AtS - season 3; destiny, ret-cons, free will and all that jazz....

[elisi]

I've re-watched a few AtS S3 episodes recently - for the first time since I initially watched them (in my big AtS catch-up post-Chosen), and it's fascinating how well everything joins up. And then (as usual!) things began to stir around in my head, and this post is the result. It focusses on two parts of S3 (Offspring/Quickening/Lullaby and Birthday), and how these fit in with the overall arcs for the show and especially 'The ret-con'! Which of course leads me onto the topic of destiny... It's all kinds of engaging and satisfying, and yet again I prove how I am utterly unable to be concise - this thing just grew and grew. And also that I'm unable to write a thing without using a gazillion quotes - you have been warned!

Offspring, Quickening, Lullaby

People usually complain about the ret-con in S4 - 'Inside Out' I think it is, with Skip (whose name I *cannot* spell, it always comes out as 'Spike') saying how everything had been engineered by Jasmine - but I'm not so sure that it was all changed so late in the day. If you're looking for the beginning of the ret-con, 'Offspring' is it! (I'll get back to that specific point later on.)

Watching these three episodes, it came to me that they are the centre of AtS - not just literally, what with being near the middle of the show overall - but in that everything that comes before can be said to lead to them and everything that comes after comes as a consequence of what happens.

The central event is Darla's pregnancy/Connor's 'birth'. Now let's go backwards: Darla became pregnant when Angel slept with her. He slept with her as a consequence of the futility of waging war against W&H - whom he was trying to destroy because they killed Darla. (Also, he won A Life in 'The Trial', but one that couldn't be used by Darla - hence the way was paved for The Miracle Child.) And Darla was brought back as a human by W&H at the end of S1!

But going forwards: As a result of seeing Connor, Holtz changes his revenge plans for Angel (Angel turned Holtz's daughter into a vampire, so Holtz turns Angel's son into a vampire hunter), culminating in taking Connor to Quor-Toth. Intertwined with all this we have Cordy and the visions (I'll deal with the 'Birthday' trial and Skip further down), where she gets 'demonised', becomes Higher Power and then a sleeper agent for Jasmine - quite literally when she sleeps with Connor. Fast forward through the whole Jasmine arc, and we have Angel sacrificing *everything* to give Connor a new life - and S5 shows us the consequences of *that* choice.

So Connor's arrival is the nub of the whole thing. Everything springs from that, and story lines all the way from S1 lead to it. By the way I love how AtS really is one long continuous story, with the same (more or less) good guys (TPTB) and bad guys (W&H) from start to finish, as well as the tortuous path of Angel himself, his family and friends and their struggle against destiny. There's no annual apocalypse like on BtVS - the battles are different, the end-of-season mostly more of a beginning than an ending. Because in the background we keep hearing about 'The Apocalypse', the one that W&H are working on, and that Angel is so pivotal in, although no one knows what side he'll be on. It's the eternal cliffhanger.

Aaaanyway - not surprisingly - during these episodes I'm trying to talk about, all the characters are very focussed on the Nyazean Scrolls, who tell of an Apocalypse:

Wes: "It's not clear on that. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-clan, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind."
Gunn: "So it's a two for one. Isn't that nice."
Wes: "And I'm not sure on the translation. Ruination may in fact mean purification."
Gunn: "Purification? So this Tro-clan is a good thing?"
Wes: "I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in ancient Greek and in the lost Ga-shundi language it means both."
Offspring

This is so *obviously* talking about Jasmine - did she bring Peace on Earth or Hell?

Wes: "The Tro-clan isn't a person or persons. It's a confluence of events."
Cordy: "Which means it not only involves you, Darla and the child, but other horrible things we don't know about."
Angel: "That... That's good. Right? I mean, doesn't that mean that the kid isn't this evil, apocalyptic thing that we feared?"
Wes: "Not necessarily. There are a few Nyazian phrases related specifically to the thing being born that I haven't been able to complete."
Quickening

And here we see how it everything fits together - all the different main players (Angel, Darla, Holtz, Connor, Cordy) each doing their bit (nudged in the right direction at any crossroads of course) and making sure the story goes in the right direction. Call it Hand of the Writer or Hand of Jasmine, but it certainly is set up nicely! I talked about the ret-con earlier on - we see this most directly in Fred's calculations. She is trying to work out when the 'Tro-clan' will arrive, but as we find out in the next ep, it is a confluence of events. Let's take a look at the dates she comes up with:

#1 "Oh. - That can't be right. - Unless the world ended last March."
Going by airing dates, Angel slept with Darla at the very end of February, so that's pretty close! (There was two months between the airing of 'Epiphany' and 'Disharmony', so it's quite possible that the actual 'sleeping' took place in March.) Anyway, the obvious answer is Connor's conception.

#2 "There. That came out better. - Oh. No it didn't. It's still very preliminary, but - if these calculations are correct, this bad thing should already be here. Well, I-I guess not right here, but - here in LA."
Guess who walks through the door a little later? Darla! And of course Angel is right there...

#3 "Remember before when I said I thought that maybe, possibly, perhaps I might have been off in my earlier calculations? And you asked Wes if he thought if the Tro-clan was prophesied to arise or be born and he said it could be both? And we all know that the Latin for arrive is arripare, to come to land or possibly in this instance simply to come to, as from a deep sleep? [...] Right. I believe that whatever this thing is, it's arriving right about (looks down at a watch) three, two, now."
And... Holtz wakes up!

All the pieces set out on the board and ready for action! The ret-con has nothing to do with S4 really, except that's when we find out about it - it begins here! (That's not to say that the writers knew where they were going with any of it, but that it was set up for them to do whatever they wanted.)

(Another reason I really like these episodes is the W&H stuff - the black clad swat team, the evil mail guy - lots of nice details and continuity. *happy sigh*)


Birthday

Now about Cordy... it would seem that the alternative reality is rather shoddy, given how quickly she gets drawn back into her old life. I think the key lies in these two things:

#1 Skip: "Is this you? Most people go astral, their spiritual shapes tend to be an idealized version of themselves. You know, straighten the nose, lose the gray, sort of a self-esteem kind of thing. You're pretty confident, aren't you?"

#2 Skip: "Life and death, that sort of thing, they got a handle on. Who someone chooses to love, well, that's just good old free will."

To compare with the other 'fake reality' - the one on BtVS - I think that the insertion of Dawn worked so well because Dawn *added* to Buffy's life, rather than changed it. Dawn brought love and additional purpose to Buffy, and even after Buffy found out that Dawn was not 'real' she accepted her because she loved her - she was even willing to die for her.

Cordelia's new life has all the 'things' she always wanted - fame, fortune etc. But I don't think she ever *needed* these things to make herself feel better. As Skip notices she sees herself clearly - she feels no need to 'improve' anything. And we saw way back in S2 of BtVS that she was willing to give up popularity for love - which was quite something considering how shallow she appeared to be. Now, after 2 1/2 years of working with Angel, she has found something even more important - a purpose. As she told Harmony in S2:

Cordy: "None of that's changed for me - apart from the powerful, rich and popular. - But I tell you one thing: I am happier now than I was then."
Harmony: "Get out."
Cordy: "It's hard to explain. I'm telling you. It's like - I don't know. I had these air pockets inside of me, and the work I'm doing, uh, we're doing, it's-it's like the pockets keep getting filled and I'm becoming me and..."

When she finds herself in her 'perfect world' she subconsciously tries to find that purpose she had before - fame is nice and all, but it's not the same as helping to save the world, which is a lot more satisfying to her. And in the real world she has close friends that she loves, which makes a big difference. This is what Jasmine is using to her advantage - she counted on it to get Cordy to insist Skip find a loophole.

Because as we saw in Tabula Rasa, people stay the same even if their lives change. The Scoobies tried to find out what gave their life meaning - Buffy and Spike went out to fight, Tara and Willow were attracted to each other, Anya worried about the money. So in the same way, Cordy has an 'I think I'm kinda gay in the wrong place' feeling, and acts on it. She tries to find love and purpose again.

And now that is some first rate manipulation. It's also a *very* smart way of getting round The Powers - using Cordy's free will to make her choose to be a half-demon. Nicely done.

Because there was another thing that struck me this time - something so obvious that it's very strange I never noticed it before:

While Skip takes Cordy off for her new life, Angel tries to contact the Powers:

Angel (to Lorne): No. This isn't gonna happen. I don't care how many favors you have to call in. I don't care how many gods you have to cross. You have a connection to the Powers That Be and you're gonna find me a way to talk to them. Understand?"

The Powers that Skip claims to represent:

Cordy: "Is this... This is a mall."
Skip: "We just figured you'd be more comfortable here."
Cordy: "We?"
Skip: "The Powers That Be."

Skip also claims to have answers and a solution to Cordy's problems:

Skip: "You have questions. I get that. And I'll answer them, too, but first we got to get out of here."
Cordy: "But why? Here is good. I feel really comfortable here. I-I like here."
Skip: "But you see, there is a slight problem: you - don't belong here anymore."
Cordy: "Because I'm dead?"
Skip: "Not yet. But you will be - very soon - unless - you - come with me."

Except... The conduit that Angel talks to, the direct conduit to The Powers themselves, have no answers, and do not see anything except death for Cordy:

Voices: "It is come. The champion is come. Come for what? Answers not to be had. Death is certain. Death awaits."

Surely if The Powers were already sorting out Cordy's problems, they'd just say so? Tell Angel that Cordelia was no longer his concern and her issues were being taken care of? (You know the sort: "There are forces at work of which you do know nothing, Puny Earthling. It is not your place to interfere! We have spoken!") But they don't. They in no uncertain terms tell Angel that there is *nothing* they can - or will - do about Cordelia's fate:

Angel: "I wanna talk to the conduit."
Voices: "We are the conduit. We are the gateway, the all the time, the ever. It wishes to speak to us."
[...]
Angel: "I'm not going anywhere until I get my message to the Powers That Be. My friend - Cordelia - has visions given to her by the Powers. They're killing her. I want the Powers to take them back. - Let her go. She's suffered enough!"
Suddenly Angel flies across the room to smash into one of the walls.
Voices: "Suffering? Does it know suffering?"
Angel flies across the room to smash into the opposite wall then drops to the floor.
Voices: "Yes it does. - The Powers owe nothing. Send it away. Send it away."
Angel picks himself back up: "I'm not finished."
[...]
Voices: "Its pleas are pointless. Her path is chosen. We will not interfere."
[At this point Cordy was trying to decide what to do - nothing was chosen yet.]

Unless The Conduit was lying, there is no way that Skip could have been an emissary from The Powers like he claimed. And why would The Powers offer Cordy another chance? Angel expressly asks for the visions to be taken back, and the conduit says no. Just like they didn't help poor Tammy whose brain got blown out. They re-wound the day in IWRY mainly because Angel argued that they'd be losing a Champion if he stayed human. To them the visions ('an ancient powerful force') are far more important that who is carrying them - there is no reason for them to go out of their way to help Cordy.

All of which adds up to the fact that Skip really, truly was playing Cordy all along. The episode wasn't ret-conned, it's perfectly straightforward - if you know what to look for! And that just makes me very happy! :)

(Another thing I noticed was Cordy's beautiful curls - almost exactly the same hairdo she has in 'You're Welcome'. And in neither reality is she 'real'.)


Free will and all that...

Of course it also raises the whole question of free will vs. Destiny. Because we have this statement by Skip in 'Inside Out':

Skip: You have any concept of how many lines have to intersect in order for a thing like this to play out? How many events have to be nudged in just the right direction? (looks at Lorne) Leaving Pylea. (looks at Gunn) Your sister. (looks at Fred) Opening the wrong book. (looks at Wesley) Sleeping with the enemy. (beat) Gosh, (chuckles) I love a story with scope.
Gunn: No way. We make our own choices.
Skip: Yeah, sure. Cheese sandwich here, uh, when to floss. But the big stuff, like two vampires squeezing out a kid?

To quote molly_may:

"I think what bothers me most about Skip's pronouncement is what mikeygs mentions in his comment below, that it contradicts the message that BTVS in particular always taught, that we all create our own destinies."

But AtS isn't BtVS - and we have saw this first in 'Amends'. How many people hate the magic snow? And not just because it is cheesy - but because it feels so un-Buffy. Stuff like that doesn't happen on BtVS - people make choices and have to live with the consequences. Their choice doesn't get snatched away by something else. Or The Powers to be precise. But that is Angel's story - we see it first in 'Becoming' when Whistler showed him Buffy, and this was repeated in 'City Of' with Doyle. S1 is a bit meandering, but in 'To shanshu in LA' the whole 'Angel is a player in the Apocalypse' gets properly introduced and everything follows from there. Yes BtVS often talks about 'destiny' but it is Buffy who makes herself unique amongst slayers - and at the end of the series she creates lots of slayers who can do her job if she wants to retire.

Angel is one-of-a-kind, the vampire who has to fight in the Apocalypse, the vampire who is in all the prophecies. So to a certain extent the message is very different from BtVS - Angel can't be someone else, he can't escape his destiny. He could curse a hundered vampires with a soul, but he'd still be Connor's father. It's a different sort of message. To quote Joss himself, 'Buffy is about becoming, Angel is about dealing with what you've become'. When we grow up, the possibilites are endless, but one day we might wake up and realise that we're stuck - our job is not exactly what we envisaged, but we need it to pay the bills. Our partner and children might not be as we hoped, but we're not likely to ever find that filmstar spouse we dreamed about. We feel stuck. What can we do? I'm going to quote the_royal_anna, who has said this far better:

"Once upon a time I said that Buffy was character-driven where Angel is theme-driven, that sometimes in Angel it felt like the characters were subservient to the story. And now I start to see that that was the point of Angel; that it was about characters trying to be bigger than the story they were in. It was a battle, character versus story, and the answer was always that you could only fight your story so far. That in the end you'd have to seize your story, whichever point of that story you'd find yourself at, and make it yours. I think that's what Angel leaves with me. It's your story. Tell it."

Angel is deeply mired in destiny, swept up in a story far bigger than himself. But - there is always a choice. We saw Jasmine making use of the choices pople made, manipulating the odds in her favour. What if Angel hadn't decided to look after Connor? What if Cordy hadn't chosen to become half-demon? But they did... And when there came choices that they wouldn't make (Cordy sleeping with Connor), their free will was taken away completely. Because she thought she knew what was best:

JASMINE: No. No, Angel. There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven't you learned anything working for the Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise. You chose this!
ANGEL Because I could. Because that's what you took away from us. Choice.
JASMINE: And look what free will has gotten you.
ANGEL: Hey, I didn't say we were smart. I said it's our right. It's what makes us human.

There is always a choice on Angel. The events might be manipulated, but as long as you have a choice you can influence the outcome. This is addressed over and over again:

Lindsey: "The key to Wolfram and Hart: don't let them make you play their game. - You gotta make them play yours."
Angel quietly: "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
'Dead End' S2

Fred: "Can I say something about destiny?- Screw destiny! If this evil thing comes we'll fight it, and we'll keep fighting it until we whoop it. 'cause destiny is just another word for inevitable and nothing's inevitable as long as you stand up, look it in the eye, and say 'your evitable!' - Well, you- you catch my drift."
'Offspring' S3

FRED: Will it make a difference? We really are just pieces being moved around a board.
GUNN: Then we'll kick it over and start a new game. Look, monochrome can yap all he wants about no-name's cosmic plan, but here's a little something I picked up rubbing mojos these past couple of years. The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you grease, that last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing—you never know when you're taking it. It could be when you're duking it out with the Legion of Doom, or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it all like it was up to you—the world in the balance—'cause you never know when it is.
'Inside Out' S4

GUNN: We know the drill.
ANGEL: No, you don't. 10-to-1, we're gone when the smoke clears. They will do everything in their power to destroy us. So...I need you to be sure. Power endures. We can't bring down the senior partners, but for one bright, shining moment, we can show them that they don't own us.
'Power Play' S5

Angel spends 5 years being pushed around, fighting his story. And in the end he grabs it and makes it his own:

Angel: I did get time to think. About us, about the world. - Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. - It's harsh, and cruel. - But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be.
'Deep Down'

To quote the_royal_anna again, this time from her review of 'Power Play' because it says it so beautifully:

"It's a bleak and joyless world where heroes do not fight because they have hope, but fight because fighting is their only manifestation of hope. But here they agree to fight because as long as they still have a choice to make, they will make a choice. My dear boys, my sweet Illyria, all of them so much lost, so much found. And what I always loved best about the Buffyverse was that it wasn't always about getting out of the hole. Sometimes you can't get out of the hole, and you can't sit around waiting until you do. You have to make a difference where you are, as you are. That's the point."

The story AtS always reminded me of the most was 'Lord of the Rings' - characters caught up in events they have no control over, where at the end the only choices were to fight or flee:

Aragorn: "As I have begun, so I will go on. We are come now to the very brink, where hope and despair are akin. To waver is to fall."

Because the heart of AtS lies in these words:

"If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

Because Jasmine was wrong. If right and wrong do not exist, then what is it that we choose between? The message of Angel is that often you can't change the world - you might not even be able to change your own life. But - you can change yourself. Change how you respond, change your outlook. Keep fighting for what you believe in, even if it feels like you can't make a difference. Don't let circumstances dictate your life - hold onto your hopes and dreams, because no one can take them away.

Or to go back to the beginning:

Whistler: So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.

Comments

[kathyh]

That was fascinating. You actually made sense of the Cordy demonising, which is quite an achievement in my book!

The story AtS always reminded me of the most was 'Lord of the Rings' - characters caught up in events they have no control over, where at the end the only choices were to fight or flee

You know I'd never realised the similarities between LOTR and AtS, but you're right. The characters might be destined to do what they do, but they have to choose to do it! Great analysis.

[elisi]

You actually made sense of the Cordy demonising, which is quite an achievement in my book!
My mission: Bringing logic to the Buffy 'verse, one murky mystery at a time... ;)

The characters might be destined to do what they do, but they have to choose to do it!
You just managed to summaries my whole post in one short sentence - I am in awe! Thank you!