joss whedon: still good at breaking my heart

[rivendellrose]

Even if I don't always like the things he does, Joss Whedon is still good at breaking my heart. After watching most of Doctor Who season 3 with nightsinger, darthparadox, tavern_wench1, and The Boy, yesterday, K and I took a little bit of time this evening (since we were both sleepy but not enough to go to bed yet) to watch an episode of Angel....



Okay, I'm bad with spoilers, so I knew that Fred was going to get taken over by Illyria, and I knew that it was going to be in this episode, because, hell, even if I hadn't noticed Illyria in the episode title-screen and even if I was totally brainless and couldn't see that this episode title had Bad Things written all over it, then the end of "Smile Time" would have been enough for me to know, by Joss-logic, that Fred and Wesley were immediately to be doomed. But... seriously? Nox? I mean, I hated him to begin with, but I thought that was because I like Wesley (as I have learned recently, if I am removed from exposure to Giles, I apparently default to Wesley as the next cute, emotionally-broken, slightly dangerous and intellectual Watcher-boy, and have thus become extremely attached to him as we watch the show). And, also, I figured I inherently mistrusted him on the basis of him being, as far as I'm concerned, Tracy-from-Firefly. But seriously, he's evil? Okay, then... And then Gunn beats the crap out of him with a fire extinguisher. Ooookay. After being beaten up, himself, by... himself. Granted, the scary "Conduit to the Senior Partners" version of himself, but... sheesh. And Wesley is soooo broken, and would it kill Joss, just once, not to break my favorite character by killing off their romantic interest in creative and horrible ways? First Zoe, then Giles, then Wes. Not only does he break my favorites (he does that to everybody), but he breaks them in a very specific pattern. Kind of makes me wonder what pattern it is that I'm falling for that makes Joss go "hey, let's make this one the one that love kicks repeatedly in the nuts until they can't breathe anymore!" Metaphorically speaking, that is, being that one of the times it was Zoe.

It occurs to me to add that it is Not Like Joss to take an entire episode to kill someone. Usually, he does it quickly. Is it different if the person is going to continue to be around - is that what makes the difference in his mind? "Well, she'll still be around for the rest of the series, so I might as well take the whole episode and make her (and everyone else, especially the guy who loves her) go through agony before she dies because... well, why the hell not?"

Furthermore, I would like to note that as much as I want to like Fred, because she really is pretty and funny and extremely smart and a scientist and all that... I've had a bit of a hard time. I cannot decide if this is because I resent the Scientist Girl still wearing high heels all the time, or if it's because I resent her being the damsel all the time, or if it's because... I don't know. I like her, I just don't... I don't know, identify with her as much as I'd like to? I don't know.

Um. Also, apparently, I've read "A Little Princess" so damned many times that Wesley hadn't even got a fourth of the way through reading a (relatively innocuous) sentence of it to Fred while she was sick before I went "oh, he's reading "A Little Princess!" I love that book!" ....Because, yes, I'm a girly girl every now and then, and I love my Victorian children's literature. Still, I had no idea I was that close to having memorized it... although now that I think about it, I haven't read it in something like four years and can still pretty much perfectly recall it, so... yeah. Heh. Go figure.

Now, I'm going to go and be sad for poor Wesley (...and possibly for Fred, once I get around to it, maybe...). And also sleep.

In happy (non-TV) news, The Boy and I volunteered for the KUOW pledge-drive today, and it went very well. We got a little studio tour, and chatted with my friends from the atheist group, and I got to take a call from one of my old college professors, which was fabulously awesome, even if I did go ever-so-slightly fangirly. And then we walked around a lot, because it was sunny. ♥

Comments

[ruuger]

Poor Wesley :( I would like to say that things get better for him before the end, but...

I have the same problem with Fred as you do. I want to like her, but somehow just... can't. Though I admit that part of it might be just because there seems to be a lot of hate for Buffy and/or Spike in the Fred-fan circles thanks to her relationship with Spike ("OMG Buffy is such a bitch compared to Fred" vs. "Ewww! Joss got Spike-cooties my AtS"). But I don't know, I haven't really like any of Joss' sweet geeky girls as much as the rest of fandom.

I didn't like how Fred's death was handled at all, though. I thought it was overly melodramatic, and the "her boys set out to save her as he wastes away" just rubbed me the wrong way. Plus there is the whole "Torture is a-okay if you're torturing a bad guy" thing and I think that it was OOC Spike to want to bring Fred back seeing that he was against bringing Buffy back from heaven, and you know, I seem to have more problems with this episode that I remembered ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Your point about Spike is really interesting - I'm pretty much coming in blind to the whole of "Angel," and it honestly never occurred to me that people might not have been happy when Spike showed up on the new series! Personally, I thought his relationship with Fred was very true to Spike's character - it reminded me a lot of the way he acted with Dawn, Tara, and Anya, actually. Affectionate, teasing, a bit flirty, but in the end very much almost big-brother-ish. I thought it was very cute. Then again, I'm a hopeless Spike fan. ;)

Good point about the general theme of the sweet-geeky-girls in Joss Whedon's stuff - I guess in the end I feel about the same about Fred as I do with Kaylee on Firefly - I like her, but I don't really identify with her at all. I'm not enough sweetness-and-light to really 'get' characters like that, maybe.

...And if we're counting Penny from "Doctor Horrible" in that category, that goes even further. I really disliked that character.

With you on the waiting while the boys ran out to save her (bleh - what ever happened to girls who could save themselves, Joss?). As for the torture thing... it's interesting. One of the things I've been trying to figure out about "Angel" is to what extent the show is condoning torture (or siding with the baddies, selling out, etc), and how much it's trying to show the slippery slope there and how it doesn't really work out in the end. I guess I might have more to say about that once I've finished the series. I'm interested (if scared) to see how it all turns out.

[ruuger]

it honestly never occurred to me that people might not have been happy when Spike showed up on the new series!

Oh, there's plenty of people who think that Spike Ruined Everything, be it because he stole the show from the Core Four or because of Buffy/Spike. There are even people who claim that Angel was cancelled because of Spike (this even though it is a well-known fact that AtS would probably not have had S5 if Joss & co would not have managed to get James Marsters onboard to boost the ratings). In certain parts of the fandom, Marsters gets blamed for everything from destroying network television to global warming ;)

what ever happened to girls who could save themselves, Joss?

As much as I love the show, Joss really screwed up re: female characters in AtS. Every single female character of note in the show was either killed, turned evil, or simply forgotten (Kate and Gwen, anyone?). It doesn't look good when the only woman still standing by the end is Illyria who calls herself a Godking.

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

That whole ep made me cry. Amy Acker did a wonderful job, I think. ;o;

And then she gets to have fun being Illyria. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

She did a fabulous job, definitely. I can't wait to see how she handles Illyria - I've been impressed by her acting so far, so a totally different new character will be a really fun challenge to see her work through, I think!

[jfrog78.livejournal.com]

Oh my as much as buffy was a great show. I think Angel was better for the shear fact that there were so many characters that made me identify with them only to have something either terrible happen to them or someone close to them.

This episode was very sad. And now I want to watch some angel.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I think I still love them both equally, but for totally different reasons, if that makes sense? "Angel" sometimes annoys me by reverting to the 'assumed' pattern of a bunch of male characters with one token woman, rescuing the (all-too-often female) victims. This last season seems to be particularly rife with that - having Fred, Harmony, and Eve around as the only women is really hurting my impression of the show. That said, I do adore that the show is more morally ambiguous than Buffy, more mature in its handling of issues (because, hey, the characters are older!). I definitely like that about it.

[jfrog78.livejournal.com]

Yeah it was a little different when Cordelia was on. I do miss Cordelia. Which when watching Buffy I thought I would never say that phrase.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know! I honestly didn't like Angel, Cordelia, or Wesley all that much on Buffy... actually, if you want the truth, I downright hated Wesley, even. But "Angel" took those three and somehow turned them into characters I really do love. Very impressive.