Is Harmonic Divergence meant as tongue in cheek? It was presented lightly, but I thought it was a pretty major plot point.
I think Whedon is concerned with good and evil. It's just that he understands that evil is a seemingly necessary part of the attribute of free will, and he's understandably reluctant to give that up. So it's not so much that he's not interested, as it is that he's interested in the best way of coping with a world where evil seems to be ineradicable.
I think there's a more personal element in the Buffy story he's telling, also. It's something like what happens when a righteous person no longer has a watcher, i.e. anyone she's answerable to? Because the ineradicable evil is also in her, it's bound to bubble up, likely in the pernicious guise of doing good. You see very well how that dynamic works in Angel. But it's always been in Buffy too, more latent, but there. (I'm thinking we're going to swing from seeing the problems with watchers to seeing why they were necessary).
Other stuff in the mix as well. All very interesting.
I agree with Moscow Watcher that the general direction is to align Buffy with the start of Fray. Whedon himself has said that. It's interesting because the last slayer in Fray got rid of all magics and demons; and that's what Twilight is after. So there's going to be some interesting shifting going on.
Re: Angel...-and Spike
I think Whedon is concerned with good and evil. It's just that he understands that evil is a seemingly necessary part of the attribute of free will, and he's understandably reluctant to give that up. So it's not so much that he's not interested, as it is that he's interested in the best way of coping with a world where evil seems to be ineradicable.
I think there's a more personal element in the Buffy story he's telling, also. It's something like what happens when a righteous person no longer has a watcher, i.e. anyone she's answerable to? Because the ineradicable evil is also in her, it's bound to bubble up, likely in the pernicious guise of doing good. You see very well how that dynamic works in Angel. But it's always been in Buffy too, more latent, but there. (I'm thinking we're going to swing from seeing the problems with watchers to seeing why they were necessary).
Other stuff in the mix as well. All very interesting.
I agree with Moscow Watcher that the general direction is to align Buffy with the start of Fray. Whedon himself has said that. It's interesting because the last slayer in Fray got rid of all magics and demons; and that's what Twilight is after. So there's going to be some interesting shifting going on.