interesting review

[timepiececlock]

I read another review of the Buffy finale:
http://www.stakeme.com/episodes/episode_722.html

I don't agree with a lot of it, but some of the comments about Spike's sacrifice I found thought-provoking:

As a nifty side effect, Angel, the original souled vampire seeking redemption, suddenly gains new resonance. If Spike, whose simple goals of wanting to love and be loved led him to "follow his blood" into a state of selfless grace that Angel, who has been intentionally looking for redemption all along, has yet to reach.... what does that say about the entire idea of redemption? That Angel himself provided the fateful talisman only amplifies this question, and gives food for thought until the next season of Angel's own show, in which we're already being told that Spike will reappear. Is fate playing a cruel trick, or is Angel, the much-lauded vampire of prophecy, not really so special after all?

The point of Angel, who seeks redemption but has yet to find it, indirectly _providing_ the tool by which his protege (because that's what Spike is, in a way) achieves his final redemption, hasn't really occurred to me. I guess that would have interesting philosophical implications.

Comments

[caille.livejournal.com]

Ooh. This made me think of Dawn. On a certain level, neither she nor any of us was really prepared for the concept that her Keyness would expire. And maybe it hasn't. But when she briefly thought she might be a Potential...and then understood even before it was clearly meant to be Amanda, and not Dawn...that was an exquisite, almost transparent moment. Dawn's gift to the world is not to save it (or die trying) but to help out whenever she can. It's to be Watcher Junior, to struggle through ancient texts, to do what she's asked. For all her ups and downs, Dawn accepted her fate with grace. (This was confirmed for me when she yelled out, "There's a Turkish translation? Okay. Never mind. I'm over it.")

How does this relate to Angel? I'm not sure it does, but somehow it feels like it could. It's a matter of how an individual reacts when he or she gets a glimpse of destiny, and it's totally different from everything the signs had pointed to. Like, can you live with the idea that your destiny is to hand the prize to someone else, or to step out of the way, or even to deliberately do nothing?

Poor Angel keeps thinking he's breaking through the hard, painful lessons and that when he arrives at his final moment as champion, he'll get to some kind of peace or fulfillment, or understanding. Because it makes sense, right? That's how a decent universe should work. But there's always another impediment, which has got to make him wonder, at some point, whether disappointment, confusion, and chaos is his destiny, and whether he won't even have the grace of being allowed to die heroically.

Poor li'l table lamp. I'm feeling very tender towards him.