Angel, season 3, part deux (The Wesley Chronicles)

[thebratqueen]

eternaltimtams did a post about Angel season 3 which brought up some valid issues about Wesley's story arc that I thought deserved a more in-depth reply.

So, then, my reply to that plus hopefully more insight for those who said they didn't like Wesley's story arc this year.



I agree with your point about Wesley hitting Lorne. This is again one of the things that drives me nuts about Sleep Tight and, in fact, all the David G eps besides Heartthrob. He wrote everyone extremely out of character. It pulled my suspension of disbelief way too much to have Wes singing in front of Lorne in the first place but then to have Wes attack him, and then even later have Lorne be able to see Wes visiting Holtz but not the reason why was ridiculous and obvious and blatant plot manipulation.

I can see your point about the way Wesley acted to Gunn and Fred but don't agree with it because I read those scenes differently. (Obviously not saying I'm right and you're wrong, just showing my POV). Yes, when Wes found out about Gunn and Fred he was a bit passive agressive and snippy about it, but beyond that he didn't do anything that was inappropriate. Gunn and Fred were screwing up and screwing around on the job - as boss Wes had to put a stop to that, and him being firm on that kind of thing goes right back to That Old Gang of Mine. Wes sees his job as leader as the one to keep the team on the course. Fred and Gunn were straying from the course.

To me it's significant that for all that Fred and Gunn bitched about "Wesley! Is keeping! Us! Apart!" they were doing it together in scenes that immediately followed the two of them teaming up, Wes glaring at them, but then saying "Okay." That's a seriously roundabout way for Wes to be trying to ruin their relationship. Surely if he wanted to keep them apart he'd, you know, keep them apart. "Gunn, you go look into the vampire nest, Fred I need you here to research the thingamabob."

Other than that what did Wesley bitch about? Their use of the company cellphones for schmoopy conversations - which was admittedly a little tight assed of him but OTOH we also know the company doesn't have a lot of cash and cellphone bills can be hella expensive if you go over your limit - and Fred making the HUGELY inappropriate suggestion that Wes try to mack on a woman who was A) a client and B) as far as they knew still suffering from the loss of her child. Again to me it's telling that at no point did Wesley ever tell Fred and Gunn to stop seeing each other. Wesley told Fred, quite rightly, that it was inappropriate to think of mixing work and romance in the way that she was suggesting. Fred then skipped off to pout at Gunn, play a game of "I know something you don't know" and then very inaccurately said that Wesley! Is Trying! To Keep! Us! Apart!

I'm not saying that Wes's actions weren't in part motivated by his hurt and jealousy, I'm just saying I think the actual result of that hurt and jealousy was him turning into a more snippy leader with the two of them and less a comfy, easygoing friend. Fred and Gunn, for reasons unknown to man, took that as Wesley! Is Keeping! Us... well you get it.

But honestly I can only defend the Wes/Gunn/Fred triangle so much because honestly I think the whole thing was hot ass. I didn't buy Wes loving Fred that much (again - if he did he would have, according to the show, fallen for her while she was still traumatized and insane - what what whaaaat?), I didn't buy Wes not picking up on Gunn's feelings when Gunn said them in front of Wes multiple times (and vice versa), I didn't buy the sudden dissolving of Wes and Gunn's friendship and none of the aftermath (including the Wesley! Is!...) really made sense and was in any way organic to the characters. Yes I can come in after the fact and point out a little connection here and a little connection there, but beyond that it's one whole craptacular mess. As I mentioned in my season 3 review, many things were written backwards this season and I think the W/G/F triangle was at least eight of them.

So when I look at the Wes storyarc and say that I like it, what I mean is that I'm shoving the sheer stupidity that is Wes/Fred to the side and instead focusing on the Wes/Connor/Angel (there's a plot bunny) aspect of it. And to that end I think Wes was very in character.

Going back to season 3 Buffy we see right from the start that Wes first and foremost always has his eyes on the ultimate good. This persisted throughout Angel. "Don't let the capture of Willow distract you from the Mayor" is much the same as "Don't let Darla distract you from your goals."

Wes was a Watcher. Wes was, apparently, a very devoted Watcher. Moreso than even Giles. Tight-assed as first season Giles was we never saw him trying to get Buffy to tow the line by flashing her Watcher hand signals and assuming she'd know what they meant.

Giles, esp in the Gift, shows us that one of the things that Watchers are supposed to do (whether or not the Council itself manages it) is take the hard hits to make sure the world is safe. Giles killed Ben to get rid of Glory. Wes kidnapped Connor to save both Connor and Angel.

"The needs of the many" and "The ends justify the means" has, again, always been a trait of Wesley's. He was willing to sacrifice Willow if that's what it took. He happily tortured a man to save Angel in season 1. He sent rebels in Pylea to get killed in order to win the rebellion in season 2. I'm not saying this is necessarily his most admirable character trait, but it is a character trait. Yes, he's got a big heart and would go far to help or save his friends (taking the bullet for Gunn and damn near all the things he's ever done on Angel's behalf go far to show this), but one of the most dangerous things in the world is a person who's convinced that he's right and therefore anything he does is automatically justified no matter where it falls on the actual scale of good and evil.

Wes has also shown us that where Angel is concerned he's willing to go particular lengths that betray even his previous dogmatic convictions. I think here the best examples are in season 1 - again the hurting of humans to save Angel, the vampire, and more telling even still his willingness to kill Faith, a Slayer for all that she'd gone bad. (Yes, her torture of him undoubtedly factored into Wes's desires there but that again just goes to prove my point that not all of Wes's impulses are pure ones.)

We've also seen that Wes is the kind of leader where he decides, you follow. You're welcome to disagree, but follow or get out of the way. This esp came up in the Pylea arc when Gunn raised his objection to Wesley's plan. It came up again in That Old Gang of Mine. I personally think it's a shame that they didn't continue exploring the friend/leader/belief conflicts between Wes and Gunn as a way to drive the two of them apart and instead forced the W/G/F storyline on them as a way of doing it instead, but at least it laid the groundwork.

Wes, then, is not going to apologize for his decisions, and he's going to make his decisions based on what he thinks is best. We had 3 years to show us this lead-up. His actions from Couplet to Sleep Tight are, then, no surprise.

It's also key to remember that Waiting In the Wings -> Sleep Tight is a constant storyline. Each episode picks up within minutes or hours of the other. This factors in to the argument of "Why didn't Welsey tell anybody????" Wes didn't actually have this secret for very long. Being extremely generous with the downtime we can say that it maybe was a week. So it's not as though Wes secretly plotted for months to keep this from the rest of the team.

Also note that Wes did try to tell Angel. On a few occasions he tries to pull Angel aside and say that they need to talk about the prophecies again. Wesley stops this once he gets his "the father will kill the son" translation, but only to try everything he can to disprove it. Once he can't disprove it he goes to tell Angel.

To be fair, though, this wasn't very clear on the screen. You can kind of guess it from Wes's actions at the end of Loyalty but IMO they could have made that motivation a lot clearer since it's such a key point to Wes's actions - and the thing that many people hang him with. Many people think he was never going to tell. He actually was, but you only know that for certain if you get your hands on the shooting script.

Wes doesn't tell though, and it's hard to say if that's entirely due to his laughing realization that "stupid people talking to hamburgers is funny" but it's definitely influenced by the fact that right in front of his eyes the prophecy came true. As far as Wes could tell, Angel was going to hurt Connor. This now locks Angel out of the loop because if Wes has a chance of saving Connor it's only going to happen if he's got the element of surprise on his side.

I will hold Wes accountable for not telling the others. I can see why he made the decision in the same way I can understand his decision not to give up the Box of Gavrok to save Willow - that doesn't mean I necessarily agree with it. If nothing else what I don't see is why, out of all the oracles and prophecies he used to disprove "The father will kill the son" he didn't talk to Lorne. It makes absolutely no sense and again I blame David G for that since it was his episode that was quite possibly the worst use of Lorne as a plot device and not a character.

So Wesley took Connor to save him. We don't know what he intended to do at the end of his drive. Maybe he would have raised Connor as his own, maybe he would have called LA from London and told them that the kid was safe but they needed to figure out how to prevent Angel from killing him. We may never know. But his motivations were good, even if his actions were misguided. And again however misguided his actions were, they make sense given his past behaviors and given what we saw on the screen.

After the fact things get tricky. I liked Wes. I liked him being hurt. I disagree with eternaltimtams's point that Wes didn't feel guilty. I think he did feel guilty. I don't read him being miserable in his apt as solely being "oh poor me". I think his life went to shit in every way possible and part of that way was the fact that the thing he did to try to do good blew up in his face and became absolutely the worst thing he could have done.

And I don't disagree with how he treated the others. Angel tried to kill him. They sided with Angel. That's a fairly open and shut case of ending a friendship if you ask me. It does take balls the side of Alpha Centuri for Gunn to come by Wesley's place and basically say "Yeah I'm on the side of the guy who tried to kill you but do me a favor anyway?" Wes would've been well within his rights to tell Gunn to go fuck himself. Instead Wesley helps. Yes, "because it's Fred" which sadly again brings in that stupid triangle, but point is he still has a little caring in him.

I also got the feeling - granted this is from very few lines since Alexis didn't get much screentime after Sleep Tight - that it wasn't so much that Wes wanted instant forgiveness from the others as he just wanted a chance to explain himself. They wouldn't even grant him that, they were apparently okay with the idea of him being murdered as punishment - I think Wes is entitled to be a smidge resentful.

So as the season winds down Wes is broken, bitter and betrayed - not just by his friends but by himself. It makes sense to me, then, that he'd be introspective and liable to do things with Lilah that the "good" Wes might not have. Esp since, as Billy showed us, "bad" Wes isn't that far from the surface anyway (just like Angel and Angelus).

What I don't agree with was how they had the AI gang reacting to Wesley. Siding with a murderous Angel makes no sense. Finding out that Wes was trying to save Connor yet apparently not caring makes no sense. Treating Wesley as though it was his goal to send Connor to Quor-Toth makes no sense. Acting as though Wes and Holtz were best buddies in cahoots to throw Angel over makes no sense. It all makes no sense. So in that aspect I will agree that the Wesley storyline - well - made no sense. But that's in how the characters reacted to it, not in what Wesley did himself.

I guess what I'm then saying is that in and of himself I agree with the storyline for Wesley. It's just when those pesky other characters - who were all written so out of character - get in the way that it becomes horrible. But the development of Wes's character, other than his supposed devotion to Fred, worked for me.

Edited to change a sentence for clarity