Not Fade Away

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Yesterday I posted about series finales, and I wanted to talk more about AtS. I know a lot of people dislike "Not Fade Away" because it's a cliffhanger, or because of some of the things Angel did, but that's not the problem I have with it.

From a metaphorical perspective, I think the ending is incredibly fitting, and in comparison with "Chosen," it perfectly illustrates the difference between BtVS and AtS. BtVS was about winning, about defeating evil, and so it ends with a triumph over the First, the closing of the Hellmouth, and (as always) the saving of the world. Whereas AtS is about fighting, the never-ending struggle to do good in a world where evil is the status quo, so it's appropriate that the show goes out, not with a victory, but with its heroes charging into battle. And I don't have a problem with Angel being wrong or morally flawed because, quite honestly, he's always been like that. I don't mind my heroes a little dark. I don't even mind the implication that everybody's going to die. I just want their deaths to be meaningful.

And that's the problem.

Much like Buffy's battle strategy in "Chosen," Angel's plan is really DUMB. What exactly does he hope to accomplish? He wants to take out the Black Thorn in order to make a statement, to "bring their gears to a grinding halt, even if it's just for a moment" - but what about the next moment? The moment after that? Who will fight for humanity when all our champions are dead in an alley? And that's what bothers me, because Angel chose this moment. He wasn't in immediate peril.* He wasn't forced to act. He could've continued his fight from the inside. And sure, he's worried that he's not really doing good by running Wolfram & Hart, worried about being corrupted by its influence, but at least he'd be continuing to fight. It's what he does, what he's always done - to borrow from Starbuck, "Fight 'em until we can't."

This power play is pointless. It ultimately accomplishes nothing. Wolfram & Hart will recover. The Black Thorn will be replaced, and no one will care that Angel stopped them for one moment when the next moment they're back in power. Angel is sacrificing himself and his friends for a fruitless symbolic gesture.

IMO, it only works if there's some bigger picture, if the Powers That Be intend to use this vacuum to seize power away from the Senior Partners, if they intend to use this moment to create a systemic, lasting change. There's some suggestion that this is, in fact, the plan, since Angel got this brilliant idea from Cordy's vision. The Powers That Be wanted Angel to do this (unless he got the message wrong). But we never get to see what that plan is.

(ETA) The other alternative, as discussed in the comments, is that we accept that Angel's made a wrong decision, but we give him the chance to redeem himself. He's lost hope, and I understand that, but the only way it's satisfying to me is if we get to see him built back up again, if we get to see him come out of the despair that led to this decision, rather than ending Angel's story when he's at his lowest point.

And there is the irony inherent in AtS' series finale. Because although metaphorically it's the perfect ending, and any sort of continuation mars the imagery of the fight that never ends, in other ways it only works if there's a continuation, if we see that there was a reason for doing this, that their sacrifices weren't in vain.


*Actually, I think it would've made a much better ending if there WAS an immediate threat. If Angel and all his people's lives were in danger, and the only choice was to get out of Wolfram & Hart, but they knew they'd probably die anyway trying to escape, and so they decided to take the Black Thorn down with them.

Comments

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

oh angel... *sigh. shake of head* what am i going to do with you?
your plans are always so..... stupid. i love you really i do. your broody ways and huge forehead are very endearing but really????
i just... merrrrr.
so what your gonna all go on a suicide mission take out a small chunk of evil then die leaving the world without a champion?
REALLY? because to me that sounds like your quiting. your trying to make it look like your taking the heroes way out but your not. your just leaving. true you make a small dent when you go but in the long run it doesn't matter. even in the medium ish run it doesn't. now i can look at this plan and see two things happing. you guys take out the baddies and all go down swinging. then the senior partners start having open casting calls for the new and improved black thorn which could then be filled up with even bigger baddies and without a champion to save us the world slowly sinks into evil. oh whats that? you thought buffy and co . were gonna take over? now what on earth made you think buffy would be interested in fighting wolfram and hart? evil law firms aren't up her ally. she likes an evil she can actually take down. then theres the other outcome of .. no.. wait. yah i only see that happing.

and another thing so you destroyed the L.A branch. big whoop. wolfram and hart are a multi dimensional firm. why do you think you got the L.A branch to begin with? because it was to small to make an impact. it was just one small blip. sure to you it seemed big. its called big fish in a little pond syndrome. so lets break it down so you can understand angel cakes (and yes i will call you pastries if i want!).lets just look at the u.s . i'm going to assume theres several wolfram and hart's in the usa. why? because you have a branch in Rome. and i'm not deeply stupid. most big corporations have more then one place of business . (see i told you tiffany and co taught me stuff! ) especially hot shot law firms. so then you would most likely find ones in New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. Maybe Huston and Palm Beach. these are some of the biggest cites in the country. and with most big cites come rich people. ergo clients. now then that means there are AT LEAST about 5 other w&h's that you have no control over who plan to stay evil. notice that this does not include the other branches in Europe Asia or anywhere else. . we know for a fact there is one branch in Rome. which means theres mot likely branches in London, Paris, Brussels, Munich, Moscow/St. Petersburg and Madrid. these are some of the biggest cites in Europe. in Asia you most likely have a Beijing branch a Soul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong Branch. but i'm talking about stuff we dont need to get into.

the point is just in this dimension alone there are going to be a t least 16 other branches. all of which are deeply dedicated to evil. in fact the same could be said for the black thorn. you think only people in L.A want to bring about the Apocalypse? I dont think so. therefor your plan was worthless. you kjust got everyone you cared about killed for no real reason. if you wanted out of wolfram and hart you should have thought of something different . i'm sure you could have done something. you have shone that you can execute a plan. . next time let someone else make the plan. like.. wes or uh no... um gunn.. you know what? your gang sucks at making plans. if they're not stealing babies they're selling their soul for trucks and or killing college professors and we all know spike isnt patient enough to stick to a plan. . i guess next time your gonna have to go with illryia. she seems pretty smart. if slightly insane. no wait LORNE! let Lorne do the planning next time. i can assure you that you will end up singing show tunes and possibly wearing costumes. which i think is a lot better then what you had in mind.

[mikeda.livejournal.com]

From Angel's viewpoint, the choices were making a small dent or no dent at all.

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

true.. but he could have done something else. something that would insure a large dent over time.

[mikeda.livejournal.com]

He didn't see any way to make a larger dent.

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

this is why his planning sucks. i'm sure if he was smart enough to take out the black thorn then he could have found a way out. but thats just me.

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you think only people in L.A want to bring about the Apocalypse?

Well, Wolfram & Hart wasn't really interested in bringing about the apocalypse. They were perfectly happy with the status quo, where evil was thriving. They knew that inevitably apocalypses would come, and so they did their best to position themselves on the winning side (hence their interest in Angel), but they never actively tried to start one themselves.

That was the big difference between Buffy and Angel. Buffy is the one who stops the apocalypses. Angel had the occasional one, too (Jasmine), but mostly he just tries to help people who are suffering. Buffy saves the world. Angel saves souls. But somewhere along the way he seems to have forgotten that.

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

no i meant that there may be another incarnation of the black thorn elsewhere. their purpese is to bring about the Apocalypse. i know w&h is fine with the status quo. well they want to enhance evil and up their side insuring that they win. its not like they would switch sides if good held as much power as they did. eh. can you really call jasmine an apocalypse? really? she brought joy to the world. true it was a slave state world where some people got eaten but not really an apocalypse. its like when spike and angel were fighting over who's averted more apocalypses. he really only stopped the master. the mayor wasnt really an APOCALYPSE APOCALYPSE oh and the sisters of the jha he helped with that. in reality spikes stopped more. he helped buffy with glory and with the first evil. oh and those demons that were trying to reopen the hellmouth in s4. when he found out he could hurt demons. ... ok so he didn't really help so much as hinder but points for effort! and looking scary in xanders clothes!!! well i i guess their tied. because someone (angel) could argue he stopped acathla (Spike: Buffy ran you through with a sword. Angel: i made her do it. I signaled her... with my eyes.) so their even. i have no idea how i got on this tangent.

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no i meant that there may be another incarnation of the black thorn elsewhere. their purpese is to bring about the Apocalypse. i know w&h is fine with the status quo..

The Black Thorn are the Senior Partners' instruments on earth. They have the same goals as Wolfram & Hart. "These people grease the wheels, keep the parts in place. Make sure man's inhumanity to man keeps rolling along." Since the Senior Partners are in another dimension, the Black Thorn are the ones who keep an eye on things here.

Also, it seems pretty clear that the Black Thorn is the elitest of the demon elite, and therefore there isn't another group of demons as powerful as them anywhere else on earth. Though it's remarkably convenient that they all happen to be in LA...

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

ahhhh. i just thought they worked in tandem with w&h. were i dont know outside contractors? i didnt know they worked for them. i thought eve and the conduit were the senor partners instruments and whatever the guy who replaced eves name is. i'm drawing a blank... Hamilton.... Harvey? something with an h. i thought that w&h supported them gave them power (i refuse to believe the senator chick was more powerful then other demons. she needed w &h's help badly to get to that status. i mean she just had vamps as lackeys. and from what i know of the buffyverse demon hierarchy vamps are one step above humans. which is low. ) and i guess my way of thinking is that with w & h backing a new set of demon baddies they could over compensate and try to be even more evil then the old group was

yah that s one of the things that made me think maybe there were other branches or something. to have all that evil all in L.A..... it could be a coincidence but as buffy says "there are two things i dont believe in. coincidence and leprechauns."

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

also this is amazingly fun to talk about. i'm having a blast. it feeds my geeky theoretical soul

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Eve was called a "child of the Senior Partners." She's just a lackey, though; she doesn't have any real power.

i refuse to believe the senator chick was more powerful then other demons. she needed w &h's help badly to get to that status.

Angel says that together, the Black Thorn is the most powerful force on earth - but separately, they're just demons, which is why they're able to take them all out individually.

i guess my way of thinking is that with w & h backing a new set of demon baddies they could over compensate and try to be even more evil then the old group was

Oh, sure. I expect that the Senior Partners' first priority would be to replace the Black Thorn as soon as Angel and co. killed them.

it could be a coincidence but as buffy says "there are two things i dont believe in. coincidence and leprechauns."

Ah, but Buffy doesn't know she's on a TV show, where things happen "by coincidence" all the time when the writers can't come up with a better reason. :)

[gigi-tastic.livejournal.com]

w-w-what?! buffy isnt real?????? so does this mean shes wrong about the leprechauns?!?!?!? oh nos!! lols.

thanks for clearing stuff up for me! I've always wanted to know more about eve. she was interesting... they should have done more with her. last night i had the craziest dream of angel running around a library killing vamps with pencils. yes i felt that was important enough to share. commence mocking.