a champion, something Monster Island also addressed. That
might be the writers' rationale by ME for Buffy keeping Spike alive
all those years. Because she saw something in him he was only
becoming aware of.
Of course, I don't buy all that. But it's a nice thogught
Mixed feelings on Smallville for last week. Microly, I like the idea
of Lionel driving his son insane just to protect his reputation. It
shows just how cruel of a bastard Lex's father really is and
continues Lex's descent into evil. Reminds me so much of Anakin
Skywalker, in some ways he's a victim of fate. I also liked the
beginnings of Clark and Lana's eventual emotional separation. Fans
seem to forget that. Clark doesn't mope after leaving Smallvile, he
immediately falls for Lois Lane.
But macroly, I hate the idea of drugging being the main cause for
Lex's evil or perhaps giving him his moment of clarity that he really
is son of the father and deep down inside just as evil a bastard as
he ever was. Worse even. That seems hollow and trite to
me.
Didn't see all of O.C. but I like how it ended with the song about
sister and brother and Ryan, Marissa, and Seth sharing Chinese. I
like the idea of perpetual loser Seth finding a symbolic brother and
sister in Ryan and Marissa.
Sorry to read about Angel's ratings not being very good for this
week. Probably inevitable with a show like this.
Clone Wars was awesome, but I got to wait til the Spring?
Times they are a changin'. The raised-Baptist Britney Spears singing
songs celebrating mastrbation.
Michelle Trachtenberg in a bikini rubbing herself provacatively with
a canned soda in her new movie.
And then there are things that remain the same like Michael Jackson
once again accused of child molestation.
And then there are the dependable traditions that will never change.
Like wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.
Even if it was done prematurely last week.
We'll see you....whenever the new episodes come back. Anyone wanna
guess?
Just found out. See ya in January!
Tallgent
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