"Whoa, Ty. That was like, way harsh".
Anyway, I pretty much feel like Cher after she failed her road test, nearly lost her guy, and got dissed by the new girl. Except with different circumstances of course.
In other news, let's take a moment to give thanks for television and the genius that is Joss Whedon for bringing us seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't think I could've appreciated its brilliance in high school, nor could I have picked up on the colorful euphemisms.
When I did rediscover it again maybe some time a year ago, they were showing reruns on a channel I can't remember. It was the "Passion" episode from Season 2 otherwise known as "The episode when we realize Angel is truly evil". Here's a quick back story: Buffy is a vampire slayer who falls in love with the vampire, Angel in Season 1. Angel is this broody schmuck that follows her around and I guess, occasionally protects her and whatever. For whatever reason, she loves him. But he's not like ordinary vampires. He's got... (wait for it)... a soul! Apparently, he was a big shot serial killer vampire back in the olden days, but he got into trouble after slaughtering a band of gypsies, and got cursed with a soul by the vengeful surviving few. His soul makes him feel unbearable guilt over his past wrongs, returns him with human feelings of compassion and desire for redemption though physically he is still one of the undead, can't be in sunlight, craves blood, fangs out on occasion, and has super vampire strength. So he assigned himself to a life of redemption, one of which included assisting Buffy in slaying demons and vampires. However, should he ever feel true happiness, the curse would be revoked, and the evil vampire, Angelus would rise again. Which was what happened when Angel and Buffy slept together. Now, Angel is all mad because Buffy made him feel human things like love, and so he wants to kill her. But as a master torturer, he doesn't want a quick kill. He likes to prolong it, breed fear, and emotionally fuck with the slayer.
What's really admirable for one, is that despite the fantastical nature of a world filled with vampires, demons, hellmouths and ill-advised witchcraft, the realistic development of the characters' individual emotional and mental states are utterly believable. Technically, Buffy was 15 or 16 when she had sex together for the first time, with a 150 year old ex-evil vampire no less. And it's been addressed that it is absolutely heartbreaking to know that your first time also coincided with the de-souling of your vampire boyfriend. The volatility of growing older, acknowledging one's sexuality, and opening oneself up to giving and receiving it. The tension within Buffy's reluctance to reveal the very "trigger" for Angel's return to evil, despite unconsciously insensitive prodding by father figure watcher, Giles, is reminiscent of how a lot of young women grow into their sexual identity--witnessing rejection (from her lover), interrogation (by father or mother figures) and despair (the magic of the act dissipated upon the partner's betrayal).
"Passion" is a special episode because up till then, Angel was not responsible for any significant deaths. However, Angel's opening and closing monologues mark the episode with their eerie eloquence and truth. The terrifying aspect of Angel is in the way he is able to commit atrocious acts with level-headedness and absolute bliss through the prolonging of his victims' pains. Knowing that Buffy still loved a part of him, he tortures her through identifying her weaknesses--her family and friends.
When teacher and ally, Jenny Calendar attempted to re-soul Angel through translating ancient texts that contain the ritual used many years before, she met her death at his hands. Not only did he destroy all the computer equipment in which the files for the translations were contained, but the dramatic drop of the floppy disc (the last remaining documents of the translated ritual) between the cracks of the desk is an acknowledgment that the benevolent, adoring Angel that we knew is gone. Later on, he proceeds to agonize Giles through playing on his budding romance with Jenny. Letting him believe that Jenny has planned a romantic evening for him at his home, Giles goes up a staircase lined with tea light candles and rose petals, expecting to find his beloved waiting for him. Sure enough, she is lying on the bed, but with her neck in a contorted position, obviously callously snapped, her eyes open and staring up at the ceiling.
Then, we see a version of Giles we've never seen before. Wild-eyed, vengeful, irrational, enraged, and ready to die in order to deliver justice to his slain lover, he charges into the warehouse where Angel and co. are camped, and proceeds to set the whole place (and them) on fire. Buffy arrives in time to save Giles, but the vampires narrowly escape. Outside the warehouse, Giles screams agonizingly, "Why'd you come here? This isn't your fight". This, coming from a man who has always advised Buffy to think rationally, to disallow her emotions from blurring her judgment in a fight. She punches him, and says, "You can't leave me, I can't do this alone". More than once, Giles has proved himself to be a surrogate father type for Buffy in her birth father's absence, but this relationship is unique in that while Giles may exert paternal instincts, he is openly capable of acting with flaw, and appropriately allows Buffy to call him out on it.
What a complex human interplay of relationships, right? Let us now tackle the whole notion of vampire = evil. Buffy's duties are entirely founded on this principle. But the whole idea of human versus vampire is a dichotomy that's always blurred, as evident through Angel's ensouled self and even in the tender though bizarre coupling of vampires Drusilla and Spike. It is not then, that vampires are incapable of what is deemed natural human instincts, but that they are a transcended form of human in which the product of being undead contorts former embodiments of the self into a new state of being which may or may not have much to do with who the vampire is in their former life. Though the whole, "Well, I'm a vampire now so I'm going to kill you because I'm evil" is a point of humor used throughout the series, the further development of principle vampire characters reveal that the whole being "evil" is not always so clear cut. As the character, Dawn pointed out in Season 7, throughout Buffy's brief romance with Spike, he's loved her and hurt her, and yet, in the end, she still allows him into her home and her fight. Buffy's excuse that he has a soul now does not rest with Dawn as she argues that Xander, who does have a soul, still did the shitty thing of leaving Anya at the altar... which lends the question: Then, what is evil and what is good? And what makes humans exempt from scrutiny over their violent behavior? If Buffy should ever weigh in on this, then would that trivialize the nature of her duties?
On a final note, another reason to watch Buffy: lesbians.
When I did rediscover it again maybe some time a year ago, they were showing reruns on a channel I can't remember. It was the "Passion" episode from Season 2 otherwise known as "The episode when we realize Angel is truly evil". Here's a quick back story: Buffy is a vampire slayer who falls in love with the vampire, Angel in Season 1. Angel is this broody schmuck that follows her around and I guess, occasionally protects her and whatever. For whatever reason, she loves him. But he's not like ordinary vampires. He's got... (wait for it)... a soul! Apparently, he was a big shot serial killer vampire back in the olden days, but he got into trouble after slaughtering a band of gypsies, and got cursed with a soul by the vengeful surviving few. His soul makes him feel unbearable guilt over his past wrongs, returns him with human feelings of compassion and desire for redemption though physically he is still one of the undead, can't be in sunlight, craves blood, fangs out on occasion, and has super vampire strength. So he assigned himself to a life of redemption, one of which included assisting Buffy in slaying demons and vampires. However, should he ever feel true happiness, the curse would be revoked, and the evil vampire, Angelus would rise again. Which was what happened when Angel and Buffy slept together. Now, Angel is all mad because Buffy made him feel human things like love, and so he wants to kill her. But as a master torturer, he doesn't want a quick kill. He likes to prolong it, breed fear, and emotionally fuck with the slayer.
What's really admirable for one, is that despite the fantastical nature of a world filled with vampires, demons, hellmouths and ill-advised witchcraft, the realistic development of the characters' individual emotional and mental states are utterly believable. Technically, Buffy was 15 or 16 when she had sex together for the first time, with a 150 year old ex-evil vampire no less. And it's been addressed that it is absolutely heartbreaking to know that your first time also coincided with the de-souling of your vampire boyfriend. The volatility of growing older, acknowledging one's sexuality, and opening oneself up to giving and receiving it. The tension within Buffy's reluctance to reveal the very "trigger" for Angel's return to evil, despite unconsciously insensitive prodding by father figure watcher, Giles, is reminiscent of how a lot of young women grow into their sexual identity--witnessing rejection (from her lover), interrogation (by father or mother figures) and despair (the magic of the act dissipated upon the partner's betrayal).
"Passion" is a special episode because up till then, Angel was not responsible for any significant deaths. However, Angel's opening and closing monologues mark the episode with their eerie eloquence and truth. The terrifying aspect of Angel is in the way he is able to commit atrocious acts with level-headedness and absolute bliss through the prolonging of his victims' pains. Knowing that Buffy still loved a part of him, he tortures her through identifying her weaknesses--her family and friends.
When teacher and ally, Jenny Calendar attempted to re-soul Angel through translating ancient texts that contain the ritual used many years before, she met her death at his hands. Not only did he destroy all the computer equipment in which the files for the translations were contained, but the dramatic drop of the floppy disc (the last remaining documents of the translated ritual) between the cracks of the desk is an acknowledgment that the benevolent, adoring Angel that we knew is gone. Later on, he proceeds to agonize Giles through playing on his budding romance with Jenny. Letting him believe that Jenny has planned a romantic evening for him at his home, Giles goes up a staircase lined with tea light candles and rose petals, expecting to find his beloved waiting for him. Sure enough, she is lying on the bed, but with her neck in a contorted position, obviously callously snapped, her eyes open and staring up at the ceiling.
Then, we see a version of Giles we've never seen before. Wild-eyed, vengeful, irrational, enraged, and ready to die in order to deliver justice to his slain lover, he charges into the warehouse where Angel and co. are camped, and proceeds to set the whole place (and them) on fire. Buffy arrives in time to save Giles, but the vampires narrowly escape. Outside the warehouse, Giles screams agonizingly, "Why'd you come here? This isn't your fight". This, coming from a man who has always advised Buffy to think rationally, to disallow her emotions from blurring her judgment in a fight. She punches him, and says, "You can't leave me, I can't do this alone". More than once, Giles has proved himself to be a surrogate father type for Buffy in her birth father's absence, but this relationship is unique in that while Giles may exert paternal instincts, he is openly capable of acting with flaw, and appropriately allows Buffy to call him out on it.
What a complex human interplay of relationships, right? Let us now tackle the whole notion of vampire = evil. Buffy's duties are entirely founded on this principle. But the whole idea of human versus vampire is a dichotomy that's always blurred, as evident through Angel's ensouled self and even in the tender though bizarre coupling of vampires Drusilla and Spike. It is not then, that vampires are incapable of what is deemed natural human instincts, but that they are a transcended form of human in which the product of being undead contorts former embodiments of the self into a new state of being which may or may not have much to do with who the vampire is in their former life. Though the whole, "Well, I'm a vampire now so I'm going to kill you because I'm evil" is a point of humor used throughout the series, the further development of principle vampire characters reveal that the whole being "evil" is not always so clear cut. As the character, Dawn pointed out in Season 7, throughout Buffy's brief romance with Spike, he's loved her and hurt her, and yet, in the end, she still allows him into her home and her fight. Buffy's excuse that he has a soul now does not rest with Dawn as she argues that Xander, who does have a soul, still did the shitty thing of leaving Anya at the altar... which lends the question: Then, what is evil and what is good? And what makes humans exempt from scrutiny over their violent behavior? If Buffy should ever weigh in on this, then would that trivialize the nature of her duties?
On a final note, another reason to watch Buffy: lesbians.
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