More on Release

[thebratqueen]

minim_calibre brought up a few points in her comments that I started to respond to, then I realized that A) it was getting too long and B) this was stuff I wanted to talk about in my own journal anyway so here we are.



Min said: Re: his losing it with the girl. thebratqueen called his shouting at Faith Billy-like, but I disagree. This wasn't the calm and creepy anger we saw in Billy, this was a sort of rage and urgency that we've seen with Wesley, well, pretty much never.

I meant to put this in my own review but forgot. That's what I get for posting quickly ;)

But what I meant with Billy!Wes was just the "SHUT UP!". The contempt/get out of my way/violence aspect of that (as directed towards Faith) had echoes back to the misogyny of that episode, wherein no woman would be allowed to stand in a man's way.

After that, though, his actions towards Faith were very unBilly like, and I think that's a significant point about that whole scene. If we theorize that Billy!Wes (of s3) was really just mimicking his father (which I think is a safe assumption) then this Wesley is nothing like that and that's got to have meaning.

It's tempting to say that Wes may be coming into his own as an asshole, except what he does to Faith is the Angelus trick - hit every button he can think of until he finds the one that makes the victim snap. Look at how much Wes throws at her, each little push changing with each word. He starts out with the torture, puts his gun into her face, then quickly moves on to rapid-fire bullet points - uncertain redemption, Sunnydale, the Scoobies, the Council, trust and then - BAM! He gets it. Just as Angel, while in the cage, would (albeit more casually) cycle through everything he could think of to get a reaction out of the AI gang.

So really what we've got here is just Wes imitating Angelus, which makes sense because he's trying to set Faith up to go after him. Both in that he wants to put Faith in a place where she's ready to go for broke if she has to, but also in that he knows this is what Angelus will do to her so he's trying to innoculate her for what's to come (and Faith herself somewhat confirms this later when she tells Angelus Wes prepared her for the head games).

However, symbolically it's a bit interesting because, as I said in my earlier comments, Faith wasn't the only one dealing with her dark side here. Wes and Angelus were too. Angelus, when pushing buttons, does it to get a reaction, but part and parcel of that for him is the sheer joy of being able to make people see that they're just as evil as he is. Remember how he cackled with glee when Gunn turned the flamethrower on him. Heck, consider how the entire point of his fight with Faith tonight was to show her that they were no different.

So it becomes interesting symbolically to see Wes, Angel 2.0, doing this Angelus trick, because even if he has goals with this action that are all about the fight - well, Wes isn't a happy nor healthy boy at the moment. It makes you wonder how much he needs Faith to be just like him. Or, as Min said, how much his own words could apply towards himself.

I don't think Wes is filled with self-loathing though. Wes may have moments of regret, but his leadership style is to stay with the concept that all of your decisions are good ones. So I'm not seeing Wesley in a 5x5 kind of place where he'll need Angel to beat the crap out of him in order to get redemption. This isn't to say that a trial by fire while fighting the good fight wouldn't do him a world of good, but I don't think he's seeking that out. He is what he is and he's just going to keep going the path because that's what works for him.

As Min said, Wes right now probably thinks that he's Hellbound. Or at the very least not totally redeemable. I think Wes has made a willing sacrifice of himself for the good fight. He's come to see that making sure good always wins is a messy, horrible thing, and that somebody has got to take on the tasks that others will not. Wes has put himself in this place (and I suppose if somebody cared enough they could then go on about this is why he puts Fred up on such a pedastal - he does the dirty work so she won't have to, or some such. But I don't care enough so there we are.)

Last night I was thinking about Wes's breakup with Lilah. It's taking on new lights for me now because at the time when Wes said he wanted to be sure he was on the right side, I took that to mean the side of good. However, I think what he meant was Angel's side. Wes, while acknowleding he was dark, I don't think truly ever thought he was evil. Yeah he had his moments - like being willing to help Fred get revenge on her professor - but for the most part he thought he was good. His interactions with Lilah show that ("I don't need to hear your evil plans")

So I'm starting to think now that what Wes really meant was that he knew Angel (and the gang) were the champions, and Lilah (and W&H) were very much not. And with the apocalypse coming, Wes decided to make it clear that he fought with the champions. He fought dirty, he fought by any means necessary, but he fought with them.

And I don't think that's really changed. He still fights, but not for his own goodness. Even last week when his imaginary conversation with Lilah moved him it moved him to save Angel. Wes wants Angel's redemption, not his own. Wes is still fine to stay the course as he is - in point of fact you can see that when he pulls the dirty trick on Faith of letting her get attacked by vampires (which again I think was pre-arranged).

So this makes you wonder what Wes's ultimate goal is. I don't think he cares if he lives or dies. I think he chalks himself up as an acceptable loss. Not in Angel's "I must sacrifice myself so that the lightbulb can get changed" way, but in a "We can't be sentimental about anything - we must do whatever is necessary" way. If what's necessary is that Wes takes a dirt nap, so be it.

Which isn't to say that a desire like that can't be motivated by some deep-rooted depression, I'm just saying this is his main motivation.

So if it's not his own life or his own redemption, then what? I don't even think at this point it's "good will win" because I suspect Wesley also knows that the battle between good and evil is going to go on for pretty much forever so you've got to abandon goals like that. Win now when you can, then dust yourself off and fight again so you can win then.

So not his own redemption, not his life, not good winning...

Honestly I suspect if he's got a goal beyond continuing to do what he's doing, I'd say it's to save Angel and help him get redeemed. But that's just my guess.

Seriously late for work now, I'll catch y'all later.