Angel spoilers
Apr. 17th, 2004 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenSo, I read those 5.22 spoilers over at Spoiler Slayer.
First reaction? We're missing scenes. Not much, not anything that will fundamentally change the plotlines, but tiny, quick things a la the real ending of You're Welcome which help to put what seems jarring into perspective.
Second reaction is the usual "Wah! Can't believe it's ending! Where's the gay kiss you bastards?" etc type anger/denial.
And now I'm back onto zen.
I've seen some people reacting by basically throwing stuff and saying Joss is saying a big fuck-you to the fans and I get that and all but... part of me wonders what show they signed up for? Yeah, we loves us some Wes. And some Gunn. And some Lindsey. You know a few years ago people wanted Buffy and Angel to get married too. Doesn't work like that.
Angel's a dark show and in a show where Angel has to slit the throat of his own son how have we not learned that nothing is sacred around here? Doing some bruce, Anya-esque casualty of the final battle would've been an insult to everything the universe stood for. What? Was Harmony supposed to be the token death? Maybe Lorne? Where's the drama? Where's the impact? Yeah, we like them, but not as much as we like the other guys.
Now, granted, I'm the first to call bullshit on Joss's oh so transparent "I killed them because you liked them" thing, which is why I wasn't particularly impressed by him killing that SiT in the Buffy finale that we all only liked because she was in Freaks and Geeks. That was cheating, and being lazy. But we do geniunely like Wes and the boys, and everything about the characters leading up to that moment says this is something that they were headed for. Wes especially. The boy's been yanked into the path of death every season he's been on the show - and he accepts that gladly for the cause. If you think Wes would rather say sod this for a game of soldiers and retire rather than give out his last ounce of strength in the middle of battle you have seriously not been paying attention to anything that boy's done since Angel turned his pretty head around back in season one.
So no, nobody gets a free pass just because we like them. That's what happened over on Buffy - Giles anyone? - and it was stupid, and lame, and it sucked. I love my dead gay show. I don't want it to suck.
(Small addendum to this thought: Part of me wonders if people are especially pissed off because the boys die yet Illyria lives to the final scene, which puts her on the level of Spike and Angel. Granted if she's a powerful demon it makes sense that they'd try to use her in the fight, but at the same time I think we all know this is still more of Joss's adoration of Amy and all she stands for, which means her Mary Sue ass gets to help save the day while the boys suffer on the side. In other words she is considered sacred. Which, yeah, is totally bruce and I'm right there with you on the suckage of that.)
Plus? Also? You're going to stop writing fic if the boys die? Because... they were having all that gay sex you were writing for them before the onscreen deaths? Dudes, it's fiction. Haul ass over to TPM fandom, learn some lessons, and come back to us. We can make the letters say whatever we want them to, and in this universe of all universes how the hell is death ever final? And is that cliffhanger seriously not giving you enough tools to work with? Is it that damn hard to say "They defeat the Senior Partners and everything gets reset to the way I like it"?
Yeah, sure, it's sad and it seems a little random and given the foiler campaign that went on for The Gift there's still a good chance that this is the foiler to end all foilers (er - literally) and if that's the case then fine. But if it proves to be true I'm not going to sit here and scream it's a total rape of everything the series has stood for, because "Taking huge losses while continuing to fight the good fight" has been the mission statement since day one.
Now all we gotta do is hope that it isn't handled like yet another Hole in the World, because then I'll be screaming bloody murder.
First reaction? We're missing scenes. Not much, not anything that will fundamentally change the plotlines, but tiny, quick things a la the real ending of You're Welcome which help to put what seems jarring into perspective.
Second reaction is the usual "Wah! Can't believe it's ending! Where's the gay kiss you bastards?" etc type anger/denial.
And now I'm back onto zen.
I've seen some people reacting by basically throwing stuff and saying Joss is saying a big fuck-you to the fans and I get that and all but... part of me wonders what show they signed up for? Yeah, we loves us some Wes. And some Gunn. And some Lindsey. You know a few years ago people wanted Buffy and Angel to get married too. Doesn't work like that.
Angel's a dark show and in a show where Angel has to slit the throat of his own son how have we not learned that nothing is sacred around here? Doing some bruce, Anya-esque casualty of the final battle would've been an insult to everything the universe stood for. What? Was Harmony supposed to be the token death? Maybe Lorne? Where's the drama? Where's the impact? Yeah, we like them, but not as much as we like the other guys.
Now, granted, I'm the first to call bullshit on Joss's oh so transparent "I killed them because you liked them" thing, which is why I wasn't particularly impressed by him killing that SiT in the Buffy finale that we all only liked because she was in Freaks and Geeks. That was cheating, and being lazy. But we do geniunely like Wes and the boys, and everything about the characters leading up to that moment says this is something that they were headed for. Wes especially. The boy's been yanked into the path of death every season he's been on the show - and he accepts that gladly for the cause. If you think Wes would rather say sod this for a game of soldiers and retire rather than give out his last ounce of strength in the middle of battle you have seriously not been paying attention to anything that boy's done since Angel turned his pretty head around back in season one.
So no, nobody gets a free pass just because we like them. That's what happened over on Buffy - Giles anyone? - and it was stupid, and lame, and it sucked. I love my dead gay show. I don't want it to suck.
(Small addendum to this thought: Part of me wonders if people are especially pissed off because the boys die yet Illyria lives to the final scene, which puts her on the level of Spike and Angel. Granted if she's a powerful demon it makes sense that they'd try to use her in the fight, but at the same time I think we all know this is still more of Joss's adoration of Amy and all she stands for, which means her Mary Sue ass gets to help save the day while the boys suffer on the side. In other words she is considered sacred. Which, yeah, is totally bruce and I'm right there with you on the suckage of that.)
Plus? Also? You're going to stop writing fic if the boys die? Because... they were having all that gay sex you were writing for them before the onscreen deaths? Dudes, it's fiction. Haul ass over to TPM fandom, learn some lessons, and come back to us. We can make the letters say whatever we want them to, and in this universe of all universes how the hell is death ever final? And is that cliffhanger seriously not giving you enough tools to work with? Is it that damn hard to say "They defeat the Senior Partners and everything gets reset to the way I like it"?
Yeah, sure, it's sad and it seems a little random and given the foiler campaign that went on for The Gift there's still a good chance that this is the foiler to end all foilers (er - literally) and if that's the case then fine. But if it proves to be true I'm not going to sit here and scream it's a total rape of everything the series has stood for, because "Taking huge losses while continuing to fight the good fight" has been the mission statement since day one.
Now all we gotta do is hope that it isn't handled like yet another Hole in the World, because then I'll be screaming bloody murder.
