It's important for me to know whether the writers think that Angel is a hero, or that Angel is a guy who murdered an innocent and ordered the execution of someone who was not an immediate threat, or that Angel is both at once. No doubt that the writers of NFA knew the very dark stuff is at least in the mix. Not just because they showed Angel doing those things, but also because they gave us Lorne's reaction as commentary, along with Wes's and Spike's. When Lorne gets his groove back that reads to me like Lynch wants to sand off the rough edges, take back the commentary as it were. The absence of anything else that might surface if Angel is dealing with people who are disillusioned with Angel also looks to me like sanding. But the beauty of Angel is exactly those rough edges. It's the juxtaposition of strong light AND strong dark in Angel that makes the guy so interesting. And I generally saw Lynch as shifting the mix towards the light.
The other thing along this line was the notion that there's an uber-apocalypse that Angel will someday participate in, whereas season 5 drove us to the understanding that the "real" apocalypse is ordinary human evil. I liked that move. It also served to darken Angel's reaction to it in ways that I thought were very interesting. And I was sorry to see Lynch blast past it.
Now, you are right that nothing has happened that would prevent future writers from taking that stuff more seriously. We've reset to the day Lindsey got executed. It's still allowed to enter into the mix. And the 'verse often left things for quite a while before tapping into them. Also W&H is available to come back and keep being the W&H we know. So for me the good news is that nothing has happened that makes the story irretrievable (except the news that the franchise is being put in the hands of someone we even know less of).
Small note: Angel rushed out to accuse Spike and Illyria of killing humans, not a demon. I still don't know how to make sense of Angel's traverse from twice acknowledging Spike as a true champion to that vile of an accusation. The fact that Lynch still thinks it's dramatically interesting to ask "has he or hasn't he turned" questions of Spike suggests that he doesn't know just how ridiculous that accusation is at that point. I'm Spike-centric. These things don't sit well with me. The interesting questions about Spike at this juncture are not about whether he's going to do the right thing. And since it's really Angel of whom we should ask that question, it's particularly grating. Now, if you could persuade me that Lynch knows just exactly how bass ackwards it is for Angel to assume moral superiority to Spike that'd be cool. But again, I just never saw authorial distance from it. And combined with other stuff Lynch has said it just led me to the view that for Lynch, Spike's certainly underappreciated by Angel, but still has much to learn from the master. I hope that's overstating the problem. I just don't like that I'm not sure. That Spike had no dramatic function in the book besides comic relief doesn't improve my mood on this stuff, though.
The world has changed in interesting ways. I'd really, really love a story that juxtaposes Angel's fame as a Legend with at least his character weakness on that front, and even better with the fact that the truth is considerably darker. And someone with a better imagination than myself could well have even more interesting possibilities. I do like that final move a lot.
One more small note: Lynch's notes have the different reactions about whether to jump or not as being meant to show that Angel is still all about being a champion, but that Spike's first reaction is to hang up his sword. Agree that the text is capable of being read in other ways. But it's one more piece of why I came to mistrust Lynch.
I'm still mistrusting. But in a better position to appreciate what is there. Many, many thanks!!!
Re: Angel...-and Spike
The other thing along this line was the notion that there's an uber-apocalypse that Angel will someday participate in, whereas season 5 drove us to the understanding that the "real" apocalypse is ordinary human evil. I liked that move. It also served to darken Angel's reaction to it in ways that I thought were very interesting. And I was sorry to see Lynch blast past it.
Now, you are right that nothing has happened that would prevent future writers from taking that stuff more seriously. We've reset to the day Lindsey got executed. It's still allowed to enter into the mix. And the 'verse often left things for quite a while before tapping into them. Also W&H is available to come back and keep being the W&H we know. So for me the good news is that nothing has happened that makes the story irretrievable (except the news that the franchise is being put in the hands of someone we even know less of).
Small note: Angel rushed out to accuse Spike and Illyria of killing humans, not a demon. I still don't know how to make sense of Angel's traverse from twice acknowledging Spike as a true champion to that vile of an accusation. The fact that Lynch still thinks it's dramatically interesting to ask "has he or hasn't he turned" questions of Spike suggests that he doesn't know just how ridiculous that accusation is at that point. I'm Spike-centric. These things don't sit well with me. The interesting questions about Spike at this juncture are not about whether he's going to do the right thing. And since it's really Angel of whom we should ask that question, it's particularly grating. Now, if you could persuade me that Lynch knows just exactly how bass ackwards it is for Angel to assume moral superiority to Spike that'd be cool. But again, I just never saw authorial distance from it. And combined with other stuff Lynch has said it just led me to the view that for Lynch, Spike's certainly underappreciated by Angel, but still has much to learn from the master. I hope that's overstating the problem. I just don't like that I'm not sure. That Spike had no dramatic function in the book besides comic relief doesn't improve my mood on this stuff, though.
The world has changed in interesting ways. I'd really, really love a story that juxtaposes Angel's fame as a Legend with at least his character weakness on that front, and even better with the fact that the truth is considerably darker. And someone with a better imagination than myself could well have even more interesting possibilities. I do like that final move a lot.
One more small note: Lynch's notes have the different reactions about whether to jump or not as being meant to show that Angel is still all about being a champion, but that Spike's first reaction is to hang up his sword. Agree that the text is capable of being read in other ways. But it's one more piece of why I came to mistrust Lynch.
I'm still mistrusting. But in a better position to appreciate what is there. Many, many thanks!!!