Chief Seattle Review S3 E7 (Spoilers)
Linda
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Episode title "Offspring"
First of all I am sorry this is a week late but as I have mentioned in one
or two e-mails last Friday night I my (8 week old) computer crashed and all
efforts to revive it proved useless.
Anyway, I will try to follow this one up with a review of "Quickening" as
soon as possible.
And Baby Makes Three
The fact that Darla was pregnant and that the father of the baby was Angel
posed two obvious questions. The first was how? How could two vampires
create a new life at all? And indeed unless a satisfactory answer to this
question is given the season arc may yet suffer. But the more immediately
interesting question is what is it? By that I do not mean what is it
physically.
Rather the question is what is it metaphysically. Angel has a soul. But
he is also a vampire and as Darla so graphically reminded him in "Dear Boy":
"No matter how good a boy you are...God doesn't want you!"
Darla for her part is as evil and soulless a vampire as they come. What
would be the nature of a child conceived from a union of this ill-matched
pair? And we can only assume that there was some third party also involved
in the creation of a baby. The nature and intentions of that other party
remain clothed in shadow. How would it affect the child? All we know for
certain is that this is something important. As if the unprecedented nature
of the event were not clue enough, the Shaman Darla visited in "That Vision
Thing" confirmed:
"This is not meant to be known."
The question is, did he mean this in a good or a bad way? And that is the
question that this episode explores but in a very interesting way. The baby
is still safely inside Darla's womb so what we know about it is limited.
But its parents, as we have already seen, are far from unknown quantities
and throughout this episode we are invited to look at the child as the
offspring
of these parents - and especially Angel.
The Good Father
"Offspring" starts out with Angelus falling into a trap and being captured
by Holtz. Angelus and Darla have killed his family but it isn't simple
revenge
that Holtz wants.
"My only desire is to discover if a thing such as yourself can be made to
pay for it's sins. You're a demon. It is your nature to maim and kill.
But you were also once a man. If we beat and burn the demon out of your
living flesh will there be anything left? Anything at all? I doubt it?"
He probably realizes that punishing a vampire for a murder that it committed
is futile. Equally you cannot really talk about the sins of a demon. It
may understand the concept of right and wrong but, as Holtz says, it is in
the nature of the beast to do evil. Sin and therefore punishment for sin
are both concepts that mean something to a human with a soul but are
meaningless
to vampires. That is what distinguishes the vampire from a human. If a
human does evil it acts against its nature. That is its sin and that is
why punishment is due. Essentially therefore Holtz was saying that from
a metaphysical perspective there was nothing human about Angelus. He was
evil right through.
We then move to present day LA where we see Angel and Cordelia together.
The first thing to note about this scene is the emphasis on Angel's
continuing
vampire state:
Angel :"What's this?"
Cordelia: "It's just so dark and lifeless that I thought I'd brighten it
up for you. You...ah...can't exactly go out and enjoy the sunny field of
nature but that doesn't mean that we can't bring a little gloom into your
darkness."
Angel: "They're fake."
Cordelia: "Yeah. You put something real into this Hell Hole and it'll die
like that (snaps fingers)."
The symbolism here is interesting. Angel is still a creature of darkness
and he and life do not mix. But we are also reminded of the duality of his
nature when Fred, Wesley and Cordelia began to talk about Angel's shanshu.
Wesley explained that the word meant both to live and to die, somewhat to
Fred's puzzlement.
Fred "So, which is it?
Wesley: "Both. In his case it meant that someday the vampire in him might
die but that the human in him might live."
Fred: "That he'd be like a normal man."
Wesley: "Yes."
Fred: "Wow. What would we do if that happens."
Cordelia: "I'd buy him some plaid shirts and take him to the beach. The
boy needs some color."
Now the first thing to note about this exchange is the very subtle way that
the concept of shanshu is being twisted. In "To Shanshu in LA" the word
was interpreted as meaning that Angel would become mortal and, like a
mortal,
live out a normal lifespan and then die. Here we see a very different spin.
We can only conclude therefore that that spin was felt necessary to serve
the different thematic purpose of this episode. What we see here is the
emphasis on Angel both as vampire and human and the humanity within him is
being symbolized by the reference to the beach and the plaid shirts - things
of light and color. These are in very stark contrast to the atmosphere in
the cellar.
Not the least interesting thing here is Angel's reaction. In the cellar
he is pleased when he sees the flowers and disappointed when they turn out
to be fake. And in the margins of the conversation about his shanshu he
seems genuinely sad at the reminder of the humanity that was once so
important
to him but for which, since "The Trial", he seems to have given up all hope.
And perhaps it because he recalls the scroll of Aberjian and the
expectation
of humanity that it led him to (most notably in "Judgment") but had to
abandon
that led to his angry outburst at Caritas against prophecies in general:
"These stupid prophecies. You can always interpret them 100 ways from
Sunday."
And then there is Cordelia. I am going to withhold all further comment on
the possibility of a relationship between Angel and Cordelia at this stage.
It is far too early to see where the writers are going with this one. But
I think that there was some very interesting use of the connection between
them here. Cordelia for her part seems entirely unconscious of the
possibility
of a romantic entanglement between herself and Angel. But Angel does
entertain
the possibility. But he is acutely aware of the barriers in the way:
"I was just thinking about things...people....how they relate. Take you
and me for instance. We're very differentvery different, obviously.
(Points
from Cordelia to himself and back) Human...vampire....woman...man-pire."
He was I think going to call himself a man when he realized he couldn't.
It would not have been true. The first difference he mentioned between
a human and a vampire said it all. Interestingly, the curse and the
implications
it might have for a relationship were not mentioned in "Offspring". The
important point here was that Angel even with a soul was a vampire. I don't
know if he is at all serious about a relationship with Cordelia although
it is equally possible that he simply feels the need for a human connection.
But the vampire in him always forms a barrier to what the human in him
wants.
There are always two sides to him and they are always in conflict. As he
says to Cordelia:
"We've been through so much together...you and me as friends. You've seen
the good in me...and the not so good."
And the existence of the child itself is a symbol of the bad. Cordelia
certainly
thinks so. And as Angel and Darla fight in the Arcade, she taunts him:
"You so want to play the good guy, don't you. Yeah, you're the good guy
who did this to me."
Of course the real significance of the way that Darla's pregnancy was
brought
about lay in the following exchange:
Angel: "Cordy.I'm sorry that I lied. It was just a very dark time..."
Cordelia: "Oh, you used her to make you feel better during your dark time.
Well, that makes it all heroic."
We are being reminded here of just what a state of mind Angel had got into
at the end of "Reprise." We are also being reminded why - how his
obsessiveness,
his lust for revenge and the willingness to entertain any means to achieve
it were all aspects of the vampire coming out in him. And finally we are
reminded of the appallingly selfish way that Angel risked releasing Angelus
on the world again. And the word "heroic" here I find especially
interesting.
I will be the first to admit that I cringed when Fred started throwing the
word "hero" about in the scene between her and Angel in the cellar. "Hero"
is an ideal which fits ill in a series about how flawed humans (and a
vampire
with a soul) are. But the whole point of using the word in these two
contexts
was to show that Angel was not a hero in this idealized sense at least:
"I don't see how anything spawned by Darla and me can be good."
The Unwilling Mother
The first mention of Darla in this episode is symbolically very interesting.
When asked why he and Darla returned to Rome, the explanation was suitably
ambiguous:
Angelus: "Darla.she loves the Sistine Chapel"
Holtz: "Michelangelo?"
Angelus: "Not him. She's mad about Botticelli's frescos. The "Temptation
of Christ" is her favorite, probably because of the leper."
This painting is too crowded and complex for my tastes but it contains a
fascinating allegory for the purposes of this story. First of all it
reminds
us of the dual nature of Christ who was both fully human and fully divine.
As the title suggests this painting shows us the episodes in which the
Devil
tempted Christ to commit various sins. Because he was fully human he could
be tempted but because he was divine he resisted the temptation. Moreover
these scenes all take place around a tableau showing the purification of
a leper. Leprosy was always seen by an outward sign of sin and the
purification
of the leper was therefore a sign of the cleansing of that sin - just as
Christ as a human was part of this imperfect, sinful World and as God came
to cleanse it.
So again we see the theme of duality in action. Of course in Darla's case
it was rather more difficult to see any evidence of it in her. After all
her idea of a bus trip wasn't complete unless she carried out the odd
slaughter
on the way. But while we know what Darla really is that perception was
altered
by her condition. Cordelia herself put it very well:
Cordelia: "It was my fault, Angel. I felt sorry for her. She looked so
helpless - like a mother."
That was why Cordelia became so protective about her and so annoyed at
Angel,
why she blamed him for her pregnancy and why she referred to him as going
"all male." She perceived Darla as the victim and as that greatest of all
human icons - the mother. And indeed in the Amusement arcade we saw what
motherhood stands for, especially when one mother mistakes her kidnap of
the little boy for something more innocent:
"You're a brave woman...about to have one...taking the other one out to
play."
This is the sort of unselfishness we assume that mothers will display. But
none of this is for Darla. She asks Angel:
"How could you put this in me. I hate you.
This is someone who does not take easily to being a mother. This is someone
who has spent month trying to rid herself of the child. But ironically this
is someone who is forced into being a mother in spite of herself. And it's
not just the physical discomfort she has to put up with - it's the hunger.
As she says to Angel:
"You may have the face but you don't know the hunger. It pounds. You can't
make it go away. You can't stop it."
It is this hunger that controls her, leading her to try to kill both
Cordelia
and the little boy in the arcade. It was not just for the sake of a kill
but to feed her child - to be a mother to it. And because as we found out
from the heartbeat the child wasn't a vampire and had a soul (a subject we
will get onto in due course) she was driven not only to kill but to one
particular
type of victim:
Angel: "Darla, the child has a heartbeat. It has a soul."
Darla: "It's not my child."
Angel: "Our child, our child, our child. That's why you've been craving
pure blood. That's why it's been driving you out of you're mind. It has
a soul."
We have already seen how Darla regards the human soul - as something
unclean.
In "Five by Five" she reacts with horror when Angelus is cursed:
"They gave you a soul. A filthy soul! No! You're disgusting!"
How much worse now that a creature with a soul is part of her and she must
sustain it. But the duality is to be found not just in the fact that the
soulless and the ensouled share the same body. It is the fact that the
child
is "pure" that drives Darla to do evil, namely kill the innocent. And she
does so because she has to be a mother to that child and sustain it.
Good and Evil
Here we see not that it is difficult to tell good from evil but that it is
difficult to separate them. There is no blurring of the distinction between
what is right and what is wrong. But there is a very conscious effort to
suggest that Angel walks a very fine line between the two. The fact that
Angel is human and demon and that he is capable of acting both for good and
for ill is a well-established theme in the series. But it is always a
compelling
one. The power of the first half of season 2 lay in the fact that the
harder
Angel struggled to do the right thing the more deeply mired he became in
Wolfram and Hart's trap. It was only because he tried to save Darla's soul
that he so very nearly lost his own. The idea that the road to Hell is
paved
with good intentions illustrates an inherent contradiction not only for
Angel
but for us all. Good and evil exist in all of us and the dividing line for
us can often be as thin as it is for Angel or indeed Darla for that matter.
For both of them the important point in this episode was not their
subjective
intentions but rather the consequences of their actions. And this is where
Fred's little speech on Destiny comes in:
"Screw Destiny. If this evil thing comes we'll fight it and we'll keep
fightin'
it until we whup it (now why did I have a George Bush moment here?). 'Cause
"destiny" is just another word for inevitable and nothing's inevitable as
long as you stand up. Look it in the eye and say "you're evitable"."
The mere fact that there is evil as well as good within Angel does not mean
he is bound to be a danger to humanity. It is up to him to control himself.
The child was conceived because he did something. That was not something
he was pre-destined to do. It was a matter of choice for him, as our
actions
and the consequences coming from them are a matter of choice for us. This
is about facing up to the consequences of that choice. Those consequences
may or may not be fair. When speaking to Angel the Host pointed out that
not only was Darla's pregnancy biologically impossible. It may be
mystically
unfair:
"You fought long and hard for good. If you're destiny is to spawn something
evil..?"
But then it will come as no surprise to the viewers of this series that
consequences
are often unfair. They are none the less real for all that. There was
hurt to Cordelia; pain and distress to Darla and the near death of a child.
But above all there was a new life, a life whose significance was far from
clear. And this is where I think the theme works so well. Whether we are
talking about Angel or ourselves the same principle applies. Because there
is good and bad in us all, so too, just as our actions can lead to good or
ill regardless of intention, can Angel's child be either a scourge to the
world or something better. This is the new angle (correct spelling) on this
issue that the writers have found. And not only does this make us think
about this issue in a new way, it also exploits fully the dramatic potential
in it. That is because the focus of the plot is on determining whether
there
is any connection between the imminent arrival of Angel's child on the one
hand and an ancient prophecy on the other:
Cordelia: "You're off your game. It's 'cause of the prophecy Wes and Gunn
are off trying to get their hands on. You think the end is coming"
Angel: "The end is not coming. Someone is always uncovering some ancient
scroll and they're always saying the same thing - that something terrible
is coming. Do you know how many of these things I've seen in my very long
life?
Cordelia: "Four?"
Angel: "Three, but there's nothing to worry about."
This little exchange gets some bonus marks for handling the exposition about
the scroll with a little humor. It is one more example in a long list of
the series poking a little gentle fun at itself. But it gets major demerits
for the fact that this exposition is necessary at all. I just noted in my
last review how well Angel handles continuity by introducing in one episode
someone or something that will be important in another. This is called
planning.
We saw it in "Blind date" when the scroll of Aberjian was introduced
incidentally
only for it to become crucial in "To Shanshu in LA". Here the subject of
the Niazian scroll was brought up out of the blue. There was no explanation
about how it was discovered or how it was brought to the attention of Angel
Investigations. There was no explanation as to which bits were missing and
how they were needed to make sense of the bits they already had. This was
just careless, especially since the scrolls were so central to the episode.
Wesley explained their meaning in a little more detail:
Wesley: "It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-Klon, the person or
being that brings about the ruination of mankind. "
Gunn: "So, it's a two for one. Ain't that nice."
Wesley: "And I'm not clear on the translation. Ruination may in fact be
purification."
Gunn: "Purification? So this Tro-Klon's a good thing?"
Wesley: "I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in
Ancient
Greek and in the lost Gushundi language it means both."
We of course know about Darla's pregnancy, the fact that it was impossible
and the fact that it has baffled and scare the Western Hemisphere. And
Fred's
throwaway remark that the Tro-Klon might have arisen or arrived last march
is interesting because that would fit in with the events of
"Reprise/Epiphany".
It hardly needed Fred to wonder out loud whether this was that bad thing
they were expecting. So, even at this early stage the writers were tempting
us to make the connection - without in any way committing themselves to
saying
that there was one. And they were also being deliberately ambiguous about
the significance of the Tro-Klon. Ruination or purification? And if
purification
what did that mean. Many forms of purification can and do involve the
destruction
of elements seen as polluting a body or society. Would this purification
be some form of latter day "final solution" perhaps of the human race as
a whole? As the Host says:
"It could be anything. A child born of two vampires..."
And this is the key to the episode - we are left in a state of complete
uncertainty
about the significance of the child. The mere fact that it had a soul did
not resolve anything. An ensouled being could still be a menace to
humanity.
Now of all times we hardly need lessons in the dangers of good old
fashioned
human fanaticism. Or it could even be the innocent cause of something
terrible.
Alternatively the purification of the Tro-Klon may be something entirely
beneficial. The Tro-Klon may indeed have nothing to do with the child or
even be something tangentially associated with it. We simply do not know.
And the matter is not yet resolved. The big twist at the end appeared to
suggest that Holtz was the Tro-Klon. But the truth is that there are just
too many variables for us to even guess at this stage. And this is both the
strength and the weakness of the episode. It is a strength in the sense
that there s a mystery here and an important one. This importance lies not
just in the potential for catastrophe for the human race that it brings.
Rather it is in the potential significance of the event for Angel
personally.
Very often ("Becoming" being the classic case) it is the likely personal
cost to a character of preventing some great danger that resonates more with
the audience than the actual threat that the danger itself poses. And it
is not difficult to imagine Angel's feelings when he contemplates a life
he has fathered and the need perhaps at some stage to kill it. And
considerations
like this are closely bound up with the question - what is the significance
of the child? So this is a mystery that engages the audience. It wants
to find out the truth.
The weakness of the episode lies in the fact that it cannot yet find that
out. This is all set up. The questions are being set but as yet no answers
forthcoming. Even the reappearance of Holtz at the end does little to move
the arc forward. This is obviously not good news for Angel and further
complicates
an already tangled web. To that extent it adds to the anticipation, but
does little else. And that is inevitable frustrating. It also creates the
sense that nothing much is happening; perhaps even that the arc is moving
too slowly. Of course one solution to any problem with pacing is to have
arc elements set up in the context of a strong stand-alone story. But we
don't really have that here. The episode gets off to a flying start with
Angelus pursued through the sewers, running into one trap after another.
The obvious question is how does he get out of this one. But he doesn't.
And that is itself an unexpected twist. But after that things slow down,
considerably. In terms of plot, everything revolves around the forthcoming
Tro-Klon but there is nothing to give this any immediacy, something that
will help carry a storyline in this episode. There are no preparations
for the Tro-Klon that Angel Investigations can try to disrupt, there is no
threat to the child. There isn't even a sub-plot. That is why I think this
episode has a padded feel to it. There is just too little material here
for an entire episode. The early scenes between Angel and Cordelia both
in the cellar and in the Hotel lobby seem too long. The robbery pulled off
by Gunn and Wesley was fun and it's always nice to see a bit of quick
thinking
save the day. But the episode would not have been adversely affected if
it had been left out altogether and that is never a good thing to say about
any scene. Indeed it is interesting to note that it is only with the
arrival
of Darla that we get to the heart of the episode and that doesn't happen
until almost half-way through it.
Fortunately pacing improves greatly after this and especially when Darla
attacks Cordelia and goes AWOL. The scenes where Darla first threatens
Cordelia
and then bites her and where she kidnaps the little boy are for sheer drama
excellent. The former scene works so well because we are lulled into a
false
sense of security by the ease with which Cordelia treats Darla. Then,
completely
out of the blue we and Cordelia realize at the same time just how much
trouble
she is in. It starts innocently enough with Cordelia sharing her
experiences
as a mother to be. Then she says the wrong thing but before we and she both
understand the full implications of her words these are spelt out for us
by Darla:
Cordelia: "At first your sick to your stomach and can't eat and then you're
ravenous. Are you bale to eat or do you just..."
Darla: "What...drink?"
From there things move with frightening speed as Cordelia tries to beat a
retreat only to be intercepted by Darla. Then shockingly, and against my
expectations, she actually feeds from her, only to be pulled off by Angel.
This scene was full of danger and excitement but the kidnap of the child
had greater tension. This was because it was spun out a little to give
the audience an chance to wonder and worry about the fate of the child.
ANGEL being the series it is it was entirely possible that Darla could have
killed him and we were continually asking what was going to happen next,
where was Angel and would he be in time? These scene provided a very
necessary
counterbalance to the rather slow, talking heads feel to the rest of the
episode and were all the more welcome for that.
There were, however, a few niggles about the story that jarred with me.
The first was the way the Host reacted to the news that Angel "boned" Darla
as Cordelia so elegantly put it. That reaction seemed less directed at the
fact that she was pregnant than the fact that Angel had sex with her.
Indeed
Angel's explanation about how little they really did together also seems
for the Host's benefit. But the Host already knew about this.
Secondly was the stupidity that everyone from Angel to the Host to Cordelia
showed in leaving her alone with Darla. Thematically Cordelia forgetting
she was a vampire may have worked but they all should have known how
dangerous
she was.
I also have two small difficulties about the way that Angel resolved his
uncertainty over the nature of the child. Cordelia says that her visions
are trying to tell her why Darla is craving younger victims. But up to that
point where was the indication that she was? And since when was the
possession
of a heart an indication of a soul. Demons have hearts. The possession
of a beating heart will differentiate between a vampire and a human but we
do not know that Darla's child must be one or the other.
But my final problem lay in the concern that Angel showed for Cordelia and
Fred. He started by telling Gunn who was standing guard over Darla:
"If she goes near Cordy or Fred..."
Then in the hotel lobby, he added for good measure to Cordelia:
"You're not to go near Darla for any reason without me, Gunn and a lot of
crossbows standing between you. You understand."
And then added:
"That goes for you too Fred."
The odd thing here is that his concern here didn't seem to extend to Wesley
or Gunn for that matter. This may be the sort of chivalry you could expect
from Angel but it is very odd that it was left uncontradicted. Are the
writers really saying that it is the role of the men in cases like this to
look after the women? It does sort of cast into doubt how serious they were
about the idea that women can take care of themselves. Maybe ME had better
rethink its gender politics.
But that isn't actually the most jarring thing about this. What about
Darla's
child? Is there no thought about the dilemma posed by killing the mother
when she is so close to term? But there isn't even a mention of this
consideration.
Overview
B - (7.5/10): The principal interest in this episode lay in its treatment
of theme. We saw the duality of Angel's nature and even to an extent in
the role of mother that Darla was forced to play. This raises some very
interesting questions about the offspring of this pair and what it s nature
may be. This in turn opens up some more general questions about good an
evil and its place in the world, especially how difficult it can be to
separate
them in everyday actions. But for the rest this is a plot that is top heavy
with set-up. Darla and Angel have been brought together; Angel knows about
the child; we have been told about the coming Tro-Klon and know that Holtz
and probably the child are in someway involved with this. We get from this
a clear sense of something building towards a climax and an even clearer
sense that the climax will be big. But we don't yet have a clear idea of
how the different strands of the story relate to one another. And that is
inevitably frustrating. Worse still was the lack of anything to balance
the arc set up. There were thee set pieces -Angelus in Rome, Darla and
Cordelia
at Caritas and Darla and Angel at the Arcade - in which we found suspense,
excitement and action. But apart from this just too little actually
happened
to make this a really compelling episode.