What I'd Do With #6 - Angel Season 5
May. 24th, 2004 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Well, Space is showing a Victoria Day Viewer's Choice Marathon of Angel, which has inspired me to do a WIDW for the final season of the show... Major S5 spoilers behind the cut tag.
I'm a little mixed on the season because although on a whole I disliked the 'running W&H' plot, it did provide a couple elements that I really did like and would have liked to keep. If I knew in advance this was going to be the last year, I'd ditch it entirely (but keep a few elements that worked). If I could be guaranteed one more year, I'd have kept it in because I kind of like a series where for a whole year the 'good guys' are stuck in a situation where they're forced to realize, 'oh, crap, we've made a huge mistake'. I just don't want that to be the _last_ year.
Still, I think the plot needed to be streamlined.. it almost seemed schizophrenic, like they didn't really have a plan and were making it up as they went along. The general plot has the potential goodness that I think if it _had_ been plotted out in advance, it might have worked really well.
Here's what I'd do.
First, drop Lorne from the regular cast. I love the guy, but he was wasted in this plotline, and I can't see any good way to salvage it. Rather than have him show up in every episode for a throwaway line and never really _doing_ anything, bump him back to recurring status and have him guest star for the important stuff. If the actor won't accept that, then we can kill him off. Or, alternately, we can highly compress his arc. Have him a regular in the first few episodes, but decide to leave early on, and maybe or maybe not come back for the final few.
I don't know if it'd even be possible, but this season was just crying out for an appearance by Kate, the police detective that knew about Angel. I know she's on some other show, but come on... she's a police officer that knew about Angel, _and_ hated Wolfram and Hart. What would be better than her showing up? Maybe for the first episode of the year. Instead of the lame subplot about old Wolfram and Hart employees wanting to get rid of Angel, have Kate as one of the witnesses for the client W&H is representing, and finding out that Angel leads W&H. I would also liked to have Lilah back... but, given how things turned out, I don't think we could work it as her being the Senior Partner's Liason, so I'm not sure how to work her into things. Perhaps the occasional guest appearance, or maybe some sort of plot where, like Gunn was tempted with his Lawyer-Foo, Wesley's temptation is that he, from time to time, gets to talk to Lilah.
I love the idea of returning Lindsey too, but the writers seemed a little confused with him at times. Personally, I really like the idea of him being a _good guy_ now. Maybe not the ultimate good guy, but what the series as it played out seemed to be getting across was that he had evil motives for wanting to kill Angel and rise in the ranks of the Circle of the Black Thorn. That just doesn't make sense to me. The show has always been about Redemption, and Lindsey.. well, at least he got _away_ from Wolfram and Hart. Having his next appearance be all evil again doesn't sit well with me. (I mean, I think it's very well to have a 'failed redemption' subplot if the character's actually there so we can watch his fall, but for him to be 'out' and then show up suddenly evil? Nah).
He won't be an angel or anything, I'd rather there be an element of betrayal here.. he learns Angel's been working for W&H, he decides Angel & Co have fallen (and they don't even know it, the whole 'you're soaking in it' comment), and it's his job to take them out and screw up the Senior Partner's plans. A little bit of revenge too, because he's pissed at the SPs, and the sense of wanting to best Angel one time finally (so he stays within the realm of human motivations).
Learning about Spike was the key... making Spike play the Champion isn't to make him screw with Angel or get him out of the way, they actually want him and perhaps expect that he's truly the subject of the Shanshu prophecy, the vampire with a soul who'll become human after the final battle. So they're setting him up to walk the same path that Angel did at first. This would be a more significant thread of the first few episodes. More importantly though is that he'll _look_ evil to the audience throughout all of it, that it looks like he has other things planned and it's clear that he wants to take Angel out personally (which he does, but because he thinks Angel is too iffy on the whole 'A major force for good... OR evil..', since he could lose his soul at the drop of a girl's pants, and has gone evilish _with_ soul half a dozen times.)
Spike's ghostliness would be eliminated earlier, so we can get to the other plot faster and stay with it longer. Maybe in the first 2-3 episodes he gets human. I'd completely cut the episode about Lorne's party,anyway. Funny, but struck me as a bit of dead weight, plotwise.
When Cordy shows up, it still screws up their plans... not because she might detect him, but because if she's still a link to the Powers That Be, then maybe Lindsey's wrong. Or perhaps, given Jasmine, and Lindsey's own research, maybe he's decided that the Powers That Be aren't really that much better for the situation than the Senior Partners. Sort of an 'atheist super hero'.. I find I like that, actually. Thinking the PTB have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of misery on their own (after all, if things are peachy, why would people pray to them for things to get better? Letting things be awful but still working to an extent to make things slightly less awful makes them look pretty good), he does what he thinks is right.
Despite Fred/Illyria reminding me a bit too much of Cordy/EvilCordy from last season, I find that I really like that particular plotline, and as it leads into the ending, it works.
Episode by Episode:
Conviction: Try to modify it as mentioned above by adding Kate.
Just Rewards: Keep, I guess, but revamp a little cause I wasn't too fond of the main plot of the ep.
Unleashed: Possibly cut, I wasn't too fond of the Nina plot either. If it were given more time it could have worked, but there's too much that didn't get time and this is expendable. Working in a love interest for Angel is fine in theory though (so long as it's not Cordelia).
Hellbound: Keep. Important in making Spike a 'hero' (since he gave up becoming corporeal to save Fred). Maybe combine Unleashed with Hellbound, making it an A/B plot structure, cutting out elements of both. Not sure though.
Life of the Party/Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco: Cut both of them. The first was funny, and the second had funny bits, but both are expendable. We can keep LotP if it makes for Lorne's exit at the end (since he was hugely stressed and worried about him not being able to contribute to Angel now, it makes a good time for him to exit until the finale. Or, actually, until 'A Hole In the World', where he can be there for a visit when Fred takes ill, and stay on through much of the rest until finally leaving 'for good' in the finale).
Lineage: Keep, I suppose. I'm annoyed we got no payoff, though, explaining who these people were. If you're going to cheapen the ending by having his Dad be a robot, at least follow up. (I might make it so it actually _is_ his father, but instead of killing him he just wounds him severely). I might also move it to after Destiny and have Spike mostly off doing his own thing rather than being a ghost.
Destiny: Keep, of course.
Harm's Way: Sorry, I wasn't at all interested in this either. I'd rather cut directly to:
Soul Purpose: Keep.
Damage: Keep. I like the 'Slayer' aspect. However, I think I'd change it significantly. If at all possible, I'd get Xander in there. Either along with Andrew or replacing Andrew entirely (there were a few nice Andrew/Spike moments, but on the whole I like Xander more). Mainly, I just wanted to see _Xander_ saying that beautiful line: 'I have twelve vampire slayers behind me, and none of them have ever dated you'. He's long resented Angel (and Spike) for getting Buffy, and his distrust sets up the 'None of us trust you' scene much better than Andrew, who had no prior contact with Angel.
You're Welcome: Have to keep this to say goodbye to Cordelia. Some changes though, maybe, in keeping with the change to the longer plot with Lindsey.
Why We Fight: Decent stand-alone episode, I'm okay with keeping it, but we don't _have_ to.
Ideally, starting around here we begin with the 'Angel starts looking ambiguous' plot, to set up for the idea the rest of the gang believes he's gone bad. Actually, one idea I had was to have Angel take Spike into his confidence here (but off panel and not revealed until the last episode or two). Angel starts setting up to be ambiguous, neglecting the little people in favour of the big picture, not wanting to help people who aren't rich, and spending more time on Wolfram & Hart's real clients. Meanwhile, he sends Spike out to be doing the helping of these people on the side, so it looks like Angel's not caring, and Spike's picking up the slack. He doesn't know the whole plan, though (in fact, Angel doesn't have the whole plan. He's just trying to get information. He doesn't come up with his whole plan of the suicide mission until Lindsey gives the 'You compromise. Heroes don't do that.' speech and he decides he has to take the group out wholesale), just that Angel's doing a plot.
Smile Time: Absolute keeper. Loved it. Might have to deal with the Nina plot in another way though (and may I add, while I agree wholeheartedly that a 'moment of perfect happiness'=! sex, the whole 'Hey, get yourself in a relationship and have sex!' attitude bugged me. I mean, it's still a _risk_ of losing your soul, and having everyone just deciding 'to hell with it' this late in the series irks me. That said, Angel engaging in some sort of non-perfect-happy sexual relationship might work out and be good for the plot by making them wonder if he was Angelus).
A Hole in the World: Keep. However, play things a little more ambiguously with Angel so it later becomes plausible to the viewers that he set Fred up to die. Not drastically so, just play things slightly differently. Maybe have him know a little more about the Old Gods off the top of his head, crediting to stuff he researched while he was Angelus, ending-the-world type plans, so that there's later a 'he did seem to know an _awful_ lot about this...' argument.
With Fred dead, Spike comes more completely into the fold. He's still running the whole 'Help people out while I pretend I don't care' plot, but much closer to W&H.
Shells: Keep
Underneath: Keep. However, Lindsey should appear more in the next few episodes. They just kind of dropped the plot and then picked it up when convenient, as though everyone forgot 'Hey, you're doing everything wrong' until it was a plot point.
Origin: Definately keep.
Time Bomb: Revise drastically. I think it's fine to center it on depowering Illyria, but I don't like the whole Time-travel/loop aspect, and the ending was too abrupt. I'd have preferred a more straightforward plot and deal more with some of the aftermath of Wes getting his memories back (maybe a confrontation with Lilah, who knew the memories were fake), as well as Angel looking more ambiguous (rather than suddenly shifting at the end)
The Girl In Question: I seem to be in the minority on this, but I liked the episode for the most part, so I'd keep it. Minor changes, certainly.
Power Play: Keep. Since Spike's in on the 'Angel looks bad' plan, some things change (and he's still ignorant of the specifics and the suicide-mission), but keep for the most part.
Never Fade Away: Keep for the most part. Since I'm not planning this to be a series finale, just a season finale, I'd probably leave some more wiggle room for Wesley to come back (while Illyria thinks he's dead), though I'm not sure how yet. Not have the Lorne/Lindsey thing work out quite the same way (Lindsey dying works, but I think him dying a 'hero' is better. Although I have to admit I would kinda have liked to see Lindsey be a regular next year). Lorne still leaves 'forever', though. Keep the ending more or less the same. Buffy/Angel don't usually have cliffhangers, but this was a good one. (Even if they have to start next year with 'Well, I won't bore you with the details of our miraculous escape, but....')
That leaves us with 2 definate extra episodes needed, and up to 4, and one 'revise drastically', which would probably give room for extra stuff happening. These would be spaced out to give more setup and payoff for ongoing subplots (if we keep Underneath, to set up Nina/Angel better perhaps). Each of course has their own A-plot.
On other minor points:
I'm not really all that pro-Spike to the exclusion of Angel, but in my mind there was one key difference that I really think should have gotten more play. That is, Angel was cursed with a soul, Spike chose to have one. Spike was, at least partially, redeemed of his own free will. Angel gave Spike way too hard a time about being selfish, and not moping enough about being his past deeds, and I just wanted Spike to say something like, "Yeah, you know what, we_are_ different. Because if I lost my soul again, I'd fight like hell to get it back. If you lost yours, you'd just be a monster." Only he'd throw a 'bloody' in there somewhere. Well, okay, he did say something like that, but it should have come a lot sooner.
Also, I was kinda annoyed how in the 4th season finale they made it clear Angel was only getting control of the LA branch of W&H, but in Season 5 he keeps talking about how they have branches all over the world, as though he could be expected to command those resources. Some professional courtesy, perhaps, but only LA should be his. (Maybe some dealings with other branches of W&H would make for some good plot fodder. In fact, have
many of the Blackthorns be CEOs of other W&H branches (both here and in other dimensions). They don't trust him at first but as he starts running things more to their liking, they do). Not every W&H CEO is one of the 'Blackthorns', the key players in the Apocalypse (after all, Angel wasn't at first), but Angel has to play ball to find out which ones are.
Anyway, those are my rough thoughts on the matter.
Edit: In this later entry I expand on this and go into a hypothetical season 6 and 7.
(This and all other WIDW columns archived in my Memories section).
I'm a little mixed on the season because although on a whole I disliked the 'running W&H' plot, it did provide a couple elements that I really did like and would have liked to keep. If I knew in advance this was going to be the last year, I'd ditch it entirely (but keep a few elements that worked). If I could be guaranteed one more year, I'd have kept it in because I kind of like a series where for a whole year the 'good guys' are stuck in a situation where they're forced to realize, 'oh, crap, we've made a huge mistake'. I just don't want that to be the _last_ year.
Still, I think the plot needed to be streamlined.. it almost seemed schizophrenic, like they didn't really have a plan and were making it up as they went along. The general plot has the potential goodness that I think if it _had_ been plotted out in advance, it might have worked really well.
Here's what I'd do.
First, drop Lorne from the regular cast. I love the guy, but he was wasted in this plotline, and I can't see any good way to salvage it. Rather than have him show up in every episode for a throwaway line and never really _doing_ anything, bump him back to recurring status and have him guest star for the important stuff. If the actor won't accept that, then we can kill him off. Or, alternately, we can highly compress his arc. Have him a regular in the first few episodes, but decide to leave early on, and maybe or maybe not come back for the final few.
I don't know if it'd even be possible, but this season was just crying out for an appearance by Kate, the police detective that knew about Angel. I know she's on some other show, but come on... she's a police officer that knew about Angel, _and_ hated Wolfram and Hart. What would be better than her showing up? Maybe for the first episode of the year. Instead of the lame subplot about old Wolfram and Hart employees wanting to get rid of Angel, have Kate as one of the witnesses for the client W&H is representing, and finding out that Angel leads W&H. I would also liked to have Lilah back... but, given how things turned out, I don't think we could work it as her being the Senior Partner's Liason, so I'm not sure how to work her into things. Perhaps the occasional guest appearance, or maybe some sort of plot where, like Gunn was tempted with his Lawyer-Foo, Wesley's temptation is that he, from time to time, gets to talk to Lilah.
I love the idea of returning Lindsey too, but the writers seemed a little confused with him at times. Personally, I really like the idea of him being a _good guy_ now. Maybe not the ultimate good guy, but what the series as it played out seemed to be getting across was that he had evil motives for wanting to kill Angel and rise in the ranks of the Circle of the Black Thorn. That just doesn't make sense to me. The show has always been about Redemption, and Lindsey.. well, at least he got _away_ from Wolfram and Hart. Having his next appearance be all evil again doesn't sit well with me. (I mean, I think it's very well to have a 'failed redemption' subplot if the character's actually there so we can watch his fall, but for him to be 'out' and then show up suddenly evil? Nah).
He won't be an angel or anything, I'd rather there be an element of betrayal here.. he learns Angel's been working for W&H, he decides Angel & Co have fallen (and they don't even know it, the whole 'you're soaking in it' comment), and it's his job to take them out and screw up the Senior Partner's plans. A little bit of revenge too, because he's pissed at the SPs, and the sense of wanting to best Angel one time finally (so he stays within the realm of human motivations).
Learning about Spike was the key... making Spike play the Champion isn't to make him screw with Angel or get him out of the way, they actually want him and perhaps expect that he's truly the subject of the Shanshu prophecy, the vampire with a soul who'll become human after the final battle. So they're setting him up to walk the same path that Angel did at first. This would be a more significant thread of the first few episodes. More importantly though is that he'll _look_ evil to the audience throughout all of it, that it looks like he has other things planned and it's clear that he wants to take Angel out personally (which he does, but because he thinks Angel is too iffy on the whole 'A major force for good... OR evil..', since he could lose his soul at the drop of a girl's pants, and has gone evilish _with_ soul half a dozen times.)
Spike's ghostliness would be eliminated earlier, so we can get to the other plot faster and stay with it longer. Maybe in the first 2-3 episodes he gets human. I'd completely cut the episode about Lorne's party,anyway. Funny, but struck me as a bit of dead weight, plotwise.
When Cordy shows up, it still screws up their plans... not because she might detect him, but because if she's still a link to the Powers That Be, then maybe Lindsey's wrong. Or perhaps, given Jasmine, and Lindsey's own research, maybe he's decided that the Powers That Be aren't really that much better for the situation than the Senior Partners. Sort of an 'atheist super hero'.. I find I like that, actually. Thinking the PTB have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo of misery on their own (after all, if things are peachy, why would people pray to them for things to get better? Letting things be awful but still working to an extent to make things slightly less awful makes them look pretty good), he does what he thinks is right.
Despite Fred/Illyria reminding me a bit too much of Cordy/EvilCordy from last season, I find that I really like that particular plotline, and as it leads into the ending, it works.
Episode by Episode:
Conviction: Try to modify it as mentioned above by adding Kate.
Just Rewards: Keep, I guess, but revamp a little cause I wasn't too fond of the main plot of the ep.
Unleashed: Possibly cut, I wasn't too fond of the Nina plot either. If it were given more time it could have worked, but there's too much that didn't get time and this is expendable. Working in a love interest for Angel is fine in theory though (so long as it's not Cordelia).
Hellbound: Keep. Important in making Spike a 'hero' (since he gave up becoming corporeal to save Fred). Maybe combine Unleashed with Hellbound, making it an A/B plot structure, cutting out elements of both. Not sure though.
Life of the Party/Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco: Cut both of them. The first was funny, and the second had funny bits, but both are expendable. We can keep LotP if it makes for Lorne's exit at the end (since he was hugely stressed and worried about him not being able to contribute to Angel now, it makes a good time for him to exit until the finale. Or, actually, until 'A Hole In the World', where he can be there for a visit when Fred takes ill, and stay on through much of the rest until finally leaving 'for good' in the finale).
Lineage: Keep, I suppose. I'm annoyed we got no payoff, though, explaining who these people were. If you're going to cheapen the ending by having his Dad be a robot, at least follow up. (I might make it so it actually _is_ his father, but instead of killing him he just wounds him severely). I might also move it to after Destiny and have Spike mostly off doing his own thing rather than being a ghost.
Destiny: Keep, of course.
Harm's Way: Sorry, I wasn't at all interested in this either. I'd rather cut directly to:
Soul Purpose: Keep.
Damage: Keep. I like the 'Slayer' aspect. However, I think I'd change it significantly. If at all possible, I'd get Xander in there. Either along with Andrew or replacing Andrew entirely (there were a few nice Andrew/Spike moments, but on the whole I like Xander more). Mainly, I just wanted to see _Xander_ saying that beautiful line: 'I have twelve vampire slayers behind me, and none of them have ever dated you'. He's long resented Angel (and Spike) for getting Buffy, and his distrust sets up the 'None of us trust you' scene much better than Andrew, who had no prior contact with Angel.
You're Welcome: Have to keep this to say goodbye to Cordelia. Some changes though, maybe, in keeping with the change to the longer plot with Lindsey.
Why We Fight: Decent stand-alone episode, I'm okay with keeping it, but we don't _have_ to.
Ideally, starting around here we begin with the 'Angel starts looking ambiguous' plot, to set up for the idea the rest of the gang believes he's gone bad. Actually, one idea I had was to have Angel take Spike into his confidence here (but off panel and not revealed until the last episode or two). Angel starts setting up to be ambiguous, neglecting the little people in favour of the big picture, not wanting to help people who aren't rich, and spending more time on Wolfram & Hart's real clients. Meanwhile, he sends Spike out to be doing the helping of these people on the side, so it looks like Angel's not caring, and Spike's picking up the slack. He doesn't know the whole plan, though (in fact, Angel doesn't have the whole plan. He's just trying to get information. He doesn't come up with his whole plan of the suicide mission until Lindsey gives the 'You compromise. Heroes don't do that.' speech and he decides he has to take the group out wholesale), just that Angel's doing a plot.
Smile Time: Absolute keeper. Loved it. Might have to deal with the Nina plot in another way though (and may I add, while I agree wholeheartedly that a 'moment of perfect happiness'=! sex, the whole 'Hey, get yourself in a relationship and have sex!' attitude bugged me. I mean, it's still a _risk_ of losing your soul, and having everyone just deciding 'to hell with it' this late in the series irks me. That said, Angel engaging in some sort of non-perfect-happy sexual relationship might work out and be good for the plot by making them wonder if he was Angelus).
A Hole in the World: Keep. However, play things a little more ambiguously with Angel so it later becomes plausible to the viewers that he set Fred up to die. Not drastically so, just play things slightly differently. Maybe have him know a little more about the Old Gods off the top of his head, crediting to stuff he researched while he was Angelus, ending-the-world type plans, so that there's later a 'he did seem to know an _awful_ lot about this...' argument.
With Fred dead, Spike comes more completely into the fold. He's still running the whole 'Help people out while I pretend I don't care' plot, but much closer to W&H.
Shells: Keep
Underneath: Keep. However, Lindsey should appear more in the next few episodes. They just kind of dropped the plot and then picked it up when convenient, as though everyone forgot 'Hey, you're doing everything wrong' until it was a plot point.
Origin: Definately keep.
Time Bomb: Revise drastically. I think it's fine to center it on depowering Illyria, but I don't like the whole Time-travel/loop aspect, and the ending was too abrupt. I'd have preferred a more straightforward plot and deal more with some of the aftermath of Wes getting his memories back (maybe a confrontation with Lilah, who knew the memories were fake), as well as Angel looking more ambiguous (rather than suddenly shifting at the end)
The Girl In Question: I seem to be in the minority on this, but I liked the episode for the most part, so I'd keep it. Minor changes, certainly.
Power Play: Keep. Since Spike's in on the 'Angel looks bad' plan, some things change (and he's still ignorant of the specifics and the suicide-mission), but keep for the most part.
Never Fade Away: Keep for the most part. Since I'm not planning this to be a series finale, just a season finale, I'd probably leave some more wiggle room for Wesley to come back (while Illyria thinks he's dead), though I'm not sure how yet. Not have the Lorne/Lindsey thing work out quite the same way (Lindsey dying works, but I think him dying a 'hero' is better. Although I have to admit I would kinda have liked to see Lindsey be a regular next year). Lorne still leaves 'forever', though. Keep the ending more or less the same. Buffy/Angel don't usually have cliffhangers, but this was a good one. (Even if they have to start next year with 'Well, I won't bore you with the details of our miraculous escape, but....')
That leaves us with 2 definate extra episodes needed, and up to 4, and one 'revise drastically', which would probably give room for extra stuff happening. These would be spaced out to give more setup and payoff for ongoing subplots (if we keep Underneath, to set up Nina/Angel better perhaps). Each of course has their own A-plot.
On other minor points:
I'm not really all that pro-Spike to the exclusion of Angel, but in my mind there was one key difference that I really think should have gotten more play. That is, Angel was cursed with a soul, Spike chose to have one. Spike was, at least partially, redeemed of his own free will. Angel gave Spike way too hard a time about being selfish, and not moping enough about being his past deeds, and I just wanted Spike to say something like, "Yeah, you know what, we_are_ different. Because if I lost my soul again, I'd fight like hell to get it back. If you lost yours, you'd just be a monster." Only he'd throw a 'bloody' in there somewhere. Well, okay, he did say something like that, but it should have come a lot sooner.
Also, I was kinda annoyed how in the 4th season finale they made it clear Angel was only getting control of the LA branch of W&H, but in Season 5 he keeps talking about how they have branches all over the world, as though he could be expected to command those resources. Some professional courtesy, perhaps, but only LA should be his. (Maybe some dealings with other branches of W&H would make for some good plot fodder. In fact, have
many of the Blackthorns be CEOs of other W&H branches (both here and in other dimensions). They don't trust him at first but as he starts running things more to their liking, they do). Not every W&H CEO is one of the 'Blackthorns', the key players in the Apocalypse (after all, Angel wasn't at first), but Angel has to play ball to find out which ones are.
Anyway, those are my rough thoughts on the matter.
Edit: In this later entry I expand on this and go into a hypothetical season 6 and 7.
(This and all other WIDW columns archived in my Memories section).
