elisi: Edwin holding a tiny snowman (Mock!Bangel by crackers4jenn)
elisi ([personal profile] elisi) wrote2006-04-27 04:50 pm

This is interesting...

As you know (?) I've been following AOQ's Buffy-verse reviews. Apart from a bizarre sense of humour (didn't like "Band Candy' f.ex.), he has some very good thoughts generally (and he loved 'Pangs' so all is not lost...). Anyway, he's now watched 'I Will Remember You'.

(Funniest comment from someone quoting David Hines:
This episode should have come with commemorative towels. The shippers could have used them to mop up drool, tears, and other bodily fluids as appropriate. The rest of us could have soaked 'em, rolled 'em up, and given the writers a much-deserved rat-tailing they'd never forget.)

Anyway, AOQ gave it an 'Excellent' (his top mark), but that doesn't mean that he's a B/A shipper at all:

And of course, see the way he [Angel] does it: once again it's a unilateral decision, making choices "for their own good" without consulting his better half, and ultimately cutting Buffy out of the loop entirely. The early scenes of the episode serve to not-so-subtly suggest that she wouldn't like that, if she could remember it happening. Beyond the plot-based reasons that our lovers can't be lovers, this hits at a character-based obstacle, a fundamental difference in attitudes.

From a reply to someone else:
one of the reasons I loved it is that it proved to me that Angel's the reason the two of them shouldn't be together in the long run - who he is, not what he is.

And about Angel generally:
So far he's shown an interesting mix of overconfidence in his own abilities (both physical and decision-making), the notion that he's the one who needs to deal with every problem, and the belief that his presence is a problem or liability for people, so the solution for everything is for him to take himself out of the picture. Call it a martyr complex.

I'm *really* looking forward to seeing what he thinks of the rest of the 'verse!

[identity profile] owenthurman.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
The only thing that could possibly explain Angel's attitude toward Buffy in Chosen ("sometimes is something" &c) and TGiQ ("now the Immortal's eating cookie dough", &c) is that, in the Flooded meeting, Angel realized after Buffy died that he should have tried to keep her and asked her to come back to him.

And she turned him down.

And it sure would have been intense.

[identity profile] owenthurman.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
It really does explain a lot of wierd behavior in a sensible way.

Working backwards: Why was Angel not only the ex-lover but also the angsty supplicant in Chosen and TGiQ when the last time they were together in Forever, Buffy was still the supplicant who wanted him to stay?

Something must have happened in their interim meeting that reversed things and made Angel the supplicant who wanted them back together and Buffy the wiser one who didn't.

What could have made Angel ask Buffy to come back to him even though the curse was still in place?

The only thing strong enough would be something like Buffy's death. Oh, but Buffy just did die and was barely resurrected.

Therefore, after Flooded Angel asked her to come back and Buffy turned him down.

Q.E.D.

I don't think she did it for love of Spike or anything (though as her confessor he was part of it). It just wasn't what she needed anymore.

--

And I did read your fic. You only have to tempt me so many times.

I like the way you veer them just ever so slightly off canon to force them to explain themselves. "It could never be just a hello," is a good line and right in place in their relationship.

[identity profile] spikeylover.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
That truly makes sense. Especially considering that in LIFE SERIAL, (just after the meeting with Angel) Drunk Buffy blurts out that Spike is the only one she can stand to be around.

[identity profile] spikeylover.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I see I need to read this fic. :)

[identity profile] spikeylover.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm keeping that in mind when I rewatch these episodes. hmmmmm...

[identity profile] mikeygs.livejournal.com 2006-04-27 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally buy that. It really fits. Angel only seemed to be interested in Buffy (Drusilla, too) when they appeared to be moving forward past him. Then he all of a sudden has time for them. I've always wondered if he would've returned to SD had Buffy not mentioned Riley in Sanctuary.