elisi: Clara asking the Doctor to take her back to 2012 (It was... a hello by kathyh)
elisi ([personal profile] elisi) wrote2006-10-25 10:50 am

The Kiss from a Bangel shipper's perspective...

AOQ wrote about The Kiss, and it gives a very good look into his mind. Also it's one of the most calm and balanced things I've ever read on the subject.

Lore wrote:
Honestly, Joss forced Buffy back into the role of the star struck little girl with a crush on her dark knight and the only way I can get through that scene is to see it as Buffy kindly and finally letting go of Angel once and for all with no intention of ever hooking up with him ever again.

AOQ replied:
You're missing the whole point of the sequence, then. In EOD Buffy sees Angel as the sixteen-year-old in her still imagines him to be; I thought that bit was overdone, but that's clearly what they're going for. In "Chosen" she takes a second to bask and pretend that things are still simple, then pulls away, acutely aware that they're not.

Michael Ikeda's posts on the topic say most of what I want to say about it. But just as a look into the mind of a B/A fan (i.e. me), I think that summary is accurate... except for the "no intention" thing. They have such deep feelings for each other, and the passion and trust they developed when they were both (emotionally speaking) much younger is something that they'll never put aside. But that same intensity has prevented them from being able to step back and move into a more adult relationship ("Forever" is a good example of what I'm talking about). Although Buffy's not in a relationship with him per se, Spike's in her heart now, and understands her in a way her previous lovers haven't. Buffy and Angel are wrong for each other for several reasons that are far more important than the initial Forbidden Love stuff, and it can probably never happen. Fans and characters alike have been forced to face that fact. But one can never quite bear to give up hope... maybe with a little more time, they'll change enough that things will somehow be different...

-AOQ
ruuger: (Big Damn Hero)

[personal profile] ruuger 2006-10-25 12:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw the kiss pretty much the same way as AOQ did - almost as a symbolic gesture, just a final nod to the 'old school' before the new era - so it never really bothered me even though Angel/Buffy was one of my least favourite pairings on the show.

And it's funny how people really see things in different ways. My sister (who loathes S/B and A/B equally) thought that "Chosen" ended with Buffy and Angel riding to the sunset together - in fact, she saw the cookie dough speech as Buffy proposing to Angel. She agreed to rewatch the episode only after I assured her that, no, Buffy and Angel did not end up married.

[identity profile] owenthurman.livejournal.com 2006-10-25 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I think all the striaght women in Buffy fandom sometimes lack the experience to see the clear meaning of things.

When a woman tells you she's not ready or that she needs time to "bake," it never, ever means that she really just needs time to grow. It always means that she's letting you down easy. Likewise with "let's be friends."

There are certain time-worn and well known expressions of feeling that you learn from experience, usually as a much-rejected teenage male, and the baking thing is an absolute classic.

The Chosen prospects for Spike/Buffy aren't much better, of course, even had he survived.

[identity profile] owenthurman.livejournal.com 2006-10-25 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Somtimes I do" would be safely in brush-off territory in real life, but it's okay for folks to hang their hopes on it in fic. If a friend of mine was clinging to that, though, I'd buy him a beer and set him straight.

As for Spike, I didn't say I don't like them together, just that I felt Chosen wasn't at all a promising spuffy moment, even without the flamy death.

The Immortal is jsut proof of ... well, I still have to finish that fic.