Inspired my Michelle’s post, which mentioned the little things that “Are You Now…” borrowed, I want to call attention to the man, the man who killed himself. I think his character’s choice and Angel’s reaction to it, as Michelle also notes, play a huge role in the character that Angel is becoming.
This episode is very much about Angel facing something. He is facing the person he used to be, in the physical location of where he was when he was that different person. When he says that “maybe it was the wallpaper that drove him mad” I felt an intense sense of empathy emanating from Angel himself. He knows this feeling, you can tell it from the way he looks around and the way it so easily comes to him.
It is horribly ironic when you think about how much Angel must want to end his life sometime. Think about it. A lifetime of being a soul-less dead things, cursed to never have love, or any type of human connection. We see Angel heartlessly taking a sip of his “cocktail” as he hears the music grow louder, and the gunshot go off. I almost felt like he was about to raise his glass in mock salute to the salesman, as if to say, “At least you made a choice, here’s to fate, man.”
It is also remarkable to see the growth that Angel has made. Now, in present day Whedonverse, he would have run up the stairs and made an anonymous tip to the police, instead we have Angel as an apathetic bystander who makes no action.
But WHY does he not react? Is it because he is afraid of becoming that desperate, does he recognize the ability to have nothing left to lose in himself? Maybe, is he afraid? Not likely, but is there something he could be afraid of?
This episode features SO much contrast between current Angel and 1950s Angel. I think that using the dead man as a metaphor for Angel, his reactions, and how he changes, can easily be done.
6 comments:
I think if I were Angel I wouldn't want to live my life that way either. I do believe, however, that saving people from their horrible situtations allows him to place meaning in his life. By being an everyday hero he has spun this "curse" of being a vampire into something positive.
I think Angel doesn't react to the man shooting himself because the 1950's version of himself just did not care, about anything.
Wow! That's quite a statement about Angel "raising his glass in a mock salute". . . I never thought about that moment in the episode as quite that ironic, but I can definitely see your point now. Angel is in a unique position with his tortured longevity, certainly putting him in the position of desiring suicidal release.
Michelle-- I do think Angel did not care, and it's kind of tragic how his not caring actually turned to hurting people
Jonathan-- I know right? Maybe I just keep trying to see the worst, but I find it fascinating.
Cait--I love the "mock salute" glass observation, too! Wow. The scene when Angel is pouring a drink but doesn't take a drink until after the shot is kind of eerie. The song the salesman is playing, in particular, does a whole lot to achieve the darkness. I looked into the song, and it's "Hoop-Dee-Doo" by Perry Como. It's really happy tune and kind of silly lyric-wise--NOT the obvious choice for a guy who seemed like he had his suicide planned.
I think the happy song playing in the background for a suicide scene is a great way for the writers of Angel to portray the 1950s in this episode--the stifled, happily packaged surface with the darker elements of society still very much happening. Hearing the happy song and just anticipating that gunshot is very effective for the scene, and makes it even more jolting.
Correction: It's *A really happy tune. Oops.
Great job reading the details in that scene, folks--from the drink to the music. Love Hannah's comment about the "stifling, happily packaged surface with the darker elements of society still very much happening."
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