Food metaphors in 'Unleashed'. AtS 5.03.

[elisi]

This always struck me as a complete stand-alone, with not much to do with the rest of the season (except for introducing Nina, which was of course a Good Thing). Thanks to my AOQ inspired re-watch and yhlee's review I now have some actual thoughts:

The thing is - there is a lot of food in this episode, and a lot of food imagery. It starts off with the team having a picnic (in the park, far away from W&H, hiding from their employees) eating mu shu, and ends with them hanging out in Angel's apartment (looking down on the town, at the center of W&H, above their employees), ordering mu shu. Nice bookending there, straight away. And (shared) food ties in with the 'dinners' in 'Deep Down' and 'Home' - singifying family, closeness etc. And also - I think - mindwipes, fake happiness. Angel has all his friends back, but would they be there without the mindwipe? Fred tries to see if she can spot the Hyperion from Angel's apartment:

FRED (points): Wow, is that the hotel?
WESLEY: Where? No I think that's the Center for Scientology.
FRED (giggles): Oh, right. They look nothing alike at all.

No indeed. Their actual past is nothing like what they remember. It has been replaced with something fake (Scientology), and they can't tell. Nice writing there.

But going back to the food:

NINA: Blood. Jill, my sister, she was cooking meat. Oh, my God. I...I smelled the blood. It was making me...Oh, God, Amanda, my niece.

Because it's always about the blood, isn't it?

"Blood is life, lackbrain. Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going. Makes you warm. Makes you hard. Makes you other than dead."

There is a *lot* of blood this season. Smelling it:

GUNN: So you what, heard his scream?
SPIKE: He smelled the blood. Nothing grabs a vamp's attention like the ruby red.
'Numero Cinco'

ANDREW: What's it smell like? Blood, I mean?
SPIKE: Oh...metallic, sorta. You ever taste a penny?
'Damage'

Drinking it:

Harmony saying how there's otter in the blood she brings Angel in 'Conviction', Angel pouring himself blood from a crystal decanter in 'Hellbound', Spike pinching Angel's mug in 'Destiny' and pronouncing it to be 'bloody ambrosia', Harmony's blood being spiked in 'Harm's Way', Spike 'tasting' Cordy in 'You're Welcome', Angel turning Lawson in 'Why We Fight', Spike joking about drinking humans halfway through the first act of Les Mis in AHiTW - and of course - Angel spiking Sebassis's slave's blood.
There's probably more, but this is what I could come up with on the spur of the moment.

There's also monsters who devour, some simple, some not:

ANGEL: She's OK, and so's your sister.
NINA: No, you don't get it.
ANGEL: Nina, it's OK.
NINA: No, it's not!
ANGEL: You didn't-
NINA: I wanted to rip her throat out!
ANGEL: It wasn't you. It was that thing inside.

Angel parallel right there - because Angel *did* rip out his sister's throat and devoured his family. No wonder he's trying to distance himself. And - he also cut Connor's throat and devoured him in a different way.

But going back to when Angel first lets Nina out of the cage:

ANGEL: What I'm trying to do, Nina, is help you.
NINA: Said the psycho rapist.

And that is why this show is so great. Because - he was a psycho rapist when he was evil! And now... he has mindraped his friends. Angel's deep in the dark muddled waters.

The diner is of course when taken at face value extremely silly. But - it is a fairly transparent metaphor for vampires, who also eat their victims alive.

ANGEL: Jesus, they garnished you?
NINA: No, get away! Just let them choke on me.

ETA: That - right there - is Angel at W&H. He's being eaten alive and he knows it - he just hopes they'll choke on him!

Just such a wonderful line. There's food lines all the way through, I've only just scratched the surface:

LORNE (notices the bar): Look at this. I'm home! Hey, cosmos all around?

'Home' - mindwipe, a toast to family...

ANGEL: I'm buying.
LORNE: Ladies and gentlemen, hell just froze over.

It's so *wrong* and they can't see it. All their problems hidden beneath a spell. If it seems too good to be true, then that's because it is:

FRED(to phone): We moved, actually, to a law firm. Uh-huh. Different. No, nice. OK, um... one mu shu chicken, two beef and broccolis, one cashew shrimp ... umm maybe some lettuce wraps...

No. *Not* nice. Dear Fred, you'll be devoured and eaten up. Because of course the main food metaphor of all of them came in the previous episode:

Spike: I know you, Angel. What do you think you're doing? Made some devil's bargain to take over this company. Thought you'd use it to fight the evil of the world from inside the belly of the beast. Trouble is you're too busy fighting to see you and yours are getting digested.
'Just Rewards'

And he's right. Of course he's right. And - Angel knows it:

LILAH: People don't need an unyielding champion. They need a man who knows the value of compromise and how to beat the system from inside the belly of the beast.
ANGEL: The beast's belly? Doesn't that usually mean you've been eaten?

And straight away we see the bind that Angel's in, and that he now can't get out of. (Essay on Spike & Angel coming on Monday...)

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Made some devil's bargain to take over this company. Thought you'd use it to fight the evil of the world from inside the belly of the beast. Trouble is you're too busy fighting to see you and yours are getting digested.

Always the truth teller in the Buffyverse, too bad nobody listens this time around.

[elisi]

Always the truth teller in the Buffyverse, too bad nobody listens this time around.
Ah yes - but then Angel *does* know. Oh! He said almost *exactly* the same to Lilah in 'Home'! *runs off to amend post*

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm hungry now.

[elisi]

Heh. *g*

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

There's the beast within Angel that eats people too, (whereas 'The Beast' they're all talking about here is the one with the capital letters). And, in Destiny, it's Spike the Truthsayer (wasn't that Drogyn's job?) who makes Angel face the fact that it's not a separate entity that he 'becomes' when he loses his soul, but a part of who he is.

This is neat, though all that blood has put me off my dinner somewhat. Looking forward to reading the Spike and Angel meta.

[elisi]

here's the beast within Angel that eats people too
Indeed. And there was 'The Beast' before that, which led to Jasmine who was called 'The Devourer'. It's all about eating!

in Destiny, it's Spike the Truthsayer (wasn't that Drogyn's job?) who makes Angel face the fact that it's not a separate entity that he 'becomes' when he loses his soul, but a part of who he is
Ah but Spike was always The Truthsayer. Drogyn just couldn't lie! And one of the things I love most about NFA is Angel finally embracing his demon fully.

This is neat, though all that blood has put me off my dinner somewhat.
Hee. Sorry about that - focus on the Chinese takeaway instead. :)

Looking forward to reading the Spike and Angel meta.
Thanks - I'm trying to polish it at the moment. It's all about Angel btw... you'll see what I mean!

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Great observations. I'd always noticed that echoed line of Lilah's about the Belly of the Beast - Spike picks it up immediately, and follows it up with Angel being "digested"... and really, that never went away, did it? He never really got out of that beast's belly. Just hacked at it from the inside at the end. I'd say like Jonah and the Whale, but that doesn't work - Jonah got spit out whole, and that certainly wasn't the result for Angel. He got changed by W&H, no question. At least partly "digested."

And somehow I missed your comments on the first three S5 eps, which were great - I especially liked reading through your conversation with thirdblindmouse, who seems to feel about S5 pretty much the way I do, that it ended on a completely reversed note from "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." The kind of portents you're pointing out here in "Unleashed" are really making me think that this was the pont all along, that S5 was supposed to end in Angel's tragedy, leading to a reversal - and climb back out of the abyss after his fall - in S6.

Looking forward to your Angel and Spike essay!

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Darn it, that was supposed to be thirdblindmouse. Why can't we edit comments? Grr.

[elisi]

Great observations.
Thank you! :) Although (as I said) a lot of them came from yhlee.

He never really got out of that beast's belly. Just hacked at it from the inside at the end.
The price for Connor's new life... (have you read my threesome fic? I deal with that issue at one point.)

who seems to feel about S5 pretty much the way I do, that it ended on a completely reversed note from "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."
Hmmm. Yes and no. It's about having ended up in a corner and only having one way out, which isn't the one he'd like to take.

"...we had planned this [the finale] very early on. The basic idea was to discover who the architects of the apocalypse were and then were going to do this Godfather-like massacre where all of our characters were going to go killing each of them, and the last beat of the episode would be Angel and whoever was left of his crew about to launch into the apocalypse. You know, "Let's go, let's move - whatever."
David Fury

I think in NFA Anne symbolises the original mission. That there's still people out there, inspired by Angel, working that mission. (I'll also deal with my take on all this in the sequel to 'Maybe Someday' for which I'm currently working out the last plot-twists.)

S5 was supposed to end in Angel's tragedy, leading to a reversal - and climb back out of the abyss after his fall - in S6.
*Sigh* Season 6...

The really cool thing about Season 6, we knew how Season 5 was going to end very early on and we knew what it was going to launch into with Season 6, which was a post-apocalyptic show [and] which I thought was going to be great. It was going to be Angel in The Road Warrior, which I thought would be awesome. In the ruined city of LA or out in the desert or something, it was just going to be kind of a really cool, different, show.
David Fury

::hates The WB::

Looking forward to your Angel and Spike essay!
It leans (in some ways) very heavily on your 'Dude, where's my soul?' essay. Different focus though.

[elisi]

Why can't we edit comments? Grr.
We should ask the LJ PTB, shouldn't we? Be a lot more useful than most of the gadgety stuff they come up with.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

There's probably more,

Well you could take it one step further and say the whole season was working towards Angel beating Hamilton by drinking his blood - quite literally consuming the Senior Partners.

Hamilton: straightens his tie, walks toward Angel Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them. The Wolf, Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power.

Angel: gets to his feet, smirks Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn’t have said?

Angel transforms into his vampire facade as he attacks Hamilton, biting him painfully in the jugular. Angel drinks from him, holding on tenaciously as Hamilton struggles to get free. Hamilton is finally able to pull Angel’s head away from his neck, and he throws him across the room again, but this time Angel controls his motion, managing to rotate in the air and land on his feet.

Angel: Wow. wipes his lip You really are full of it. Hamilton swings at Angel, but Angel ducks What was that you were saying about ancient power?

AtS 5-22 – Not Fade Away

All through the season it has been a question of whether Angel will be consumed by the evil of the Wolf, Ram and Hart, or will manage to avoid that fate, and then right at the end he turns the tables and consumes them instead.

[elisi]

All through the season it has been a question of whether Angel will be consumed by the evil of the Wolf, Ram and Hart, or will manage to avoid that fate, and then right at the end he turns the tables and consumes them instead.
Oh. My. God. That is so beautfiully brilliant that I CANNOT believe I never saw it before! Thank you! I love your brain!

[thedeadlyhook.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the delay in response here - things suddenly got busy.

The price for Connor's new life... (have you read my threesome fic? I deal with that issue at one point.)

I haven't yet; I need to! I'm so behind on my fic-reading.

I think in NFA Anne symbolises the original mission. That there's still people out there, inspired by Angel, working that mission. (I'll also deal with my take on all this in the sequel to 'Maybe Someday' for which I'm currently working out the last plot-twists.)

I agree complely about Anne; that's actually why I feel Angel's own arc is so depressing, in a way, because I wasn't quite convinced by "Power Play" and "Not Fade Away" that the Angel crew had only one path to take, or that a suicidal mission was their only option. I could've been happy with that ending in a thematic sense - and I do see some interesting places to go with it, if there had been an S6 - but I do feel the plot leading up to the ending was a little too rushed, especially the whole "oh, the Black Thorn are TOTALLY the worst threat ever!" So it's hard for me to see it as an ending so much as a setup for a further payoff, another reversal.

[elisi]

Sorry for the delay in response here - things suddenly got busy.
Please don't worry about it. I know far too well what that's like!

I haven't yet; I need to! I'm so behind on my fic-reading.
I've barely read a thing in *months*! I check out ficlets and drabbles now and again, but anything longer? Nope. Anyway, I hope you like it, whenever you get the chance. (I'm very proud of it! *g*)

to feel the plot leading up to the ending was a little too rushed, especially the whole "oh, the Black Thorn are TOTALLY the worst threat ever!"
I know what you mean, but they *were* setting it up all season. (Stealth-arc and what-not.) And I like how it makes sense of Angel being a big player, but not sure what side he's helping.

Oh and the suicide thing we can blame on The Powers. It all came about because of the vision they sent! And as for S6, here's what David Fury said:

The really cool thing about Season 6, we knew how Season 5 was going to end very early on and we knew what it was going to launch into with Season 6, which was a post-apocalyptic show [and] which I thought was going to be great. It was going to be Angel in The Road Warrior, which I thought would be awesome. In the ruined city of LA or out in the desert or something, it was just going to be kind of a really cool, different, show.

*cries for S6 that never was*