Meta: Angel in 'School Hard'.

[elisi]

So, I watched School Hard on Spike's birthday, and then (thank you molly_may for the link - I’ve read it before, but couldn’t remember where) read this very excellent review by Alira.

She’s rather scathing towards Angel, and towards the end has this to say (I’d question the ‘trustworthy’ part myself! *g*):

Buffy learns that Spike’s playful, resourceful, quippy, trustworthy, and very very good at fighting. That in his way, he's honourable. That he's easily bored and can't keep to a plan. That he's a good dancer. :)

What she doesn't learn is that Angel is basically useless. :)

Now is this true? Or rather - because Angel really isn’t very helpful at all - *why*? (Angel can be very useful indeed, we know that.) Alira seems to think that it’s because he doesn’t want to take responsibility for his part in creating Spike (and Dru), and that when he’s being less than truthful about Spike, it’s because he can’t see the other as anything except a mirror of himself - who he used to be. Now there is obviously a lot of truth in this, but I don’t think that it’s at the heart of Angel’s reasons to act the way he does.

*I* think it’s about family. Back in S1 we had Darla, and her determination to kill Buffy resulted in Angel killing her. An action that I think was very, very hard for him - remember he wanted her so much, he even tried to be with her after the soul. And now, in ‘School Hard’ he must feel the most horrible case of deja vu... because once again his family arrives in town.

But first of all - Buffy and Angel (quoting Alira again):

Buffy: "It was a 'maybe see ya there' kinda deal."
Angel: "You said you weren't sure if you were going."

I don't know. If this is a love of destiny, Angel's sure dragging his pre-destined feet.

Of course Angel is dragging his feet. Because Angel doesn’t have a clue. He knows that he loves Buffy, yes. But what are her feelings for him? What does she want? And should he even be there at all? Also of course he has great trouble deciphering her signals. The thing is, he hasn’t had 400 dates in his 200 years - he’s had Darla, Dru, and probably shared his bed with countless women... but he’s not been dating. So he’s unsure about Buffy. About himself and Buffy.

Now I’m going to very briefly jump to ‘Lie To Me’:

Angel: Do you love me?
Buffy: What?
Angel: Do you?
She takes a moment to consider her answer.
Buffy: I love you. I don't know if I trust you.
Angel: Maybe you shouldn't do either.

Now most people agree that this is very manipulative, which is of course true. But I suddenly saw this in a new light. Saw the reason behind the question - because it reminded me of this:

BUFFY: Not to me. Kill her, why do I care?
SPIKE: Here's why. If you don't admit ... that there's something there ... some tiny feeling for me ... then I'll untie Dru, let her kill you instead.
‘Crush’

Spike wanted to make sure that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. To know that Buffy understood the enormity of what he was prepared to do.

Now going back to Angel... Angel already sacrificed Darla, and by ‘Lie To Me’ he knows that he has to choose sides again - and he wants to make sure that it isn’t in vain. It might not be very noble, but it is understandable (Angel ain’t exactly a Champion yet - he’s very much in the process of evolving, of beginning to understand what it means to fight the good fight). Dru was the worst thing he ever did... and she was also his masterpiece. His Child(e). Destroying her would cost him enormously.

Dru loves him, he knows. She also trusts him not to hurt her. If he takes Buffy’s side - through and through - he knows that he will probably end up killing his own family. Again. His life would be so much simpler if neither girl loved him - and if he didn’t love them back. His default setting for the last century has been to run away... now he’s slowly learning to take a stand.

But... let’s get back to ‘School Hard’ - because then he was still sitting on the fence. Or trying to at least. (He likes those fences. Just look at AtS S5!)

First there is his very cryptic warning to Buffy:

Giles: Well, he can't be any worse than any other creature you've faced.
Angel: He's worse. Once he starts something he doesn't stop until everything in his path is dead.

Alira notices that this is not actually a very truthful portrait of Spike - and she’s right. So why does Angel speak as he does? I think he’s hoping to scare Buffy - to stop her going after Spike. He’s saying, in not so many words, “This guy is really dangerous. *I* think so. So stay away!”

Of course he then just leaves, since he doesn’t want to be quizzed about his motives.

To briefly jump ahead to the end: After Spike shows that he’s seen through Angel’s deception, Angel runs away. But - in doing so he gets all the minions to follow him and then proceeds to dust a fair number, before the last few run away. He leaves Buffy with Spike - alone. And although Spike is all for a fair fight, I doubt he’d have objected hugely to having a minion or two around to lend a hand. Angel evened the odds, whether by design or by fluke. And - avoided having to choose sides, the way he had to do when Darla fought Buffy.

But... to the main part between Spike and Angel: the meeting. Now, I don’t care that the submarine stuff in ‘Why We Fight’ was the stuff of gratuitous retcon... because what it does, is make sense of Angel’s plan. Why would Angel show up, pretending to be Angelus? Because he’d done so before - and it worked!

He arrived on the sub, and took charge. Two points:

1) He knew Spike was there:

Angel: It's OK, Lawson. I know what I'm up against. Don't open up this door for anything other than me.

2) He let Spike call him by his old name:

Spike: Angelus. They'll let anyone in here. [...] Angelus... this is Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies. Nostroyev, Prince of Lies, this is Angelus. (nods, grins) The Angelus.

Now there is the question of whether Spike knows about Angel’s soul. And having thought about it, I think he *does* know - Darla knew, and Dru probably sensed it. However, I don’t think he understood the implications. He knew it’d changed Angel somehow, but from their time together in China he knew that Angel was still killing people (even if they were only thieves and lowlives). And also that it’d made Angel into a reclusive. The fact that it might make Angel ‘good’ probably never occurred to Spike. I’m basing this on only a couple of lines, but note the word ‘still’:

SPIKE: You're still a dick.
ANGEL: Yeah. I am.
SPIKE: Bollocks.

Angel plays him very well onboard the sub, and his insistence on not eating the crew - because they need them to get back up - is a perfectly valid excuse. I know people say that Spike is being written as stupid in that ep, but I’m not so sure...

ANGEL: It was part of the mission.
SPIKE: What mission? Oh. I get it. You're playing both sides against each other.
ANGEL: Spike—
SPIKE: No, I respect that.

Is Spike wrong? [a discussion for another day, I know. But, by and large, Angel’s motives are to get the job done so he can get the hell out. Nothing noble about him at that point.]

Anyway, on the sub Angel takes charge, and Spike falls in line:

LAWSON: Yeah, that doesn't help me understand why we're working with him or keeping him alive, for that matter.
ANGEL: I got him under control.

LAWSON: We gonna have a situation, sir?
ANGEL: He'll do what I tell him.

(Also note that Angel does not kill Spike (or Lawson). They’re family.)

So, is it any wonder that Angel tries the same tactic again? It’s not particularly smart, true, but if it had worked he might have been able to keep Spike and Buffy apart (talk about a doomed project!) - to keep sitting on that fence, like he did on the sub. Maybe even send Spike away. We know that he tries to talk Dru into leaving in ‘Lie To Me’:

Angel: If you don't leave it'll go badly. For all of us.

Who does he mean by ‘us’? *ponders*

And we see that Angel tries to warn Spike off Buffy, just like the tried to warn Buffy off Spike:

Spike: So, why're you so scared of this Slayer?
Angel: Scared?
Spike: Yeah. Time was you would've taken her out in a heartbeat. Now look at you. I bet this, uh, tortured thing is an act, right? You're not... housebroken?
Angel: I saw her kill the Master. Hey, you think you can take her alone? Be my guest.

Message: “I *am* scared of her. So you should be too! Stay away!” (Of course she’s a *Slayer*, and Spike does have a bit of an obsession...)

But - there are of course a lot of factors against Angel in SH, more than just Spike’s obsession. In ‘Why We Fight’ they were both in a hostile environment, without any support, and didn’t know what each other had been up to. But in SH Spike has inside knowledge, since I’m sure he talked to The Anointed One/the minions and found out what Angel had been up to. And maybe Angel was just a tad too friendly... maybe not. They used to be friends after all... which I think is a point worth noting. Angel happily grabs Xander and uses him as bait (no love lost there) - never gets close to anyone really except Buffy... He will in fact not have a proper friend until Doyle shows up in AtS. Spike (apart from being family) is therefore probably the closest Angel has ever had to a friend (see Destiny and TGiQ).

All of which adds up to a lot of conflict and Angel-sitting-on-fences. And - because of that - being somewhat useless. ;)

(I must be the weirdest Spuffy fan ever. I mean, what sort of person watches SH and writes about *Angel*? ::shakes head at self::)